Category Archives: Cookouts

University of Chicago vs. Hendrix

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For the second year in a row we headed down to Hyde Park for a University of Chicago football game. This year we went to the Homecoming Game against Hendrix and setup a tailgate outside the field. We were under the assumption that there wouldn’t be more than a couple other tailgating groups but we completely underestimated the appeal of Homecoming. The entire street outside the field was blocked off and there were some serious setups for smalltime football. The Maroons fell behind early but managed to make a game of it losing to Hendrix 27-21.

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The day started off with wind, cold and rain but most of it passed about an hour or so before kickoff. Outside of the heavy winds, and the vain attempts at keeping everything from blowing away, it was a good day. Everyone brought food and we had a decent turnout. I also managed to track down this awesome track from 1929 by Guy Lombardo featuring a medley of all the BIG TEN fight songs which I played on a constant loop for about three hours. The songs are from the following schools who comprised the BIG TEN Conference in 1929:

Wave The Flag – University of Chicago
Go U Northwestern – Northwester
We’re Loyal to You Illinois – Illinois
On Wisconsin -Wisconsin
Indiana Our Indiana – Indiana
The U of M Rouser – Minnesota
Carmen Ohio – Ohio State
The Victors March – Michigan
Hail Purdue – Purdue
Iowa Corn Song – Iowa

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I stayed outside the game to manage the grill and this was the view I had from the fence.

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After the tailgate we headed over to The Pub which is the on campus bar operated as a private club. I believe alumni, students and staff can get a membership with a valid ID and are allowed two guests for a fee. The Pub is housed in the basement of Ida Noyes Hall. The Pub has probably one of the best beer selections in Hyde Park.

Homebrew Harvest 2014

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Earlier this month was our 3rd Annual Homebrew Harvest. This year we had four sets of brewers and a total of seven different beers. As has been the case the past couple of years we had a good turnout with around 30 people throughout the evening. Most of the beer was drank and nearly all the food was eaten. We also had a couple different screens setup for football watching throughout the evening.

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I’m a little biased, but I believe the beer has gotten better and more diverse as the years have gone on. As usual the food selection everyone brought was great.

We hope to see everyone this time next year.

Lakeside, Michigan

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This past week Julie and I rented a house with four other friends in Lakeside, Michigan. This was our first experience using Airbnb and it worked out really well. The house was walking distance to a private beach on Lake Michigan which is all we were really looking for. We spent the majority of our time at the beach and cooking at the house.

Bells Brewery
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Before checking in to the house we headed up to Kalamazoo to checkout Bells Brewery for lunch. I was really impressed with their huge selection of beers on tap. Julie and I each did a tasting and then I had a couple more before we hit the road. By far my favorite was the Quinannan Falls Lager. Lunch was really good as well, mostly BBQ sandwiches. I was really disappointed with their ‘No Growler’ policy. I had planned on filling three growlers for the week. We did stop at their general store but the beer selection was less than what I see at my corner store in Wrigleyville.

Three Oaks
Before dinner on our last night in town we headed over to the town of Three Oaks to check out the Journeyman Distillery and a couple of bars before dinner at Soe Cafe.

Journeymen Distillery
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Journeyman Distillery was setup much like FEW Distillery with the addition of its own bar and event space. The tour included three tastes which I believe is some kind of Federal regulation. Like other small craft distilleries, Journeyman distills Gin, White Whiskey and Rye Whiskey.

Pleasant House
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Our tour guide at Journeyman suggested we stop by the nearby Pleasant House Brewing Company which recently opened a small brewery/bar. Pleasant House is the sister location of Pleasant House Bakery in Chicago which is a small restaurant that specializes in meat pies. This location has the same food setup, basically British comfort food, with the addition of the bar and three of their own beers. I had the Dry Stout and tried the ESB, both were great.

Side Notes:
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* Beach reading: The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today.

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** Every grocery store we stopped in during the entire trip had a ‘Smores Section’.
*** Last year’s visit to Lakeside.