Good Times Brewery

The current brewer is Doug Hurst, formerly of Metropolitan fame. That was the main draw for me. There were a pair of nice pilsners, one Czech the other West Coast style. A decent ESB and Kölsch rounded out the flight. There were also some IPA’s and a couple Belgians.

The lady hosting and waiting tables was kind of indifferent, but service was fine.

The vibe was modern industrial brewpub, black walls and edison bulb chandeliers. Brewery visible through windows behind the bar. Some flatscreens playing sports behind the central bar.

Onion rings and smoked brisket were good, the menu featured BBQ, pizza, and pub grub.

Overall it was ok, the pilsners were good, I’d stop again to check out different seasonal beers.

Only a few blocks east of Greenstar, crossing into East Lakeview (apparently the "Proudest" neighborhood in the city, right on), sitting at the ground floor of an apartment building, you'll find Good Times, a brewery I had honestly never heard of before seeing it listed in a quarterly Illinois Brewers Guild guidebook. Inside, things look kinda like a chain brewery/restaurant, not wholly unlike a Ram or Rock Bottom: plenty of booths and tables; a dark-ish, almost dining club-esque paint job, and bar at the back facing the windows that show the brewing apparatus. Some screens line the far wall near the ceiling, showing some ESPN, 'natch. Selection on offer included a couple IPAs, some blondes (one of which was infused with jalapenos), a red, a hef, and a couple lagers. Following a flight, I can say that the beers are fine, if nothing close to eye-opening, and I felt the red was the highlight of the group; nothing was particularly bad or off, so that's a plus. Bar staff seemed kinda sparse (echoing the clientele, who I guess hadn't started showing up yet around 1-2 in the post meridian, but they were helpful and genial when around. I did not sample any of the food (the pizza included), so nothing to report there. Overall, a nice, quiet brewery that could serve as a chaser to Greenstar or as the starting point for a brewery crawl, but I'm not sure I could in good conscience call it a must-visit in Chicago.