Chicago Craft Beer Festival

Maybe it’s because I went on a Sunday last year, and maybe the haters from last year kept attendance down this year, but I loved this event both in 2014 and 2015.
New for 2015: They added a couple of food vendors this year and a DJ, both of which were great!
The Goods:
–Zero lines – immediate imbibing
–At least 20 different Midwestern breweries, all with delicious summer beers
–Delicious food options inside the tasting area and around the festival
–Free cheese samples!
–Fantastic DJ
–15 drink tickets = lots and lots of beer
–Relaxing atmosphere
The Mehs
–Lil plastic cups were looked cheap and blah – not sure where else I’d use them
–No place to sit other than the curbs
For $ 30, I’ll definitely go back for a third year!

APPLIES TO 2015 EVENT (SAT)
The below reviews really surprised me. I didn’t attend previous years at this festival but I thought this year’s event was awesome. Our group got in on the living social deal so the price was great. The checkin was super easy and fast and since the tickets were through Eventbrite it worked right from my phone. Nice! The tasting mugs were a cool 5oz and all the breweries filled them to the top. We got there early so got some solid beer crushing in before things picked up. Best part was we got way more than 15 tastes because a lot of tables didn’t seem to care about taking tickets. Even when it started dumping rain everyone stayed and drank until shutdown. There were also some free food samples but I never got around to those.
Overall I’d say this one of the best smaller-​scale beer festivals I have attended, and I have attended many. I would highly recommend it. Really looking forward to next year!

WHAT A WASTE OF $ 45, and I had a Groupon.
The set up was located in a tiny parking DePaul Univerdity parking lot. Lines were RIDICULOUSLY long for each brewer. It was utter and complete CHAOS. Clearly the tickets were over sold for the space available. My boyfriend and I ended up leaving after an hour amd a half and we gave our tickets away.
I do not plan on going next year. Please don’t waste your time.

I won’t rehash the other reviews, which accurately portrayed the disaster that was this event. But I want to acknowledge the response I got from Special Events Management, which refunded my tickets, hence the second star. They admitted things did not go smoothly on Saturday (they said it was better Sunday), and vowed to do things differently next time so that the festival is a success.
They responded to my complaint within minutes, were very humble and sincere. While the craft beer festival was a dud, I think they have heard the complaints and criticism loud and clear, and will do a better job next year.

I can’t agree more with all of the negative comments listed here. How on earth do you sell that many tickets (at almost $ 50 per) for an area that is a small parking lot? this was not an atmosphere conducive to sampling beer. Yes, there were good breweries present but there wasn’t a good opportunity to sample any or even speak to the brewers at all about their product. The lines were ridiculous and it seems the point was just to jam as many people as they could into a very small area and call it a «craft beer fest». Seriously, the event organizers owe people refunds. This was a terribly planned, organized and executed event. Even the brewers were complaining about how oversold it was. Never again. I only used 3 of my tickets — what a waste of a beautiful Saturday.

What a hot, hot mess! The long lines and total disorganization made this seem more like punishment than a good time!
I also really hated that you felt guilty for asking about the beers that you were about to try b/​c you knew you were holding up the line of 50+ people behind you! The point of these craft beer fests (in theory) is to learn about new beers and try new things. You can’t ask questions about the beers if there’s an angry mob behind you! Also, most of the people serving the beers seemed to have little to do with the breweries and didn’t know much about the beers. One guy didn’t even know what beer he was serving! WTH? I think the only people more miserable than the patrons at this event were the people working for the breweries — you could tell they were getting very crabby, and rightfully so!
We had a Living Social deal for this — I can’t imagine how angry I’d be if I paid full price for tickets to this miserable event. The space was WAY too small, there were NO signs, the booths in the corners of tents were a total nightmare, there were not nearly enough breweries for the number of tickets they sold, there was a pretty annoying brass band walking around playing, but other than that there was NO entertainment — not even music playing.
I have been to excellent craft beer fests before — but this was NOT one of them! I will try to avoid any events by this organizer at ALL costs.

