So, So Many Oktoberfests - Plus g-g-g-g-g-g-g-Ghosts?
Powered by festbier, natch
There are a zillion Oktoberfests going on this weekend, and we’re gonna talk about the closing of District Brewyards too, but first:
Last October, we chatted with Katie Wolf of Bloomingdale’s Wolfden Brewing, asking the question…
Is Wolfden America's Most Haunted Brewery?
Note: This post is a little different than usual, and it’s not terribly beer-y, but it’s at the very least beer-adjacent and I thought it’d be fun.
Katie reached out this week to let us know that their two-hour ghost tours are back and tickets are up for sale! I know we’re all in Oktoberfest mode right now, but strap on your spooky caps and make your reservations now - they completely sold out last year.
In these tours, you will…
•Walk the property with owner Katie Wolf, while learning the origins of our historic town & the history of our 175-year-old building!
•Uncover dark secrets and conspiracies about what haunts the property!
•Hear firsthand ghost experiences from Wolfden employees!
•Search for spirits of the past, with our professional ghost hunting equipment!
Plus there’s two drinks per person! Tours take place every Tuesday night and this is something that very few other American breweries can offer. Go have some fun. Tell ‘em we say hi.
From the Bad News Department: On Wednesday, the owner of District Brewyards announced plans to close both the Chicago and Wheeling locations. In turn, this means the (hopefully only temporary) end for Around the Bend, Burnt City, Histrionic Brewlabs (Wheeling only) and Twisted Hippo.
Casa Humilde will be able to carry on with their own Forest Park taproom but it’s TBD for everyone else. We’ve reached out to a couple of the breweries to see if they have any statement to share or any initial thoughts on next steps, but as of now, no impacted brand has made any post to their socials about what’s going on.
Reminder: Only Premium Subscribers get to see behind the paywall for the rest of these newsworthy social media updates! They’re also the only ones being sent Wednesday label updates via email. Lite Subscribers can click here to see a curious Bloom.
This weekend might be the busiest brewery and beer event weekend I’ve ever seen. It’s bonkers how much stuff is going on. Please, if you’re reading this, find a place to go drink a beer, hoist a stein, have some schnitzel, and feel the O’fest spirit for an afternoon.
You know, like I was feeling the spirit here at 11am, Munich time during my one Oktoberfest visit:
This Weekend’s Chicagoland Oktoberfests:
Apologies to anyone I missed! Here’s what I’ve got…
Sept. 17-21: Werk Force started Oktoberfest partying already and carries through the weekend.
Sept. 19-20: Sew Hop’d hosts their Oktoberfest.
Sept. 19-20: Church Street Brewing’s Oktoberfest.
Sept. 19-20: Flapjack Brewing’s Beerwyn Oktoberfest.
Sept. 19-21: Old Irving Brewery hosts a weekend full of Oktoberfesting and their 9th Hoptoberversary.
Sept. 19-21: FIBS Brewing’s Bocktoberfest Weekend.
Sept. 19-21: Old Town Oktoberfest.
Sept. 19-21: Oktoberfest at both of Sketchbook Brewing’s locations.
Sept. 19-21, 26-28 and October 3-5: Oktoberfest on the Riverwalk at Northman Chicago.
Sept. 20: Flipside Brewing’s Fliptoberfest.
Sept. 20: Marz Brewing’s Chugtoberfest.
Sept 20: Goldfinger hosts their Oktoberfest with a ceremonial gravity keg tapping (by the mayor!) at noon and then a special gravity keg of oak-infused Oktoberfest at 5pm.
Sept. 20: Spiteoberfest at Spiteful Brewing.
Sept. 20: Hopewell’s Oktoberfest.
Sept. 20: Monochrome Brewing’s Octubrefest.
Sept. 20: Cruz Blanca’s Das Bueno Oktoberfest with some fun sounding sausages lined up.
Sept. 20: Homebrewers' Pride of the Southside (HOPS) Oktoberfest at the VFW in Bridgeport.
Sept. 20: The Beer Temple’s Oktoberfest Kick-Off with livestreams from Munich and Oktoberfest pizza.
Sept. 20-Oct. 5: Oktoberfest at The Publican.
Sept. 21: Off Color’s Offtoberfest with a Links Taproom & Brewery sausage popup.
Upcoming Midwestern O’fests:
Sept. 23-27: In downtown Wheaton, 302 Wheaton hosts a sixth-year anniversary celebration (and an Oktoberfest at the same time).
Sept. 23-28: Hopvine Brewing Company’s Hoptoberfest.
Sept. 25-28: Imperial Oak Bagstoberfest Willow Springs.
Sept. 25-28: New Glarus Oktoberfest, with chainsaw carving!
Sept. 26-27: Oktoberfest Grand Rapids, which is expected to bring in about 10,000 attendees. Wow.
Sept. 26-27: The recently refreshed Cary Ale House hosts their Oktoberfest.
Sept. 27-Oct. 3: It’s Frankfort Beer Week, which mostly means a bunch of fun stuff at Stormcloud Brewing.
Sept. 27: Tighthead Brewing’s Hoptoberfest!
Sept. 27: Mikerphone’s Oktoberfest.
Sept. 27: Haymarket’s Oktoberfest in Chicago and in Bridgman.
Sept. 27: In Port Washington, WI, Inventors Brewpub hosts their Oktoberfest with stein holding and hammerschlagen. (Not a Chicagoland event but just in case any ‘Sconnies need help finding one this month!)
Sept. 27-28: Oktoberfest at Wolfden Brewing Company.
Oct. 3-5: Buffalo Creek Brewing’s Oktoberfest Festival in their Biergarten.
Oct. 4: Elmtoberfest with Phase Three and Bottle Theory.
Oct. 6: Burning Bush’s Fall Fest.
If you attended any of these, please let me know! I’d love to hear that accumulating all these data points benefitted someone, somewhere.
Also This Friday / Starting Friday:
Up in Petoskey, Elder Piper’s Harvest Party takes place today and tomorrow.
Up in Waukesha, Raised Grain is celebrating their tenth birthday with a big two-day bash that starts tonight.
Saturday, Sept. 20:
Thanks to Meg for flagging this one with us! In North Center, check out PARK(ing) Day 2025: A Celebration of Community and Urban Transformation. They’re turning the parking lots at Demo Brewing and Dovetail Brewery into urban parks with live music, yoga, guest speakers, advocacy displays and plenty of food and drink.
Our Events Listings remain free and unrestricted to all readers, because we want to give you a reason (or three) to visit a local brewery or beer event every week.
These listings skew Chicagoland-centric but I love to include events from around the Midwest! If there’s something you’d like to submit for inclusion, send me an email.
Our Social Updates section is usually exclusively for Premium Subscribers, but with all the O’fest tracking I only found two other things to pass along this week.
Enjoy, and please consider subscribing to support our weekly efforts here.
Goose Island reposted an old Honker’s Ale commercial from the 90s, which I thought was a lot of fun and a cool little Chicago time capsule. Goose Me!
I don’t know who needs to know this, but Old Style 30 packs are now available in Illinois. Was that not the case before? I swear I’ve bought 30racks of Old Style (and Old Style Genuine Draft!) in the past.
Thank you all for being here!
~Karl, a Guy Drinking some sort of Marzen and Festbier somewhere. Not sure where, but it’s gonna happen.
And Suncatcher Brewing's Ofest is this Saturday, 1-6pm! https://www.instagram.com/p/DO6wjy2iUlK/