Booze Muse

Seventy-seven years ago this week, the United States repealed prohibition and Chicago’s brewmaster community wants to celebrate. That’s why Encore Liquid Lounge will be teaming up with Chicago’s Two Brothers and Metropolitan Brewing for a five-course “beer dinner” prix fixe, featuring locally brewed beers and German-style fare on December 6.

Encore, 171 West Randolph, may be uniquely suited to host the dinner: it’s located at the Hotel Allegro on Randolph between LaSalle and Wells which, when it was known as The Bismarck, served the first legal beer in Chicago post-prohibition. As part of the commemoration, they will be serving a beer called “The Bismarck,” a Munich Dunkel brewed by Doug Hurst of Metropolitan and Andy Pishko of Encore, brewed especially for that dinner.

“It will not be distributed anywhere else, and there are no plans to brew it again,” says Pishko. “I wanted this dinner to focus on some of the great beers being made in the Chicago area, and I think (we have) a good representation.”

In addition to “The Bismarck,” Encore will be featuring other beers brewed locally by Chicago brewers’ Metropolitan and Two Brothers, as part of this special German menu “specifically designed to be paired with the beers.” (Jonas Simon)

For reservations, contact Andy Pishko at andrew.pishko@allegrochicago.com or (312)325-7121.

Beer here! Not just any beer—no Budweiser, Sam Adams or PBR—but rare beer, brewed in tiny batches by meticulous brewers with fidelity to old wooden barrels. More than 100 breweries will participate in the Eighth Annual Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer on Saturday, November 6, hosted by the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild.

“It’s the only event of its kind,” says Pete Crowley, president of the ICBG (and head brewer at the new Haymarket Pub and Brewery in the West Loop, expected to open early this December). “Only 10 percent of beer in the United States is craft-brewed, and this event is an opportunity for the public to taste them all under one roof.”

What’s with the barrels? Craft brewers pride themselves in their attention to detail, to subtly mixing exotic flavors with topnotch hops, and most of all, preparing a limited amount to maintain the high quality of flavor and complexity.

“Some of these beers are so rare,” Crowley says, “there’s only so much of it. We can’t ask brewers for more than five gallons. Sometimes they only brew one barrel.” Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Renata Baluk

By Ernest Barteldes

The New York Bar and Wine Show, an annual two-day convention that takes place at Midtown Manhattan’s Jacob Javits Convention Center, showcases what’s new in the beverage industry, from special registers wirelessly attached to bottles (to better control the drinks sold) to novelties like a Russian roulette-style game wherein a plastic revolver has a chamber that releases a shot of liquor to the lucky ‘winner’—if the ‘loaded’ chamber ends up in his or her hand (think bachelor parties and dorm rooms, if you’re wondering who would do this).

But the greatest attraction is, of course, the booze, and this year’s event had plenty, ranging from new liquor brands, international beers and wines to the latest ideas in mixology presented by different bartenders from all over the world. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

By Ernest Barteldes

While living in Brazil, I remember ordering caipirinhas (the famous national cocktail made with muddled lime, sugar and cachaça) at restaurants and bars, and I was hit with the inevitable question: “de cachaça ou de vodka” (“Do you want it made with cachaça or vodka?”).

At the time, I didn’t think much of it. Although I did prefer the spiciness of the Brazilian national spirit, I also often recalled the hangovers I’d get from drinking the (mostly) mass-produced stuff they had there at the time, and most of the time ended up having the drink made from vodka.

