Entries associated with the tag "In Fine Spirits":

I haven't had a Blenheim since the Nervous Center closed--the stuff is famously hard to find--so I was excited to see some brand-new stock at In Fine Spirits this weekend. It's going for the admittedly ludicrous price of $2 per 12-ounce bottle, but then again, this is a ludicrous beverage. If, like I did, you grew up with Canada Dry--I remember thinking Vernor's was pretty spicy when I had it on a family trip to Ohio--Blenheim may be the first time you realize why ginger ale is called that.

The hot variety--the one I've always bought--burns like chewing on the fresh root (OK, technically rhizome, no letters please) and leaves your lips and throat tingling for minutes after just one sip. Yes, the bubbles are going to make you cough. Don't fight it. This isn't some hippie crap from Reed's. It's medicine.

The gentleman at In Fine Spirits told me there's only one remaining Illinois distributor for Blenheim, near the Wisconsin border, and apparently "distributor" is putting it kindly--you have to drive up there and pick the stuff up yourself. (I guess Wisconsin is closer than South Carolina, where Blenheim is made.) They've got a few cases now, but with gas so expensive they can't promise they'll keep making the trip for more.

Delilah's celebrates its 15th anniversary and a year that saw its 5,000th straight day of being open (in case you were wondering, that's 13.7 years) with a party Thursday from 11 AM to 2 AM. They'll be opening the first bottle of Delilah's Chicago 15-Year-Old Single Cask Rye Whiskey, the third installment in the "Delilah's Whiskies of the World Collection." 

Thursday at 7 PM, Mark Bires, chef and co-owner of Jerry’s Wicker Park (1938 W. Division), prepares a six-course meal with beer pairings from Cleveland’s Great Lakes Brewing Co.; Patrick Conway, co-owner of Great Lakes, will be on hand to discuss the brews. The menu includes roasted tomato soup paired with Eliot Ness Vienna Lager, fried green tomatoes and shrimp remoulade over a buttermilk biscuit paired with Burning River American Pale Ale and Commodore Perry India Pale Ale, and collapsed chocolate souffle cake with creme anglaise paired with Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. $48, reservations required.

Also Thursday at 7 PM, Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro hosts a "Drink Local Beer" tasting pairing cheeses with local beers. $20, $15 in advance.

Through next Friday, In Fine Spirits is offering a special gin menu featuring martinis, negronis, and other gin-based cocktails, including a gin-and-tonic tasting flight (Zuidam Genever, Hendrick’s, and Martin Miller’s Westbourne Strength Dry Gin, all with Fever-Tree tonic). A tasting flight of North Shore gins (No. 6, No. 11, and Alphonso Mango No. 11) can be paired with creations by chef Marianne Sundquist, including cold pea soup with lavender honey and pea shoots, cucumber salad with whipped goat cheese and sage-lemon vinaigrette, and coconut panna cotta.

Friday from 6 to 7:30 PM, Taste Food and Wine's weekly free wine tasting features Red Dirt Red, Terra Rosa Malbec, Adegas Ladairo Godello, and Verdicchio Luzano. And from 6 to 9 PM, Lush Wine and Spirits on Halsted (1257 S. Halsted) hosts a free tasting of North Shore Distillery spirits, including their new absinthe.

Caveny Farm founder John Caveny speaks at Eli’s Cheesecake Factory (6701 W. Forest Preserve) Thursday at 1 PM as part of its summer lecture series on local food systems. Caveny, who specializes in raising heritage breeds of poultry, will discuss his farming practices and use of native grasses for biofuel; Caveny Farm turkey will be available for sampling. The weekly farmers’ market Eli’s cosponsors with Wilbur Wright College is going on at the same time, offering fresh produce and a lunch of grilled turkey (though not from Caveny). Call 800-354-2253 for more. Free.

As part of its Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit, the Museum of Science and Industry (57th and Lake Shore Dr.) hosts a tasting Saturday at 6 PM of sustainable, organic, and biodynamic wines and vodkas and organic cheeses; reps will be on hand to answer questions. The exhibit, designed by Michelle Kaufmann, is an actual three-story modular home outfitted with the latest environmentally friendly technologies; you can tour it during the tasting. Reservations required. Call 773-753-2583 for more. $35, 21+.

