This week, Stone Brewing Company of California invades the Chicago Market, and brewer Greg Koch is, as Chicagoist notes, "Marching into Chicago like MacArthur returned to the Philippines." 7 days of beer events are on the way. The official Stone website has this to say: "“Stone Beer Week in Chicago” will be an epic celebration of all things Stone, featuring a slew of events at Chicago bars worthy of Stone beers." You can find the full list of events, starting Thursday, here, but here are our curated highlights from each day:
1) 5PM, Thursday April 1, Twisted Spoke Party: The bar will host Greg himself from 6-7, with special Stone Smoked Porter sausage to complement 20 beers on tap.
2) 6-9PM, Friday April 2, Small Beer Bar Tour: Party bus! The bus leaves at Division street and will crawl three pubs before a big party at Reggie's Music Joint.
3) 6PM, Saturday April 3, Finnegan's Pub: "Finnegan's is lining up the largest number of Stone taps ever seen outside of California--30 awesome Stone brews in one place." That is all.
4) 8PM, Sunday April 4, The Map Room: Five taps of hard-to-find Stone beers. This is the big send-off for the California Stone crew, so if you ever wanted to meet the Stone brewers in the flesh, last chance.
5) 5-7PM, Monday April 5, Binny's Beverage Depot: From the Stone Crew: "Binny's is going totally nuts! They're offering an awesome deal: for $25 you get guaranteed admission, a Stone T-shirt and pint glass, AND your first pint (selected brews only) is included! Space is somewhat limited, and you must RSVP to southloop@binnys.com to get in on the deal." Um, yes.
6) 6PM, Tuesday April 6, Bar on Buena: This is your shot to try the prize-winning Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Beans. Do not sleep on it.
7) 9PM, Wednesday April 7, The Publican: This is the big one. "Have some rare Stone brews and meet five American brewing legends at the same time! At around 9:30 or so, we're showing up with all four co-conspirators from our last two collaboration beers. You'll get to hang out with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, Nick Floyd of Three Floyds, Shaun O'Sullivan of 21st Amendment, Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker, and our very own Greg Koch." This is like the red carpet of beer brewers, people. There's no doubt that Chicago is a beer city now.
