Going to Chicago Thursday and Friday. Will be down town area. What are some good places to check out.
You might be better off posting in the Chicago area sub-forum. Only speaking from experience of doing the same for a trip to Boston.
Great Lakes really is the Chicago sub forum. I don't know why non-Chicago people post there, but they do, those silly bastards.
Just posted this in what appears to be a duplicate thread, so I'll Ctrl+V here: If you can stretch your stay by one day, it might be worth a visit to The Beer Temple for the Grand Opening. Gonna have the following breweries pouring: Half Acre, Lagunitas, Firestone Walker, Revolution, Metropolitan, Pipeworks, Spiteful, Begyle, Goose Island, and looks like FFF too. I'll also have a LOT of fun bottles open to taste - Rare, Bramble, Vanilla, all years of coffee, Violet Hour - and those are just the BCSs
Just a quick look at his website: 12:00 PM- 2:00 PM *Goose Island Brewing Company *Pipeworks Brewing Company *Lagunitas Brewing Company *Begyle Brewing 4:00 PM- 6:00 PM *Firestone-Walker Brewing Company *Revolution Brewing Company *Spiteful Brewing Company *Metropolitan Brewing Company *Half Acre Brewing Company Not completely sure about the personal bottles tasting. On regular days he opens up bottles at opening time until they run out. Due to the amount of bottles he'll be sharing I'm guessing he may spread them out throughout the day. This is just speculation though.
I can't imagine these bottles will last very long! I mean, how many tasting samples can one wring out of a bottle of Bourbon County Rare?
Good prices on most things, but they really ramp up the prices on things they perceive high demand for. Logical, for sure, but sort of disappointing for a customer.
I'm in Chicago for the weekend. I was already excited about it. Now that I found out about the Beer Temple, I'm absolutely quivering with excitement. Quivering.
Updated (but still partial) list of what I'll have open. This does NOT include what the brewers themselves are providing. Cantillon Classic Gueuze Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze 2009 Bourbon County Stout 2011 Bourbon County Stout 2012 Bourbon County Stout Bourbon County Rare Stout Bourbon County Vanilla Stout Bourbon County Coffee Stout Firestone Walker Parabola Westvleteren XII Thomas Hardy's Ale Sam Adams Utopias Sam Adams Triple Bock Bruery Fruet 2010 Dark Lord 2011 Dark Lord 2012 Dark Lord Barrel Aged Alpha Klaus
Nice. I plan on bringing a couple beers as well to help spread out your stock a bit. Nothing this crazy, but good stuff nonetheless.
I know Beer Temple cracks open bottles but are patrons allowed to bring bottles to share as well? I'll be there Saturday and want to bring some goods not from the area.
Yes, people can bring bottles to "donate" to the tasting. But anything brought must be given to us to taste out to everyone for free. No private tastings please! That said, bring whatever you want.
Chris - Are you trying to create a mob scene??? I've been in your shop, you may need to find a bigger venue for the masses!
Let me say this: I want this event to be fun, but it's not a beer fest, or even a bottle share. It's a guy who's passionate about beer opening up a beer store and wanting to celebrate. To be honest, I'm already nervous about people getting angry if the beer they want to taste isn't open when they get here, or people trying to game the system. Thanks to everyone in advance for being cool and realizing that even if it's not run perfectly, everything is free! Just come and have fun!!!!!
I think you'll have enough people that want it to be exactly what you want it to be, and they'll keep the outliers honest. Hopefully I'll be among the folks keeping the riff-raff honest.
I'm sure it will be great, we will try to stop by and celebrate with you. Thanks for sharing with us Chris!
I'm with you here. Hopefully no one's "that guy" just sitting front and center at the tasting table. Frankly, I hope to get a taster or two, but don't expect anything more. I'm just as much looking forward to seeing what the breweries have to taste, talking with fellow BAs, and buying some great beer to boot. See you Saturday!
As a measure of good faith everyone should buy SOMETHING. Preferably whatever Chris is having the most trouble selling. Let's not be a bunch of moochers and show Chris the respect he deserves.
Anyone interested in some IP trades? I have a lot of things I can bring up there with me. BA Bigfoot, BBPt5 etc
