Naperville Winter Ale Festival

Somehow, I became an elite member of the Yelp website. I have no idea how this happened. Maybe I have reviewed enough places or maybe my reviews are well though of. I don't know why, but I've had elite status for two years now.

So, I got an e-mail that elite members were eligible for pairs of tickets to the Naperville Winter Ale Festival, the first ever outdoor winter beer festival in Naperville.Yelp was giving away ten pairs of tickets and I won one of them. I asked a friend of mine to go and although he wanted to join, he just wasn't sure he could make it work with his schedule. Basically, after I pressed him twice, he finally said he couldn't make it. So I was stuck with an extra ticket.

I drove 40 minutes south on Route 59 to south Naperville. I parked at Neuqua Valley High School and walked over to Frontier Park. I found a guy who took my extra ticket, I suppose he was in his 50's. So I saved him 45 bucks or so. What I should have done was find a cute girl. But I'm sure any cute ones would be with a boyfriend or husband.

Anyway, I arrived to 31 degree weather and showed my passport (since I don't have a driver's license thanks to the lovely cops of Hoffman Estates, IL). It's a good thing I remembered to put the passport in my car or I wasn't getting in! An old dude tied a wristband on me and then I picked up a 3-ounce glass, a card for 15 free samples, and a booklet highlighting all the breweries.

There were four beer tents, all not too far from each other. I decided to walk to Tent 4 first, since that was the farthest and I also figured that would be the emptiest. Then I worked my way back down to 3, then, 2, then 1. Each tent had small heaters, which was nice, as well as water jugs with a big white bucket next to each one. I quickly figured out the thing to do was rinse the glass with the water and dump the liquid into the bucket. I would not be surprised if 90 percent of that water was using for rinsing instead of hydrating!

I also visited the Toasty Cheese food truck, where I had the Chicago Chef's choice, which was panini bread filled with six slices of duck bacon, arugula, spinach, cherry tomatoes, provolone cheese, and aioli. it wasn't cheap, maybe 12 bucks or so, but it was a very good sandwich. And after about 12 beers, I was definitely in the mood for some fries and I got an order of their fresh-cut fries topped with rosemary and some garlic. They definitely help after consuming that much alcohol. I grabbed a vanilla bean cupcake from another food truck and I also bought a int glass before stumbling back to my car. Once there, I rested for maybe two hours before driving over to the Wolves hockey game in Rosemont.

Here's the recap of the beers I drank and remember, it was only 3 ounces each.

1. Take the Black Stout-Belgian Dark Ale-Brewery Ommegagng, Cooperstown, NY
Dark and creamy, with a hint of malt and chocolate. It reminded me more of a stout than an ale. It was ok if you like that kind of beer, but it isn't my preference.

2. Roundhouse Ale-American Amber-Bell's-Kalamazoo, MI
Amber in color, with a little hint of citrus and some caramel. Very smooth, I enjoyed this one.

3. Rocky's Revenge Bourbon Brown-American Brown Ale-Tyranena-Lake Mills, WI
A solid brown, with hints of bourbon and oak. A little thick. Pretty solid.

4. Mama's Little Yella Pils-Czech Pilsner-Oskar Blues-Longmont, CO
Golden color, very refreshing. Hints of lemon and a clean finish. Definitely liked this!

5. Le Merle-Farmhouse Ale-North Coast-Fort Bragg, CA
I've been a fan of North Coast ever since I tried their Scrimshaw. This only made me a bigger fan. Bright golden color, thin head, a bit of lemon and spice. Good choice.

6. Curieux-Bourbon Barrel Triple Aged-Allagash-Portland, ME
I met Melissa at this booth, a cute girl from Pittsburgh, who noticed my Rangers jersey. We had a nice little hockey talk. The up front taste had bits of vanilla, banana, coriander, it was a little tough to pick up. But with the aftertaste, I got that nice earthy bourbon flavor. It's more of a sophisticated that I could drink on a special occasion.

7. Graetzer Smoked Wheat-Smoked-Sixpoint-Brooklyn, NY
If I thought the bourbon was unique, this knocked me out even more. Yellow color, and it tasted like earth woods. I don't know if this style is going to catch on.

8. Cold Snap-Witbier-Sam Adams-Boston, MA
Yes, it's hard for me to praise Boston. But this one makes it easy. With its orange and coriander, this would be a fine choice just as the weather is hitting 40 or 50 degrees. I definitely prefer it to their Boston Lager.

9. Session Brett Ale-American Wild Ale-Lake Effect Brewing-Chicago, IL
Lots of raspberries. Not much else to say. Not one of my favorites.

10. Stick to the Nuts-Nut Brown w/ peanut butter-Slap Shot-Chicago, IL
The flavor of peanut butter in beer! It's a beer that's fun to try once. Maybe it would go well with desserts.

11. Snapshot Wheat-American Pale Wheat Ale-New Belgium-Fort Collins, CO
Some citrus and grapes. Kind of a tart finish. Pretty good, but I've had better wheats than this.

12. Pilsener-Czech Pilsener-Baderbrau-Chicago, IL
Amber color, malty flavor. Pretty good, though I think I preferred the first pilsener.

13. Winter Warmer-Ale-Emmett's-Downers Grove, IL
This was my last one before lunch, so I was pretty beat. Very dark in color, but not overly bitter. Pretty good, nothing memorable.

14. Ten Hills-American Pale Ale-Goose Island-Chicago, IL
I don't know, I've just never gotten into the whole Goose Island craze. This was one of the hoppiest beers I've drank. Not too special.

15. Wintertime-Winter Warmer-North Coast-Ft. Bragg, CA
Nutty with some nutmeg. Enjoyable.

16. Ironhorse-Steam-Argus, Chicago, IL
Medium-bodied with a copper flavor. Again, not overly memorable.

17. Crisp Apple-Hard Cider-Angry Orchard-Cincinnati, OH
Slightly sweet, very drinkable cider. I've had it once before and it was a nice flavor change from all the other beers.

18. Percheron-Hard Cider-Virtue Cider-Portland, OR
I had to settle for this one; the bourbon barrel cider with the vanilla and oak was gone. This one had a stronger taste, but not much more than the Angry Orchard. More of a deep apple flavor.