Metra is eliminating its bar cars come Friday. The rail service hasn't renewed contracts with vendors not because of concerns about alcohol use but because the bar cars don't bring in enough money; instead, Metra wants to use the cars for regular seating. But fear not, traveling boozers! You can still drink on the train. [Trib]......

When we filed our report from the National Restaurant Association's annual trade show in May, we were very curious about Wine Cellar Sorbets. The New York-based company and "sorbet sommelier" Dave Zablocki do not skimp on the amount of wine (or sake) used in making their sorbets, which was one of the reasons we gravitated toward the booth. Which is why, if you find it at Whole Foods' South Loop, Huron or Boys Town locations,......

Chicago is the fifth-hardest drinking city in America, according to a new analysis by Forbes, who's really feeling the ranking stories this week. We drink less than Austin, Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Providence. Providence? The report is based on people's responses to three questions: whether they had at least one drink of alcohol within the past 30 days; whether men had more than two drinks per day or women one drink per day; and whether......

Even before William Ligue Jr. ran onto the field at Comiskey Park and attacked a Royals coach, Cubs fans have tried to pin the undeserving "violent" label as a negative stereotype of Sox fans [Ed.'s note: It probably has something to do with incidents like this]. Never mind that Ligue admitted to actually being a Cubs fan... or that it was outside Wrigley Field that a fan was shot and killed [Ed's note: Touché, Lipsman].......

One can't have a hearty Korean dinner — or even sushi — without a bracing serving of soju. It's clear color and clean flavor is comparable to vodka, except for a slightly sweeter taste resulting from the addition of sugar in the distilling process. The first recorded distilling of soju happened around 1300 when the Mongols, who had learned to distill arak (an anise-based liqueur) from the Persians. Soju is distilled using rice, but......

Newsflash: Teenagers like drugs and fucking! Sun hot, water wet, Jolie attractive, Hawking smart. And so on. But seriously folks, this year's Youth Risk Behavior Study says that 56.9 percent of Chicago teenagers have had sex, 4 in 10 are currently sexually active*, and 44 percent have tried smoking pot. Other stats: 18.7 percent of boys report having intercourse for the first time before age 13; 5.8 percent of girls say they have 17.8 percent......

Terrence Camodeca, Orland Park resident, and Village Trustee Pat Gira are working on making "airplane bottles" of liquor illegal in the OP. And then from there, to the county, and maybe...to the state? (Cue "Trumpets of Doom.") The idea stems from the fact that Camodeca is picking up a lot of empty tiny bottles when he cleans the road. This means that people are getting wasted on the way home from the local boozer, which,......

Remember when prom night meant spiking the punch bowl, renting a hotel room on Lincoln and packing it with liquor, then drinking until sunrise and taking what was left to Great America? Good times. There's this new thing out called Pocket Shots. As you can see from the photo above, it's a single serving of alcohol in a tiny flask-sized plastic pouch. The target audience is most likely folks who want to sneak their......

Red Bull has won a $680,000 lawsuit against Wet, a Loop bar that served its clubby patrons a different energy sauce when they ordered Red Bull. A manager at the company was at Wet and asked for a vodka Red Bull. She was served a vodka...Other Thing. From the Trib: [Red Bull employee Angela] Latino asked the bartender if it was made with Red Bull from a can. The bartender replied that it was made......

“Trick-Move Gone Bad” award of the day: A man was charged with reckless conduct and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital after sticking his foot in front of an El train at the Clark and Division red line stop around 1 this morning. Police say the train was moving slowly and the conductor slammed on the brakes but could not avoid foot-to-train contact. The man was knocked to the ground in front of several witnesses and......

Former Chicago Police sergeant John Herman faces a minimum of 24 years in prison after he was convicted of rape this week. Herman had a bench trial rather than a jury trial, and Judge Joseph Claps not only found Herman guilty, he also had some additional harsh words for the rapist. "The defendant's testimony is unreasonable and nothing short of perjury," Claps said. Claps also didn't believe two officers who testified on Herman's behalf, saying......

The Trib rolled out Part II of its damning investigation of Chicago police officers shooting civilians, and it's just as intensive as Part I--plus it's accompanied by a harsh, determined editorial. God, agreeing with the Trib's editorial board...this is a whole new feeling. Today's report focuses on Officer Phyllis Clinkscales, who shot and killed 17-year-old Robert Washington in June 2000, which sets up an analysis of how thoroughly police shootings are investigated. Guess what?......

We were downstairs at our neighbors' a couple weeks back, drinking bloody marys before the Bears-Broncos game while we were making chicken stock for soup. Normally, we make a killer bloody mary. But on this occasion we were missing something. Turned out that our neighbor had the cure-all: a good beer chaser. She had been to Sam's earlier in the week and picked up some selections from Ridgeway Brewing, and the first bottle she opened......

OK, after this we'll call an end to Thanksgiving-related posting--it's wearing us out--but there were a couple of oddball turkey stories in the news today. Five United Airlines employees at O'Hare got sick after eating a company-provided meal yesterday. The spread is considered an olive branch kind of gesture from management to its workers, so...d'oh. No one was seriously ill, but there were reports of nausea and vomiting. But those folks had it easy,......

File this one under "Color Us Surprised": Obama was interested in girls, drank alcohol and experimented with drugs in high school. Obama made a campaign stop at a study hall in Manchester New Hampshire yesterday and answered students' questions. Prior to meeting with the students, Obama unveiled an $18 billion plan that would expand public education from pre-school through 12th grade. He also criticized No Child Left Behind. To their credit, the high schoolers had......

