Durty Nellie’s Partners with Local Breweries for 2021 Beer Fest

Durty Nellie’s, 180 N. Smith Street, in downtown Palatine, is partnering with more than a dozen local breweries as it brings back the annual Beer Fest (after sitting it out a year due to the pandemic) Saturday, September 11 from 11:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Eighteen Illinois-based breweries will feature 50 craft beers at the event, which will take place outside in the parking and on the rooftop, as all current CDC safety guidelines are observed.

The event’s success will positively impact Woodridge-based Skeleton Key Brewery, who would normally partner at the event, but is currently closed due to severe damages to the location caused by an EF-3 tornado that occurred on Father’s Day and ripped through several western suburbs. Nellie’s will donate a portion of each ticket price to the brewery, which is working to reopen soon.

Nellie's owners and brothers, Mark and Jimmy Dolezal, know far too well how a spontaneous disaster can cripple a business and want to lend a hand to the shuttered brewery. In 2019, a kitchen fire at the gastro pub and concert hub decimated the interior of the pub, restaurant, as well as the band room and mezzanine that overlooks it, closing it for several months as it was stripped down to the studs and rebuilt. At the start of 2020, Nellie’s was poised for a comeback and had just recently reopened when the pandemic hit - shuttering it along with all other restaurants and bars in the State for the next few months. It’s been a tough struggle since then with COVID-19 mitigations in place, which were then removed, and now with new safety recommendations from the CDC.

“It’s been a long road for us since the fire and navigating through the challenges that all hospitality-based businesses have suffered over the last year-and-a-half through the pandemic,” said Jimmy Dolezal, Nellie’s managing partner. “We are so looking forward to hosting this popular, and previously annual event at our outside venues to bring people together who love craft beers, in a safe and responsible way.”

Beer Fest was founded by Nellie’s, with the very first event on May 4, 1995. At that time, most beer drinkers weren’t aware of what a craft or IPA beer was yet; the purpose was to introduce different styles, while bringing the community together in a lighthearted and entertaining way.

Tickets are $45 for one admission, or $250 for a ‘six pack’. To learn more and to purchase tickets for the annual Beer Fest, visit nelliespalatine.com. A free commemorative beer glass will be included with each ticket, while supplies last.

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About Durty Nellie’s (Nellie’s) – see below for the list of participating breweries:

Founded in 1972, Durty Nellie’s (Nellie’s) has been a staple entertainment venue, pub and restaurant in downtown Palatine. Brothers Mark and Jimmy Dolezal purchased the business in the 1980s from two airline pilots who named the business (though changed the spelling from Nelly’s to Nellie’s) after the famous Durty Nelly’s pub in County Claire, Ireland which is located in the shadow of Bunratty Castle. The Dolezals have prided themselves on providing a unique entertainment venue, along with a brand-new gastro pub menu prepared by the chef from Duke’s Alehouse in Crystal Lake, which is also owned by the Dolezal family, and the finest wine, spirits, craft beers and more in their full-service pub. The location hosts several weekly events, including trivia, tabletop games, bi-weekly line dancing, acoustic performers, a variety of bands, and more. Private events – including bar and bat mitzvahs, showers, all types of luncheons and any other gathering can be held in their band room, the mezzanine (which overlooks the band room on the second floor), as well as on their rooftop during the spring, summer and fall. For more information, please call 847-358-9150.

Beer Fest Breweries:

1. Phase Three – Lake Zurich
2. Mikerphone – Elk Grove Village
3. Hubbard’s Cave - Niles
4. Revolution – Chicago
5. Sketchbook - Skokie
6. Noon Whistle – Lombard and Naperville
7. Right Bee - Chicago
8. Alarmist - Chicago
9. Brickstone - Bourbonnais
10. Finch - Chicago
11. Goose Island - Chicago
12. Tighthead - Mundelein
13. Alter– St. Charles and Downers Grove
14. Church Street - Itasca
15. Miskatonic - Darien
16. Three Floyds – Munster, Indiana
17. Half Acre - Chicago
18. Pollyanna - Roselle