Above / Located at 2155 CityGate Lane, Naperville’s premium mixed-use lifestyle campus plans to celebrate a “beer-tastic” event to benefit Project HELP with special accommodation and dining offerings.
CityGate Centre is set to welcome Naperville Firkin Beer Fest to its expansive four-acre lawn from 3-6:30PM on Sat., Sept. 9. The inaugural event will bring more than 30 rare, one-of-a-kind Firkins from breweries around Illinois and the Midwest, along with some of their best brews and more than 60 craft beers and hard ciders.
Live entertainment and cuisine from popular local food trucks will top off the afternoon designed for craft beer enthusiasts.
To mark the occasion, the independently-owned Forbes Four-Star and AAA Four Diamond Hotel Arista will offer festival-goers a luxury location for an overnight stay the weekend of the event. The special Firkin Festival Beer Package includes:
- Boutique accommodations, from $239 per night
- Two tickets to the festival
- Breakfast for two at SugarToad, the hotel’s seasonally driven restaurant
- A craft beer amenity to be enjoyed in-room, along with two beer glasses (a keepsake), and house made Bavarian pretzels complete with stone ground mustard and mixed nuts
SugarToad and Zorba Lounge, located on the ground floor of the hotel, will also be adding an assorted German Sausage and Pretzel Platter, with gourmet mustard dipping sauce and German bread ($14) to its chef-driven menu. For those who want to continue the celebration, they can head over to CityGate Grille and enjoy a delectable steak dinner, popular crafts from breweries including Two Brothers, Miskatonic and 2 Fools Cider, and live music from Zazz, a local favorite and alternative jazz quintet, from 7:30–10:30PM.
General admission tickets are available at NapervilleFirkinFest.com for $49. Craft connoisseurs looking for a more exclusive experience can enjoy the Gold Pass VIP ticket for $65, which includes early admission, rare beer tastings, a “trip to the bacon bar,” a commemorative glass and vouchers for merchandise.
Ticket proceeds will benefit Project HELP, a Naperville-based mission organization committed to improving the lives of children and families.
The premier event is being organized by BrewFest Partners, a national firm specializing in consulting, planning, hosting and managing beer festivals for organizations of all types for the past 25 years.
CityGate Centre
CityGate Centre is a mixed-use development that offers premium, “Class A” office space, retail shops and restaurants, a world-class spa, and Hotel Arista, the only Forbes Four-Star rated property in the Chicagoland suburbs. The site encompasses 31 acres at the prominent intersection of I-88 and Route 59 in Naperville, Illinois. In addition to being the worldwide headquarters for Calamos Investments and other prestigious businesses, CityGate Centre provides an amenity rich location for its office tenants, all within a walkable town center environment. More information can be found online at www.citygatecentre.com.
Hotel Arista
The Forbes Four-Star, AAA Four Diamond Hotel Arista is a 144-room boutique hotel located just off I-88 in Naperville, Illinois, a city 30 miles outside Chicago. Developed by Calamos Real Estate LLC, the property is Illinois’ first LEED-certified hotel and was designed by Chicago-based Lohan Associates LLC. Hotel Arista serves as the focal point of CityGate Centre, a one million square foot, mixed-use lifestyle center, which is also home to Arista Spa & Salon, a 6,500-square foot beauty and wellness sanctuary. The Green Seal Silver certified hotel features 10,000 square feet of meeting space and a signature restaurant called SugarToad. The hotel is managed by Hotel Arista Management Company LLC, and can be found online at www.hotelarista.com.
Firkin
Firkin derived from the Dutch word vierdekijn (meaning fourth), as its traditional small barrel packaging is one-fourth the size of a standard barrel of beer and only 10.79 gallons. A Firkin is typically dedicated to housing “true ale” (i.e., cask-conditioned ale), or beer that has not been cold-filtered, pasteurized and carbonated by outside equipment. The ale beer that is housed inside the Firkin is naturally carbonated by its resident yeast and its ingredients have not been processed in any way outside of simple fermentation by the yeast. While many Firkins stick to the more traditional English Style of brew, others experiment with much more inventive ingredients like hibiscus petals, pie crusts or coffee.
Brewfest Partners
Curt Foreman is the founder of BrewFest Partners, a firm specializing in consulting, planning, hosting and managing beer festivals for organizations of all types in the US. Curt has over 25 years experience in event promotion and has successfully founded and managed numerous festivals and events including; the Great Lakes Brew Fest (GLBF) in Racine, WI. The Great Lakes Brew Fest is recognized as one of the premier beer tasting events in the Midwest attracting sell out crowds of more than 4000 in just its third year of existence.
