Learn about Chicago history at these hot spots, one cocktail at a time
Like the Colorado River carving the Grand Canyon, Chicago’s historic figures and events have left an indelible mark in shaping the city. Iconic time periods, like Prohibition, coupled with the Great Chicago Fire and the onset of the city’s architectural glory days have molded Chicago into its present-day metropolis. These pivotal moments in history also serve as inspiration for the city’s creative cocktail culture.
Speaking of Prohibition, the Mr. Claridge cocktail at Claridge House Chicago’s {1244 North Dearborn Parkway, Chicago; 312.787.4980} Chicago ground-floor restaurant, Juniper Spirits & Oysters
{1244 North Dearborn Parkway, Chicago; 312.416.5811}, prominently features black tea. This hearkens back to the era when sneaking alcohol into everyday beverages was quite common, especially in residential hotels. The name of the cocktail pays homage to the hotel itself, which was built in 1923.
That was a simpler time when characters like a Mr. Claridge could be found in the hotel lobby enjoying a cup of tea with a lemon. If you look close enough, you may find him slipping a splash of vodka into his tea. Tisk tisk,
Mr. Claridge.
“Creating any cocktail comes from some source of inspiration,” Thomas Kleiner, General Manager of Club Lucky {1824 West Wabansia Avenue, Chicago; 773.227.2300} in Bucktown, states. “I created a cocktail for a dear friend and regular guest of Club Lucky, Frank Catalano. Frank is an award-winning jazz saxophonist who embraces life and the people around him,” Kleiner adds. “In the Catalano Sidecar, we use a combination of Drambuie, Cognac, and Licor 43 to create some depth and softness to the main spirit. This is complemented by fresh lemon juice and Cointreau, which adds hints of citrus to the drink.”
At Mordecai in The Hotel Zachary {3632 North Clark Street, Chicago; 773.269.5410}, bartenders hearken back to historical figures in their own ways. The concept derives its name from Mordecai Brown, a legendary Chicago Cubs pitcher who built his reputation at Wrigley Field.
The menu, as explained by Beverage Consultant Alex Bachman, “was designed to capture the spirit of classic cocktails and all of the names are connected to some part of Mordecai’s life and baseball legacy.” Referencing the fact that Brown only had three fingers, The Duped By Three Fingers is a blend of wheated bourbon, carob, and gunpowder tea bitters.
Meanwhile, The Bar at The Hotel Zachary {3630 North Clark Street, Chicago; 773.302.2300} features an Adler & Sullivan cocktail named after two of the most important figures in Chicago’s architectural history. “The drink was created in celebration of the legendary architectural firm founded by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan,” Nicholas LaRocco, Restaurant General Manager at the hotel, explains. “The Adler & Sullivan honors the famous collaboration by combining cucumber and jalapeño-infused vodka with chamomile syrup for a well-balanced and straightforward cocktail.”
Pioneering figures and local legends aren’t the only forces influencing Chicago’s cocktail menus. Even devastating events can result in delicious cocktails that are rich in history. More than a century after the Great Chicago Fire, lingering memories caused a fresh array of inspired drinks.
As an homage to the city’s architectural rebirth, this past summer, Bar Manager Douglas Da Cruz Jr. and his team at The Up Room atop The Robey Hotel {2018 West North Avenue, Chicago; 872.315.3050}, incorporated the senses and textures of the fire—especially flame, smoke, and wood—into the cocktail menu. Pointing to a Negroni riff called Ashes to Ashes, the cocktail infused beef jerky into gin as a nod to the city’s meatpacking pastime. While The Holy Cow!, a tobacco bitters-splashed milk punch, harkened to Mrs. O’Leary’s cow who was responsible for the fire.
In a more neoteric fashion, the Chicago Fire Extinguisher is a novel cocktail served at Arbella {112 West Grand Avenue, Chicago; 312.846.6654} and created by Head Bartender Eric Trousdale. Named for the Great Chicago Fire, the drink incorporates thoughtful elements of fire by smoking wood chips to infuse flavor into Scotch and amaro. It’s all done in a glass globe-shaped bottle reminiscent of the classic saline solution-filled bottles that were tossed into fires to help stifle the flames.
At The Berghoff {17 West Adams Street, Chicago; 312.427.3170} — the first Chicago establishment that was awarded a liquor license at the end of Prohibition—remnants of the fire became even more tangible during the recent construction of the institution’s new on-site brewery, Adams Street Brewery {17 West Adams Street, Chicago; 312.427.5820} . “The fire ash was used as fill when the buildings were built and some of the rubble was repurposed for use in masonry walls,” owner Pete Berghoff says. “When we excavated the center room in the annex and broke out the concrete floors, we found a layer of fire ash that was used as fill. You could smell the ash as if it were from a recent fire in a fireplace.”
Of course, fires and Cubs pitchers aren’t the only facets of Chicago history worth honoring. The Press Room {1134 West Washington Boulevard; Chicago; 331.240.1914}, a subterranean West Loop wine bar, revisits the past in its own way. Housed in a timeworn building that formerly served as a publishing house, a casket factory, and a Museum of Holography, the bar gets its name from its original roots as the Free Methodist press room.
Be it a raging fire, a famed jazz musician, or a neighborhood, Chicago’s rich and varied history provides a blank canvas for mixologists to honor the past in their own ways.
Contributed by Matt Kirouac
The post What’s in a Glass? Historical Cocktails, Of Course appeared first on DiningOut Chicago.