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Welcome to stop #134 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Suncatcher Brewing, 2849 W. Chicago Ave., ChicgaoTrain line: Milwaukee District West, Milwaukee District North, and North Central Service; Western Ave (Zone 1) Time from Chicago: 9 minutesDistance from station: 1.2 km Suncatcher opened just 13 months ago on land and in an unused supply shed rented from a garden supply store. This means they have an amazing outdoor space that I will take Cassie to visit at some point when the sun is out and...

The Brews & Choos Project will celebrate its 6th anniversary on February 7th. When I started in 2020, I thought I would get most of it done that year. I managed to visit 25 breweries by March 7th (Lunar Brewing in Villa Park was 25th), before pausing in the pandemic panic until breweries with outdoor seating opened up again. It turns out, I only have 9 places to visit within the Chicago city limits, and another 13 in the Metra zone outside Chicago. Short of another pandemic or massive economic...

I took the dramatic beagle and Cassie to Spiteful* yesterday afternoon. Butters got more pats than Cassie did. Perhaps it's this face? This afternoon we took a half-hour walk through the local park because the weather is absolutely perfect. Whenever I stopped to try to photograph the two dogs, they immediately went in separate directions, so this is the best I could do: The girls are now sunning themselves on my front porch, I'm up in my office coding away, and I've got chicken soup going in the slow...

So many things passed through my inbox in the last day and a half: The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that an assistant to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was observed over the weekend discussing plans over Signal with an aide to Reichsminister Stephen Miller to send the 82nd Airborne to Portland. Paul Krugman breaks from his usual economics beat to lambast the OAFPOTUS and his Reichskabinett der Nationalen Rettung for the horrifying ICE raid* on a Chicago apartment building last week: "What do we learn...

Welcome to stop #133 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Pilot Project Brewing, 3473 N Clark, ChicagoTrain line: CTA Red Line, Addison Time from Chicago: 18 minutesDistance from station: 450 m Even though Pilot Project doesn't actually brew beer at their new Wrigleyville location, thus technically not being eligible for the Brews & Choos list, I liked the place enough and found it a little oasis in the maelstrom surrounding Wrigley Field, so I'm overruling my own rules. It helped that my Brews...

Welcome to stop #132 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, 901 W Kinzie, ChicagoTrain line: CTA Green Line, Morgan Time from Chicago: 6 minutesDistance from station: 300 m Somehow, I pictured the second US-based Guinness experimental brewery differently, having seen their original brewery in Dublin, Ireland. The building Guinness renovated just north of the Fulton Market District has existed for a century or more, though from as far back as I can remember until last year...

The forecast today looks perfect: 21°C under sunny skies. Perfect for a Brews and Choos trip! And while one of the stops will be to a brewery that could under no circumstances be called "craft," the other stop will take us to a brewery incubator suspiciously close to Wrigley Field. Fitting, then, that Crain's reports today about how craft breweries have had to evolve to stay in business: After a decade of unbridled growth, the industry hit a rough patch in the years following the pandemic. Ten percent...

Welcome to stop #130 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Goose Island Beer Co. at the Salt Shed, 1221 W. Blackhawk St., ChicagoTrain line: Union Pacific North and Northwest, Clybourn (Zone 1) Time from Chicago: 9 minutesDistance from station: 1.5 km The Salt Shed is a new entertainment complex built inside the former Morton Salt storage facility in the Clybourn Corridor industrial area of Chicago. Goose Island Beer Co. moved there in 2024 after closing its original brewing facility 800 meters...

I'm done with work for the week, owing to my previously-mentioned PTO cap, so later this afternoon I'm teaming up with my Brews & Choos Buddy to visit two breweries on the North Side. Later this weekend (probably Sunday), I'm going to share an unexpected result of a long-overdue project to excise a lot of old crap from my storage locker: articles from the proto-Daily Parker that ran out of my employer's office a full year before braverman.org became its own domain. Before I do any of that, however, I'm...

What a weekend. I mean, for the world; for me, yesterday included vacuuming the house and my car, and taking Cassie on 2½ hours of walks plus sitting outside at Begyle to get pats from random strangers. (To be clear, Cassie got random pats; I did not.) We started at Horner Park: And stopped briefly at Burning Bush, where Cassie was under the table even before I got my beer: I had some stuff about the political events over the weekend, but I'll put that off until later.

Welcome to stop #129 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: McHenry Brewing, 3425 Pearl St., McHenryTrain line: Union Pacific Northwest, McHenry (Zone 4) Time from Chicago: 88 minutesDistance from station: 1.3 km It finally happened: I cheated. I couldn't figure any reasonable way to visit McHenry Brewing without taking an expensive and rare Lyft part of the way home, because the UP-NW line only has three daily trains to McHenry in the afternoon with three return trains in the morning. So, not wanting...

Welcome to stop #128 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Black Lung Brewing, 115 Nippersink Rd., Fox LakeTrain line: Milwaukee District North, Fox Lake (Zone 4) Time from Chicago: 105 minutesDistance from station: 750 m Fox Lake isn't the farthest station from downtown Chicago on the Metra system. At 110 km, that honor goes to Harvard; Fox Lake is only 80 km out. And yet, as I discovered yesterday, it can take almost 3 hours to get back to Union Station if the aging-but-repainted SD70MACH...

Because I'm about to hit my PTO cap at work, I'm taking the next few Friday afternoons off. Today I've planned a Brews & Choos trip out to the wilds of Lake County. Check back tomorrow for the result! Meanwhile, I have more meetings...

The Economist is kidding only a little bit by pointing out that creativity and moderate drinking correlate strongly: Today the world sees fewer breakthroughs. Hollywood sustains itself on remakes or sequels, not originals. A recent blog by Peter Ruppert, a consultant, finds the same trend for music: “the pace of genuine sonic innovation has slowed dramatically”. A paper published in 2020 by Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University and colleagues concludes that new ideas are “harder to find”. Productivity...

Welcome to stop #127 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Explorium Brewpub Third Ward, 143 W. St. Paul Ave., Milwaukee 2 (of 5) stars Train line: Amtrak, Milwaukee Intermodal Station Time from Chicago: 89 minutesDistance from station: 150 m The best thing about Explorium is its proximity to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, as it took me less than 5 minutes to get to my train home despite taking a couple of photos along the way. Otherwise it's a loud, TV-covered entertainment zone that could be...

Cassie and I are taking a moment after a visit to Horner Park, where she met a bunch of new friends: Note that the woman in the photo is not the beagle's human, which the beagle finds irrelevant if she can get her snoot deeper into that bag. We have stopped for a moment to enjoy a beer (Hazy Sunday IPA) and crack-soaked popcorn at Burning Bush near the park. I feel no urgency about anything at the moment. It's a good day.

With the bare minimum of planning and no time between all my meetings and the train leaving, I am happy to report that my Brews Buddy and I are on the Borealis heading north. For more on our destination, I recommend this lecture from Prof Cooper. Tomorrow I have an all-day Euchre tournament, so reviews from Milwaukee will start Sunday.

I may have dodged a virus this week, though I'm not 100% sure yet. I have a lot more confidence in my health than the world has in the OAFPOTUS, however. And the news today doesn't change that at all: Radley Balko, tongue firmly in cheek, satirizes the Republican Party in a way I will not spoil for you. (His takedown of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, made me guffaw.) Yascha Mounk warns that the OAFPOTUS's irrational and malignantly stupid attack on the very things that made America great in...

Welcome to a special stop on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Tennessee Brew Works, 809 Ewing Ave., Nashville, Tenn.4 starsTrain line: Wego Train, Riverfront Nashville Time from Chicago: 2 hoursDistance from station: 1.7 km Neither Tennessee Brew Works nor New Heights Brewing is a particularly pleasant walk from the WeGo station, but I would visit both of them again. TBW decided to give us two drink tokens each instead of worrying about pouring and distributing 40 flights. I chose two of their...

Having the morning free, and having a lot of cool air and sun, I took a quick stroll around Nashville. I'll have more later, but for now, here's the Tennessee State Capitol, apparently under construction: Of course, since the Tennessee General Assembly has a well-Gerrymandered 75-24 Republican majority, I would expect they're actually deconstructing the Capitol. But whatever. I also passed by Riverfront Station, the downtown terminus of Nashville's adorable little 6-times-a-day toy commuter train: It...

Welcome to stop #123 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Duneyrr Fermenta, 2237 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago 3 (of 5) stars Train line: CTA Green Line, Cermak-McCormick Place Time from Chicago: 10 minutesDistance from station: 600 m After five hours, four kilometers of walking, three pints of beer, two Lyfts, and an invitation to my Brews & Choos buddy's husband to meet us three blocks from his office, we made it to Duneyrr Fermenta in Chicago's historic Motor Row. If only we hadn't had a mound of...

Welcome to stop #121 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Marz Community Brewing, 3630 S. Iron St., Chicago 4 (of 5) stars Train line: CTA Orange Line, Ashland Time from Chicago: 11 minutesDistance from station: 1.7 km Continuing Friday's epic Brews & Choos adventure, my buddy and I decided to Lyft the 2.7 kilometers from Alulu, because (a) McKinley Park and the Lower West Side on either side of the Sanitary and Ship Canal aren't very pretty, and (b) it hadn't completely stopped raining. Even though...

Welcome to stop #120 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Alulu Brewery & Pub, 2011 S. Laflin St., Chicago 4 (of 5) starsTrain line: CTA Pink Line, 18th St Time from Chicago: 16 minutesDistance from station: 500 m I visited Alulu once before, during the pandemic winter four years ago, and sat outside in a heated yurt. I didn't think reviewing the place under those conditions would be fair. It took until last Friday to get back there, despite the gross weather, as part of a Southwest Side tour that...

