Ballpark Brewfest

Best beer fest I’ve been to in awhile! Actually it may be the best I’ve ever been to. Tickets were $ 40 for admission from 2−6pm (there was a VIP ticket for nearly double the price for an extra hour).
Bigby’s was the sponsor AKA the one putting on the fest and I love me some Bigby’s. Hands down the best craft beer bar in the ‘burbs and no question they should be the ones holding it down with an awesome fest.
The weather was friggin amazing and it just made for a fabulous Saturday. You could grab some tasters, sit in the ballpark seats (the fest is held at the Schaumburg Boomers Baseball Stadium) and chill out listening to some music. For most of the day they had an AC/​DC cover band. People were rocking out on the music… apparently it’s a thing to stick one finger up and point vigorously at the stage to show your appreciation of what’s playing.
55 breweries were reppin’ and most were local including some of my personal favorites — Revolution, Lagunitas, Church Street, Pipeworks, Solemn Oath and Ale Syndicate. My favorite part of the fest was of course discovering new beers and breweries.
Newbie Highlights for me included:
+Banging Gavel Brewery out of Chicago. I tried their Chicanery Russian Imperial Stout and the II Legit Imperial IPA… both were fantastic!
+Brothers Griff Brewing from Naperville. I enjoyed both of their offerings — Viking Spring a Belgian Strong Pale Ale and Beet It! an American Pale Wheat Ale made with beets. Call me Dwight Schrute because I was all up in that.
Never in my life had I had to add new beers to Untappd and I must admit I thought I was pretty cool doing so. Two new beers not in the Beermosphere had to be added to the beer tracking app.
Honestly 4 hours wasn’t enough time for me! Because we were taking our time and spacing out our drinks, we could have used another hour or two. I could see how the extra time may have killed others… but I’m a champ.
Sidenote — I don’t get pretzel necklaces. I never will. I mean I get that pretzels taste good but who wants to wear sticky salty food around their neck in 80 degree weather? Yuck.
I’ll definitely hit up the fest again next year and hope it’s just as awesome! I’d love if some of the local breweries offered some better, more rare options though (Lagunitas had IPA and Little Sumpin Sumpin = Laaaaaaaame!) and perhaps some extra special brews for VIP ticket holders to incentivise it that option a bit more.