A UNIQUE, SMALL BATCH BREWPUB IN PILSEN, ALULU INVITES PATRONS TO ENJOY EXCLUSIVE BEERS AND A CHEF- DRIVEN MENU

APRIL 17, 2017, PILSEN, CHICAGO, IL – Culinary maestro Jeff Hedin and upstart master brewers Frank Costanzo and Nancy Rockwood have teamed up to create untold delights off the beaten path in the diverse and artistic neighborhood of Pilsen at 2011 S. Laflin Street.
Jeff Hedin has earned city-wide acclaim for the culinary creations he devised during past endeavors at places like Leopold on Chicago Avenue, as well as for his time spent at Green Zebra and Juno. He has also worked under Hugo Matheson at Mateo in Boulder, CO and under Stephanie Izard at Girl & the Goat.

Pulling from his interest in Eastern European cuisine and an eclectic mix of global dishes, Hedin has created a seasonal menu to please everyone. Ruskie Pierogi and his renowned Mussels and Frites are just the first volley. Hedin has also imbued pub favorites like the Alulu Burger and Charred Chicken Wings with his mythic touch. But it doesn’t stop there – must-haves like Lumpia (his vegan egg rolls), Banh Mi and house made sausage compete with everything else on the menu.

Hedin’s creations are perfectly complemented by the beer of award-winning home brewers-turned-professionals Frank Costanzo and Nancy Rockwood. Prior to becoming a brewer, Costanzo worked as a chemical engineer, and he now brings his extensive scientific knowledge and technical innovations to the brewpub setting. Costanzo built a 3.5 barrel system into the cozy space. He is most noted for his Stouts and Porter styles but is eager to experiment with open fermentation and barrel-aged beers.

Rockwood, a fixture of the craft beer scene in Chicago and an auxiliary board member of The Chicago Brewseum, brings a culinary flair to the Belgian, malt-forward, and barrel-aged beer styles that are her specialties. Rockwood is a member of the Master Brewers Association, a Recognized BJCP beer judge, and a world traveler who brings back regional beer styles from her many expeditions.

Currently in its soft opening, Alulu boasts an impressive 11 beers named to evoke the science fiction and fantasy genres: Jaunt Rotation – a tetrology of bursts (Session IPA), Epishelf Bridge – sprouting the brights (Blonde Ale), Westerly Apex – aged in the Humulus sun (American Pale Ale), Crystal Keep – of the Choco Rings (Brown Ale), Halcyon Equinox – golden days of fluffy lace (Belgian Saison), Rue Envoy – drowning in the virulent sea (IPA), Crest Rubies – from the Noble Lake of Prosperity (Amber Ale), Provender Cave – of sorcerous mud and burnt fields (Coffee Stout – Dry), Champion Fluffy – scratching the fractal fjord (Belgian Tripel), Libra Aura – drank on Mezmerzen Day (Belgian IPA), and Windward Aglow – breezy spice of stalk (Belgian Wit). New beers will be introduced to the rotation regularly. The beers are all exclusive – made on the premises and only sold onsite.

Alulu Brewpub makes everything from scratch and locally sources ingredients. Alulu also employs the best in local craft spirits to make unique cocktails and beertails on par with the best in Chicago. The trio wants every visit to the destination to be special and promises something new upon every return. In addition to the house made sausages and beer, Alulu has created many custom pop flavors to be drank on their own or combined with the beers into a shandy or radler.

Powered by an endless array of artist friends and supporters, the group has painstakingly worked to revitalize a vacant 2-story building to call their home. Using materials reclaimed from the building itself and employing the work of local carpenter and all- around renaissance man Darren Lim, the team crafted every fixture and piece of furniture from scratch while also building on the latest standards in energy and construction. Every inch is utilized to maximize the building’s potential.

The rustic feel emanating from every corner is juxtaposed with modern touches to complete a cozy and unique experience for patrons from the neighborhood and beyond. There is a wood-burning fireplace to warm Chicagoans on cold winter nights as well as large garage doors that open in the warmer months for the feel of dining outdoors.

