2019 Visiting Chicagoland Resource Thread

I’ve never been in, but there’s a Mariano’s grocery store right down the street (west). I’m sure they’ll have at least your basic local cans.

 

I’d recommend ubering/divvying to binny’s on marcey. Grand and Western or Garfield’s on Milwaukee are also options. Have fun! Stop in to Forbidden Root and say hi to @KrajDoesBeer

 

Noble Grape, just east of Ashland, usually has a solid selection.

 

That Mariano's has an awful selection. Source: my disappointment when I popped in for beer recently.

 

I’m going to be in Logan Square Thursday through Sunday. Planning to hit Beer Temple, West Lakeview Liquors, and Bitter Pops on Thursday afternoon. Will probably go to Hopewell, as well. Are there any special releases taking place in the area at all this weekend or places I should check out for their selection or tap lists? Ideally, I’d like to stumble upon vintage Bourbon County variant bottles just sitting on shelves.

 

Share the love of you find any vintage BCBS sitting on the shelf. I keep hearing from Chicago folks recent BCBS releases have just been gathering dust on shelves but I haven't witnessed it myself.

 

Every once in a blue moon, Bottles & Cans will put some older BCS stuff on the shelf. You should go there anyway, in my opinion, b/c you can buy anything as a single, so you can buy the widest variety of local stuff for the lowest price (as you can buy one as opposed to 4/6).

 

There are others who could probably comment more specifically on BCBS sitting around in the city, but I've had luck in the past using the Beer Menus app search feature. It's not always perfect, but it has worked for me before. If variants are sitting around, it's probably going to cost ya. Good luck

 

Check out Capone’s if you’re going to Beer Temple. They have tons of older, interesting bottles I haven’t seen elsewhere in the city. They also seem to special order some suburban breweries’ special release on occasion.

If you want vintage BCS, go to Goose Fulton.

If you want 2018 variants, Polonia on Damen and Armitage has midnight orange and bramble for $27 a pop. Coffee BW and WW for $22. If you are a rye guy and don’t mind secondly prices, they also have Michter’s barrel strength rye for $130. They deliver via Drizly.

And go to Half Acre on Lincoln. They virtually always have a one-off release or two.

You can also look at Beeronaut for activities:
http://www.chicagonow.com/the-beeronaut/2019/07/chicago-craft-beer-week-july-29-august-1/

Good luck, have fun, dance like no one is watching. Wait, sorry, thought I was on #WeddingAdvocate

 

If you're near Forbidden Root without a car you can grab the #66 Bus on Chicago Avenue and go to Tabb's at Chicago & Rockwell (about a 5 min ride). They have a solid selection and always a bunch of Pipeworks cans. From there you can walk about 5 minutes north up to Puerto Rico Food & Liquors on Augusta & Rockwell. Don't be fooled by the exterior, they have a great selection and Junior is really helpful.

 

Also great advice if you like burritos.

 

Farmer's Pride at Western & Chicago has a bunch of BCBS (including variants) in their cooler. It's marked up quite a bit ($20-25) but they have a lot of bottles.

 

That’s good to know. I’ll make sure to never go in there when I go back to Yuzu!

 

I'm surprised nobody mentioned it, but don't go to West Lakeview Liquors. They're closed - nobody seems to know if it is temporary or permanent, and I'm not sure most of us care, as they have kind of sucked for awhile.

I'd go to Bottles & Cans instead, which some others have mentioned. Great spot to buy beers, as you can split up any 4/6 pack in the store. Plus, it's right down the street from Half Acre on Lincoln, which is my top choice for a brewery visit. They always have good beers on tap, but they no pretty much do a new release every Friday, so that's an even better reason to check it out.

 

And because they seem to be doing frequent drops.

 

I made this novel of a post in a "Chicago Recommendations" thread that was started today, and thought it would be useful to include in this main "Visiting Chicago" thread in case anyone is looking for brewery & craft bar rec's in the West Loop, and other surrounding areas of the Near West Side neighborhoods.

@NickAdams55:
I’m going to be in Chicago next month and am looking for suggestions of pubs and taprooms. I’m a fan of English style beers, stouts, porters, barley wines, old ales. Not a fan of IPAs unless their the restrained British style. I love East Kent Goldings hops. Any suggestions? Staying in the Tri-Taylor neighborhood.
(https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/chicago-recommendations.621068/)

Note: Tri-Taylor is just west of the Medical District & south of I-290 in the Near West Side

My travel-guide-sized-chapter of a response (lol):

I too, was vague on the "Tri-Taylor" neighborhood. I pretty much consider that area the "Medical District." If you're looking for good spots near that neighborhood, the aforementioned breweries in the "West Town"/"Near West Side" neighborhoods are good choices, and they're in a general cluster of each other, so you could potentially walk from place to place:
Forbidden Root, On Tour, GI Taproom (Fulton), Great Central, District Brew Yards, All Rise

I added Forbidden Root, which is about 0.5 mile (10 min) walk north of On Tour. They're known for hazy ipa's & sours, but they make stouts, lagers, & other styles, and also have solid (sometimes "rare") guest taps. It's the only place of those listed (aside from All Rise) that has food, and it's quality food. All Rise has decent bar food, but I will say I'm not the biggest fan of the atmosphere there (people don't seem to necessarily be there for the beer; it's more of a concert venue with a dive-y connected bar that happens to also brew their own beer- but decide for yourself or look up on Yelp).

