Ahoy! My noble bourbon boozers! It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Maker's Mark Barrel Room is a fine location to swill whiskey and watch the Cubs.
Just after Labor Day four of us took advantage of the cratered aftermarket for Cubs tickets to snag access to the Barrel Room. We paid just over $100 and for our trouble consumed complementary food and Maker's Mark cocktails and well drinks. It was quite a good deal.
The food is served buffet style, and given that it was not terrible. Brats, hot dogs, wings, mac'n'cheese, a carving station, some salads, lots of desserts. Some days you might get Prime Rib, when we attended we had freshly carved short rib. That was quite good.
They make good Sazeracs and Old Fashioneds, and you can also drink Maker's on the rocks too, if you so desire (and so I did).
If you want a special pour you can buy a selection off of the premium list, which does include Blanton's (YAY), but they were out of it (BOO!) like everyone else.
The room itself is dark, with the walls covered in brick, dark wood, and barrel staves. It has faux-dive, mildly claustrophobic feel. Chairs and tables are quite comfortable, however, and the private bathrooms are clean and new.
Maker's memorabilia is found throughout, including a cool chandelier composed of bottles of Maker's Mark. There are plenty of TVs to watch the Cubs, all of which are black & white, consistent with that "Old Timey Speakeasy Feel", if you'll pardon the anachronism.
Servers take drink orders from your table and will bring drinks out to you in the dedicated seating area. They were all quite friendly and prompt.
There is easy access to the seats, but there are stairs. If, like myself, you have a disability or can't navigate stairs, Cubs staff will take you through the back channels of the park to get to the wheelchair accessible seats right behind home plate. Pretty, prett-ay good deal. That was a lot of fun and Cubs staff are uniformly friendly.
You can eat and drink for about 90 minutes before game time, and about an hour after the game ended. We definitely got our money's worth and enjoyed the fancy experience. I recommend it if you can get access to a ticket or befriend a season ticket holder.
Oh, and would you believe the Cubs won? And Jason Heyward hit a THREE RUN walk off homer? Yeah, neither would I.
But it happened! read more