Celebrate Father's Day w/ a Pig Roast!

Hiya,

If you're looking for something fun and delicious to do on Father's Day, why not come by Illuminated Brew Works for a pig roast?

We're teaming up with our friends at WineStyles to make sure this is the best Father's Day that Father in your life can have. In service of that, Chef Rodney Staton (Haywood Tavern, 50/50 Group) is going to be slow cooking a Slagel Farms hog for your Father's Day festivities.

$25 gets you plenty of pig, 2 sides and either 2 beers or 2 glasses of wine. $15 gets your kids set up with the food but not the booze. Instead they'll get some soda.

We'll be cooking the pig all day in the parking lot. The event is from 2pm - 6pm and we'll serve the pig around 3pm. It should be a blast. Here's the EventBrite link for the event. You can use this or you can call WineStyles to make a reservation at (847) 518-9463.

We've got a Vinyl and Craft market at IBW the Sunday before (June 12th) if you want to buy some records and such for the Dad in your life. More details will be coming on that shortly.

We dropped CLOUDBUSTER and BRAINWASH this week for your drinking pleasures. Both are on tap and available to go at IBW LODGE #1 and also out in bottle shops in Chicago and the suburbs.

BRAINWASH is an old favorite we've brought back, a sour ale dry hopped with Mosaic and Huell Melon hops. And CLOUDBUSTER is a spring saison dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin hops and is my favorite thing to drink right now.

We're open at Noon today and tomorrow with the patio there for your making.

We'll be open from 1pm - 10pm on Monday, Memorial Day. So come on by and drink with us.

Weird Studies Black IPA & Live Podcast @ IBW LODGE #1

Happy Summer, strange people!

I say Summer because, despite the calendrics, the blazing heat and disturbing amounts of humidity insist I do just that. We somehow misplaced spring here in Chicago this year, so we're getting right at the Dionysian dystopia that is the most ruthless part of Chicago in the Summer.

But that's ok, I suppose, oppressive heat & humidity make for good beer consuming for most folks.

With that lodged in your fragile & impressionable mind, here's a good modal plan for your day, free of charge: Wake up, have an ORANGE SUNSHINE and put that early morning bounce back in your footsteps. Go read a book with the birds singing outside and treat yourself to a SLUSHY THING 666around 10am.

That Slushy will put you in the right headspace for some lawn mowing, get that done and then have some lunch. Lunch is generally recommended as a small bag of Flaming Hot Cheet-Ohs and 3 or 4 BEER HERE NOW's.

You're going to be compelled to nap after lunch, but that is unprofessional. Instead, why not power through your mid-afternoon malaise with some music and some private dancing, just you and your dog while enjoying something nice and light, like a TRUST Lager?

By 4pm, it's gonna be too late to really start anything terribly productive anyway, so down shift into a 4-pack of THE PROPER GLASSWARE IS AN EMPTY HEAD and make sure that you're plenty charming for dinner.

Dinner: how about a salad, rack of lamb with a side of white fish and another couple 4-packs of our newest beer to hit the streets on Monday, WEIRD STUDIES BLACK IPA.

After dinner, one should always enjoy a good smoke. And you should always talk to the lovely folks over at Aeriz for the best options for your post dinner smoke. Also, please, keep in mind, there's nothing quite like another ORANGE SUNSHINE to kiss those last little bits of myrcene and limonene as they drift off your parched and purple tongue.

By now, it's desert time, so you should probably enjoy a bottle of that barrel aged ANCIENT MAGICK we did with Old Irving Brewing. It's just sitting there in your fridge and, by this point, the day has become a special occasion. No need to wait on that any longer.

.... Et voilá! That is your perfect prescription for a solid Thursday in Chicago's summer. You're welcome!

I did want to take a second to clue you in on an event that I am certainly very excited about and maybe a few of you will be as well. WEIRD STUDIES will be recording a live podcast here on Monday May 23rd from 7-10ish to celebrate the release of our collaboration beer we made with them, the WEIRD STUDIES BLACK IPA.

