Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

So, I've been reading the last few pages to get myself up to speed. Never been to Chicago before, will be there for a few days in two weeks. I am a big hazy beer fan, coming from the LA area, always looking to try East Coast goodness. I hear Hailstorm Stratus is good stuff...

Where should I go, breweries/bars?

I am also a sour buff, but am on the haze craze bandwagon right now.

 

Dryhop East Coast Cockatoo is quite awesome. Sort of like a hazy Shark meets Hipster. I'd guess galaxy heavy but not sure. Either way quite an enjoyable beer. I really gravitate towards the 6% stuff more than the 8+ as far as hazy IPAs..though the growler of Juice Beyond is quite nice too.

 

If you only seek out Stratus, you'll probably leave disappointed. It is fine (newest batch is quite good, really), but nothing Hailstorm is anywhere close to what breweries such as Trillium and Tree House are putting out (can't speak to Monkish since I refuse to value IPAs so highly, no matter the limit).

The standard recommendations for hazies in Chicago are Forbidden Root, Corridor, DryHop, Mikerphone, Noon Whistle, and Maplewood in that order, in my opinion. More Brewing used to be on that list, but many say that their newest stuff has fallen off. If you can only visit two, make it Forbidden Root and Corridor as they are way ahead of the game by most people's standards.

For sours, Whiner, Off Color, and Forbidden Root are ones I can personally stand by, but others might have a few other recommendations.

And of course I'll do what I always do and recommend what I believe to be the best brewery in the city: Dovetail. If you are at all interested in German and Eastern European styles, you need to go there. If you do like lagers, Metropolitan's new place is really cool and worth the stop, too.

As far as bars, my personal favorites are Hopleaf, Kuma's Corner, Bad Apple, Fountainhead, Beer Temple, and Maria's. I'm also partial to Laschet's Inn for German-brewed German styles on draft, which is an unfortunate rarity.

 

Une Année is my #1, and Half Acre's sours are great.

 

Forgot Une. They are good, sometimes great. Off Color is my #1 by a long shot, though. Some of HA's are really good, too, agreed, but they don't always have them on.

 

I have a confession to make. I have purchased 3/28 batch of Stratus three times in under two weeks so far. So. Good. Especially for its price.

 

Drinking a Marz Yuice canned today. Very good beer, butvery different from Crushed Velvet. Much more clean and not thick at all. Reminds me of Sip of Sunshine.

 

3/28 Stratus is legit, sipping as we speak

I've never had a bad batch tho

 

Yeah, same here! Reluctant to add to the hype but this beer went type 2. Stratus 2.0 is next level and right there with FR and Corridor. Have drank the cloud beers for a long time and noticed that 3/21 Cirrus had changed into a really nice beer which made me pick up Stratus. Get some.

 

Hailstorm should give the improved Stratus a different name. I'm not picking it up though it sounds great. It's just that my experience with previous batches of Stratus was not that of a hazy NEIPA. If they called it something else with a new name I'd definitely try it....

 

Besides a different name, I feel like their whole can line up could use a makeover. I feel like their can designs are a bit blah...and I'm not one to usually even care about that stuff.

I'll buy some Stratus in the future if I hear it is consistently being made at this level.

 

Agreed - I picked up a couple 4 packs of Stratus and it's fantastic, but they could use some better can art.

 

Boat socks is really good. I tried it on draft at Hailstorm this weekend and was really impressed by it, so much so that a friend and I each picked up a 4 pack.

 

I picked up a four pack of Boat Socks yesterday and agree that it was really impressive. I'll probably grab a second one if I have the chance.

 

Open Bottle has both on the shelf. Was in there yesterday evening.

 

Old Nation M-43 was available down state at Binnys Bloomington. Anyone hear if we will be seeing it up here?

 

Although the canning date is 2/19/18. So there’s that.

 

What a range of emotions you just put me through.

 

We have it in CU too. Started a little over a week ago. The word I originally heard a few months back when I first heard rumblings was downstate only, no Chi area. But then again, a BA I know in MI told me Maine, Atlanta, and some places in Europe recently got it too. So who knows. It's on tap at a couple of bars here too.

Weird. Friend I know there bought week old M-43 last week.