Chicago, The Loop, part 1

I never remember how close Chicago is. When it is only three hours to the heart of the Windy City, it is a real shame that we haven’t drank there (at least for New York City, we have a 1000 mile excuse!). To somewhat remedy this situation, we had a free weekend, though kids were in tow, to explore the Chicago Loop a bit and chart out a second, more adult, adventure in the future. 

Now the Loop is more known for its architecture than its cocktails, most notably the Willis (Sears) Tower, so we made sure to book a suitable hotel with a decent watering hole. We got a good deal off-season on the Palmer House, a historic hotel that has hosted the likes of Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, and U.S. Grant. After a shopping trip and a jaunt around Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate and massive playground, the family was hungry and thirsty. A short walk led us to the venerable Exchequer, a pizza and ribs joint which has been a mainstay in the Loop since 1969. We were there for Chicago deep dish pizza- Exchequer’s The Mob pizza in particular, featuring a variety of meat and garlic. 

Now, for those of you not in the know, good Chicago deep dish takes time. Time means beer. So Cindy ordered up a Guinness, and I went to the taps with Exchequer’s ‘own’ Amber Lager. I put the ‘own’ in quotes, because Exchequer Amber is actually brewed in Wisconsin at Stevens Point Brewery, so, yeah, I drove three hours south to get a beer that’s made two hours north of the FWL. Ha!

The Exchequer Amber graced a pint glass well; deep amber, light carbonation, with a creamy half inch of white loose head. It is a clean, very lightly hopped, toffee-malted draught, something that I’d say would be a good intro beer for the novice craft beer drinker. That said, it goes great with pizza, which is it what it was made for.

My second tasting was Great Lakes Brewing’s Eliot Ness Amber, whose namesake was the nemesis of Exchequer’s most notable patron, Al Capone. The Eliot Ness came dark copper in its glass with a finger’s worth of cream-colored head. It has a yeasty aroma with a tinge of green apple. The taste is consistent with its aroma, deeply bready, a slightly grapefruit sour edge, with a bite of noble hops on the backside. Very drinkable in the Chicago cool spring air. 

After our pizza, the day was over. Time for the kids to hit the hay and us to hit the hotel bar...