Dinner at Pig Minds

I freely admit that I have been  focused on the upcoming Rhythm and Brews Fest (May 16th in Woodstock, IL get your tickets here), and have not been writing about anything else beer related. Since I am officially in remission for my Pseudo Tumor Cerebri, I have been enjoying beer again without a crippling fear of debilitating headaches, well at least less fear.
Recently my husband suggested we check out Pig Minds brewing in Rockford, IL. I was shocked, because they only serve vegan food, but since he loves me (or didn't read the online menu) he wanted to go for dinner.

Like Father like daughter at the track

We dropped the peanut off at Blackhawk Farms Raceway where my in-laws were working that weekend and camping out.


So off to dinner we went. We had met the two brewers a few weeks earlier at a tap takeover at Chain O'Lakes brewing, which is conveniently located 10 minutes from our house. The guys were very friendly and I had heard some really good stuff about their vegan menu so I was excited. The beer at the tap take-over was good so we had high hopes.


I immediately decided that I wanted a flight. 10 5oz pours was enough, I was assured by our server, for both of us to share... so I begrudgingly shared.

Our flight and coaster (which I took home)

Pig Mind's Exterior

The beers that we had in our flight were: Southy Bitch Slap, Vanilla Bitch Slap, Mellifluous, Old Man Withers, Cold in the D, Barrel Aged Flame Thrower, Sweep the Leg, Wild Sour Series: Here Gose Nothin' From DESTIHL brewery, and Serpent's Stout from The Lost Abbey. (You can check out Pig Mind's beers here)

I have to say, the beer were good, we bought two bombers to take home. But the food was the star. I mean look at these garlic fries! That is garlic, not cheese, GARLIC!

Garlic Fries-- So good!

And the peanut has decided on her future career... Bad-ass race car driver.

 It was nice to get out, and to check out Pig Mind's. I hope to go back for more beer and another round of garlic fries and Korean BBQ tacos (with grilled cabbage, I didn't know I liked cabbage so much). It is for sure on my list of places to check out if you are in the area.


And because I can't resist plugging the brew fest, Look at our awesome glasses that you get upon entrance. Fancy aren't they?

Rhythm and Brews Fest

We are now three weeks away from Rhythm and Brews Fest!!
I don't know how it got here so quickly. And I have been so busy that I haven't been updating my blog either.
Well I wanted to be sure that you saw all of the breweries that have signed on to be at Rhythm and Brews Fest May 16th in Woodstock. You can also get your tickets here.

Finally, Beerfest News

I am happy to announce that we are ready to start selling tickets to Rhythm and Brews Fest!

So, go buy tickets, the fest is May 16th. We are working on getting breweries to commit, but are expecting 25 to 30 breweries to be pouring. We will be updating the brewery list on the ticket page, and on the Event Page.

What makes this so special is that all proceeds are going to Free Guitars for Future Stars

So stay tuned for more info. I hope to see you all there!

Planning a beer fest?

More exciting stuff (it sounds like I am exciting suddenly)!! I have joined up with Free Guitars for Future Stars to plan a beer fest to benefit their program. This program, can I say, is very awesome. Free Guitars for Future Stars has been working to fill a void that is left when schools have budget cuts, and cut their arts programs, namely their music programs. They are a group of truly caring, talented, and wonderful people, and now I am lucky enough to put my name with theirs!

So a beer fest... Where to begin? I am super excited. We have a bunch of ideas, and are starting to pick out the particulars of where and when. Do any of you have advice? Want to help? Words of encouragement?

Music and beer, seems like a partnership that was just meant to be!

Oktoberfest Giveaway!!

I know I have mentioned that my life has been very hectic lately... VERY. So I haven't had a chance to do any fun beer stuff. I am in the middle of packing, working, doing school, and being a mom... I feel guilty, very guilty, because I haven't been spending the amount of time I would like to on my blog, or beer.

I think that I might have a temporary solution for this blog-guilt though. I was contacted by promosonline.com and they are helping me do a giveaway! That's right, I have stuff to give away to you, my friends! How fun is that?!

What you may ask, am I giving away? The answer, a set of 10 assorted plastic beer mugs. Beer mugs that could look like this: 

You will most likely NOT be receiving this particular mug

Think of all the fun you could have with 10 free mugs!! You could have 9 friends over for an Oktoberfest party... or 4 friends if you want to have a drink in each hand.

