Gino's Brewing Co.

This historic building was built as LaSalle Street Cable Car Powerhouse in 1886-1887, and is a designated Chicago landmark. In the 90's it was Michael Jordan’s steakhouse until closing in 1999. Now it’s a Gino’s with a brewpub and comedy club upstairs. Until a month or two ago, the brewhouse was out of commission due to a partial roof collapse and damaging the brewing equipment.

Inside, the brewpub is past a host stand and down a short flight of tiled stairs. Large dining area, small brewery in the corner and a long bar on the right. Unfortunately there was an unpleasant smell of a sewer line that was pretty off putting, hopefully it’s only temporary. A building this old is bound to have some issues here and there.

The bar was inlaid with names of the beers, with designs that were pretty awful. The name of their witbier alone is dumb enough without a clipart fat guy printed out next to it and mounted permanently to the bar. The actual beers were better, but still pretty mediocre. Four house drafts, no flights available. Thankfully pints were $3, as the lager and pale ale were decent but not repeat buys.

The bartender was super personable and friendly, probably the best thing about the place. She mentioned her favorite brewery was Maplewood, which i'd agree to visit if visiting from out of town. On that note, if this is the nearest brewery to your hotel, skip it and go to Centennial, Jake Melnick's, or Broken Shaker instead.

Not sure if there was a different brewer before the current one, but there’s a reason no one talks about this place, as the beer was pretty forgettable.

 

My wife and I stopped in at Gino's East while in Chicago for our anniversary last weekend to check out the brewery and have some deep dish pizza. When we visited, they had 11 of their beers on tap. The beers I tried were totally serviceable, although none especially stood out or seemed particularly original. That said, what is better than pizza and beer?

UPDATE: Their 1st floor brewpub is now open. AWESOME vibe! Huge TVs! Also their thin-crust pizza is pretty darn good - try the one with truffle oil!
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OK so their Happy Hour deal may be one of the best in the city: $3 Gino's drafts and free pub chips! Every weekday from 4p - 7p!!!

BEER !!!
Their two IPAs on the menu right now are two of the very best downtown Chicago-made IPAs that I have ever tried. Period!! See my beer reviews for more details!