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of the Brews & Choos Project's high-water mark before the pandemic. On 7 March 2020, I went farther than I'd ever gone before in search of breweries to add to the list, visiting Penrose and Stockholm's in Geneva, then More and Lunar in Villa Park on the way back. A few days later the world stopped for a while. It would be almost three months before I visited another brewery. Yesterday, I took a half-day of PTO, braved some crappy early-spring weather, and met up with my...

I'm just noting a few things and moving on with my day: Pilot Project Brewing has announced plans for a second brewery/taproom in Wrigleyville, just 500 meters from the Addison Red Line station. Google Maps turned 20 four days ago, and The Guardian has a history of how it began. Microsoft will be retiring the (11-year-old) database APIs that this build of The Daily Parker uses, so watch this space for news about a brand new Daily Parker experience this fall! I'm planning to wrap up a new release of...

Topping the link round-up this afternoon, my go-to brewery Spiteful fears for its business if it has to pay a 25% tariff on imported aluminum cans. If the OAFPOTUS drives Spiteful out of business for no fucking reason I will be quite put out. In other news: Timothy Noah reads Jean Piaget to learn more about the OAFPOTUS's "infantile incapacity to grasp the mechanics of cause and effect," suggesting that his reasoning is more transductive, like a 3-year old's ("taking a nap causes the afternoon" ~=~ "DEI...

We've gotten about 4 cm of snow so far today, with more coming down until this evening. Cassie loves it; I have mixed feelings. At least the temperature has gone up a bit, getting up to -0.6°C for the first time since around this time on Monday. Elsewhere: Federal Judge Aileen Cannon (R-SDFL) got overruled again, this time after her corrupt effort to block Special Counsel Jack Smith from releasing his report on January 6th. George Will bemoans Congress ceding so much of its authority to the office of...

I had planned to go to Milwaukee for a quick day trip yesterday to further the Brews & Choos Project. Two friends were going to meet me at the Public Market, then go to two breweries and a distillery in the five hours between trains. Alas, after everyone had boarded the 1:05 Hiawatha, Amtrak got all of us off the train and cancelled it because of—no kidding—a flat wheel. We could have gone on the (now-overcrowded) 3:05, but we just decided to forget it and meet one of the friends up in Highwood. So I'll...

I was just there this past weekend, and I really think they could have mentioned something: Ravinia Brewing Company — now Steep Ravine Brewing Company — will host a farewell party Dec. 14 at its Logan Square taproom, 2601 W. Diversey Ave., though it will still use the space to brew beer, according to a press release. Steep Ravine Brewing Company will retain the brewery’s signature “Tree Guy” mascot and award-winning beer portfolio, the company said in the release. The Logan Square taproom closing party...

Welcome to stop #117 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Pilot Project Brewing, 2140 N Milwaukee Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Blue Line, California Time from Chicago: 14 minutesDistance from station: 500 m Pilot Project has an unusual business model. They partner with fledgling breweries, work with them on their beer recipes and styles, help them with marketing and distribution, then gently fling them from the nest once they're established and can fly on their own. And they're pretty good at it....

My Brews & Choos buddy and I trudged 15 kilometers yesterday to visit two previously-unreviewed breweries and two old favorites. Correction: I visited two old favorites and two new ones, she visited one old favorite and three she hadn't visited before. My Garmin device doesn't have a resume-later feature, but hers does, so she captured the entire route (in miles): We had bog-normal November weather for Chicago: cloudy and 5°C. We also had a slice of Jimmy's Pizza and a modest amount of good beer....

The Brews & Choos Project had a net shift of zero in the last two weeks. I am pretty bummed about the loss, but intrigued by the gain. The loss: Long-time Evanston microbrewery Temperance closed up shop on October 27th. I am sad: Evanston didn’t have a brewery before Temperance Beer Co. arrived at the end of 2013. The suburb’s first brewery was a historic moment, and the taproom quickly became one of the city’s finest with hits like Might Meets Right and Gatecrasher IPA. Temperance represented the...

This morning, Winnemac Park, Chicago: I'm still getting through everything I ignored for the past three days. Stay tuned for a couple of Brews & Choos reviews from San Francisco, and on Tuesday, some thoughts on the election.

I'm visiting family in the Bay Area today, staying in California for about 38 hours. I leave tomorrow morning early, so I'm back at the charming Dylan Hotel in Millbrae, right by the BART and CalTrain. If you held a gun to my head (or put $10 million in my bank account) and forced me to move to Silicon Valley, I might choose here. It's 40 minutes to my family in San Jose and 25 minutes to downtown San Francisco, for starters. And the Brews & Choos Project works just as well around the Bay as it does in...

Revolution Brewpub, which opened its Logan Square brewpub in 2010 and featured in the (really bad) film Drinking Buddies, announced it will close on December 14th: Almost 15 years ago, we threw open the doors of our Milwaukee Avenue brewpub and launched Revolution Brewing to the world. The brewpub is where the first Revolution beers were served and where we first brewed beers like Anti-Hero IPA which would change the shape of craft beer in Chicagoland. Today that chapter of our story starts to wind down...

Welcome to stop #116 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Crust Brewing, 5500 Park Pl., RosemontTrain line: CTA Blue Line, Rosemont Time from Chicago: 45 minutesDistance from station: 1.4 km (shuttle bus from El station—don't even try to walk it) Have you ever heard Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album? It's exactly what it says on the tin. And it's not their best work. (I mean, it's got a few laughs, especially on the first cut, but the boys made it clear they were flipping two fingers to...

Yesterday, Cassie and I walked 16.4 km (just over 10 miles), including a 10 km walk that I'd planned only to be a bit less than 7 km. I wanted to stop by Ravinia Brewing's Logan Square taproom, but alas, when we got there, the patio was closed. So we went to Burning Bush instead. In all, we spent most of the day outside in the perfect weather. We'll do more of the same today, just not quite as much walking. Another brewery that didn't make the cut for the Brews & Choos Project—it's too far from the...

Welcome to a second visit to stop #77 on the Brews and Choos project, previously reviewed in August 2022. Brewery: Banging Gavel Brews, 6811 Hickory St., Tinley ParkTrain line: Rock Island District, Tinley ParkTime from Chicago: 35 minutes (Zone 3)Distance from station: 100 m I'm re-reviewing Banging Gavel Brews after only two years because they didn't have an indoor space until December. And just look at that beautiful building! (Yes, I say while blowing on my fingernails, that is in fact my photo from...

Welcome to stop #111 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Zorn Brew Works, 605 E. 9th St., Michigan City, Ind.Train line: South Shore Line, 11th St/Michigan City Time from Chicago: 84 minutesDistance from station: 800 m Zorn Brew Works provided a nice contrast to Shoreline Brewery, as tourists seemed to make up 90% of Shoreline's clientele and about 25% of Zorn's. It makes sense, as Zorn is in a more residential/transitional area, and Shoreline is about ten steps from the beach. It does help that...

Note: Tonality closed permanently in April 2025. Welcome to stop #108 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Tonality Brewing, 169 N. Seymore Ave., MundeleinTrain line: North-Central Service, Mundelein Time from Chicago: 68 minutesDistance from station: 400 m One of Chicagoland's newest breweries, Tonality opened in November in the shadow of Mundelein's water tower, ensuring they will always have enough of their principal ingredient to keep making great beers. They also have really good food, which...

Welcome to stop #106 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Industry Ales, 230 S. Wabash Ave., ChicagoTrain line: All of them Time from Chicago: not applicableDistance from station: 100 m from Adams/Wabash, 1.6 km from Ogilvie Transportation Center Chicago's newest brewery opened in April in what used to be Kramer's Health Foods next to the 125-year-old Central Camera store in the Loop. I am impressed. My Brews & Choos buddy and I went there Wednesday directly after visiting Chicago's oldest...

Welcome to stop #105 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Adams Street Brewery, 17 W. Adams St., ChicagoTrain line: All of them Time from Chicago: not applicableDistance from station: 100 m from Adams/Wabash, 1.3 km from Ogilvie Transportation Center The Adams Street Brewery traces its history back to 1887, and has existed in the same location in the Chicago Loop since 1898. It stopped brewing during Prohibition, but the Berghoff Restaurant above the brew works remained open throughout. I doubt much...

I'm about to leave the office for the next 4½ days. Happy Independence Day! And who could forget that the UK will have a general election tomorrow? To celebrate, the Post has a graphical round-up of just how badly the Conservative Party has screwed things up since taking power in 2010: There’s a widespread feeling among voters that something has gone awry under Tory government, that the country is stagnating, if not in perilous decline. Nearly three-quarters of the public believes that the country is...

The last three days—i.e., the first three days of Summer—have shown us most of the weather we can expect this season. It rained most of Saturday, yesterday we had cool, sunny, and eminently walkable weather, and today it's hot and sticky with thunderstorms on the way. At least Cassie and I got to spend most of yesterday outside. In other news: David French argues that Justice Sonia Sotomayor's (I) recent opinion defending the National Rifle Association "reinforced the constitutional wall of protection...

Just doing a quick review of the Brews & Choos-eligible establishments within 2 km of the Milwaukee Amtrak station this morning, I discovered that seven breweries and a distillery have opened since the project started. Accounting for the demise of Milwaukee Ale House, that brings the total to 11 breweries and 2 distilleries. I'll have to make two trips. Now all I have to do is find a weekend...or two...or three...

