Ladies at the Beach: Southern California

It is Monday and I am back at work after a wonderful week away from Chicago in Southern California (Oceanside, to be exact).  Between Orange County and San Diego lay a bunch of small, cute, charming beachside towns, and I was lucky enough to get to stay on the beach for the entire week.  Besides the beautiful beaches, charming shops, palm trees and plentiful pools, this area is FULL of microbreweries!  This was great news for my family and me as we all enjoy trying new beers and supporting local breweries.

the view from Oceanside's pier

Right in Oceanside are several breweries, but we only visited one: Bagby Beer Company.  It is off of the main road in Oceanside and I thought it was HUMONGOUS for a micro brew pub.  There were several areas for seating: the inside bar, a tasting room, a large back patio, a large upstairs deck and an upstairs bar.  We went for lunch one afternoon (I highly recommend the burger) and another night for a post-dinner beer.  Their best beer that I tasted was "Pesky Neighbor" an IPA but I also liked "Struggle Bus", a nitro IPA.  They have 25 (!) of their own beers on tap, as well as many other local brews and a few bottles.  All of the servers definitely knew their stuff and it sounded like most of them homebrewed as well.

so many taps!

Bagby is definitely a place I'd recommend for food, as well as for spending an afternoon tasting as many of their beers as possible!  It also seems like it would be a great place for a party, especially on that upstairs deck.  And considering that weather in Oceanside seems beautiful 85% of the time, you probably wouldn't have to worry much about rain outs.

view of the back patio from the upstairs deck

In Solana Beach, another cute little beach town, is Culture Brewing.  My parents stumbled upon this brewery (they have knack for that) on the first day it was open.  It is MUCH smaller than Bagby and consists of the main bar area (with no seating, I guess because of licensing laws?) and the back patio.  I only tried one beer here, their Mosaic IPA, and it was VERY good and "low gluten" (meaning it has 10ppm of gluten or less).  Half of the beers on their list were low gluten, so if you're sensitive to gluten but not celiac, I'd recommend this place to fill up your growler.  Hopefully one day they will have more seating to encourage people to hang around and drink for a while.

you can see the brewing equipment from the patio!

Finally, there is a small chain of pizza/brewpubs in the area called Pizza Port.  We went to the one in Carlsbad on Friday night and it was BUSY!  Luckily we snagged a spot at the bar; it is kind of first come, first serve seating, with no hosts/servers (you order at the counter and they call your name when your food is ready).  The pizza was DELICIOUS and I would tell you to order the beer buddies (basically garlic pizza crust with dipping sauces) for an appetizer while you wait for your pizzas to be done.  

image via

Since this is a pizza place as well as a brewpub the crowd was more mixed with lots of families, little kids, teenagers, etc.  I had the "Off the Chain" double IPA which reminded me of some of my favorite double IPAs and the "Grapefruit Puncher" IPA which had just the teeniest hint of grapefruit.  They had a LOT of their owns beers on tap (also available in pitchers) and many others as well.  Pizza Port offers cans and kegs of their beers to go, and we saw their beer cans in the grocery stores we went to while in the area.

If you're ever visiting the area, definitely research the local microbreweries!  Hopefully I'll get to back again and check out the ones I didn't have a chance to see.  There is more to Oceanside than the beaches!

Adventures in Home Brewing Part I

Obviously you all know that I like to drink beer--all kinds and often.  So last year Caitlin and another friend decided I should learn how to make my own beer and got me the Brooklyn Brew Kit (~$40) for Christmas.  I FINALLY got around to starting the brewery process on my Everyday IPA (the malted barley blend, yeast and hop combo included in my kit) and wanted to share the process so far.

First of all, when I first got this kit I thought I'd be able to go from the beginning to enjoying a nice cold beer in a day or two.  It actually takes about a month from starting to brew to drinking your brew.  This is important to keep in mind when planning when you will brew, bottle and consume.

Secondly, I was not exactly prepared equipment-wise...the kit includes everything that you'll need EXCEPT a fine-mesh strainer, funnel and the pots you'll need while brewing.  I figured the one large pot I had would work, but if I do this again I will be purchasing a SECOND large pot and a MUCH LARGER strainer (this is the 8" diameter strainer I used; I'd recommend a strainer that is as wide as your pot DUH).

most of the equipment and supplies

For those who haven't been on as many brewery tours as us, let me give you a quick lesson in beer making.  There are 4 main ingredients in beer: WATER (duh), hops, yeast (for the ah-ah-ah-alcohol) and a grain mixture (usually includes malted barley).  

