This Week's Chicago-Centric Craft Beer Events & Socials: A Closure and an (Imminent?) Opening
Adieu, Orkenoy, bienvenidos pronto Monochrome
It’s been a while since we had one of these (that we immediately believed, anyways) but we’re starting today’s email with a closure announcement.
On Wednesday, Orkenoy, the Nordic-inspired brewpub near Humboldt Park, announced that they’d be closing this Sunday. If you enjoyed their beers, good news — they already have plans to keep popping up around town.
From their announcement:
“This isn’t the end - it’s a transition…We will continue to harness the kindness and power of the Chicago beer community and to share our visions of beer and brewing. We have already begun booking out brew days and release events across the city that will run through the rest of the year.”
Some better news comes from Monochrome Brewing, which should be opening in the former Lo Rez spot in Pilsen soon. Per their first IG post, we should stay tuned for more info “over the next few days.” Looks like they’re moving fast!
Now on to some upcoming…
Burning Bush is hosting a Spring Fest all day tomorrow (April 20th). They’ll have live music, food vendors, family entertainment (including face painting and a bounce house) and, of course, beer.
As a former employee of WLS Radio and a lover of Chicago history, I urge you to attend this Conrad Seipp-sponsored event tomorrow night at the Hideout, celebrating the century of country music in Chicago that started at the WLS Barn Dance (which preceded the Grand Ol’ Opry by a few years).
Should you choose to spend your 4/20 doing 4/20 kind of things, the Marz Brewing Mothership is hosting their Dank Magic Market, where they’ll be launching their hemp-infused Stupid Soda and pouring some dank IPAs as well as hosting some local artists and marketers.
As a resident of the planet Earth, I also urge you to check out this Taste of Science event on Thursday, April 25th at Whiner Beer, featuring “free, approachable, and insightful mini-lectures on climate science [from] Dr. Liz Moyer from the University of Chicago and Dr. Gavin McNicol from the University of Illinois Chicago.”
If you’re in the ‘burbs on afternoon of the 27th, Church Street is hosting Fruhlingfest 2024, with about a dozen brewers on hand. This would be a great way to try beers from the likes of 206 Brewing, Wolfden Brewing, Nik & Ivy, Fox Republic and more.
Looking for something lager-focused on that date? How about the Legends of Lager festival on the 27th at Duneyrr Fermenta in collaboration with the Chicago Beer Society?
Also on the 27th, you can celebrate Arrowhead Ales’ eighth birthday.
For Illuminated Brew Works, this is about as on-brand as it gets. Join them on the 28th for a Beer Blotter Bash featuring a live reading from author Erik Davis from his new book Blotter, “the first comprehensive written account of the history, art, and design of LSD blotter paper, the iconic drug delivery device that will perhaps forever be linked to underground psychedelic culture and contemporary street art.” They’re also releasing a barrel-aged barleywine that night as well, so yeah, should be a trip.
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Sadly, at least two North Side breweries have been burglarized recently. Burning Bush got hit a few weeks ago and then apparently hit them again a few days ago. Demo Brewery got their door kicked in as well this week, and there are plenty of other businesses dealing with the same BS.
I know most of us aren’t in Vegas for CBC but if I were, I would definitely be checking out this special Lukr pop-up event with Brienne Allan of Sacred Profane Brewing and Eric Larkin of Cohesion Brewing, two of the leaders of Czech beer service in America. Beers poured by them plus a demo? Yes please.
Windmill Brewing now owns a food truck, which is good for hungry drinkers but less good for their famous brewery cat Luther.
When I tell you that you can try a beer called “St. Georgen Brau Buttenheimer Hopfenzupfer” doesn’t that immediately make you want to get your ass to Laschet’s? It should.
Are we all doing orange-cream dreamsicle flavors again this summer? Hailstorm says yes we are.
This is a few weeks belated (only just saw the post yesterday), but speaking of Hailstorm, if your brewery even has the slightest history of ever employing someone who was accused of (and admitted to) sexual misconduct, maybe think twice about releasing beers with a guy exposing his thankfully-blurred-out genitals on the label.
For a limited time, you can drink Cubby Bear Lager not at the Cubby Bear but where it’s made, at Spiteful Brewing.
Slightly related (in that it’s a sportsy kind of beer), Atwater has a new Big Pick IPA out in plenty of time for the NFL Draft next week. See you soon, Caleb.
Your move, Lil’ Buddy: Dovetail now has the smallest packaged beers in town with these 7.5oz. cans of framboise and kriek. Also, as of yesterday, the Dovetail/Binny’s collab sticke alt is back in the world.
And as of today, Batch Brewing has released their On Guard pre-prohibition lager in collaboration with the Detroit Free Press.
I’m going to let Nicolas Cage explain this post from Scratch Brewing:
I really have to insist on a moratorium of Taylor Swift inspired social posts using all her song titles as references but at least Industry Ales nailed the look of Tortured Poets Department along with it. Can we be done now? I’m halfway through listening to the new record(s) and I’m so bored.
Wow. That’s a lot of stuff going on. If you found anything in this email informative, enlightening or entertaining, it’d be wonderful if you considered joining as a Premium Subscriber:
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Until then, see y’all on Monday! Have a great weekend.
~Karl