I first went to the Duke of Perth in June 1993, about four years after it opened. Today will be the pub's last day at their 35-year-old location on Clark St., after the property owner* doubled the rent. A bunch of us regulars and bartenders from the old days got together yesterday for one last whisky: The place really hasn't changed much since 1989, which is how it maintained its charm. That, and the patio, where I had more than a few first dates: When I lived in the neighborhood, I did so much...

I usually spend the first day or two of a sprint researching and testing out approaches before I start the real coding effort. Since one of my stories this sprint requires me to refactor a fairly important feature—an effort I think will take me all of next week—I decided to read up on something today and have wound up in a rabbit hole. Naturally, that means a few interesting stories have piled up: The Presidential Greatness Project released its annual list of, well, presidents, putting Lincoln at the...

Welcome to stop #104 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Demo Brewing, 1763 W. Berteau Ave., ChicagoTrain line: Union Pacific North, Ravenswood. (Also CTA Brown Line, Irving Park) Time from Chicago: 16 minutes (zone 2)Distance from station: 1.1 km (400 m from CTA) The newest brewery on Malt Row opened March 29th just 2 km from Inner Drive Technology World Headquarters and less than 500 meters from the CTA. I had a lot going on in April so I didn't get to check it out until last weekend. Cassie came...

Welcome to stop #103 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: MobCraft Brewing, 101 N. Johnson St., WoodstockTrain line: Union Pacific Northwest, Woodstock Time from Chicago: 91 minutes (zone 4)Distance from station: 200 m Between the perfect weather, the really good beer, and the view of the Woodstock Town Square, my Brews buddy and I really enjoyed our visit to MobCraft last weekend. I mean, doesn't this just make you want to sing "The Pennsylvania Polka?": But back to the beer. We tried two flights...

Cassie and I just got back from her vet, with a good 2 km walk in each direction and treats at both ends. The semi-annual wellness check was only $88, and pronounced Cassie in perfect health. Even her weight (25 kg) is exactly what it should be, so I can start adding a little kibble to her meals if we walk a lot. Of course, the heartworm pills were $230 and the fecal test was $107, so not everything about the checkup was great. Le sigh. Also, it's warm today: 27°C for both walks, which is more like June...

My frequent Brews buddy and I trekked out to Woodstock, Ill., yesterday, and visited the two breweries in town, then took Cassie to the newest brewery in my own neighborhood. I'll be going through notes and photos later today, so expect the reviews up tomorrow through Wednesday. Meanwhile, for some reason, Minnesota unfurled a new state flag yesterday: Minnesota's new flag went into official use Saturday, which has many wondering why the state adopted a new flag. The controversial replacement of the old...

I'll lead off today with real-estate notices about two houses just hitting the market. In Kenilworth, the house featured at the end of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles can be yours for about $2.6 million. If you'd prefer something with a bit more mystique, the Webster Ave. building where Henry Darger lived for 40 years, now a single-family house, will also soon hit the market for $2.6 million. (That house is less than 300 meters from where my chorus rehearses.) In other news: Tina Nguyen warns about the...

Getting ready for a work trip on Monday plus (probably) having to do a demo while on the work trip means I spent most of the day getting ready for the demo. In a bit of geography fun, because the participants in the demo will be in six different time zones from UTC-7 (me) to UTC+10 (the client), I got the short straw, and will (probably) attend the demo at 3:30 am PDT. I say "probably" because the partners on the call may take mercy on me and let me brief them instead of monitoring the technology in the...

I first visited Ravinia Brewing early in the Brews & Choos Project, and liked it. In fact I have gone back several times, most recently a week ago Friday. I haven't yet visited their Logan Square taproom though, and because of the way trademarks and contracts work in the US, I may never: In October, Ravinia Festival, the Highland Park outdoor concert venue known for its summer music series, sued the craft brewery for trademark infringement, court records show. The brewery was born out of the Ravinia...

Welcome to stop #100 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Illuminated Brew Works, 6186 N. Northwest Hwy., ChicagoTrain line: Union Pacific Northwest, Norwood Park (Zone 2) Time from Chicago: 22 minutesDistance from station: 400 m It only took four years and a pandemic to get to the 100th Brews & Choos stop. When I stopped at Macushla in Glenview almost exactly four years ago, I thought I'd knock out all 90 or so breweries and distilleries in about 18 months. We all know what happened a month...

Welcome to stop #99 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Forbidden Root, 1746 W. Chicago Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Blue Line, ChicagoTime from Chicago: 8 minutesDistance from station: 1.1 km After visiting three breweries on Saturday and having less than a full pint of beer at each, by 5pm we had worked up an appetite for food and for more than a couple sips of beer. So we walked the whole 800 meters from On Tour to Forbidden Root's first restaurant and brewery. (They also own Cultivate, in the...

Welcome to stop #97 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Goose Island Beer Co., 1800 W Fulton St., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Green and Pink lines, Ashland Time from Chicago: 6 minutesDistance from station: 600 m Given Chicago's long association with Goose Island Beer, and my own review of their (now closed) flagship brewpub on Clybourn almost exactly a year ago, I haven't got much to add. Since InBev bought the brewery in 2016 and expanded to places like Seoul and Shanghai, it almost doesn't qualify as...

Welcome to stop #95 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Revolution Brewery & Taproom, 3340 N. Kezie Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Blue Line, BelmontTime from Chicago: 18 minutesDistance from station: 700 m Revolution's main brewing facility and taproom is the granddaddy of independent Chicago breweries. I've already reviewed their brewpub (about 2½ km from the taproom), and longtime readers know I like their beer a lot. So this Brews & Choos stop was more about checking in at an old favorite than...

Welcome to stop #94 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Hopewell Brewing, 2760 N Milwaukee Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Blue Line, Logan SquareTime from Chicago: 16 minutesDistance from station: 400 m The second stop on the "research expedition" my friend and I took on Saturday didn't excite us as much as BiXi or Revolution. My friend decided that Hopewell is what you get when you tell an AI to design a Logan Square taproom. She's not wrong. We tried six beers—well, I tried five, because I really...

Welcome to an extra stop on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Olfactory Brewery & Blendery, 2245 3rd St., San FranciscoTrain line: Caltrain, 22nd St Time from SF Terminal: 5 minutesTime from Chicago: about 4½ hours by airDistance from station: 800 m I really liked Olfactory Brewery, and though I'd never visited before, I really liked Dogpatch. The place has a chill vibe, good beer, and dogs whenever they stop by. I tried three beers: the (checks notes) Más o Menos Bien Czech Pilsner (4.6%), great...

Welcome to an extra stop on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Fox Tale Fermentation Project, 120 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose, Calif.Train line: Caltrain, San Jose DiridonTime from Chicago: about 4½ hours by airDistance from station: 1.5 km I hadn't intended to visit Fox Tale, because a different brewery was closer to my hotel. But that brewery closed abruptly in November, though no one had updated its Google page. I'm glad I went to Fox Tale instead. Owners Felipe Bravo and Wendy Neff don't just...

Tomorrow I have a quick trip to the Bay Area to see family. I expect I will not only continue posting normally, but I will also research at least two Brews & Choos Special Stops while there. Exciting stuff. And because we live in exciting times: The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York has charged an Indian national with a murder-for-hire scheme in which our "friend" the Government of India put out a hit on a Sikh activist living in our country. The US Dept of Defense has released its...

This may be the last warm (enough) weekend of 2023, so once more, I'm planning to go for a long walk. This time we plan to start at Metropolitan Brewing, which will close for good in 5 weeks. We then proceed up the river to Burning Bush, thence 8.5 km northwest to Alarmist, thence 7.5 km northeast to Temperance in Evanston. At that point we'll either head north to Double Clutch (2.4 km), or east to Sketchbook (2.7 km). Both Double Clutch and Sketchbook are along the Metra line that goes right past my...

Welcome to stop #88 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Hop Butcher for the World, 4257 N. Lincoln Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Brown Line, MontroseTime from Chicago: 33 minutesDistance from station: 1.1 km Named after the opening line in Carl Sandburg's "Chicago," Hop Butcher for the World took over Half Acre's Lincoln Ave. facility last January. It took me a while to visit because they're so close to my house that I wanted to walk over, but they don't allow dogs. Boo. So Friday evening, a friend...

I actually had a lot to do today at my real job, so I pushed these stories to later: Sure, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is a crazy Christianist who has fantasies about Israel, but not exactly the fantasies you'd expect from his kind. Speaking of Christianist loonies, Josh Marshall doesn't think they've learned anything at all from yesterday's blowout in Ohio. Julia Ioffe takes a look at the "horror in the Holy Land" while Eric Levitz examines the fraught language around the war. Molly White...

I'm iterating on a UI feature that wasn't 100% defined, so I'm also iterating on the API that the feature needs. Sometimes software is like that: you discover that your first design didn't quite solve the problem, so you iterate. it's just that the iteration is a bit of a context shift, so I'm going to read for about 15 minutes to clear my head: Kevin Philips, whose 1969 book The Emerging Republican Majority laid out Richard Nixon's "southern strategy" and led to the GOP's subsequent slide into...

I could have worked from home today, and probably should have, but I felt well enough to come in (wearing an N95 mask, of course). It turned that I had a very helpful meeting, which would not have worked as well remotely, but given tomorrow's forecast and the likelihood I'll still have this cold, Cassie will just have to miss a day of school. I have to jam on a presentation for the next three hours, so I'll come back to these later: Alex Shephard says this is the week Twitter finally went totally evil....

