Naperville Winter Ale Fest To Feature 150 Craft Beers, Specialty Tents

NAPERVILLE, IL — Local beer lovers and aficionados of all things adult beverages will have the opportunity to taste more than 150 varieties of locally crafted brews when the annual Naperville Ale Fest – Winter Edition takes place in late February.

This year’s event will take place from 12-4 p.m. on Feb. 24 at Frontier Park and is the state’s largest outdoor winter beer fest, organizers said. While many community beer festivals are reserved for the summer and focus on IPAs and lighter beers meant to be enjoyed in the warm temperatures, the Naperville Ale Fest embraces February’s normally cold weather and shifts to stouts and other heavier beers, festival organizers said.

In addition to locally produced stouts, the winter edition of the ale fest will feature porters, barrel-aged beers, winter warmers, and double IPAs to keep festival goers warm in the elements that normally accompany the winter months in suburban Chicago.

Gates will open at 11:30 a.m. and despite the event being almost two months off, local beer lovers are encouraged to purchase their tickets now. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.

In addition, the event will feature four beers that will be poured through infusion machines called Randalls filled with fresh fruit, chocolate, coffee, and more to create one-time-only beers.

The beers will be holiday dessert-themed from some of Chicgoland’s favorite brewers, organizers said.

Originally created by the craft beer innovators at Dogfish Head Brewery, a Randall is an organoleptic hop transducer module, which festival organizers said is a “fancy way” of saying it’s a device that infuses flavor into beer. The beer flows through the Randall on its way from the keg to the tap, pulling flavors out of the ingredients in its path.

Randalls run beer through fresh hops, coffee, cinnamon, and vanilla beans.

The Winter Edition Ale Fest will also tap five limited-edition casks from some of Chicago’s best breweries. A Cask is a barrel-shaped container used for the production, storage, and service of cask-conditioned beer.

Featured brewers will take a base beer you’ve heard of, toss it into a barrel with some special ingredients, and let it ferment into the fine, one-time-only brew that will be ready to sample the day of the event.

The festival will also feature 10 Chicago-area food trucks and will offer locally produced ciders that will round out the event, making it a one-stop shop for adult beverage lovers.