Happy Friday, friends. You made it through a hot one. Hope you get a little respite from the heat this weekend even if it looks like a scorcher tomorrow for our Chicago bretheren. You know what I’ve heard helps? Really cold beer. Maybe on a shaded brewery patio somewhere. Just a suggestion.
Thankfully since Wednesday I haven’t seen news of any other closures but I’m still keeping my eyes peeled. Might even have time to take a pass at our Chicagoland brewery map and see what updates need to be made. (I just pulled Lagunitas Chicago, for starters.)
Okay! It’s another crazy weekend for events at breweries all over the place. Here are a bunch of upcoming…
This Weekend:
All weekend long, you can head to Goldfinger Brewing Company for their “Community Weekend” which means $6 beers today through Sunday.
Werk Force kicked off their 10th Anniversary Extravaganza on Wednesday, and they’re carrying it all the way through Sunday with a special Sleepy Bear release and a special Thank You IPA release.
In Kalamazoo, Wax Wings is partying all weekend to celebrate their sixth bithday with live music, a darts competition and wrestling.
In Milwaukee, this year’s Lager & Friends festival is taking place on Saturday at Gathering Place Brewing. Tickets appear to still be available.
Beermiscuous Lakeview is hosting a party for their tenth year in business all day on Saturday with a group bike ride to their Highwood location the next day.
Also on Saturday, starting at noon: Roaring Table’s Tuba Fest.
Next Week & Beyond:
The Ravenswood COC is hosting this year’s Malt Row on Damen beer and small business stroll on Wednesday, June 26th. Tickets are here.
On Thursday the 27th, you can embark on a great quest with Wizards & Whiners: RPG Night at Whiner Brewing.
Miskatonic is hosting a “90’s for the 9th” birthday party on June 29. Bitchin’.
Dovetail’s bringing back their tachinomi service and soba noodle demo on June 30th. (The latter is a ticketed event and sold out quick last time, and it looks like just a few more tickets are available at the moment.)
Also on the 30th, wrap up Pride Month with not one but two drag shows at Industry Ales - one at brunch and one in the evening going until 2am.
Half Acre’s annual Only Gold party with Vienna Beef is set for July 5.
Sun King celebrates 15 years with a party in Indianapolis on July 13.
Way out on July 20th, Emmett’s West Dundee is celebrating their 25th birthday with, among other things, an adult big wheel race.
Way way out on July 27th, Rabid Brewing is already getting ready for their annual Feast of the Goat Queen, which, of course, will have baby goats.
Wow - that sure is a lot going on. Our Friday emails remain free and unrestricted thanks to the help of our Premium Subscribers, because we want to give you new reasons to visit a local brewery or beer festival each week.
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This is fun: Demo Brewery is offering a “hop flight” where you can compare three different hops in what is otherwise the exact same beer.
I sadly forgot to include Half Acre’s Daisy 15 party in last week’s events email (it was a busy weekend!) but thankfully it looks like my omission didn’t dramatically impact attendance.
Haymarket’s Chicago Tavern Beer is wildly underappreciated (IMO) so it’s nice to see it getting a little attention and acknowledgement from the North American Brewers Association 2024 International Beer Awards.
Make plans for Michelada Mondays at Monochrome.
Now open on Mondays throughout the summer: Macushla Brewing Co.
Pilot Project kindly reminded us this week that their MKE rooftop looks pretty wonderful.
One Lake Brewing collaborated with Dive Bar Soap Company to make “beer soap” out of a mild ale and a lager.
Founders posted about the Pride Fest they were sponsoring claiming that they’re “strong believers that a taproom should be a place where inclusion and acceptance thrive” but I didn’t see a similar post acknowledging Juneteeth. Hm. Weird.
Cheers, though, to Knack Brewing & Fermentation for hosting their own Pride Festival last week. Kankakee doesn’t strike me as being particularly open to queer representation and drag shows and such (in comparison, say, to the north side of Chicago), which is exactly where this visibility and support is needed most.
In case we didn’t mention it, the Midwest Coast Brewing rooftop bar is now open, and it looks awesome.
Last week we celebrated the 30th birthday of BTF’s Manitou Amber … did you know that in the early 90s it earned high praise from the Beer Hunter Michael Jackson himself?
Good news / bad news for Seedz fans … they had to shut down for one day for mechanical work, but it’s in the pursuit of an expansion.
Nice new Della Kolsch truck, Old Irving.
The Indiana Brewers Guild got together at Triton Brewing and Sugar Creek Malt to promote a few board members and add a few new others.
Kaiser Tiger combined their shuttle for tomorrow’s Justin Timberlake concert and this week’s DUI news (and resulting meme) to create something very clever.
It’s not every day you get to see a beer being made with the help of the Stanley Cup, but that happened at Short’s this morning, it appears.
Pretty cool!
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Until then, see y’all next week! Have a great weekend.
~Karl