A Brit visiting Chicago - help please!

Solemn Oath is in Naperville, if you didn't already see that.

I would personally keep an eye out for beers from Revolution, 3 Floyds, Off Color, and Half-Acre, to name a few.

 

I don't know the Naperville area very well but a few things I can offer:

1) You will find a ton of great beer to drink.
2) The distribution laws in this country are such that not every state gets beer from every brewery, so unfortunately we do not get Russian River beers here in Illinois.

 

Besides going to Solemn Oath directly there are a few other places you should check out for buying (especially if you are between Wheaton and Naperville).

Beer Cellar - Glen Ellyn - 5 minutes drive from downtown Wheaton
Binnys - Naperville location on Ogden Ave. and the Glen Ellyn location on Roosevelt
Standard Market - Naperville location on Aurora Ave.

If you are looking for a place to grab food and want great beer check out these spots.

The Bavarian Lodge in Lisle
Warrens Ale House in Wheaton

 

Highly recommend going to Beer Cellar in Glen Ellyn. It's a small little shop, but packed with great beers. The guy who owns the place if very knowledgeable and will help you - plus you'll have an opportunity to get your hands on plenty of Chicago area beers.

 

Whole foods usually has a pretty respectable craft beer selection. I wouldn't write it off.

 

Agreed with @jsrose16. If you are going to hit one store in the Western suburbs that is not a bigger store (Binnys, Standard, etc.) that is the place to go.

Also downtown Glen Ellyn also has a Tap House Grill which usually has a decent beer selection and good food.

 

Agreed but you are not a far drive from some of the places mentioned so it would be worth the trip (5-10 minutes). Figure 3 Floyds hits stores majority of the time on Thursdays. Rev stuff you will find regularly unless you are looking for a special release.

 

I've been to that Whole Foods, but it's been a while since my last stop. You'll find a few decent beers there, but there are much better selections in places close by.

One place that hasn't been mentioned yet is Binny's in Downers Grove. It's just down the road from the Whole Food in Wheaton. Just continue east on Butterfield Rd (IL Hwy 56).

From the information you provide, I'm guessing that you'll be staying in a hotel off of Interstate 88 near Naperville Rd. You can also get to this store by taking Interstate 88 back east, and then 355 north for a very short distance, exiting at Butterfield Rd. This should not take more than a few minutes.

The Binnys in Downers Grove has one of the better selections of the suburban Binnys.

FWI- Russian River does not distribute to Illinois. You should have no problem finding the regular line-up of Firestone Walker, but the barrel aged beers (Parabola, Sucaba, etc...) don't usually last very long on the shelf much past a day or two after they arrive in the store.

If there's something very specific you're looking for, www.beermenus.com is a great resource. It's up to the stores to keep their inventory up to date, but most do a pretty good job. Binnys is not on beermenus, put you can go to their own website (www.binnys.com), and you can check individual stores to see if the beer you're looking for is available.

 

The best thing to do, is use Google Maps. Find your hotel, and then clear the search. Next type liquor. This will bring up any in the area, as broad of a reach as you'd like. Most have reviews. If not, you can check them out on Yelp. When you find a good one, then save it on Maps. You can make a little map in no time. I did this when I visited Chicago, and it saved a lot of wasted time/miles.

 

My question would be - what beer styles do you prefer? Say you want a great IPA vs a great sour....I would give you two different recommendations.

Or, are you looking to take back beers that your mates across the pond would know of but can't get? Because, that's also different than what I would recommend otherwise.

 

I agree with YoungLad's comments. Are you just looking for stuff on draft? Bottles to drink while here? Or wanting to take some bottles home? Or all the above? Also, what were you looking to get from Goose Island?

 

Bourbon County does make it to London at least; I found two years of BCBS on the shelf at Utobeer last summer. That would never happen around Chicago or Michigan. If you want some while you're here, trading would be your only option.

 

As far as the DIPA part of your wish list goes - check out this thread from a couple of weeks ago. And, not putting Goose Island beers down, but there are so many better IPA / DIPAs available in Chitown than what you have had from them - personally - I don't think you can go wrong with a DIPA from Pipeworks, and you should be able to find one of their various DIPAs at most larger brewstores. Also, Revolution, 3 Floyds (Dreadnaught is excellent, and might be available. But if you stumble across a Permanent Funeral don't pass that by), among others.

As far as barrel aged - that's more of a crap shoot, based on what's going to be on the shelves in the store you buy from. Good luck on that - maybe a local BA will beer it forward and provide a Bourbon County for you (I would, but alas, I don't have any....).

Have a great visit to Chicago!

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/best-ipas-dipas-in-chicago.289664/#post-3626770

 

I sent you a DM.

 

The Bavarian Lodge in Lisle has great beer and food. The Binnys in Glen Ellyn and Downers Grove have great beer selections. . The Beer Cellar in Glen Ellyn. Warren's Ale House is a half a mile north of the Wheaton Whole Foods.The Standard Market in Naperville. Traveling from Naperville to Chicago by cab is easy.

 

Keep an eye out for Fresh Pipeworks. They make some of the best DIPA's in the states. Ninja v. Unicorn should be fresh and is their staple IPA. Pacifica vs. Moteuka is about a month old and was very tasty as well. Sure Bet just came out, but those flew off the shelves so it may be tough to find, but if you stumble upon it, grab it.

 

Check this site out www.beermenus.com
many of the shops around here use this site, it will make tracking down certain beers a lot easier.

Binnys (the big liquor store) doesnt use it.