Christmas is coming early for Midwestern Potter-heads as yet another Harry Potter-themed pop-up bar sets up shop for the month of December, this time at Chicago’s Replay Lincoln Park. We sometimes wonder if Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling realizes that she was creating lifelong fans of her franchise when she introduced alcohol into the world of witchcraft wizardry — “Nah fam, liking Harry Potter isn’t just for kids, wizards get f*cked up just like us! The cauldron is a thing for a reason, witches and wizards have been mixing up microbrews for centuries!
As part of the month-long popup, Replay Lincoln Park has partnered with Chicago’s Zizi’s Cafe to serve several Potter-inspired snacks, like the House Cup Chicken, which totally sounds like a Hogwarts event but is just chicken wings, the Huffle Pizza Puffs, pretzel’s shaped like wands and Paddington Station Burgers. While that all sounds… swell, the real draw for grown Potter-heads is the spirits. You won’t find Butter Beer at Replay — probably a legal thing with Universal — but you will find Buttered Bier, which is a blend of vanilla vodka, butterscotch schnapps, cream soda, and whipped cream.
Show your house allegiance by ordering cocktails named for each house-head, or go hard and reach for shots of Dragon’s Blood or Voldemort. Yes, you read that right — Voldemalort, one part Voldemort, one part malört, which means it’s bound to taste fittingly terrible.
In addition to the food and drinks, the pop-up will be decorated to resemble Hogwarts’ Great Hall and feature lots of Potter-universe staples, like Dementors guarding the bar and a replica of the Whomping Willow as well as host magic shows, cosplay contests, trivia events, and a recreation of the Hogwarts Yule Ball.
The pop-up is opened now at Replay Lincoln Park and will run until January 5th.
