It Must Be Spring: Bell's Oberon Arrives In Chicago

By Lorna Juett in Food on Mar 28, 2013 6:15PM

Whether you fall in the “this beer was better when it was Solsun,” or the “OMIGOD OBERON IS THE BEST, PASS ME AN ORANGE SLICE!” camp, midwestern beer drinkers can all agree that one of the harbingers of summer is when Oberon hits the shelves at the end of March.

Purists do tend to argue that the flavors in this beer are more diluted every year as the demand and the output of barrels grow, and that it’s just plain overrated. What never changes is the pure drinkability of this cloudy, sweet, and wheaty beer. It’s not going to blow any minds, other than the way it acts as the perfect gateway beer, but there’s something incredibly comforting in the first sip of Oberon after a particularly nasty winter.

Don’t let this writer’s nostalgia muddle your experience with Oberon, go out and taste it for yourself. A quick search of Beermenus.com finds it on draft and in bottles at about 50 bars and liquor stores within 20 miles of Chicago. According to the Bell’s Brewery website, Mariano’s Fresh Market in the South Loop is hosting the Oberon Kick-off and Tasting today at 5:30 p.m. Or, you can head to the Chicago Beer Festival at Union Station where it will be poured alongside Two Hearted, Porter and Quinannan Falls Special Lager. Strangely, Chick Beer is missing from the lineup this go around. Perhaps you could introduce your “chick” to Oberon instead.

Mariano’s Fresh Market is located at 40 S. Halsted St.