Chouffe Fest

Chouffe Fest is a great concept and being as it was the first time they’ve done it in Chicago, I’m going to be a bit lenient on them.
The coolest thing was they gave you a gnome hat when you entered with a jingle bell. It was hilarious to see everyone in the place wearing these little gnome hats! Plus of course, the beer was awesome. I tried all three beers they had on tap but my favorite was the La Chouffe. We also got a souvenir gnome cup for the beer which was great. Another positive was how friendly the ticket people were! They were fabulous and even said bye when we were leaving which is not typical fest. Decent music at the fest, as well. The postcard pressing was super cool, as were the posters being printed and the caricatures being drawn. Thank goodness we grabbed a poster when we first entered as we weren’t able to do any other activities (they had some oversized games for a couple people to play at a time) because it was just so darn busy.
Now the not so positives–
Only three tables in the whole place to sit down.
Completely packed beyond belief. They way oversold this event. It’s as if there was no capacity & they just kept selling tickets.
We didn’t get to try the food from Wagyu Wagon because the line was over a 30 minute wait.
30 minute wait for them to refill your beer.
No cool oversized garden archway like they mentioned in the advertisements. The only oversized item was a chair (and the aforementioned games) but we couldn’t even get over to it because the place was so crammed full of people.
All in all, I don’t know if I could say I’d go again. The main deterrent would be the crowds. Festivals are not much fun when you can’t walk around at all because people are packed in so tight. They definitely should put a cap on how many people can attend. Also they had just one station for the beer! With so many people… and having to wait 30 minutes for a refill… Probably should another a few more stations next year. That said, Chouffe Fest has potential and I’ll be keeping an eye on it to see where it goes in future years!