Alulu Brewpub marks the first endeavor of the team. They’ve created a welcoming and vibrant destination in Chicago’s new culinary and craft beer frontline: Pilsen.
Alulu, located at 2011 S Laflin Street, is open Thursdays – Sundays 5pm-Midnight during its soft opening period.

Starting Friday, April 28th, Alulu will be open Wednesdays – Sundays 3pm-Close. Weekend brunch In summer. For more information, please email alulubrew@gmail.com.

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Learning in Dublin

I've created a new professional webpage!  Check it out!  http://goo.gl/UASlv

UK '12

After an eventful year living and teaching in Germany, summer finally happened upon us. I'm so happy to be done with school. Although I miss home and my old job at times, I know this was what I needed to do at this time in my life. I feel like I was getting stagnant at TFN.
My new friend, Kathy and I have headed to the UK for the two weeks before I start my masters program in Dublin for the month of July.

Our trip began in Edinburgh. I had never been to Scotland, so I was excited to see it. My brother John had studied in Scotland a long time ago, and used to speak about how beautiful it was. He was right. Edinburgh is gorgeous. It's a hilly town with a lot of beauty and I fell in love with a Scottish accent. The castle is marvelous, sitting high upon a hill overlooking the city. Sometimes I forget how old these cities in Europe are. The castle has been standing for over one thousand years! Crazy. I enjoyed the hike up to Arthur's seat; great workout that was! The gardens and monuments were very pretty, but the Scottish houses of parliament are butt ugly! I don't know what the architect was thinking!

We left Edinburgh after two days and took the train to Newcastle. There was a debate about renting a car, but I'm soooo glad we didn't. Newcastle would have been a nightmare to drive in. I really liked Newcastle. It was a bigger town than I had anticipated, and lots of things to see. We went to see where the castle stood (the New castle) and the Tyme river. It was a very walkable town, so we got to see Charles Grey's memorial. He is the "Earl Grey" whom earl grey tea is named after. 

Upon leaving Newcastle, we went into the medieval town of York. Wow! Petty incredible city, with a lot of history there. The medieval wall from roman times is still standing and Kathy and I did this awesome cat tour through the city. There are cats positioned throughout the city, to scare away pigeons and mice and rats, and the statues are found all over. We found all 16. It was a great way to see the city. The weather in York was terrible; rainy nearly the whole time we were there. We took a ghost tour. Cool to walk through the town and hear old spooky stories about it. I really liked York and would like to return. 

 


We left York to go to Cambridge to see Kathy's friend Luke, who is studying there. He gave us a great tour of Kings College and the town, then we went to tea at this cute little tea house out of town. I had a fruity tea and it was delicious. Luke invited us to the graduate ball that night, so we got to get all dressed up and go party with the other grad students celebrating the end of the school year. Good times; we were out til 4am! Yikes. The next morning we were leaving to go to London so you can imagine that was as pretty rough day,

We needed to be in London early because the two of us were heading to Wimbledon to queue for Monday tickets. (I'll explain more about the queue later.) We camped out overnight to get our tickets and we got awesome, like 7th row, Centre Court tickets. And we got interviewed in the queue to be on tv! Crazy. Wimbledon was awesome as usual. 

I took Kathy on a mini tour of London the next day after we visited Kensington Palace. I really liked the way they did the palace layout. There was a lot of interactive type stuff while going through the palace as well as being informative. I like that. We went all around London to see all the big sites, and then headed to a movie to relax. We had had an action packed past week. We took a London river cruise which I would highly recommend to anyone. It was educational and entertaining. That night, we headed back to Wimbledon for the evening session ( tickets are cheap at the end of the day) and got to see some great tennis. I even had a player on court speak to me! It was so exciting. 

