2019 Visiting Chicagoland Resource Thread

I'm not sure you're going to find one or two spots to hit a lot of different hazies. You're going to want to Uber places...it won't be that difficult to manage with your time. I'd Uber up to Half Acre one night - you can go there and halve some of their stuff, and you can eat there (burritos) or go to Bad Apple kitty corner for dinner (burgers). Bad Apple has a nice taplist, and will have something from PW. There's also Dovetail nearby, which is not going to have a single IPA, but is known as one of the better breweries around with all German styles.

If you want Corridor, Uber over there one night as well. They don't distribute cans or kegs to really any other place. You could also swing by The Beer Temple bar afterwards, which usually has a good taplist.

@Quilentro has some good suggestions as well. If you hit Bitter Pops, I would actually suggest going to The Green Lady instead, which is right across the street and has more taps. Both are good spots though.

 

Half Acre, Bad Apple, Dovetail, Corridor, & Beer Temple are all great suggestions.

North Center (neighborhood)
Dovetail will change your life. Even if you aren’t as into lagers, every BA needs to try Dovetail if they have the chance. If you'll predominantly be drinking hazy IPA’s, I rec having a Dovetail lager to start, and then focusing on your ipa’s/hazies. Bad Apple (across from Half Acre) should have Dovetail Lager on draft, so it might be more convenient to try it there & minimize stops (even tho the actual brewery is nearby & has more options). Per beermenus.com, Bad Apple had Dovetail Lager, Dovetail Kriek (lambics also highly regarded), plus hazies Alarmist Le Jus & Maplewood Juice Jorts on tap as of Aug 9- but drafts have likely changed over by now. [edit: welp, looks like their Untappd is current & only Dovetail Lager remains]

Half Acre has 2 locations- I prefer the original by Bad Apple- but you may want to check respective taplists on their website to determine which you rather visit. Both serve food. The Balmoral location is still a cool spot, and next door to Spiteful Brewing.

Lakeview
If you go to Corridor, sister brewpub DryHop has same ownership & isn’t far from Corridor (check respective websites for taplists). Right now, looks like DryHop has 1 hazy on tap to Corridor’s 2, so maybe not worth hitting DryHop at this time, if hazies are your main focus. Both have a “Barman Banquet” special on Mondays- $15 for burger, pint (any beer), & bourbon shot.

Logan Square/Avondale
If you go to Beer Temple, Maplewood is nearby, and the brewer that put Corridor on the map for hazies now brews for Maplewood. Def worth a stop. (fyi- Maplewood has a limited food menu).

Revolution’s 2 locations (Brewpub & Taproom) are near Maplewood & both have Hop Butcher collab Superstructure on tap right now. I tend to prefer the Taproom, but Brewpub might have the more suitable taplist for you atm with 4 hazies (& a ba stout); plus they have good food there (taproom is byo). The taproom does have 3 hazies on (DDH Citra-Hero is hazy), so you can’t go wrong either way.

West Loop
If you want to stay a little closer to your hotel, the West Loop has a lot of craft options [see my post above yours]. In terms of hazies, looks like Kuma’s Corner (West Loop location) has Pipeworks Brewnicornski, Illuminated Astronaut Eye Scream, & a couple Maplewood hazies. Illuminated hazies are underrated IMO. Just a little farther west is Forbidden Root brewpub (which, along with Corridor, has been considered best Chicago haze producer... but I can barely keep up with the ever-changing haze rankings consensus lol).

River North
I saw you mentioned River North places (Timothy O’Toole’s, Monk's). Based on what you’re looking for, sounds like you already correctly determined you’re better off going elsewhere, but if in the area, keep an eye on taplists for:
Jake Melnick’s (great wings; relatively weak taplist lately, but currently has Coffee Dinos’mores & other Off Color beers)
Clark St Ale House (nice courtyard)
Centennial Crafted (currently Noon Whistle Sticky Gummy; on deck- DDH Mosaic Le Jus, Juice Jorts, King Sue, Phase Three Lost in the Moment reg ipa)

Loop/South Loop
Craft bars closest to the Hilton:
Franklin Tap- couple hazies on draft, quite a few hazy can options (ie Hop Butcher), plus Dovetail Vienna Lager can (psst, try Dovetail while you’re here); Phase Three Tropical District hazy was on draft as of Monday, but must have kicked this week
Fatpour McCormick- per beermenus, Pipeworks Velocity of Light & Rev DDH Citra-Hero on tap; original location (Wicker Park) has great bar food, so I assume new location does as well). Motor Row Brewing is nearby.

