Dear reader, you might look at my recent blogs and can’t help but wonder, Gee, why hasn’t she mentioned a life outside of ICO? My honest response to that is I don’t really have one right now.
This summer is definitely one of the toughest quarters I’ve been through (thus, the total domination of my life), but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have any time to have fun and explore the city. A group of ICO students, including myself, decided to take advantage of an awesome Groupon deal, to attend last weekend’s Chicago Craft Beer Festival. For $39, we got admission for two people, as well as 40 drink tickets. It also included live music later on in the evening, but most of us left early for other festivities. (I went back to studying. *sad face*)
The first thing we noticed when we arrived in the area was a huge line-up of people waiting to get in. Luckily, the wait wasn’t long at all, and we got in within about 10 minutes or so. Once we entered, we were each handed an adorable little glass with a line on the back signifying 3 oz., so the bartenders knew where to fill it up to. I don’t think any of them paid any attention to that mark, and they filled as they pleased–especially toward the end of the festival.
What’s a festival without barbecue? There was most definitely a crowd around the food tents.
Once inside the beer tent, you couldn’t miss the crowd. You thought there were a lot of people that were huddled around the food area? Compare that scene to the beer tent:
Each drink station had a poster that talked about their brewing process, and what they are known for/specialize in, as well as where it’s made. Some breweries were local, and some came from as far as Belgium.
There were more than 50 craft beers in all!
I met a cute canine friend, called Wrigley (there are many, many dogs in Chicago called Wrigley).
According to Wrigley’s owner, the dog actually enjoys sipping beer.
When I saw him, I couldn’t help but go up to him and say hello!
After a few hours of relaxing and catching up with friends, I got really hungry, and decided to get some food. I LOVE potato chips! This was definitely my guilty pleasure that made my day.
Deep-fried, fresh-sliced potatoes with bacon and cheese. Photo courtesy of my roommate Sasha.
Not only did I get to stuff my face with yummy food, we also got to try free samples of sliders and chicken drumsticks to accompany different barbecue sauces. This was probably my favorite part of the festival. I can’t say that I could tell the difference between all the sauces, but I can definitely say that everything I tried impressed my taste buds.
Pulled pork sliders and barbecue chicken drum sticks with corn muffins
So there you have it, readers–evidence that not all my time is spent studying. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you bet I make sure it’s fun enough to blog about.