You add the grain to VERY HOT water, let it soften all the sugars out (this is not a scientific explanation), strain out the grain (there is a brewery limerick in here somewhere), heat up that sugary water some more while adding hops, cool it all down, strain it again into your fermenting apparatus, add the yeast and SHAKE IT UP.  Then the yeast eats up all the sugars, pooping out alcohol and carbon dioxide (YUM!).  That is the basic jist of how you make beer (all expert brewers shaking in horror now).

"mashing in" aka stirring the grain mix into the hot water forever

This whole process is a lot more time consuming than I'd anticipated as I mentioned, and also a lot more stressful.  It is VERY important to sanitize everything that will be touching anything related to the ingredients (still hoping I didn't mess this part up!) and to keep the temperature at certain levels throughout the entire heating and then cooling process.  That long glass thermometer will become the nagging watchman of your kitchen while brewing.  The worst part of all of this is that I won't know if I screwed anything up until I finally tasted my beer, and if this happens I will probably cry.

that is my sophisticated fermenting setup on my closet floor...also, yes, I KNOW that doesn't look like beer yet...

All in all it took me about 4-5 hours for the first part of my beer brewing.  I did it on a Saturday afternoon while rocking out alone in my tiny studio kitchen.  Once the yeast was "pitched in" (real brewing term!) to my glass fermenting jug, I allowed the beer to ferment for about 3 days, then put a stopper on the jug.  It is currently sitting on the floor of my front closet, waiting to be bottled this weekend.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "Adventures in Home Brewing", where we find out how difficult bottling is, if my beer ended up being any good, and whether or not I will try this whole thing again!

The World of Untappd

As you know, we really enjoy beer around here.  We especially like trying new beers.  BUT how are you supposed to do keep track of all these beers?  And how do you know if you've already tried a beer and whether or not you actually liked it?

Enter UNTAPPD.  This app (for iPhone and Android) is a social beer tracker.  I've been using it for a couple of years and have found it a fun way to keep track of beers you like (or a way to remember which beers to steer clear from in the future!) and a way to find out about new and trending beers.

Here's how it works:

1. Create a profile (you can also use Facebook or Twitter, but I don't like linking all those things so I created a separate Untappd profile).
2. Start checking in beers!  When you check in a beer you can search by the beer's name or the brewery.  When you find the beer you're looking for you can rate it on a scale of 5 stars (and it allows 0.5 point ratings), make comments, check in the location of where you're drinking the beer and even take a picture to save with your check in.
3. Earn badges.  You can earn badges based on how many of a particular kind of beer you drink, drinking a number of a beers in a certain amount of time or at a certain location on a certain day, etc.  I currently have 140 beers.  My favorite badges are the ones that tell you how many different kinds of a certain beer you've had and what "level" you're at.  For these badges you go up a level after every 5 beers.  For example, I am on level 48 of the "Land of the Free" badge (for drinking 240 different beers made in the USA).
4. Follow your friends and fellow beer connoisseurs.  This is where the social component comes in.  You can "friend" people on Untappd and then their check ins will show up in your feed.  I like this feature because I can see what my friends are drinking and when they are drinking beer WITHOUT ME (just kidding...).  If you find a random person that has similar tastes to you, by following them you may discover beers you haven't heard of yet and get ideas on what to try next.

The check-in page

There are other features on Untappd that can show you what beers are popular near you, or even where to find a particular kind of beer.  I don't use these as much, but they would certainly come in handy when you are looking for a rare beer or have a craving for something really specific.

Join us on Untappd!  My user name is alyssajank and Caitlin's is Baitlo.

My profile...that number of beers may shock you or make you laugh

Do any of you use Untappd, or something similar to keep track of which beers you've tried?

 

Chicago Distilling Co.

On Friday, Alyssa and I went on a tour of Chicago Distilling Company in Logan Square. They currently distill white whiskey, gin and vodka and have tours every Thursday through Sunday. Alyssa got us a deal on Gilt City so our tour was $19 for two people and we got a cocktail kit. Normally tours are $10 - and you get a tasting of each of their products.

We got there a little early to try out the cocktails. I had the Finn Tini, their gin martini - and it was not my favorite. I'm not the biggest gin fan, but I thought I would try something new. I'm sure it would be a hit, if you like martinis! Alyssa had the Logan Mule, which she enjoyed.

Finn Tini - look at that organge peel!

