My Saturday Purchases
It’s the weekend. What do you do in America on the weekend? You shop. Hopefully I made some wise choices. My daughter had a birthday party to go to and it was near one of my favorite liquor stores. If you’re from around Chicago, you’ll know Binny’s. I could spend hours in there just looking at all of the fancy bottles from all around the world. Today I was beer shopping. Originally, we had dinner plans and were going to get some good beer and wine. Those plans fell through, but we still went shopping anyway since we were in the area.
I first picked up a six of Sleeman’s - perhaps the best Canadian beer ever (yet most people have never heard of them). I decided to put that down when I came across Peak Organic beer - specifically the Nut Brown Ale. I haven’t tasted it yet, so I can’t vouch for it yet. The second sixer I went with is from my favorite brewery, New Belgium Brewery out of Fort Collins, Colorado. They are a very green brewery and I’ve posted about them before. Everything I’ve tried from there has been great and I came across a new variety. It’s called 1554 and it is a black beer. Years ago I used to go to this bar and get Kostritzer - a German black beer. It has a nice nutty flavor and a smooth finish - which is perfect in the cold winter weather. Let it get a little warm for the full flavor. A good beer will be mellow as it gets warm and won’t be bitter. That’s a good rule of thumb - if the beer is bitter - let it sit and try it again. Fat Tire is still a favorite, but that is a year-round beer. I really suggest picking up 1554 if you can. I think its better than their 2 Below option.
Locavore Time
My next stop on the way home from the birthday party was about 2 miles from my house. We found someone that has their own apiary and sells honey. We go through a lot of honey in our household. It not only goes in tea, but my wife is a master at homemade granola cereal. That’s where most of our honey goes. To put it in perspective, we bought a 5lb jug of honey in mid-October from the farmers market. That was gone in early January. Luckily we found our new supplier. When we were there the first time, we realized that they had chickens. He didn’t have any eggs to sell us that time because his daughter took them all to work. This time, I lucked out. I got two dozen eggs that were plucked from the bottom of the chickens this morning. Better yet - they were $2/dozen. I was ready to shell out $4/dozen. It looks like dinner plans may change - breakfast for dinner!
Congrats on the honey. My fiance and I found a local honey store here that stocks just about anything that can be made from bee byproducts and most our local. We decided to splurge on honey comb. Today we bought ourselves a “cow share” which mean we get milk fresh off the farm once a week. We can even pick it up at the local organic store instead of driving all the way out to the farm ourselves. While we were there we were able to pick up some eggs too. I’m constantly amazed at what we could find within 50 miles.
Hey There! I’m from Chicago as well, and I was curious where you buy this awesome honey. I would be so pleased if it is close to where I live
Oh also, I’m quite the beer person as well (we even brew our own), and I agree about the Two Below. It’s not my favorite, actually, but considering how well it hides its high 6.6% alcohol content, I’d say it’s still pretty well made.
On the subject of beer, btw, do you ever drink any of the New Glarus beers from Wisconsin? I really like them and since New Glarus is 148 miles from where I live, I think I can consider it local.
N&J -
We’ve been buying local honey from the farmers market for a while. We just happened drive down the right street and found a “local honey” sign. He wants us to come back in the spring to see the bees, too. He’s new to the bee game, so I think we’ll be able to get whatever from him - including honeycomb. I’m not sure what to do with it exactly yet
Life Less Plastic -
I shot you an email. Let me know where in Chicago you live and maybe we can work something out.
On the beer front - I love the New Glarus Spotted Cow, but I think New Glarus said they were going to stop shipping to Chicago. We’ve been to the brewery before, too. Great little place. New Belgium isn’t close, but they’re very green and I’ll take that
Give the 1554 a whirl. Since you’re local, go to Binny’s and pick up some Sleeman’s - they’re from outside of Buffalo in Guelph, Ontario. I like the dark and also the cream ale. Delicious!
Be well and come back often!
-Jason