The more we dive into New Belgium's selections, the more flabbergasted we become at the popularity of Fat Tire. Sure, we've said ourselves that Fat Tire serves as an entry beer to the other offerings New Belgium brews. If conventional wisdom says that you only get one chance to make a good first impression, then Fat Tire would seem like the wrong entry point for New Belgium. The days are getting shorter, which means we're......

Bell's beer fans don't start celebrating just yet, but Larry Bell himself weighed in on the Beer Advocate forums yesterday about a possible return to Chicago. "Bell's continues to work on a way to return to Illinois... I have had discussions with other wholesalers and there is a possibility that we would return, but not with any brand we currently produce... Chicago is my home town and I would love to sell beer there again.......

Today's Headline: Peapod Caught Delivering Alcohol to Teens. We don't want to say anything to besmirch Peapod's good name — if it weren't for their timely deliveries, there is no telling what we would be attempting to eat out of our fridge. However, it seems like our favorite grocery folk been delivering alcohol to teens without checking for ID. We noticed the first time we ordered alcohol from Peapod that there was no online measure......

When lasted we checked in, all was not "love they neighbor" on the corner of Winchester and Thomas. Neighbors of the Inner Town Pub were angry about the drunken and sloppy behavior of the bar's patrons and wanted Alderman Manny Flores to do something about it. This week's Chicago Journal has a nice little wrap-up of what's happened since. Bar representatives, upset neighbors and Flores have been meeting on a monthly basis to improve......

Rather than go out to participate in last Sunday's national toast to Michael Jackson, we decided to stay at home and raise a glass in honor of the "Beer Hunter." Earlier that afternoon we finished the remaining bottles of Goose Island Harvest Ale during that debacle of a Bears game and were left with a varied selection in the fridge — a couple brews from Three Floyds, a bottle of Unibroue 16, two cans of......

What's the only thing more sketchy-ass than Chicago's city hiring? The folks fighting over the money for the victims of said rigged system. We're pretty sure we were denied a job too ... now give us a cut of that $12 million! And we used to just be scared our own vibrating toys would rouse suspicion. (It's a scalp massage, honest!) Now airport screeners think that remote controls for toys are under suspicion as......

When Tim Kasher isn't busy fronting the band Cursive and writing screenplays, he's penning songs and touring with his other project, The Good Life. The band began as a side project of sorts, but now has noted two albums under its belt: 2004's heart-wrenching The Album of the Year, which narrates a romantic-turned-nasty two-year relationship, and the recently released Help Wanted Nights, which actually serves as a soundtrack to Kasher's play of the same name.......

Now that summer is doing the quick fade, certain foods and beverages that we avoided during the warm months are creeping back into our diet. They tend to taste better during cooler weather. One of those beverages is a good stout. We mean a good stout, with the viscosity of motor oil and brewed with malt so heavily roasted you'd think they burned the brewery down making the beer. We bought a couple bottles of......

What is wrong with people? Chicago police say a fisherman at Montrose Harbor may have been murdered, simply because he was Asian. The South Side is getting their prayer on after last year's tragic incidents of children being caught in the crossfire. Jesse Jackson is going around asking parents to send their kids to school. And he's finding it ironic that he has to beg when African-Americans fought to go to school in the......

It's been barely more than 24 hours since Lance Briggs' brand new $450,000 Lamborghini was found wrapped around a pole on the side of the Edens Expressway. In that time, we have learned that he was in fact driving the car at the time of the accident, and as a result on Monday was charged with leaving the scene of an accident -- a misdemeanor-- and ticketed for failure to immediately notify police of a......

Even though rapper 50 Cent proclaimed to the world earlier this month that he would quit music (and deprive the world of another "In Da Club") if Chicago native Kanye West's new album "Graduation" sold more copies than his new CD "Curtis," the two have reportedly ended their feud via the universal peace maker -- alcohol. The two are both dropping albums on Sept. 11 and have been debating in the press for the past......

With all our posts about Ingmar Bergman, Charles Burnett and underground cinema you might think that our cinematic tastes are strictly highbrow. Phooey. We like all sorts of movies. And we aren't immune to the charms of some juicy movie celeb gossip either (Vince V. anyone?) Not convinced? Fine: here are some new Batman photos to peruse. But actually that's not what prompted this post. No. It was this headline: Bill Murray faces drunken driving......

Chicagoist has long been a fan of Goose Island beers. Not only have they long been a staple Beer of the Week, but we're pretty sure our names are on a plaque somewhere on the pub walls as "Masters of Beer Appreciation," a feat accomplished in the hazy years before our baby. What we didn't know then was that we could have our kid and our beer, too. Turns out, Goose Island Brew Pub is......

Great. Another bar/restaurant with a funky name, overpriced menu, and hipster vibe in the Bucktown/Wicker Park corridor. That’s probably your first impression when you heard of the recently opened Bluebird Bistro and Winebar on Damen in Bucktown. In actuality, though, this casual, rustic spot from owner Tom MacDonald of the popular Webster’s Wine Bar in Lincoln Park will knock those stereotypes right out of the floor-to ceiling-glass window next to the front door. That’s......

Now that it seems as though the weather is finally catching up with the calendar, we at Chicagoist feel an obligation to offer some “BotW” selections that won’t put you down any further than the impending muggy weather. Rooting through our fridge, we found one that we think might do the trick for you who like both sweeter and lighter beers. We took a good hard look at the Grand Rapids-based Founder’s brewery a few......