Alter Brewing Company

This is where to go for a relaxed afternoon of beer tasting!
Great open well-lit tasting room adjacent to a shiny brewhouse. It's only a 2 block walk from the Metra at Belmont.

Great house brews only. No liquor, no food, no outsider beer. None are needed.
10 stools at the bar fronting the tap wall, 50 or so more at communal tables. And another 20 seats around the perimeter.
Alter is developing canning options, so only draft for now. To go options like growlers and crowlers are reasonably priced.

Alter will fill any clean vessel of similar size. So you don't have to buy a proprietary growler. This is a growing and appreciated attitude in the industry.

 

About a ten-to-fifteen-minute walk from the Belmont BNSF station, amidst a general commercial/industrial park, lies the second Alter location I will have visited this year. Main space holds the bar, some seating, the brewing equipment to the left, some games (both video and board) on the right, an event space, and a loft area above that; some patio seating lies under a canopy out front. There are a few screens, but all located opposite the bar itself. At the bar, I got myself one of their dozen or so offerings (a keller, if it matters, and it was pretty good). Bartender was genial and pretty jazzed about her suds. Most of them are solid beers, occasionally good, though every now and then one just doesn't sit right (lookin' at you, Eco-Chic). No real food on offer, though some packaged snacks are available behind the bar and food trucks show up on occasion. Overall, a rather nice place, though not exactly great when it comes to convenience of location.

 

 

Cool brewery to visit! The staff was friendly and the beer was tasty.

 

 

 

 

Nice place with the typical industrial feel. Good tap selection. Nice view of the shiny stainless steel brewing equipment. Friendly and helpful staff. Bring Your Own Food, but they seemed to have a couple of small snacks available for purchase. Decent amount of seating, but limited at the bar area. Crowlers and Growlers along with a couple of different options for 6-packs and a bomber available to-go. 10-12 tap handles if I remember correctly, with a variety of their beers including a collaboration available when I was there. Price is average for this area. I'd go back again if I'm in the area like I was today.

A larger (20bbl) brewery located in a tech/business complex in Downer's Grove. The brewery portion is open to the tap room. They look like they have room for 8 taps (or more) but were out of several styles when I was there. I had the pilsner and the pale ale, both of which were very good. I felt the hop presence in the pale ale was closer to an IPA, but that's just me.

The place is very clean and the bartender was very conversational and friendly. No food to speak of at this tap room, but you can get some prepackaged artisanal cheeses as well as salami. They have a real slick canning machine so when you take a 32 oz "growler" home it is basically a liter can they seal up right in front of you. Airtight so it can keep for a long time or so you can put it in you luggage for the flight home. Mighty slick!

A bright, new, and clean taproom that is a little over a year old. The facility is like a warehouse; high, industrial ceilings. The taproom holds 70-100 people when it is full. Several tables available for sitting, and nice sized concrete bar top to sit at. The staff is friendly and knowledgable when it comes to beer and provide great service. 11 CO2 handles, and 1 nitro handle provide for a decent selection of beers to try, though sometimes a handle or two is unused due to beer running out. Bathrooms are super clean and well maintained. An upstairs private party room is available for renting. Overall, this place is very much worth checking out for both the atmosphere and the beer.

I've been here half a dozen different times and it's always been comfortably crowded. Wide open spaces. Great honest approach to the craft. Everything I've sampled has been top notch as far as I'm concerned. Servers very friendly and informative. Love the liter can option along with the growlers. Vast selection that covers my curiosity. Small snacks to nosh on available and I believe you can bring in food.

 

For being in an office park style building, they created a really warm atmosphere. Huge wooden bar back adds character to the high warehouse ceilings. While the bar itself is only 10-12 seats, the rest of the room can handle quite a large number. 8 six seater high top tables plus 9 two top tables throughout the room.

12 tap system with a good variety of style while I was there. Able to get varying size pours of nearly every beer, and they do have 32 and 64oz growlers, as well as a few bottles for sale. I've been told they'll start canning in the summer of 2017. Really, really nice staff who were knowledgeable on all fronts.

All around happy I stopped by. Some of the current reviews of beers on BA made me weary, but the SMASH Tun stout was tasty, and I look forward to coming back my next trip through to try a few of their next creations.

 

 

 

 

 

Beatific facility. Verry clean. Lots of space.
No food. Good selection of respectable quality beers.
Staff is very friendly and outgoing, and know their beer well

 

Big space for a beginning brewery's tap room. Clean and bright, parking a little short on spaces. Staff is friendly.
Beer are good. The brewing tanks are large. The porter and stouts were my favorites, but the Galaxy and the 7-C's American Red ale was complex and balanced... I will visit often