DOWNTOWN — The masses are coming Downtown this weekend to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and local bars are preparing in earnest.
With temperatures expected to approach 50 degrees Saturday, Howell's & Hood will reopen its riverfront beer patio for one of the busiest drinking days of the year. The bar, 435 N. Michigan Ave., has 275 kegs hooked up in its beer cooler, and will receive another 100 via semi-truck Saturday morning.
It's not enough. (Photos by DNAinfo/David Matthews)
Guests who arrive from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. will get a free T-shirt to boot.
"We have lots going on," General Manager Andrew Macker said.
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The Hilton Chicago, a 1,544-room hotel at 720 S. Michigan Ave., has no vacancies during St. Patrick's Day weekend, and many of those guests will kick off their day at the hotel's Irish-inspired pub, Kitty O'Sheas.
The bar will charge $10 cover, but the Hilton will set up two "satellite bars" in the hotel lobby to accommodate people otherwise soberly waiting in line, said Donna Mackey, the hotel's assistant beverage director. Last year, Kitty O'Sheas sold more than 1,100 Miller Lite bottles and poured out "17 or 18" kegs of Guinness alone throughout St. Patrick's Day weekend, Mackey said. The bar will be open from 10 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., with many bartenders and servers working overtime to partake in the bar's most profitable weekend of the year.
"It's a fun place to be," Mackey said, declining to disclose how much Kitty O'Sheas makes during St. Patrick's Day. The bar's beers will run about $8, and a special "Shamrock Mimosa" cocktail with sparking wine, orange juice, and Midori available for $10.
Shoot $3 "Green Lantern" shots here.
St. Patrick's revelers mostly behave themselves at Plymouth Restaurant, 327 S. Plymouth Court, perhaps because the Loop bar staffs more bouncers that day, the bar's busiest of the year, said General Manager Cyndee Aiello. Plymouth, which has a rooftop bar, will serve green Miller Lite pitchers for $7.50 and shots of "Green Lantern," a secret recipe, for $3. The bar will open at 11 a.m. Saturday and close at 9 or 10 p.m., when the bar is usually covered in feathers and beads.
"It's pretty chaotic," Aiello said.
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