The Daily Parker

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Rhine Hall Distillery, Chicago

Welcome to stop #13 on the Brews and Choos project.

Distillery: Rhine Hall Distillery, 2010 W. Fulton St., Chicago
Train lines: Milwaukee District North and West, Western Ave. (Also CTA Green line, Ashland)
Time from Chicago: 9 minutes (Zone A)
Distance from station: 1.3 km (1.1 km from CTA)

I found visiting Rhine Hall on a weeknight in February odd for two reasons. First, I didn't realize that they distill from fruit, rather than grain, so I didn't prepare myself for the flavors of their spirits well. Second, I used to work in the same building from 1995 to 1996, so walking around the place brought back a ton of 25-year-old memories.

Nothing like this existed in the building back then.

The owners, a husband and wife team, opened the distillery after returning from Germany, where he learned how to make eau de vie (fruit brandy). They have since branched out into a dozen varieties, including the ones I sampled:

From left to right, all 80-proof spirits: apple brandy, oak-aged apple brandy, cherry brandy, and Frenet Lola. The brandies had subtle characters reminiscent of their underlying fruit, and would make really interesting mixers for cocktails (which, incidentally, they serve at the distillery). The Frenet had strong licorice notes and, I imagine, tasted like a well-made Frenet. I have never had Frenet before so this was an experience.

This might be worth a second trip, to try their cocktails.

Beer garden? No
Dogs OK? Yes
Televisions? No
Serves food? No, but you can bring it in
Would hang out with a book? No
Would hang out with friends? Yes
Would go back? Yes

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