My wife and I are headed to Chicago area via Madison for a week and would like some tips on beer stops. Headed to Half acre, Spiteful, Revolution, 3 Floyds. Any other can't miss spots?
There are a plethora of 'visting Chicago' threads in the forum. Suggest perusing some of those as you might find some good info there but copied here are several places which have been posted before to get you started. Credit to the original posters. Good luck Breweries/Brewpubs: Half Acre - Just taproom and store but my favorite taproom. Usually pretty chill even when crowded. Piece Brewing - Brewpub with AMAZING pizza and great beer. Love this place. Revolution - Taproom and Brewpub (Great food) Solemn Oath - In napperville, but if you can get there its a cool place with good beer. Goose Island Clybourn- Brewpub (Right next to Binnys LP) Has good food and a large taplist of GI beers. Whole Foods Lincoln Park - If you're at Goose and visit Binny's , check out Whole Foods 2 bars on the inside, awesome draft list. seriously. Begyle - Has a new taproom with pretty good beer and is a few blocks from half Acre Lagunitas - Taproom just opened last month. Good beer, good food. Swag store. Haymarket Pub and Brewery - Good beer, good food, closest to you on Michigan Ave. (there is a binny's near haymarket with a nice bottle collection and taproom) Bars/Restaurants: Hopleaf - Easily my favorite place in Chicago. Fantastic beer list, both tap and bottle, and great food, especially the muscles and fries. Piece Brewing - Brewpub with AMAZING pizza Maria's Packaged goods - on the south side, but has a great bar and decent bottle shop. Doesn't have food, but immediately next door is a great pot pie place (Pleasant House Bakery) that you can order into the bar. Simone's - Close to Maria's. Great draft list, great food. Skylark - Great draft list. Tots! (people think the tots are over hyped, they cannot be overhyped) Down the street from Simone's. Bad apple - Pretty good tap list with fantastic burgers. Jerry's Sandwiches - Huge taplist AND sandwich list. Close to hopleaf. Foutainhead - Close to half acre. Good tap list and good food although I am never blown away. Other places I have yet to go to but have a great reputation Publican Kumas corner Map room Local Option Haymarket Dryhop
i like that you saved this. i like that the bold items are mine. including that lagunitas opened last month which it hasn't. good stuff jaycase.
Yeah, as i had mentioned full credit for the list goes to you and @Farnswurth . Great list this. Apologies for the half-assed editorial effort. I did catch & remove the Hot Doug's rec tho!
The drive from MSP to Milwaukee: Coffee Grounds in EC Liquor Central and Showboat Saloon in Wisconsin Dells (dead in the wintertime) Karben4 in Madison Tyranena in Lake Mills Rays & Discount in Milwaukee I usually suggest visiting New Glarus, but they won't have anything there that you can't get at almost any shop in Wisconsin. Worth it for the experience, but only if you've got 3-ish hours to kill going out of the way.
Definitely made some good additions. Some other places that should also be added are: Smallbar- great beer list and close to the beer temple. Northdown- they regularly have fantastic beer events and tap take overs. Penrose brewing- it's a bit of a drive from Chicago, but it has a great taproom and interesting beer. Worth the drive. There are so many great places around Chicago, I don't think you will have trouble finding some good beer. Now, if only we could sticky one of these lists to the forum....
