This weekend we went to the Mash Tun Beer Festival and the Chicago Beer Festival. The Mash Tun Beer Festival was at the corner of 35th and Racine at the Bridgeport Art Center. The Chicago Beer Festival took place in Union Station. Now, after some chinese food, a mini nap, popcorn, and plenty of water, we're ready to remember our experiences.
The Mash Tun Beer Festival took place in the "atrium" of the Bridgeport Art Center. More like a loading dock if you ask me. It featured about two dozen beers on tap, and a pig roast. The pig ran out before we felt like finally getting in the fairly lengthy line, but for $30 entry to the festival, it's rather difficult to complain. Besides the generous portions of beer "tastings," we got to choose our own pint glass from a large selection - for example, Great Lakes Brewing Company had two different styles of glasses available. Lily chose an Uinta Brewing glass, and Gene chose an Ommegang glass.
While the number of beers was fairly small, the relaxed atmosphere of the event and the high quality of the beers available was a treat. Oskar Blues was available in cans; their porter was surprisingly good for a canned beer. Other favorites of ours included Uinta's Detour Double IPA and Revolution Brewing's Bottom Up Wit. Additionally, Lily enjoyed Stone's Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean. On the contrary, Three Floyds Snow Weasel was one beer that we felt had too much of a graininess in texture...it was not our favorite.
By comparison, the Chicago Beer Festival was much larger, but slightly more formal and much more crowded. We also got very small plastic tasting glasses. They made sense from a liability standpoint, but meant we didn't get fifteen ounces once in awhile like at the Mash Tun. Alas. In terms of variety, the Chicago Beer Fest had a lot more--ciders, bourbon barrel ales, ginger beer. However, we think that it was a lot more inconsistent in terms of the quality of beers. There were some that we just couldn't drink.
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Among our favorites were: Wyders Pear Cider (Vermont), Breckenridge Brewery Vanilla Stout, Dead Guy Ale Rogue, Diversey Pale Ale by Atlas Brewing (Chicago), Crabbie's Ginger Beer, Metropolitan Brewing Crank Shaft (Chicago), and maybe some more, but those are the ones that stand out.
Undrinkable ones were from the Capital brewery in Middleton, WI.
Nosferatu by Great Lakes was also available at both events, but we both had drank it before.
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So was there a favorite of ours out of the two? Not really. Would have liked more food and port-o-potties that weren't in the dark at Mash Tun, but overall tasted less beers that we didn't like. The Chicago Beer Festival was bigger and had more variety, but it was more common to taste beers we didn't like. All in all, both events were fun and a great way to stay warm on a cold fall day. Bottoms up!
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The Mash Tun Beer Festival took place in the "atrium" of the Bridgeport Art Center. More like a loading dock if you ask me. It featured about two dozen beers on tap, and a pig roast. The pig ran out before we felt like finally getting in the fairly lengthy line, but for $30 entry to the festival, it's rather difficult to complain. Besides the generous portions of beer "tastings," we got to choose our own pint glass from a large selection - for example, Great Lakes Brewing Company had two different styles of glasses available. Lily chose an Uinta Brewing glass, and Gene chose an Ommegang glass.
While the number of beers was fairly small, the relaxed atmosphere of the event and the high quality of the beers available was a treat. Oskar Blues was available in cans; their porter was surprisingly good for a canned beer. Other favorites of ours included Uinta's Detour Double IPA and Revolution Brewing's Bottom Up Wit. Additionally, Lily enjoyed Stone's Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean. On the contrary, Three Floyds Snow Weasel was one beer that we felt had too much of a graininess in texture...it was not our favorite.
By comparison, the Chicago Beer Festival was much larger, but slightly more formal and much more crowded. We also got very small plastic tasting glasses. They made sense from a liability standpoint, but meant we didn't get fifteen ounces once in awhile like at the Mash Tun. Alas. In terms of variety, the Chicago Beer Fest had a lot more--ciders, bourbon barrel ales, ginger beer. However, we think that it was a lot more inconsistent in terms of the quality of beers. There were some that we just couldn't drink.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Among our favorites were: Wyders Pear Cider (Vermont), Breckenridge Brewery Vanilla Stout, Dead Guy Ale Rogue, Diversey Pale Ale by Atlas Brewing (Chicago), Crabbie's Ginger Beer, Metropolitan Brewing Crank Shaft (Chicago), and maybe some more, but those are the ones that stand out.
Undrinkable ones were from the Capital brewery in Middleton, WI.
Nosferatu by Great Lakes was also available at both events, but we both had drank it before.
.JPG)
So was there a favorite of ours out of the two? Not really. Would have liked more food and port-o-potties that weren't in the dark at Mash Tun, but overall tasted less beers that we didn't like. The Chicago Beer Festival was bigger and had more variety, but it was more common to taste beers we didn't like. All in all, both events were fun and a great way to stay warm on a cold fall day. Bottoms up!
.JPG)
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