Now in its 34th year, the annual Pork and Corn Roast at Saint Mary of the Annunciation Church in Mundelein (22333 W. Erhart) draws carnivorous day trippers from all over the state this Sunday at 1 PM. More than 20 swine and hundreds of bushels of corn will be roasted; there’s also a beer garden, a craft show featuring more than 50 vendors, a petting zoo, and a tractor show. Call 847-223-0010 for more info. $12 ($10 in advance), $4 for kids 5-10.

In Fine Spirits (5420 N. Clark), the Reader’s Best of Chicago pick for best wine bar, hosts Craft Brew & BBQ Tuesday at 7:30, a five-course dinner with pairings by Tim Suprise of Michigan’s Arcadia Brewing Company. Featured brews include Anglers Ale, HopMouth, London Porter, and Cocoa Loco, a triple chocolate stout; chef Marianne Sundquist will design the menu around seasonal ingredients including sweet corn and Michigan cherries. Reservations required. Call 773-334-9463 for more. $55.

Signature Room at the 95th executive chef Patrick Sheerin will prepare a dinner at the James Beard House in New York in August; Chicago diners will get a chance to try his menu (and check out the ladies' room) Thursday at 6 PM at the Signature Room (875 N. Michigan). The five-course dinner, "Along the 45th Parallel: Cuisine from Famous Wine Regions," features food and wine from Italy, France, Canada, and the United States. Dishes include foie gras terrine, slow-roasted cod with popped corn puree and chanterelle mushrooms, and medallions of bison with seared Chinese broccoli. Call 312-280-0472 for reservations. $95.

Bin 36 (339 N. Dearborn) hosts its third annual BBQ and Bingo event Wednesday at 6 PM, where guests can dine and win prizes like wine, wine accessories, and gift certificates.  The dinner includes a whole rotisserie suckling pig, fried chicken etouffee, and chilled gazpacho with shrimp shooters; wine, beer, and cocktails will be served. Call 312-755-9463 for reservations; $5 from each ticket supports the Be the Groove performance ensemble. $50. 

The Alliance Francaise de Chicago (810 N. Dearborn) continues its French cooking lessons taught by chef Madelaine Bullwinkel with a class Saturday at 10:30 AM that explores French cuisine beyond traditional food from the Continent. "Being a French Chef: Ethnic Paris" teaches students how to make food from France's former colonies, including a Cambodian green papaya salad, Tunisian lamb, and banana tart from the Island of Reunion. After the lesson the food will be served with wine. Call 312-755-9463 to reserve a spot. $75 Alliance Francaise members, $85 nonmembers.

The Chicago Foodways Roundtable presents an ode to the mushroom 10 AM Saturday at Kendall College (900 N. Branch) with Exploring the Wild Mushroom: Myths, Flavors, and Facts, a lecture and cooking lesson by outdoors writer Joe McFarland. McFarland will cook (and guests will taste) recipes from his upcoming book, Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States, and discuss methods for enhancing the flavors of mushrooms. Members of the Illinois Mycological Association will be there to identify specimens, so bring that weird mushroom you found in your backyard. $3; free to Kendall students and faculty with ID. 

The Festival of Cheese, one of just two events in the American Cheese Society's 25th annual conference and cheese competition that’s open to the public, takes place 5:30-9 PM Saturday at the Hilton Chicago (720 S. Michigan). It features tastings of more than 1,000 artisan and specialty cheeses from producers all over North America—among them Capriole from Indiana, Everona Dairy from Virginia, Redwood Hill Farm from California, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese from Washington, and Rogue Creamery from Oregon—plus wine, beer, and specialty foods. $85.

The American Cheese Society’s cheese sale from 10 AM-1 PM Sunday at Kendall College (900 N. North Branch) will have offerings from all the producers at Saturday’s festival at what it promises will be “rock-bottom prices.”

Prefer a little less cheese and a little more beer? Rock Bottom Brewery (1 W. Grand) hosts Curds and Ale II from 2:30-5:30 PM on Sunday, with 20 American artisan cheeses (many purchased at the sale) and 20 American craft beers from breweries including Three Floyds, Two Brothers, and Dogfish Head. The focus will be on pairings of clothbound cheddars (in the tradition of English farmhouse cheddar) with British-inspired bitters and ales and stinky cheeses with wild-fermented Belgian-style beers. $35.

Pastoral Artisan Cheese's Loop location (53 E. Lake) is hosting special events to coincide with the ACS's conference. On Thursday at 3:30 PM San Francisco Chronicle cheese columnist Janet Fletcher, a CIA grad, will be signing copies of her latest book, Cheese and Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing, and Enjoying; cheese and wine selections from the book will be served. On Friday at 3:30 PM sample some cow's and goat's milk cheeses from Ann Arbor's Zingerman's Creamery; Zingerman's cheese maker John Loomis will attend. Both events are free. 

