Summer BrewBQ 2016: Planning

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StevenLane
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Summer BrewBQ 2016: Planning

Hey Brewsters, firstly, keep in mind the 4th CHAOS Summer BrewBQ is Sat Aug 13, 2016.

No sign up sheet yet, but you are totally encouraged to start brewing that perfect beer for BBQ on a hot, and hopefully, sunny day.

Secondly, I have asked Jeff and Nancy to help me put a new spin on our Summer BrewBQ theme, and we are exploring partner opportunities for a West Town brewery tour. We have some cool neighbors, and it would be really easy to tour a few breweries, possibly get a bite to eat at stops along the way. The tour would end at a CHAOS hosted BBQ with a limited selection of homebrews. IBW might be a co-host, and we are even considering having the end party in a big lot next to their brew space.

Here's the concept map, please do not share this or contact anyone as we need to vet all these options before blasting out any news. If you happen to have a really good contact at eny of these establishments, let us know.

 

ChuckMac
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I am pretty sure Une Annee

I am pretty sure Une Annee has moved out of thr neighborhood.

StevenLane
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Hmm, I was going by Google

Hmm, I was going by Google maps, so some info might be wrong. I like Une Annee, it would be cool to have them on board. I didn't mean to suggest all listed partners would be involved, I think 3-5 partners would do just fine.

Jim Vondracek
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Sounds cool.  Please make

Sounds cool.  Please make sure that you factor in, or take into account, any impact on the financial bottom-line for these changes.  I don't really know how it would impact it, but for most events, moving people around usually decreases the number of folks who participate.  It might not in this case, but if you could factor that into your planning - how do we keep the numbers up and growing?  Thanks for your work on this, it sounds very interesting!

StevenLane
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Jim, there has been a long

Jim, there has been a long discussion going on since the Summer parties started, and the general consensus has been that Summer is a tough time with schedule conflicts, so we should expect less turnout. A sidebar to that discussion is the club is fatigued by producing 4 big seasonal pop-up gastropub extravaganzas every year, so we should use Summer BrewBQ to take it easy.

We're taking a week to see if this crazy idea could actually be cheaper to produce and less labor intensive. Jeff and Nancy have great contacts, so I'm hoping they can kickstart this effort.

We also have the option of getting a band to perform at the finale party, so we might be able to create enough draw to catch folks that would skip the early part and just show up at the end.

If the dots do not connect soon, we will party at the Brewhouse.

Rich
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Stephen - How would people

Stephen - How would people get between venues?  

StevenLane
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Hey Rich, I plotted the map

Hey Rich, I plotted the map way too wide for a proper walking tour. Part of me was contemplating billing it as a Bike-n-Brew Tour, but I know that would not work for a lot of folks.

I think CHAOS to IBW is walkable if you had two stops along the way to break it up. The Green Line and Grand Ave buses could act as a trolley of sorts. I think renting buses would blow the budget.

Tons of parking in this area, but I hate creating a drinking and driving opp.

ChuckMac
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AN army of pedicabs?  

AN army of pedicabs?

 

krisblouch
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hmm... love the idea of

hmm... love the idea of sharing the weight for some parties.

I'd also like to be more helpful at this party as plenty of people have worked way harder than me for many previous parties. I'll shoot you a PM stephen, but I dig what your thinking for this and would love to help.

Also, I sort of like the idea of "restricted amount" of kegs for this party. Not because it's not awesome to have 40/50 kegs... but because it takes a huge amount of equipment. Might be nice to take a break and try and keep it as small as possible on that end (1 per person at most, or a focus on bottle share?)... which makes having other brewers there awesome too.

 

JimChochola
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Hey, sorry, I'm late to the

Hey, sorry, I'm late to the party here.

There was talk at one point of having this BrewBQ be a true member apprecaition party: no Trial Memberships on sale. Is this still a viable option given the "brewery tour" model? We bill all of our parties as "Member Apprecaition" parties but we haven't really ever show any appreciation to the Friend, Apprentice, and Brewer members.

StevenLane
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We agreed to go easy and make

We agreed to go easy and make the event less work for volunteers, but we'll still take on Trial Members.

"Membership Appreciation Party" was a term employed to make our seasonal fundraiser parties more palatable for the authorities that shut down our first BrewBQ (which is why we're only at BrewBQ IV). "Membership Appreciation" was also a lure to get the public to understand that they need to sign up as a CHAOS member to attend our parties.

We have around 100 Friend of CHAOS members, so even without any Trial Members, we have another show to put on for our non-brewing members that love our parties.

John, Kyle, and Kris have stepped forward to take on bigger volunteer roles. Jeff and Nancy are scouting for partners, so I'm feeling well supported. We are looking into self serve beer stations to cut down on volunteer shifts. The idea of a potluck food situation could also reduce overtaxing anyone. A partner kicking in food would help too.

We do not know where we stand on the tour till the partners are on board, but even if we wind up at the Brewhouse as usual, I'm confident we can put a different spin on this party and make it feel like a break from the normal party routine and hassle.

krisblouch
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I'm sorry I wasn't at the

I'm sorry I wasn't at the party: I had an actual emergency last night. I wanted to talk more about this in person :(

If we end up being on our property at the end of beer tour, how would people feel about a "pot luck grillout"? So we would have a couple grills fired up that anyone could cook what ever they brought, and then just bring a side to share too.

