It was the best of times, it was the best of times. Saturday was an entire day of beer. I had the most fortunate experience of attending the Midwest Brewers Fest in Plainfield, Illinois (real town.) We four Dark Lord guys entered the scene right at the opening of the gates at 1 pm. From there it was all downhill. A real nice glide.

A number of white tents were set up in an open area between the railroad tracks and the DuPage River. The temp was in the mid 90s. A great scenario for thirst quenching. Eight breweries in each tent back to back offered up 2-ounce pours of your choice of their styles of beer. As time went on, the pours became more generous.

The breweries represented were mostly from around the Chicagoland area, but some have recently started distributing here. Lagunitas will soon fire up a brewery on the near south side of Chicago and Oskar Blues will show up on shelves by the end of next month. Other breweries including brew pubs were represented and they gladly handed out taste samples, 2 ounces at a time.

We were each given 25 beer tickets at the gate and a program. None of us bothered to count how many tickets we had. By the end of the session 4 hours later, we gave away what tickets we had left. Happily.

Except for the hot weather and scorching sun at the beginning, the event was a joy to attend. The area started filling up with people later in the afternoon and lines for beer samples were getting longer. Ironically, there were no lines for the porta potties. Clean, purified water kegs were stationed throughout the event for palate cleansing and glass rinsing. A small food tent housed some local eateries dispensing pizza, paella and other grub for a price.

As I meandered through the crowd, I could overhear conversations about beer styles, breweries and tastes. A few sour beers were on tap, but one sample of one of those beers was enough for this guy. I finally got to taste a bit of Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale and that verified all the good things I’ve heard and read about the beer. I’m looking forward to trying a sixer of DPA as soon as it shows up on the shelf.

But wait… there’s more.

We made it back to Morris about 5, a quick bite to eat and it was off to my buddy Jeff’s pig roast party for more beer and good times. We got to sample his mead which has been aging in his basement for over 4 years. Sweet, delicious and deadly. It was upwards of 18%. A live band played on his patio and a MASH member brewed up a batch in the garage. By ten o’clock we were done.

Consequently there will be no brew review tonight and the Weekly Babes will be posted tomorrow. I’ve had my fill and I’m overwhelmed by the experience of the long day. I will, however, offer some images of the experience right after the jump.

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Brewers Fest

Fest Folks

Pig roast