I have a confession to make; Angie and I had never been to the Aviary before. I can’t remember if we discussed this, but we discovered the Aviary through connections we made while managing and bartending in a fine dining restaurant by word of mouth from our patrons. A few of them became good friends and one night while cocktailing, we went into depth about Alinea, Grant Achatz, and related topics. Angie went on to discover The Alinea Project and thus, Allen and Sarah Hemberger. She read the entirety of the blog and was immediately hooked. We’d talk about it all the time and it inspired us to do more with our hobbies and experiences.
When I first heard of Alinea, the idea of paying more than $100 per person for a single meal was just impossible to even consider, not to mention the very thought of the incredible experience. This was dining as an art, curated by some of the most brilliant minds in the industry. At times, discussing such influential individuals can be overwhelming. It makes me, as an amateur in the craft, feel insignificant by comparison; like an ant hiding in the yard of a giant’s home. The very idea that Allen was able to recreate those perplexing dishes from home inspired us to do something more ourselves. So imagine our excitement when we heard about the collaborative works of Grant, Micah, Allen, Sarah, Nick, and their incredible teams creating The Aviary Cocktail book. We quickly preordered ourselves a signed copy. It was soon after we received the thrilling email that our book had shipped that Angela looked at me with her wide, brown eyes. An excited smile, a sense of wonder, and a suggestion followed – we should do it too. Let’s make a blog and craft every cocktail in the book. And soon this became something we really wanted to “do the shit out of.”
As that fateful suggestion became a plan, one of our recurring conversations always came back to “how are we going to pull off the Dusty Bottle cocktails”? We had imagined that it would be a fun challenge to try to acquire the highly elusive liquors listed in the back of our Big, Beautiful Book, however, after several unfruitful hunts, we came to the unfortunate conclusion that it would be unlikely that we could pull this challenging feat off and would have to pull these cocktails off our roster. In spite of this realization, we are very much completionists and so we came up with a compromise. If we couldn’t acquire the funds or dedicate the research to finding aged liquors for recreating these amazing cocktails, we instead could blog about the Dusty Bottle Experience by indulging in them at The Office. Once this compromise was made and with Angie’s birthday fast approaching, we started planning out our exciting excursion.
Our planning efforts were not the most fruitful, sadly, as we left Des Moines relatively late on a Friday night in April, so we knew that we wouldn’t have the time that evening to explore much of Chicago. On top of this, Angie was suffering from an ear infection, but we pushed forward as we were determined to have a great time. We eventually approached the massive city like two ants crawling into a produce section at a grocery store in the middle of the night, knowing that we would be quietly walking among giants at daybreak.
It was a forest of concrete. I hadn’t been to Chicago since high school and I spent that time in museums or at the occasional baseball game with my Grandpa. Being able to really observe what was around me now, I felt myself getting smaller and smaller as we ventured forth.
On Saturday morning, we started off with a quick trip for ear drops, coffee, and pastries. Once we had finished our intake of caffeine, our plan was to block off the morning for a dedicated liquor hunt. While we had expected this to take a few hours, a brief trip to Binny’s down the street from our hotel supplied us with all the gems we needed to work on our upcoming cocktails.
Returning to our hotel, this couple of mad scientists cracked open our Big, Beautiful Book and started rummaging through our recipes of elixirs. Looking at equipment and specs, and calling distilleries in attempts to acquire staves for aging our own small batch liquors, we felt right at home. The focus and review started to give way to our appetites and we knew we needed to find lunch soon.
It couldn’t have been more thematic to pick out the brewery, Crushed by Giants, for our blog post and adventure. My time spent in a tap house becoming a certified beer server has caused me to habitually seek great breweries for lunch when on a trip and Crushed by Giants did not disappoint. Angie’s truffled mushroom pizza and my spicy chicken sandwich were killer, and the beer flight was incredible! We were quickly stuffed and very impressed. They also had this epic gallery of old-timey photos with photoshopped giants that gave me the giggles.
Making our way back to the hotel, we really did start to feel crushed by the giants before us. We are just a small Iowa couple about to embark on an evening in one of the most anticipated bar experiences we’ve been yearning for in the past few years. Beyond the exhilaration and anxious excitement, a presence of fear loomed in the atmosphere of our minds… literally. Seriously, our phones kept going off about a weather alert in Chicago but outside looked like a normal, semi-cloudy day.
Our next leg of the journey was to drive to Rhine Hall Distillery for its vast varieties of brandy. The Aviary has many cocktails that feature Rhine Hall spirits, so we knew that stopping here was a necessity. We had emailed Rhine Hall a week prior inquiring about a few bottles that we needed but were no longer listed on their site. We were hopeful, but unsurprised when a team member from Rhine Hall, Diana, confirmed that a few of the styles of brandy had been discontinued.
