Short Fuse Brewing Company

 

 

This is a very friendly place with a huge selection of unique beers. Everything from a guava gose to a sessionable Irish Stout. My favorite was a blackberry coffee sour named Vocal Jam. Beer lovers will love this place!

With some time prior to dinner and the Dogs game, I hit the bus and crossed River to give Short Fuse a visit. Kind of a garage/storage facility sort of thing going on structurally, plenty of concrete and the like, and the aesthetic is a combination of Revolution/Haymarket mild leftist and light punk. A long bar overlooking the brewing equipment is surrounded by tables; I didn't even realize just how far/long the place goes until I went to hit the bathroom and found just how many steps I had already taken and still had to take (it's a long space, is what I'm saying). Unfortunately for me, the day I stopped in was also the day an infrastructure malfunction led to pretty most all of the taps being down, but I was still luckily able to get a few pints in me before the next bus came by (including my coveted rauchbier). The range on offer (on the menu, anyway) was pretty strong, ranging from thick, sweet stouts to those hazy bois the kids are apparently still raging over to a few more offbeat offerings like my aforementioned rauch, and the few I was was able to secure were rather tasty. The staff are all rather convivial and are more than willing to discuss your choices with you before, during, and after. Food of some sort is available, but I didn't have the time or yen to look into it. Overall, I'm certainly going to have to make a return trip in order to sample more wares, and it's definitely a good sign that I actually want to do this for the beer and atmosphere, rather than simply trying again to successfully see the taps a-runnin'. Certainly a must-visit in the Schiller Park area.

 

More of the 'happening/younger crowd' vibe. Very busy, especially in the summer. Nice indoor music stage and plenty of seating indoors. Good selection of beers (maybe 20 or so of different styles). Beers are only average at best though, which is unfortunate.

We went here with a family group of 4 people to try the beers and to have lunch. The brewery is located on a bust commercial street. There is parking in front and side of the building. This is a large pub with a bar that can handle maybe 30-40 people. There are also plenty of tables/chairs and some upholstered furniture too. The vibe is pretty good. Our server was prompt but a bit indifferent about answering questions.

There were 22 beers on tap, although I counted 36 faucets. The menu lists craft soda, so maybe that accounts for the difference. We ordered two flights of 7 beers to try a variety (you have to order pre-set groups of 7 on a paddle). All of them were brewed very well to style, and all but one exceeded its style characteristics. The Strawberry Lemonade Berliner Weiss had a strange aftertaste, so it was only scored a 3.0. All of the other beers scored 3.5 to 4.0. None were in an outstanding category, but overall we liked the beers.

Everyone liked their lunch food choices, although none of us felt the food was better than other breweries where we have visited. This pub is very worthy of a visit.

 

 

Newer brewery that’s been open almost a year, canning ther beers right out of the gate. I’d had the NEIPA Loosey Juicy a few times and liked it.

Schiller Park is not the most scenic of places, mostly an industrial park by the airport, but there are some nice residential blocks too. River Road is a mix of low slung industrial bulidings and a forest preserve on the east side. Strangely enough i’d been here before it was a brewery. According to the staff, this 30K sq. ft. building used to be a forklift sales & repair shop. Next door they used to do material handling training, which is now a laser tag place.

The brewery is spacious, very much so. The bar is super long, the far end is hazy in the distance when you walk in. Restrooms at the far end past some booths and nice wall murals. Several tvs above the bar and live music on fri-sat nights. It’s always surprising to me when the "whole family crowd" is at a brewery. I guess it’s big enough to separate the families from the bar crowd, but it's not really a family-style restaurant. Some amusing reviews online assume it's just another place like Applebee’s, but I have no idea why anyone would think that. They do have a pretty extensive food menu, which I didn’t partake, but the plates passing by looked pretty good.

Staff were friendly. They chatted when it was slow, which was nice.

The policy that you can’t choose your own flight of beers is ridiculous. You have to arbitrarily order taps 1-7 or 8-14, or all of them, so I ordered all of them, and only finished half. Trying to get rid of a bunch of mediocre beers, I guess. Unfortunately there were a lot of under-attenuated, sweet malty messes. Only 2-3 beers stood out, the 2 main IPA’s and the pilsner, which was great.

Overall i’d stop by if passing through, but would never bother with getting a full flight again.

We went to Short Fuse before a concert. Lots of room at this taproom. The bar is very long compared to other taprooms. They had a lounge area with couches. There were high top tables along the garage door windows and also some regular height tables farther down the room. There was a couple who were singing when we left - for entertainment. We couldn't hear them from where we were sitting at the bar. No big deal. We didn't eat anything but, the menu looked good with a variety of items. I think we would get something to eat the next time we come. The only thing we didn't like was that you weren't allowed to pick your beers for the flight. Our bartender was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. There is parking in front of the brewery and along the south side of the building.

Large taproom with tall ceilings a long bar and many tables. Live music on the Friday we were there. Quality of the beer is average. Service was a little slow at first but overall good. Fourteen of their own beers on tap. Pizza was decent and the pulled pork was good.

This place has a cool vibe with good viewing windows to check out the brewing equipment and colorful murals on the walls.

Beer is underwhelming.

The worst service I've ever received at a brewery. As a small brewery, you expect the brewers/employees to be at least respectful to their customers. My girlfriend and I grabbed a seat with ease but it took 10 mins to even get the waitresses attention as she was busy chatting up another table. After we got the menus we put in a drink order which came out after 10 mins and then we didn't see our waitress again for another half hour. Finally got appetizers ordered 45 minutes after we got seated. The waitress checked on us a total of three times and it took over an hour and a half to get one beer and food.

Good selection of a number of styles, but all underwhelming.

Tastes like frozen food.