Chicago Breweries/Beer Bars Closings (2019)

The goulash is on point as well

 

I could be wrong, but I think they have to go through a distributor to sell to other bars.

 

Bars like The Green Lady, The Beer Temple and Fischman's often have beers from Corridor, Mikerphone, Maplewood, Hop Butcher, Forbidden Root and more. I guess that hits on your "very few" description, but there are a handful of solid places out there with the stuff.

 

Add Map Room, Links (when it reopens), and several dozen other beer bars to the list.

In fact, I would say the majority of bars I walk in to in Chicago have several local options. Maybe that is different in the loop and other sketchy, dangerous parts of town filled with menacing tourists.

 

It feels (to me at least) like the really "big" beer bars (the ones you've mentioned and a few others) have distinguished themselves as a result. They've got great relationships with the breweries, and so get stuff on tap as if they were a brewery proxy. Bitter Pops is doing the same.

It's a great move, because it ensures that those of us who want really fresh, local stuff that's not commonly distributed will still show up at non-brewery locations.

 

I started to write something similar to this to the original comment a few days This just hasn't been my experience. I'm not talking about Beer Temple, Green Lady etc. - those have made their brand as craft beer bars and obviously support smaller local craft. But the more standard places I've been to usually have some sort of Maplewood / Dovetail / Marz tapline.

I'm in the minority as someone who looks up beer lists before I go anywhere. But still, when I go to a work happy hour, etc., most places in the city have a bit more than just Rev/HA/GI.

 

I do the same; my guess is that your results vary depending on where in the city you are. A lot of the "trendier" neighborhoods also have very good craft beer support, so you'll get a lot more local one-offs. A lot of the generic bars I've gone to (mostly around Lakeview) though, are just running the typical Anti-Hero, Lagunitas etc.. I'll drink it, but if I'm going out of my own volition, I'm usually going to a place like you said, where I checked the beer list and there's something I can't just get at Jewel.