Besides Wimbledon, the highlight of my London trip was getting to see Top Hat on the stage. As some of you know, I am a huge Fred Astaire fan, and I couldnt wait to see this play. I was doing my best to keep an open mind and told myself that it would not be the movie, but I still found myself comparing Tom Chambers who played Jerry to Fred. He was a great dancer, but his American accent and singing was average. I really enjoyed the show though because the dancing and the Irving Berlin music was outstanding as expected!

And now I'm in Dublin. Its a pretty town, but it's much smaller than London. I'd put it on the same scale as Edinburgh. I start my monthlong classes tomorrow so today, Kathy and I are headed on a bus to Galway. It should be eventful to say the least,

BFA

I'm sitting in our library on a Sunday, feeling delighted that I actually have internet that works.  I've been trying to get caught up on my grad work which has taken a backseat since I have no internet at home currently, and the website I need for class doesn't work at school.  It's been beyond frustrating.  There aren't a lot of places here that have free internet, and I'm not comfortable going to one my friends' houses and being total antisocial because I need to use their internet.  So the library it is for right now.  I hope my professors will be understanding.

Yesterday my team played at Black Forest Academy near the Swiss and French borders.  It was a nice school, and very nice to not be on a base for a game.  It's a private, boarding school, and we played two good games, but lost both.  I'm so frustrated we can't make lay-ups.  Unfortunately, I don't think anyone ever taught them how important they are in the game of basketball.  It was a 7 hour bus ride there, then we spent the night, and got back at about 10pm last night.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep a lot while we were there, so I crashed when I got home last night.

I'm trying to get caught up on all my bill paying, unpacking, and class work because this week, we'll be at Europeans in Wiesbaden, and I'll be missing school for THREE days for this tournament.  I'm not excited about missing school, but I can't wait to see how this tournament is run!  Should be interesting.  Not sure I'll coach again next year, though, because there's just too much drama and unimportant stuff to deal with here.

Softball starts March 5th, so that will add another element of fun for the spring, and I'm sure there will be drama with that as well.  My iPad's home button is broken, which is a challenge, and I want to mail it home to get fixed, but I think I finally found a way to make it work even though the button doesn't work.  At least til I can get to Frankfurt and an Apple store.

My apartment is coming along nicely, even though I don't have a lot of stuff in there.  I just need to get internet set up and then I should be able to function much better all around.  My stove/oven doesn't work, but my landlord said he'll get that fixed.  The problem with getting anything done over here is that people don't work past 5pm (sometimes 4pm), and obviously, I'm never done working by that time, and I HATE taking time off.  I'm a little homesick now and then, but I think that's normal.  My friends here have been wonderful, but I miss my mom, siblings, and nieces and nephews; and of course, my friends at home.

[caption id="attachment_192" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="River next to BFA; campus is to the left of the river"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_193" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="BFA"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_194" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="We played two games at this boarding school."][/caption]

Holidays in Deutschland

It has been a rough three weeks, but in FOUR days I'm heading back to the US!  I can't wait to go home for Christmas to see my family and friends, especially the ones who are looking forward to seeing me; it's nice to have some people contact me and try to make plans for when I'll be around!

I've been extremely busy with basketball, grad school, and teaching.  I realize that I'm just as busy here in Germany as I was in the US.  Not much as changed except I can't communicate as well.  I'm still living in a hotel; it's a nice hotel, and they've put me up in one of their apartments, so I have a little kitchen and a couch.  It has decent internet, but I have to say, Germany's internet is not that great.  I don't know what we've done in the US, but we have the patent on quick internet and access to quick internet.  I thought my iPad would be able to get online some more places here, but unless I'm in a hotel or the library, there aren't a lot of place with Wifi here.  It's kind of interesting, but it makes me appreciate home.

[caption id="attachment_166" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Nuremberg"][/caption]

Basketball is a bit disappointing.  We haven't won a game yet, and I just can't believe how little experience these kids have.  I thought it couldn't get worse after our first loss, but guess what?  I. was. wrong.  Way wrong.  It got way worse!  I just can't believe it.  I have no ballhandlers.  As soon as I find one, she will never come off the court!