Somehow, it's already the end of September. I realize this happens with some predictability right around this time of year, but it still seems odd to me. Of course, most of the world seems odd these days: As we careen into the 4th Republican-caused government shutdown in the last 30 years, we might want to reflect on the fact that only 68,000 people elected the 8 clowns most responsible for this year's bullshit. New York Times editorial board member Alex Kingsbury wants people to keep top of mind the...

My Garmin Venu 3 continues to impress me. First, its navigation accuracy averages  within less than 2 meters, meaning you can see on my activity tracks when I dip into an alley to drop off Cassie's latest offering.  Second, its battery life rocks. I'm charging it right now after it last got to 100% around noon last Friday. When I connected its charger 45 minutes ago it had dwindled to 7%. That equates to just over 15 percentage points per day, or a full discharge in 6½ days. My old Venu 2 could barely...

Welcome to stop #85 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Liquid Love Brewing, 1310 Busch Pkwy., Buffalo GroveTrain line: North Central Service, Buffalo GroveTime from Chicago: 55 minutesDistance from station: 1.3 km Before I review Liquid Love, I need to apologize for having a couple of breweries on this list that meet the criteria but really don't belong here. If Hailstorm in Tinley Park didn't have it's great beer and vibe, I would not recommend it, for the same reason that I can't recommend...

Welcome to stop #84 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Tighthead Brewing, 161 N. Archer Ave., MundeleinTrain line: North Central Service, MundeleinTime from Chicago: 59 minutesDistance from station: 200 m Planning to visit the handful of breweries along the North Central Service line presents certain challenges. Metra runs a total of 7 trains in each direction during the work week, but only one in the reverse-commute direction. And until they restored train 105 last December, there was literally...

Welcome to stop #83 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Silver Harbor Brewing, 721 Pleasant St., St Joseph, Mich.Train line: Amtrak, St JosephTime from Chicago: 103 minutesDistance from station: 500 m Stopping by the best brewery in St Joseph, Mich., does not mean I'm going to expand the Brews and Choos Project to include every brewery, distillery, cidery, and winery accessible by train from Chicago, no matter how far away, but it's a tempting prospect. No, there's still a 2-hour time limit on the...

I think I finally cracked the nut on a work problem that has consumed our team for almost three years. Unfortunately I can't write about it yet. I can say, though, that the solution became a lot clearer just a couple of weeks after our team got slightly smaller. I will say nothing more. Just remember, there are two types of people: those who can infer things from partial evidence. Just a few articles left to read before I take Cassie on her pre-dinner ambulation: Titanic director James Cameron, who has...

Cassie and I hung out for a bit at Spiteful Brewery yesterday. She, of course, got pats and love from everyone. But the couple sitting next to us had a Land Camera, so she also got photographed: These are now on display in my library.

Welcome to an extra stop on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Greenwood Brewing, 922 N. 5th St., PhoenixTrain line: Valley Metro Rail, Roosevelt/CentralTime from Chicago: 3½ hours by airDistance from station: 350 m I walked just a couple of blocks from Pedal Haus and found the kind of taproom where Cassie and I would hang out often: the woman-owned Greenwood Brewing. I enjoyed all the beers and found their space comfortable and inviting. Once again, I had a flight and took notes. Emera Easy Hazy IPA...

Welcome to an extra stop on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Pedal Haus Brewery, 214 E. Roosevelt St., PhoenixTrain line: Valley Metro Rail, Roosevelt/CentralTime from Chicago: 3½ hours by airDistance from station: 350 m I discovered last week that Phoenix built a light-rail system between my visits in 2015 and 2023. And it goes past a bunch of breweries. So when I had a few hours between my flight landing and the conference welcome dinner, I went to two of them. Pedal Haus Brewery has multiple...

Welcome to stop #82 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Art History Brewing, 649 W. State St., GenevaTrain line: Union Pacific West, GenevaTime from Chicago: 72 minutes (Zone H)Distance from station: 1.0 km Art History Brewing opened in the summer of 2020, a few months after their planned March 15th opening (oops). They got through the pandemic in part by brewing for Hopleaf, the excellent Belgian-inspired restaurant less than a kilometer from my house. But for whatever reason, none of their beers...

Welcome to stop #81 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Obscurity Brewing, 113 W. North St., ElburnTrain line: Union Pacific West, ElburnTime from Chicago: 85 minutes (Zone I)Distance from station: 1.2 km Elburn, Ill., is the end of the line for the Union Pacific West line. The station opened in 2006, extending the line past Geneva for the first time since the Chicago & North Western ceased intercity train service in 1971. In fact, when the last C&NW train pulled into Elburn 51 years ago, it...

Welcome to stop #80 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Broken Tee Brewing Co., 406 Green Bay Rd., HighwoodTrain line: Metra UP-North, Highwood Time from Chicago (Ogilvie): 52 minutesDistance from station: Across the street Broken Tee, the newest brewery in Lake County, opened over Labor Day weekend—the weekend before Urban Brew Labs closed down. But while Broken Tee requires a longer train trip than UBL did, I found it worth the trip. I met an old friend for a beer and a bite last Friday. I only...

Let's start with combat-actor Jill Bearup explaining how the Netflix-ITV-BBC ban on corsets solves entirely the wrong problems: Meanwhile, in the modern world: The National Transportation Safety Board reported that an axle on the 23rd car of the train that derailed in East Palesine, Ohio, had a bearing temperature 140°C over normal—which is 30°C over "critical." The crew were trying to stop the train when the bearing failed. Perhaps if the train had fewer cars, or more crew, or the proper braking...

Welcome to stop #79 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Bungalow by Middle Brow., 2840 W. Armitage Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Blue Line, California Time from Chicago: 14 minutesDistance from station: 600 m I had plans to meet a friend who lives in Logan Square last Thursday, so why not combine it with the Brews and Choos Project? The friend loves Bungalow by Middle Brow, and I understand why. It's really cool. I tried a sip of my friend's Cottage Mexican Lager (4%), and put it in the category of...

New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Arden, just resigned unexpectedly, which is a much more surprising story than any of these I queued up: President Biden quietly made a big move on immigration that the opposition either didn't notice or can't really criticize. Julia Ioffe understands the same thing the White House understands: Putin has no incentive to negotiate for peace. Newly-sworn-in US Representative "George Soros" (R-NY) stole $3,000 from a GoFundMe meant to pay for life-saving surgery for a...

Welcome to an extra stop on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Black Hammer Brewing, 544 Bryant St., San FranciscoTrain line: Caltrain, San Francisco terminalTime from Chicago: about 4½ hours by airDistance from station: 600 m I spent most of Monday in Palo Alto, Calif., one of the few places in California that has an actual commuter rail station. Caltrain's northern terminus, at 4th and King, is only three blocks from an actual brewery, so naturally I stopped in. My $20 flight started with the Jaded...

Unfortunately, though, I'm already at the airport, staring out at blue skies and sunny...airplanes. I'm looking forward to getting home, though, and to picking up Cassie tomorrow morning after her bath. (She was already overdue, but after 4 days with her pack, she'll need it even more.) I've got a couple of Brews & Choos from yesterday as well as a few photos from the weekend coming later this week. Stay tuned.

We get one or two every year. The National Weather Service predicts that by Friday morning, Chicago will have heavy snowfall and gale-force winds, just what everyone wants two days before Christmas. By Saturday afternoon we'll have clear skies—and -15°C temperatures with 400 mm of snow on the ground. Whee! We get to share our misery with a sizeable portion of the country as the bomb cyclone develops over the next three days. At least, once its gone and we have a clear evening Saturday or Sunday, we can...

Even with Chicago's 1,642 judges on the ballot ("Shall NERDLY McSNOOD be retained as a circuit court judge in Cook County?"), I still got in and out of my polling place in about 15 minutes. It helped that the various bar associations only gave "not recommended" marks to two of them, which still left 1,640 little "yes" ovals to fill in. Meanwhile, in the rest of the world... Republican pollster Rick Wilson, one of the co-founders of the Lincoln Project, has a head-shaking Twitter thread warning everyone...

I reported Saturday that Empirical Brewery, one of my favorite hang-outs just 400 meters from my new house, closed unexpectedly on Sunday. Block Club Chicago's Alex Hernandez found out why: Empirical Brewery was booted from its building and abruptly shut down over the weekend following a months-long legal battle in which the landlord said the company did not pay its rent for several months this year, according to court records. Hayes Properties, which owns the Foster Avenue building, served Empirical...

As far as I know, I'm moving in 2½ weeks, though the exact timing of both real-estate closings remain unknown. Last time I moved it took me about 38 hours to pack and 15 to unpack. This time I expect it to go faster, in part because I'm not spending as much time going "oh, I love this book!" I'm taking a quick break and catching up on some reading: Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon (R-Fla.) continues to help the guy who appointed her in absurd ways large and small. David French explains why "strong"...

More photos from last weekend. I mentioned The Samuel Palmer in Shoreham, Kent, where I stopped after my hike through the Kentish Downs. I didn't mention that I had a delightful cheese plate for dinner, because cheese: Then I got to experience four Chicago blocks' worth of an English country road at 10:30pm getting to the railway station: On Saturday, I walked along the Regent's Canal on my way to the Southampton Arms: Which remains, as ever, one of my favorite pubs in the world: I will return to all of...

