Bar Crawling The Windy City: Gold Coast Edition

Stop #1: Nothing beats drinking a couple of cold beers outside on a warm evening, so start things off on the sprawling patio of The Cedar Hotel where Rush meets State Street. While the sports fans gather along the long bar inside, order up a few rounds under the trees and the stars and prepare for the night with one of the hotel’s hearty menu options. Before you embark, make sure to try the No Tell Hotel lemonade; besides having an awesome name, there really is no telling how great you’ll feel by the time you reach the next stop. 

Stop #2: After some beer garden fun, head north on State Street and take a left on Division to The Lodge Tavern, the oldest watering hole in the area that still brings in boisterous crowds. The décor has the feel of an old British pub, but the addition of lots and lots of peanuts on offer adds a welcomed American flair (by this time you should be patriotically pronouncing it as ‘Amurica’). The inexpensive drinks bring in everyone from loud college students to young professionals to the local workers, all waving their mugs and drunkenly bellowing to the vintage jukebox tunes. You and your sloshed friends will fit right in at the Lodge Tavern, and you can even make a few more by guiding the other guests through the deathtrap of peanut shells covering the floor.  

Stop #3: Once you’ve successfully made it this far, the drunk blanket is protecting you from the cool night, and you’ve suppressed any munchies with an excess of peanuts, it’s time to kick things up a notch and head next door to Butch McGuire’s. This raucous Irish pub was originally a singles bar, and the vibes still linger in the air as patrons shoot libidinous looks across the space and rounds of shots are ordered up to entice the hordes of good-looking inebriates into conversation. So join in on the tradition and let that alcohol-fueled inhibition flow.

Stop #4: It’s probably wise to jot this down beforehand since by now your directional skills have probably degraded to those of a first-grader. But from Butch’s, make a right on Division, a left on Dearborn, and a left on Elm back towards State Street (a simple circle), and you’ll find The Hangge Uppe. By the time you arrive you’ll have ideally skipped the 11pm lines and can step inside the Gold Coast’s always guaranteed booze fest, where four tiki-themed bars and three dance floors keep the casual clubbers moving till morning. Whether you want to dance, drink, socialize with the buds, or mingle with the hordes of attractive partiers, The Hangge Uppe highly encourages all of the above. And while a sign outside promises you “the most fun you won’t remember”, if you wake up wondering whether or not it was true, we can vouch that they are a trustworthy source.