Urban Knaves of Grain (UKG)

UKG Social Afternoon
2025-10-19 14:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Skeleton Key Brewing, 8102 Lemont Rd #300, Woodridge, IL, 60517, United States
UKG Social Afternoon at Skeleton Key Brewing, 8102 Lemont Rd in Woodridge. A consistent friend of beer education and supporter of UKG, they typically have around 15 beers on tap. No food is served, but you can bring your own.

Monthly Club Meeting
2025-10-21 18:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-20 18:30 - 21:00, 2026-02-17 18:30 - 21:00 | Bubblehouse Brewing, 2121 Ogden Ave, Unit A, Lisle, IL, 60532, United States
Monthly meeting to announce the latest club news, competition wins, upcoming events and happenings.
It’s also an opportunity to share some of your brews with the rest of the club and get feedback as well as taste other club members’ brews.
We welcome all visitors interested in the club. Bring homebrew if you have it and want to share.
This month’s meeting will be at Bubblehouse Brewing in Lisle. Their taproom doesn’t serve food, but you may bring your own.

Learn How to Brew Day
2025-11-01 10:30 - 17:00 | Ray Nonnie’s, 817 Dugout Trail, Carol Stream, IL, 60188, United States
Ray Nonnie is hosting Learn How to Brew Day. Ray will be brewing an all-grain batch of his own using a stainless steel mash tun with a RIMS setup to control mash temperatures, for those interested in learning how to brew all-grain. Visitors are welcome to bring their own equipment and brew a beer, or just come and observe. Beginners are welcome! Bring snacks and homebrew, if you have some.

UKG Social Afternoon
2025-11-09 14:00 - 17:00 | Riverlands Brewing, 1860 Dean St, unit A, St. Charles, IL, 60174, United States
UKG Social Afternoon at Riverlands Brewing, 1860 Dean St unit A in St. Charles. Riverlands has 16 taps, including a couple of seltzers. No food is served, but you can bring your own.

Monthly Club Meeting
2025-11-18 18:30 - 21:00 | Bubblehouse Brewing, 2121 Ogden Ave, Unit A, Lisle, IL, 60532, United States
Monthly meeting to announce the latest club news, competition wins, upcoming events and happenings.
It’s also an opportunity to share some of your brews with the rest of the club and get feedback as well as taste other club members’ brews.
We welcome all visitors interested in the club. Bring homebrew if you have it and want to share.
This month’s meeting will be at Bubblehouse Brewing in Lisle. Their taproom doesn’t serve food, but you may bring your own.
For the technical part of the meeting (6:30-7:30), Eileen and Mike Uchima will talk about all-in-one brewing systems.

UKG Annual Holiday Party
2025-12-16 18:30 - 22:00 | Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N Broadway, Aurora, IL, 60505
UKG Special Holiday meeting, 6:30pm at Two Brothers Roundhouse. From the entrance, walk to the left all the way to the end, and take a left before the main banquet room and proceed upstairs. (An elevator is also available.)
A limited buffet will be provided. +1s are welcome. We need to provide a headcount for this in advance. Please RSVP here.
You can pay your membership dues for 2026 at this meeting, $20 cash or check payable to UKG. You can also pay online using this link.
Holiday Brew Roulette: bring a 6-pack of your holiday beer, mead, or cider, and leave with a mixed 6-pack of your fellow UKG members’ holiday brews! You’re encouraged to create a holiday label for your contributions, but a key will be distributed after the gathering so it’s not a complete mystery what’s in your 6-pack. We’ll use our Holiday Brew Slack channel to talk about the brews.
To participate in the Holiday Brew Roulette, bring your 6-pack (all the same brew) to the party. To help us reshuffle the brews quickly, please preregister them in this Google doc.
This event replaces the regular club meeting for this month.

UKG Social Afternoon
2025-12-21 14:00 - 17:00 | Miskatonic Brewing, 1000 N Frontage Rd c, Darien, IL, Darien, IL, 60561, United States
UKG Social Afternoon at Miskatonic Brewing, 1000 N Frontage Rd, suite C in Darien. Miskatonic has been a friend and supporter of UKG and the Drunk Monk Challenge for the last 10 years, but sadly they are closing their doors on Dec 31. This special social event will be our final thanks to them.

DMC Entrant/Judge/Staff Registration Begins
2026-01-03 12:00 | IL
Beginning of entrant, judge, and steward registration for the Drunk Monk Challenge.

