Chicago, River North, Part 1

Some places in our Around America series are so big and boozy that we need to return and explore some more. That's definitely true of Chicago. In our last Chicago posts, we stayed in The Loop at the historic Palmer Hotel, ate and drank at Exchequer, and finished the night taking some blues at Buddy Guy's Legends with a number of double Seven and Sevens.

This time we'll go just north of The Loop, across the Chicago River to the River North neighborhood, arguably more congenial to a cocktail lover's taste. But before we take on a night of drinking, it's best to grab a bite to eat, so we headed into River North's Green Door Tavern for a burger.

Parsley Cooler

The end of our garden is here. Over Thanksgiving weekend, we saw our temperatures dip below freezing and our wind chills push us to near zero. That forced us to pick or cover the hardiest of our plants. One of those plants that was still going strong was our parsley. So, if you have something extra lying around the house, do what we do in the Firewater Lounge, drink it!

Since we've been tooling around the U.S. in our Around America series a bunch, and since there's no parsley in any of our most recent trips, we decided to give you a parsley Holly's Original cocktail for what's left of your Thanksgiving. It does have green chartreuse in it, which is increasingly hard to find and expensive, but, given the amount of Millennials and younger not drinking, I suspect the prices will come down in the future. If you have the chartreuse and the parsley, go for it!

Parsley Cooler
Holly's Original

2 1/4 ounces gin (we used Death's Door)
1/2 ounce green chartreuse
1 dash of Hella citrus bitters (you can sub a celery, orange, or lemon bitters)
splash of cold 7up
parsley

Place 10-15 parsley leaves in a double old fashioned glass or similar sized rocks glass. Splash them with a bit of gin (about 1/4 ounce). Muddle gently. Add ice. Add remaining gin, chartreuse, and bitters. Stir gently to combine. Top with 7up, stir with one or two revolutions, careful to keep the effervescence. Garnish with parsley if you like.

Hampton, New Hampshire

When you think of drinking in the Northeast, the New York boroughs are the first places that come to mind. Hell, they all have famous cocktails named after them with the exception of Staten Island (All the recipes for the boroughs can be found in the Firewater Lounge's recipe index). So there's a good chance that New Hampshire probably isn't on your list for cocktail meccas. That said, there are libations to be had in the Granite State.