Booze Muse

The brew kettle at Lindemans

Not enough spontaneity in your beer life?  Typical brews can’t match wits with your wild side?  Well, the yeast will be wild and the fermentation spontaneous this Saturday with the Lambic Beer Festival at Delilah’s, 2771 North Lincoln. Lambic is a Belgian variety of beer specific to a region near Brussels made by a process of spontaneous fermentation where wild yeast within the brewing environment makes a beer a lambic.  “It’s one of the oldest types of beer in the world, and it’s fundamentally still brewed the same way it always has been,” says Mike Miller of Delilah’s. Lambic beer uses the wild yeast and bacteria of its native Belgium and is often aged for three years, mixed with other ingredients, and then aged another year in bottles. Miller says the festival is designed to please both seasoned beer intellectuals and inquisitive beer novices open to trying this complex tasting beer.  “There’s a high acidity in these beers,” Miller says. “Some are on the sweeter side, and some are bone dry… basically, this event is meant to be an educational beer study.” Read the rest of this entry »

As part of the 2010 World Beer Cup, the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and & Towers will be hosting the Craft Brewers Conference & Brew Expo America from April 7-April 10. The conference, the largest of its kind in North America, will bring craft brewers from all over the world to Chicago. Unfortunately, unless you are a beer-industry professional, you will not be able to directly partake in the festivities. But even though many Chicago beer geeks will be shut out of the presentations on brewing craft beers and will miss keynote speaker Congressman Peter DeFazio of Oregon—yes, really—there are plenty of chances outside of the Sheraton to roll up your sleeves and get down to drinking some of the best beers in Chicago and the world. Numerous bars throughout the city and even Whole Foods Lincoln Park are holding craft-beer-inspired events and specials. Moonshine in Wicker Park, which brews six of its own craft beers, will be celebrating beer all week while Chicago is at the center of the serious beer universe. New executive chef Matt Wilde is trained in French cuisine but has embraced the challenge of experimenting with beer in his dishes. “Food and drinks follow trends, and beer in cooking is a big trend right now. People like the idea of having beer in their food,” says Wilde, who will be introducing six new dishes for the celebration that will each incorporate one of Moonshine’s original craft beers. For Wilde, a chef’s “vision with food always has to stay evolving.” (Andrew Rhoades)

Koval Distillery will hold its first mixology contest on Saturday, November 28. Taking place at 7pm at Binny’s Beverage Depot in the South Loop, contestants will go head to head and create an on-the-spot, original cocktail to be judged by a panel of four. “We’re looking to find some great upcoming mixologists that we can collaborate with in the future,” says co-owner Sonat Birnecker Hart. Koval Distillery is a family-owned business, boasting high-end, all-organic grain spirits and kosher products. “There aren’t that many small family-owned distilleries anymore; they were all wiped out during prohibition,” says Hart. “We make everything here from scratch, and it’s all organic and kosher. It’s important to build sustainable agriculture.”

Before Goose Island was even a brewery, Quenchers Saloon was doing the “beer thing,” offering Chicagoans an impressive variety of fermented refreshments. Started in 1979, the bar is now throwing a massive thirtieth-anniversary celebration, from August 16-23. The week-long event will provide attendees with a lot of beer, and a lot of music. “We have three events that we’re focusing on,” says Steve Segel, the bar’s manager. Besides a slew of giveaways and prizes, and a possible vertical beer-tasting to be announced, there’s a bluegrass jam session Saturday afternoon and a rock show on Saturday night. The rock show will include The Lovers, The Amino Acids, The Runnies and The Livers. “The Livers do a great audio video setup behind them,” says Segel. “I’ve seen a lot of shows but this really blew my mind.”

We know, we hadn’t heard of it either. But when we did, we thought, brilliant! Then we thought, vodka.

Thanks to the folks at Luxbar for bringing this to our attention. You’ll find us there come August 20. (But if others are doing similar promotions, let us know and we’ll add them to the list.)

LUXBAR CELEBRATES NATIONAL LEMONADE DAY: $5 Signature Lemonhead Martinis
In celebration of National Lemonade Day, Luxbar is going grown-up by offering their signature Lemonhead Martini for only $5 (normally $11.50).  The cocktail features Veev Açai Liqueur, Three Olives Vodka, Chambord, and of course, freshly squeezed Lemon Juice. Thursday, August 20

LUXBAR
18 E Bellevue Place, 312.642.3400
www.luxbar.com

CITIZEN BAR CELEBRATES LEMONADE DAY
Chicagoans can soak up the sun and take advantage of Citizen Bar’s huge outdoor patio while enjoying Citizen’s signature Blue Raspberry Lemonade in honor of National Lemonade Day on August 20th.  For the entire month Citizen will offer this special cocktail for $7 a glass or $22 for a pitcher.

Citizen Bar
364 W. Erie St.
(312)640-1156
www.citizenbar.com

The weather is finally starting to turn, and to celebrate the arrival of the spring season, TheChiGuide.com is hosting its first annual Spring Beer Olympics Tournament on April 23 at Joe’s Bar. The event will feature team beer-pong matches as well as team and individual flip-cup competitions. All participants will be vying for a purse of at least $1,300. And if all that weren’t enough, the night is being emceed and Todd Scholtz, stage manager for “The Jerry Springer Show.” “This is for the younger demographic in Chicago that has grown up with Jerry Springer. So we thought it would be great to incorporate the brand and the people behind the show into the event itself,” says Alexander Laurie, founder and CEO of TheChiGuide.com. According to Laurie, a Northwestern grad, the event is specifically designed to bring students together from all of the colleges and universities across Chicago, something that, in his opinion, doesn’t happen enough.

The Cover Your Bases Wrigleyville Bar Tour will help kick off baseball season this Saturday with a twist on the typical bar crawl. Participants will get a t-shirt with a baseball field design and will receive a sticker—representing each position on a baseball team—at each bar stop. Once attendees fill up their shirt, they can enter a drawing to win Cubs tickets, restaurant gift certificates or t-shirts. Festa Events, which runs the 12 Bars of Christmas pub crawl, created the event. “We’ve done TBOX for thirteen years and entertained the idea of branching out,” says manager Kelly Tribout. Their first foray, a Mardi Gras-themed pub crawl, was successful, so they wanted to try their luck with Cubbie fever. They are considering starting up a few events later this year as well. “It’s tough in Chicago with all of the events in the summer,” Tribout says. “But hopefully we’ll have some other pub crawls this fall.” Tickets for the Cover Your Bases crawl are $12 in advance (at festaparties.com) and $15 on the day of the event.

Of all the celebrities who endorse a premium line of liquor, Dan Aykroyd isn’t usually the first that comes to mind. Yet that doesn’t keep a few hundred of his fans from zigzagging through the wine section at the South Loop Binny’s. The SNL alum is promoting his new premium vodka Crystal Head, which comes in a skull-shaped bottle.

“There he is!” someone at the end of the line shouts as the crowd bursts into applause. Aykroyd smiles and waves at nobody in particular as he is escorted through the crowd.

While one fan dresses like Aykroyd’s iconic Elwood character from “The Blues Brothers,” other fans best remember him from his “Ghostbusters” days. Bridget Barnett is so enamored by Aykroyd that she kisses his hand when she gets to the front of the line. He returns the favor while he autographs a photo from the film. Read the rest of this entry »