IllumiBrew

Be among the first to see Illumination: Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum while you sample seasonal beers, ciders, and meads from popular Chicago-area breweries.

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Craft beer lovers won’t want to miss IllumiBrew on Friday, November 15. Be among the first to see Illumination:Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum while you sample seasonal beers, ciders, and meads from popular Chicago-area breweries stationed along the Illumination trail.

Snacks and hot beverages will be available for purchase at a warming area with cozy fires along the Illumination trail until 9:30 p.m.

Indoor dining and to-go orders will be available from the Ginkgo Restaurant until 8:00 p.m.

Ticket Details

Event ticket
Cost: $95
Member cost: $85

Designated driver ticket
Cost: $50
Member cost: $45

Each IllumiBrew ticket includes entrance to the Arboretum and Illumination, 15 three-ounce beer samples, and a light-up tasting glass.

Designated driver tickets are available for this event. All ticket purchasers, including designated drivers, must be 21 or older and present a valid ID at check-in.

About Illumination: Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum

Be surrounded by color as you walk a one-mile paved path amid interactive lighting effects that emphasize the beauty of trees in winter. You will be awed and delighted to see returning favorites and surprising new sights. Enjoy seasonal music, marvel at ever-changing, captivating lighting designs, warm up by a crackling fire with a cozy drink, or roast marshmallows for s’mores.

Illumination highlights the many gifts of trees: natural beauty, feelings of peace and calm, homes for wildlife, and oxygen in the air we breathe.

Ticket Details

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Event Ticket
Cost: $95
Member cost: $85

Designated Driver Ticket
Cost: $50
Member cost: $45

Each IllumiBrew ticket includes entrance to the Arboretum and Illumination, 15 three-ounce beer samples, and a tasting glass. Samples of beverages with a higher ABV, such as meads, may be less than three ounces.

Buy tickets for 2024’s IllumiBrew event.

Ticket purchasers must be 21 or older and present a valid ID at check-in.

Designated Driver Tickets

Designated driver tickets are available for this event. This ticket type includes IllumiBrew admission and a hot chocolate or cider. Designated drivers must be 21 or older.

Participating Breweries

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Please note that participating breweries are subject to change until the date of the event.

Table 1 Wolfden Brewing Company
Out of the Fog (Unhazed IPA)
Mighty Fang (Scotch ale)

Table 2 Casa Humilde Cerveceria
Alba (Mexican amber lager)
Maizal (Mexican lager)

Table 3 Illuminated Brew Works
Slushy Thing #9 Ecto-Slushy (Hard seltzer with tangerine puree)
Your Soul, A UFO (Double dry-hopped double IPA)

Table 4 Emancipation Brewing Co.
Tradition (Double hoppy red ale)
Illumination (Hazy IPA)
Vermillion River Gold (American lager)
Kim’s Irish Red (Irish red ale)

Table 5 Standard Meadery
Watermelon Lemonade (Carbonated session mead)
Peaches & Dreams (Smoothie-style session mead)

Table 6 Pollyanna Brewing Company
Dreamsicle Flurries (Wheat ale with orange and vanilla)
Eleanor (Porter)

Table 7 Obscurity Brewing & Craft Mead
Island of Misfit Beers (Assorted styles)
Apple Cider Donut (Golden ale)

Table 8 Penrose Brewing
Snow Boots (Hazy IPA with spices)
Apple Cider Donut Seltz-Up (Seltzer with apple, cinnamon, and vanilla)

Table 9 Mighty Swell Spirited
Cherryosity (Spiked seltzer cocktail with bourbon, cherry, and spices)

Table 10 Midwest Coast Brewing
Elevator to Nowhere (Hazy IPA)
Friendsgiving (Ale with cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange peel)
Golden Foil (Mexican lager)

Table 11 Crystal Lake Brewing
Beach Blonde (Golden lager)
Boathouse Reserve (Rye whiskey barrel-aged imperial stout)

Table 12 Riggs Beer Company
Hefeweizen
Red IPL (India pale lager)

Table 13 Revolution Brewing
Fistmas (Red ale with ginger and orange peel)
Cold Time (Lager)

Table 14 Noon Whistle Brewing
Gummysaurus (Hazy IPA)
Fabled Orchards Blueberry (Fruited wheat ale)

Table 15Kishwaukee Brewing Co.
Bufflehead Brown Ale (Brown ale)
Woodpecker Red Ale (Red ale)

Table 16 BuckleDown Brewing
Crackle & Pop Winter Ale (Brown ale)
Fritzicuffs (Pilsner)

Table 17 MORE Brewing Company
Oktoberfest (Märzen)
Lil’ Dusty (American pale ale)

Table 18 Avery Brewing Co.
White Rascal (Belgian-style white ale)
Ellie’s Brown Ale (American brown ale)

Table 18 Founders Brewing Co.
KBS Cinnamon Vanilla Cocoa (Barrel-aged imperial stout)
Oktoberfest (Märzen)

Table 19 Go Brewing
New School Sour Berry (Nonalcoholic ale with strawberry and blueberry)
Suspended in a Sunbeam Pils (Nonalcoholic pilsner)

Table 20 One Allegiance Brewing
Pure Paradise (Double hazy IPA)
Oktoberfestbier (Märzen)

Table 21 Misbeehavin’ Meads
Caramel Apple (Spiced cider)
With a Baseball Bat Raspberry (Honey-raspberry wine with peanuts)

Table 22 Miskatonic Brewing
Mountain King (Hazy IPA)
Owlbear (Imperial breakfast stout)

Table 22 Seldom Beer Company
Watcher in the Woods (Dunkel lager)
Belobog (Czech pale lager)

Table 23
Peeled Hard Cider
Hazy Blood Orange (Cider)
Hazy Pumpkin (Cider)

