When mixologist Adam Seger of hum Botanical Spirits was tapped to devise a cocktail menu for the wrap party celebrating the Oprah Winfrey show's series finale taping, held Tuesday night at the Four Seasons Hotel, he mustered a spread with pomp fitting of the occasion. A dose of that "look under your seat" penchant for drama, if you will. Well, that plus about 18,000 fruit "caviar pearls" and a host of other fanciful goodies. more ›

Readers know there are a handful of cocktail enthusiasts here on the Chicagoist staff. But how would Rob, Anthony and Roger stand against other like-minded drinkers? For that matter, how would you? more ›

We have such good memories associated with The Tasting Room on Randolph... wandering down from the Randolph Street Food Festival into the cool room to sit on a couch and sip wine with friends. Ahhh. That's why this Sunday, July 18th, we may find ourselves back there to enjoy a The Tasting Room's Hum B'Que & Pig Roast featuring Hum Spirits cocktails prepared by none other than Adam Seger, one of our favorite mixologists. more ›

For a city that raises its bartenders to the level of some chefs, Chicago put on a decidedly weak display last year for World Cocktail Week. The anemic list of events was not lost on Drinks Over Dearborn's Kyle McHugh, whose "Speakeasy Over Dearborn" was, by default, the best of last year's events. more ›

Ahhh, we remember this passion fruit drink from our visit to Nacional 27's kitchen. There's no doubt about it - Adam Seger mixes up a mean cocktail. He'll be teaching Passion Fruit Cocktails tonight at Nacional 27. It's a hands-on course to highlight a seasonal drink. Guests will view demonstrations of the cocktails being made, sample the cocktails and nosh on appetizers. more ›

• Sheffield's annual Christmas cookies and beer pairing takes place this evening at the Beer School bar from 7-10 p.m. They'll be pairing cookies with various beers, including Southern Tier's Pumking and Great Lakes Christmas Ale. (3258 N. Sheffield)
• Nacional 27's Adam Seger will be the guest bartender this evening from 8 p.m. until closing at Fulton Lounge (955 W. Fulton). Seger's doing the hard holiday pimping of his Hum Spirit with $7 "you call it" Hum cocktails all night long.
• Registration opens today for World Kitchen's Winter 2010 calendar of events at Gallery 37 center for the Arts (66 E. Randolph). We've included a . each class costs $30, to RSVP call 312-742-8497, visit the World Kitchen website or buy tickets directly at the box office from noon-6 p.m.

We're fans of both Adam Seger (one of the the city's best mixologists) and Nacional 27. So we were excited to see that Nacional 27's upcoming monthly cocktail class is about creating Champagne cocktails. We suspect the class may be quite popular as it's just in time to learn these cocktails before New Year's Eve and wanted to give you the jump start to get your tickets early. more ›

A couple months back we wrote about Hum Spirit a rum-based liqueur infused with hibiscus, cardamom and ginger. Seger is ready to foist Hum Spirit on the rest of the world with a launch party at Pops for Champagne (601 N. State St., 312-266-7677) the Hum Spirit launch will feature cocktails crafted by Seger, Charles Joly of the Drawing Room and the Violet Hour's Stephen Cole. If that doesn't draw you over to Pops, maybe the $3 PBRs and $5 Jameson shots will. this is all part of Pops's "Shift Drinks" series featuring guest bartenders every Monday night in their downstairs bar. more ›

Heirloom tomatoes are finally starting to roll into farmers markets throughout the city. With that comes some pretty outstanding cocktail recipes. First, there's the always busy Adam Seger of Nacional 27. Seger's monthly cocktail class was the subject of a cover story in the New York Times style section yesterday. The Paper of Record also published Seger's Heirloom Tomato Mojitonico recipe for Anthony and Rob to try at home. more ›

When it comes to naming the city's best mixologists, Adam Seger's name is usually one of the first to roll off one's tongue. The general manager of Nacional 27 is a Certified Culinary Professional and worked the lines in kitchens before hearing the sirens' call of the bar. Seger takes the approach of a chef to his cocktailing, sourcing artisan products, growing herbs and spices in the planters lining Nacional 27's sidewalk seating and infusing spirits in-house. more ›

A couple weeks back Rob and I attended a tasting of Rosangel, a new infused tequila from the makers of Gran Centenario, at Nacional 27. Rosangel takes Gran Centenario's reposado tequila — aged for 60 days in port barrels — and then is infused using hibiscus flowers. The result is a pinkish-colored tequila with the faintest sweetness imparted to it from the flower petals. more ›

Nacional 27 allowed us into their kitchen to bring you some pictures of their offerings. Special thanks to "El Presidente" Adam Seger C.C.P. (.) and Chef Chico for allowing us to photograph their food. Enjoy. more ›

big spirit of the year. We've written about Lucid absinthe before, and we were able to get our hands on a bottle of Kübler, a Swiss absinthe now being sold locally. more ›

There's a new absinthe on the market called Lucid that's catching on at places like the Violet Hour, Lumen, and Delilah's, namely because Lucid is the first Grande wormwood-based absinthe available in the States since before Prohibition. Now, we've tried the "green fairy" and it was an experience we'll never forget, so we researched Lucid for details on how much thujone (the active ingredient from wormwood) it carries. Turns out, not much at all: under... more ›

It's easy to forget that, with all the hype recently bestowed to the Violet Hour since it opened months ago (much of it warranted, we'll preface), that this city was already teeming with master mixologists before Toby Maloney blew back into town. Case in point, at the recent "Chicago Iron Bartender" competition, Sepia's Peter Vestinos beat out a packed field including Nacional 27's Adam Seger, Tim Lacey of Spring Restaurant Group, and Otom's James Macknyk... more ›

Today marks a new beginning at 620 N. State St. At Pizzeria via Stato, chef David DeGregorio streamlines the menu focus of Osteria via Stato to Roman-style thin crust pizzas featuring artisanal ingredients, small plates, an all-Italian wine list, an emphasis on seasonality, a smoke-free environment and casual seating (read: no reservations). To complement the new menu, wine director Adam Seger has crafted some inventive cocktails, including a "honeycrisp apple-sage-black pepper gastrotail" martini using his... more ›

Award-winning food and drink writer Fiona Beckett will sign copies of her new book Food, Wine & Friends at the House of Glunz in Old Town this evening. The event runs from 5-7 p.m., and there will be a reception with wine and hors d'ouevres. Cost is $20 for the reception, $40 for the reception and a copy of the book. All you amateur sommeliers should be making a beeline to Sam's Wine & Spirits... more ›

We intended to write a post this week on making our own tomato sauce as something to do with all the tomatoes in our garden, but we never got around to it. As you can see, it's pretty easy to do, and if you click here you'll see the recipe we used. We ran the sauce through a food mill to give it a coarse texture and remove excess water with the intent of using... more ›

No witty introduction this week. Our fault for trying to impress the new staffers with barleywine ale and Dalmore. Thank God for French-pressed coffee. The buffet is now open. A Good German to the End: The closing of Delicatessen Meyer should have been a story we weighed in on earlier in the week and not relegated to the Buffet. To that end, Chicagoist extends a sincere mea culpa. Anyhoo, for those who haven't heard, the... more ›

Sharp eyes around these parts may have noticed a lack of restaurant reviews lately. That's because it's been cold, y'all. This recent spate of bad weather has reacquainted us with the simplicity of making pancakes. It's even easier when you're working from a pre-made mix. During our weekly visit to Lush Wine & Spirits this weekend, we picked up a twenty-ounce bag of pancake mix from the Sour Mash Bourbon Bread Company, a company co-founded... more ›