UKG Brew-In!
2026-01-10 09:00 - 16:30 | Tim Devitt’s, 1675 Whispering Oaks Dr, West Chicago, IL, United States
UKG Brew-In at Tim Devitt’s house, 1675 Whispering Oaks Dr in West Chicago.
Visitors are welcome to bring their own equipment and brew a beer, or just come and observe. We’ll start at 9:00am, and everyone must be finished by 4:30pm.
What to bring:
Burner, propane, pots, buckets, carboy, ingredients, hops, chair, etc.
Homebrew, of course!
Provided:
Space to brew in garage.
Hose and water for chilling.

DMC Entry Registration Begins
2026-01-11 12:00 | IL
Beginning of entry registration for the Drunk Monk Challenge. There’s a 3-entry limit per person initially, but this will expand to 6 entries on 1/25 if our entry capacity hasn’t been reached yet.

DMC Entry/Drop-Off Opens
2026-02-16 | IL
Entry shipping/drop-off opens for the Drunk Monk Challenge.

31st Annual Train Crawl 2026
2026-02-21 11:00 - 19:00 | IL
Please join us for the 31st annual UKG Train Crawl! First stop will be 11am.
Breweries include Half Acre, Spiteful Brewing, is/was, Hopleaf, and Demo Brewing. Dinner is planned to occur while at Hopleaf.
MAP: 2026-UKG-Train-Crawl

DMC Entry Deadline
2026-03-06 17:00 | IL
Deadline for arrival of shipped or dropped-off entries for the Drunk Monk Challenge. Entry registration will also end today if the entry cap has not been reached yet.

DMC Unpacking
2026-03-08 10:00 - 14:00 | Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N Broadway, Aurora, IL, 60505
Unpacking of entries for the Drunk Monk Challenge at Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N Broadway (Rt. 25) in Aurora.
Lots of volunteers needed! Bring 6-pack carriers if you have some. Homebrew welcome for sampling after we do our work.

DMC Judging
2026-03-10 18:00 - 21:00, 2026-03-12 18:00 - 21:00 | IL
Judging of a few tables for the Drunk Monk Challenge, location TBA. Schedule:
5:30pm: Organizers arrive.
6:00pm: Judges arrive. Dinner served.
6:30pm: Judging begins.
Please be on time! Everyone has to wait until the last judge arrives before we start.

DMC Judging
2026-03-11 18:00 - 21:00 | Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N Broadway, Aurora, IL, 60505
Judging of a few tables for the Drunk Monk Challenge, at Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N Broadway (Rt. 25) in Aurora. Schedule:
5:30pm: Organizers arrive.
6:00pm: Judges arrive. Dinner served.
6:30pm: Judging begins.
Please be on time! Everyone has to wait until the last judge arrives before we start.

DMC Judge/Steward Registration Ends
2026-03-13 12:00 | IL
Last day of online registration of judges and stewards for the Drunk Monk Challenge. But please don’t wait until the last minute.

DMC Judging
2026-03-13 13:30 - 21:00 | Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N Broadway, Aurora, IL, 60505
Three small sessions to judge a few tables for the Drunk Monk Challenge at Two Brothers Roundhouse, in the Porter/Ale ballroom, clockwise all the way to the end from the main entrance. Schedule:
1:00pm: Organizers arrive.
1:30pm: Judges for 1st session arrive.
2:00pm: 1st judging session begins.
3:30pm: Judges for 2nd session arrive.
4:00pm: 2nd judging session begins.
5:30pm – 6:00pm: Judges for 3rd session arrive. Pizza served.
6:30pm: 3rd judging session begins.
Please be on time! Everyone has to wait until the last judge arrives.

Drunk Monk Challenge
2026-03-14 08:00 - 20:00 | Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N Broadway, Aurora, IL, 60505
28th annual Drunk Monk Challenge, the UKG’s own homebrew competition, and a leg of the Midwest Homebrewer of the Year and Circuit of America. Judging is at Two Brothers Roundhouse, in the Porter/Ale ballroom, clockwise all the way to the end from the main entrance
8:00am: Organizers and stewards arrive. Breakfast is served.
8:30am: Judges arrive. Please be on time!
9:30am: Morning judging session.
11:00am: Lunch is served.
12:00pm: 2nd judging session.
2:30pm: Best of Show and Menace of the Monastery judging.
3:00pm: Raffle.
5:00pm: Awards ceremony.
6:00pm: Cleanup (organizers and stewards).

