Best bottle shops in Chicago?

For bottle shops go to Beer Temple on Elston, best bottle shop in town and the owner can help you better than anyone.

 

You won't find much Bourbon County around right now, we all kind of bought it all in three weeks when it came out. But, you could try West Lakeview Liquors, they got their shipment of it two weeks later than everyone else, and still had four-packs sitting out a month ago. I don't remember if they had any last week when I stopped in to get my Pipeworks beers. West Lakeview is also an encyclopedia of imports and whiskeys, if that's interesting to you. If Kristina is working the floor, get her talking about bourbon, she's converted me, and will probably pour you a few samples if you're nice.

I second Beer Temple as a place you have to go check out. They have some different beers than everyone else, and are simply some of the coolest people ever to run a business. I love this store.

Capones, a few blocks north of Beer Temple on Elston, has the most locally made Chicago/suburbs beer of anyone I've seen, hands down. And...I've had some magic happen here. Just make sure you go on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday, and ask for Freddy. You might even want to call ahead and make sure he's in. Tell him I said hi!

We are beer-blessed on the North Side. It's not good for our cascading alcoholism, but we manage anyway.

 

Forgot to mention Half Acre's tap room........my second home.

 

I saw some last Saturday and bc barley wine, it was way over priced though.

Anyways as for bottle shops: Beer Temple(this is a must), West lake view, Binnys, Vos, Capones

Bars/Breweries you should check out:
Half Acre, Revolution, Haymarket, Fischman's, Map Room, The Norse bar, Emporium (this one is fun, its and arcade/bar with a decent tap last), and the Hop leaf

 

I should have seen this thread before this past Sunday.

 

I still think Bottles & Cans on Lincoln is one of the best shops in the city. It's especially great if you want to do a mix-and-match six pack. They'll break down any thing in the store so you can add it to your sixer and price it out fairly. If you want to get a good variation of Half Acre/Revolution/Spiteful/etc. 12 oz cans, that's maybe your best bet.

 

If you like Emporium you might also try the newly opened Logan Arcade, which is a half block from Quenchers.

Headquarters Beercade probably has more pinball/arcade games than both put together with a good tap and bottle/can list. Problem is, this one gets a little Lincoln Park douchey. Crowd is super young which could be positive or negative depending on your stance).

 

Head quarters there are usually lines for the games and a Feel like they have less of a taplist. But thank you!

 

I was at Emporium on Friday and was really impressed by their tap list. A pair of Pipeworks brews on tap plus Big Hugs and some other nice treats.

 

Check hole in the wall places, you never know

 

Odds of finding Bug Hugs bottles is probably slim to none at this point. They sold pretty quick around the city.

For the PW Abductions, you may find the Mint Truffle this weekend if at some shops. It just hit the shelves in the past few days so if you ask around it may pop up. Every shop doesn't carry PW, which adds to the challenge a bit. Hope you get lucky!

 

Coffee Abduction is still on some shelves as well. I wouldn't hold my breath for Toasty Nut, Raspberry Truffle, or the Orange one.

 

Capones is my go to. Picked up some 4 day old zombie dust there Monday

 

I'm from Iowa, but whenever I visit the Fiance's family I hit up Grapes and Grains in Homewood, IL. Nice selection and friendly people. Have been able to pick up Pipeworks stuff multiple times from this location.

 

Try Family Liquors south of there on Dixie Highway next visit. They usually have Pipeworks and some other stuff G&G doesn't get.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the info!

 

The Binnys on grand definiitely had some Mint Truffle yesterday. Quite a few bottles, too