The distillery itself is actually fairly small, but it seems like they are a growing operation and may expand soon. The entire building is split into two: the bar area and then the actually distilling area, which is separated by a window so you can see what's going on. Despite the small distance we had to cover, our tour guide, Christina, was super knowledgeable and gave us a good overview of the history of the distillery and how the spirits are made.

Yeasty mixture - actually quite hot!

Before this tour, I didn't have a good understanding of how liquor is made, but I have a much better understanding now of how the actual alcohol is extracted and how distillers use different grains to get different types of alcohol. I'd highly recommend the tour if you'd like to learn a little bit more! The tour groups are also kept small, so feel free to ask questions throughout. 

Fancy Distilling Equipment

Like I mentioned before Chicago Distilling Company makes white whiskey, vodka and gin. I love whiskey, but Shorty's White Whiskey was far from what I'm used to drinking. Their whiskey isn't aged at all - they're working on it - so it tasted more like a rubbing alcohol/tequila mixture to me. This is best enjoyed mixed in a cocktail! I thought the Ceres Vodka tasted better than the average vodka on the market and Finn's Gin was quote enjoyable (just not in the martini that I had!).

Logan Mule

Overall, I really enjoyed my time touring the Chicago Distilling Company. If you're at all interested in visiting, do it soon before they get bigger and too crowded!

St. Patrick's Day Traditions

Though most of the country (especially CHICAGO!) celebrated St. Patrick's Day this past Saturday, the day isn't officially until tomorrow, March 17th, the presumed day of St. Patrick's death.  This day is very important in Chicago, and other cities with lots of Irish Catholics.  I thought it would be interesting to research more about why this day is so popular, especially since I am ~25% Irish on my dad's side of the family + I went to Notre Dame and Catholic school most of my life, so I know a LOT of Irish Catholics.

While the Irish had been celebrating it as a holy feast day, St. Patrick's Day didn't really become a big deal until Irish Catholics started immigrating to the United States in the 1700s.  When these immigrants started joining the military they decided that they wanted to start throwing their own parades to celebrate their Irish heritage, and what better way than to do this for St. Patrick's Day?  Irish immigrants were persecuted for their Catholic beliefs and Irish traditions, but they were still proud of where they came from, and I think I can say they had the last laugh, since you don't see many people in Chicago NOT wearing green on St. Paddy's Day.

image via

I was most interested in why drinking (whiskey, green beer, Guinness, etc.) had become so ingrained in the St. Patrick's Day tradition.  Of course there is an old Irish legend, Pota Padraigh (Patrick's Pot), about this:

At his local pub, St. Patrick got stiffed on a shot of whiskey--it was not as full as it should have been.  To teach to the barkeep a lesson, he told him that there was a demon living in the pub's basement.  This demon fed on the barkeep's dishonesty and selfishness and that it could only be banished if the barkeep changed his ways and started being more generous and truthful.  When St. Patrick next visited the pub, the barkeep asked him if he could check on the demon (presumably after pouring him a tall shot of whiskey).  St. Patrick checked the basement and told the barkeep that the demon was starving (since it hadn't been able to feed on dishonesty) and that he would banish it for him.  After that St. Patrick said that everyone should have a drop of "the hard stuff" on his feast day.

 The tradition of green beer actually started in the United States in the early 1900s, when bartenders realized it was pretty easy (green food coloring!) to serve green beer to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  That idea caught on, and you can find green beer at pretty much every bar now during the week surrounding March 17th.  They even serve green beer in Ireland now too!

So while the majority of Chicago's Irish celebrations may be over (the city parade, the Southside Irish parade, the dyeing of the river, all around day drinking), be sure to have a shot of whiskey or pint of beer tomorrow for St. Patrick.

St. Patrick's Day Celebrations

St. Patrick's Day in Chicago can be an overwhelming. We've put together some options, to help you figure it out:

Brunch
If you're going to drink all day, you'll need to start with a good base in your stomach - a hearty brunch is the way to do this. Last year we went to Crosby's Kitchen, which is probably one of my favorite brunch places. The food at Crosby's is always solid (their breakfast potatoes are simply some of the best, cheesiest potatoes I've ever had) and their drink menu on St. Patrick's Day was quite festive. Last year, I had their Irish version of a Moscow Mule - ginger beer and Jameson. Or you could always go with their traditional Bloody Mary, not my drink of choice, but I've heard they are great

My other favorite brunch places: Kanela, Southport Grocery, and Wishbone. For bottomless options: Taverna 750, Southport and Irving, Broadway Cellars, and LOKal (haven't been to any of these, but I will definitely be trying them soon!)

