On Saturday, August 29, myself and 39 others celebrated Old Style in a big way. Old Style wrapped up their summer Neighborhood Patch Program with Untappd by taking fans on an 8-neighborhood bar crawl throughout Chicago. It was the last chance to collect these badges and the only chance to do it in person! I mentally prepared myself to go on this 8-neighborhood bar crawl and lived to tell the tale. And it was a hell of a ride…
We started out in Pilsen at Honky Tonk BBQ to carbo-load and enjoy some of Chicago’s best barbeque. Pulled baby back ribs, southern mac & cheese and cole slaw were very necessary to start us off before our eight-hour journey. Our Old Style rep Anthony greeted everyone and passed out the exclusive Old Style Illinois patch and our beer tokens. I felt special already! After Honky Tonk, we hopped on the bus and headed to Reggie’s Rock Club in the South Loop. A couple of flights (of stairs, not beer) later I found myself on the roof top deck to enjoy the urban outdoors. My group of friends settled at a picnic table to chat, snack on peanuts and watch a fellow crawler hit nothin’ but net at the basketball hoop.
Our third stop was the Irish bar Butch McGuire’s in Gold Coast for more Old Style & some grub. We munched on pizzas, mini corn dogs, Buffalo wings & Irish egg rolls. Don’t know what Irish egg rolls are? Neither did I… until Saturday. They’re crispy fried wontons filled with corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut. The more you know! Butch McGuire’s was also the perfect setting for us to bust out the deck of cards and get into the competitive spirit.
We kept with the Irish theme and made our way to Lincoln Park’s River Shannon. Did you know this bar has been around since 1946? This bar is old school and I love it! I enjoyed the 3 P’s here: a Pint of Old Style, Popcorn & a Pup! River Shannon is dog-friendly in case you want to bring your dog to the bar. After that, we rounded up the troops and landed in River North at Henry’s Swing Club for giant nachos, big pretzels, county BBQ smoked pork poutine and some pool. This place is huge, including a basement where weekend dance parties happen, but we stayed on the main level to keep all the crawlers in one room.
After we recharged a bit, we got our arcade game faces on and headed to Emporium in Wicker Park. I’d be lying if I said a couple people on the crawl didn’t have to be ripped away from their games kicking and screaming things like “Just one more level!” and “Lemme try to beat my last score!” before leaving. Emporium is split into two rooms, the main room you enter in and the room next door that houses more games, another bar and a stage. This place was the easiest to lose a crawler because of that reason. Ok… and the games bringing back childhood memories that you wanted to hold on to also made it easy.
When everyone finally piled on the bus, we headed to Lemming’s Tavern in Bucktown. Lemming’s provided us more Old Style, pool and strangers to talk to about Old Style. It gave off the Chicago Old Style vibe, which to me means a solid neighborhood tavern that can quickly become your local spot. People on the crawl had some liquid courage in them at this point, so it was nice to see them mingling with other bar patrons, inadvertently spreading the good word of Old Style.
On our way to our final destination, Anthony asked that everyone take out their raffle tickets because an Old Style mini-fridge was about to be won. Everyone had their tickets in hand waiting to hear that magic number… and my friend won!
Our last stop was East Room in Logan Square. I absolutely love their outdoor area and was so excited to camp out in the RV (really, there’s a RV in their backyard!). Sadly it was raining, so we didn’t get to enjoy the patio; instead we made our way upstairs to celebrate that we finished this damn thing. And what better way to celebrate than with some pizza! Anthony awarded us with new jackets so we can iron on all of our patches & show off our recent accomplishment: surviving the 8-neighborhood bar crawl.
Thanks to everyone who came out and endured enjoyed the crawl. Cheers!
