I am a lifelong resident of the City of Chicago. My social media beyond here is non existent, and my user name creative skills are quite limited. Been a happy BA for the past eight plus years. Pretty much stayed in the Great Lakes Forum my first four years (2015-2018) here. Branched out to the Beer Talk boards in 2019, and have been a daily participant in WBAYDN and weekly in NBW/NBS since 2020. 2015 was the start of my craft journey, previously I was primarily a whiskey/bourbon drinker plus gin in the Summer. Took the typical craft drinker's full journey of slowly exploring, than trying everything, then trying extreme beers, and then returning to focusing on my favorite beers on a regular basis. I believe in drinking beers seasonally, and enjoy most styles, though malt driven styles are typically my least favorite. Also travel to Vegas annually, so love exploring their great scene. Met many great BAs in person the past few years, this site has great comradery both on and off line. Check out my Profile for more details, and hope to see you on the boards. Can also DM me if you have any questions about the Chicago or Vegas beer scene, or tag me in a thread and I'll help out as best I can. Cheers!
Thanks for the kind words, and I think it is very nice you checked in to so many of these threads since inception. I responded to the one thread I saw with no replies, and had a nice conversation with a fellow Illinois BA. I do suspect there is a majority of BAs that don't venture into the limited threads I pop into, and vice versa (I'm not familiar with the trading community, BAs outside of the MW or Pacific regions, etc.). For four years, I only knew Great Lakes, and it can be a scary place at times. I find it ironic I had to leave the "friendly" Midwest to have more cordial beer conversations, though it seems to have become better the past year or two. Cheers!
You have been a fan favorite of mine ever since Mid- West merger a year or so ago. You are informative and an asset to the site . I thank you.
Hey, look at that! Just goes to show, ya never know who yer gonna meet around here. And happy to have done so.
Nice to formally meet you! I feel like I've gotten to know you a little over the past few weeks via MARCH BEER MADNESS! You have gone above and beyond creating and running that joyful endeavor, which is clearly no small labor. Thank you and cheers my friend!
feel like we frequent the same forums and i always enjoy your posts. plus, you post quite a few Jackson Browne songs so that’s just a bonus!! cheers, and see you around!!
Thanks, I also enjoy your posts in WBAYDN! Ha! Can't wait until the warmer weather to pull out some Saisons and Lambics and Gueuze. Thank you, and glad you are enjoying the tournament. I enjoy your posts in WBAYDN. Perhaps you'll create an introduce yourself thread as well! I enjoy your posts as well, your beers and posts in WBAYDN. We are on the same page in terms of many beer preferences / takes. Thanks for stopping in to say hi!
Thank you for your kind words, I enjoy your posts as well, including your WBAYDN outings at Old Chicago. I have to admit I never heard of the chain until coming across your WBAYDN posts. I looked up their locations on their site. Two are in Illinois (Rockford closer than Peoria), but their closest location to Chicago is in Merrillville, Indiana. There are none located in the two states I visit most (Nevada and California). Have you ever heard of the Old Chicago Amusement Park? It opened just before the Colorado based Beer and Pizza chain in 1975, and was located in Bolingbrook. We went once before it closed. It was a bit cheezy/lame, even for a kid. Before he was Norm….. Chicagoans also knew Shelley Long before she became more famous as Diane Chambers. I was born two years after Riverview Amusement Park, located south of Lane Tech, closed. A shopping mall and the 19th District Chicago Police Department now stand where Riverview once thrived.
Don't forget (most have) the short-lived Old Chicago beer brand, from the re-born Peter Hand Brewing Co. Fred Huber (of Huber Brewing Co. Monroe, WI) and partners bought the closed Chicago brewery in the early 1970s, which had been re-named Meister Brau Brewing Co.,after its flagship brand in the late 1960s. Meister Brau had sold most it's brands (including "Lite") to Miller before closing, so Huber created a new flagship brand, as well as brewing "around a dozen" other brands. In 1975 Huber claimed Old Chicago was the city's #6 beer, behind Schlitz, Budweiser, Old Style, Old Milwaukee and Stroh's. The re-born brewery closed in 1978.
As such, it was the last brewery brewing in Chicago until 1987. But, more importantly, the Old Chicago brand survived, and it may still be in force for whomever is in charge at Minhas Brwg. in Monroe, WI. Sometime in the mid-2000s, I had the 1987 Chevrolet Sprint out-&-about and stopped in at the (still) Sam's Liquors & Wines @ 1000 W. North Ave. It had flimsy, white cardboard cases of 24 12-oz. bottles of Old Chicago sitting in a corner. Recognizing what was on offer here, I bought a case (because 'my dad will probably drink this beer'). Sometime soon afterward, I encountered Bob Parzatska (who brought his daughter into the business) and mentioned glimpsing 'Old Chicago' beer. He responded, "Yeah. That was a brand run. We needed to put it out in order to hang on to the brand name. Thanks for buying it." The beer was probably Huber Premium. But I would have bought that if it had been on offer at that price.
Welcome to the club! I do check Nextdoor once in a while to complain about the slednecks on the recreation trails and such, but this is pretty much it for me as well. Magnificent job on the tournament, BTW! I am enjoying the hell out of it. I daresay we're all looking forward to next year already. (No pressure there, eh? ) Cheers to you, my friend!
Very cool. I used to be on Motley Fool (late 1990s), a Vegas and two different White Sox message boards, the former for a few decades, the White Sox for a few years each. Glad you and others are enjoying the tournament. We will have more time to plan and execute next year, I'll be glad to operate in the future as long as we are permitted to run it. Missed the past two weekend WBAYDN / NBW/NBS threads which I'm catching up on now. Also, I do recall seeing the Old Chicago Beers in the 1970s, but wasn't old enough to drink back then. never made it to Sam's either. Cheers!
