If everything we ate and drank were locally produced, there would be little need for semi-trucks, preservatives, or storks adept at carrying swaddling cloths. Let storks fly back to their nests with today’s Groupon: for $15, you get $30 worth of Great Lakes–area beers, spirits, and small plates at WaterShed, located below Pops for Champagne.

This cozy, stone-walled underground eatery serves local craft beers and local eats to people lounging on comfy couches and armchair-like barstools. The menu offers house-made pickles, 11 local-cheese choices, a selection of sharable plates (such as lamb pate with a violet mustard accoutrement, $9), and bites (such as roasted acorn squash with candied pecans, $3) to coax appetites out of their cavernous belly burrows. After tending to your tummy, satisfy your beer tooth with a bottle from breweries such as Illinois’s own Two Brothers Brewing Company, Ohio’s Great Lakes Brewing Company, and Tyranena from Wisconsin (most are $5–8). WaterShed's warm, welcoming staff will be happy to walk you through other local offerings of spirits and wines by the glass or bottle, or talk to you about the best way to love Garfield more.

Reviews

UrbanDaddy and DailyCandy recommend WaterShed. Yelpers give the bar an average of four stars.

• So while tourists are sipping champagne and tapping their toes upstairs, you’ll come down here for an evening of oysters, charcuterie, Wisconsin vodka, Iowa rye and bubbly from Illinois. And nothing against your thirst for Bell’s Octoberfest, but pay attention to that cocktail list, created by a former Mercadito mixologist. – UrbanDaddy
• A cozy unpretentious room with great seating and friendly staff. A great selection of local brews and a brief list of interesting cocktails. – carrie g., Yelp