Weird Studies, in my estimation (and many other strange folks') remains one of the best-in-class podcasts on this confounding world of human consciousness. It's a Professor of Musicology from Indiana University and a documentary film maker from Canada talking in loops and bifurcations about all things, yes, Weird. That generally shakes out to Weird Fiction (PK Dick, Burroughs, ETA Hoffman, etc), Weird Film (Kubrick, Lynch, Tchaikovsky, Jodorowsky, etc), Weird Spirituality (Hermeticism, I Ching, Zen, Tarot, etc) or just down right weird shit (RPG games, Philosophy, Rifts, Brains, etc).

This is a private event and you need a ticket for it. These tickets are being sold by Weird Studies. $12 gets you in the door, $20 gets you in the door and a very limited edition 18x24" silk screen poster (the image is the one at the top of this email) made by the lovely and troubled Jason Pritchett (the wild-eyed saint who made our mural and many of our illustrations). Here is the link to get tickets. As of this morning there's about 15 tickets left, so I wouldn't dilly dally if this sounds like the way you'd like to start your week next week. I hope to see some of you there. Tickets are very limited and will NOT be available at the door.

Also, new on the streets is SLUSHY THING 666. This lovely 6% seltzer based beast is gluten-free, vegan & lactose free and loaded up with almost 10 gallons per barrel of Raspberry, Banana, Sweet Cherry and some vegan marshmallow extract. This nice, thick fruit bomb is the perfect way to begin or thoroughly end a day depending on your ambitions.

Enjoy the lovely and talented SLUSHY THING 666 and raise a glass to brothers Loni & Doni Wolfschnitzel while you do it.

One last thing before I let you go. Tomorrow, Friday, the wonderful louts over at Drag City are having an all-women art opening that should be one for the forgotten history books. I'm sure you're very capable of reading the flyer, so I won't over explain anything other than that you should get out of your self-imposed city neighborhood prison and get over to the SoccerClubClub for a great night with wonderful people.

Ok, that's what I've got for you. You are all my best friends, even though most of us aren't on speaking terms any more. But we can pick it back up again, I'm sure, and it'll be like our invisible little love affairs never ended and never will again. Happy Summer, creeps!

NONAGON LIVE! @ IBW Lodge #1 The Saturday April 30th

Chicago's favorite three-headed, guitar playing, one-man-band, math-rock monstrosity NONAGON is playing a FREE SHOW this Saturday, April 30th at IBW LODGE #1. Come wiggle along with all three of this delightful beasts heads.

John Huston of Stomadopod is going to be playing an acoustic set to start the evening.

Show starts on or around 10:15pm and is completely, totally, without charge to you, the person coming to be entertained. Isn't that nice? It is. Please be good to these guys and give them plenty of Love to compensate for all the blood and talent they will be sharing with you through the sound-o-sphere.

And, hey, while you're here, why don't you drink some beer? We've got a few real stinkers, but I'm sure there is one or two you can choke down in a simulation of pleasure.

Maybe this one?

That's our freshest hazy DDH DIPA that just packaged the other day. THE PROPER GLASSWARE IS AN EMPTY HEAD features Citra, Mosaic, Waimea, Sabro & Vic's Secret hops and is downright delightful. We didn't keg any so you have to do can pours at the Lodge, or take some 4-packs home or, yes, go to your local bottle shop and buy them there. And, hey, if you're in Utah, you're in luck, as you've got a couple pallets of this beauty on its way to you right now.

Orange Sunshine 2022 Release & Weird Studies Beer

Good day to you, earth eaters!

You know, say what you will about this complicated intersection of life forms we participate in, but it's not so bad.

Sure, you might think Earth is just a stage for you to play act whatever false identity you try to convince people you have on social media. You might even be so far down that tawdry little rabbit hole that you think that that identity actually IS your identity. Or that you have a static identity at all for that matter.

You can think that. It's Ok. I'll accept that as rules for this game, for now. It's lame, but I'll accept it. I'm an easy going guy, after all.

