Centerstage - Chicago's Original City Guide

Articles Sections >> Arts + Words Bars + Clubs Dating Festivals Fitness Food Lifestyle Music Theater Travel + Tourism Who's Who > View All Bar Tab Tales Nightlife Guides

Dana warms up for college football season with a stop at Sedgwick's for discounted pitchers of Blue Moon.

Monday Aug 27, 2007.     By Dana Kavan

Bars + Clubs Feed

Drink of the week: A pitcher of Blue Moon at Sedgwick's Bar & Grill on a Tuesday night.

The damage: $10, discounted from $14.

Thousands of bars in Chicago, why this one? From September to mid-November, if you stop by Sedgwick's on a Saturday morning, you're likely to find me and my friends wearing hooded sweatshirts and slamming bottles of Miller Lite while we cheer on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Ever since I moved to Chicago, it's been my go-to college football spot, so much so that, in my imagination, it only exists from the season's first kick-off to the last bowl game. So when I found myself swilling at one of its tall tables on a summer weekday after playing volleyball at NAB, I felt a bit disoriented; a Cubs game played on the big screen, and nary a black-and-gold-clad fan was in sight. I wasn't there to reminisce about my dorm-living days, but I did find myself scoring drinks at prices that might put a college bar out of business.

How it went down: Sedgwick's long list of drink specials seems a bit incongruous with its environs. It doesn't feel like a place where people come to get shit-faced (except the Hawk fans, of course), with its colorful vintage posters hanging on green walls and quality bar food. But on most nights of the week, bargoers can get hammered on buckets of bottles, pitchers of domestics, mixed drinks or bomb shots without breaking a twenty.

My friends and I arrived just after the half-price appetizer deal ended at 7 p.m., but we still had plenty of time to cash in on Tuesday's $15 buckets of Coors Light or $10 pitchers of Blue Moon. We opted to keep things classy (after all, we were covered in sweat and sand) and chose the wheat brew over the light lager. Just when we were feeling confident about our selection, our friend Andy, the kind of guy you want on your trivia team, broke the news: Coors brews Blue Moon. His words stung like my dad's did when he told me the Easter Bunny wasn't real. My belief system a bit jolted but my thirst as insatiable as ever, I forged ahead and dove into the frothy brew with slightly stunted enthusiasm. Despite the fact that it came from the Rockies rather than Belgium, the Blue Moon tasted as refreshing, citrusy and somewhat spicy as always.

Would I want to become a regular? This one is kind of a given. Boasting cheap drinks, veggie quesadillas stuffed with zucchini and unfettered enthusiasm for Hawkeye sports, this bar's got it all. And with football season just around the corner, I'd be wise to start easing back onto my barstool.

Dana Kavan scours the city for drink deals so good you'll offer to buy a round and creative libations that outshine your average on-the-rocks concoctions. Want to give Dana tips on where to rack up a bar tab? Share your finds before her next night out.