What you need to do to win is send me a picture of you doing your favorite Oktoberfest activity.You could be doing anything, like participating in traditional Oktoberfest contests such as the Keg Barrel Race, the Beer Stein Hold, the Beer Stein Pour and Carry, the Beer Chug and the Bratwurst Eating Contest.

You can email me at sarah@hoppybeergirl.com, or you can send them to me on Facebook. You of course would need to be a fan of Hoppy Beer Girl on Facebok for that... you can like the page here: http://www.facebook.com/hoppybeergirl

I will share the best stories in a few weeks to help celebrate the actual start of Oktoberfest (September 22 if you don't know). Send me pictures, send me stories of beer and food, send me whatever you've got (as long as it is PG-13). The best entry will get the plastic beer mugs.

Good luck!! Prost!

ILLIANA MAYFEST

Saturday was Illiana Mayfest at the Lake County Fairgrounds, in Crown Point Indiana. I had been looking forward to this for over a year. My grandfather lives in Crown Point, and I wanted to go last year, but we had somethings come up and were not able to go. If you want to read about last year's Mayfest, you should really check out Hoosier Beer Geeks post.

I can't say that it was perfect weather for a beer fest in an old building with no air conditioning, but it was really a great time. We arrived early so we were able to drive around the square, and check out the fairgrounds a bit. Every time I see the courthouse, I think about all the stories about John Dillinger and his escape from the Crown Point jail. It really is a beautiful building.

Old Lake County Courthouse

The fairgrounds has a lake in it

Water Lilies

Every building on the fairgrounds has it's own unique features, but they are all early 20th century in style, and I couldn't get enough pictures.

Industrial Building

Fine Arts Building. I love those windows

Another picture of the windows

Back of the Fine Arts Building

The Grandstand overlooking the lake

I had never been in an all wood grandstand. All the grandstands, and all the bleachers I have ever been in have been metal. This was such a  cool old-school wooden grandstand, and a great place to hide from the sun on a 90 degree day while we waited for the beer fest to open.

Blake chilling in the grandstands 

Looking right in the grandstand

Exposed wood ceiling in the grandstand

The line for getting into Mayfest wasn't too bad when we got in line, with about 15 minutes to go, but as soon as we got in line, there were 200 people behind us. At least there were people handing out cool water to keep everyone hydrated. Did I mention it was like 90 degrees out?

Industrial Building, where Illiana Mayfest is held

Industrial building as we walked in

Watermelon Wheat
This Watermelon beer smelled fruity and beer-y, and I think it would have made the perfect perfume! It was nice and refreshing on such a hot day.

Rock Bottom's Baltic Porter
This Baltic Porter was really light and smooth. It reminded me of an iced coffee, nice and creamy, and delicious, but not too heavy. I asked the guy who was serving about the Baltic Porter style, becasue I am not familiar with it. He told me that it is a mix of an English style porter and an ale so that it is a little more acidic, but smoother and lighter than a regular porter. I will be trying to find this one to buy for my stash.

This is the shirt we want to buy my father-in-law, who is renown for his ugly  interesting Hawaiian shirts

Bulldog's Brewing Sugar Brown Maple IPA
This was a very interesting beer, because, well I don't like IPA's very much after I had my surgery.  This IPA was sweet enough that it cut the harsh bitterness from the hops. It looks like this was a special batch, because I can't find it on the website, but I will keep looking, because this was really outstanding. I will be trying other brews from Bulldog's after this, no doubt about that.

Blake in the back of the Industrial building taking a break

Blake enjoying the break, and a Vanilla Bourbon beer.
(I think this is a record for the amount of pictures of my husband I have ever gotten in one day)

There were so many good beers that we got to try, and so many missed opportunities for taking pictures of them because I was too busy drinking them. We got to talk to lots of nice people, including the guys at the Beer Geeks table. Blake even bought me a shirt from Crown Brewing (the brewery that graciously set up the event). We may have hung out at Crown Brewing's table for a few minutes so we could sample more of their awesome beers, I loved the Dee-rALE-er, and Blake had AlkoholikA, both of which I will be trying to bring home a growler of next time we are in Hoosier-ville.

Heading home into the sunset.