A little history for you from back when I lived on the north side: before the Long Room opened at 1612 W. Irving Park Rd., the space used to be this dive bar called Blue Bird Liquors. Blue Bird Liquors was known for serving hard liquor fast, a liberal ID checking policy, hillbilly regulars, boilermakers and t-shirts that read "No fucking address. No fucking phone #." God, I miss Blue Bird Liquors. It was the kind of bar my stepdad used to take us to when he'd pull us out of school; he was a hillbilly, for those keeping score. I'd stagger out of there and had the options of getting a gyros sub at Mr. Submarine next door, crossing six lanes of Irving Park traffic to get to Diner Grill's slinger, or walking up to the drive-thru window at the Popeye's on the corner of Irving Iark and Ashland to counter all that alcohol. more ›

This week's "BotW" selection is one of those "day late, dollar short" deals. It was available briefly right around WhiskyFest at Guthrie's, Delilah's, Map Room (actually, Map Room may have some left), Long Room, Underbar and Weegee's. It also tied in to WhiskyFest in that the malt used in brewing was whisky malt. more ›