Brew lovers have the Beer Temple in Avondale, and now craft spirits drinkers have this Lincoln Park liquor store, where they can walk out with both a bottle of small-batch bourbon and an education.
Yes, you’ll find a well-edited beer selection (including picks from Logan Square newbie Arcade Brewery) and amply stocked wine racks. But the owners, a knowledgeable trio of North Shore–reared guys that includes twins Adam and Parker Newman (pictured), focus on whiskeys, gins, and tequilas and the backstories that go with them. Locally made tipples, from spots such as Koval Distillery in Ravenswood, get the most love, but the dudes also sell stuff from such far-flung boutiques as St. George Spirits in Alameda, California.
To sate the most hardcore spirits fanatics, the shop’s weekly online journal, The Swill, taps distillers and barkeeps for drink recipes and insider info. For everyone else, you just may find your new favorite gin (try Aviation American from Portland, Oregon) on the shelf. 1128 W. Armitage Ave., 773-883-8711