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Nikka Nori Old Fashioned at Arami
Photograph: Jaclyn RivasNikka Nori Old Fashioned at Arami

The 100 best dishes in Chicago 2015: drinks

Toast to a great year for imbibing in Chicago with the 19 best cocktails, beers, coffee and sodas of 2015

Amy Cavanaugh
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Amy Cavanaugh
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We'll remember 2015 as the year we got so many fantastic cocktail bars. Between tiki at Lost Lake and inventive concoctions at GreenRiver, this was an amazing year for cocktail lovers. But beer drinkers weren't left out—we drank through lots of great local session beers and spotted Moody Tongue pretty much every time we left the house. And it wasn't just bars in Chicago wowing us with drinks—we found a special coffee drink at our favorite torta place and creative housemade sodas. Cheers to another great year for Chicago drinks!

RECOMMENDED: The 100 best dishes and drinks in Chicago

  • Bars
  • Lounges
  • River North
  • price 2 of 4
The names of possible drinks are printed on tarot cards at Liz Pearce’s underground speakeasy, and each day, she draws the evening’s offering. Keep your fingers crossed for the Red Rum, a lively vegetal rum drink, made with fresh bell pepper, egg white and port. $12.
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  • Restaurants
  • Mexican
  • River North
  • price 1 of 4
You can’t beat an early morning torta, unless you also grab cafe de olla, rich coffee spiced with cinnamon, star anise and orange zest that’s served iced in the summer and hot in winter. $4.
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  • Bars
  • Cocktail bars
  • Logan Square
  • price 1 of 4
Combining beer and bitters, purls have been made for hundreds of years in England. Analogue’s bracing but refreshing version comes laced with pineapple, rhubarb and hibiscus. $7.
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  • Bars
  • Cocktail bars
  • River North
  • price 2 of 4
Not yet on board the sherry revolution? Broken Shaker’s sherry cobbler is a game changer. A trio of funky sherries and rum team up with a rotating fruit shrub and acid phosphates for an easy-to-drink draft cocktail. $13.
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