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the northbrook tower | September 12, 2019 | 3
3
First-ever Friday Night Flights
unites local craft-beer lovers
Alan P. Henry
Freelance Reporter
America’s love affair
with craft beers and
a frothy pint of creative
thinking by the village
were both on tap last Friday
night as Northbrook
hosted its first-ever “Friday
Night Flights” craft
beer festival at Techny
Park and Fields.
The event, featuring live
music, a local food truck
and beers from a dozen
area craft breweries, was
enjoyed by sold-out crowd
of 500 people, comprised
of couples of all ages and
groups of friends up for a
good time.
“It’s nice to have something
local in Northbrook
so we don’t have to go into
the city for entertainment.
The more things like this,
the better,” Ariel Silver
said.
“It’s a nice way to give
Northbrook something
where the entire community
can get together,” Liz
Erlich agreed.
Mike Marvel and wife
Carlie were happy to come
to an event that gives
adults a fun night out.
“Most of the programs
they do in Northbrook are
for kids and families. This
is a good event,” Mike
said.
Friday Night Flights was
planned by Madeline Farrell,
assistant to the village
manager, who attended a
similar event held in Chicago
with the Illinois Craft
Brewers Guild.
“It was super fun, it
was easy to put together
and I wanted to replicate
it here,” she said. “It is
a combination of caring
Meghan and Jeff Hodges, of Northbrook, enjoy the
village’s first-ever craft beer festival.
about craft beers and just
being outside and having
a little fun with the community.”
Ticket sales were capped
at 500, plus 50 tickets for
designated drivers, and
sold out quickly.
“We were pleasantly
surprised by the enthusiasm,”
she said.
However you pour it,
craft beers have become
a huge hit with American
consumers.
The number of small and
independently owned craft
breweries operating in the
United States surpassed
7,000 in 2018, with about
1,000 more new breweries
expected to open in 2019,
according to the Brewers
Association. Overall, U.S.
beer volume sales were
down one percent in 2018,
whereas craft brewer sales
continued to grow at a rate
of four percent by volume,
reaching 13.2 percent of
the U.S. beer market.
The association, a trade
group of American brewers,
defines a brewery
as “craft” if it is largely
independent of outside
corporate ownership, produces
fewer than six million
barrels per year, and
uses traditional ingredients
such as malted barley, or
innovative ingredients to
enhance flavor.
Organizers for Friday
Night Flights worked with
the Illinois Craft Brewers
Guild to help select the
breweries for the event.
Among them was Northbrook’s
only craft brewery,
Granite City Food and
Brewery at Willow and
Waukegan.
“This is exciting. We are
glad to be a part of it and
we hope to be a part of it
for many, many years,”
said Granite City general
manager Jeff Berlin.
The event attracted craftbeer
lovers from throughout
the area. Among
them was Kate Schultz, a
member of the Yelp Elite
Squad who switched from
Leinenkugel and Michelob
Ultra Light at Northwestern
to craft beers at her local
Evanston taprooms as
her taste buds matured.
“I like how many different
varieties there are
and that they change frequently
so that I don’t get
sick of any one particular
style,” she said.
Indeed, variety is a ma-
Please see Flights, 12
Northbrook residents Elizabeth and James Epe are served a beer from Dovetail
Brewery on Friday, Sept. 7, at Techny Prairie Park and Fields during Northbrook’s
inaugural Friday Night Flights. Photos by Rhonda Holcomb/22nd Century Media