Chicagoland Lagers

That's a great beer. I'm a big fan of everything Metropolitan makes, especially Dynamo, their copper lager. And Magnetron, their schwartzbeer. Both of those are bottled.If you see thier Heliostat on tap anywhere, that's a great one.

As of Saturday, the Rev taproom had a great alt on as well. But that's draft only.

 

I've heard good things about Dovetail's lager. I tend to like lagers that are either relatively hoppy or have vienna malt, so my two faves currently are:

Tooth & Claw by Off Color (dry-hopped lager)

Eliot Ness (amber lager from Great Lakes)

Metropolitan does good stuff too, as @Cannonball said.

 

Sorry, I'm confused. Is a lager a new version of an IPA or BA Stout I'm not familiar with???

I'm admittedly deficient in knowing about them, but usually always enjoy them. It'd be nice to check some more out in the future and get to know some of them.

 

Honestly, I know about as little as you do. I was recommended Eliot Ness as a good vienna lager (there's one out East that I really love, by Devil's Backbone. Hoping now that ABInBev owns 'em, I'll have it here), and grabbed the Off Color one at the Field Museum.

Nothing against lagers, they're just outside my wheelhouse, so I only know a few goodies.

 

To piggyback on this thread, I have yet to have anything from Dovetail, but have heard they do a good job with traditional Euro style beers. Which, besides Metropolitan, is something this city lacks, in spite of new breweries popping up every month it seems. Anyone here been? If so, thoughts?

 

Another vote for Metropolitan and Great Lakes , available year round. If I'm not mistaken some lagers brew locally are for fall/winter....you start seeing bocks, helles(pale) or dunkels(dark) and Marzens...I remember falling for lagers only to find out some are seasonal.

 

Yes, went on a tour and tasting last fall. Fantastic, highly informative tour from their reclaimed copper kettle to their water filtration process. Great beers: a Lager, Hefeweizen and Rauchbier. And they have since added a Vienna. Definitely worth a visit.

 

I'd like to agree with everyone that said Off Color's Tooth and Claw is great. It's pretty up front with the noble hops, so the fresher the better

And while I haven't had much of their stuff, Baderbrau in Bronzeville is an all/mostly lager brewery that cans.

 

Agreed with all the Metropolitan recs. It's close enough to deserve a mention - I think Two Women by New Glarus is pretty good. I prefer it to NG's Totally Naked.

 

Had a great lager in Michigan recently called Lake Brothers and thought it was a perfect representation of the classic lager style. Hear the brewers have Chicago ambitions so hopefully we'll see it here soon. Be nice to pivot to some good regional lagers - have too many BA Stouts right now

 

Baderbrau Lawnmower Lager is a solid local IPL.

 

I will second Metropolitan Dynamo. Great beer.

 

I believe Hopewell are bringing their 'First Lager' out in a packaged format soon. Really solid. Otherwise would also add to the major love here for Metropolitan - they are a cut above.

 

Can't recommend them enough. They only do traditional euro style beers, so no IPAs or adjunct stouts, but the beer is really good. The standard Lager is easily the best I've had in the city from a local brewer, and their holiday beer was one of my favorites of the season. The other stuff i had wasn't up to the same level, but they were all solid at the least. They didn't have a pilsner when I was there, but I would really like to try it.

They're also doing a "lambic/gueze/"spontaneously fermented beer, but that's a good 2-3 years away at least.

I'm curious to see what their traditional Belgian stuff tastes like.

 

Never had heard of that brewery. Looked it up, and it is a contract brewed label, made a Brew Detroit in Corktown, which has a 100 bbl brewhouse. Nothing wrong with that, but I wondered if there was a new brewery doing lagers.

 

Keep an eye out for Metropolitan Heliostat, which is a zwickel. Only available on draft a few months out of the year. One of my favorite lagers.