Forget everything you know about taprooms.
Did you do it? Did you forget it?
Okay, now picture yourself sitting at an oak bar with an oatmeal milk stout Mudslide in one hand and some Publican sausage in the other. That's Maplewood Lounge, the latest addition to three-year-old Maplewood Brewery & Distillery that's open now in Logan Square looking like this.
What you have here is part cocktail bar, part restaurant, part taproom and part everything-else-you-want-in-a-drinking-establishment. And before you ask, yes, that includes Medieval-style chandeliers suspended from timber rafters.
You'd think, being this close to a brewery, you'd drink beer here. And you'd be right. Sorta. Barman Matt Frederick of EZ Inn fame offers alternatives like a take on the Piña Colada made with strawberry margarita Gose, plus a gin-and-Son-of-Juice beer cocktail on draft. But there's always a pint of Double Charlatan IPA if you're a purist, of course.
All of which should pair just swimmingly with some beer-battered fried cheese curds and a short rib double cheeseburger.
It's like they planned that or something.