Goose Island Honkers kills time in Chicago O'Hare after a big Chicago parade

Final day in Chicago! It's been a hell of a weekend and we're wrapping up the weekend with a big event.  Gay Parade in Boystown is Andrea, Sarah and Whitney's favorite event of the year and they're promising, besides the appearance of Rham Emanuel and the first governor of Illinois to not be indictated, a 2 hours slew of wild and crazy people and floats. Sounds like a party and have the fater-aids and Goose Island 312 to prove it.

Yep

This one reminds me of David for some reason.

Afterward, the crush of people exiting the parade makes it impossible to find transportation home and we end up running drunk over most of Chicago hustling to find a taxi to a blue line. Only to discover upon reaching the airport, that my flight was delayed for 4 hours. Yup, very anti-climatic. So I made use of the airport Goose Island pub and treated myself to a 3 course meal with three different beers, including Goose Island's Honkers English Bitter.

It's crisp and dry with a citrus hop bite and the body has a toasted flavor that subdues any sweetness. The sip finishes with a bready, biscuit finish. It's an interesting pub beer but relatively unbalanced. ARMAGEDDON rating.


Even after a 2 hour meal and making friends with two couples around me, I'm still two hours away from my flight so I grab my bag and head to the boarding area. I ask a teenager to kick me when it's time to board and I pass out on my bag, full and content. A man to his word, he wakes me up two hours later and feeling like a champion. Thanks Chicago for a sweet time and see you soon!

Goose Island Green Line Pale Ale ends a lakeshore Chicago Saturday

It's perfect weather today and we head to a pool party at the top of a 44 story apartment building, which I can't believe they have here. LA has nothing that size and it has amazing panoramas. I kill a Green Flash Le Freak Belgian IPA and help Sarah get rid of some Honey Wild Turkey, which is dangerously delicious.

Drinking out of cups, being a bitch

After a couple hours we go down to the beachy lakeshore (the peninsula pictured below) and layout beside the famous Castaways bar to meet up with friends, including Andrea who is bringing Floridians who are arriving fresh off the train.

After a late lunch in Old Town relax for a little bit and then head to the Crocodile Bar, which was an entertaining experience. The five of us owned the back bar and danced away the night while soft core porn bizarrely played on a TV behind us. Andrea's Florida friends were so prim and proper at lunch today, looking like they just left a country club, but apparently any knowledge of charm school goes out the window after a couple vodka sodas because those ladies are dancing like maniacs. Very entertaining. It was just one of those nights. To accompany my bourbon and ginger ale, I found another Chicago based Goose Island to try, the Green Line Pale Ale.

Like Eddie Murphay sings, "party all the time, party all the tiiiime"

Apparently I'm learning all the train lines that run through Chicago from Goose Island, because the only train I know in Chicago is the Blue Line that runs from O'Hare. I wonder if they have a Blue Line style yet. The Pale Ale pours with heavy carbonation and has a malty golden body with a hint of hops that provide for a pleasant bite. The beer's body is a little on the light side, and reminds me of a really great Budweiser, if that's possible. It's a fun, easy going drinkable beer that I'm happy to down. ARMAGEDDON rating.

Goose Island 312 Wheat Ale in Chicago's Lincoln Park

Ever since I was introduced to this beer during my October Chicago trip, I've loved it. Sarah knows how to treat visitors and she greats me with a bottle as I arrive at 7am.

It's the perfect drinking beer, sweet and floral and crisp. THE perfect summertime brew and now I have the privileged to taste it during Chicago's best time of the year. It's not the greatest wheat ale, but it's my favorite one to drink. I could literally drink a sixer of this one morning never leaving my couch and consider what I'd just accomplished a great success. THE ROCK rating.

Geese! I dunno how close Goose Island is from here, but this geese are running rampant

We head out to meet Andrea and then relocate to Lincoln Park and play Bocce Ball while tossing down a couple of 312's. It's Friday afternoon and we're simply, 'drinking out of cups, being a bitch.' It's a favorite line from a very bizarre and hilarious video of a guy who's trapped in a closet on drugs (mushrooms?) talking to himself. They animated his ramblings and I've never become tired listening to his cracked out mind.

"Look at Mr. Balloon Hands....Who's chair is that? Not my chair, not my problem.....Why didn't I get invited to the Seahorse Seahell. What is this? Get real. I'm in love with sea horses. I'm in love with them, they're so beautiful and cute, I'm in love with seahorses." 

