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!
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