Can I give a negative star? This ‘festival’ was a disaster. Bought tickets and I was there right at noon. The first 20 minutes were tolerable — after that… I wanted to get out of there.
Ticket sales limited to 5000 per day. The area it was held in should only hold about 500. Wonder what the fire code is on that.
Set up — a few small, crammed, tents with the vendors made for a claustrophobic’s nightmare. I was lucky to even use ½ of my tickets (that would be 7 tickets for 3oz beers). After 1.5 hours we were willing to lose out on the money we spent because it was horrible. I tried to sell off remaining tickets (total of 30) for $ 10 — and even a few guys said ‘ugh, no. It would take 24 hours to use all of them.’ But finally found a group and I had to bargain for $ 8 and a headache.
So, Special Events Management, maybe follow your company title and appropriately ‘manage’ an event. This was the 3^rd annual beer festival and a group of junior high kids cold have done a better job. Certainly will never be attending this lackluster event that had some potential.
Folks — save your money, buy a 6 pack and sit on a patio. That’s more fun.

I am a little confused by the reviews from last year because when I went with my fiancé we had a great time. We went on Saturday afternoon. No line to get in. No long lines for beer. It was good.
BUT this review is for the 2014 Chicago Craft Beer Festival in Lincoln Park.
I don’t even know where to begin! My fiancé and I got there at about 12:30 thinking it wouldn’t be a big deal because it opened at 12pm. WRONG! We waited in line for almost 30 minutes just to get our tickets and plastic glass. Speaking of plastic… last year they gave actual glasses which is nice because we go to many beer festivals and like to collect the glasses. Of course, since it was plastic, I threw it away.
We finally got in and boy, was it waaaaaaay overcrowded! It was impossible to see signs for what beer or brewery you were in line for. The lines themselves were very long and chaotic — three lines would feed into one, making the wait worse. You could barely move in the tents, so once you got your beer it was likely to spill all over because you were trying to squeeze between people while getting out of the way for others waiting for beer. The tables were under the tents so they took up more space in the «waiting» areas. One brewery ran out of beer at 1:30! We didn’t even get in until 1! Since everyone was in the same boat people were being super nice and all the brewers were awesome, but this was extremely unorganized and overcrowded. Also, the line for the restrooms were very long inside the area where the festival was going on. I ended up just going out in the Garden Walk area because it was way faster.
Next year they need to either move it to a larger location, sell less tickets, or have two tasting sessions per day (i.e. 12−3pm and 4−7pm) like the festival at Union Station. Also, breweries need to make sure they don’t run out of beer because c’om!
I will think twice before purchasing tickets for this event again next year, which is a shame.

This was one of the most poorly organized events I have ever attended. The line to get in was over a block long so we headed to the other entrance at Webster and Kenmore. There we were able to get in right away. However, once we got in we realized what a mess it truly was. So, so many people and crowded lines (masses really) of people at each tent trying to get beer. The space where the festival was held was way too small for the amount of people. It was a veritable nightmare of beer-​hungry patrons sweating and pushing each other for 3 oz samples of beer. Never again. Either find a bigger space or sell less tickets. Awful event. I left after using only 5 tickets.

If I could give 0 stars I would.
I have been to several very successful, very fun craft beer tastings. This was the total opposite, it was an epic failure. All of the other comments sums it up; long lines, too many people, zero organization, etc. i wasn’t even about to use 1 ticket. I will never make this mistake again. I will be requesting a refund but who knows if that will happen.

Don’t go. Don’t waste your money. Honestly, if my friend had not payed full price for her ticket we would have left. I bought the living social «deal» so I payed only 25 dollars. I still didn’t get my money’s worth. We waited in line for over an hour to get in. Then we had to get in another line (20 minute wait) to receive our beer cup and tickets. Talk about unorganized. I spent more time rubbing up against other people and waiting in long lines than drinking beer.
I was so appalled by yesterday’s event that I wrote an email to the event coordinator:
Dear Special Events Management,
I have been to over five, very successful craft beer festivals this year and this was not one of them. I’m sure you have heard many complaints, but I truly feel people deserve a refund. I don’t feel I got my money’s worth. Most of my time was spent in a line. I hope that if you plan to put this on next year you will rethink your venue, how many tickets you sell, and plan to have enough breweries to service everyone. I didn’t even get to use up all my tickets.
Sincerely,
Adrienne
NEVER AGAIN.

