CHICAGO — Beer and Mark Buehrle have always gone hand in hand.

The popular beverage and the former Chicago White Sox left-hander have been linked at the hip in team history since his first major-league win, on July 19, 2000, at the old Metrodome in Minneapolis, when Buehrle received a traditional beer shower.

“Sox hang on, and the beer’s on Buehrle” was the headline on my Chicago Tribune report that day.

Fast-forward 25 years, and it’s the same old story.

Buehrle loves beer.

“Beer on Buehrle” vouchers were handed out to fans at Friday’s SoxFest Live event at the Ramova Theatre in Bridgeport after Buehrle promised to buy a round for everyone in the house following the announcement of a Buehrle statue dedication July 11 at Sox Park.

“I like to have an adult beverage, so I figure they can partake in it too,” Buehrle explained to reporters while hinting the Sox helped pick up the tab.

No word on the damage yet, but it would have to go a ways to beat Jon Lester’s goodbye round to Cubs fans back in 2020, when his free-beer tab totaled $31,082. Lester added a $16,012 tip, making it $47,094 total.

Buehrle famously partook in the downing of multiple adult beverages during Game 3 of the 2005 World Series in Houston, having been assured he would not be used out of the bullpen after starting Game 2. Naturally, manager Ozzie Guillen threw Buehrle into the game in the 14th inning, replacing Dámaso Marté with two outs and two men on. Buehrle induced a popup to Adam Everett to notch a save in the 7-5 win, giving the Sox a 3-0 lead in their four-game sweep.

The story became legend, much like the pitcher, and was embellished over the years.

“It was only like three beers,” Buehrle later wrote in The Players’ Tribune. “Max. Definitely no more than three, though. I swear.”

Sox fans would’ve pardoned Buehrle even if he had “misremembered” the moment. He maintained that he never got any grief from Sox fans for pitching while buzzed, writing: “I think part of it has to do with the fact that the people there really love their beer. They understand.”

Fact-checking this, we can confirm that Sox fans really do love their beer.

Buehrle came up as a 21-year-old Missouri boy in the summer of 2000, back when I was the Tribune’s Sox beat writer. In that first major-league start at the Metrodome, he went seven innings in a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins, helping to increase their division lead to 10 1/2 games over Cleveland. His pitching line was two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and a walk, and he stranded seven base runners. He also picked Corie Koskie off first, a signature move we would see for years to come.

Manager Jerry Manuel left Buehrle in after the rookie hit a batter with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, hoping to show confidence in the kid. Buehrle then induced a popup. We didn’t know then, but that would be “vintage Buehrle,” a pitcher who always was at his best under pressure. Two no-hitters, including a perfect game, are Examples A and B.

The traditional beer shower he received after that starting debut followed by two days a postgame beer shower for 20-year-old starter Jon Garland, who beat the Milwaukee Brewers for his first career win. I wrote that Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf “should just keep a couple kegs around” the team for future postgame celebrations for Sox pitching prospects.

My unsolicited advice was not heeded, but Buehrle would be up to stay, beer keg or no beer keg.

“It’s good to get that first one out of the way,” Buehrle said afterward. “Hopefully there will be many more to come.”

There were. He wound up with 214 regular-season wins, including 161 with the Sox, not to mention Game 2 of the ’05 World Series, which led to the aforementioned beer break in Game 3.

Buerhle primarily was used out of the bullpen as a rookie in 2000 but would go on to pitch 200-plus innings the next 14 consecutive seasons with the Sox, Miami Marlins and Toronto Blue Jays. He missed a 15th straight season of 200 innings by only four outs in 2015, his final year, finishing at 19 2/3 innings.

Numbers aside, perhaps no Sox player was as easy to relate to as Buehrle, a kindred spirit to fans beer-wise, body-wise and lawn-mowing-wise. Buehrle said he was mowing the lawn last year when Reinsdorf called to give him the news of his statue.

He doesn’t watch much baseball any more but said the “speed of the game is incredible” with the pitch-clock rules. He also believes limiting the number of throws to first is “the dumbest rule ever invented.” Sox fans greatly appreciated Buehrle pitching quickly, part of their love for his approach to baseball.

Buehrle came at a perfect time in Sox history, just as one of their rebuilds had turned the corner, leading to the only championship of our lifetimes. The 20-year celebration of the 2005 championship team this season will bring back many memories, and certainly a beer or two will be raised along the way.

The Buehrle statue dedication on July 11 is already the most-anticipated event of another season of the Sox rebuild.

“This is home no matter where you put it,” the 45-year-old Buehrle said Friday. “Spent most of my career here and would have loved to finish out here. But that’s business and everything that is involved with that. I love coming back here.”

Next up for a ballpark statue should be Ozzie Guillen, the only Sox manager to win a championship in our lifetimes.

It’s long overdue.