The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

You don't need sunscreen in Chicago in January

A weather pattern has set up shop near Chicago that threatens to occlude the sun for the next week, in exchange for temperatures approaching 15°C the first weekend of February. We've already had 43 days with above-normal temperatures this winter, and just 12 below normal during the cold snap from January 13th through the 22nd. By February 2nd, 84% of our days will have had above-normal temperatures since December 1st.

Thank you, El Niño. Though I'm not sure the gloominess is a fair exchange for it.

Elsewhere:

Finally, Minnesota-based wildlife photographer Benjamin Olson discovered that a mouse had moved into his car. So naturally, he set up a photo trap. And naturally, it's totes adorbs.

Forbidden Root

Welcome to stop #99 on the Brews and Choos project.

Brewery: Forbidden Root, 1746 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago
Train line: CTA Blue Line, Chicago
Time from Chicago: 8 minutes
Distance 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 Ravenswood Beer Corridor near Inner Drive Technology World HQ.)

Even before the beers, we ordered some beer cheese, which really hit the spot. I don't mean Merkt's out of the plastic container; this is hand-made whipped aged cheddar with a hint of beer and a spicy maple drizzle. On tasting that we also ordered some burrata, with pesto, tomato jam, parmesan chips, and Focaccia.

And then we tried some beers, still keeping our heads clear by sharing 150 mL pours, which worked all the way up until the last one.

The Halfway to Crazy West Coast IPA (6.2%) was halfway to piney, with some fruit, note and a clean, bitter finish that I enjoyed. The Snoochie Boochies double IPA (8%) really hop-slammed me; I noted its "strong, complex, interesting, fruity" flavors but also jotted down "caution required."

But then we tried the Call Your Mom Bourbon barrel-aged Imperial stout (12.9%). I wrote: "mmmmmmm. Chocolate, toffee, vanilla, all the good things. Yum!" And half an hour later, in the Lyft home, I just wanted to go to sleep. But I also would love to try that beer again, and I regret not taking a bottle home.

Finishing the day at Forbidden Root was exactly the correct choice.

Beer garden? No
Dogs OK? No
Televisions? None
Serves food? Full menu
Would hang out with a book? Maybe
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes

Slick moves walking the dog

Walking Cassie to day camp took a lot longer than usual this morning because the freezing rain and near-freezing temperatures after a long cold snap laid a layer of ice over nearly every sidewalk and street in Chicago. She seemed very concerned about my ability to walk, and very disappointed that we didn't take our usual detour to the bagel place to get me some coffee and her a fresh dog treat.

The "wintry mix" has stopped and the temperature has risen all the way to 1.5°C at Inner Drive Technology World HQ, so the walk home may not suck as much as the walk there.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world:

Finally, we might have gotten to Peak Rat Hole. Residents of the 1900 block of West Roscoe have gotten fed up with all the people coming to see the 30-year-old dead squirrel impression on their sidewalk. Perhaps the wedding took things too far?

On Tour Brewing

Welcome to stop #98 on the Brews and Choos project.

Brewery: On Tour Brewing, 1725 W. Hubbard St., Chicago
Train line: CTA Green and Pink lines, Ashland
Time from Chicago: 6 minutes
Distance from station: 700 m

Of the three breweries my friend and I planned to visit last Saturday, On Tour was our clear favorite. It helped that her employer has done several events there, one of which I attended before the pandemic, so we were both happy to go back. And, because there were two of us, we could try a full 5-pour flight without overtaxing our livers.

Here are our tasting notes:

  • Thalia Hall Pilsner (5%, 15 IBU): malty, lingering finish, not my cup of tea but well made.
  • Sleepy Fire Berlinerweißbier (4.2%, 15 IBU): I personally do not like Weißbieren., but I recognized this is a good example of the variety. My friend wanted to order a full pint after tasting it.
  • Apres black lager (5.2%, 10 IBU): Very interesting, and quite good. "Almost like a stout without the motor-oil feel."
  • Half Step American pale (5.7%, 45 IBU). Really hoppy, but finishes nicely. We once again had opposite reactions: she said it had a similar feel and finish to Half Acre Daisy Cutter, which she does not like, but I like Daisy Cutter and so liked Half Step.
  • Mercury hazy IPA (5.5%, 20 IBU): I wrote, "why can't I form an opinion of this? It's, I guess, good? I like it? Tasting notes are eluding me. But it's a good sippin' beer. Perfectly balanced, no one flavor dominating, does its job and steps back." She had a similar opinion.

We'll definitely go back this summer.

Beer garden? Yes
Dogs OK? Outside only
Televisions? Two, avoidable
Serves food? No; BYOF
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes

Goose Island Beer Co., Fulton taproom

Welcome to stop #97 on the Brews and Choos project.

Brewery: Goose Island Beer Co., 1800 W Fulton St., Chicago
Train line: CTA Green and Pink lines, Ashland
Time from Chicago: 6 minutes
Distance 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 a local brewery anymore. And hey, I loved Goose Island 20 years ago. But selling to InBev really did make a difference.

But the Brews and Choos Project doesn't discriminate, so we went back to the Fulton Taproom and tried their newest beer, the No Plans Tasty Time pale ale. I wrote: "not too bad, not awesome."

