Touring the Links: Beer Events & Social Updates
Powered by sausages and cheese curds
Breaking yesterday: For those of you who loved Links Taproom and still miss it after its immediate COVID closure, good news! They’re coming back, per this Chicago Reader story,1 and in addition to their famous sausage menu, they’re going to start making beer, too.
Links owner Mike Quinlan will be taking over the On Tour facility, rebranding it to Links Taproom & Brewery later this year. Unfortunately, that means that On Tour’s tour of duty is coming to a close (and I get the feeling that they maybe weren’t exactly ready for that news to break).
Salute them this weekend by playing your favorite Phish song in their honor. “Favorite” being relative, depending on how you feel about Phish.
Before we dive into this weekend’s events (and there are A LOT) I have a quick correction. The fine staff at Prairie Street Brewing Company in Rockford deserve the praise for last week’s saving of a delivery driver whose car went into the Rock River.
On Monday, I unfortunately instead praised the nonexistent employees at Prairie Rock Brewing Company, which closed well over a decade ago. Whoops. My mistake. (But when it did exist in Elgin and Schaumburg, I loved their vanilla ale!)
Reminder: Only Premium Subscribers are being sent Wednesday label updates via email. Lite Subscribers can click here to see this week’s beautiful Tiger-tastic label from Marz Brewing Company.
Tonight:
Tonight, Spiteful takes over Big Star West Town for a Carnitas and Cans event on the 21st while at The Open Bottle - Lockport, you have the chance to taste two special versions of Toppling Goliath’s Pseudo Sue pale ale.
Tomorrow:
A big 2/22 kicks off with the launch party for Somos Monos Cerveceria at Whiner Beer Co.
Also at noon, the Naperville Winter Ale Fest takes place with 150+ beers, an infusion tent (remember Randalls?), a cask tent and ten food trucks.
There’s also a Mardi Gras-themed Lake County Beer Festival on Saturday evening - it looks like there’s about 50 beverage makers on hand, and it looks like this one is indoors.
Also on the 22nd is the “Burnin’ Rubber” Chili Cookoff benefitting Connections for the Homeless at Double Clutch.
All three Pollyanna locations are hosting an Eis Fest celebrating the relase of their Jötunheimr eisbock lager (and four variants of eisbock! Fun!) on the 22nd.
Feel like a vintage beer? Hie thee to Delilahs tomorrow for their 27th annual Vintage Beer Fest.
Destihl’s annual Dosvidanya Day - aka Dos Day - takes place in Normal.
If you’re in Indianapolis, Centerpoint Brewing hosts their Frigid Digits Winter Beer Fest on the 22nd with 40 breweries in attendance.
If you’re in the Grand Rapids area on the 22nd, the Michigan Brewers Guild is holding their Winter Beer Fest at LMCU Stadium in Comstock Park. Also, Arvon is celebrating the 5th anniversary of their taproom nearby.
If you’re around Michigan City, you can check out their 10th annual Shelf Ice Beer Fest from noon to 5pm.
If you’re near Marshall, MI (with a team of up to four people) you can check out Dark Horse’s 3rd annual Winter Beer Olympics. Be prepared to eat spicy stuff.
Sunday:
The annual outdoor Wuckfinter festival at Ray’s Wine & Spirits in Wauwatosa, in collaboration with Three Floyds, is set for Feb. 23.
Next Week & Beyond:
Want to learn how to play Mahjongg? Head to One Lake Brewery in Oak Park on the 26th for beers and game instruction.
At Imperial Oak Brookfield on the 26th, you can attend a beer dinner with an English pub-inspired menu from Truff Noir.
Haymarket’s annual Sausagefest happens March 8th: 13 breweries, 13 sausages, one king of the wiener.
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Last October, an employee of Pollyanna Brewing Company in St. Charles and MORE Brewing passed away. In his honor, they’ve brewed a special beer called “Nate’s Endless Wave” whose proceeds support Canines 4 Comfort.
Goose Island announced that this year they’d be offering Single Barrel BCS selections, and the first place we’ve seen make a pick is Bitter Pops, who picked a barrel that had been aging for six years. This means they’ve got the oldest bottled BCBS ever made, and accordingly, it sold out almost immediately.
Speaking of Goose, they bottled their BA Shamrock Stout for the first time this year.
Last week I asked if anyone had a link to the Funkytown investment info; they clarified who they’re looking for this week.
What fruit is Odd Side adding to their 15th Anniversary stout? Guess right and you could win a lifetime mug club membership.
The latest brewery to issue some rules about where children can and cannot be in their taproom is Scorched Earth … who interestingly, isn’t going totally scorched-earth on kids.
3 Sheeps did some science this week, figuring out exactly how long it’d take for one of their cream ales to freeze at -30 degrees.
Miskatonic Craft Kitchen shows you how the sausage is made this week - specifically their house mettwurst.
If you happen to be near Brewery Vivant this weekend, the first barrel-aged stout they’ve released in a while is out in the form of this Shadow Raven.
Speaking of birds, at 7,000 feet, there are no pigeons, Spiteful Brewing was happy to discover.
is/was is now in their also-brewing-non-saisons era.
Blind Corner’s taproom at GO Brewing looks pretty cool.
After the Shelf Ice Brewfest we mentioned above, you can head to Burn’Em Brewing’s 1-year anniversary party and bid on brewing your own beer with them in a silent auction.
Thank you all for being here! Have a great weekend. See y’all on Monday.
~Karl, a Guy Drinking something barrel-aged this weekend, I think.
I know they’ve been having lots of budget issues lately but it’s really good to see some beer coverage back in the Reader.