The problem is that muddling lime and sugar and adding anything other than cachaça is not a caipirinha, but an imitation (some bars list the alternatives as caipiroska—with vodka—or caipirissima when made with rum). But since the general public was not complaining, they got away with it—until now. 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)

Logan Square is host to a food co-op, plenty of dive bars, at least one moderately classy tavern and, now, a brand new brewery. Revolution Brewing Company, a new restaurant and brewery ten years in the making, has opened its doors on Milwaukee Avenue just west of California. Josh Deth, managing partner, has a history with Chicago and beer. He’s logged hours at Goose Island and the now-defunct Golden Prairie Brewing Company (not to mention he had a large hand in starting Handlebar). Brew man Jim Cibak is no novice either. He’s worked alongside Deth at Goose Island as well as other breweries such as Three Floyds. Obviously, beer is the big draw with such homebrews as the Workingman Mild and Eugene, however, Revolution has a full food menu ranging from bacon-fat popcorn to Hampshire-Duroc Pork Chop. “It’s a very warm and comforting place,” Deth, assures. “You’ll immediately feel that when you come in.” Revolution Brewing works on a first come, first serve basis. So regardless of when you get there, you’re bound to see some familiar faces. As Deth points out, the place has been packed with “lots of neighborhood folks” since its opening. (Peter Cavanaugh)

The best charity to young Chicago nighthawks during this depressing economic downturn? Free Mondays at the Empty Bottle.

No cover charge, a Monday night, three bands you’ve hardly heard of, and the room is packed wall to wall, winter coats bulging, shaggy beards sprawling. Only a few stools at the back of the bar, where one man says “I’m too old for this, I just want to sit down.”

A Monday night. Anyone will do anything for free stuff, or at least a $1.50 PBR. A hyper-punk trip called Running grunts and yelps. It’s loud, but not that loud. The music writer from The Reader is here; so is one of the redheads from The 1900s. And an artist, from a long past 2nd Fridays night in Pilsen, with whom drunken stumbling led to a throwaway makeout at the bar in Skylark. She seems to be everywhere these days.

Overheard: “Maybe I’ll meet the man of my dreams, right after I take this shit”; “When I know I’m gonna fuck a guy, I just fuck him, I don’t wait. What’s the point?” “You’re a slut.” “I know.”; and then, finally, in the disintegrating bathroom, “This toilet is being dramatic.”

The band Moonrises takes the stage inside with vengeance, but it’s time to leave. At the outside smoker’s lounge on Western Avenue, the frigid wind interrupts all conversations. A Monday night and the street is full. A homeless man bounces around to each huddled group, speaking what can only be French. (Tom Lynch)

Most people I know save barhopping for summer, when the temperature agrees with crowds and the night air rumbles with tension, with perspiration, with sex.

I drink in winter. The shedding of winter dress upon entering a dark and musty room feels like abandoning the torture outside. Rooms are empty, tables thin. You get to know your bartender. You’re the only sad bastard within range.

I have a half-dream of someday opening a tavern called Scar Bar—“scar” as in “emotional scar,” not “physical scar,” though bikers will always be welcome—where the soundtrack consists solely of Joy Division, The Smiths, Velvet Underground and Elliott Smith. You get it. When I heard the people behind the old Thursday night dance party at Neo were opening a bar in the Logan Square area, the neighborhood where I live, and they had the audacity to call it Late Bar, I was terrified. Terrified because I can actually imagine the Planet Earth people improving on my inevitably out-of-reach fantasy. Read the rest of this entry »

“Whenever two DJs open a bar, music is going to be a big part of it,” says Kristine Hengl, co-owner of the newly conceived Late Bar, set to open December 26 in Logan Square. “It’s part of our existence. There’s a whole bunch of music that we love, but sometimes it doesn’t really bring a crowd. We just think this is a great place to showcase that.” Located at 3534 West Belmont, Late Bar was created by Hengl and her partner Dave Roberts, a seasoned DJ in the Chicago nightclub scene. Open Tuesday through Friday from 9pm-4am, and Saturday until 5am, Late Bar’s flagship night, dubbed “Planet Earth,” will be every Saturday. “You’re going to think we’re really nerdy for this, but our name, ‘Late Bar,’ is actually from the b-side to Duran Duran’s single ‘Planet Earth.’ And we’re open till 4am, so it works.”