Great Food, Excellent Service, 32 BEERS ON TAP! What more could you want?

"The place is packed;

I needed that;

A bottle cracked;

I'm glad for that;

A good night's rest

Forget about that;

I feel alive in this place;

So I'll drink to that."

(Paraphrased from) D. Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

And in BEER NEWS…

A new place opened in Normal two weeks ago, and being a dignitary of the town, I was invited for a special opening dinner party (OK, that’s not completely true as Jim, owner of Acme comics, asked me to go because his wife could not attend and the restaurant has a tapper of 32 beers). The name of the new establishment is Medici’s.

I enjoyed a few beers that night, took a friend there a week later, stopped by for a beer also that week, made arrangements for my family to go the night before they left for home in Florida after my grandmother’s passing, and have gone twice since.

The Beer is incredible, the food is very good, and the service is great. Maria, the greeter, now knows me by name as do Jon and Mike, two of the bartenders. The owner is always there and stops by to shake my hand and chat and I feel strangely like Norm in Cheers.

The restaurant has an artistic theme and wishes to promote young artists. The design uses natural materials (I will put a picture up soon) and the owner deliberately hires less experienced wait staff so he can train them on his method—which by the way works because they are so incredibly kind and helpful.

My family loved the place, I love it, my friends I have taken loved it, and hopefully it will grow and grow. There is another Medici’s in Chicago that is a third of the size as this one, so we are the better and expanded version. Aside from beer, a friend of mine said they had an excellent wine list as well--I would not know a good wine from a God-Awful one, so I will take him at his word.

One to what I do know--here are the beer choices:

On Tap:
For $2.50 Pints you can choose from Point Lager and Water (both on tap)--OK the last part was a joke, but yep, Point on Tap. The tapper has a Pointed-headed Clown-looking guy on it.

$3.00 Pints on Tap include
Budweiser products,
St, Pauli Girl,
Honey Brown.

$4.00 Pints on Tap include:
Bitter End Pale Ale (Two Brothers)
Sierra Navada Pale Ale
Crooked Tree IPA (Dark Horse)
Old No. 38 Stout (North Coast)
Celis White Ale
Censored Ale (Lagunitas, CA)
Berghoff Amber
Deep Cover Brown Ale (Left Hand Brewing)
Rogue Hazelnut Brown Ale (Very good--I had this when I was there)
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Old Rasputin Imperial Stout
Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale (Founders)
Original Sin Dry Apple Cider

$5.00 Pints include:
Bitburger Pils
Guinness
Stella Artois (for $5.00--really????)
Harp (see previous)

Also for $5.00 one can purchase
Goblets of Brother Thelonious Abbey Ale (North Coast)
Goblets of Pere Jacque (Goose Island)

In Bottles:
For $2.00--LaCrosse Lager

For $3.00--Huber Premium
Point Pale
Genesee Cream Ale
Budweiser/Bud Light
MGD/Miller Lite

For $4.00--Sam Adams Lager
Blackwatch Porter (never heard of this one)
Rolling Rock (yeah, I know--ick)
Leinie's Berry Weiss
Sea Dog Raspberry Ale
O'Fallons Smoked Porter (which might be good)
Goose Island Honker
Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat
Anchor Steam
Bass
Becks
Corona
Tyskie (From Poland)

For $5.00 Bottles:
Pilsner Urquell (ah...the green bottle stink of beer)
Lion Stout from Sri Lanka

For $7.00 Bottles one can imbibe on:
Delirium Tremens (Belgium)
Piraat (Belgium)
Duchesse De Bourgogne (Belgium)

For $8.00 try a St, Louis Framboise (Belgium)

And lastly for $10.00 per bottle you may want to quaff a St. Feuillien Trippel (Belgium)

Now lest you think I sampled all of these and took meticulous notes, in all honesty they gave me a beer list. Ask for one and you may have one as well.

The world is a better place when I can locally quaffe a Pere Jacque.