It’s Thirsty Thursday and time for a beer! I’m going to The Tartan Inn, because I haven’t been there since October of last year, I can’t believe it’s been that long! Time flies when your wristwatch is immune to the gravitational pull of the universe! But I don’t own a wristwatch, so I don’t know just what the fuck is going on over here! Last time we went there, MBIP pal and local musician, Gavra Lynn was performing. And it just so happens that she’s going to be playing there tonight, so let’s make tracks to The Tartan Inn and get this night rolling like a train skidding off the tracks!
We have arrived at tonight's drinking destination, The Tartan Inn. It’s been on the block here in West Peoria since 1990. And it was bar number 363 on my 365 bar crawl, for those of you keeping score. Hike!
Okay, let’s climb the stairway to The Tartan Inn and see if there's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold inside of here. Probably not, but you never know till you see it for yourself with your socks pulled firmly in the upwards position.
And here we are, I don’t see any glittering gold ladies, but I do see two familiar faces over there at the bar. Let’s go and say, “hello there ladies and gentlemen,” to them...
Hello there ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready to rock? Are you ready to rock? And yes indeedy they are! Here’s two of my favorite people in the world, John and De Ingles! We've been friends for decades and John and De have a fantastic graphics company called, “Smiley Graphics,” and you can check that out right here. They do it all from brand design, illustrations, logos, newsletters, videos and more, more much. Check out their portfolio here. Great to see both of them again! And just for the record, neither of them ever make obscene hand gestures and that's just one of the many reasons why I love both of them!
Ashley’s behind the bar and here she is serving up an ice-cold Budweiser. The night has officially begun! Ding, ding, ding. Ding!
Jessica came up and said hi, for those of you who have been reading MBIP since the beginning, you’ll remember Jessica being the first bartender to be featured on here on our first trip to Mike’s Tavern on our maiden MBIP post over two years ago. Good to see her and she’s looking great!
Thursday night specials alert!
Here’s a half a dozen of the beers on tap...
And a single Shiner Bock tap over here at the end of the bar, with a lonely little ram on top of it. He’s putting on a brave and happy face, but I think he’s faking it.
Great to see Banjo and Joanne! They’re two regulars here in The Tartan Inn and various other taverns that populate West Peoria.
Here’s a shot of the back of the well-stocked bar.
Every Thursday night The Tartan Inn showcases local singers and songwriters. I love that they feature local musicians on a weekly basis. And don’t forget to tip the musicians!
The Tartan Inn is hosting the first annual Westfest. Sadly there’s a triple exclamation point alert on the sign, but despite that error, it should be fun and they’re giving away a Shiner Beer guitar...
And here’s the guitar, complete with that lonely, depressed ram on it. That thing needs to see a psychiatrist...or something!
Here’s a shot from the other end of the bar, just to keep things in some sort of proper perspective.
John was seated over at this window-side table and it was great to see him again! The last time we saw him was on the Fourth of July when we celebrated PJ’s birthday and burned Gumby up with a pile of snakes at Mike’s Tavern. Such fun!
And speaking of PJ, here she is! She’s back in town from Salt Water Taffy and is looking pretty as a pile of peaches! And she said she’s moving back here soon, so expect to see more of her on MBIP in the future! Great to see her again!
And here’s Michelle, PJ’s sister, looking equally as pretty. It runs in the family!
And while we’re on the subject of prettiness, here’s the legendary West Peorian himself, Bad Brad showing off his new hair-do! Looking good, Brad!
Here’s Brad and Michelle whooping it up at our table!
This is the table that we’ve secured for Gavra’s show tonight...
Which I think is going to happen at any given moment now.
And here’s the star of the show here at The Tartan Inn tonight, Gavra Lynn, looking wonderful as always and beaming out a great smile!
There’s a little lighting adjustment and then it’s lights, MBIP camera and...
Action! Here’s Gavra onstage at the Tartan Inn. She sounds great as always!
Gavra always sings one of my favorite songs of all time, “Juanita,” by the Flying Burrito Brothers for me and I love that!
Here’s the set list and notes for tonight’s show.
Gavra sings a mix of her wonderful and unique original songs and interesting cover choices. It was a great show and fun to see everybody who showed up tonight! Fun times with fun people as always at The Tartan Inn in West Peoria!
This week we had a trio of MBIP readers buy us a virtual beer and here they are:
• Doug Hensley left the following message: “I’d like to plug the Richwoods Class of 1975 40th reunion this September 5th at the IVY Club!”
• Lori Pheiffer sent this greeting along with her virtual beer donation: Glad to see you're back, looking forward to the wing tour!
• And there was one person who bought us a virtual beer and preferred to remain anonymous.
Thanks to all three of you for buying MBIP a virtual beer, it really does help with the costs of running this blog. If you’d like to buy us a virtual beer, you can do so by clicking right here! Cheers and we’ll see you all tomorrow. And hey, let’s be careful out there!
Tartan Inn
428 N Waverly Ave
West Peoria
309-495-8149
Related post: Two Beers @ The Tartan Inn Featuring The Song-Stylings of Gavra Lynn!
Bud & Burgers is a national program Budweiser launched this year. Brewers created our own based in the Central Illinois area to seek the best burger!
Independent local bars/restaurants selected a specific burger they wanted to feature. Each time a customer orders this burger, they receive a scorecard to rate the burger. Customers are allowed to rate the burger once at each location. For every burger rated, they can fill out their information to be entered to win a Budweiser grill and BBQ tools set.
The contest runs from May 25th-June 30th and the winner will be notified afterwards. They will get a promo party with giveaways and presentation of trophy!
List of locations included: Norwood Pub & Grub, Peacock’s Pub, Hammer’s, Ulrich’s Rebellion Room, Black Top Inn, Burnzees, Castaways, Club Phoenix, Prairie Inn, Fieldhouse Peoria, Joe’s Peoria, Kouri’s Pub Peoria, Kuchie’s on the Water, Lucky Dog’s Pub & Eatery, Ludy’s Kickapoo Creek Saloon, Maquet’s Rail House, McCritter’s, No Wake Zone, Perdue’s Grill, Silver Bullet, Kenny’s Westside Pub, Burger Barge.
Check out the burgers they’ve sampled already by clicking here and you can get more information over at their facecrack page right here! I’ll be featured on this burger tour and will be putting up a post about that in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that!
