CHAOS has received an invite from the organizer, Judy Wu, since April 19th's swap is alcohol-focused.
Hello,
My name is Judy Wu, and I'm founder of Swap It Chicago: Food and Product Exchange (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Swap-It-Chicago-Food-Product-Exchange/238044439692910). Our swap offers a place for home cooks, local artisans, growers, general "DIY-ers" to get together and exchange specialty foods/beverages, body/home products, arts/crafts. It's essentially like a farmer's market where everyone trades stuff.
One of my goals for these regional-based food swaps is to connect local businesses with the community, and I wanted to reach out to you to ask if you were interested in participating (or reach out to your contacts who would be interested). For our March event, we hosted Chef Gale Gand (founder of Tru, judge on Top Chef, James Beard winner, etc.). We've also hosted alot of popular food/beverage artisans as well.
For my next exchange, I'm planning on doing a "Booze-inspired" exchange. Gary Valentine (beer adviser for Girl and the Goat) is this month's guest speaker, and there will be lots of other local brewers/breweries/booze lovers there (e.g. Metro Brewing, etc) The event takes place on Saturday April 19th from 2-4pm at Farmhouse in Evanston.
Hey, all.
So, Judy is wondering if we can get some commitment from CHAOS. When she does the marketing for it, she would like to be able to bill it as, "Gary Valentine, CHAOS Brew Club, &c. will be there!"
Let me know if you'd like to participate and swap your beer for other boozy beverages.
Jim, do you think this is doable? We have Cerveza, Brew-ha-ha, Gino's East, the AHA conference, the charity event, and our summer party all coming up....
Yeah, this is totally do-able.
I'm not trying to draw away from our *club* beer needs for all our parties because this can be individuals who have 10 bottles of this, and 15 bottles of that which they can spare.
I don't think we have to have a formal presence (which I will confirm now with Judy).
I've been to food swaps before and they're pretty low-stress/low-effort. you just bring what you already have on hand or what you can make reasonably easily and quickly.
I'm interested in this. All of my stuff is bottles, so I have a variety already brewed to swap, I'm in. Are we participating in this for the April 19 date?
Yeah. From what I gather her food swaps are normally food. But this one is going to be booze, not food, hence the invite sent to us...
I've just written her to see if she wants a formal presence (i.e., a decent quantity of beer and some presentation or something) or if it's informal like the other food swaps I've been to where each participant gets a little part of a table to lay out their stuff; people go around and taste eachother's wares; and then at the end you decide with whom you'd like to swap.
I'll let you guys know what she says.
Got it. I was picturing a more formal event.
Yep. I confirmed with her. Definitely informal.
Nancy, are you definitely going to this so I can tell her that there will be at least one CHAOS person?
I'm going to try to go but I'm running a race in the morning. If I can get home, shower, and get to Evanston, I'll be there, too.
Yes, I am planning on going, I'll be there.
Awesome! You'll be a great representative for the club! They will be very impressed with you!
Jim, Nancy, I'm also in on this. I have some brew that can be bottled immediately and I'll be happy to swap it at this event.
Cool, sounds great. Can someone bring some extra CHAOS business cards? I only have about a handfull.
Excellent! Two great reps for the club!
The organizer asks that you sign up so that she knows you're coming.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/booze-inspired-exchange-tickets-11138486513
Bumping Up... Swap-It Booze!
Check it out this Saturday. Free to register.
Cheers!
Im curious how this event was. Please share! I'm sorry I missed it!
Transient Ales and Metropolitan Brewing were there and a bunch of foodies, some with booze inspired foods like: beer bread, beer cheese, white wine vinegar, etc. Some just had baked goods. Cobra Corn was tasty, Indian inspired flavors like bombay and curry. I think it would have been cooler to have had more homebrewers there and others in the craft industry, but I guess for a first go at this, it was a success. Attached is a snap-shot of my table.
Damn! Nice spread! Thanks for representin', Nanc!
Did she say there'd be more of these?
They meet monthly. This last one was "booze" inspired, so I am sure there will be more in the future, but most likely it will be baked goods and other food items, not sure how often they would have or bring back the "booze."