Chicago-area whiskey enthusiasts have one more local option to explore, now that Great Lakes Distillery's Kinnickinnic Whiskey is being sold at Binny's Chicagoland locations and through its online store. This according to a tweet sent out yesterday by the Milwaukee-based distillery. more ›

Some of us have been blessed with Norman Rockwell-esque families, when holiday meals have days and days of preparation carefully presented on Christmas Day alongside thoughtfully planned gifts for each dinner attendee. However, for many of us, we are the furthest from this picturesque family, and often face the panicked search for a last minute gift. more ›

We've gotten our collective undies in a bunch about Oberon before, and truth be told we were ready to be over the springtime rush to the Bells taps for the yearly release of the sweet wheaty ale. That was before we found out that Binny's was going to be hosting Larry Bell for a brewer's tasting on April 1st. more ›

• Life & Limb, the highly anticipated brewing collaboration between Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione and Sierra Nevada's Ken Grossman, receives its official launch party at Sheffield's tonight at 7 p.m. Life & Limb is a 10 percent ABV dark ale brewed with barley grown by Grossman at Sierra Nevada's Chico, CA brewery, and pure maple syrup from Calagione's family farm in Massachusetts. The two breweries took the mash from that and brewed a 5 percent beer called "Limb & Life." Both will be available for tasting this evening, as will some of each breweries more experimental beers. this would be a great primer for our reader meetup Thursday.
• Binny's South Loop has a reserve champagne tasting this evening from 6-8:30 p.m. featuring luxury cuvees Roederer Cristal, Dom Perignon and more! Also included will be sparklers from the U.S., Spain and Italy. Gourmet cheeses will be paired with the champagnes.

A near-religious experience with Aventinus Wheat Doppelbock got us to thinking of other darker wheat beers that would be enjoyable for summer sipping. With that in mind, we set out for some good local options and looked no farther than Two Brothers. Local beer geeks know and love the Warrenville brewery's Ebel's Weiss, but it's available year-round. A run to your local liquor store is in order to pick up a bomber of Bonfire, Two Brothers' Dunkel weiss. more ›

Looking toward Belgium yet again for inspiration this week. A few months back our predecessor as food and drink editor went to the Publican and Twittered about the best beer she ever had. Erin Twittered a lot about that beer, it sounded like the highlight of her dinner. more ›

Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd is pulling a Coppola and entering the wine business. more ›

There's always a beer tasting around town, and if you don't think so, you just aren't looking hard enough. Tonight's tasting, from 6-8 p.m. at Binny's South Loop (1132 S. Jefferson St., 312-768-4400), will focus on strong ales and barleywines. This is definitely not for session beer lovers. more ›

The annual Windy City Wine Festival, presented by Binny's Beverage Depot, takes place tonight and tomorrow at Daley Bicentennial Plaza downtown. We've never been overly impressed by the festival, but taking a look at the cooking and wine exhibitions scheduled we might be swayed to drop by. more ›

• White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen will be at the Binny's South Loop superstore (1132 S. Jefferson) from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. today for a meet-and-greet. Cost is $10 per person and the proceeds from the event will go to support the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. We're pretty sure that Guillen will swear at you for free if you offer unsolicited advice on tweaking the White Sox lineup.
• Saturday morning at Kendall College (900 N. North Branch), LTHForum founding member Robert "VItal Information" Gardner will give a lecture on the localvore movement. "Be a Localvore, Put More Food On Your Table" will focus on what to look for at farmers markets and beyond into the dark days of winter. the 10 a.m. lecture costs $2.
• Father's Day at Café Matou (1846 N. Milwaukee) will feature a two-entrée grill menu for $24 from 5-9 p.m.

Last month the Chicagoist food and drink staff gathered at Binny's South Loop for a Riedel stemware seminar led by the current head of the company himself, Georg Riedel. For the better part of two hours, the exuberant Austrian alternately enraptured and berated his attentive audience, preaching the gospel that his Vitis stemware line (vitis being the Latin word for "vine") would make drinking any wine a religious experience. At one point we half-expected Riedel to proclaim, "If Jesus had this stemware at za vedding vere he turned vater into vine, it vould make za vine better!" more ›