David Frum argues that anti-abortion organizers have a lot in common with the prohibitionists of the early 20th century—and have similar prospects for long-term success: The culture war raged most hotly from the ’70s to the next century’s ’20s. It polarized American society, dividing men from women, rural from urban, religious from secular, Anglo-Americans from more recent immigrant groups. At length, but only after a titanic constitutional struggle, the rural and religious side of the culture imposed...

Welcome to stop #75 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Maplewood Brewery, 2717 N Maplewood Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Blue Line, Logan SquareTime from Chicago: 16 minutesDistance from station: 1.7 km I've actually visited Maplewood many times in the past, but not since starting the Brews & Choos project. The pandemic got in the way, especially after it killed Fat Willy's Rib Shack and nearly killed the movie theater around the corner. I finally returned to the movie theater on Wednesday to see...

According to my Garmin, I got almost 18 hours of sleep the past two nights, but also according to my Garmin (and my groggy head), few of those hours made a difference. I take some of the blame for that, but on the other hand, someday I want to stay in a hotel room where I can control when the air conditioner turns on and off. Anyway, while I slept fitfully, these stories passed through my inbox: EJ Dionne reminds us that the current Supreme Court has decided many more anti-democratic cases than just the...

Welcome to stop #74 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Burning Bush Brewery, 4014 N. Rockwell Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Brown Line, RockwellTime from Chicago: 35 minutesDistance from station: 1.5 km The brewery opened in March 2020, and like others on this list, quickly pivoted to to-go sales. That let them get pretty good at making beers. Yesterday, Cassie and I stopped by the brewery after a 5 km walk to the Horner Park Dog Park just across the river. I got a flight, naturally, and Cassie...

Thursday evening, at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance: That's Bill Kurtis, Peter Sagal, Karen Chee, Alonzo Bodden, and Helen Hong at this week's "Wait Wait" taping. The "Not My Job" guest was actor Matt Walsh: Then yesterday, Cassie and I trundled up to Spiteful Brewing in the sun: Not a bad few days, in all.

Cassie and I walked all the way to the Horner Park Dog-Friendly Area yesterday, taking advantage of the 19°C weather and forbearance of rain clouds. We went a little out of our way on the first walk, so I could get a look at what was left of Twisted Hippo Brewing: Yikes. Still, only one person was injured in the fire, and he's expected to recover completely. After a 48-minute walk, Cassie ran around like a puppy at the dog park for about 20 minutes: The return walk took another 45 minutes, after which...

Welcome to stop #72 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Moody Tongue Brewing, 2515 S. Wabash Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Green Line, Cermak–McCormick PlaceTime from Loop: 6 minutesDistance from station: 900 m Moody Tongue surprised everyone when it won two Michelin stars in 2021, in part because of their novel 12-beer parings menu in the dining room. Fortunately for the Brews & Choos Project, they also have a separate bar area, which by itself would qualify for a Bib Gourmand. I got a reservation...

A massive fire destroyed the brewery and two other businesses last night: The fire broke out about 3:30 a.m. in a multi-unit residential building in the 4300 block of North Richmond, according to the Chicago Fire Department. Neighbors said the fire started in a three-story building on the corner and quickly spread to the Twisted Hippo brewpub, 2925 W. Montrose Ave. and the Ultimate Ninjas Gym. About 150 firefighters were on the scene battling the blaze. As of 8:30 a.m., crews had the fire under control....

Welcome to stop #71 on the Brews and Choos project. Note: Exit Strategy closed permanently on 29 October 2023. Brewery: Exit Strategy Brewing, 7700 Madison St., Forest ParkTrain line: UP-W, River Forest (also CTA Blue Line, Forest Park)Time from Chicago: 18 minutes (Zone B)Distance from station: 1.3 km (800 m from CTA) Forest Park used to have a reputation for anchoring one end of Chicago's skid row. No longer: the village has great restaurants and cute neighborhoods, including Exit Strategy Brewing. I...

Welcome to stop #70 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Afterthought Brewing, 218 E. St. Charles Road, LombardTrain line: UP-W, LombardTime from Chicago: 46 minutes (Zone D)Distance from station: 500 m In my conversation with the staff at Afterthought Brewing, I mentioned that they are almost precisely the opposite of Goldfinger. Where Goldfinger precisely controls yeast strains, brewing times, temperatures, and their immaculate Euro-style taproom, Afterthought lets nature do her thing and decides...

The snow has finally stopped for, we think, a couple of days, and the city has cleared most of the streets already. (Thank you, Mike Bilandic.) What else happened today? The James Webb Space Telescope reached Lagrange-2 this afternoon, and will now settle into a "halo orbit" that will hold it about 1.46 million km from Earth. (It's still traveling at 200 m/s, which gets you from Madison to Peterson in about a minute.) Lord Agnew (Con.), the minister responsible for policing Covid fraud in the UK...

Welcome to stop #68 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Goldfinger Brewing, 513 Rogers St., Downers GroveTrain line: BNSF, Fairview AveTime from Chicago: 43 minutes (Zone E)Distance from station: 500 m Goldfinger Brewing opened in July 2020, which really sucked for them. But because they focused on making nothing but high-quality, traditional, Central-European lagers, they attracted an immediate following that kept them going. Fun fact: Lagers take about three times longer to brew than ales, which...

Welcome to stop #67 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Imperial Oak Brewing, 9526 Ogden Ave., BrookfieldTrain line: BNSF, Congress ParkTime from Chicago: 24 minutes (Zone C)Distance from station: 200 m The ugly stepchild of the original Imperial Oak in Willow Springs opened in March after the owners acquired a failing local bar in December 2019. The pandemic didn't hurt them since it took about 15 months to build out the new brewing facility. They have some of the same beers as the original, but...

Welcome to stop #65 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Public Craft Brewing, 716 58th St., Kenosha, Wis.Train line: Union Pacific North, KenoshaTime from Chicago: 1 hour, 40 minutes (Zone K)Distance from station: 800 m As our music director sometimes says with a pained look on his face, "there were a lot of good things in there." So with Public Craft Brewing, which seemed entirely the opposite in many ways from Rustic Road just around the corner. The high ceilings and well-lit seating area felt a...

Welcome to stop #62 on the Brews and Choos project. Note: A massive fire destroyed the brewery on 21 February 2022. Brewery: Twisted Hippo, 2925 W. Montrose Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Brown Line, FranciscoTime from Chicago: 38 minutesDistance from station: 700 m I will say this: Twisted Hippo has awesome beer names, and I respect the way they portray Africa's deadliest animal as kind of cute. And inebriated. I was less impressed by their brewpub than I had hoped, though. It seemed more like a suburban...

I've spent today alternately upgrading my code base for my real job to .NET 6.0, and preparing for the Apollo Chorus performances of Händel's Messiah on December 11th and 12th. Cassie, for her part, enjoys when I work from home, even if we haven't spent a lot of time outside today because (a) I've had a lot to do and (b) it rained from 11am to just about now. So, as I wait for the .NET 6 update to build and deploy on our dev/test CI/CD instance (I think I set the new environments on our app services...

My lunch spot, the Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich: Lincoln's Inn Fields, by the Sir John Soane Museum: Lincoln's Inn Fields gazebo: Today: Hampshire and Gospel Oak.

Welcome to stop #61 on the Brews and Choos project. Distillery: Chicago Distilling Co., 2359 N. Milwaukee Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Blue Line, California Time from Chicago: 14 minutesDistance from station: 300 m It's dangerous to have such a great distillery two doors down from a great brewpub. It's also convenient, when you're out with friends and want to have a cocktail after having a pile of pub food. Chicago Distilling makes really good spirits, full stop. And they've recently launched a line of...

Revolution announced on 1 November 2024 the brewpub will close on December 14th. Welcome to stop #60 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Revolution Brewpub., 2323 N. Milwaukee Ave., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Blue Line, California Time from Chicago: 14 minutesDistance from station: 200 m I've enjoyed Revolution beers for such a long time I can't really review them like I do the ones I've just met. When I met some friends for dinner at their brewpub (cf. the Revolution Taproom on Kedzie), I did try a...

The software release yesterday that I thought might be exciting turned out to be fairly boring, which was a relief. Today I'm looking through an ancient data set of emails sent to and from some white-collar criminals, which is annoying only because there are millions and I have to write some parsing tools for them. So while I'm decompressing the data set, I'll amuse myself with these articles, from least to most frightening: The Chicago Tribune lists six breweries they think you should take out-of-town...

The Tribune yesterday reported that local breweries have started producing more lagers as people get tired of IPAs: Lager accounts for most of the beer sold in the world — including the 16 biggest-selling brands in the United States — but it has rarely been a recipe for success for craft breweries, which often default to ratcheting up experimentation, flavor and intensity. Lager, by contrast, tends to be approachable and predictable. Think Miller Lite. Michelob Ultra. Modelo Especial. While tropically...

Yes, that Guinness. They've found a derelict railway building in the Fulton Market area and plan to open a new stop on the Brews & Choos Project: Chicago developer Fred Latsko has struck a deal with Irish beer brand Guinness to open a brewery and beer hall in a long-vacant Fulton Market District building while he lines up plans to build what could be one of the former meatpacking neighborhood's tallest office buildings next door. Guinness is poised to open the venue as part of a revival of the...

Welcome to stop #56 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Open Outcry Brewing, 10934 S. Western Ave., ChicagoTrain line: Rock Island, 111th–Morgan Park Time from Chicago: 30 minutes (Zone C)Distance from station: 1.1 km Yesterday I snuck out of the office before sunset and headed out to Tinley Park to see the new beer garden at Banging Gavel Brews. Despite my very careful reading of train schedules to visit three Rock Island Line stops in one evening, I did not read Banging Gavel's website carefully...

