AlphaBeer is born

When she worked downtown, every Friday night my mom would get on the 5:04 train. Over time she got to know others that took the same route, and if you've taken the Metra on a Friday you know that people drink beer. Well, my mom and her crew came up with the idea to bring a beer every Friday that started with a different letter of the alphabet. At the time I worked in a restaurant, so when it was her week to bring the brew she'd call me, tell me the letter, and ask what she should get. Sometimes I'd be stymied, so she'd call up Binny's and they'd special order a Q or a K or whatever particular letter she needed. More and more people thought this was such a good idea until they went from needing one six pack to three. This group of ale-lovers even had a web site.

They've since disbanded. Mom no longer works downtown and the others have also gone their separate ways, but the story stuck. I was telling Barbara Maldonado about it a few weeks ago and we said "we should have an event". It helped that we were sitting in Twisted Spoke and their beer list is so comprehensive it seemed like you really could taste beers from A to Z.

We picked a date. Came up with a name. Bought the domain. Then we put out a request on Twitter & Facebook for a great beer bar in Wrigleyville because we want to see Lucid Ground at Cubby Bear after the event. Ta-da! Julia Shell came to the rescue. Within an hour she had our event set up at The Globe Pub with free transportation to the show.

Thus, AlphaBeer was born. This Saturday from 6 to 9pm The Globe Pub will have a beer from every letter of the alphabet for us to sample, poured by Eric Hobbs of Goose Island. After the tasting they're going to ship those who want to go off to Cubby Bear to hear some top Chicago bands, three of whom have been featured on TLT (tickets for the show $10 at the door).

Hop on over here for a complete list of beers and get your tickets right away!

What: AlphaBeer

When: Nov 21, 6 to 9pm

Where: The Globe Pub