Howdy!

Sadly, my two-week nap after NYE, like all things, had to eventually come to an end. As Roy Rogers used to say to Judy Garland after a week of guns, gambling and pig-latin charades in the Hollywood Hills, "The Goblin must be fed." So, let's feed it.

We're excited to announce that the second installment in our Americana Music Series of Debauchery is going to be this Sunday with the wonderful Girls of the Golden West playing all original music that calls to mind old standards to bend time and delight!

The show starts at 4pm on Sunday, January 22nd and is entirely FREE to you, a gift from IBW and the The Girls of the Golden West. We hope you come and enjoy a truly unique experience in our sweaty little hovel of iniquity. Here's the Facebook page in case you are interested in those kinds of things: https://www.facebook.com/events/1200864253857425

We dropped a couple new beers this week as well & we're quite excited about them (we're very excited over here after our naps!).

Concord Grape Brainwash is our newest variant of our house sour ale. This is just as advertised: imagine drinking a 7% ABV glass of beer that tastes just like Grape Hubba-Bubba from the salad days of yore.

We also dropped our first ever ESB this week, HER MAJESTY'S SATANIC REQUEST. This sultry little English Pub Ale pays homage to the biggest 60's rock band from an alternate universe, Gerry True & the Studebakers and their infamous and storied post-humous release that was 30 years in the making, Her Majesty's Satanic Request. Gerry and company went through several nervous breakdowns, 3 labels and 800 tubes of airplane glue to see this masterwork put to acetate. It's our honor and privilege to raise a glass to that Herculean effort with this delightful, malt-forward treat.

If you follow us on social media (of course you do!), then you already know that the label for this beer was made in part with that new and disturbing technology MidJourney. Our wizard designer, Mark Ludemann, collaborated with the AI that has been voted "Most Likely to Exterminate Humanity" by Forbes Magazine to create this wonderful and weird portrait of a band from a different place.

Both Mark and I have been bitten pretty hard by this troubling new technology and we've been posting some of our results on our Instacrap and Flubbook accounts. But, because I love you, here's one that we'll never post on-line, this one is just for you, our lovely little email list. This prompt was "Secret Freemason Spring Break Party". Enjoy, friends!

You can get both of those beers on tap or in 4-packs to go here at the Lodge or find them at your favorite local bottle shop.

We've got our IBW Book Club coming on at 8pm on Wednesday February 1st. This month we'll be discussing Ottessa Moshfegh's "Eileen". Come enjoy the wonderful past-time of talking about ideas with strangers and get 10% off your beer all night.

We've also got another Modular Synth night on Saturday February 4th at 9pm. If you are one of those strange people that likes spending loads of money on confounding machines that make strange noises, then this night is for you! Don't miss it!

That's all I've got for you for now. Here's to hoping your Dry January dies an early, fast and painful demise. We'll be here with cold, delicious beer when you come back to your senses.

You can see all of our event calendar for the month at https://www.ibw-chicago.com/events

You can see what's currently on tap at IBW LODGE #1 at https://www.ibw-chicago.com/whats-on-tap