Assuming those rules for the game, imagine what a bummer it would be to ruin this perfectly built theatre here, all constructed and maintained, all in the service of the pageantry of your neurosis' and half-baked ambitions. If we burn this off-off-off-off-broadway puppet house to the ground, well, where oh where will you fill that hole in your soul? You might just have to get reincarnated and do it all again. And nobody wants that.

The answer to the above quiz will be released next week, so hold tight.

In the meantime, we have a brand-spanking-new-super-fresh-yummy-as-holy-hell batch of ORANGE SUNSHINE to excite your nerve endings and inflame your Id. And, I tell you with only a little bit of bias, this batch is fantastic.

You can get ORANGE SUNSHINE on tap and in cans at IBW LODGE #1. Cases start rolling out to your favorite bottle shops next week.

We've also got a new batch of BEER HERE NOW, MR. MONK'S CREAM ALE and a new, delightful session stout available going by the mysterious name CLURICHAUN TRAP.

If you're wondering, a Clurichaun is a kind of drunk, trouble-making earth elemental known to live in breweries and cause general mayhem and havoc. They drink up stashes and break equipment when brewers aren't around. I'm not saying that we for sure have a Clurichaun running around IBW LODGE #1, but, if you've spent any extended time around our humble little tree house, you've probably noticed one or two anomalous occurrences go down.

Maybe your glass slid across the table unprovoked? Balloons spontaneously popped? Doors opened at seeming whim? Strange noises in the brew house? Shapes catching your attention from the corner of your eye? If you've hung out at IBW LODGE #1 for any significant time, you've certainly noticed one, if not several, of these things.

Now, I'm not the kind of person to say for sure, hands-down that the cause of these phenomenon are a Clurichaun. But I'm also not the type of humanoid to tell you they're not either.

So, we've made a beer to appease our little brewhouse friend. All reports is that he's digging it. Why not make the most of a strange situation and get a little of his liquid for yourself?

At 4.8% you can drink CLURICHAUN TRAP session stout for 12-14 hours at a time, and, if you weren't believing in Clurichauns when you started your bender, I can assure you that you'll be entertaining that and all sorts of other odd ideas come the end time.

Speaking of odd ideas and end times, we're doing a collaboration beer with the WERID STUDIES podcast. Phil Ford and J.F. Martel are the hosts of this bi-weekly jaunt into the slippery world of mind and perception. These two affable and confounded gentleman are the perfect guides down the parallax loops of reality and fictions. Covering much loved topics such as Philip K. Dick, David Lynch, the I Ching, Gnosticism, John Keel, E.T.A Hoffmann, Stanley Kubrick and other eldritch artifacts of popular and marginal culture, Phil & J.F. practice the dangerous art of asking questions that have no reasonable answer.

Weird Studies has become a kind of deranged and delightful graduate school for me, Matty and Pritch (the troubled ex-youth who painted our mural) and it's one of the great delights of owning and running a brewery to have an opportunity to introduce these big-brained Canadians to you.

We'll be releasing WEIRD STUDIES BLACK IPA on May 23rd and, to celebrate this auspicious moment in strange, WEIRD STUDIES will be recording a show live at IBW LODGE #1. More info will be coming on that soon, so stay tuned.

I'll say this much now: if you're the kind of person who walks into IBW LODGE #1 and feels like this was the club house you've been looking for your whole life, than you should definitely drop whatever sick thing you're up to right now and start listening to WEIRD STUDIES. And make definite sure to join us on May 23rd.

Have you heard? NONAGON is playing a free show at IBW LODGE #1 on Saturday April 30th at 10pm. Come on out and enjoy Chicago Math-Rock the way your mother intended.

There's a ton of other stuff going on and I'm running out of patience with writing this email. So check our Instagram page or our Facebook page for more information on upcoming events. We've got something really special in the works for you Dad's on Father's Day. Do you like beer? Do you like barbecued pigs? Then stay tuned!

And, please, if you haven't yet (or if you have), come play with us on Tuesdays for TUESDAY TRIVIA NIGHT. It remains the most dangerous night of trivia in Chicago!

Norwood Park's St. Pat's Parade TOMORROW & Slushy V

Oh, hi.

