Hurricane Help, Fundraising & Finance: It's This Week's Beer Events & Socials
...And some info about Short Fuse's Metro delay
A few notable things to kickstart our Friday afternoon:
No social media post was sent to me more this week than this announcement, letting followers know that Short Fuse was postponing their release party for their soon-to-be-revived Metropolitan lagers. I reached out to founder Nick Teague to ask what was going on. He responded via email saying:
“We just felt [in] another month we would be in a better position to do the launch. Although we had several runs of Krankshaft under our belt, Craig our head brewer felt this batch of Krankshaft didn’t turn out as well as past ones for a couple of minor reasons on the process. We had another batch in the tanks already and felt it’s likely that batch will be better.
In addition, we only had 10 bbls of Krankshaft and Flywheel that would be ready this week and [we’d] likely run out quickly. Last weekend we [also] had some staffing issues …our only goal was to have a really strong start to the brand and with so many small issues popping up it seemed best to just push it back.”
If you haven’t already read our full Q&A with Nick about their taking over of the Metro brand, do yourself a solid and check it out here.
Kinslahger is asking for your help this week. Their lead brewer, Russhane Dawkins, has family in Jamaica whose house lost its roof and suffered major water damage from Hurricane Beryl. They are looking for help raising funds for repairs, as insurance isn’t really a thing for most people in Jamaica and local governmental assistance is minimal.
You can check out their full IG post here, and if you’re so inclined, throw a few bucks at the GoFundMe they’ve set up.
One Trick Pony sadly announced that as of August, they were closing the brewery with the intent of shuttering the taproom by September 1st, but it sounds like they want to continue elsewhere, stating that they “continue to explore both short- and long-term options” and they “hope to be able to raise a glass with you all again in a future OTP Lansing location.”
Go Brewing announced a joint partnership with Noon Whistle in a new company called Craftsmith to help expand both brands, and also announced that they were also now backed by “by one of the most prestigious early-stage consumer-based venture firms” called Listen. Big week for NA beer as Athletic also announced their own $50M equity investment.
On a smaller financial note, I’m happy to see that Lake Effect Brewing met their first funding goal of $50K for their taproom via Honeycomb Credit; there’s a little over a week remaining to hit that $100K goal if you want to go in.
Whew. That’s a lot going on already, but it’s also another busy month for beer-centric events. Here’s what we’ve stumbled across this week:
This Weekend:
This year’s Square Roots Fest in Lincoln Square is always a reliably good place to have a quality beer at a Chicago street fest. Dovetail has a special hopfenlager available there, along with other local breweries like Maplewood, Begyle, Pilot Project and Half Acre.
Sun King celebrates 15 years of business with a party in Indianapolis tomorrow, July 13.
Next Week & Beyond:
Goldfinger’s Fourth Lagerversary is coming up on July 19-21, featuring two cool collab beers (made with Live Oak & Bierstadt Lagerhaus).
Waypost Brewing Company is hosting a traditional kolsch service in their beer garden next Friday from 4-9pm.
Head to Emmett’s West Dundee on July 20th to celebrate their 25th birthday with, among other things, an adult big wheel race.
is/was brewing’s annual Levain Day returns on the 20th, with space for just a dozen saison superfans … which will apparently be happening at their new taproom.
Great Lakes is hosting their Christmas Ale in July event starting at 11:30am on July 25.
Interested in conversations about meat snacks? You’ll want to attend Dovetail’s first annual Landjaeger & Treber-Fest on July 26th, which features a conversation with Jesse Brookstein, author of the extremely specific book A PERFECT PAIR: THE HISTORY OF LANDJAEGER IN GREEN COUNTY WISCONSIN.
The summer of Decade Celebrations continues! Congrats to our friends at ABV Chicago, who are hosting a 10th Anniversary Party at Beer on the Wall on Saturday, July 27th. Details will be posted to their website soon.
Also on July 27th, Rabid Brewing is hosting their annual Feast of the Goat Queen, which, of course, will have baby goats. Tickets are on sale and this post makes it look pretty fun.
Also also on the 27th, Iron & Glass Romeoville is hosting their third Lagerfest.
On August 3rd, Liquid Love celebrates their 4th anniversary with (among other things) an Oktoberfest release? Sure, why not!
August 17th sees the return of the Oak Park Microbrew Review, now in its 17th year.
So much going on these days! Our Friday emails remain free and unrestricted thanks to the help of our Premium Subscribers, because we want to give you a reason (or three) to visit a local brewery or beer event each week.
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Nik & Ivy announced that only “family friendly pets” would be allowed in their patio, which sounds like something that’s tough to police, but hey, it’s their policy.
Burning Bush is hosting a blood drive next Friday.
Une Annee/Hubbards Cave started taking reservations on Tock, because their weekends are apparently getting pretty busy, which is a good problem to have these days.
Did you know that Illuminated Brew Works has its own coloring book? Apparently they do. Well, sorta.
Did you know that Peckish Pig hosts flamenco performances on their patio? They do! And there’s one tonight!
I haven’t shared much from Brewery Vivant of late, but for the table beer fans among us, they have a new 3.5% ale called Bread Basket out now.
Cool new signage, 4 Hands.
As if anyone needed more reason to visit STL’s Little Lager taproom, but they’ve been working on special collab lagers just for their space, including this forthcoming one from Southern Grist.
Who’s doing the marketing for Double Clutch Brewing these days? They were the official beer sponsor for Michigan Avenue Magazine’s NASCAR Street Race watch party and are also providing the first official beer (in package form, at least) for the upcoming Windy City Smokeout.
ICYMI on Monday, the brewery at Journeyman Distillery, Sea of Monsters, released their first beer a few days ago.
Brass Ring Brewery just released a new “bestest bitter” collab with Founders — available on cask only. Love it. I recently visited BRB so Premium Subscribers should look for a post about this place soon!
Premium Subscribers were also among the first this week to see the new label for the Hopewell/Wild East collab lager called Duolandia. Hopewell shared more about the beer here, and also mentioned that this afternoon, they’re tapping some Wild East beers for the first time in Chicago.
Noon Whistle is on the hunt for an entry-level back-of-house hire and an experienced cellarperson while Dark Horse Brewing is looking for … a lot of people.
Ravinia Brewing asked for a “cease fire” against the Ravinia Festival yesterday in the hopes of dialing down some of the fire resulting from the lawsuit filed against them.
Having a party this summer? Two Hound Red Brewing now has kegs to go.
Black and Grey Brewing announced that they were “rightsizing” their taproom, with a new coffee and wine bar moving into the new space next door.
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Until then, see y’all next week! Have a great weekend.
~Karl