Chicagoland Lagers

I can also say I was really impressed by the house lager at Dovetail

I'd go buy some weihenstephaner original premium if you've never tried it. Less hop character than a pils. But amazingly drinkable the same way the dovetail was for me.

I'm a big fan of the new Pilsner that maplewood put out in January. Hopefully that becomes a regular

 

Everything Dovetail, Metropolitan, and Baderbräu is worth your time.

I've been singing Dovetail's praises forever now, and literally EVERY beer they make is top-tier amazing. If they could start canning, that would be absolutely amazing, but there is definitely something about having their beer as fresh as possible in the great atmosphere that is the brewery. Great tour as well.

Metropolitan is great if you don't mind the house character that seems to permeate every beer they make. I am a huge fan of draft-only Heliostat (because Zwickels are wonderful), and my favorite beer from them is actually their take on a Munich Dunkel, Arc Welder, which has rye in it giving it a really interesting and different profile than a typical Dunkel while still remaining true to the skeleton of the style.

Baderbräu is woefully underrated here (of course). Everything they make is very good to great (and canned). Their Pilsner is great, well-balanced, and cheap (Elston Target of all places has it for $6.99, which is an absolute heist), South Side Pride is an awesome Helles and their best beer for me (triple-decocted, which is very impressive); Red Velvet is a non-traditional but still amazing bock; and Blizza is a (noble) hop-heavy Zwickel that comes across very American yet still within the style guidelines; it's a great one to go for if you're a hop-head. High Noon is a really nice hefe as well. Soon they'll have Lawnmower Lager, which is a killer IPL. Their taproom is awesome as well, and they have a few really tasty IPAs on there.

Also, gotta give Off ColorTooth and Claw another recommendation because it's simply wonderful. I'll also give a nod to Around the Bend's Ghost of 'Lectricity, which is a really nice, affordable Kölsch and so technically an ale but obviously very relevant here. Maplewood's Pulaski Pils impressed me as well, but I don't know if it's still around; fingers crossed that it comes back (though it did use non-traditional, American hops if I remember correctly, which I tend to frown on just a little).

From outside Chicago, of course there's Pilsner Urquell, Czechvar, Praga, Pinkus Ur-Pils, any Weihenstephan, any Andechs (best Helles I've had), any Ayinger, any Hofbräu, any Augustiner, Spaten Premium, Einbecker, any Mahrs, Stiegl Pils and Goldbrau, Würzburger Pils, Trumer Pils, König Pils, any Weltenburger, Hacker-Pschorr Münchner Hell/Gold, Paulaner Original, any Kulmbacher, Drie Fonteinen Beersel Lager, Jever Pils, Reissdorf Kölsch, Gaffel Kölsch, Sunner Kölsch, Köstritzer Schwarzbier.

Other craft options available here are any Summit, some Capital (bocks especially), any New Glarus (if you go to the border of course), Deschutes Pacific Wonderland is great and reminds me a lot of Tooth and Claw with more fruit from the awesome new German hop Tettang Mandarina, Anchor, Sierra Nevada, Great Lakes, Urban Chestnut (very underrated overall), and some others I'm undoubtedly forgetting.

If you're looking to trade or travel, go for Heater Allen, Von Trapp, Olde Mecklenburg, Live Oak, Suarez, Jack's Abby, Bauhaus, and Hill Farmstead.

I'll also shout out to my favorite macro, Schlitz.

Honestly, Chicago has an abundance of great lagers, and with the tide seemingly turning that way in the craft world, we're sittin' pretty.

Great topic!

 

Made my way up to New Glarus on Monday. Their zwickel is great. On par with Metropolitan's and better than Urban Chestnut's. I can also vouch for the Capital Pils. Solid stuff.

 

I have been drinking Lagers and Pilsners recently... they are the best palate reset for me plus I enjoy like most of you do as well.

Cool thing about them can be they are not the most popular. I just go to my Binnys grab a mix 6 of the freshest ones they have from the Chi.

I like Baderbrau for sure, the Buckledown Pils was legit, in a huge fan of 5 rabbits Super Pils as well. Point is for 9.99 u can try 6 without being all in on one! Cheers

 

The Radler in Logan Square always has good lagers and pilsners on tap. Always seem to have Urban Chestnut on tap, and I beleieve Metroplitan makes the house Helles.

 

Pilsner Urquell for like $6 a 4-pack is such a steal. Especially since it's in cans now and not skunked.

 

Was the New Glarus Zwickel on tap at the brewery? Did you notice if it was available in bottles too?

 

I can't speak to whether it was on tap. I believe that it was supposed to be gone by now, but at the price point that it was, it wouldn't surprise me if there was some left over. It was a 2016 special brewery-only release that was there intermittently. Soon (or already) it's supposed to have been replaced by Hometown Blonde, their awesome Czech Pils, which will also remain brewery only for the year unless they change their minds. I'd recommend following the New Glarus thread on here for more specific info.

 

Yeah, I think I misread Cannonball's post. I knew about the Zwickel last year and was unfortunately unable to get down to the brewery to pick some up. I thought he might have been mistakenly referring to Hometown Blonde when he was talking about the Zwickel. I've been regular consumer of Hometown Blonde (and Edel Pils for that matter) whenever they've been released by the brewery over the years.

I do follow the other thread (even posted in it) and also follow New Glarus's Facebook page. I'm surprised that there hasn't been an a post about its release--I figured the first batch would be out by now.

 

It was on tap and in bottles. You could get 4 packs or mix a six with the zwickel.

 

This was last year, right?

 

Nah, this was on Monday afternoon. The beer on tap was certainly fresh. Haven't cracked any bottles yet.

 

Thanks for clarifying! I wonder if they decided to keep the lager labelled as Zwickel instead of Hometown Blonde or if this means that they'll have both? @THANAT0PSIS

 

I'm guessing there's just some Zwickel left from what maybe was the last brewing. Or maybe they decided to keep Zwickel as the special brewery-only and Hometown will be distributed. Only NG knows, so I guess we will wait and see.

 

I just checked the code date on the Zwickel. It was bottled on January 17, 2017. It's simply called "Zwickel" and is part of the red-capped thumbprint series.

 

New Glarus stopped using "Bottled On" dates last year. Now they use pull codes instead. So that Zwickel is likely from the last time they brewed it, which was last spring I believe.

 

It's possible the newer pull dates are only for beers they distro and they still have a bottled on date for brewery only beers, the latter which the Zwickel is I believe. Also the pull dates have a letter in the first character as well (A thru L I believe).

 

That makes sense. They wouldn't really need pull codes for something that isn't getting distributed. Seems weird that they wouldn't announce a fresh brewed batch of it though.

 

After the initial release, they didn't regularly (or at all, as far as I know) announce when there was a fresh batch for sale at the beer depot. So, not surprised they didn't in this case either.