Bars

Bars can get SUPER crowded on St. Patrick's Day and, for me, there is nothing worse than being jammed into a bar with hundreds of drunk people. In Chicago, however, we are lucky in that there are bars on almost every corner. If you do decide to go out on St. Patrick's Day, I would recommend going to one of your favorite neighborhood bars. Chances are it will be just as lively, just with a lot less people.

Last year we went to one of our old neighborhood favorites, Southport Lanes, and we're lucky in that there was almost no one else there. While I despise all things bowling related, I do love this bar. They always have a great selection of beer and their food is extremely delicious. When we decided to switch it up and head to Justin's, which is more popular we quickly had to leave because it was too packed.

House Party (our choice this year)

An alternative to the crowds is hosting your own party. Must haves for a St. Patrick's Day Party: snacks, green food coloring, lots of beer, ingredients for Irish Car Bombs, friends.

St. Patrick's Day Past

Whatever you choose to do on St. Patrick's Day - make sure you drink a lot of water and remember to eat!

Cooking with Beer

Alyssa and I love to drink and this blog was created to celebrate our love of doing so, but we would be remiss if we also didn't sometimes write about food - specifically cooking food with alcohol.*

For the majority of my adult life I was a vegetarian...until a few months ago when I decided to start eating meat again. Not only did this open up so many more options to eat (and sandwich options at my beloved Potbelly <3), but I can now get a little more creative with my cooking.

One of my first forays in cooking meat

As a vegetarian, most of my experience cooking with alcohol was limited to risotto (very delicious). However, since starting to eat meat, I have found various ways to incorporate beer or wine into my cooking. Cooking with alcohol can add a really nice flavor and moistness to meat...and you can drink whatever you don't use! My most recent foray into mingling meat and beer was making slow cooker BBQ chicken. It was so tasty that I decided I would share the recipe.  

I cook fairly often, but I'm far from an expert, and I think this recipe would be easy for cooks of all skill levels. I also improvised this recipe (only really looking up how long to cook the chicken and getting a little input from my boyfriend), so feel free to add your own take on it:

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

-3 Chicken Breasts (you could add more, just make sure to increase the other ingredients too!)

-about 3/4 of a 16oz. bottle of BBQ sauce (I used 3/4 because that is what I had left but it seemed to work!)

-about 6-8oz of beer (I find 312 to be a perfect beer for cooking. It has a mild flavor but is still better than the light beer you drank in college)

Medley of Spices:
I used 1 tbsp Chili Powder, 1 tsp Cumin, a bit of Paprika, some cayenne, some garlic powder and salt.

Image via

Cover the chicken in the spice mixture and then throw the rest in the pot along with the other ingredients. Put the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours...and that's it! Once the chicken is done, it easily falls apart with just a fork. It makes about 5-6 servings, depending on how much you eat.

In my opinion, the beer adds a nice mild flavor to the chicken - without it the BBQ sauce might be too sweet or tangy. It also kept the chicken from getting too dry and the BBQ sauce from getting too thick. 

This chicken would taste great on a sandwich, but I was so prepared for this recipe that I forgot to pick up bread...I ate it with a side of homemade mac and cheese - perfect for the frigid temperatures outside!

Aside from BBQ chicken, I've also used beer/wine to make chicken tacos and cauliflower tacos, risotto, a whole roasted chicken and pork chops - other recipes that I'm sure I'll be sharing!

*One of us has also been too busy watching House of Cards to visit new bars.

Milwaukee Part II

Picking up from where Caitlin left off, after Lakefront Brewery our crew headed to the Wisconsin Cheese Mart to turn in our "free beer coupon" from Lakefront.  If you go on the tour they give you a coupon for an ADDITIONAL free beer at a local bar to be used on the day of your tour.  I'm not really sure if anyone in our group NEEDED another beer, but the bar/cheese store was full of free samples and Marquette Basketball fans, so it was fun.  We also had the LARGEST pretzel I've ever seen; it was easily split among the 7 of us and came with delicious cheese dip.

