Chicagoland Up and Coming Breweries (2021)

Great tip! I have a buddy in a neighboring town so we'll try it out soon, looks like plenty of different styles which I appreciate.

 

Yeah I have also heard great things about Art History. Really cool to see more quality lager breweries around. Goldfinger's lager is great. Midwest Coast canned a lager (and a English Bitter!) And now we have those mixed packs from Great Central available.

Anyone tried stuff from Orkenoy or Odious Cellars? I heard some good things about the sours from Odious.

 

I got the Brett IPA from Odious as an add in to a mixed 6 pack and thought it was really nice. An easy drinker with nice brett characteristic.

 

I had Rubied Perspective from Odious Cellars. Quite good, but pricey. Also, I knew it had a particular fruit, but I didn’t see the other adjunct ingredient... drinking it and trying to capture that other flavor was quite the head trip! A fun beer that I’d recommend if you’re not too concerned about “value.”

 

This site has a list of Future Brewery openings. Mentions an update from last year so ymmv with how current the list is.

http://www.chicagonow.com/the-beeronaut/future-brewer-openings-in-the-chicago-area/

 

Most of those are open now it seems.

 

I had Astral Kinesis from Odious, liked it a lot. The fruit in it made me want a little more tang in the finish, but it's a very cool beer with a lot going on flavor-wise. I'm definitely looking forward to trying more of their stuff.

Also very curious to try some Orkenoy beers.

 

Odious Cellars: Physis Nomos was great, their first two BA sour ales were very acetic.
Ørkenoy: Eclectic mix of styles, from a hoppy lager to a heavily smoked Estonian Koduõlu.

 

Ya’ll supporting new breweries? It’s like the family that gets a new pet when the other ones are all neglected. I can’t even support all the current breweries I love.

 

One brewery I was looking forward to early last year (if not only because it is close to my house) was Printer’s Row Brewing at Austin and Lawrence in Portage Park (I know, the name font make sense until you hear where they started). They were brewing out of Lake Effect and announced opening up this location as a tap room last March, but then went dark afterwards. I’m assuming it’s not happening now, but who knows.

http://nadignewspapers.com/2020/03/...oposed-for-lawrence-austin-in-jefferson-park/

 

It's near my house, and when I walked by earlier this month, they had work permits issued late last year posted on the windows, and it looks like some work has been going on there but still much to do. Hopefully it will open sometime later this year, and Lake Effect can get their Firehouse building squared away as well and open in the next two years. No rush at this point with all the uncertainty.

Still hoping Pipeworks opens a taproom this decade.

 

Great to hear! I'm at Addison and Austin, so its just a quick bus trip I'll hope to be able to enjoy at some point soon. And agree on Pipeworks. Before I moved here, I was 2 blocks away from their supposed Logan taproom. I was saddened I wouldn't be able to enjoy that stumble home. However, their delay has eased my FOMO.

 

Art History Brwg.'s brewmaster is Greg Browne, with whom all of you should be familiar. (But many will not recall was the cause of the old Chicago brewspaper "Barfly" losing its circulation, from a dreadful gaffe of putting him on the cover of an issue.)
Hear this "Brit and Yankee" podcast about Art History Brwg.

 

Midwest Coast’s ESB is great. Most flawless beer I’ve had in a while.

 

Thanks for the recommendation, always appreciate a good ESB.

 

Not sure if one would consider Harbor Brewing in Winthrop Harbor an up-and-coming brewery, but it appears they think so and are planning a large production facility and taproom in Lake Villa. Anyone been to Harbor Brewing? Thoughts?

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20...ng-converted-to-brewery-taproom-in-lake-villa

 

Based on this thread, I swung by Art History today to pick up some beer. I got howlers of Bauhaus and Good Evening Vienna. Super nice tap room and was excited to see they had a Barley Wine on cask. Going to crack them open on Thursday.

 

Be prepared for some super proper beer