I’m pretty proud of our track record with brewer interviews here at OA. We interviewed Gabriel Magliaro just before Half Acre opened in 2009 and then did a great interview with the Pipeworks guys in 2010 when they started their kickstart campaign. Both of those companies have brought something truly unique and uplifting to Chicago’s [...]
Author Archives: Ron John
A Fresh Paradigm of Beer in Chicago: Dryhop’s Greg Shuff Interviewed
Posted in Beer, Event Tagged Chicago, Church Brew Works, Craft Beer Week, Dryhop Chicago, French Market Fare, Greg Shuff, Half Acre, Lakeview, Outsider's Almanac, Pipeworks Leave a comment
ROA in Chicago
A few months ago I posted a photo of some street art I came across over by the Fulton Market while on a run to get some propane for brewing. I was struck by the piece’s scale, but I was also taken aback by what seemed a kind of mocking, mischeivousness that animated the death [...]
Posted in Instructional, Places, Processes, Review Tagged Belgium, Brussels, Chicago, Ghent, Graffiti, ROA, Street Art Leave a comment
Uganda Skate Union
Times are hard right now for first world fat heads. I joked recently that back in ye olde middle ’90s, when I was living on a steady diet of TVP and LSD, reading Terrance McKenna’s “Invisible Landscape” for the first time, and sitting around with my friends, like a puddle of stoned poodles, running on [...]
Posted in Event, Places, Pleasures, Review, Skateboarding Tagged 2012, Rick Steves, Terrance McKenna, Time Wave Zero, Uganda Skate Union Leave a comment
Poke, Musubi & the Committee for Safety
I just got back from a week in southern Kaua’i. Like all vacations, the time was too short, and now I want to move there. A week living amongst people who stab away their days in the slow, tropical pulse of the south pacific rim makes me wonder how and why I managed to find [...]
Posted in Fishing, Grilling, Health, Instructional, Recipes Tagged Bruce Brown, Chicago, Committee for Safety, Endless Summer, Hawaii, Kaua'i, Koloa Fish Market, Maki, Musubi, nori, Poke, Spam 1 Comment
Chicago’s Pipeworks Brewing Company’s “End of Days” Is About Perfect
I had the chance to try Pipeworks second effort last night, the End of Days milk stout. Made with ancho chilies, cinnamon and cocoa nibbs, End of Days delivers a beer that doesn’t stumble over any one ingredient, but elevates into a synergistic whole greater than any of it’s parts. I couldn’t be happier to [...]
Posted in Beer, Review Tagged Chicago, Milk Stout, Outsider's Almanac, Pipeworks Brewing Company Leave a comment
Tasty 15 Minute Marinade for Chicken
Made this last night and it worked to make a hunk of protein have flavor. The swiss and chedder cheese and the strip of bacon I put on top helped too, but, in a pinch, this gave my chicken breast some flavor before putting it on the grill. I fried some brioche in lard on [...]
Stillwater Holland Oats Release @ Bottom Lounge Tomorrow
I know I admitted to my first full-fledged mancrush on Damon Zex a few weeks ago, but I may be developing another on Brian Strumke from Stillwater Artisanal Ales. I tried his Folklore on Friday for the first time and it immediately turned me into a quivering puddle of little girlness, pigtails and all. I’ve [...]
Posted in Beer, Event, Review Tagged Bottom Lounge, Brian Strumke, Chicago, Damon Zex, Dany Prignon, Fantome, Holland Oats, Stillwater Artisanal Ales Leave a comment
March 12th @ St. Paul’s Church – Help Keep the Arts In Wicker Park!!!
Please come to a meeting at St. Paul’s Church on North Avenue to support the Near Northwest Arts Council (NNWAC) on March 12th at 7pm. The NNWAC is being pushed out of their building by a super shady “religious” organization with a long track record of activities typically associated with cults. And no, not the [...]
West Lakeview Liquors Is Why I Love Chicago
This past Sunday West Lakeview Liquors hosted Jérôme Rebetez from BFM to tap and pour a wood cask of his 2010 Abbaye de St. bon Chien. As always WLV played the expert host, not only pouring the bon Chien, but also a Terrapin collaboration barley “ryne”, as well as BFMs entire bottle portfolio. There was [...]
Posted in Beer, Event, Review Tagged Abbaye de St. bon Chien, BFM, Goose Island, Jerome Rebetez, Jolly Pumpkin, Kristina Bozic, Stillwater, West Lakeview Liquors Leave a comment