Sam Gupta of St. Charles elected to visit a farm in Aurora over the weekend hoping to drink some beer in a cornfield.
“I found out about this actually because of some of my buddies that I’m meeting up with,” Gupta said as he registered at Abbey Farms as it held its second annual Taste the Maze event on Saturday. “I’m a craft beer guy and I know all of the brewers that are here today. There is one here today that is one of my favorites that’s located right near me.”
Drinking locally-made craft beer in a corn maze may sound a little offbeat, but dozens were doing just that at the event Saturday, which included samples of craft beer, seltzer and cider for enthusiasts to enjoy.
Beginning at 2 p.m., the seven-hour event included live music, food trucks and a bar selling other adult beverages, as well as the chance to explore the entire farm including its signature corn maze where explorers could find “hidden samples from local breweries” including Obscurity Brewing, Sturdy Shelter Brewing, Two Brothers Brewing, Art History Brewing and the Riverlands Brewing Company.
Phil Nork, associate director for the farm, said this was second year the farm has offered the event.
“We added another day this year and held this last Saturday and again today on the 24th,” Nork said Saturday. “It rained all day last week, but we still had about 150 to 200 people show up.”
Nork said the goal of the event “was twofold, including adults actually seeing the corn maze and see what we offer for their kids in the fall festival coming up in September.”
“The other thing is to get the word out about the local breweries that are sampling their local products in the corn maze as people walk through,” he said.
A total of 10 three-ounce samples, or two from each of the five breweries, were offered for those taking part.
The back half of the kids’ park at Abbey Farms was open for adults “to go down the slides and play with the pedal carts and jump on the jumping pillow,” something that Nork said a number of adults actually did last week “once their inhibitions were down a little.”
“Once the sun came out last week people were definitely doing the slides and other things once their anxiety was eliminated a little bit,” Nork said.
Morgan Bernstein of Geneva’s Art History Brewing was pouring beer in a tent in the corn maze and said he wasn’t sure, given the heat, that he brought enough beer.
“There’s a decent amount,” he said while peering in a cooler. “If we get a couple hundred people today I’m not sure we’ll have enough.”
Gupta said he “has never heard of Abbey Farms before,” something that his friends like Brian Arnt of North Aurora could not say, noting that, “We’ve come here before a number of times for Pumpkin Daze.”
“We come with the kids and now we are doing an adult-only activity and it’s nice to be unshackled,” Arnt said with a laugh. “It’s fun when I can get my siblings out with me to enjoy the weekend. I think the idea of drinking beer in a cornfield is fun. We like to support Abbey Farms any way we can and we might as well come out for something like this. My brother and I brew our own beer and we enjoy trying other people’s as well.”
Chris Hurst of Batavia was also along for the fun with Gupta and Arnt.
“My wife is into craft beer as well,” he said. “I know every single one of the breweries here and I’ve been to every single one of them.”
Chris’ wife Brittany Hurst admitted she was a craft beer fan and said the beers themselves “have a little more oomph.”
“They’ve got some flavor and I think this is a great marketing idea,” she said of the fest.
Brittany also speculated on what might happen after a couple of servings of beer.
“Would people go out and jump on the playground equipment and start fooling around? I think so,” she said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