Welcome to stop #55 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Greenstar Brewing, 3800 N. Clark St., ChicagoTrain line: CTA Red Line, Addison Time from Chicago: 18 minutesDistance from station: 800 m The local organic restaurant pair Uncommon Ground brews organic beer at its Wrigleyville location just a block from Wrigley Field. Since 2011 they've brewed good beer and served it alongside decent food, offering a grown-up alternative to the Kindergarten bars around the ball park. A couple of friends joined...

Note: Temperance closed permanently on 27 October 2024. Welcome to stop #54 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Temperance Beer Co., 2000 Dempster St., EvanstonTrain line: CTA Purple Line, DempsterTime from Chicago: 34 minutes (longer on weekends)Distance from station: 1.8 km I've made an exception to the "within 1500 meters" rule for Temperance. I almost always have some Gatecrasher IPA in my fridge, so I couldn't simply ignore one of my favorite breweries just because it takes an extra three...

I have opened these on my Surface at work, but I'll have to read them at home: The City of Chicago has sued Grubhub and Doordash for deceptive practices. Sue Halpern asks, "Why is Facebook suddenly afraid of the FTC?" Paul Krugman worries that California voters might destroy their own economic success if they remove Governor Gavin Newsom from office next week. Josh Marshall fisks Robert Kagan's opinion piece on the history of the Afghanistan war. Ezra Klein says, "Let's not pretend that the way we...

Welcome to stop #53 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Dovetail Brewery, 1800 W. Belle Plaine Ave., ChicagoTrain line: UP North, Ravenswood (also CTA Brown Line, Irving Park)Time from Chicago: 13 minutes (Zone B)Distance from station: 1.3 km (Metra), 300 m (CTA) I know, I know, I should have posted about Dovetail months ago. I mean, Dovetail and Begyle (stop #15) are less than 100 meters apart, and until recently both had dog-friendly policies. But on the day I visited Begyle for the Brews and...

Welcome to stop #52 on the Brews and Choos project. Note: The brewery closed permanently in February 2023. Brewery: Dry City Brew Works, 120 N. Main St., WheatonTrain line: UP West, WheatonTime from Chicago: 51 minutes (Zone E)Distance from station: 500 m Just as Methodist-founded Northwestern University in Evanston kept that city dry from the 1850s until 1972, Wheaton College had the same effect on the DuPage County Seat until 1984. Dry City Brew Works celebrates (?) this history with their...

Welcome to stop #51 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Two Hound Red, 486 Pennsylvania Ave., Glen EllynTrain line: UP West, Glen EllynTime from Chicago: 45 minutes (Zone E)Distance from station: 500 m You know? Downtown Glen Ellyn is a lot cuter than I expected. And Two Hound Red, which opened in June 2019, is worth the trip. If only they had fewer TVs... They don't have flights, but they will give you pairs of 5-ounce samples, so I had two. Meaning four. And they were pretty good—though it turned...

Welcome to stop #49 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery closed in August 2023. Brewery: MyGrain Brewing., 50 E. Jefferson St., JolietTrain line: Heritage Corridor or Rock Island, JolietTime from Chicago: 70 minutes (Zone H)Distance from station: At the station One of the subtle (to American audiences, anyway) bits of satire in Simon Pegg's 2013 movie The World's End is the sameness of the pubs that the characters visit. They have the same faux-handwriting, faux-chalk menu boards; the same layouts...

Welcome to stop #47 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Imperial Oak Brewing., 501 Willow Rd., Willow SpringsTrain line: Heritage Corridor, Willow SpringsTime from Chicago: 32 minutes (Zone D)Distance from station: 100 m It is very important to remember, if you plan to visit either of the breweries along Metra's Heritage Corridor line, that they run only three trains only from Chicago on weekday afternoons, and none to Chicago. So when I visited Imperial Oak Brewing yesterday, I took the first...

We have delightful summer weather in Chicago today, and Cassie has a ride home from school, so tonight I'm going to add three breweries to the Brews & Choos list. Look for the write-ups this weekend.

Southport Lanes, the 99-year-old bar and bowling alley in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood, has closed permanently: The bar, restaurant and bowling alley at 3325 N. Southport Ave. is permanently closed after efforts to revive the business were unsuccessful, said Lacey Irby, a spokeswoman for the group that owns the building at Southport and Henderson Street. The business had reopened in mid-July after coronavirus restrictions lifted before closing again in the fall, and has not reopened since. “After...

Welcome to stop #45 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Milk Money Brewing., 75 S. La Grange Rd., La GrangeTrain line: BNSF, La Grange RdTime from Chicago: 26 minutes (Zone C)Distance from station: 500 m La Grange Road has a lot of competition, being essentially the restaurant district of La Grange. So for a suburban brewery, Milk Money does a good job. I stopped by on the Friday before July 4th, when the weather felt more like September and the vibe felt more like 2019. They don't do flights per...

Cassie and I headed up to Tyranena Brewing in Lake Mills, Wis., yesterday to hang out with family. Today, other than a trip to the grocery and adjacent pet store where Cassie picked out an "indestructible" toy that now lies in tatters on the couch, we've had a pretty relaxing Sunday. I thought I'd take a break from Hard Times to queue up some stuff to read tomorrow at lunch: Joni Mitchell and friends discuss her album Blue, which came out 50 years ago this week. National Geographic investigated a...

The deployment I concluded yesterday that involved recreating production assets in an entirely new Azure subscription turned out much more boring (read: successful) than anticipated. That still didn't stop me from working until 6pm, but by that point everything except some older demo data worked just fine. That left a bit of a backup of stuff to read, which I may try to get through at lunch today: Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski (aka "Coach K"), the winningest basketball coach in NCAA...

Happy 51st Earth Day! In honor of that, today's first story has nothing to do with Earth: The MOXIE experiment on NASA's Perseverance rover produced 5.4 grams of oxygen in an hour on Mars, not enough to sustain human life but a major milestone in our efforts to visit the planet. Back on earth, the Nature Conservancy has released a report predicting significant climate changes for Illinois, including a potential 5°C temperature rise by 2100. Microsoft has teamed up with the UK Meteorological Office (AKA...

Welcome to stop #42 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Crystal Lake Brewing Co., 150 N. Main St., Crystal LakeTrain line: Union Pacific Northwest, Crystal LakeTime from Chicago: 81 minutes (Zone I)Distance from station: 200 m A bit more than half of the scheduled Metra UP-NW trains end their runs at Crystal Lake on weekends, so you probably won't miss the stop. The brewery is just one block north of the station. And as you can see, on a gorgeous early-spring day like last Sunday, they have a...

Welcome to stop #41 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Blue Island Beer Company, 13357 Old Western Ave., Blue IslandTrain line: Rock Island, Blue Island-Vermont (also Metra Electric, Blue Island)Time from Chicago: 20 minutes (Zone D)Distance from station: 800 m This entry might run a bit long, as Blue Island Beer Co.'s owner Alan Cromwell sat down with me for about an hour when I mentioned the Brews and Choos Project to him. And while we were talking, Jim Richert, president of the soon-to-open...

I've already done 8 km of walks this morning, and tomorrow I'm doing another 9. (Tomorrow's will end at Sketchbook Brewing, so I'll be even more motivated.) After being cooped up at home and forced to get my daily steps bundled up like the Michelin Man for a few weeks, I feel a bit liberated. The sidewalks are almost all clear (except for a few buildings whose owners suck, like the Cagan Management-run apartments near me), it's already 8°C outside, and the sky is crystal-clear. Tomorrow we might get a...

Welcome to stop #38 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Dry Hop Brewers, 3155 N. Broadway, ChicagoTrain line: CTA Brown, Purple, and Red Lines, Belmont Time from Chicago: 16 minutesDistance from station: 800 m Dry Hop Brewery on Broadway belongs to the same restaurant group as Corridor Brewery and Provisions (stop #37) and Crushed by Giants. It has similar (good) food, plus the advantage of sharing space with the fourth restaurant in the group, Roebuck Pizza. Like Corridor, Dry Hop's beers are...

The City of Chicago has moved into Covid-19 response Tier 1, meaning bars and restaurants can sort-of open: In a Saturday morning announcement, as expected, the Illinois Department of Public Health said its latest data indicates both the city and suburban Cook—Regions 10 and 11 in the state’s COVID-19 matrix—have reached the metrics needed to allow reopening at 25 percent of  normal capacity, to a maximum of 25 people per room. Whether restaurants and bars actually open this time no one can predict. But...

City Lit Books in Logan Square will close December 1st, a sad addition to a lengthening list of Chicago shop and restaurant closures due to the pandemic. I also found out today that Fountainhead, a gastropub in my neighborhood with one of the best whisky lists in the city, will close on November 14th. And my favorite Chicago rib joint, Fat Willy's, closed two weeks ago. Reading lists of closed restaurants is depressing. So far, though, only two breweries on the Brews & Choos List has gone under. Knock wood.

Welcome to stop #35 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N. Broadway, AuroraTrain line: BNSF, Aurora Time from Chicago: 81 minutes (Zone H)Distance from station: At the station In 1856, the nascent Chicago & Aurora Railroad built the first roundhouse in Illinois in the small city of Aurora. It served as a locomotive shop and storage facility until 1974, then abandoned, even as it won a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Flash forward to 2011 when...