We could probaly skip the tent if rain wasn't forecast, and people could serve their own beer. Picnic taps on kegs in 5 gal buckets servered by the brewer would really cut down on work for a centralized team... and people could make their own signs and actually get to really talk about thier beers with people since you'll be serving it. Lawnchairs would be good.

This was just something I was thinking to try and keep this really light, fun, and simple. 

StevenLane
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Good News. Illuminated Brew

Good News. Illuminated Brew Works is onboard as a co-host for Summer BrewBQ, and we will have our party at the WTF Reserve, a private 10,000 sq/ft sunken lot at the corner of Kinzie & Sangamon.

People are split on the idea of a brewery walk from CHAOS to IBW leading up to the party. My thought is the finale party at IBW would be worth the price of admission, and the brewery walk would just be a fun Summer activity to tack onto the experience. At any rate, we would need a second or third partner to make that happen, so it's in the maybe column for the moment.

Kris, IBW has two grills on site and a smoker. We're thinking the hosts need to kick in a sizable amount of food to ensure we have enough, but potluck is a perfect way to round things out, let people show off their skills, and not burn anyone out.

It was mentioned at the meeting Sunday that self serve beer at events has actually freed our brewers up from just filling cups all night and allowed more mingling and discussion. However, if anyone is up for serving their own beer, more power to you.

Nailing down additional partners and promo is the next step, and of course, brew some beer!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fQAZnJQJQof2d8OdLHG2fpq9ILkFiVXT...

 

krisblouch
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All of that sounds great

All of that sounds great Stephen. Nice work!

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Stephen this looks great!

 

 If we get brewery buy in for the tour....

Goose Island Tap Room > All Rise = .3 miles

All Rise > Cruz Cerverzeria = 1 mile or .1 to Ashland El Stop to Morgan

Morgan El Stop > Cruz Cervezeria = .1 mile

Morgan El Stop > illuminated Brew Works = .3 miles

Cruz Cervezeria >  illuminated Brew Works = .4 miles

LMK what you need help with on the food side

 

Thanks again

Reed

StevenLane
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Reed, thanks for the intel, I

Reed, thanks for the intel, I need to check in with our partner scouts, but I suspect the conference over the weekend has slowed us down a bit.

The guys at IBW have built a big smoker oven made out of cinder blocks outside their brew space. I'd love to try pit cooking and wrap meat and veggies up buried in coals and earth.

ChuckMac
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So, I am a bit confused, how

So, I am a bit confused, how does the Kinzie spot fit into the party? Are we transporting beer there? If so that sounds like a pain. Are we just kicking rocks there waiting for IBW? If so that sounds boring...

StevenLane
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You're boring Chuck, the WTF

You're boring Chuck, the WTF Reserve is an amazing spot everyone in Chicago deserves to party at once in their lives. I just hosted a party there for 1800+ people, and my half ass crew of 12 dysfunctional hippies on bikes didn't bitch.

John Gammal and I are planning to meet at CHAOS this Wednesday after work to work out more details. Anyone with a sense of adventure is welcome to join us.

ChuckMac
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Me? Boring?

Me? Boring?

I guess logistics are...

StevenLane
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In my experience, the hardest

In my experience, the hardest part of every party is breaking down Tent City Taproom at the end of the night. We have the least amount of people on hand, and it always sucks.

With the lot by IBW, we can lock everything up and come back the next day to break down and haul stuff back to CHAOS.

No brew house closure and clean up, just pack a truck and drive for 8 minutes.

ChuckMac
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Yes breakdown is a pain, but

Yes breakdown is a pain, but we only have to travel 20 feet to put everything away and it takes about 30 minutes with 4 people.that we wrangle at the end of the night.

Set up takes hours. The tents are the easist part of set up, it's setting up the serving stations that take all the time.

So again I ask, are we using the Kinzie space to serve ours and partners beer? If so, I fail to see how this makes it easier on membership to set this up a mile and a half from the brewhouse.

Not trying to shit on the grand plan, just looking at the details and since I can't attend the meeting, here are my questions and concerns.

Renting a truck or relying on membership?

Tables, taps, gas, regulators, kegs, buckets, ice and tools?

How many member's kegs?

How many partner's kegs?

Incidentals; taple cloths, tape, signs and such?

Relying on a next day break down, as Iggy will tell you, never really worked at the Grand St. brewhouse.

Let alone leaving our stuff out overnight in a space that two lazy scrapper crackheads could break into.

Hate away for being pragmatic...

 

StevenLane
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You are confused Chuck, I

You are confused Chuck, I guess not being conscious after CHAOS parties, you probably have missed the fact the brewhouse is basically destroyed each event, and it not only takes hours to clean the gear, the entire place needs to be cleaned and reorganized.

Referencing Iggi's experience at the Grand Ave is irrelevant, we are a different club now, and you are not aware of the conversations going on to minimize or remove the issues you're listing.

It's not pragmatism. It's called Old Man's Disease.