The number of craft breweries in Chicago continues to grow exponentially. Over the past year, the newcomers I’ve written about for my Beer and Metal column—just a fraction of the total—include Temperance, Penrose, DryHop, Une Annee, Transient, Forbidden Root, Middle Brow, and Cahoots. This expansion demonstrates the difference between a bubble magicked up by financial-sector legerdemain and organic growth driven by an actual product that real people want—and it guarantees that the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild’s fifth annual Chicago Craft Beer Week, which runs from Thu 5/15 till Sun 5/25, will be more than a rehash of last year’s extravaganza.
Thursday 5/15
General admission tickets to Craft Beer Week’s official kick-off event, Beer Under Glass, have been sold out for weeks now (though VIP tickets are still available). Beer in Your Glass, however, looks like a good alternative: Emporium Arcade will feature a plethora of Illinois brewers, including Solemn Oath, Half Acre, Revolution, Pipeworks, Off Color, Local Option, Penrose, Metropolitan, Temperance, BuckleDown, Brickstone, Ale Syndicate, 5 Rabbit, Une Annee, and Haymarket. They’ll also be releasing Goth Syrup, a Solemn Oath beer exclusive to Emporium Arcade Bar and Bangers & Lace. 5 PM-2 AM, 1366 N. Milwaukee.
If you’re feeling hard-core, go to the early session of Mini-FOBAB, stop for dinner to sober up, and then head over to Reggie’s for the second session of Craft Beer Brewtality, presented in collaboration with Chicago Beer Geeks. They’ll be pouring some unusual beers, including Three Floyds Blakkr, Stone Cali-Belgique IPA aged in red-wine barrels, 4 Hands Madagascar Barrel Aged Stout With Vanilla Bean, Pipeworks barrel-aged Date Sugar Yeast Magik, and Revolution 4th Year Beer. Those attending the second session can stay for a performance by Japanese metal band Coffins. 4-7 PM and 8-11 PM, 2105 S. State, $30, $40 with the Coffins show.
Friday 5/23
The Fountainhead celebrates the history of local craft beer with It Comes in Waves, an ongoing tapping of beers from what they’ve deemed the first wave of local(ish) breweries (Goose Island, Two Brothers, Three Floyds), the second wave (Metropolitan, Half Acre, Revolution), and the third wave (everything else). There’s also the “microwave,” beers brewed by chef Cleetus Friedman in collaboration with local breweries. Tue-Sat 5/20-5/25, 1970 W. Montrose.
