Our inbox has been constantly bombarded with holiday cocktail recipes lately. Many of them promise festive merriment in a glass. Some deliver. Others just suck. And one - let's just say its title included the word "razzleberry" - finally put us over the edge. We suddenly felt the urge to return to a simpler, purer style of imbibing this holiday season. With the help of Yolanda Luszcz, co-owner of Gene's Sausage Shop & Delicatessen, we scouted out some classic beverages that our Old World counterparts uncork during the holidays. (Gene's works with more than 100 distributors to source its products. It shows.) We cherish obscurity, so these off-beat spirits and wines are just the kind of thing we want to show up with at our next holiday gathering. more ›

You know what today is, don’t you? It’s golden beer’s 165th birthday! Yes, 165 years ago today, on Oct. 5, 1842, Joseph Groll, a young brewmaster in Plzen, Czech Republic, discovered a technique for brewing golden beer, otherwise known as the pilsner, or Pilsner Urquell, which is the brand name now. Prior to 1842, most beers had a darker, murkier consistency and a sweeter taste. Lore has it that the citizens of Pilsen were fed... more ›

Chicagoist is issuing a World Cup Challenge. Pick the winners of the games most accurately and earn a Chicagoist T-Shirt (High stakes we know). The World Cup begins tomorrow morning so visit the ESPN Pick ‘Em Challenge page today and select the Chicagoist group(Group number 54837) enter password "chicagoist" to join. You don't need to provide your selection for each game when you register. You can enter your pick for each game up to an... more ›

United States National Soccer Team Manager Bruce Arena plans to announce the 23 player roster for the 2006 FIFA World Cup tonight at 5pm on ESPN's Sportscenter. Arena is announcing the squad 13 days before the official roster submission date, when the rosters for all 32 teams will be finalized. We feel there are 13 players who can rest easy today as their place on the roster is a sure thing (denoted in italics below).... more ›

The United States National Soccer Team cracked into the top five in the FIFA World Rankings when the March rankings were released earlier this week. This is a first for the United States, who are in their final stages of preparation for the 2006 World Cup which begins in June. During the World Cup draw, the 32 finalists are divided into eight groups of four teams. Those teams play each of the teams in the... more ›

The Chicago Blackhawks return to the United Center ice on Wednesday night versus the Nashville Predators. The National Hockey League took a break so many players could represent their countries in the Winter Olympics. This weekend Sweden earned the Gold, Finland the Silver and the Czech Republic took the Bronze medal while the States come home empty handed. The break was badly needed for a Blackhawks squad that had lost five of their last six... more ›

You just never know who that white-haired old dude that lives around the corner really is, do you? In the North Center neighborhood, an 86-year-old Ukranian carpenter named Osyp Firishchak is on trial for allegedly assisting Nazis in their quest to "cleanse" Jews from the earth during the 1940s. Firishchak, who has lived with his family in Chicago for fifty years, apparently worked for a Nazi-affiliated force called the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police and helped to... more ›