Booze Muse

By Jonathan Silverstein

Somewhere along the line, I discovered that I had both a talent for mixing cocktails and a tragically low tolerance for alcohol. After a few regrettable experiments, which I cannot remember but my former friends cannot forget, I decided to devote myself to the pursuit of quality over quantity.

The big obstacle I kept running into was the poor state of commercially available liqueurs and flavoring agents. Most of them are packed with artificial flavors and high fructose corn syrup, making them unfit for anything other than a Trixie’s candy martini, the kind garnished with lollipops and washed down with Diet Coke.

It turns out that it is ridiculously easy to infuse booze with flavors. Read the rest of this entry »

Entering Simone’s is likely to induce memories of walking through a summertime carnival funhouse. Gazing at a massive bar fashioned out of Fresnel lenses, bowling-alley remnants and pinball machines that have long since been forgotten can be disorienting at first, but still intriguing enough to keep wandering through to see what lies ahead in the next section.

When it came to designing Simone’s, which opened in Pilsen in February, the bar’s owners Russ and Desiree Grant and Michael Noone paired up with a design team from Salvage One to create a one-of-a-kind neighborhood bar. “We tried to repurpose items,” says Desiree Grant. “The whole idea of reusing and reducing, that was important to us. We knew that we did not want to bring a North Side-looking place down here; we wanted to respect the vibrancy of the community and the fact that it is an artist community. We wanted to celebrate that.” Read the rest of this entry »

When Jason Hammel describes his experience of opening Nightwood in Pilsen, he draws similarities to being the new kid in town. “It’s a process to get introduced to a neighborhood and the people here,” he says. “To be a newcomer is not easy, it’s like the first day of school for us.” Yet in terms of popularity, this summer has proven that Nightwood is poised to become one of the neighborhood’s favorite upscale haunts.

The restaurant/bar has been garnering attention since its opening in late May, which is no surprise considering that it is the latest venture for Hammel and his wife Amalea Tshilds, the duo behind Logan Square’s Lula Café. They teamed up with Matt Eisler—owner of Empire Liquors, Bar Deville and Angels and Kings—and Kevin Heisner to create the minimalist space within Pilsen’s gallery district. “We had been looking here for a while; I think that it is a unique neighborhood,” Hammel says. “There are a lot of artists that live here, a lot of young people that are doing creative things. There is a geographic otherness in the same sense that Logan Square feels cut off from the rest of Chicago and I like that about it.” Read the rest of this entry »

Two bars, nestled directly across the street from one another at the intersection of Milwaukee and Fullerton in Logan Square, offer quick indications of clientele even from just a cursory glance outside—The Whistler, on the north, is glittered with an assortment of fixed-gears, and the Two Way Lounge, on the south, rattles and rumbles with the sound of gathered motorcycles. Thirty feet across from one another and a whole world in between.

You know The Whistler. You know the place. The new art hangout, just opened last year, a joint easily tagged with a hipster label though you most likely wouldn’t hear that term thrown around inside. In summer, the bar shines. Not much bigger than your father’s basement, the inside of the tavern gives way to a larger outdoor smoking patio in back—though that’s not much bigger than your father’s backyard, either. Read the rest of this entry »

Hanging out and catching up with old friends while meeting new ones is part of what summer is all about. The theme and atmosphere at 6 Degrees bar in Bucktown cater to that very concept.

Conversation and music bellow from its open doors and, inside, black-and-white framed photos line the exposed brick walls. The pictures are owner and Springfield native Ann Keefner’s way of bringing people together and showing how everyone is connected.

Keefner originally wanted to name the bar Small World until one of her friends suggested 6 Degrees. “It was like hearing ‘Blackjack,’” she says. “That was it.” Read the rest of this entry »

The new cocktail menu at Sepia, curated by Joshua Pearson & Peter Vestinos Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Nagrant

There may be no better time in our history to hit the bottle. Certainly we are not lacking for motivation, what with all the layoffs, pay reductions, bankruptcies and mortgage adjustments. But, more importantly, even with thinner wallets, because of the over-production of wine, the growth in negociants (folks who often capitalize on that over-production by buying great wines for a song and selling them for a comparably low price at retail), and increases in manufacturing efficiencies, we’ve never had greater opportunity to buy relatively low-priced wine.

Of course, many wineries have capitalized on this idea not by offering great wines, but by saturating the market with a ridiculous amount of swill that forces us to sift through an ever-growing supply of junk to find anything good. I don’t know about you, but my track record for finding really good wines at a discount retailers has been a very hit-or-miss proposition, with a lot more misses.

I know, I know. You’re ready to smack me in the back of a head with a case of Two Buck Chuck. I’m not saying there’s not a lot of drinkable stuff out there, but I’m talking about the grapes that really stand out, the kind of pour you dream about and rush back to buy a case of. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »