Longtime "BotW" readers might remember that we reviewed a barley wine last spring from Louisville's Browning's Brewery. We bought it retail in town but, after making a phone call to the brewmaster in Louisville, didn't disclose where we made the purchase for fear of outing the store in question for selling booze outside the three-tier distribution system. During a New Year's Day discussion with the store owner, Mitch Einhorn of Lush Wine & Spirits,......

You might have the headline to this week's installment and thought, "Isn't it a bit late to review a Christmas ale?" And you may have a point, if you're a Grinch. We found this beer at Lush Wine and Spirits University Village location over the holidays. The two things that drew our attention to the bottle were the size of the bottle (one full liter) and the top. The beer had one of those ceramic......

Va Pensiero in Evanston officially celebrates the return of wine director Jason Prah (most recently of Eno) with a tasting of eight "wines to survive winter." Prah will be on hand to present the wines and appetizers will be served. Cost is $35 per person, and the event starts at 7 p.m. The Alliance Francaise de Chicago has been offering a fair amount of cooking classes lately. Their class on Saturday will focus on......

Saturday night was a good night to stay in, preferably close to the fireplace (that is, if you're lucky enough to have one). So we popped some W.C. Fields in the dvd player, made some gnocchi with spicy pasta sauce (more on that tomorrow) and opened up a bottle of wine. The bottle we picked was something that held up to both the weight of the gnocchi, the spice of the sauce, and the warmth......

Some things to do this weekend, and into next, as an excuse to dress in costume. Rare and fine wine auction house Hart Davis Hart is holding an auction of private collections from both coasts today from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. at Tru. The auction is free to attend, but anyone taking the time to head to Tru and not eat is an idiot, quite frankly. Lunch today at Tru is fixed-priced at $75.......

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......

Last month the craft beer community lost one of its greatest advocates with the passing of Michael Jackson, the "Beer Hunter." Jackson's research and writing on this singular subject laid the foundation for the beer, wine, and spirits writers that followed, raised awareness of the passion and commitment to excellence that the best brewers apply to their craft, and lifted beer to a level where it was considered worthy of mention in the same breath......

When one thinks of Japanese beer, the first to come to mind are Sapporo or Asahi. A Japanese brewery that we think deserves mention is the Kiuchi Brewery, which started out in 1823 brewing sake. They still do make fine sakes, but in recent years they've branched out into spirits distillation, beer, and have plans for making wines. Kiuchi started the beer aspect of their business, Hitachino Nest, in 1996. The beers are notable for......

If it hasn't been drilled into your heads yet, street festival season is kicking into high gear. This week, we'll highlight a couple to check out, as well as feature one of the more humorous press releases to reach our inbox this week. Strap it on! We'll Call Ours the "Triple Bypass": Wendy's is hosting an online contest to see who can design their next burger. Folks who log on to www.thisismyburger.com can choose from......

Good American-made stouts are plentiful these days. With more breweries applying aging techniques to their beer, barrel-aged stouts are just as plentiful. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout benefits greatly from being allowed to age in 12-year-old Heaven Hill barrels. Three Floyd's DarkLord, the stout of the moment, has an aged version that uses barrels purchased from Woodford Reserve and allowed to sit for a year. Because wood is permeable, barrel aging allows a stout to......

"Ska Month" continues here at Chicagoist with another selection from the Ska Brewery in Durango, Colo. This week, we're looking at the last of their "robust reincarnations" series, Nefarious Ten Pin Imperial Porter. Nefarious is a Baltic-style porter that weighs in at a hearty 8 percent alcohol by volume. Like our previous two Ska selections, we purchased this as a 22-ounce bomber at Lush Wine & Spirits' University Village location. It poured a deep brown,......

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......

For those of us who took a snow day, we have the option of reaching into the fridge for a beer. Few beers help bide one's time during a spell of bad weather quite like a stout. Regular readers know that we prefer English stouts over their Irish counterparts. They're heavier, richer, and haven't been sullied by Gaelic hands. Typically, English stouts are brewed with little additions, like oatmeal, chocolate, or coffee. The Suffolk-based St.......

"Your Friday Food Buffet" is a new feature where we combine business-related news concerning food and drink with tastings and fixed-price dinners happening around town this weekend. Pretty cut-and-dried, don'cha think? Anyway, we hope you like it. Starbucks finally drops act, admits inspiration for business model: After test-marketing in Chicago and other markets throughout the country, Starbucks rolled out their breakfast sandwiches and drive-thru service in Boston and select Los Angeles locations. No information......

If you've been reading Chicagoist's "Beer of the Week" series from its inception, you'll remember that one of our primary rules of alcohol consumption is if you're old enough to legally order something like Sparks, Long Island iced teas, vodka and Red Bull, frozen cocktails, any drink that ends with the word "bomb," or any cocktail containing Southern Comfort, you're old enough to know better. So where does that leave all you folks who......

Weeks back, Chicagoist professed our love for wheat beers, and you responded by drinking the Pontiac out of Bell's Oberon at our second anniversary party. Today we bring to you a wheat beer that's tough as nails, a beer not for the faint of heart. A beer so strong and bitter it could only be named after a crusty, bitter, comic strip cat. Three Floyd's Gumballhead Beer is, hands down, the hoppiest wheat beer we've......

It's Super Bowl weekend, which means that sometime shortly after the coin toss we who actually want to- you know, watch the game- will be subjected to a series of mind-numbing commercials featuring farting horses; women with pneumatic breasticles; middle-aged men casually strolling through the Rockies; comic dating situations; and referees penalizing ordinary people; all for the purpose of promoting cheap beer. The adage "life is too short to drink cheap beer" gets repeated so......

The one new restaurant in University Village Marketplace that arouses our curiosity the most is Kohan Japanese Restaurant. There is such a glut of sushi bars in Chicago that even the addition of a small, nondescript place like Kohan feels like supersaturation. But diversity is the spice of life, or so goes the adage, and if your personality is such that you simply want sushi without the extra trappings of dim lights, exposed brick walls,......

It seems like yesterday that preservationists and historians protested in vain about the relocation of the old Maxwell Street Market. Indeed, ten years does pass like a fleeting memory. It was a contentious debate that was eventually wasted breath. Most of us have lived in Chicago long enough to know that when Mayor Daley lobbies for something, he gets it. And this was a project both he and the University of Illinois at Chicago put......

Think of a wine store in this this city. Usually the first thing that comes to mind is a superstore like Sam's or Binny's. You've also got Randolph Wine Cellars and the Wine Discount Center if don't want to get lost in a warehouse; or smaller boutique shops like Que Syrah on Southport if you don't want to immerse yourself in the cultivated haughtiness of a wine bar. Now you can add Lush Wine......