I didn't expect to see you here.

You look... radishing with that lampshade on your head.

Have I ever told you that I love you?

Tomorrow is the first St. Patrick's Day parade in Norwood Park in 3 years now. I think that's right? 2019 was the last one. And it's 2024 today. So, yeah, 3 years.

And I hear tell it's gonna be a bit nutty.

So, look, we're going to open at 9:30am tomorrow to accommodate what ever strange and disturbing practices you all pursue to celebrate the ghosts of your DNA. Ok? All we're asking from you in return is your money. And, just a little bit of decorum.

Is that too much to ask? I certainly don't think so. But, if you're the kind of person that wakes up at 9 in the morning, wipes the green barf from the side of your mouth and gets back at it again right away, all in the name of some country you've never visited and some saint whose biography you're a little fuzzy on, than you're probably also the kind of person who doesn't really care what I think. So, if that's you, you can go on to your next email and the rest of us civilized monkeys can discuss our plans for tomorrow.

Hell, what am I talking about? You're probably already knuckle deep into your second bottle of Basil Hayden's at this point and finding the act of reading more than a little bit challenging. Even more challenging than normally. So, go on now, get back to it. Me and the rest of the choir folk are gonna be chatting over here and only affording you a few sideward glances while we do it. It's all good, bro.

So, for the rest of you nice people. Let's talk.

We're opening at 9:30am tomorrow. There's already some very technologically impressive port-a-potties in the parking lot. And there's also going to be some plainclothed police milling about to deal with that other dude we just asked to leave. For the rest of you, we're going to have our regular portfolio of delicious draft beer and some $5 can specials. We're checking IDs at the door and will be issuing wristbands to all you fine people over the age of 21. If you're not 21 and are thinking you might make some great memories trying to drink illegally tomorrow, please make those memories somewhere else. Oh, and for tomorrow only, all the beer is being served in plastic cups because, apparently, the City of Chicago thinks - oh, wait, I'm sorry... knows - that you don't know how to act.

If you don't know already, IBW LODGE #1, has been strategically blessed by being at the tail-end of the parade. I mean, we're not the only people on the corner there, but, let's be honest, how many people are going to want to capstone their St. Patrick's Day parade festivities by doing a load of laundry and huffing slurpees at the 7-11? I mean, one or two of you probably, but the rest of you savages I'm sure are going to want to keep drinking. So, we're here for you. And, our good friends at WineStyles are also willing to deal with you - for a measured amount of time - in exchange for some cold, hard cash. Be nice to us. Be nice to WineStyles. Hell, be nice to each other. I mean, isn't that what St. Patrick was known for? Wasn't he the one that spoke to animals and is the patron saint of trapeze artists and ice cream men? So, come on. Naturally, good old St. Pat would want you to to be good to each other, being the animals that you all are.

While you're here yelling at each other about how much you love each other and how you can't stand that new guy at work, maybe you'll consider picking up some to-go beer as well? We've got a freshly packaged batch of ASTRONAUT JUICE and, I'm very excited to tell you, our newest in the line of SLUSHY THING seltzers... this one has strawberry, guava, pineapple and marshmallow in it. And, I'm gonna be straight with you for once, because I know you're already drunk enough to not remember this tomorrow, this is our best Slushy offering to date. Yes, even better than #2. This one is fantastic. AND, I have had first hand experience and can testify that SLUSHY THING V: THE GREATEST CHALLENGE is not only good for intoxicating you, it's also very good at curing the ensuing hang overs. So, when you over indulge tomorrow - and we all know you will - I strongly recommend grabbing 4 or 5 4-packs of SLUSHY THING V to help get your head straight before work on Monday.

For the rest of you nice folks that won't be ruining an otherwise lovely Sunday with binge drinking, you can get SLUSHY THING V, TRUST, and ASTRONAUT JUICE at any of the self-respecting bottle shops and liquor stores in the city and the suburbs you always can.

That's it for now. Any questions? Hit us up at info@ibw-chicago.com and we'll see you tomorrow!!