Monthly Club Meeting
2026-03-17 18:30 - 21:00 | Bubblehouse Brewing, 2121 Ogden Ave, Unit A, Lisle, IL, 60532, United States
Monthly meeting to announce the latest club news, competition wins, upcoming events and happenings.
It’s also an opportunity to share some of your brews with the rest of the club and get feedback as well as taste other club members’ brews.
We welcome all visitors interested in the club. Bring homebrew if you have it and want to share.
This month’s meeting will be at Bubblehouse Brewing in Lisle. Their taproom doesn’t serve food, but you may bring your own.
Special guest this month: Amoretti
A representative from Amoretti, producers of ingredients, extracts, flavors, mixes, syrups and more, will be giving a presentation at the meeting, beginning at 6:30 pm.

UKG Social Afternoon
2026-03-29 14:00 - 17:00 | IL
UKG Social Afternoon at Werk Force Brewing Company, 14903 S Center St #101, Plainfield, IL 60544. Werk Force has 29 taps along with 16 ounce 4PKS AND 32 ounce CROWLERS TO-GO.

AHA National Homebrew Competition 1st Round
2026-04-07 18:30 - 21:00 | IL
Regional judging of the 1st Round of the AHA’s National Homebrew Competition. Judging will be at Skeleton Key Brewery, 8102 Lemont Rd #300 in Woodridge. This competition is always short of volunteers, so please consider judging or stewarding if you can.

AHA National Homebrew Competition 1st Round
2026-04-09 18:30 - 21:00 | IL
Regional judging of the 1st Round of the AHA’s National Homebrew Competition, 6:30 pm. Judging will be at Dovetail Brewery, 1800 W Belle Plaine Ave in Chicago. This competition is always short of volunteers, so please consider judging or stewarding if you can.

AHA National Homebrew Competition 1st Round
2026-04-10 14:00 - 21:00 | IL
Regional judging of the 1st Round of the AHA’s National Homebrew Competition, 2 sessions at 2:00 pm, and 6:00 pm. Judging will be at Dovetail Brewery, 1800 W Belle Plaine Ave in Chicago. This competition is always short of volunteers, so please consider judging or stewarding if you can.

AHA National Homebrew Competition 1st Round
2026-04-11 09:00 - 16:30 | IL
Regional judging of the 1st Round of the AHA’s National Homebrew Competition, 3 sessions at 9:00 am, 11:00 am, and 1:30 pm. Judging will be at Dovetail Brewery, 1800 W Belle Plaine Ave in Chicago. This competition is always short of volunteers, so please consider judging or stewarding if you can.

Monthly Club Meeting
2026-04-21 18:30 - 21:00 | Bubblehouse Brewing, 2121 Ogden Ave, Unit A, Lisle, IL, 60532, United States
Monthly meeting to announce the latest club news, competition wins, upcoming events and happenings.
It’s also an opportunity to share some of your brews with the rest of the club and get feedback as well as taste other club members’ brews.
We welcome all visitors interested in the club. Bring homebrew if you have it and want to share.
This month’s meeting will be at Bubblehouse Brewing in Lisle. Their taproom doesn’t serve food, but you may bring your own. The tech topic this month will have Joe Skiles discussing hop techniques, from 6:30 – 7:30 pm.
Additionally, we will be judging ciders for the Knighted Knave club competition.

Big Brew Day Brewing at Church Street Brewing
2026-05-02 09:00 - 14:00 | Church Street Brewing Company, 1480 Industrial Dr Unit C, Itasca, IL, 60143
Big Brew Day Brewing at Church Street Brewing – Starting at 9 a.m., we’ll setup for a Brew-In event at Church Street Brewing, 1480 E Industrial Dr Unit C, Itasca. Church Street will be brewing a Red Ale that day and will give each person 5 gals of wort to do with as they wish. Bring your propane setup to brew right inside the brewery at Church Street or take your 5 gallons home to brew at home.
Grist for the Red Ale will be 70% Pils, 8.74% Vienna, 17.49% RedX, 2.12% Roast, 1.7% Bairds medium Crystal. Plato 12.3 = 1.050 SG. Bring a jar or container if you’d like free yeast… Augustiner lager yeast will be made available.