Slow Food Chicago hosts a four-course dinner 6 PM Monday at Uncommon Ground (1401 W. Devon) featuring fruit from Seedling fruit farm in South Haven, Michigan; each course is paired with a wine or spirit. Chilled melon soup with mint creme fraiche, for instance, comes with a shot of melon-infused North Shore vodka, while a terrine of red raspberry, black raspberry, and honey-vanilla bean gelato with peach puree is accompanied by a house-made honey-peach cordial fizz. There’ll also be a tour of the cafe’s rooftop organic garden and jazz by the Ted Sirota Trio. $65.

Evanston's Va Pensiero (1566 Oak Ave.) and the Land Connection host their Summer Abundance Dinner Saturday at 6:30 PM, featuring fresh produce from the organic and sustainable Henry's Farm, in central Illinois. The vegetarian three-course meal features a caramelized onion tart with Tallegio cheese, roasted garlic-hot pepper crostini, and a grilled vegetable napoleon with candied garlic and spicy beet puree; the cost includes wine service and an hors d'oeuvres reception. Henry Brockman, the farm's owner, will be selling produce at the dinner; his sister, Land Connection founder Terra Brockman, will discuss the group's efforts to promote sustainable farming in Illinois. Reservations required; 847-475-7779. $80. 

In Fine Spirits (5420 N. Clark) hosts a second Return of the Green Fairy tasting seminar, its celebration of absinthe's recent legalization, on Tuesday from 7:30-9pm. Sonja Kassebaum of North Shore Distillery will be back to discuss the mystique surrounding absinthe as well as its history and uses. Three types of absinthe--North Shore's Sirene Absinthe Verte, Kübler Swiss Absinthe Superieure, and Saint George Spirits' Absinthe Verte--and absinthe-based cocktails will be paired with tastings. $36. 

The almost 100-year-old U.S. absinthe ban was lifted a little more than six months ago, after it was determined that the negligible amounts of thujone (a substance that is toxic in large doses but appears in benign quantities in herbs such as thyme, rosemary, and, yes, wormwood) found in absinthe posed no major threat to public health, as the Victorians believed. 

I did my share of "absinthe" drinking as an Oscar Wilde-worshiping teenager, when my goth cronies devised concoctions of wormwood (from the spice aisle of Whole Foods) steeped in legal Pernod (illegally procured by older friends). While living in Japan, one of a handful of countries that was never subjected to an absinthe ban, I got my hands on the real thing. 

Now, postban, any number of Chicago drinking establishments have picked up this legendary spirit: Delilah's serves five varieties while Binny's sells six, the Violet Hour mixes it into cocktails, and Potter's Lounge, the newish hotel bar at the Palmer House Hilton, offers tableside absinthe drip-fountain service. There's no use telling people that nearly identical tipples such as Pernod, pastis, and Chartreuse have been on the market for years, and that it's more likely the insanely high alcohol content (50-75 percent) rather than the thujone content that accounts for the legendary "absinthe high." It's the wormwood mystique that draws drinkers in. 

I recently attended an absinthe seminar at In Fine Spirits (coincidentally the Reader's choice for Best Wine Bar 2008, though the selection of beer and cocktails there ain't bad either). Reps from two different companies were on hand with amusing anecdotes about the history of the drink: Kate Hartman from Kübler Absinthe, a Swiss "bleu" (clear) absinthe, and Sonja and Derek Kassebaum from North Shore Distillery, introducing  Sirene Absinthe, an herby green absinthe made locally in Lake Bluff, Illinois. We sampled a battery of pre-Prohibition cocktails involving absinthe (several of which are offered on the menu at In Fine Spirits), including the crisp, lemony Corpse Reviver No. 2: one ounce each of gin, Lillet Blanc, Cointreau, and lemon juice, with a few drops of absinthe as a subtle accent, and the Sazerac (approved by Louisiana legislators as the official cocktail of New Orleans last month), which is crafted from absinthe, Peychaud bitters, and rye for a flavor that falls between Chinese medicine, potting soil, and a manhattan--in a way that isn't entirely unpleasant. On a recent visit to the wine bar I indulged in "Death at Dusk"--a variation on Ernest Hemingway's recipe for "Death in the Afternoon"--a shot of absinthe topped with champagne and a dash of creme de violette (which accounts for the "dusk," a creepy gray-green hue). It's weirdly reminiscent of the salty-sour Dutch licorice Dubbel Zoute, which is to say it's an acquired taste, but one worth acquiring.