This was the trip that taught me the hard way about Chicago traffic. It was like making it through every intersection unscathed was a battle and a feat worthy of celebration. I’m pretty sure I saw a near-miss and almost car accident every 30 seconds. Lanes were optional, laws even more optional. Stop signs weren’t always placed in the greatest place and everybody was racing each other. I felt like the main character in an anime with plot armor. There is just no way we should have made it back without at least a dent or two.
Rhine Hall was fantastic. To our delight, Diana happened to be the bartender who took care of us as we found a comfortable seat. She quickly recognized us from our emails and handled us with a warm welcome. We were fortunate to get to be at the distillery in person, allowing Diana to take the reins as she guided us through substitutions for the discontinued products. The samples were divine, and though it wasn’t on our list, I had to get a bottle of coffee liqueur for myself.
It wasn’t long before we had to part. We walked out with a case packed tightly with potions and a new home-away-from-home bound to our hearts. Before leaving our parking space, we also tried some incredible coffee from Diana’s recommendation just across the street – they partnered to provide the beans used in the liqueur – Metric. Seriously great coffee there, I will undoubtedly return.
By this point, it was late afternoon, and thus, on to the main event. We returned to the hotel to get dressed in our nicer clothes and freshen up. Angie got another dose of ear drops and was becoming increasingly more miserable. I feel so bad that she had to drag herself through Chicago in such a state, but she kept her spirits up and enjoyed as much as she could (pun intended).
Our phones continued to alarm us with cautions of weather. Just a week before this trip, a storm with tornado warnings went through our town that caused Uber and Lyft to close for the evening, so I was starting to get nervous that our planned rides might do the same tonight. It was still sunny so far though, so I had my fingers crossed.
We started our mystical evening with a walk to the Broken Shaker. On the way is when our phones went off to take shelter and weather alerts pinged like an air raid siren. Weirdly enough though, the windy city lacked a morsel of wind. It was so strange how our phones’ reports contrasted with the streets and the skies.
Making it to the Broken Shaker, we were astonished. This gorgeous speakeasy was tucked up the stairs at the back of a hotel. They had a fantastic selection of great tiki drinks and we loved the vibe. We sipped our drinks slowly and paced for the sake of a long night.
Soon it was time for our reservations for dinner at Volare, classic Italian fine dining. We haven’t had a real Italian experience since our time working in the restaurant we used to manage. The food was great and the wine was tasty. I think we both filled up so much more than we ever expected to and had some extra time left before our late reservation at The Office.
We decided to wander near the restaurant and explore. Our phones still insisted on dangers lurking in the clouds above, and though it was dark, it wasn’t treacherous. It wasn’t even slightly windy, but the air pressure was intense as a thunderstorm encroached upon us. It was nearly time for our Lyft to pick us up when I felt the pressure drop and we took cover from a massive downpour. Despite an ocean plummeting and engulfing us in a tsunami of rain and furious wind, we loaded up into our ride and before we knew it, we were on the doorstep of the Aviary.
I’ve seen pictures and always known that the Aviary just looks like another building from the outside. It’s not like driving past Disneyland or a famous castle. Just feeling the energy of this place I adored from a distance so greatly while just beyond its border is incredible. Thankfully, the rageful storm softened to a gentle prickle of pattering droplets against the concrete surrounding us, allowing us to absorb the experience that stood before us. So many people probably pass by this building every day without a clue about it, and it’s astonishing.
The reality is that while we are enamored by the unique creations that are being enchanted and experienced within these walls, the Aviary is a bar. It’s a real place with a normal door and normal people clocking in and working hard. It feels so weird to take my imagination on a trip to reality to remove the mystery behind my adoration. I couldn’t help but watch through the kitchen window as a fleet of focused individuals bring every piece of the puzzle together to deliver to the patrons beyond the bar. We could see Micah Melton at the end of the bar coaching a few members of the team and felt the intensity of being in the presence of greatness.
At this moment, one of the kitchen workers smiled and waved at us. I waved back and snapped back to reality. I noticed some staff filling In the Rocks glasses and saw a few familiar drinks being created and it struck me. We’ve done this before and these are people no different than ourselves. I could sense the panic and stress of servers checking on the drinks their patrons may have been waiting for. I could see as the team surveyed the crowd and considered their next steps to keep the ship in motion. As soon as the barrier between me and the kitchen was broken by a simple wave, I felt this sense of comfort and familiarity that was so welcoming. My perspective shifted from this alien experience to a realization that I know this environment like it was home.
Then we went inside. Greeted in a dimly lit entry at an unassuming host stand, we gave our names and were quickly guided to our reservation. The booths and decor were like a surreal fantasy. Concoctions and vapors scattered from table to table as patrons indulge in conversation. This was like an alternate reality where being the nerdy alchemist was actually cool and everyone wanted to be there. Before long, we were led into a dark hall and down a flight of stairs. At the base of the stairs was a round room with doors all around it. It made me imagine a spacecraft with escape pod vessels in the event of impending doom, but no, these were the bathrooms.
