photo: peter ranvestel

Thirsty? At the Ballpark Brew Fest on Saturday, 35 breweries served more than 100 types of beer.

A few takeaways from Ballpark Brew Fest, the inaugural beer-sampling event held Saturday at the home of the Schaumburg Boomers:

1. The brew faithful is a hearty crowd. In case you’ve forgotten, temps topped out in the forties. And they're willing come a long way for good craft beer—we met folks who’d trekked in from both Evanston and Kenosha, WI.

2. A craft brewery serving solely vegan beer actually exists.

3. It sounds like we’re going to have to wait until August (sigh) for Lagunitas’ Chicago tap room to open.

4. Maybe Chicago doesn't have too many beer festivals after all.