Oh the hilarity:

Afterward, we head to a friend's rooftop to BBQ and soak in the sights.

And Sarah leads everyone in several rounds of shotgunning beers, which I haven't done in forever and obviously lead to a great night. Cheers Chicago!

The girls are owning it

Goose Island Matilda and Chicago are AWESOME

Chicago is the shit. I flew in Friday to visit LaLa and loved the city immediately. City and people have a lot of character, as does Matilda. Goose Island is a local brewery that brews Matilda and another well known brewski, the 312, a hefeweizen with great drinkablility (I had at least 8 over the weekend).

I drank all of your brother and sisters 312. Sorry, but not sorry.

I can't speak enough about Chicago...So I will instead type about it (rimshot? eh). Had a bunch of great beers Saturday before discovering Matilda, many of them with Tim and Sarah; who are the shit, the bees knees, the cats pajamas, and even better than Antoine Dodson saying "Hide ya kids hide ya wife" from the Bed Intruder song. Matilda is a belgian style ale and reminds me of a monestary beer. First sip took me back to Europa.

Everyone wants a piece of Matilda, whose feminine beauty turns average lesbians into super lesbians

Pours an opaque light orange glow and tastes of light fruit (banana and apricots?) and spices. The flavors are subtle but very well rounded. A stronger spice finish wouldn't hurt this lady. Matilda has a twin cousin who is slightly bolder but bears a striking resemblance - PRANQSTER from North Coast. I would love to have them side-by-side and compare specifics. Matilda is a sipping beer which I bet is perfect during the freezing Chicago winters.

If I was going to rate Chicago according to my critically acclaimed Michael Bay rating system (*citation needed), it'd be one of the BAD BOYS. It's official; I have a mistress and her name is Chicago. I'm looking forward to my next love affair with the city and its inhabitants - specifically Tim and Sarah and Lindsey. I'm thinking a beer fueled tryst in a public square near a school bus of children? Just sayin...As for Matilda, I'm bequeathing you the same title as your twin, Pranqster. Welcome to THE ROCK. I'm not going to get into the whole Daniel Day-Lewis scene from LAST OF THE MOHICANS, but I will find you and drink you up. Soon.

Cubs win! Goose Island Summertime w/truffle fries

Cubs 5, Astros 4. Headed over to a Wrigleyville spot with Lindsey, for a beer. Ended up grabbing this good light tasting beer with a balance of medium hops and medium sweet, pale malt. Had a Bud Light in Wrigley so this was a good alternative. Lando got the Goose Island Matilda, a hef. It was also pretty good. We had to get some food in order to sit outside. Truffle oil fries, booyah.

The Summertime can be Harry Caray, for no other reason than to honor the guy for being really, really good - better than the beer. CUBS WIN!

"Dancing has been postponed until tomorrow" or until I get another Dorlmunder Gold

"Dancing has been postponed until tomorrow" at Danny's. Grabbed another beer from Great Lakes Brewing, this time the Dorlmunder Gold. Without knowing if it actually is or not, I'd guess this is a form of an amber. Brighter malt flavor and a slightly nutty finish, but there's still a bunch of hops in there, pretty interesting combination. There's nothing offensive about this, it's relatively light and the solid character makes it easy to enjoy after every sip.

I'll call this one Lucille Ball. A bit confusing, but ultimately enjoyable.

Also, I really like Danny's.

Hofbrau Original, a hundred feet from home.

In Chicago with Lindsey and upon arriving at her place, discovered there was a Hofbrau bar about 100 feet from her plce and she didn't know. Decided to take advantage of this immediately. Started with a .5L of the Oktoberfest, but I'll pretend like that didn't happen. Then shared a liter of original Hofbrau with LaLa.

Lindsey after 3 sips. "It's very smooth. It has taste. It had good head. I like it. It has a hoppy aftertaste but not so strong that it makes me feel like I can't breathe on anyone else."

Hofbrau is so simple and delicious. There's just nothing wrong with it. The Bavarian hops and clean crispness are the highlights.

Lindsey suggested that this beer is should be the Hoff, but come on, yeah right. Ok, fine. Hofbrau can be David Hasselhoff, but not for all the reasons that make Hasselhoof a big embarrassment. For other reasons, like...