[caption id="attachment_167" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kathy, me and Sara with our Starbucks (the closest one to Schweinfurt)"][/caption]

I went with Jordan, Sara, and Kathy to the Nuremberg Christmas Market.  It's a nice town; I wish our post was there.  I had fun being in a city again.  Schweinfurt is pretty small.  The Christmas markets here are cool.  I'm a little uncomfortable with the one in Schweinfurt because sometimes I could see students walking around with bottles of gluhwein (hot, mulled wine) getting drunk.  I don't think that's cool, so I avoid ours as much as possible.

[caption id="attachment_173" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kathy and I enjoying our gluhwein (I'm not really a fan!)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_172" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kathy, Sara, and I at the Nuremberg castle"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_171" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Church at the market"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_170" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Entrance to the market"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_168" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The cathedral in Nuremberg"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_169" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Me and Jordan at the entrance to the Christmas market"][/caption]

Thanksgiving

I'm so excited that tomorrow is the last day of school for four glorious days.  Why?  Because I'm heading to Spain for the holiday AND for my birthday.  I hope it will be a good start to my next year of life...beginning in Espana!  Our German thanksgiving dinner was absolutely wonderful.

[caption id="attachment_162" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="German family plus some others!"][/caption]

My friend Kathy hosted, so it was the German family; Sara, Jordan, Zack, Laura, Amy, and Kathy, plus Hana (our culinary teacher) and Woody (her husband), and Kathy's German neighbors.  Food was wonderful, and the company was even better.  We had such a good time, eating and being merry.  All it missed was some football on the television in the background!  I love the holidays so much...I'm really looking forward to heading home for Christmas.

My basketball team is looking better.  I have a good core of girls, so I'm excited to have our first game next week.  I know North has started the Marist tourney and I was trying to find out how the varsity did, but I couldn't find it in any papers online.  I got teary-eyed when I saw the score finally, just because I miss those girls and the kids at North very much.  There are days I wish it weren't such a part of me, but it is, so I just have to deal with it.  I miss US basketball, and the ease of everything.  However, I realize that if I were in the US I wouldn't be going to Spain over Thanksgiving or to Chicago for two weeks, and STILL get to coach basketball.  This is a whole new world here, especially in the realm of high school sports.  My girls will be okay, but their skills are nowhere near where they should be.  They don't have all the basketball sense that I'd like, but I'm doing my best to give it to them.

Here are some photos from Thanksgiving on this side of the pond.

[caption id="attachment_161" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Zack showing Annalena (German neighbor) how to eat Cool Whip"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_160" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Me, Laura, Amy, and Kathy"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_159" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Mmmm...looks good!"][/caption]

Although Columbus may have "discovered" America, it is widely known that others before him had gotten there first.  However, I am grateful that he "discovered" America because it gave me a day off from school, and the opportunity to go, for the first time, into Poland!

Ah, Poland...the motherland.  Where the people look like me!  Haha...and eat Polish food! (Not all of which I like.)

The long weekend enabled me, Diane, Darlene, Linda, Laura, Zack, and Kathy to have the opportunity to go into Poland.  At first, I was hesitant because I knew we were heading to Auschwicz and since I'd already been to the Dachau concentration camp, I wasn't really keen on seeing another one.  But I caved because I really wanted to go to Poland and see what it was like, and Diane, Darlene, and Linda had all been there before, so it was good to go with people who knew what they were doing.

We drove, and left as soon as we could on Friday (it was an institute day) and stopped for the night in Bautzen, which is still in Germany.  Our experienced travelers had a whole plan so we could stay in Germany as long as possible and use our gas cards, our VAT forms, etc.  (These are all to help us save money!)  Bautzen was a beautiful medieval town; at least what we saw of it was.  It was dark when we arrived and it would be dark when we left, so we had to make do as much as possible.  We went to dinner at a cute place where everyone was dressed in medieval fare; long brown robes for the men and wench costumes for the women.  The food was amazing...it's a place where monks used to brew beer.  The rooms were very low and the archways were very tiny, but it had a certain charm to it.  After dinner, Diane and Linda went back to the hotel to head to bed, but Kathy, Zack, Laura, and I wanted to explore what we could of this town.  It was soooo adorable!  THIS was the kind of German town I thought I'd be moving to; alas, I'm in Schweinfurt!