Lagunitas is just south of Tri-Taylor. They have live music 530p w-f, 420p wknd.

While brewery hopping is fun, don't miss out on all the other cool spots near you. There are tons of good restaurants near Tri-Taylor. Just east of Tri-Taylor & Medical District is Little Italy. South of Little Italy is Pilsen, which has good Mexican food. North of Little Italy is Greek Town. North of Greek Town is West Loop & Fulton Market District which is known for some of the best restaurants in the city.

Pilsen restaurant- check out Cantón Regio. It's more traditional Northern-Mexican-style ("arrachera- style") where you order meat by the kilo, make your own tacos, etc. They also have meat skewers that are essentially enormous shish kebabs (order a shrimp skewer!); it's BYOB & there's a bottle shop across the street with surprisingly good craft options (although I enjoy guzzling Pacifico's with my Mexican food lol).

Pilsen Breweries- Lo Rez Brewing & Alulu
Lo Rez makes some solid beer; both are cool spots & worth checking out if in the area. Moody Tongue used to be nearby as well, but closed to move to the South Loop (old Baderbrau brewpub), and they're still transitioning.


Craft-centric West Loop places:

Kaiser Tiger- great beer garden; typically well-rounded taplist; if you like lagers, they usually have Dovetail on tap (best lagers in Chicago)

Cruz Blanca Brewery- Rick Bayless' brewery; I love the upstairs w all its natural lighting & high ceilings; underrated beers; right now they appear to have a ba stout, ba barleywine, ba wheatwine on their bottle list; good tacos; connected to their sister (higher-end) Mexican seafood restaurant called Leña Brava

Little Goat- gourmet diner; great brunch spot; taplist less stellar than Au Cheval, but decent craft options nonetheless (could argue it's not exactly "craft-centric," but has great food, so I included it)

Lone Wolf- always has ~5 Three Floyd's beers on draft

Au Cheval- gourmet diner; solid taplist; always a wait, but can grab a beer at Lone Wolf or Haymarket while waiting

Haymarket Brewpub- back bar has the best atmosphere & often has live music; underrated barrel program, but typically not on tap during summer

Ballast Point Brewpub- nice rooftop patio; they brew a few beers on site; 40+ beers on tap (rooftop has less options); check out their daily food specials; $5 Black Marlin Porter during Sox games, $5 BP Lager during Cubs games, $5 Aloha Sculpin on Fridays (thru Labor Day)

Publican- styled after a European beer hall; well-rounded beer list & food is great (fyi- sister restaurant Publican Quality Meats is a butcher-shop & deli across the street)

Kuma's Corner- great burgers & taplist


Also, South Loop Binny's has a taproom, and is a good place to purchase bottles to bring home.

Lastly, the OG craft beer bars in Chicago are Hopleaf & Map Room. Beer Temple has pretty much taken the mantle as the new-school go-to craft beer bar, but there are plenty across the city.

For English styles:
Owen & Engine [mentioned by @emerge077] is a great English-style pub with cask ale options. Per @eppCOS, Red Lion pub has Fuller's London Pride & ESB on tap, with a great kitchen.

...and I've barley even touched on the even more abundant options up north in the Ravenswood-North Center-Lakeview-Lincoln Park-Wicker Park-Logan Square areas lol. Basically, this is a great craft beer city with endless options. Hope this helps!

 

So many great responses! Thanks folks. I'll report back.

 

Visiting Chicago next week on business. Staying at the Chicago Hilton. Looking for craft beer bar recommendations. Don’t have time to drive/Uber to all the “great” breweries around the city as I’ll only be in town a couple of days so hoping to hit a place or two at night where I can enjoy the “better IPAs”, Hazy preferably.

Noticed recommendations for Monk’s and Timothy O’Toole’s but their IPA beer lists are rather limiting (i.e. one Pipeworks IPA, Ninja vs Unicorn), neither seem to have anything from The Alarmist, Pipeworks, Half Acre, Corridor. Food service would be a + but not necessary.

Thanks in advance for your reply!

 

I’d consider a (kind of far) trip to Half Acre for dinner and a flight, then a quick jaunt over to Bitter Pops to sample some local beers and take some to go.

You could also take an easy blue line ride to wicker park / Bucktown, which is the best, and see if links taproom / tapster / map room have what ya need.