The Wurst Festival

It was the Wurst of times, it was the Beerst of times! I had the pleasure of hitting up this brand new little festival on opening day, but torrential rains derailed the excellent music planned for the night, and kept crowds away. Still, those of us that stayed got to know each other huddled under tents, and I met way more people involved in this new festival put on by DCASE and the City, than I would have otherwise.
The Wurst Festival is a celebration of bratwurst, craft beer, and quality music. Big Guys Charbroiled Sausages (Berwyn) gave a nice presentation on artisinal sausage making, answered questions from the crowd, and gave out samples of their «Bear Down» Blue Cheese & Citrus Orange brat. It was so good, we got a full order at the brat tent. We also tried the Gunthorp Best Brat, which was smooth. We met a nice vendor from
and I look forward to checking out how they connect artisinal food farms with opportunities to distribute their wares. We also met a woman from Local Flavors who explained her products from locally grown tomatoes to natural ketchup. We topped our brats with that same ketchup and a brined cabbage!
The thing that brought me to the Wurst Festival was actually the great music, planned in conjunction with the Chicago Music Summit. Mazes (Chicago) gave a nice performance of a few songs before torrential rains shut down the music stage. Scott Lucas (Local H) and the Married Men were to also play, but never got the chance. We talked with Scott and the band about local music, and he was super nice.
Also nice were the guys at the brat and beer tent, but a slight dissapointment was the lack of other «craft brews» other than three beers from Goose Island, two of which didn’t seem very «craft». Fox Valley Wine also a great red there, a Sec Dry, so that was a nice find. Since this small festival is in its infancy, I’m sure things will improve, but I highly recommend it.