The Cheese Mart also has a great selection of cheese themed gifts

After replenishing our bodies with carbs and cheese samples, we took an UBER (yes, Milwaukee has Uber!) to the Milwaukee Brewing Company (MKE). There is also a Milwaukee Ale House, affiliated with MKE that serves their beer and also serves delicious food; I've been there on my last two journeys to Milwaukee, it is in the historic Third Ward.  The MKE building that we went to is where they make the beer and do their tours.  
Being old Milwaukee pros and having been enough brewery tours that we should all know where beer comes from by now, we opted out of signing up for a tour and instead signed up for the two hour open house that happens every Saturday night from 5-7.  For $15 you get a pint glass to take home with you, and unlimited beer samples to be drunk out of said pint glass.  You also get 2 tickets for the heavier, stronger (higher alcohol content!) beers.  This is a great deal and I would highly recommend it.  All of MKE's beers are delicious and it is an interesting way to try new beers, talk to the bartenders and interact with the local Milwaukee folk.  All of the people that we talked to were very impressed that we had already done the Lakefront tour and were still drinking beer...perhaps this should have been a sign that that was a lot of beer for 7 girls, but we continued to drink.

This is the crew

I had been advised to try Louie's Demise, so that was the first beer I had.  At the open house, your first glass of beer is a full pint and the rest are half pours, probably to deter overdrinking but also to encourage trying everything.  Which I think I almost accomplished...I used my tickets to try the Winter Ale (tasted like an oatmeal raisin cookie @ 10%!!!) and Hop Freak, a very hoppy double IPA.

MKE also gives you a coupon/token (a poker chip!) for another free beer once you leave their establishment, and we had some time to kill before dinner, so we took a local's advice and went to "The Irish Bar".  Try explaining that to your Uber driver...he told us there were probably 100 Irish bars in the area, but we wanted to go to THE Irish Bar.

For dinner we went to Cafe Centraal at Kinnickinnic (so fun to say out loud) in the Bay View neighborhood.  This place has an excellent selection of beers (especially Belgian ones) and a delicious menu to help us soak up all of the beer we had consumed throughout the day.  Around the corner from Centraal is Sugar Maple, a small bar that also had a great beer selection (I'm sensing a theme in Milwaukee...); 60 American craft beers on tap.

All in all, we drank entirely too much beer in Milwaukee but it was so very fun.  If you're looking to get out of Chicago for a short weekend trip, I'd highly recommend Milwaukee's breweries and cheese establishments.  Maybe one day we will try to visit in the summer when we can take in what I've heard is a very nice waterfront and actually drink outside?

Milwaukee Part 1

As we've mentioned a few times, it can be hard to survive a winter in the Midwest - with all the snow and below freezing temps, it's difficult to find the motivation to leave the house. To beat the SAD, we've tried to plan fun activities throughout the winter so we don't become hermits. Last year we decided to explore the beer scene of Milwaukee and, because we had so much fun, we decided to do it again - this time with 7 girls! 

Milwaukee is only about a 90 minute drive from Chicago, so we left mid-morning to get to there in time for lunch and to check into our hotel. Sidenote: I don't know Milwaukee extremely well, but we stayed at the Aloft hotel and I would recommend it. We didn't spend too much time there but it's trendy and on the cheaper side. They also had Bliss products in the bathroom, which was a plus for me!

The Hotel! via

We didn't have a plan for lunch but we spotted the Ale Asylum River House from our hotel and decided to go there. The Ale Asylum River House is located right on the Milwaukee River and in the summer I'm sure it is a great place to sit on the patio and relax. In the winter, it seems like a great place to watch a Marquette basketball game. For us, it was a great place to have a drink and eat lunch.

The beers at Ale Asylum River House all sounded delicious - all of the beers come from the brewery which is based in Madison. But because it wasn't yet 1:00pm, I decided to go for the (relatively) lower alcohol Hopalicious - a 5.7% American Pale Ale. Despite the "hop" in the name, it was actually less bitter than I thought it would be and was pretty easy to drink. It was a nice first drink for a day of drinking craft beers. A few of the others got the Unshadowed (a Hefeweizen), which I heard was also good. 

My poor attempt at capturing my beer (below empty cheese curd plate)

The menu at Ale Asylum was on the healthier/upscale side - meaning NO FRENCH FRIES - so I was a little skeptical. However, when my Avocado-BLT arrived (which the majority of our group ordered), I was completely satisfied. While I would have enjoyed some french fries with it and not root veggie chips, I would still probably eat there again. We also ordered the cheese curds as an appetizer and they were extremely delicious.

After lunch we headed to Lakefront Brewery. The Lakefront Brewery tour is really fun and a great deal. For $8 you get 4 6oz. beers (more like 8oz.), a tour, and a pint glass. Every beer that I had was very good. I had following: the Big Easy - an Imperial Maibock; the Oktoberfest - a little unseasonal but probably my favorite; the Cream City Ale - not at all creamy, see here; and Extended Play - a India Session Ale, less alcohol than a standard IPA which was good news for me.  While Lakefront is not a huge brewery, you can purchase their beers in almost every state. 

