- Andrea Bauer
- A hand-bottled sample of Pareidolia, wrested from its natural habitat and delivered to the Reader offices.
Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark’s Parachute didn’t win the James Beard Foundation Award for best new restaurant last night, but it was one of Chicago’s five national nominees on that portion of the slate, alongside Topolobampo, the Violet Hour, Donnie Madia, and Tanya Baker of Boarding House. (Madia and the Violet Hour both won.) This celebrated Korean-American joint offers just one draft beer at a time to complement its funky, soulful food, and since October that beer has come from fledgling Chicago operation Illuminated Brew Works, which I profiled in February.
- Courtesy of Illuminated Brew Works
- Illuminated brewer Brian Buckman and Parachute beverage director Matty Colston at the May 1 tapping of Pareidolia
“Pareidolia” is a word for the phenomenon of perceiving specious significance in visual or auditory stimuli. You may remember a local instance from 2005, when believers took a water stain in the Fullerton underpass of the Kennedy to be an image of the Virgin Mary. The Illuminated crew provide a few more examples: “Seeing faces in clouds, hearing messages when playing records backwards, seeing ghosts, observing order in governments.” The name doesn’t have squat to do with the beer, though “Parachute” does share its first three letters.
The beer’s firm, lively carbonation helps give it a body that’s surprisingly lush and full considering its 4.4 percent alcohol content. Bready, yeasty flavors, bordering on floral, segue into honeydew melon, more white wine, and an astringent, citrusy tartness reminiscent of white grapefruit and lemon. With every sip, Pareidolia makes a pronounced swing from its sunny, creamy malt base to a dry, crackling finish with a lick of acidity. It’s a lovely, distinctive beer with a lot going on, but it’s not too assertive to enjoy with food.