Welcome to stop #34 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: One Lake Brewing, 1 Lake St., Oak ParkTrain line: CTA Green Line, Austin Time from Chicago: 21 minutesDistance from station: 200 m Carved out of a 1920s-era bank building right on the border with Chicago, One Lake Brewing has an unusual, multi-level space with a pleasant rooftop beer garden, good food, and great beers. On Sunday, a friend and I trekked out to Oak Park to try a few beers there. From right to left in the photo above, I tried the...

Welcome to stop #32 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Mickey Finn's Brewery, 345 N. Milwaukee Ave., LibertyvilleTrain line: Milwaukee District North, LibertyvilleTime from Chicago: 67 minutes (Zone H)Distance from station: 600 m If you look at the Brews and Choos Map, you will notice that the Milwaukee District North line has only two breweries near its stations in Lake County. Grayslake's Light the Lamp Brewery was delightful, and I may go back this summer. Mickey Finn's, well, they're in...

Welcome to stop #28 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Half Acre Beer Co., Balmoral Brewery, 2048 W Balmoral Ave., ChicagoTrain line: Union Pacific North, Ravenswood (Also CTA Brown Line, Damen)Time from Chicago: 16 minutes (Zone B)Distance from station: 1.7 km (1.6 km from CTA) Half Acre actually operates two locations: its original brewpub on Lincoln Ave., and its newer and much larger brewery/restaurant/beer garden just south of Rosehill Cemetery. Both are on the Brews and Choos list, but the...

Welcome to stop #29 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Sketchbook Brewing Co. Skokie Taproom, 4901 Main St., SkokieTrain line: CTA Yellow Line, Dempster-SkokieTime from Chicago: 48 minutesDistance from station: 900 m I have gone to Sketchbook Brewing in Evanston for years, so naturally I made a special trip to their Skokie Taproom for its grand opening last Friday. We had perfect weather, social distancing, hand sanitizer, and good beer. The brewery occupies the front part of a 1950s-era...

First, this chart: And yet, there are so many other things going on today: NPR has the clearest take-down on the president's election-postponement trolling I've seen today, noting in particular that "Trump's tweet came about 15 minutes after news of the worst-ever-recorded quarterly performance of the American economy." Josh Marshall just says "don't cower." Republican political consultant Stuart Stevens believes people like him "lost the battle for the Republican Party's soul long ago:" "I feel like...

It has cooled off slightly from yesterday's scorching 36°C, but the dewpoint hasn't dropped much. So the sauna yesterday has become the sticky summer day today. Fortunately, we invented air conditioning a century or so ago, so I'm not actually melting in my cube. As I munch on some chicken teriyaki from the take-out place around the corner, I'm also digesting these articles: James Fallows points to the medieval alcohol-distribution rules in most states as the biggest threat to craft brewing right now....

A friend and I plan to go to a local beer garden this weekend—one on the Brews and Choos list, in fact—so we had to make a reservation that included a $7.50-per-person deposit. Things are weird, man. And if you read the news today, oh boy, the weirdness is all over: Alex Shephard calls Chris Wallace "the only person who's figured out how to interview Trump." About the same interview, Peter Wehner concludes "Donald Trump is a broken man." In his last long-form essay for New York Magazine, Andrew Sullivan...

Welcome to stop #27 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Oak Park Brewing Co., 155 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak ParkTrain line: Union Pacific West, Oak ParkTime from Chicago: 16 minutes (Zone B)Distance from station: 700 m Oak Park Brewing Co. is the first brewpub in Oak Park since 1872, when the village went dry. Yesterday evening an old friend and I donned masks and sat outside in the perfect weather to have pub food and, in my case anyway, beer. From left to right, I sampled: the Leprechaun Zombie...

Welcome to stop #26 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Harbor Brewing Co., 701 Harbor Point Rd., Winthrop HarborTrain line: Union Pacific North, Winthrop HarborTime from Chicago: 1 hour, 28 minutes (Zone 4)Distance from station: 800 m It turns out, one can get beer during a pandemic. Harbor Brewing has two locations: a brewpub, which is closed due to Covid-19, and a Biergarten, which is very open. I tried three beers. The Harbor Light Ale (4.0% ABV) lives up to its name, having tons more flavor...

As this 2017 article from National Geographic explains, humans and yeast have had a tremendously successful relationship for the last 9,000 years or so: From our modern point of view, ethanol has one very compelling property: It makes us feel good. Ethanol helps release serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins in the brain, chemicals that make us happy and less anxious. To our fruit-eating primate ancestors swinging through the trees, however, the ethanol in rotting fruit would have had three other appealing...

Last weekend's tsunami continues to ripple: Ultra-right-wing US Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), writing in the New York Times to great opprobrium, recommends sending in the troops. Former general and Defense Secretary James Mattis publicly rebuked President Trump in a 3-page letter published in the Atlantic, a move that Josh Marshall supports while adding that the letter also "its own form of militarization of society." Former Joint Chiefs Chair Mike Mullen also criticized the president earlier this week. In...

I suspended the Brews & Choos Project after March 7th as the state closed restaurants and bars to slow the spread of SARS-COV-2. I had planned to continue the project as soon as things opened up again, knowing the economic pause would certainly change the roster. Sadly, it already has, with the permanent closure of Argus Brewing on the city's south side on March 28th: Since launching in 2009 in a former Schlitz horse stable — a relic of when beer was delivered by hooves — Argus always hovered at the...

Welcome to stop #21 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Flossmoor Station, 1035 Sterling Ave., FlossmoorTrain line: Metra Electric, FlossmoorTime from Chicago: 54 minutes (Zone E)Distance from station: 200 m This unusual place took over Flossmoor's historic 1906 railway depot in 1996 (but, ironically, it's not directly accessible from the railway). Flossmoor natives Dean and Carolyn Armstrong rescued the building from demolition and built out a pretty decent restaurant. Inside they have a four-room...

Welcome to stops #19 and #20 on the Brews and Choos project. Note: Oppidan Spirits no longer has tastings at the Waukegan location, but they still make amazing Bourbon. Brewery: Nightshade & Dark's Pandemonium Brewing Co, 216 W Clayton St., WaukeganDistillery: Oppidan Spirits, 220 W Clayton St., WaukeganTrain line: Metra Union Pacific North, Waukegan.Time from Chicago (Ogilvie): 75 minutes, zone HDistance from station: 800 m Nightshade & Dark's and Oppidan occupy the same space in central Waukegan in an...

Welcome to stop #17 on the Brews and Choos project. Note: closed permanently on 23 October 2022. Brewery: Empirical Brewery, 1801 W. Foster Ave., ChicagoTrain line: Union Pacific North, Ravenswood (Also CTA Brown Line, Damen) Time from Chicago: 16 minutes (Zone B)Distance from station: 800 m (1.4 km from CTA) Living by the Ravenswood Metra stop is almost an embarrassment of riches. One of those is the Empirical Brewery on Foster. They have an experimental streak that produces some epic beers. From left...

Welcome to stop #16 on the Brews and Choos project. Previously named "Ravinia Brewing" until December 2024. Brewery: Steep Ravine Brewing, 582 Roger Williams Ave., Highland ParkTrain line: Union Pacific North, Ravinia Time from Chicago: 46 minutes (Zone E)Distance from station: 400 m Actually, something does go almost as well with good beer as pizza: tacos. Ravinia Brewing in Highland Park has both. I had one pint, one taste, and three tacos while up there: The beer was their Steep Ravine IPA (7.2%, 22...

Welcome to stop #15 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Begyle Brewing, 1801 W Cuyler Ave., ChicagoTrain line: Union Pacific North, Ravenswood. (Also CTA Brown Line, Irving Park) Time from Chicago: 16 minutes (Zone B)Distance from station: 1.6 km (200 m from CTA) Note: Begyle informed The Daily Parker in July 2021 that they ended their dog-friendly policy. (They still make great beer.) But also note: As of August 2023, they've re-thought their dog policy. Dogs are once again allowed on the patio!...

Welcome to stop #10 on the Brews and Choos project. Note: Ballast Point's Chicago taproom closed permanently in March 2021. Distillery: Ballast Point Brewing, 212 N. Green St., ChicagoTrain lines: All Ogilvie and Union Station lines. (Also CTA Green/Pink lines, Morgan)Time from Chicago: 0 minutes (Zone A)Distance from station: 1.2 km from Ogilvie or Union (400 m from CTA) After expanding a bit too quickly, Ballast Point found itself without enough cash and way too many beers to continue profitably....

Welcome to stop #8 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Sketchbook Brewing, 821 Chicago Ave., Evanston, Ill.Train line: Metra Union Pacific North, Evanston–Main St. (Also CTA Purple Line, Main)Time from Chicago (Ogilvie): 20 minutes, zone CDistance from station: 100 m (200 m from CTA) I love Sketchbook, and have loved it since it opened a few years ago. I've visited many times, often after getting some excellent Italian food at Campagnola next door. And long after the Brews and Choos project...

Welcome to stop #7 on the Brews and Choos project. The brewery closed permanently on 31 December 2022. Brewery: Smylie Bros. Brewing Co., 1615 Oak Ave., Evanston, Ill.Train line: Metra Union Pacific North, Evanston–Davis St. (Also CTA Purple Line, Davis)Time from Chicago (Ogilvie): 23 minutes, zone CDistance from station: 200 m (400 m from CTA) First, as much as I'd like to link to their website, it appears they've lost control of their domain name to a fraudulent, virus-infected host. Good luck with...