The host pulled a key from their pocket and unlocked one of the doors, ushering us into the speakeasy of speakeasies. The Office. A bar that could seat no more than maybe six guests, with merely two couches and a few small tables nearby. In total, I’m sure this room could barely seat 20 people. The host forewarned us that the door remains locked and that we would need a key if we were to excuse ourselves to the restroom and promptly sat us at the bar.
Still bloated from dinner, I felt a bit squeamish and out of place when we sat down. We were offered water and soon met our bartender for the evening, Ryan. He broke the ice with introductions and started walking through some history of the drinks for the evening. We began with a delightful gin martini mixed with a 1970 Cizzano Bianco and a 1960 Gordons Gin. Time really allowed these spirits to brighten with age. The citrus stood out to me and paired well with an incredible tuna tartare and caviar plate that was complimented with one of the other bartender’s (Josh) favorites – everything bagel crisps.
I regret being so stuffed. I thought I’d be more ready for our late-night reservation after a few hours in between our reservation here and from dinner, but this experience was truly for my mouth and a battle for my stomach. The next step of the course was definitely the most delicious and filling. First, a rich and balanced margarita made with a 1980 Grand Marnier and a 1980 Suaza Extra Tequila. The age of the Grand Marnier revealed an earthy element like a fine, aged wine. Sometimes a good drink tastes like soil, and this was one of those times. The experience complemented the vegetal tequila quite nicely. The sip finished with a delightfully clean and fruity twang. Overall, it was very refreshing.
The margarita was accompanied by a thick, fluffy, and gently crisp piece of toast with several spreads. Jam and foie gras adorned our plates in no time and it didn’t matter how full I was anymore; I ate every bite. Angie, however, was falling apart at the whim of her ear infection. She still sheds tears to this day for not being able to finish this dish.
It was around this point that the conversation started roaring. We discussed our blog and Ryan had this moment of recognition that fills my heart. He revealed to us that a little more than a year ago while working in bars he came across our blog before he started working at the Aviary. Apparently, it was because of this discovery that he became intrigued at the job prospect and ultimately started his position with the team. We’re flattered to have been a part of that journey, and honored that our first drinks could be served by him. Thanks again for a great night, Ryan!
It wasn’t long after sampling a few bottles of liquor from behind the bar that Ryan started threatening everyone at the bar with Malört. Angie apparently had never had it so, as a truly evil husband, I encouraged it in spite of her condition. Malört is just such a strange profile, and everyone started razzing Ryan for his passionate support of it. I admit I think it’s a cool piece and a unique flavor to try to work with. I applaud Ryan for his discerning taste. Still couldn’t resist the razz, though.
You may be surprised that Malört wasn’t in the third course, but it was actually Bobby Burns. Like a conversation among tightly knit friends, the 1980 Gallo Sweet Vermouth, 1980 Dom Benedictine, and 1960 Chivas Scotch mingled like they’d known each other since birth. Balanced, smoky, and gentle, you would almost forget the harshness of a long and hard day when this beverage has betrothed your senses. My satisfaction was complete with a cocoa truffle, coffee fudge, and chartreuse jelly. We especially enjoyed the jelly.
We lingered late into the night. I had an additional Old Fashioned before we closed our tab. Angie and I would have made our cocktailing friends proud as we closed out the bar as the last ones to leave when the lights went up. Bidding our fantastic company farewell, we gingerly made our way upstairs to discover a quiet and sleeping dreamscape. The patrons were gone, the kitchen vacant. All of the mad magics and alchemic creations were tucked in for the eve, and the wizards were nowhere to be seen. It was honestly impressive to see a bar close precisely at 1 am and watch Ryan and the last of the staff exit by 1:15 am as we waited for our Lyft back to our lair. A final hug and unforgettable memories sealed our night, and we weren’t long from slumber.
Bringing our weekend to a close, we went to Ryan’s suggested spots on Sunday morning, eating an incredible crepe and enjoying some coffee at Brü, and bringing our liquor hunt for the next project to a close. We stopped at H-Mart to stock up on our Korean goodies, and my goodness, that is a Korean household’s dream come true. Coming here reminded me of all the street food vendors we had enjoyed when we traveled to Korea several years ago. We decided to get the fixings to host a Korean BBQ when we got home to share with our friends.
I have to admit that I’m concluding this experience months after the fact, and I still remember the drive home left my mind still swimming from all that we had experienced. We will return again, we must, and we are determined that the next time we return to walk among the giants, it’ll be at the Aviary itself, indulging in the unthinkable.