Tag: events

The Great Taste of the Midwest at Olin-Turville Park in Madison, WI is always one of the country’s best beer festivals. It’s become so popular that the limited (now 6000) tickets sell out WAY in advance. This year is no exception – the event has already been declared a sellout!!  But – as has been the case for many years – CBS offers its members first dibs from our already-purchased block ‘o tickets. In fact, we’ll even bus you there and back, whether you live in Chicago or the suburbs.

CBS has booked two luxury coaches that will comfortably transport folks to and from Madison. The bus for City folk will depart from Goose Island Clybourn while the Country bus leaves from Rock Bottom Warrenville. Both buses will depart at 9:30 am and return around 9 pm the same evening.

Members were snail-mailed an official flyer in early June with your unique password in order to receive the membership price. Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

You can purchase tickets for the CITY BUS here: cbscitybus15.brownpapertickets.com ****SOLD OUT****
You can purchase tickets for the COUNTRY BUS here: cbscountrybus15.brownpapertickets.com ****ONE TICKET REMAINS****

There are currently a limited number of tickets available for non-members.  Order soon as supplies are limited.

For those lucky enough to score tickets, here’s some important information:

• No smoking; no kegs or glass containers on the bus
• You must be at least 21 years old to attend
• Festival tickets will be distributed on the bus, no exceptions. No refunds. YOU MUST RIDE THE BUS SPECIFIED ON YOUR TICKET TO GET YOUR TICKET TO THE FEST!

Chicagoans sometimes refer to Milwaukee as being like “a smaller Chicago.” We figure this probably irks Milwaukeeans (all 97,000 of ’em…er is it 970,000?… whatever), but hopefully they won’t take it out on us.

On Saturday July 11, at 9:25 a.m. sharp, we will board a luxurious motor-coach for a one-day trip to Milwaukee and back! This journey will include a visit to Sprecher Beer Garden in the Park, with bratwurst and beer served from refurbished fire engines; the outstanding Lakefront Brewing Co. Brewery Tour (with samples), as well as a visit to Ale Asylum’s Milwaukee location. After a brief stop at Woodman’s so that guests can pick up a six-pack or two of Wisconsin beer to bring home, we will re-cross the border to the flat lands and aim the bus for Libertyville, Ill., where we will visit Mickey Finn’s to have a beer and a bite with brewer Greg Browne, a long-time friend of CBS. In fact this trip may be full of old friends. We end up back at Goose Island – Clybourn (where this trip begins), by around 6:30 or 7 pm. Yes, there will be cheese, and yes there will be plenty to eat at two of our stops.

Itinerary (Saturday July 11th, 2015)

• Leave Goose Island – Clybourn (9 AM SHARP!) Please use street parking or take public transit. Cars parked in lots could be towed.
• Sprecher Beer Garden in the Park
  • Bratwurst and beer served from fire engines!
• Lakefront Brewing Co (samples included)
• Ale Asylum (Milwaukee)
• Visit to Woodmans to fetch a six-pack or two of your favorite Wisconsin beer
• Mickey Finns
• Arrive Goose Island – Clybourn (~6:30 – 7:00 PM)

Ticket Details

• Chicago Beer Society Member – $70/person (Buy Tickets) member passwords were emailed around June 5th
• Non-member – $75/person (Buy Tickets)
• NO KEGS OR GLASS CONTAINERS ALLOWED ON BUS

For questions regarding this event or membership status, please Contact Us.

You are cordially invited to the annual celebration of the American Homebrewers Association‘s Big Brew Day. Homebrewers all across the country will be brewing batches of beer at the same time, including some of us. There are even some standard recipes listed on the Big Brew Page (which we rarely follow).

IF YOU PLAN ON BREWING, YOU MUST CONTACT RANDY BELOW TO RESERVE A SPACE.  Space is limited.

We expect, as in the past, that the party will be mostly non-brewing participants–thank gawd, as we’d burn down the neighborhood otherwise. Gates will be open starting at 8:30 AM (brewers can set up earlier by prior arrangement) and coffee and coffeecake will be available for early birds.

Please note that THIS IS A 100% PITCH IN PARTY. We have a ploughman’s lunch (cheese, cured meat, pickles, bread, etc.) midday-ish, then get the smoker fired up and eat a hot meaty dinner later. We’ll have a Big Green Egg available as well as the smoker. Do NOT show up empty handed: beer, meat, cheeses, side dishes for dinner, snacks, and desserts, preferably homebrewed or homemade, are all welcome. Chicago Beer Society will supply plates, forks, cups, etc. We will also take a brief break for mint juleps whilst viewing the Kentucky Derby around 5-ish, if you’re interested. We will provide mint and simple syrup, but we will require a large jug of bourbon.

This is an outdoor event and will be held RAIN OR SHINE.  Regardless of the predicted temperature, it can be considerably cooler by the lake especially if the sun is not shining so dress accordingly.  In case of rain, we’ll have EZ-ups and other shelters set up. We have limited seating, so portable/collapsible chairs are advisable if you want to be guaranteed a seat. We’ll fire up the fire pit after dinner, so we can Kumbaya around it at the end of the evening.

Date & Time: Saturday, May 2, 2015 from 8:30 AM until Nancy has had enough and makes everyone leave.

Location: 1604 W. Lunt Ave, in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Lunt is 7000 north; we’re 4 blocks west of the lake, 2 blocks east of Clark, 1 block north of the Morse Red Line stop. Also easily accessible from the Metra UP North Line Rogers Park stop, which is just a block west of Clark on Lunt. Parking is on the street only, so good luck with that…

Contact: 773 973 0240 or randymosher@rcn.com if you plan to brew and need to reserve a space.  Otherwise, feel free to come with beer, meat, cheese, or side dishes in hand.