The next morning we headed into Poland and to the town of Boleslewicz (I'm sure I've butchered that).  There, we were exposed to the world of Polish pottery...what a site.  It was beautiful and SPOILER ALERT, most people will be getting Polish pottery for Christmas!  :)  However, after about 5 stores, it wasn't so beautiful anymore.  The colors and patterns started running together, and it was getting a bit absurd.  Our experienced travelers were all about the pottery, so I bought my few things and then went along for the ride.  I didn't know that Poland wasn't yet on the Euro, and it's one of the few places where the dollar is strong, so everything was pretty cheap.  We went strong all day, then met up with a Polish friend, Barbara.  She was married to a military man, but he passed away, and now she lives in Lodz (I think...could be totally wrong on that.)  She joined our little group and it was fun hanging out with her.

[caption id="attachment_126" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Zack, Kathy, Pawel (works at the hotel), Darlene, Me, Diane"][/caption]

When we were finally done with Polish pottery, we went to the little B & B where we'd be staying for the next two nights.  It was called the Blue Beetroot, and it was adorable.  It's owned by a British couple; the wife has Polish/Lithuanian roots...she told us an amazing story of her family and how they left right before WW2 because they recognized the signs from WW1.  They headed to England and that was where they remained!  Crazy.  This hotel has a very high American tourist population...in fact, we met some other Americans traveling there who were also teachers from Germany.  It's a very small place over here!

Sunday, we went to Auschwicz.  It's totally different from Dachau, so I'm grateful I went.  It was a terrible time in history and it needs to be shown how bad it was.  I think a lot of us don't fully grasp the gruesomeness of the situation until you see the incinerators and witness how people were burned and killed just because of their background.  Tragic!  I'm posting some photos from there, and you'll see how people were treated as dogs instead of humans.  It should be a lesson to all of us.

Sunday night we went to dinner at a local Polish place.  I had pierogis...yum.  I learned I know a lot of Polish words on this trip!  Way more than German!  Thank you, St. Andrew!  I knew how to say hello, and thank you, and, of course, cheers!  And I could read a menu because of the Polish foods!  I felt all special.  More than I know in German.

Monday, before heading back to Schweinfurt, we went Polish pottery shopping AGAIN!  I am Polish pottery-ed out!  And the sad thing is, I bought gifts for everyone, and only one tiny little thing for myself!  Our ride back was great, and I am definitely lucky for the people I've met thus far on the trip...(No, Mom, I haven't met any eligible men...and Aunt Lu, definitely, no German men!)  Haha.

[caption id="attachment_122" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Leaving school for Poland!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_123" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Rated R: In the ladies' bathroom!!!"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_124" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Bautzen, Germany"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_125" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The beginning of our Polish pottery excursion"][/caption]

























[caption id="attachment_128" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Look, it's everywhere!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_127" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Help! Too much pottery!"][/caption]























[caption id="attachment_129" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Headed to Auschwicz (this is it in Polish!)"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_130" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Entrance to Auschwicz: "Work will set you free""][/caption]

















[caption id="attachment_131" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Main street in Auschwicz 1. It's actually very pretty."][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_132" align="alignright" width="300" caption="People were sent from all over to Auschwicz."][/caption]

















[caption id="attachment_134" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="All the shoes taken from prisoners"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_135" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Where people had to sleep...usually four or five per level!"][/caption]

















[caption id="attachment_136" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Germans tried to destroy the ovens when they heard the Russians were coming"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_137" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Kathy, me, Laura, and Zack at our last Polish dinner."][/caption]