Non-beer rec’s near Hilton:
Portillo’s- get Italian Beef w hot peppers and/or Chicago-style hot dog
Lou Malnati’s- try their thin crust; true Chicagoans eat tavern-cut thin crust pizza!
Potter’s Bar (Palmer House Hotel)- sit at the bar, order an old fashioned

John Alexander Logan Monument-
If you're into history at all, it’s about a block south of the Chicago Hilton at 9th & Michigan. Sweet statue in a nice little grassy area (part of Grant Park). Worth checking out for a couple minutes. General John A. Logan was a Civil War hero, former US Senator who ‘founded’ Memorial Day, and Chicago neighborhood Logan Square’s namesake. He was vice presidential running mate to candidate James Blaine, and they lost a close 1884 presidential election to Grover Cleveland. The more you know…

Alright man, good luck hunting those hazies. Hope you have a nice trip!

 

Your post was going so well until you said this. I'd never recommend Lou's thin crust. Their deep dish is great, but thin is downright awful.

 

If his UNC avatar didn't give him away as a Chicago imposter, the pizza statement did. Not going thick at Malnati's is the equivalent of eating at McDonald's on your international vacation....

 

We ate at Lou's with extended family on Saturday, and everyone got thick, except my 8 year old who sticks to thin. Needless to say, she was the only one to eat a piece at lunch, and we got stuck with the leftovers. It made for a semi-passable quick breakfast for me the morning after The Big North, that's the best I can say about it.

 

Well, I'm born & bred in Chicago... I'm thinking your statements say something about your potential non-Chicago roots

I'd say most locals go tarvern-cut thin crust when they eat pizza. Deep dish is usually a once-a-while thing, more for when relatives are visiting from out-of-state and whatnot... Lou's thin-crust is really good & definitely underrated. Do I like their deep-dish as well? I love me some butter crust!

I suggested thin because it's not always on people's radar when visiting Chicago, and Lou's is an accessible, easy place to try it. Thin-crust pizza is a category of its own in Chicago, and something we do really well.

 

Before we wander too much farther into #pizzagate, I'll say I like both deep and thin. Most thin just gets lumped together as solid pizza to me, though - most of it doesn't stand out to be fantastic. It's great that some people like thin crust, but some people's obsession with it is strange. Deep dish can have it's low points, but it also has "higher highs" in my opinion. I like pretty much all styles of pizza, whether it's Chicago style deep dish, hand tossed/traditional, Neapolitan, NY style - they're all good, but they can obviously have bad versions of each of them.

Of the 9 people at Lou's on Saturday, I was the only one that wasn't born and raised in Chicago...and everyone ordered deep dish except one of my kids.

 

Haha, I never said Chicagoans wouldn't order deep dish at Lou's, but I will say I'd be shocked if any of those people referred to deep dish as "thick"

That's totally cool man! Pizza is one of those things where people have polarizing opinions. We can debate which place does which style better forever... I think Lou's thin is great, it's right by the guy's hotel, and I'm not going to send him out to Wayne's, Sal's, or [insert first name]'s Pizza out in the burbs lol. I have my favorite joints, none of which are franchises, but they aren't applicable here.

As we move on from this pizza discussion, I leave you with this...

Chicago is actually a thin-crust pizza city:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=id%3D1800410010015630%3Btype%3Dvideo%3Buser%3DVICE

 

Your thin pizza faux pas,
gives me pause for thin pizza,
give thin pizza to 4 paws....

 

I saw a bunch at Leo's at, uh, i think Irving and Elston

 

Leo's Liquors Mayfair
4471 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60630
(773) 628-7929
https://goo.gl/maps/kjDvYmnrcTdXciZz9

This place?

Also, as of about a month ago, the Wicker Park Jewel still had 18 reg BCBS on the floor. Maybe 10-12 cases.

 

Look, quickly, a rare Vav sighting! Keep very still, or you'll spook him!

 

A vav post about BCS...

 

Yah that’s the one.

I still check in and read stuff everyone so often

Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years.

 

A little post-visit love to Off Color Brewing... really a variety of styles there that I don't normally buy, taste, or ..hell, much less find. Loved my visit there a little over a week ago, and great pizza around there (Sono, Pequod's for the traditionalists here). [Disclaimer, I don't live in Denver!]

Love the Off Color space, too, the reclaimed railroad depot, the design, the aesthetics of their taproom, barrel room, shit... everything.
And as you know (well, if you've been here for a few years) I gravitate towards the hoppy stuff first, but my first visit to Off Color will not be my last.
Especially for their lighter Gose, Wari, and wild ale variant bits. Cheers, Chicagoheads!

 

Just arrived into town

Thank you! I can’t thank you enough for writing all of that. Very much appreciated!

 

Thank you!!!

 

Best places within reasonable walking distance of Riot Fest?

 

Easy: you are a few hundred feet from the giant Lagunitas taproom (just east), cool place and space if you've never been - and Casa de Samuel is due south, I like that place. Have fun at Riot!

 

Lagu-what? Never heard of them. Is that some sort of Dutch brewery?