Highwood’s first ever restaurant week is Feb. 3rd-7th: “Eat. Drink. Highwood.”
We needed to lean into what makes us unique as a beer bar: specialty service styles. We took heavy inspiration from our longtime pals and collaboration partners at Dovetail Brewing (for years their January Beer Hall series has been such an awesome idea) and came up 4 different ways we could fully transform our cafe experience throughout the week.
For all of these events, the specified service will be the only offering available during the timeframe. So come out and try something new. Heck, a lot of this will be entirely brand new for us. Taking some normal elements of service we offer but bringing them to their highest level. Sounds fun.
Here’s what’s coming:
- Wed Feb 4 – Japanese-style Ice Chilled Service
- Thu Feb 5 – Czech Beer Hall and Table Service
- Fri Feb 6 – Cologne Kölsch Service
- Sat Feb 7 – Fresh Gravity Keg Tapping
Feb. 4th – Japanese Ice-cooled Beer Service
Stand at the bar, tachinomi style, and enjoy a few small pours of Hopewell Pils after work. There’s infinite variation to each style of pour. Each pour tastes different based on how the beer is poured.
You know it, you love it. Japanese style ice-chilled service is back, featuring Ziggy’s one-of-a-kind soup-pot-turned-beer-server. The kettle is likely the only one of its kind stateside and acts as a more wieldy jockey box, those coolers with beer taps you see at outdoor fests. It’s ancient beer service capturing the ice chilled lines and presentation made popular by Kohei Matsuo at Bier Reise ’98 in Shinbashi, Tokyo, himself a second generation master tapster trained by Tokuji Arai of Nada Columbia.
Carrying out the will of his master, Arai – An interview with “Bier Reise ’98, Kohei Matsuo”
佐藤 翔平 Shohei Satoh, Japan Beer Journalists Association
This ice cooled beer server is a replication of draft beer technology in Japan before refrigeration became more accessible and elements of its service survive at many beer stands. Kegged beer is pushed through a stainless steel coil immersed in ice water, ice-chilled over its run, and split to two faucets. It was built in July of 2025 out of Zig’s old brew kettle and draws on the Jockey Box style ice-chilled four tap server. It made a service debut for p3 Japanese Lager, calling back to the first market Japanese-style Sharp pours of p3 Japanese Lager ever attempted at Highwood cafe (first experimental pours in Dec 2022), and the server went on to serve at Dovetail’s August 24 Tachinomi which featured ice chilled Helles.
The ball-valve Micro Matic Swing Lever approximates the well renowned Swing Karan, best at emulating a beer hall style service that is fast and inefficient. The Swing Karan’s wet foam is creamy and fine, and it truly relies on the skill of the tapster to achieve different tastes as it breaks out carbonation in different ways. The other faucet is an Italian made Celli two port faucet. The two port faucet is the most common, modern beer server across East Asia but extremely uncommon in the US. This model was especially used for Asahi Super Dry in the UK and Europe, brewed at Peroni in Italy since early 2018. The two ports allow a slow and controlled dispense of fully carbonated beer through the liquid port, but the dispense of a fine quality foam through a push-back creamer function. Together, both can be used to create the Fusion Sharp Pour, the highest level of the pour ensuring the most carbonated beer carefully poured from the two port faucet, but carefully laying dense wet foam from the Swing Lever.
The use of two faucets and this type of draft system allows a wide variety of pours, not just the Sharp Pour! If you have a specific pour from a tapster you’d like to create, name it! Or do the classic Omakase and leave it to your tapster, Zigmas.
All our staff look forward to welcoming you to our cafe.
Feb. 5th – Czech Table Service
We become a Czech Beer Hall! Come in, sit down at a communal long table, and allow us to take your order while you relax. For once, you don’t have to order at the register. Don’t worry though, you won’t really need to look at the menu. You’ll have two beer options: The Czech style Pils or the Czech style Dark, served hladinka, šnyt, or mlíko. Czech beers by way of Switzerland of Lake County, Phase Three Czech Dark Lager and Roaring Table Concordance from Lake Zurich!
Feb. 6th – Kölsch Service
We’ve been talking about doing this one for forever. Dovetail is cosponsoring a proper Kölsch Service night! Dovetail Kölsch will be the only beer on draft as we adopt the role of köbes (the proper name for kölsch waiters) and serve you small stanges (some of you may know them as Milk tube glasses) from kranz (kölsch carrying trays) until you tell us you’re finished. Your coasters will be be tallied per kölsch. When you’re finished? Just bring your coaster to the register.
Feb. 7th – Fass Tapping
Finally we’ll finish out Eat. Drink. Highwood. With a closing ceremony and tapping of a yet to be decided upon gravity keg from Roaring Table. Join us Saturday afternoon, stock up for your football party the following day, and help us empty a 20L barrel in a few hours. Should be pretty easy.
Cheers, Kanpai, Na zdraví, Kölsch Alaaf, Prost,
Phil, Zigmas, and Ethan