And that's pretty much my review of their only remaining Chicago taproom. They plan to open a new flagship brewpub at the Salt Shed in the spring, and I'll review it in due course.

Bottom line, with a couple of truly wonderful taprooms nearby like Midwest Coast and On Tour, you can skip Goose Island and not miss anything special.

Beer garden? Patio
Dogs OK? Outside only
Televisions? Two, avoidable
Serves food? No; BYOF
Would hang out with a book? Maybe
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Maybe

Great Central Brewing

Welcome to stop #96 on the Brews and Choos project.

Brewery: Great Central Brewing, 221 N. Wood St., Chicago
Train line: CTA Green and Pink lines, Ashland
Time from Chicago: 6 minutes
Distance from station: 500 m

Despite the cold yesterday, a friend and I set off to the West Fulton Corridor industrial area to visit a cluster of three breweries all within a few hundred meters of each other. First on the list: Great Central Brewing.

We liked the place, though it really leans into the "industrial" part of the corridor, with a cavernous interior and washrooms three flights up.

Still, we liked their beers. The dry-hopped Pilsner (5%) was nice: dry, not too malty, good finish. The West Coast IPA (6.5%) had a great hop mix and a long finish, with a hint of banana. We judged it "very good." And the Kick Push Hazy IPA (7.2%), a collaboration with Perch, was dryer than most hazies, with lots of banana, a bit of apple and apricot, and lingering bitterness.

We also liked that, by sharing three 150 mL pours, we barely dented our capacity for trying beers at our next two planned stops.

Beer garden? Rooftop planned, not yet open
Dogs OK? No
Televisions? One, avoidable
Serves food? No; BYOF
Would hang out with a book? Yes
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes

Busy weekend

I grabbed a friend for a couple of Brews & Choos visits yesterday, and through judicious moderation (8-10 oz of beer per person at each stop), we managed to get the entire West Fulton Corridor cluster done in six hours. So in a few minutes I'll start writing four B&C reviews, which will come out over the next three days.

Before I start, though, I'm going to read all these stories that have piled up since Friday:

Finally, the Roscoe Rat (really a squirrel) Hole got its own NPR story this morning. And in my social media I saw a photo of someone proposing to her boyfriend at the rat hole. Color me bemused.

The life and death of a Chicago squirrel

Wow, is this a Chicago story.

On January 6th, a local comedian posted a photo of what he thought was the impression of a rat in concrete on a Chicago street. (Local residents claim it's actually the death mask of a very unfortunate squirrel that fell from a tree into the wet concrete decades ago.) Quickly dubbed the "Chicago rat hole," it went viral, and so far thousands of people have made pilgrimage to 1918 W. Roscoe St. to see it.

Well, yesterday, some jagoff filled it in with "a plaster-like substance." But fear not! Locals rushed to its rescue in a way one can only hope they rescued the original artist:

NBC5 reported the rat-shaped sidewalk hole near near 1918 W. Roscoe St. was filled in with a “concrete-like material.”

t’s not clear who has a problem with the rat hole and doesn’t want us to have nice things, but Lakeview neighbor Johnathan Howell grabbed his license plate and went to work digging out the hole, NBC Sports’ Alex Shapiro reported. Other neighbors joined in, using other small tools to help.

By early afternoon, the hole looked mostly back to normal, though remnants remained of the filling, melted snow and slush.

The material used to fill in the rat hole appeared to be some type of plaster or modeling clay. Neighbors who had made a pilgrimage to the rat hole during their Friday lunch were relieved the desecration of the landmark was not permanent, they said.

The Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce launched a contest last week to come up with a nickname. The five finalists:

  • Lil’ Stucky
  • Splatatouille
  • Splat
  • Roscoe Road-dent
  • Dibs

You know, as a student of history, I always wondered why people spent most of the 1920s and 1930s chasing silly fads. (Woody Allen nailed this phenomenon in his 1983 film Zelig.)

So here we are: a beloved Chicago fad, defiled by a spoilsport (my money's on Streets and Sanitation), rescued by neighbors. That's us.

Cold snapped

Around 7 this morning, the official Chicago temperature at O'Hare went above -15°C for the first time in 81 hours, the longest such cold snap since February 1996:

In the 1996 stretch, O’Hare recorded highs of -20.6°C on Feb. 2 and 3, and of -16.7°C on Feb. 4, according to NWS meteorologist Casey Sullivan.

Sullivan said the longest stretch of temps below -15°C in the area was a period of five days in the 1880s, according to NWS records, which go back to 1871.

“It doesn’t look like we’re going to do that, but it’s unusual, not unheard of,” Sullivan said of the cold streak.

There may be some — albeit slight — relief from the extreme cold on the way in the coming days. High temperatures Wednesday should climb to a high of around -8°C, the NWS said.

Thursday’s high temps could end up near -5°C, and Friday’s high is expected to be near -9°C.

As of 1pm we've gotten up to -9°C, but the sun is out, and we have brisk west-southwest winds, both of which should help. As long as it stays above -10°C I can walk Cassie home from day camp. (I had to drive her yesterday and today.)

The National Climate Prediction Center says the Arctic Vortex will get back to where it once belonged next week:

I sure hope so. And if Cassie understood "future" as a concept, so would she.