Results tagged “roadtrips”

                    

With a huge hand clutching a glass of Austrian sparkling wine, David Cleverdon slowly gestured across the seemingly endless verdancy surrounding us like a compass searching for True North and said, "You're catching us at the beginning of a transition. Tomorrow, trucks will be coming to the farm and tearing up the land as we start laying the ground work for the future of Kinnikinnick Farm."

Ah, I-94. It's construction season. Again. As part of our penance for trying to flee to the northern climes (Lake Geneva, anyone?) during the sweltering summer, we'll be forced to sit on hot asphalt, in bumper-to-bumper traffic staring longingly off the highway. Why? Because it's time for a major highway expansion and modification north of the border. How big? Well, they're making "Are we there yet?" landmark Mars Cheese Castle move from its iconic location - 100 feet further from the roadway.

                 

It's simply a shame that New Glarus Brewing doesn't distribute their product to Illinois. The official line from New Glarus is that they had a hard enough time keeping up with demand in their home state of Wisconsin; the Carey's decision to leave Illinois was made easier when their former local distributor was merged into Southern Wine and Spirits seven years ago and SWS asked for $20,000 from the Careys to opt out of their distribution agreement (source). 'Course, that hasn't stopped some local establishments from bringing in New Glarus' offerings. We've had our share of Raspberry Tart at Delilah's, and one of the early selling points of the Burlington — besides Tankboy's incessant pimping of the place (kidding, Jim) was the poorly kept secret that their "house beer" was Spotted Cow on draft.

          

'Tis the season for pumpkins! While we love Chicago in all of its concrete glory, sometimes we have to make a break for the countryside. Rather than buying our Halloween pumpkins at the local grocery store, we decided to high-tail it down south. Friends told us that we’d have to leave the state to find a decent farm with pumpkins – down to Indiana or up to Wisconsin. We wanted to stay a little closer to home, what with gas being $4.00 a gallon and all. After a few online searches and some advice from a friend, we found Butterprint Farm in Monee, Illinois. Butterprint is a family-owned farm about a 45 minute drive from downtown Chicago.