Tuesday, January 17, 2012: The Chi-line Social team hit the Chicago Tech Drinkup! An event described as a “gathering of the Chicago tech community. Developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and general tech enthusiasts gather to foster community and drink beer.” We REALLY liked that last part.

It was hosted by Braintree (http://www.braintreepayments.com/) at The Haymarket Pub & Brewery (http://haymarketbrewing.com/). 

Speaking of drinks, this event got it right! Being held at a brewery, we took advantage of their awesome in house drafts! They were delicious and also high in alcohol! Good service as well, no big waits for more drinks. They kept the beer flowing (possibly a bit too much!). 

Food on the other hand had a slow and mediocre start. They brought out a couple of pizzas that disappeared faster than Barry Allen. After another hour, sweet potato tater tots! They were good, but by this time, we were drunk and hungry. So, the food gets a pretty big, MEH. 

Another plus to this event (and bar) is they had a 4 player Pac-Man game! It was pretty fun and protected our Chi-Line team from having answer pesky questions like “Who are you?” and “Why are you here?”

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At this point, I went on a solo mission to another free event(two in one night!? he must be crazy!) at Ace Bar (www.theacebarchicago.com). It was action movie trivia night hosted by Radio DePaul’s Mornings with Kelsey and Alix (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mornings-with-Kelsey-and-Alix/236516159743556?ref=tswww.theacebarchicago.com). It was action movie trivia night hosted by Radio DePaul’s Mornings with Kelsey and Alix (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mornings-with-Kelsey-and-Alix/236516159743556?ref=ts).

While there wasn’t any free food or booze, there was a ton of movie themed giveaways! Free copies of Killer Elite, Man on a Ledge coffee mugs and Tees (shirts, not for golfing). I even saw one dude with a copy of Scorpion King 3!!!! (yes, they made a third one! yikes.)

All and all two fun times with free shit!

<3 RJ

-video coming soon- 

-The event was at Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush:

http://www.philstefanis437rush.com/

-CISC stands for Chicago Interactive Social Club:

http://www.chicagoisc.com/

<3 RJ

On Thursday, January 12th, 2012, the Chi-Line Social team hit up …some bar downtown… for the CISC Kickoff Event (not sure what CISC stands for… look it up; you have google). The event definitely had a swanky, musky cologne vibe to it.

We found ourselves surrounded by slightly older, much wealthier, and better looking people. Regardless, our confidence was high as we approached the poorly manned opened bar. The event offered its patrons 1 hour of open bar (which was limited to Bud Light, Budweiser, and a house specialty drink which was basically vodka with some grape fruit shit in it…) After noticing the 1 hour limit, we quickly found ourselves double and sometimes triple fisting drinks back to our table. Needless to say, after about 45 minutes, our table looked like a college frat had just rolled through.

The event also offered 2 hours of free, tasty appetizers. I managed to quickly swarm a couple of emerging waiters holding chicken sliders and some toast with tomatoes on it (boring). Although tasty, we never saw them emerge again. The lack of food quickly escalated our non-sober-ness and soon we were ready to move to the next bar.

The CISC event did offer welcome gifts including a $15 gift card to… where ever we were… and a free drink coupon for the Public House down the street. Those bonuses definitely upgraded the night and we were able to enjoy any beer off the menu at Public House for free. 

Please watch the below video review of the night to see the gang devour some after drinking pizza while trying to remember the events of the night. Oh yeah, the video is quickly cut off at the end due to lack of battery power. But don’t worry, we continued to talk for another 4 minutes. The batteries knew no one would want to see that… 

Until the next free party!!!

-Austin

Bottom Lounge Beer Social @ The Bottom Lounge

Feat. Founders Brewing, Grand Rapids, MI

Firstly, this was not a free event. I was shocked I went my own self. But, being born and raised and corrupted in Grand Rapids,MI, Founders holds a special place in my heart.

Even though it wasn’t free, for a night of great beers paired with some gnarly sausages, $ 24.77(4.77 online service fee, not cool bro) felt reasonable to me.

Upon check-in, boom, beer in hand. Also, going straight from my day job and not eating helped get the most out of the beers to follow! Oops.

Here’s what was on tap for the night:

Check-in Beer: Founders Double Trouble

Pairing 1: Wild Boar (with hints of garlic) with Founders Porter

Pairing 2: Rabbit with Founders Pale Ale

Pairing 3: Thuringer brat with Founders Breakfast Stout

Pairing 4: Pheasant with Founders Backwoods Bastard

Dessert Beer: A Canadian style Breakfast Stout 

Hey, guess what goes really good together!? MEAT AND AWESOME BEERS.

Only downside was the event was supposed to unveil Founders’ new Imperial Stout. Unfortunately, “it wasn’t ready.” Didn’t damper the evening too much though. There was also an annoying couple sitting next to us complaining about their presumably cushy jobs, how people spend too much time on Facebook (with their iPhone 4S’s close at hand), and getting into heated arguments about their relationship. Sir, Ma’am, take it down a notch and enjoy your beer and boar. 

All and all, the party was a good time. some great beers, great sausages, and didn’t break the bank. Also, if I can get the video off my phone, you’ll see it got me pretty drunk, which is a plus. 

-RJ

http://www.foundersbrewing.com/

http://bottomlounge.com/

The first video review for Chi-Line Social is now LIVE! We are still getting a grasp of the party review process and trying to figure out the best way to rate each free party we crash. Until we establish better judging guidelines, we will just base the quality of the party on how intoxicated we are in the video review.

Using that rating scale, clearly the PBR Holiday party at Beauty Bar was pretty decent. Austin is slurring every other word, RJ is holding two drinks at once, Mike is next to speechless, and we filmed it in the men’s restroom. All signs of a great party.

The PBR Holiday party was a canned-food drive held at the Beauty Bar on 12/29/11. Even though none of the Chi-Line Social representatives brought a canned good, we were admitted and allowed to take full advantage of the hosted bar. The free drinks for the night consisted of free PBR tall boys and free Canadian Club whiskey from 9-11pm. Pretty solid two hours to get the job done. And get the job done we did…. do? 

We had a good time mingling with ourselves and made it a point to only socialize within the 5 of us. We did manage to hit up the photo booth, hit the dance floor, and double fist drinks allll night. In the end, we deemed the night a success — capped off by a late night McDonald’s run followed by a cereal bowl suicide at home.

Sounds like a winner to me.

Until next time!