Illinois’ Most Ordered Drinks
How many drinks are there in the world? Well, let’s see: beers, wines, scotch, bourbon, hard liquor – that’s just way too varied a list to get through them all in search of that one great drink. Fortunately, you don’t have to suffer through those god awful concoctions to find something half decent; we’ve done it for you. So now we bring you a guide to the most popular drinks in Illinois, for your reading pleasure.
1. Beer
In Illinois, they favour ye olde Imperial Stout when it comes to beer. Strong, heady, with a huge malty body that’s a pleasure to drink, alongside undertones of coffee, dark fruits like figs, and with a slight undertone of bourbon (some Stouts are aged in bourbon barrels), it all combines to give the drinker a fine beer experience.
2. Wine
Chambourcin is the name of the game in Illinois, at least as far as wine is concerned. A French-hybrid grape, made by cross-breeding a French grape, like Chardonnay, with local American vines, Chambourcin is a dark grape that produces a full-bodied red wine, with a slightly herby flavour and smell. Most commonly used to make claret or Bordeaux type wines, it has also seen success as a rosé.
3. Bourbon & Scotch
Illinois loves as simple Irish whiskey cocktail, more so than anything involving scotch and bourbon (except maybe drinking the stuff straight – but who doesn’t love that, am I right). Anyway, one of the most popular cocktails is The Emerald, made with Irish whiskey, sweet vermouth, and orange bitters. Throw in a twist of orange peel to emphasise that citrusy aroma and you’re all set to give a dinner party to guests from Illinois.
4. Hard Liquor
Illinois ranks 6th in the country for consumption of tequila, so it’s safe to say that Illinois natives love the stuff. Mexico’s native drink, distilled from the blue agave plant, is ironically consumed by more people in the United States than in its own country, with the US consuming almost twice as much as its southern neighbour.
Don’t forget the salt and lime!
5. Cocktails
A variation on a New Orleans classic, Illinois’ signature cocktail is the Chicago Fizz. A mix of dark rum, port, lemon juice, club soda, egg whites, and sugar, it became a major name in cocktails outside of Illinois, in the pre-prohibition era, when the Waldorf-Astoria in New York served it and it was ridiculously popular. Makes sense, then, that Illinois natives love it.
