Melrose Park/Northlake

MORE is going to be literally like 10-15 minutes from Melrose. Noon Whistle will be right there too.

 

Oak park has some descent options. Beer shop always has pretty good stuff on tap. You can go on DigitalPour to see what they’re pouring at any given moment. Poor Phil’s sometimes has some good stuff on tap also. I’d check BeerMenus for some other options in oak park or forest park. And more isn’t far. If there isn’t any traffic the city isn’t far.

 

Yup, More should be your #1 destination. There is a Sal’s Beverage World about 2 blocks from More, and they usually have Hop Butcher available, as well as a pretty good selection of beer in general. Ardmore Station is another good store right there.

Mikerphone and Noon Whistle are probably 20 min away too.

 

I'll echo Beer Shop in Oak Park if you're looking to have a beer at the bar, their to-go selection is pretty hit or miss. It's very small in there, however - I feel like I need to mention that since you're looking for "not too crowded".

Binny's in Elmwood Park is also worth a stop. They get distro from almost every brewery you'd be looking for beer from (take that with a grain of salt), and their craft beer aisles are always pretty stocked.

If you're heading out to Villa Park to stop at More, I'd suggest taking ~15 minute drive to Glen Ellyn and visit The Beer Cellar. They have a great selection, and the staff is always great (not to mention they almost always have something awesome on tap).

 

Its an easy train ride on the UP Metra West Line to downtown Chicago for more options.

 

This shit is starting to feel like satire.

 

This dude just DM'd me to ask me to explain this comment in private. Here's my explanation. There are over 200 breweries in Chicago. You don't think you're gonna see some shit in a store that you've never seen?

 

Good luck, I hope you can find a grocery store.

 

Don’t pay @Jplachy no never mind. He can be a snarky old fart. But seriously, grocery store/supermarket-wise (not sure what Californians call them), stick to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Liquor store-wise, find the closest Binny’s or the previously mentioned bottle shops. And though I haven’t used it in a while, the following website used to be handy whenever I traveled:
http://www.seekabrew.com/distro/index.html

 

Chicago in specific and Illinois in general is one of the best distro'd places in the country, so you're bound to find both a lot of good local options you'll never see in Cali, and also stuff from other parts of the country you probably don't get there. I can't be specific to Melrose Park as I'm almost never in the suburbs, but any Binny's would be an easy place to get an amazing spread of the beers we have to offer (looks like the closest Binny's might be Elmwood Park, but I could be very, very wrong).

 

Ah, no worries. I've never come across a line in Chicago taking longer than 3 days. Hey-oh! Sorry, it's a Monday.

 

River Grove is close too.

 

3 Floyds sells a lot of their beer in supermarkets now. That probably meets your criteria. I don't think they have a wide distribution footprint. If you go to Whole Foods, the number of "local distributed" beers will be much higher.

 

Honestly, hit up the Elmwood Park Binny's that I mentioned. They have a whole aisle of Chicago beers, and another aisle of Midwest beers. You're sure to find something that you can't find everywhere else.

 

I can't really think of any taprooms or craft bars where you need to worry about long lines to get a beer on tap. There could be a line for a special can/bomber release, but even the places that have "hyped" releases tend to have the operation down to where it doesn't create long lines just to get a draft beer (ie they have separate line for to-go sales).

Chicago has an abundance of local options. Make sure to check out the “Visiting Chicago” thread:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/2019-visiting-chicagoland-resource-thread.601977

Most of our local/regional breweries don’t see West Coast distro. Here are some to look out for:
Pipeworks
Half Acre
Dovetail (best lagers, must try)
Hop Butcher (hazy ipa’s)
Phase Three (hazy ipa’s)
Mikerphone
Maplewood
Forbidden Root (hazy ipa's, sour ipa's; limited distro)
Corridor (hazy ipa's; no distro)
Off Color
Revolution (barrel-aged stuff: Deth Tar stout, Straight Jacket barleywine, & variants)
Une Année/Hubbard’s Cave (Une Année sours; HC hazy ipa’s)
Toppling Goliath (out of Iowa)
Central Waters (known for barrel-aged; out of Wisconsin)

You can look up availability of regularly stocked options at www.binnys.com (if particular store has what you want, always good to call bc sometimes online inventory can be off). Hop Butcher & Phase Three sell out fast, so their beers usually aren’t in online system (but you can check the breweries’ respective social media to see when/where drops are happening). Mikerphone moves quickly as well, so often not in system (they don't announce drops). Pipeworks, Maplewood, Toppling Goliath, Hubbard's Cave all make good hazy ipa’s that tend to be more readily available (at least for the city Binny’s locations, not positive on particular suburban stores).

Melrose Park seems to be in a well-positioned 15-mile radius of many craft places whether you hit up suburban spots like Mikerphone & More, or head downtown to the city. To put it in perspective, at 845p on a Monday (checked couple hours ago), Melrose Park is 19 min drive from More Brewing, and 21 min from Kaiser Tiger downtown. Also, it looks like you can use both Metra & CTA (via Pace) for public transit to get downtown, and can use Pace buses for suburb transit (see google maps).

Couple ideas if you went downtown:
a) Beer Temple (Maplewood Brewing nearby)
b) Brewery hopping in North-Center (Half Acre, Dovetail, Begyle)
c) Kaiser Tiger in West Loop; great beer garden. I listed a bunch of West Loop craft options here: https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...nd-resource-thread.601977/page-4#post-6597252
In addition to craft-centric places, West Loop has a bunch of renowned restaurants.
d) Forbidden Root (near Goose Island-Fulton, District Brew Yards, etc)

Suburban ideas:
1) Beer on the Wall in Park Ridge- taproom/bottle shop; Nintendo games to play
2) Brixies (taplist- www.beermenus.com/places/1274-brixies-beer-bar)
3) Whole Foods taprooms (not available in all WF's)
4) Mikerphone (Une Année not far)

Most bars use Untappd or beermenus.com to list beers on tap, although some may only use their own website. What part of California you coming from? Great time of year to visit Chicago, enjoy!