Certified Cicerone® · Beer for parties, weddings & company nights · Chicago
We build the beer list. Your guests remember it.
Tell us the room, the food, and the crowd. A Certified Cicerone® picks the beer, writes the menu, and gets it on tap in front of your guests. You get a lineup with a story instead of a bucket of the usual.
That is the beer trade's exam for people who know styles, service and what has gone wrong in the glass. Every beer is chosen for your event, and nobody pays us to feature their brand.
Clean lines, the right glass, the right temperature. Nobody waits three deep for a beer that comes out half foam.
You talk to the same person from the first phone call to the last pour. We handle the lineup, the counts, the menus, and the timing.
How it goes
Half an hour. Guest count, the room, the food, your budget, and what your crowd actually drinks.
A written beer list from a Certified Cicerone®: backups, pours per keg, pairings, non-alcoholic picks, and the menu card copy.
Kegs locked in, counts checked, and the taps, ice, glassware and bartenders booked for your date.
We're there early to check the lines and the temps, and we'll walk your guests through the board if you want that.
What a board looks like
Roughly one drink per guest per hour, a little heavier in the first. Six sixtel kegs and a couple cases, about 380 pours with room to spare.
The one that empties first. Always two.
Soft and juicy. The house favorite for most rooms.
Clear and bitter, for the people who ask for it by name.
September beer. Goes with the pretzel and mustard table.
The dark one, for after the food comes out.
A beer worth drinking, not a consolation prize.
Styles shown as an example. Your board gets specific brewers, picked once we know your date and your crowd.
What it costs
Pick the one that fits the night. Tell us the headcount and the room and we’ll price it out.
One call and a written list: what to buy, how much, how cold, and what to say about it. You pick it up from the shop we point you to.
Your lineup, printed menu cards, taps, glassware and bartenders. We handle the beer so you can handle your guests.
Everything above, plus a guided tasting, pairings built with your food caterer, a themed flight, and a card guests take home.
Where we work
Company happy hours, client nights, holiday parties, and a monthly beer Friday if you want one on the calendar.
For couples who would rather talk about the beer list than the champagne toast. We work alongside your planner and food caterer.
Tasting-style events where the beer is the draw. We'll build a board people will pay to get at.
Birthdays, retirements, graduations. Blocks, decks, and rented rooms. We've got a list for that too.
Questions we get
Four to six weeks is comfortable. Kegs get confirmed two to three weeks out, so earlier means more of the lineup lands as planned. Ask anyway if your date is closer — sometimes it works.
Yes. Ask them whether an outside bar is allowed. If it isn't, we'll build the list and work with their staff to get it on tap.
Good. Every board includes non-alcoholic beer worth drinking, and we'll add cider, wine, or low-alcohol options through the bar partner.
Yes, all over Chicagoland. Tell us the town when you write so we can get the right crew on your date.
The beer world's version of a sommelier. It is an exam-based certification covering beer styles, keeping and serving draft beer, off-flavors, and food pairing — the second of the program's four levels. In plain terms: your list gets built by someone who tastes for a living instead of reading a distributor's sell sheet.
Date, rough guest count, the address, what food you're serving, and a budget range. That's enough for a first list.
Start here
Tell us what you know so far. We read every one and write back within a day.
Got it.
Your note is in. We write back within a day from beerme@chicagocraftbeer.com — check your spam folder if it goes quiet. Next up: a few questions about the room and the food, then a first beer list.