What a waste of $ it was so disorganized. no order in trying to get a freaking beer! Besides it took forever to get at least one beer! Tents had no signs so basically had no clue what u were lining up for… the only positive thing out of this horrible event is that we were smart enough to get the hell out & sold our wrist bands with tix that were never collected. for $ 20 bks each after our 5 samples… got 50% of our $ back… had a better time paying for an actual beer & food afterwards… In other words don’t waste ur $ next ur… they need to get their act together! Cheers to that!

If you’re considering going to this and buying tickets, don’t! Our crew are all very patient, mellow people and by the end of this, we were all frustrated, weary and couldn’t even use all our tickets because of the line ups and the bs that ensued. Absolutely no organization or foresight for this festival from the event organizers. Every person we ran into, said the same thing. Waste of money and time. Seriously. Ridiculous.

Was even worse than in 2013. It was physically impossible to use 15 tickets in 4 hours. If you used 5 tickets you were lucky.
Long lines to get in. Longer lines once you were in. Even smaller space that 2013. 5,000 people cannot fit in a tiny parking lot.
The organizers have clearly settled upon over-​selling to the point where people leave disgusted, and pocket the entrance fees regardless.
Everyone should ask for their money back.

As a former event planner who has worked on standard events as well as street festivals, I normally wouldn’t dream of writing a bad review about an event simply because I know how difficult they can be to plan and how many aspects tend to be out of the organizers’ control.
However, THIS event warrants a complaint.
To start, I was waiting in line to enter the main festival, I was behind a group of guys who were planning on buying tickets to the Craft Beer Fest inside the gates. The man operating the gate (who was quite rude) told them they *had* to pay $ 7 each to get in since they hadn’t pre-​paid for tickets. WHAT?! As a well-​established event organization, they should know that it’s illegal in the city of Chicago to charge for access to public way. That is why every single festival you go to has a SUGGESTED DONATION.
There were A LOT of angry people inside of the event, as you can tell just by looking at the reviews of this years event. We arrived quite early and were some of the first people inside the event. Nonetheless, we were only able to get a few glasses (erm, shots) of beer each before things became so crowded that we couldn’t even find the end of any lines. In less than 1.5 hours of our arrival, we decided to get rid of our remaining tickets and leave.
It’s blatantly obvious that Special Events Management and whomever else had stake in this event got greedy and thought it was acceptable to completely oversell the event (which, by the way, was listed on Groupon, TravelZoo, and who knows where else). In the amount of time we were there, it looked as if they sold AT LEAST twice the amount of tickets they should have. In fact, even after the event was packed to the gills and people were complaining, they were still selling full price tickets outside for $ 45 per person in an attempt to squeeze more money out of people.
As someone else mentioned, if you’d like to file a formal complaint, the event organizer was:

First thing’s first if you were at this disaster and want your money back contact

Prior to going in we were greeted by a long wrist band line, then we had to wait in another line for our beer tickets. Not that beer tickets were hard to come by, mind you. People were leaving in droves and handing out their unused beer tickets in frustration. The only place where actual beer tickets were hard to get were the tent where the «organizers» of the event were supposed to be handing them out. They’d run out of tickets, but were recycling used ones, some soaked in beer (or urine?) for the kind patrons who had paid $ 45 to come to this event.
Upon entering the extremely packed festival grounds, it was apparent that actually getting a single beer, much less using all of one’s beer tickets was out of the question. I managed a 3 o.z. beer before I bailed and told my friends to meet up with me later.
Naturally, I demanded a refund, which they wouldn’t give me on the spot. One person working the festival said «I’m sorry. I know how bad it is. I was in there.» Another gave me the e-​mail address (above) where he said I could write and ask for a refund. Considering the complete incompetence of the organizers of this event, I suspect they will probably not get back to me. I’ll update to see how they do.
In a perfect world, the people running this event would be brought up on crimes against humanity, or maybe just fired. After having two years to figure out how to run a smooth festival, they seem to have condensed beer tent area while selling even more tickets. The result? Everyone who went got scammed out of their money.
P. S. My friends who bought tickets via Groupon, which mentioned that they would be given free «Pilsner glasses» were, not surprisingly, not given pilsner glasses, nor were there any.
UPDATE: Let the record show that when I replied to the Eventbrite E-​mail that my ticket was attached to and asked for a refund i DID receive it along with a brief apology note.