This was my second time on the Lakefront tour and it was just as enjoyable as the first (maybe one of the best brewery tours I've been on). The tour guides are always very knowledgeable, friendly, and witty. They also stop about halfway through the tour so that you can refill your beer! While I had heard everything on the tour before, I still had a lot of fun and our tour guide, Jack, was a treat. I highly recommend stopping by Lakefront, if you're ever in Milwaukee.

We went to another brewery and several other bars on Saturday. However, I reached my limit for craft beer after the Lakefront Tour and the rest of the day was a blur. I've only been to Milwaukee in the winter and I think I'm probably missing out - on more beer, cheeses, and sunlight. I'd love to go back in the summertime and actually be able to sit outside and walk around. There are a lot of great bars and restaurants and 24 hours did not give us enough time to explore. 

Part II coming on Friday!

YLS Ignite 2015 (at Fulton Market Kitchen)

On Friday night I was lucky enough to attend United Way of Metropolitan Chicago's (UWMC) Young Leaders Society's (YLS) Ignite event.  For those of you who don't know, my younger brother, Mike, works at UWMC as a donor officer and also as the organizer of YLS.  YLS is the "young professionals" arm of UWMC's board, which consists of active donors under 40.  UWMC focuses on raising money for many different charitable agencies in neighborhoods all across the city.

The event is one of the biggest fundraising events that YLS has put on and my brother worked very hard on it to make sure everything ran smoothly, and that everyone had a GREAT time! 

Ignite was held at Fulton Market Kitchen in the West Loop.  I'd never been there before but it is a very cool and trendy event space.  There are multiple rooms, but Ignite had the run of the entire place.  I heard that they treat the art as kind of a rotating gallery, and it was all bright and colorful and interesting.

image via

The appetizers provided by FMK were things like lamb meatballs, portobello sliders, burger sliders, fried scallops and little chicken sandwiches.  Everything that I tasted was great, but I wish they had had more fried scallops and less sliders.

2Gingers Whiskey was one of the sponsors of the event, so the "signature" cocktails were a whiskey + ginger ale concoction and a sweeter whiskey drink with orange in it (not my favorite).  There was also a whiskey tasting bar.  I am not a huge whiskey fan (unlike Caitlin and my mother) so when the cute, Irish bartender asked me what kind of whiskey I usually prefer I had to be honest and say "none?".  He laughed and poured me a little glass of the smoothest and least aggressive whiskey I've ever had.  I wish I had taken a picture of the bottle but I think it was this.

There was also a selection of wine and surprisingly good beers at the bars.  The band Mike picked was very entertaining, playing songs from the likes of Amy Winehouse, Mayer Hawthorne, Aloe Blacc, etc.  Sadly there was not enough dancing for my taste, but the event was pretty crowded, so I'll chalk it up to not enough space.  Hopefully next year it will be in a bigger place with a dance floor?

My beautiful family + Dave courtesy of Fotio

The crowd was great, as it was mostly young professionals and their friends, but it also included my parents, former coworkers and some local Chicago celebrities, such as my favorite morning news anchor.  I'm pretty sure everyone took at least one picture in the Fotio "booth".  If I ever have a big party or wedding in the city I will definitely be hiring these guys.

I had a wonderful evening, and can't wait to see what Mike plans for next year's event!  The best part was, this year, tickets were only $60-80, which is very reasonable for appetizers, open bar, great company and a live band.  I'll make sure I announce when tickets go on sale for next year.

Cider Summit 2015

A few weekends ago, I ignored the fact that I tend to dislike cider and went on my second annual trip to the Cider Summit. Cider Summit is a yearly cider tasting event that happens at Navy Pier. Hosted by SBS Imports and the Seattle Beer Collective, Cider Summit featured over 150 ciders from all around the world.

The huge downside of Cider Summit for me (other than the fact that it's not a beer summit) is that it's hosted at Navy Pier. Due to some pretty unpleasant work functions that I've had to attend there, coupled with my dislike for large crowds of tourists and screaming children, Navy Pier is one of my least favorite places to visit. Only good friends and alcohol can entice me.

In 2014, Cider Summit took place in Lakeview Terrace, which made it a nightmare to navigate because it got so crowded. This year they moved Cider Summit to the Grand Ballroom, which helped crowd control immensely. Still packed, but there was definitely room to walk and stand around....and people watch the very interesting crowd that this event attracts.

