Last week, I was sipping brain booster tea, but this week, I’m craving bad decisions. This Thursday, I’m thirsty for the big barrel at Barrelhouse 34. The size of a Big Gulp, this cocktail cost $12, about the price of normal-sized alcoholic drinks elsewhere, but this ain’t no craft cocktail. It’s an oversized mug with one liquor and some mixer. Liquor choices are vodka, gin, rum, whiskey, or tequila, and mixer options listed on the menu were water, club soda, tonic, soda, cranberry juice, ginger beer, lemonade, and blue Powerade. For my big barrel, I went with whiskey and ginger beer. It tasted good and was shockingly strong. I cannot imagine how much alcohol was in it, and I felt buzzed long before the drink was even halfway drunk.
My friend’s drink for scale. That big barrel could eat hers for breakfast.
Sure, drinking a big jug with glugs of liquor is probably not great, but life’s too short for only good ideas. This drink is special because there’s nowhere else in town (that I know of) offering a drink this ridiculously big. A bar named Barrelhouse having a barrel drink in a barrel-shaped cup? It just feels right. So climb up those stairs and enjoy a night on the bar’s rooftop patio.
For more, check out Barrelhouse 34’s drink menu.
Barrelhouse 34
34 E Main St
Champaign
M-Th 3 p.m. to midnight
F+Sa noon to 1 a.m.
Su noon to midnight