Super long line to get in and no organization. I paid for 4 hours. I kept getting moved to various lines for increments to 30 mins. There were no signs and no workers. I asked for my money back when I eventually got to front.
It was super packed when we got in. Vendors were complaining that it was over sold. Some of the vendors were apologizing and saying this is the worst run fest they have seen. One brewery ran out of beer before we even got in. The cup given was plastic and lame. My group left with using only three tickets. Upon leaving I slammed my tickets on to counter that is present when you walk. I gave workers a dirty look. This was a blatant money grab intended on selling as much as possible without consideration to quality, safety or decency.
I will be contacting
asking for a full refund and asking for a quality glass made of glass.

June 23 Sunday. What a disgrace of a festival. Absolute joke. The event was oversold at least 2x over yet they still allowed everyone in.
Elbow-​to-​elbow and long lines for a silly 3-​oz pour. I’m sure frat house parties are more organized than this.
Disgusting, filthy.

An event that seemed really, hella cool in theory but turned out to be a cluster-​f* in execution. First off, the event was WAY oversold. There was nowhere near as much breathing/​drinking/​walking room in the tasting tent and everyone was shoulder to shoulder. It was hot as shit and made it mostly miserable. I really can’t believe that the tent was as small as it was for the amount of tickets they sold. It’s almost as if they cared way more about making $$ than trying to ensure anyone had an enjoyable time, ’cause I can ensure you NO one that we talked to had a good time.
The fest offered a lot of really interesting breweries that have been on our ‘to try’ list but it was too much of a nightmare to make it to 90% of them. We ended up using 14 of our 40 tickets (20 each for me & my husband) After about 45 minutes, we were exhausted, sweaty and just plain over it. We put the rest of the tasting tickets down on some table, but I’m sure they probably stayed there the rest of the time.
Would I go back to this event? Nope. Never. Unless next year, they sold 75% less tickets. This was a waste of $ 40 — I would have rather gone to a bar and bought a few craft beers with that money.
So by this point of the review, you’re wondering: was there anything good about this event? I would go so far as to say not really. The tasting glasses were pretty cool but I’d rather have stayed home and bought some cool ass beer glasses from the internet. They did have some food vendors on the outside of the tasting tent, but we were just so agitated by the whole thing that we just left.

I’d give 2.5 stars if I could, because it did have some high points — like getting to try Speakeasy Brewery’s Vendetta Double IPA (best beer I tasted, and a fantastic DIPA).
My girlfriend got the tasting tickets and admission for $ 35 on Groupon for the two of us for Saturday’s session, so it was a good value. However, the setting for the actual tasting session itself was horrible. It took place inside a large tent, with breweries offering 3 oz. tastes of the one beer each brought. The brewer tables lined the walls of the tent, with a handful of tables in the center with Igloo water jugs for what I assume was glass rinsing or a swig of water in between beers (with a large dishpan on each for dumping your glass). There were also several garbage cans used for dumping in the middle. However, the tent was packed ridiculously full of event attendees, so, within an hour the water jugs were empty — if you could actually get to one. That’s how packed it was — shoulder-​to-​shoulder almost in every spot inside the tent. Ugh. I suppose there are people who enjoy that sort of atmosphere, but I hate that. That was extremely disappointing, but seems to be the modus operandi for events in the Old Town area.
We tasted 14 different beers (out of 20 tickets each) before we just gave up and left. We were able to try several of the unusual ones from non-​Chicago and non-Illinois/non=US brewers, but not as many as I was hoping for. First, about 5 or 6 of those advertised to show up weren’t there. Second, the packed crowd and long lines, if you could reach the line, to get some of the more desired beers, made it either pointless to try or pointless to deal with the frustration.
Would I go again? I would go again to the «Friday VIP» tasting session if I knew ahead of time that i wasn’t going to be the same zoo. I’d go again for a Saturday session if there was some guarantee that the event would be more organized and civilized. Otherwise, nope, wouldn’t experience that disaster again.