Goodbye Chicago: Part IV

As I write this, I realize my goodbye to Chicago has been lengthier than expected.  This will hopefully be the last one as we really are moving tomorrow (as much as we can anyways).  Its been a long goodbye, but a fruitful one.  I've been able to actively do things and see people that I haven't seen in a long time. 

This past saturday was St. Patrick's Day.  It wasn't just the celebration, but it actually was St. Patrick's Day.  Chicago, so I've heard, is the largest St. Patrick's Day celebration outside of Ireland.  There are quite a few Irish and Irish pubs around, truth be told.  This year, the South Side Irish Parade resumed after a 2 year hiatus.  We didn't go because we heard that it was going to be much tamer, i.e. no open containers allowed. 

Kel and I decided to go see the Chicago river get dyed.  They dye it at 10 am via a speedboats using orange dye that magically turns the river 'Irish Emerald' green.  Unfortunately, we made a bad call in taking the bus down instead of the red line and ended up missing the actual event.  We ended up being about 15 min late, but the day was so beautiful that we didn't care at all.  When we finally got down there, it was packed.  I mean thousands and thousands of people.  Kel and I took some pics of the river and ended up meeting up w/our friends Chris and Melissa.  They were party w/friends at Renaissance.  Nothing like a good old fashioned hotel room party at 10:30 in the morning. 

We decided not to go to the parade at noon, but instead went to Rock Bottom Brewery's rooftop.  It was absolutely gorgeous out.  Too hot in fact for how we were dressed, but we weren't complaining.  Then we went to Kelsey's in Lincoln Park where we met up w/the crew and finally headed to Chapman's.  By then, after whiskey and coke on the bus, sips of moonshine, pulls of jaeger from the bottle chased w/Red bull, and a few beers, I was done for. 

As the last big thing we got to see in the city, I'm glad we got to do it.  The weather made it that much better.

Goodbye Chicago: Part III

The day after our Will's get together, Kelly and I both had bachelor/bachelorette parties to go to.  Our friends Irene and Mark are getting married in May and had their parties' on the same day which worked out well. 

The girls rocked out in a limo all night and started at a BYOB restaurant, Isla Pilipina.  From there they moved on to a drag show in River North and a bar or two before eventually meeting up with the guys. 

Some of us guys went to Tydell's to play.  As per usual, we started late partly because people got there late and partly because half of us brought food over.  Pretty typical of us.  Our poker games are pretty ridiculous.  Sometimes its like the blind leading the blind.  Some guys can't remember how to play, other guys busy watching whatever sporting event is on tv, a few are just too busy on their phones, while others are just plain spacey.  It can be really funny and/or extremely maddening. Of course since we started late, we ended up meeting Mark and co. later at Dave and Busters where we played some games.  Eventually we went to Old Town Ale House and met the girls. 

At Tydell's we FINALLY, FINALLY finished off this bottle of Russian vodka that Scott has had since 2007.  Even we didn't know that he'd had it that long.  Over the years during many poker nights, we've slowly taken shots of it, and finally polished it off.  The bottle has become legendary partially since he's had it for so long, partly because its terrible vodka, and partly because Scott's enamored with it.  He loves talking about the bottle and how its Russian (as if thats supposed to mean its good or something).  Alas, we've finally killed the damn thing.

Goodbye Chicago: Part 2

From between September to January, and hopefully February, Kelly and I have a second family.  That family comes together weekly, either on Sunday or Monday, at Will's Northwoods Inn (http://www.willsnorthwoodsinn.com).  We congregate, some would say religiously, to watch and cheer on our beloved Green Bay Packers.  The beauty of it is that its become a ritual.  We sit near each other, play games, eat good food and have fun.  And like family, win or lose, we come together no matter how our team is doing.

As part of our what I like to call 'Goodbye Chicago Tour' we met up with some of our friends at of course Will's and had a good old fashioned friday fish fry, drank beer and hung out.  We reminisced about epic Packer games, how we came to find Will's and our progression to the tables we're at now, and all the other good times we've had because of bar.  Not only will we miss the people and the games, but we'll also miss the bartenders who we've become friends and the atmosphere.  I've been a Packer fan all my life, but until I started going to Will's regularly, I don't think I appreciated it as much. 

Will's has become an oasis, a home away from home in enemy territory, and I will miss it, the people, the ritual, and the experience every sunday and/or monday from September to February.

Goodbye Chicago: Part 1

Now that I've more or less come to grips with leaving and knowing that its a mere 2 weeks away, I've become re-energized in trying to see and do as much as possible in this short time I have left here.  Just this past weekend, was one such event, a mini tour of Andersonville.

Some of us guys (Aaron, Tydell, Chapman, Meyer, Inkmann, and myself) went to tour the Koval Distillery, http://www.kovaldistillery.com.  The tour was $10 and was pretty decent.  The location is actually right next door to Metropolitan Brewery which I've also toured.  The facility isn't that large so we didn't walk around that much, but it was interesting.  The tour guide gave us a brief history of the company, showed us the equipment used, and told us about the products they distill and sell.  We were given a shot glass to taste some of their beverages and tried small samples of 9 of their 27 or so products.  3 of them were 'white whiskeys' which I've never tried before.  Basically its clear and isn't aged at all.  It just passes through the barrel so that it can be called whiskey.  The next 3 were 3 aged whiskeys.  They age their whiskeys 2 years and use a variety of grains, some which are unique and solely used by Koval, and 2 different barrels for lighter/darker aging.  The final 3 we tried were their liqueurs, chrysanthemum honey, rose hip and and ginger.  A few fun facts about the place that we learned on the tour were that they opened in 2009, the distillery is certified organic and kosher, and its the first distillery in the city of Chicago since prohibition. 

After the tour, we went to Hamburger Mary's, http://www.hamburgermarys.com .  Skip, Matt K, Kel, Courtney Chapman, and Melissa joined us.  I love burgers and this place has a great selection of them.  They also brew a few beers of which I tried 'superstition' and 'gangster', but didn't love either of them.  The 'fiesta burger' that I had though was highly satisfying.  One nice thing I found when checking out their website was that their is a branch in Milwaukee.

Hopleaf (http://www.hopleaf.com) was our next destination.  Tom and Courtney Carroll met us there.  I've wanted to come here for years for the beer selection and it didn't disappoint.  I had a couple local beers, 3 Floyd's Pride and Joy (which I thought was just ok) and Goose Island's Matilda (which is one of my fav's).  Also tried mead, yes your head me correctly, for the first time.  This was from Poland and very syrupy and sweet, a little tough to drink to be honest.  I've heard that the food is good here also so check it out if you ever get a chance.  I'd love to go again. 

Finally we ended the night at Farragut's on Clark, a divey kind of bar for a final drink.  I had a great time and was happy to see so many friends out.  Hope to have a few more before we leave!