German beer never goes out of style, even in August.
Whet your appetites for Oktoberfest with the second annual Bier Rock Fest. The free event featuring beer and music is from 4 to 10 p.m. Aug. 2 and 2 to 11 p.m. Aug. 3 at Buffalo Creek Brewing in Long Grove.
Last year’s event was a success, said Buffalo Creek owner Mike Marr. The brewery is known for Alpine Fest in the winter and Oktoberfest in the fall and decided a few years ago to add Maifest in May and the Bier Rock Fest in late summer.
“The other three are all really German-based,” he said. “This one is more — it’s summer, it’s Chicago, we’re going to have fun. Our summer beer lineup is more of the lighter style of beer. Starting mid-August, we start bringing the darker beers back out.”
The music starts at 4 p.m. Aug. 2. It’s a pop-punk lineup featuring Wait What, Full of Moxie, Space Age Zeros and the Iron Spiders.
“There are all Chicago bands and they’re a lot of fun,” he said.
On Aug. 3, the lineup includes Inbound, Timeless Deals, Rememories Band and the alt-rock-blues band Wht.Rbbt.Obj (pronounced “White Rabbit Object”) headlining.
As for the beer, Marr says they will be releasing two new ones for the festival. The first is called Mosh Pit and is a flavor-forward, experimental beer they’re playing around with, he said.
“It’s what they call a thiolized style of beer,” he said. Without getting too technical, this beer uses a particular strain of yeast to punch up the flavor in the hops and malt, he said.
“When you add hops to the beer, it bitters the beer. But we can play around with hops and add them during the dry-hopping phase. So they don’t get boiled so … you get that really juicy hop flavor we’re looking for. You’ll get stone fruits, gooseberry or grape flavors from it. It really makes a delicious-style beer.”
Other beers on tap at the festival include the Red Headed Stepchild, a strawberry blonde ale; the Hefeweizen, a wheat ale served with a lemon slice; Buffalo Gose, which is German watermelon sour ale; and Buffalo Kriek, a Belgian cherry sour ale.
They’ll have hard cider made with heirloom apples from Michigan.
“The flavor is very similar to a light champagne,” he said.
Hard seltzers include boysenberry, mango jalapeño and a raspberry lime rickey, he said, along with cherry, raspberry and pineapple.
“You can mix the flavors any way you like as well,” he said. “We do our hard seltzers a little differently than most companies. We create our own extracts, create our own flavorings and have those off to the side. We create an unflavored version of seltzer and then when you order it, we flavor it to order. It’s kind of like the old soda shops.”
And when hunger strikes, there will be food options. Kevin Leeper, a chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, runs Kevin’s Creative Catering. He was a big hit at Maifest with a pork schnitzel with mushroom gravy and bratwurst soaked in beer with all the fixings. It was a no-brainer to ask him to return.
“For this one, he’s got chipotle chicken quesadillas, sirloin burgers and he’s doing the brats again because those were big hit,” Marr said. “He’s also doing a turkey bacon Swiss club and fresh French fries as well. And we’ve got hot dogs for the kids.”
Happy’s Badass Bavarians will be out with hot Bavarian pretzels, jam, mustard and jalapeño cheddar sauce.
Buffalo Creek and its events are family friendly. There will be games for the kids plus a bags tournament. The fest benefits the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund.
“Because we are a German brewery, we always have the stein holding and the hammerschlagen contests,” he said.
The stein holding contest is in between the bands. Marr uses that time to talk about the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund, the 50-50 raffle and to thank everyone for coming out while the 20 or so entrants hold a large stein filled with water with their arms extended straight out. If they drop their arms or spill a drop, they’re out. The winner gets bragging rights plus a free stein of beer.
Hammerschlagen is a game where people compete against each other to hammer nails into a tree stump or wooden beam.
Marr hopes people come out to the fest and enjoy beer and music, especially if they can’t be at Lollapalooza.
“This is something that everyone can come to and enjoy,” he said. “Enjoy an authentic German experience in downtown Long Grove.”
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
Bier Rock Fest
When: 4-10 p.m. Aug. 2 and 2-11 p.m. Aug. 3
Where: Buffalo Creek Brewing, 360 Historical Lane, Long Grove
Tickets: Free
Information: 847-821-6140; buffalocreekbrewing.com