Fortunately we were spared the "modern" absinthe cocktails like the "Green Mint Machine" and the "Root Beer Float" at the seminar. Absinthe is far too subtle (and expensive) to dilute with dreck like chocolate-mint Bailey's and root beer Schnapps. 

Don't fret if you missed the event: In Fine Spirits will be putting on another one July 29.

If you’ve got a great recipe for a traditional Mexican dish, you’d better hurry: the deadline for submissions to the “Recetas de mi tierra” cookbook contest is this Friday. The National Museum of Mexican Art is holding the contest to celebrate its 20th anniversary, and winners will receive a copy of the cookbook, not to mention “their place in history.” Contest guidelines can be found on the museum's Web site. 

Andersonville's In Fine Spirits hosts a tasting from 5:30 to 7:30 PM Friday with winemaker Gregory Graziano; the regular Saturday tasting's the following day from 3-6.

Wines from Provenance Food and Wine’s weekly tasting will be paired Saturday with samples of sweet and savory treats from TipsyCake Bakery in Humboldt Park, personally provided by owner Naomi Stepanek. It’s from 3-6 PM and it's free.

Chicago’s inaugural Pizza Fest kicks off Saturday at noon on the 2300 block of N. Racine and continues until 10 PM –Sunday it starts at the same time but ends at 8 PM. In addition to the requisite pizza for sale, the festival will feature live music, pizza competitions, acrobatic pizza dough tossing (courtesy of the U.S. Pizza Team), wine tasting, and “Cornhole” (better known as beanbag toss) tournaments. Suggested gate donation is $5.
 
The Botanic Garden’s weekly Garden Chef series, which includes free cooking demonstrations in the open-air kitchen of the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden, this week features Heather Terhune from Atwood Cafe on Saturday and Doug D’Avico from Trattoria No. 10 on Sunday. Demonstrations are at 1:30 and 2:30 PM both days.

Fondue restaurant Geja’s Cafe, self-proclaimed to be “Chicago’s most romantic restaurant” (it has supposedly been the site of 123,702 first dates and 15,239 engagements) will celebrate its 42nd anniversary by offering 42% off all food bills from July 1-5.

Wine Enthusiast presents Toast of the Town tonight at the Field Museum, featuring over 500 wines and 30 restaurants. The "Grand Tasting" is $95 and starts at 7:30.

Friday at 5:30 mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim conducts a free tasting of "market fresh fruit" cocktails at Fox & Obel, 401 E. Illinois. Call 312-410-7301.

Saturday the Oak Park Conservatory's annual herb sale starts at 8 AM at 615 Garfield Street. Call 708-386-4700.

Kid-centric eating org Purple Asparagus is presenting a pizza making class at Spacca Napoli, 1769 W. Sunnyside at 2:30 pm Saturday. Tickets are $42 for adults; $16 for kids 5 to 12; 4 and under are free.

At 10 am on Saturday the Culinary Historians of Chicago host Patricia Wells on "Sensory Delights of the French Garden" at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark. It's $10; call 708-788-0338 to reserve. Then on Sunday at 11 AM she'll sign copies of her new Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate at Fox & Obel, 401 E. Illinois. Call 312-410-7301.

Saturday Beerfest comes to Navy Pier in two four-hour sessions starting at noon and 6 PM; all the beer you can drink from dozens of brewers for $47.50 at the door; $37.50 in advance. Later that night Three Floyds is hosting a kick off party for Gumballhead wheat beer at the Handlebar, 2311 W. North. Call 773-384-9546.

In Fine Spirits, 5418 N. Clark, presents the Andersonville Wine Walk, Sunday at 2 PM. $20 buys you a glass and 40 different wines. Call 773-728-7552.

Sunday at 5 Alpana Singh hosts a wine tasting to benefit Lifeline Theatre at Hotel Allegro, 171 West Randolph, Tickets are $100. Call 773-761-4477. 

Tuesday at NoMI in the Park Hyatt Chicago, 800 N. Michigan, sommelier Fernando Beteta conducts a "Women Winemakers from Around the World" tasting. It's at 5:30. Call 312-239-4030.

Also on Tuesday, at 7, chef Charlie Socher of Cafe Matou, 1846 N. Milwaukee, will be pairing dishes to wines of the Val de Loire. It's $62. Call 773-384-8911.