I headed down to Oak Park a little after 3pm Saturday afternoon. It was getting sweaty out, but there were still tons of people out along the lakefront and driving down Lake Shore Drive. It took me about an hour to make it there, but I found parking right away and headed into this little party
I went to this festival by myself because 1) I decided last minute enough that many people already had plans or couldn’t get babysitters and 2) I’ve decided that even if I have to go by myself I don’t want to miss out on fun times just because no one can join me. And as experience has shown – sometimes the unexpected can happen when push yourself out of your comfort zone.
I’ll admit it felt a little strange knowing that I was going to have a drink or two alone alone among the masses, but I brought my camera to add a little purpose to the day!
Beer #1 (please notice commemorative little beer glass)
The “Eugene” was a porter from local beer superstars: Revolution Brewery. This beer was delicious – much lighter in taste then you might imagine while still being very flavorful.
I wandered around the fest drinking my beer and quickly realized it was packed with hipsters and just packed in general. There was nowhere for a single girl to have a seat and sip her beer. So I snuck back to behind the beer stands, where there was room to breathe, people watch and move around.
Just as I began the last few sips of my first beer I saw this tent!:
And drank this beer in honor of my nephew Emmett
Also a local brewer/tavern, Emmett’s had just 3 beers on tap. The guy behind me in line convinced me to try the beer above that was described as “pre-prohibition”. now I know why the prohibition grew so widespread – this beer sucked. It tasted like buttered-popcorn jellybeans – wha??? yes, it’s true. But still, I drank it. I was committed to the cause, yo.
It was just about this time that I started to think, “well I can’t really stay here all afternoon drinking by myself, now can I?” when I ran into these old friends
Keith and Rebecca were my old neighbors from that weird treehouse apartment I used to live in and had also made the trip down from Evanston to drink beers in the street. They were smarter though and took the train. I hung out with them for maybe another hour had one more beer and all of Keith’s water bottle before I decided to call it a fest and drive home.
So what did I discover attending a microbrew beer fest alone? You are never alone at a beer fest.
Down the hatch!
xo
Erin
