Mike Stephen at a New Year's party in 2010 and Mike Stephen on the air at WGN Radio in 2019.

Mike Stephen discusses whether 2019 was a good year for local beer with Josh Noel of the Chicago Tribune, learns about the fight against corruption with Susan Garrett of the Center for Illinois Politics, and airs some show clips from the past decade of OTL. The local music this week is brought to us by Ryan Yueill. Happy New Year from your friends at OTL! To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

Mike Stephen hosts the eerie 666th show of Outside the Loop.

Mike Stephen celebrates the creepy 666th episode by learning about the benefits of eating insects, gets the lowdown on the increase in dark lagers brewed locally, and discovers the Secret History of soul singer Barbara Acklin.  This week’s local music is brought to you by Opacia. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

On a special edition of the program, Mike Stephen explores the history of tied houses/bars in Chicago.  Joining him at Toons Bar and Grill and at the Happy Village bar is local historian Liz Garibay. The two chat about the history of tied houses over a pint. Then Mike heads to Lakeview to talk to Mike Schuba, operator of Schuba’s Tavern, about the special history of that building.  And to round out the show, Mike and Producer Collin try to figure out how to tie OTL to a Chicago bar with some help from Hampshire High School industrial technology teacher Mike Jakubowski. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

OTL: Episode #561- Best beers for the summer, Localpalooza preview, Dina Bach plays live

Mike Stephen talks with:   Chicago Tribune reporter Josh Noel about local beers to take you through the summer, the best macro beers in America, and his upcoming book on Goose Island Brewery selling to Anheuser Busch;   Localpalooza organizer Mike Vogus about a cool music festival benefiting The Patrick Grange Memorial Foundation for ALS research; and   local singer-songwriter Dina Bach back to the studio to play live for the hour and to tell us about her “Weekly Music” project.   Meanwhile, we discuss our optimism about the sale of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Reader to the Eisendrath Coalition.   OTL host Mike Stephen is very excited to welcome local musician Dina Bach back to the WGN Radio studio to provide the live soundtrack to OTL #561!   To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.