Two of the weirdos at Cider Summit

The premise of Cider Summit is that you pay $30 for admission, which comes with 8 tasting tickets and a complimentary tasting glass. You can buy additional tasting tickets for $2 each. With dozens of stands to choose from, my friends and I decided that 8 tasting tickets were not enough and bought a few extra. We also didn't anticipate receiving extra tickets from a stranger who was leaving early...which went well with my empty stomach.

Perhaps because of the gallon of cider that I drank, I didn't pay the most attention to the ciders that I was drinking. In fact, I should have been more like the other people there and written tasting notes in the booklet that was provided...just kidding, I would never do that. Instead, I will only be able to provide a very limited overview of the ciders presented.

Overall, I would give my Cider Summit experience 3 out of 5 apples. It was good, but I wasn't blown away by anything - with my unrefined cider palate, a lot of them tasted the same to me. Some of the ciders were quite tasty - a cherry cider and dry hopped cider were my favorites - but, cider is way too sweet for me to enjoy/consume in large quantities. I would also never, ever recommend drinking cider that is made in gin barrels. It's an interesting concept, but the cider tasted more like drinking a bouquet of flowers than it resembled gin. There were also a few other less than palatable ciders, but, fortunately, for those cider producers I cannot remember where they came from!

One of the good ones! Image via

If you like cider, I would definitely recommend this event. Not only are there a lot of cideries, but all of the cider producers are super knowledgeable about their products and friendly. The booths I visited did their best to make sure that us cider amateurs were happy with our selections - even asking us what we generally preferred to drink and then trying to find a cider to match. While, I don't appreciate cider, I did appreciate the great customer service. I'm sure a true cider connoisseur would have appreciated all the choices there...I will have them write this post next year.

While cider and Navy Pier are not two of my favorite things, I do love to drink socially and hang out with friends. Because winter in Chicago will continue to be bleak and offer few fun things to do, I'll probably go again next year.

Bar Trivia

If you're looking for something to do on a weeknight, especially during winter, bar trivia is one of our favorite options. It's not only good for groups of friends but it can also be fun for a date (just don't combine bringing a first date to trivia with friends...in my experience, it's not a great idea). In Chicago, where it seems like there is a bar on almost every corner and many of them have trivia, the options can be overwhelming. Thankfully, we have been there and tried them out for you. Here are our favorite three options:

Justin's

Justin's is one of our favorite neighborhood bars, and while we no longer live down the street from it, we don't mind making the trek back for trivia (or any other night when we want drinks). One of Justin's best qualities is that it always has a great selection of beers on tap. Lagunitas and Revolution beers are some of the staples and they always have a good rotating tap. Last time I was there it was Two Brothers Night Cat, which is one of my new favorite beers - make sure to try it out! I'll also make the bold claim that Justin's has the best tater tots in the city (unverified, but probably true). 

The Justin's back patio is a great place to drink outside once Chicago warms up
image via

Trivia at Justin's is every Tuesday night at 8. It's usually super crowded, so I would recommend getting there early. As far as actual trivia goes, it's definitely on the harder side of bar trivia, but that also makes it more fun.  There are picture rounds which are the trickiest if you aren't good with faces and and it draws a pretty diverse crowd in terms of ages (which can make it more difficult).  The prizes at Justin's are gift certificates to...JUSTIN'S (more tater tots for everyone!).

Mad River

Mad River is a bar that we just can't stay away from. Maybe it's the free happy hours that we ALWAYS win, maybe it's their yearly anniversary party with a free open bar (sign up for that email list!), or maybe it's the truffle fries - whatever it is, we have been coming to this bar on and off since 2011. We recently started going to trivia there again and it does not disappoint.

The free Mad River happy hours will do that to you...

Over the past few few years, Mad River's beer selection has improved considerably. They still have Coors Light on tap, but they have also expanded to other options. On trivia nights alll draft beers are $4, which includes Revolution options, Lagunitas (these are $5), Blue Moon, Dogfish Head, Golden Monkey (not $4) and a few others. Their sandwiches and burgers are quite tasty - make sure to get them with a side of truffle fries! But it's best to avoid their tater tots, as they resemble mushy potato pancakes more than anything (we told you Justin's was the best...).

"Triv at the Riv" is also every Tuesday at 8. It doesn't get as crowded as Justin's, but get there early to snag a table with a working TV. To top it off, at Mad River first place wins a $100 cash prize, and they usually have secret prizes like sports and concert tickets.  During bonus rounds, if your team guesses closest to the right answer you all win a shot.

