the 1st annual BrewLights at Lincoln Park Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo in the winter is Classic Chicago. For over 25 years ZooLights has been one of the most popular destinations in town. Louis Glunz Inc, Chicago’s oldest craft beer distributor complimented the scene by pouring 12 of their most celebrated seasonal ales under lights for a weeknight beer festival.
All your favorite Christmas songs played throughout the zoo. Vendors were open offering discounts on merchandise as well as a smile and space to slip in from the cold. There was a live ice sculpture demo and 5000 tickets sold!
We arrived as gates opened at 5p for the 530p event, then proceeded to stay for about an hour. During that time this was a fantastic party. Much of the crowd trickled in slowly for the first hour so you got to admire the scene and score beer easily from pouring stations.
Lincoln Park Zoo sits on 35 acres and has been around for 147 years. It’s one of the few free zoos in the country. This event was a fundraiser. An event organized by Glunz as a contribution to the Annual Fund that keeps the zoo free and open everyday.
After the show, it’s the afterparty. Both Stanley’s Kitchen Tap and Ranalli’s on Lincoln Ave poured many of the beers from the BrewLights lineup long into the night.
The beer festival is over but you can visit Lincoln Park Zoo and enjoy the winter light display every night(except 12/24 & 12/25) until January 4th, 5-9p.
–Nkosi
souvenir mugs
over 2 million lights on display
Here is the taplist. The ’12 Beers of Xmas’ theme was repeated through the venue.
Great Lakes Christmas Ale (Winter Warmer 6%)
Stiegl Goldbrau (Lager, 4.9%)
Unibroue Blanche de Chambly (White Ale, 5%)
Hirter Morchl (Austrian Dark Lager, 5%)
Delirium Noel (Belgian Strong Dark Ale, 10% )
Anchor Christmas (Winter Warmer 5.5%)
Baderbrau Naked Selfie (Black India Pale Lager, 6%)
Temperance Smittytown Tart (Extra Special Bitter w Balaton Cherries, 6.5%)
Pabst Blue Ribbon (American Adjunct Lager, 4.74%)
Crabbies Ginger (Ginger Beer, 4.8%)
Wyder’s Dry Pear Cider (Perry, 4% )
Berghoff Germanic (Pale Ale, 5.8% )