Table 24 Homewood Brewing Company
Flip This Home (Porter with chicory, lactose, and vanilla)
Experiment #09326 (Double hazy IPA)

Table 25 Around The Bend Beer Co.
Vixen (Cream ale with cinnamon)
Juice Trials (Hazy IPA)

Table 26 Sturdy Shelter Brewing
3 Amigos (Mexican hot chocolate imperial stout)
Collider (Mango key lime wheat ale)

Table 27 ERIS Brewery and Cider House
Pepper Jam (Cider with sweet peach and chile de árbol)
Van Van Mojo (Blueberry cider with mosaic hops)

Table 28 Black Horizon Brewing Company
Always Working (Vienna-style lager)
Craig’s Miata (Hazy IPA)

Table 29 Elmhurst Brewing Co.
Red Nosed Reinbeer (Red ale with orange peel, vanilla, and cinnamon)
Westküste (West coast double IPA)

Table 30 Church Street Brewing Company
Black Swan (Irish-style dry stout)
Heavenly Helles (Helles lager)

Table 31 Alter Brewing
Swedda Wedda (Oatmeal stout)
Alterado (Mexican-style lager)
Ruby (Barrel-aged cherry wheat beer)

Table 32 Brother Chimp Brewing
Holiday in Bruges (Belgian-style holiday ale)
Smile (Coffee English brown ale)

Table 33 Ike & Oak Brewing Co.
Woolly Jamba (Hazy IPA with lactose, strawberry, and banana)
Ol’ Trigger (American amber ale)
Monkey Nut (Porter with chocolate and peanut butter)
Teton Valley (Hazy hoppy lager)

Table 34 Pipeworks Brewing Co.
Citra on Repeat (Hazy IPA)
Rudolph Vs. Unicorn (Imperial stout)
Horchata (Ale with rice, lactose, vanilla and cinnamon)

Table 35 Liquid Love Brewing
Heartless Thug (Fruited sour ale)
Monarch Amber (Amber ale)
Liquid Old Fashion (Bourbon barrel-aged sour ale)
Patio Napper (Bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout)

Table 36 BubbleHouse Brewing Company
Cran Box (Cranberry kettle sour)
People Are Crazy (Dry-hopped golden ale)
Pecan Pie Drastically Unrealistic (Barrel-aged pecan pie imperial stout)

Table 37 Prima Cider
Prima Most (German farmhouse-style cider)
Prima Harvest (Seasonal cider)

Table 38 Phase Three Brewing Company
Lulz Cinnamon Apple (Seltzer)
Blooming Sun (American IPA)

Table 39 93 Octane Brewery
Snickerdoodle Clown Car (Cream ale)
Wake & Bake Cranberry Kush (Sour ale with cranberry)

Table 40 Skeleton Key Brewery
7th Evil Ex (Schwarzbier)
Screech Gufo (Hazy IPA)

Table 41 Double Clutch Brewing Company
Smooth Alternator (Doppelbock)
Little Juice Coupe (IPA)

Table 42 Grainology Brewstillery
1st Mate (Golden ale)
Nuts and Bolts (Nut brown ale)

Table 43 Unpossible Mead
Strawberry Tesla Coil (Fruited mead)
Session Bluebeary (Fruited mead)

Accessibility

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The Illumination trail is a one-mile paved path that is ADA compliant for those with limited mobility. The exhibition is not accessible by car.

The Arboretum has a small number of nonmotorized wheelchairs available for loan free of charge in the Visitor Center on a first-come, first-serve basis. Guests must leave a driver’s license or other photo ID to check out a wheelchair. Because the supply is limited, we recommend bringing a personal wheelchair to the Arboretum if one is needed. Personal mobility scooters may also be used on the trail.

Arboretum staff make their best efforts to clear the path of ice and snow.

Sensory Needs

Please be aware that Illumination features moving and flashing lights along the trail. There are no strobe lights in the exhibition. Laser features are directed away from guests and follow International Laser Display Association safety standards.

Guests may borrow sensory supports such as headphones, sunglasses, fidgets, or a copy of the Illumination social story (English, Spanish) when they arrive at the Sycamore Room. Guests can use the social story to help prepare for their visit. Any loaned items should be returned to the Information Desk in the Visitor Center before departure.

Service Animals

The Morton Arboretum welcomes visitors with service animals to Illumination. Please note that pets are not permitted at the Arboretum or at Arboretum events except on special dog admission days.

Parking

Parking is available near the entrance for those with a disability placard on their vehicle; please notify the parking attendant as you drive in. Otherwise, parking is first come, first serve, and is directed by parking attendants.

Guests directed to a secondary lot (Parking Lot 21) near the Thornhill Education Center on the Arboretum’s West Side can take advantage of a shuttle bus that will transport them to the main event area. Please note that this is the only shuttle bus during Illumination and it only runs between Parking Lot 21 and the Visitor Center. The bus does not have a wheelchair lift.

If you do not have a disability placard and someone in your party has mobility concerns, you are also welcome to drop off passengers in the circle drive adjacent to the Visitor Center before you park. Please notify the parking attendants and they will direct you accordingly.

What food will be available?

Food and beverages will be available to purchase along the Illumination trail until 9:30 p.m.

Indoor dining and to-go orders will be available from the Ginkgo Restaurant until 8:00 p.m.
Are designated driver tickets available?

Yes, designated driver tickets are available for this event. This ticket type includes IllumiBrew admission and a hot chocolate or cider. Designated drivers must be 21 or older.
Can I purchase additional samples?

No, additional samples will not be available for purchase. Each ticket purchase includes 15 three-ounce samples; samples of beverages with a higher ABV, such as meads, may be less than three ounces.