Draw on Your Own Coasters

Well, today is the showdown between the Bears and Packers. Lots of people I'm sure are up and grilling sausages in the parking lots already, but most of us are making coffee waking up and getting ready to watch the game on the good ol' television. As exciting as it is, it is still a football game with breaks, long commercials and endless chattering. If you get fidgety or have guests that might not be all into the game but like arts and crafts and the such, Ready Made has a cool art project using beer coasters.

As you can read in this posting, Ready Made suggests getting some blank beer coasters and some pens and letting your guests draw their own beer coasters. It's a great little creative outlet during the game or for those that bore during football easily. It's also a great party tip: leave them around, people can draw on them, leave them, write messages, whatever. If it's a particularly epic party, it'll be a souvenir.

When I backpacked around Europe after college, I didn't have a lot of money. In fact, I almost had no money. I usually bought a loaf of bread for lunch, ate half of it, and then saved the other half for dinner. I remember waiting for the bus to take out of England and into France, sitting on the side of the Thames, eating a half loaf of bread in the ran. I didn't have any money to go to a restaurant and quite frankly, the bus station was creepy as hell. I used my few remaining pounds to go into a pub and nurse a beer to wait for the bus and to get out of the rain. I came quite adept at slowly drinking a pint to stretch out the time to stay in the pub.

Anyway, no money usually means no souvenirs. So, instead of buying souvenirs, I took coasters from all the different bars and pubs I went to throughout Europe. There's different languages and styles. I wish I knew more about beer then, but I still have the coasters as reminders of the trip.

So game plan: get craft beer, get blank coasters, draw, have fun and watch the Bears win.

Drinking Through the Bears vs. Green Bay

It's a showdown of epic proportions: Bears vs. Packers. Chicago vs. Green Bay. Two legendary football teams meeting head to head in a battle to determine NFC football bragging rights. Of course, there's only one question on everyone's minds? What beer to drink during the game?

I'm from Chicago, so let's look at what and where the great citizens of Chicago should be drinking during the game. First, if you're going to be hanging out at home or a friend's house, I suggest picking up some Goose Island, Half Acre or Metropolitan. Support your local team by drinking a local beer.

If you're going out but care about the quality of your beer as much as you do about the quality of the win (Bears 24 to Green Bay 14), then there are other bars in the city besides the standard macro-swill sports bar fare.

Try heading over to Piece Pizza, which is showing the game. They brew some amazing beers and have decent pizza. The Bad Apple in Northcenter has several TVs and lots of great beer on tap. The TVs aren't overly large, but the quality of the beer makes up for it.

Remember, there's nothing wrong about drinking good beer and watching the game.

Robert Burns and Robert the Bruce

OK, while technically not all about craft beer, even though there is a craft beer, component, the Fountainhead is quickly becoming one of Chicago's great drinking places and any bar that wants to give a history lesson while pouring whiskey is fine by me.

Next week, the Fountainhead will be celebrating Robert Burns week. Who's Robert Burns? Not sure, but according to the Fountainhead's Facebook page, Robert Burns was a poet who praised whiskey and made it Scotland's national drink. Perhaps we owe him our allegiance for creating the drunk artist/writer stereotype, or perhaps we owe him our allegiance for championing the cause of good drink. Either way, a bar honoring the birthday of a Scottish poet is pretty awesome and sure beats the usual sports/karaoke/meat market that pervades most other places. His birthday is January 25 if you want to get extra celebratory.

Robert Burns. Poet. Whiskey Lover.

The beer part? On January 27, the Fountainhead will be doing a gravity pour of Three Floyd's Robert the Bruce from a firkin. Fountainhead will also be featuring several different types of Scottish beers from various breweries. I can almost taste all the lovely malts and alcohol now. It's about zero degrees outside so a bottle of whiskey with a firkin of Robert the Bruce, an old book, and a comfortable chair sounds about heaven right now.

Get on over to Montrose to the Fountainhead next week. Drink some whiskey and beer, grab some of Burns' poetry, and enjoy the night.

Choco-Dyno-Mite

Half Acre is coming out with a new beer tomorrow (January 21). Called Chocolate Camaro, the new brew will be about 6 percent alcohol with roasted malt and chocolate flavors. It's a stout-style beer that should warm you up for the winter. Plus, it's only $15 for refills and $9 for new growlers. You can also buy a shirt with the label design. Hop on your roller skates and get some tomorrow after noon you bad mother...oops, I'll watch my mouth.