Flagship

For another small neighborhood bar, Flagship is also surprisingly nice inside with a good beer selection. We first started coming here a few years ago, not just because it was a new bar near our apartment but also because the TRIVIA MASTER/host, Nicole (formerly of Mad River) is our favorite. Seriously, she is the best at running trivia and I would probably recommend going to Flagship even if the bar was awful (but it's not!) . If I remember correctly, she threw in some Mean Girls questions one week just because we asked.  She takes her hosting duties seriously but not TOO seriously.

If I were to rate the food overall at each of these trivia options, the food at Flagship is probably the best. They have a great selection of burgers, sandwiches, wraps and salads - notable standouts: the Porkx4 sandwich (PORK ON PORK ON PORK ON PORK, LITERALLY) and the BBQ burger.

Their beer selection has also always been solid and it's probably one of the only trivia bars where I would be tempted to order a cocktail, like the strawberry basil lemonade or ginger ball mason jar.

Trivia at Flagship is every Thursday at 8. I haven't been to trivia here for a few months, but last time I was, it was extremely crowded. I would recommend calling ahead and reserving a table.  Flagship also has a LOT of televisions, so if there is a game on during trivia, you'll be covered.

STATE
If you are looking for a more INTENSE trivia experience, go to STATE in Lincoln Park on a Tuesday night. We've only gone to trivia here a couple of times (due to humiliation) but it is an EXPERIENCE.  This place gets super crowded, so definitely get there early (like ***).  The last time we were there, there were at least FORTY teams.  Why so popular?  The grand prize for winning is $800 (2nd place gets $200 and 3rd place gets $100)!  They also raffle off a bunch of prizes at the end of the evening (each trivia participant gets 1 ticket).  One of our friends was lucky enough to win a barber kit (never been used, bet she'd sell it to you for cheap!) and a 20" television (won in separate weeks).

The questions are hard, so make sure you have a skilled and diverse team at your disposal, otherwise be prepared to cry when the sports questions come up...the food here is pretty good for bar food, so if you have to get there early you can at least enjoy a good sandwich.

While there are LITERALLY hundreds of trivia options to choose from, these are the ones we keep coming back to. If you're ever out on a Tuesday you might run into us!

Galentine's Day

Winter can be very bleak in Chicago, but one bright spot is Galentine's Day. Galentine's Day is a tradition that we've been celebrating for several years now, ever since we learned about it from our favorite Hoosier, Leslie Knope. It's a chance to drink wine, eat, and gossip with your favorite lady friends. We generally celebrate this a day or two before actual Valentine's Day. Luckily for us the past few years, it has fallen on a Thursday or Friday (Galentine's Day hangovers can be the worst).
  

Below are some of our favorite Galentine's Day Activities:

BYOB Dinner followed by more drinking

The first Galentine's Day that we celebrated we decided to go to a BYOB Indian Dinner (Tandoor and Royal Indian Grille are two of our faves). We had planned ahead and made a reservation for 4 not realizing that we would be the only non-couples at the restaurant... While we felt awkward at first, 3 bottles of wine later and some flirty banter with our underage waiter we were feeling pretty comfortable. We topped the night off with more drinks - this time beer - at a nearby bar. 

We decided to continue this tradition the second Galentine's Day with a BYOB Indian dinner followed by karaoke. This is highly recommended.

Our favorite BYOB Restaurants: Chilam Bilam, Joy's Noodles and Rice, Cozy Noodle, Thai Thank You, Buena Vista. 

Some of our Galentines

Dinner, Drinks and a Movie

Traditional Valentine's Day dates might involve going to a nice dinner, enjoying a few glasses of wine, and maybe going to see a movie. For Galentine's Day we combine these all together. This option is good if you're comfortable with sneaking things into a movie theatre. 

First, start out by picking the cheesiest romantic comedy that you can find. Second, pick up some hearty snacks. Cheese and crackers, chocolate, fruits and candy are some of our favorites. Third, pick up a variety of single serve wines. My favorite are the Wine Cube 1L Boxes, which can be found at Target. Fourth, find a discreet way to hide your food and drinks on your person and sneak them into the movie. Fifth, enjoy!

Our initial Galentine's Day plans were thwarted this year because we were late to the game and Fifty Shades of Grey was already sold out. Instead we're planning on drinking copious amounts of wine, eating takeout and watching a half naked Channing Tatum gyrate around in Magic Mike.

While these are our favorite ways to spend Galentine's Day, the only things you really need are good drinks, good food, and good friends!