Review: HOPS! Oktoberfest

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 15, 2008 5:23PM

The tomato plants in the beer garden enjoyed the rain the most.

Attendees wait out the intermittent showers underneath a tent.

A selection of the brews, courtesy of Flossmoor Station and Rock Bottom Breweries

It wasn\'t all beer, either. Here is a 2001 cabernet sauvignon.

One of the best beers we tasted at the fest was this lemongrass blonde ale.

The crowd gathers as the raffle prizes are given away.

Another surprise for us was this homemade Irish cream. We got the recipe, too.

Rain or shine, the grills were manned and hot.

Every year the rag tag group of homebrewing enthusiasts known as the Homebrewers Pride of the Southside (aka HOPs! gathers at a VFW hall in Bridgeport for their annual Oktoberfest celebration. The group ranges in experience from novice beer makers to notable brewmasters like Mat Van Wyk of Flossmoor Station and Wil Turner of Goose Island's Clybourn brewpub. This year HOPs! members created 56 different beers, sodas, wines and liqueurs for those attending to taste. The constant "light rain" that fell Saturday turned the VFW's beer garden into a scale model of Woodstock '99, but didn't dampen the enthusiasm of those in attendance to sample the wares. Here are some favorites.