Note: Kings & Convicts closed their Highwood taproom on 1 April 2024. Welcome to stop #6 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Kings & Convicts Brewing Co., 523 Banks Ln., Highwood, Ill.Train line: Metra Union Pacific North, Highwood station.Time from Chicago (Ogilvie): 52 minutes, zone EDistance from station: 300 m A Brit and an Aussie walked into a bar and decided to open a brewery. Then a couple of years later they acquired a distressed but well-respected brand, which they will soon add to their...

Welcome to stop #4 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Lake Bluff Brewing Co., 16 E. Scranton St., Lake Bluff, Ill.Train line: Metra Union Pacific North, Lake Bluff station.Time from Chicago (Ogilvie): 61 minutes, zone GDistance from station: 100 m I liked this taproom a lot. I only had 35 minutes between trains, but that was enough time to enjoy the chill atmosphere and to try a beer. The pint of Inspiration IPA (6.2%, 66 IBU) went down cleanly and easily. It's a straightforward IPA that doesn't...

Welcome to stop #3 on the Brews and Choos project. Brewery: Old Irving Brewing Co., 4419 W. Montrose Ave., ChicagoTrain line: Metra Milwaukee District North, Mayfair station. (Also CTA Blue Line, Montrose station)Time from Chicago (Union Station): 20 minutes, zone BDistance from station: 600 m (300 m from CTA) I think I should have come during the day and not on a Friday night. Old Irving, which opened in 2016 to good press, wants to be a neighborhood bar that brews beer. I think it succeeds on that...

I love trains. I love beer. I don't love driving when I'm having beer. So how to reconcile all of those things, I wonder? My solution: identify breweries in and around Chicago close to rail lines and visit them. Starting in February 2020, I identified 98 locations ranging from one as close as 400 m from a downtown Chicago train station to four that require a 100-minute train ride to a neighboring state. Even better, the densest stop on any train line turned out to be the one closest to my house: there...

Of note or interest: The BBC's political editor asks if the Brexit deadline is even possible now. The New York Times has a good recap of yesterday's marathon Commons sitting. So does the Washington Post. The president fired National Security Adviser John Bolton, which was the right thing to do for all the wrong reasons. Peter Wehner reminds us that the president is "not well." What's with Jerry Falwell and pool boys, anyway? Matti Friedman explains how memories of "the situation" will inform next...

Queued up a few articles to read after work today: The Tribune has a short guide to Chicago's brewpubs aimed at the perplexed. Marvel has announced a bunch more superhero movies, coming on the heels of Avengers: Endgame becoming the highest-grossing film ever. Cranky Flier looks at Tijuana's new terminal—on the American side of the border. Nathan Heller asks, "Was the Automotive Era a Terrible Mistake?" Greg Sargent cautions the press not to buy into Attorney General William Barr's framing of former FBI...

I thought the weekend of Canada Day and the weekend before Independence Day wouldn't have much a lot of news. I was wrong: Ontario Premier Doug Ford (the brother of Rob Ford) cancelled Canada Day celebrations in Toronto*. (Imagine the Governor of Virginia or the Mayor of DC canceling the 4th of July and you've about got it.) Fortunately for the city, the Ontario legislature reinstated them. You know how I write about how urban planning can make people happier, healthier, and friendlier? Yah, this city...

Not only do the Great Lakes face threats from thirsty populations outside their basin, but they're also chock full of plastic microparticles: One recent study found microplastic particles—fragments measuring less then 5 millimeters—in globally sourced tap water and beer brewed with water from the Great Lakes. According to recent estimates, over 8 million tons of plastic enter the oceans every year. Using that study’s calculations of how much plastic pollution per person enters the water in coastal...

A little Tuesday morning randomness for you: Millions of people who voted for President Trump have discovered that his policies are horrible for them. As only one example, MSNBC looks at the devastation immigration changes have caused to the crab industry in Hoopers Island, Md. Microsoft's Raymond Chen explains why the technology for compressing Windows folders hasn't changed since 2000. An artist has put up a Divvy-style "Chicago Gun Share Program" exhibit in Daley Plaza. (I'll try to get a photo this...

CityLab digs into "the strangest, happiest economic story in America:" In almost every economic sector, including television, books, music, groceries, pharmacies, and advertising, a handful of companies control a prodigious share of the market. The beer industry has been one of the worst offenders. The refreshing simplicity of Blue Moon, the vanilla smoothness of Boddingtons, the classic brightness of a Pilsner Urquell, and the bourbon-barrel stouts of Goose Island—all are owned by two companies...

On Thursday I hit all my (admittedly non-taxing) goals for the day. And yesterday, on into this morning, I almost did again, except that making three of the goals interfered with making the fourth. Goal #1: See the Churchill War Rooms. Having recently seen "Darkest Hour," I wanted to see the rooms where it happened. I did, and they were really cool. Goal #2: Visit three more pubs. I had planned to check in again at 214 Bermondsey, then head up to Ye Olde Mitre before stopping again at The Ship Tavern. I...

Yesterday I did exactly what I set out to do: visited three pubs and read an entire book. The book, David Frum's Trumpocracy, should be required reading by Republicans. Frum is a Republican, don't forget; he's trying to put his party, and his country's shared values, back together. As a Democrat, I found his critique of President Trump and the current GOP's policies insightful and well-written. I don't agree with Frum's politics entirely, but I do agree with him fundamentally: disagreement between the...

People watching the big-beer industry (think: Miller Lite and Coors Light) expect a 7.1% decline in mass-market beer sales—$2.1 billion annually—as more states legalize cannabis: "There's a ton of overlap in marijuana and domestic beer consumption among younger college males," says Rick Maturo, co-founder of Cannabiz Consumer Group, an Inverness-based research company. "This is the group that drinks beer at a heavier volume and is most likely to cut back if cannabis is legally available." He says 27...

I'm heading back to the East Coast tonight to continue research for my current project, so my time today is very constrained. I hope I remember to keep these browser windows open for the plane: 538 examines why, a full year later, the 2016 election just won't go away. James Bridle says something is wrong on the Internet. Josh Marshall continues to bang the drum on President Trump's creeping authoritarianism. (Or, you know, not so much creeping as shambling, with all the zombie implications in the term....

The cashing-out consolidation of craft breweries continues with today's surprise announcement that Japan's Sapporo Holdings will acquire San Francisco's Anchor Brewing: According to Keith Greggor, Anchor’s president and CEO, the move was a year in the making and the result of speaking with “many, many” larger breweries all over the world to find the right fit. Anchor Brewing Co. is considered the leading pioneer of the craft beer movement, and is credited with reviving and modernizing some of today's...

A group of 800 breweries—including Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada—has joined an initiative to differentiate their brands from the big guys: The initiative, which was spearheaded by the trade group for independent craft brewers, is intended to differentiate "true" craft beers from those made by the likes of MillerCoors, Anheuser-Busch and Heineken. To qualify to use the seal, breweries cannot be more than 25% owned or controlled by any alcohol company that's not itself a craft brewer. Its annual production...

Here we go: Sam the Dog is missing after being launched into the stratosphere; an English primary school is sad. You really can have too much grit. Chicagoist is trying to find the best beer brewed in Chicago. The American Public Transportation Association has decided that public transit agencies can be friends with Lyft and Uber. Via Bruce Schneier, what does the game Werewolf tell us about security? The Ricketts family bought Brixen Ivy last month, so they now own 10 of 16 Wrigley rooftops. Bastards....

Oh, you crazy kids. This is a short list of what happened Saturday afternoon and evening in the area around Wrigley Field: 1:26PM — Dust off the ambulance. We have a female unconscious outside of Sluggers World Class Sports Bar, 3540 N Clark. 2:16PM — Callers at Addison and Halsted report seeing a man with a gun in his pocket. He is the first of many persons who will be described as wearing green clothing. 11:26PM — Recommendation: Don’t drink on the public way. Especially in front of the police...

Man, I have missed this: I had lunch with a friend here at the Duke today (and I walked, getting me to 15,000 before noon), so why not stay and write some documentation? I've also decided on a new rule. I gave up beer for February because I think there's a correlation between me drinking beer and me staying consistently 3 kg over my target. Well, not much changed, and I missed beer, so my New Rule is that I can have one beer per 10,000 steps (or fraction thereof). And I think I'll aggregate this over...

Stuff: Deeply Trivial explains a haunting using Occam's Razor. Delta Airlines apologized for a fistfight between two flight attendants. The Chicago Public Schools have been in trouble for a while, but it just got worse. Krugman predicted two horrible people would top the GOP results in Iowa last night, and he was right. New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority will roll out new "open gangway" subway cars by 2020. Hey, brewers, stop these horrible craft brewing trends. Please. Someone call lunch...

Washington Post writer Fritz Hahn is freaking out that the U.S. now has more breweries than ever: As of Dec. 1, 2015, the Brewers Association had counted 4,144 breweries in the United States, the most ever operating simultaneously in the history of the country. According to historians, the previous high-water mark of 4,131 was set in 1873. Even when they are given a chance, some small brewers have expressed frustration with the way beer bars order products. Instead of buying three kegs of a new beer and...

Parker and I are home, unpacked, and well-rested. Part of the well-rested bit resulted from three days of rain. When you go to a cabin in the woods and plan on lots of hiking, and no hiking happens, there is disappointment. There is also a serendipitous find: Scratch Beer in Ana, Illinois. They make beers from locally-found ingredients: Pignut Ale, from local pignut hickory nuts. Pumpkin seed ale, which "DOES NOT TASTE LIKE PUMPKIN SPICE OR PUMPKIN PIE." I'll have photos tomorrow. Right now: unpacking...