Whiner Beer Company

First Visit 3/28/26 (Chicago, Illinois): This is a venue in the Back of the Yards are of the city, a few miles southwest of Comiskey Park II. Whiner Beer has been in business for over a decade, and are known for their top selling ale Tub Saison. Sadly, they sold out of Le Tub a few weeks ago, and are closing their brewery tomorrow, but the space will continue to operate with SomosMonos, the brewery they contracted for remaining in the space and also Rama’s Pizza which serves pizza, burgers and a few other items.

Vibe: Really like the space, with lots of wood and plants, beautiful wooden bar and lots of tables, chairs, places to stand and a pool table. They play a mix of music, between older songs, dance and Latino songs which seems to work. Chill, relaxing, comfortable. 4.5

Quality: This is a solid longstanding brewery, best known for their mixed fermented beers. I tried two Kolsch, the second more of a Marzen, and their French Bière de Garde, which was the best of the three. I enjoyed all three beers, and would recommend to those who would seek beers fitting the brewery’s menu description. Served in proper glassware, properly poured by knowledgeable bartenders who were able to give additional insight into the beers, and cared and were friendly despite the pending brewery closure. 4.25

Service: Prompt, efficient, friendly service by knowledgeable bartenders. They manage large crowds well, many coming in for a last opportunity to enjoy Whiner beers. 4.5

Selection: They only had what wasn’t sold out since they announced their closure. That said, they still had several beers across a half dozen styles. I’ve enjoyed Le Tub in the past, and was not surprised they did well across additional styles. 4.0

Overall: Really liked the space, the beers, staff and conversation with other patrons was great. While it’s sad they are closing, I will try the remaining brewery sharing the space (SomosMonos) during the first month of Sox baseball. Thanks for the great beers and memories Brian and Staff!

 

The space at Whiner is designed in a well-considered way that few are, it has raw industrial bones with cool aesthetic touches like intricate botanical planters set into the tables, alongside rusty corrugated metal panels and exposed concrete beams. Definitely a 'beautiful decay' kind of vibe. Warm lighting from strings of hanging edison bulbs and inset fixtures behind the bar. Mellow music on the big JBL’s high on the bar shelves, languid pop and yacht rock added to the relaxed atmosphere.

Service was ok at the bar, the lone bartender was timely but distant, not engaging at all, the bar was fairly deserted. There were a few flies and gnats around the bar, nothing a few brewery spiders couldn’t fix.

Wild ale focus, with a few easy drinkers as well. Highlight was a wild ale with cherries, Wonder Bat. Rosemary Kölsch was just average, with little rosemary presence.

The location is out of the way, but in the general vicinity of Marz and Lagunitas. Maybe not on the trendy side of town, but seek it out and be rewarded. Throw in a stop at Maria’s/Kimski and Marz to make a day of it.

I’m guessing most people weren’t around when the first "third-wave" brewery “New Chicago Brewing Co.” was slated to open in this space, way back in 2011. They later became Ale Syndicate, moved to Logan/Avondale for a couple years and then shut down. Ravinia currently occupies that space, while Whiner is thriving in this one.

this place is awesome, so unique, definitely a ways south of downtown, but its an easy enough drive and well worth it. its in an old industrial building in a very commercial heavy industry looking area, rundown stuff around the neighborhood, but we enter this unique shared space to quite a different feel. a handicap ramp built above a pond takes us up to the sprawling but ade to be cozy taproom, high ceilings, like an old warehouse, long bar, rustic looking, the place has been cleaned up but its character retained. they have cool tables of different shapes and sizes all over in here, modified so that the middles are planters growing an assortment of botanicals, sort of a greenhouse feel in here, almost humid, and some aquaponic looking water system in the windows doing something with sunlight and bubbling occasionally. the feel in here is awesome, urban and jungle, current and also back in time, great energy! they had a nice selection of beers, both in the bottle and on tap, and we liked all of them we had, but especially loved both peach and blackberry wild ales. the non wild stuff was a little less great, but all of it was good and the service was excellent. the attention to detail here is great, nice acoustic treatments on the ceilings so the nose is tempered, highly refined beer, cool glassware, and available wood fired pizzas from another vendor in the building, which also houses the brewery itself on the other side, a coffee roaster i think, and some other little operations. we had a great time in here just relaxing and playing cards drinking through their lineup. this is one of my favorites in chicago now, and i cant recommend it strongly enough!

The Vibe is interesting. It seems Whiner wants to be the brewer for a warehouse community of alternative food providers. And given that the warehouse is near Chicago's former stockyards and a yet-to-be redeveloped part of Bridgeport (really in the Back of The Yards ghetto) this is a valiant effort.

My enthusiasm for Whiner's ales have been a roller-coaster. Hugely enthusiastic to start, but then disappointed by the consistency challenges of focussing on the Belgian tradition and, even harder, using brett. So Quality is a bit checkered given the tough task. But, the bartender was informed and everyone was enjoying themselves in this cement warehouse that has been made as festive as possible.

While I had intended to visit after my first WOW tasting of Rubrique A Brac in April, other offerings pushed Whiner down my list. But they were featured in Open House Chicago (a great city-wide annual event), so I made myself go. And glad I did.
I Had a flight of three. It was a good value. I hope Whiner succeeds in a market that is growing for Belgians.