Sometimes things are planned here at MBIP and sometimes they’re done on the spur of the moment. This is one of those spur of the moment ones. I usually do the two beers thingy on Thursday night and then post it on Friday. I just remembered Wednesday night while I was at work that we have to work late Thursday and I have to meet some friends for lunch around noon on Friday. So I decided that this week I’d do the two beers post on Wednesday. The only trouble was that I had nothing planned. But luckily, the best bar to go to when you don’t have any plans is Mike’s Tavern. Let’s make tracks to West Peoria, the home of MIke’s Tavern!
And we're off, here we go up Main Street to...
West Peoria, the home of...
Mike's Tavern, an iconic Peoria bar. We were last here on the 4th of July, so we're overdue for a visit.
Hey, who's that in the window over there?
It's bartender Julie. I thought she looked familiar and then she reminded me we met when I was at the Owl's Nest. Scroll down to the last photo at that post to see Julie and the rest of us at another classic West Peoria bar.
Let's go in and grab a seat at the bar.
It's nice and dark in here, just the way I like it.
And beer number one is served up by Julie, you gotta love that smile! Hey, check out the sign hanging up behind Julie.
Mike's Tavern T-Shirts, I need to check one of these out.
Very nice! And now the through the magic of the internet, one minute Julie's holding the t-shirt...
And seconds later, presto-blammo, here I am wearing the t-shirt! And pointing at the logo no less, there's no end to my talents!
Look who's back.
And while we're on the subject of backs, here's a shot from the back of Mike's with the legendary school desks on the right of the photo.
Here's the dusty beer can and bottle collection behind the bar that was featured on an episode of Phil Luciano and Danielle Hatch's Barstorming.
A quartet of taps for the Spike-O-Rama Rating.
Check out this menu behind the bar. I don't remember this place, does anyone out there know about this?
Here's three generations of drink chips from Mike's that Julie laid out on the bar.
This is Sam who's a first-timer at Mike's. We knew he had never been in here because he walked in and ordered a Heineken. You just don't order a Heineken in Mike's.
After I took this picture of The Nut Hut that I've admired for so many years, I realized that I've never had a nut from there...
So Julie set out to correct this situation!
And here they are, served up by Julie with her award-winning smile!
Just like those pretzels, these peanuts are making me thirsty!
And so it's time for beer number two and the traditional two finger salute from Julie! See you all tomorrow.
