During pre-Prohibition days, tied houses were the original brewpubs. they were taverns that sold only the brand of beer that they were "tied" to. Chicago was a heavy tied house town during the day with Schlitz, and the distinctive globes and architecture can be found throughout the city. more ›

• Starting off this week with a bit of a review. We slugged back our share of Original Schlitz Friday night at Green Mill. Guess what? It isn't that bad. Actually, as far as clean lagers go, we prefer it over Pabst Blue Ribbon (coincidentally, Pabst brews both). At $4 a bottle, it's also priced perfectly (PBR on draft at Green Mill runs $4.50).
• Louis Glunz Beer Company has formed the "Glunz Beer Culinary Council." This Justice League of culinary greatness includes Paul Kahan, Mindy Segal, Richard Camarota of Custom House, MIke Roper and Ben Sheagren of Hopleaf, Cooper's - A Neighborhood Eatery owner Craig Foss, Siebel Institute of technology faculty member Randy Mosher, author Lucy Saunders, and chariman Jim Javenkoski. Not coincidentally, the restaurants represented also carry Unibroue beers.
• Mike Nagrant waxes on about "green market dorks" in this week's New City

In yesterday's Extra, Extra we announced the "triumphant" return of Classic Schlitz, and today the Trib's Phil Rosenthal looks at why Schlitz left in the first place. Sure, it could be that they messed with the formula, changing it from watered down piss to watered down piss with a hint of asparagus, or, as Rosenthal thinks, maybe it was their god awful advertising. Specifically, this spot that he dubs "Drink Schlitz or I'll Kill You": more ›