|
Great Beer Palace
4128 N. Lincoln Ave.
773-525-4906
Review by Maggie Anderson
Arrrr! The cry of the Vikings.
The Great Beer Palace is located on Lincoln Avenue in an up and coming area called North
Center. But even before the area's real estate value skyrocketed, the Palace has been a
legendary place for beer drinkers. At one time, it was home of "the boot." The
name is self-explanatory. An enormous glass boot filled to the brim with a beer of your
choice. When drinking the boot, you were encouraged to share it with others, but it was
bad luck to set it down on the table. Needless to say, some partiers got a little too
crazy, and now the boot has been outlawed.
However, the palace hasn't lost any business because of it. On a Saturday night, all
twenty high tables were filled. The exterior of the Great Beer Palace looks like a
yellowed stucco piece of German architecture with stained glass windows. The interior has
a front bar with many exotic beers on tap. The Viking Raid is a challenging task for true
beer drinkers. One must drink eight 8 oz. German beers in order to earn a Viking Helmet --
a gold plastic helmet adorned with two curled white horns. The walls of the bar are
cluttered with Polaroids of those who have completed the Viking Raid. It's amazing to find
how many people you know
in this collage of photos.
The crowd ranges from early twenties to late twenties and the atmosphere is casual. The
waitresses wear white T-shirts with giant frosty beer mugs on the back -- and their
service is eye-blinkingly quick. (One is better off ordering from a waitress rather than
venturing to the buzzing busy bar area.) The jukebox blares everything from U2 to Patsy
Cline to Michael Jackson. Beware -- conversationalists may struggle over the clinking
glasses and contemporary tunes.
If you're seeking a night of Viking adventure, try the Great Beer Palace. Tell everyone I
said arrrr! And coming soon...The opening of the beer garden. A cozy closed-in patio
protected by wooden gates. The brick
walls are decorated festively with strings of Japanese lanterns, giving the feel of a
neighborhood barbecue. If you're comfortable in an intimate setting eating free baskets of
pretzels and mustard, the beer garden is your spot.