Last Saturday, the Festival of Barrel Aged Beer rocked the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers' Hall in the West Loop. This annual tasting of strong and tangy beers from the wood was the biggest yet with 113 beers from 41 breweries from 14 states. The Plumbers' Hall turned out to be an excellent venue for this event, with visual appeal, good acessbility, and a nice loading dock for getting all those kegs in and out. The affable Pete Crowley from Rock Bottom was the driving force behind the event, and now I've got a better understanding of how they kick so much beer out of that brewpub downtown. Personally, in addition to the beer, I enjoyed the solidarity with the Plumbers' who are invaluable partners in the everyday work of making beer. The eastern spiral staircase in the hall was home to the wonderful mural above, which was credited to 'National Decorating Service "Studios" 1960'. I look forward to the day the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild has such a nice hall to decorate with inspiring verse.
Back to the beer event, there were far too many tasty beers to mention but I enjoyed Goose Island's blackberry rye aged in cabernet barrel brew aptly named Juliet. I preferred the wild, sour beers, but lord did I sampled plenty of barley wine in one day. Piece's Monkey Knuckle (cousin of the Camel Toe) had some nice hop for a barley wine and Lost Abbey's Angel's Share was the most refined of the bunch. Tomme Arthur of Lost Abbey/Pizza Port stopped by the Handlebar today in the midst of their Chicago launch of bottled product. A nice guy making nice beer.