Other news from Half Acre: save $2 when you buy a growler on Tuesdays. Why Tuesdays? I don't know, but Tuesday is the most depressing day of the week: not after-Monday "I'm a work fuck this" attitude, but not hump day looking toward the weekend. I guess for us cube dwellers that don't see the sun, fortifying our blood with alcohol keeps the hive churning.

Also, Over Ale is coming in cans. I'm curious: do people drink craft beer out of bottles or cans? I tend to always put it into a glass; I don't like drinking out of either really, unless it's cheap, cheap beer. Perhaps the cans will be fresher? I think a weekend-long drinking experiment is in order.

Triple Threat: Burger, Bacon and Beer

Sometimes, not too often, I love a good burger. I rarely eat meat. It's sort of like that line in Pulp Fiction: My wife is a vegetarian, which pretty much makes me a vegetarian, but I do love a good burger. What I love more than a good burger is a good beer with a good burger. If you like carnivore indulgences with fine craft beer, get down to Sola on Lincoln Avenue in Northcenter for its Burger, Bacon and Beer Thursdays.

I don't have a picture, but yeah, the burger looks good. It's Kobe beef, huge, cheese, back, pretzel roll. I saw this yesterday at work, and I've been thinking about it ever since. The best is that Sola pairs this with a regional craft beer, the last from Two Brothers. The dessert also features bacon. Even though I'm not sure why this bacon fad is still going strong, I'm willing to roll with it for the sake of research, harmony and science.

I can't wait to get down there and check it out. The only question is how do I get out of the house to eat a massive red meat grease-dripping burger with some beers without the wife catching wind of my hedonistic deeds.

Firestone Walker Come Get It

It's cold. It's snowing. The wind is blowing. Beer. Well, how about some fire, then? Firestone Walker beers are coming to Chicago. I haven't had the pleasure yet of trying one of their beers, but Chicagoist has a run down of what is going on. Firestone Walker's brew master has some deep Chicago ties, which probably makes this double awesome.

For some reason, perhaps it's the weather or the post-Christmas hangover, but I haven't been able to get out and sample as many new beers as I'd like. My beer and pub wish list is growing long, and I need to get out there and sample some more of what the city is offering. But, maybe I'll just wait until March and then have a nine-month marathon of binge drinking.

Stumbling Out of 2010 Right Into 2011

By now you've heard the glorious news that Chicago has officially a new brewery: Haymarket Pub & Brewery passed its inspections and is open for business. With the holidays, I haven't had a chance to get down there, but some of the beers on tap right now are making me salivate: Bear Republic, Left Hand, Victory, Sierra Nevada, Half Acre. Most of the beers on tap are IPAs, which aren't really winter beers in my book, but top-notch quality nonetheless. It'll be some time before Haymarket starts getting its own beers on tap. Right now, the website says they will brew beers to match every type of palate, and focus specifically on Belgian-style beers (which happen to be one of my favorite).

The willingness to experiment seems to be a Chicago trademark. This year, Revolution brewing boasted of having made more than 100 brews, with Triple Fist being 100. I'm all for experimentation with styles and flavors coupled with a few solid offerings. My CTA pass is going to get worn out just from going back and forth to all these places. Revolution was also named to Metromix's Best Bars of 2010, along with Bangers & Lace, Bonny's Bar, and Longman & Eagle, to show that Chicago takes beer drinking seriously.

Perhaps one of the best bit of Chicago beer news of the year is that Pipeworks Brewing made its $30,000 goal on Kickstarter. Even though there is still a lot to do and a way to go, these guys definitely had a goal and made it, and I hope now they are well on their way to making their brewery a reality (seriously, the brew a Berliner Weiss, how awesome is that?). They are going to be looking for places on the north side of the city in late Spring. Maybe your block will be home to a new brewery?

 In other news, Half Acre was named as USA Cycling's Overall Club of the Year for Division II. I don't know why I think this is so surprising, but I guess I shouldn't. Chicago is a great biking town, and lord knows I see enough people in my neighborhood riding their bikes in 20 degree weather in a snow storm, so beer and cycling in Chicago go hand in hand. Also, kudos for Half Acre for making Slashfood's Top Beers of 2010 for Daisy Cutter.

2010 has been a great year for craft beer, and 2011 is shaping up to be even better. I'm going to do my part to ensure that all of these places stay in business. I'm sure my work will completely understand my daily hangovers.

Prost!