Chicago beercation questions.

if you want some bourbon county and can make it out of the city to the suburbs I have some extra bottles with your name on it.

 

Lol its kinnikinnick. And don't worry people from Milwaukee have trouble with that one. Romans is in that street one of the best beer bars in mke he cellars kegs of some amazing stuff.

 

OP, one resource you can use to look for availability of specific beers is beermenus.com. Enter your location (or use the GPS on your phone) and the beer you are looking for and you'll find out some of the places it will be available. Not all bars/bottle shops use the site, and not all who do update frequently, but it is a good place to start.

If you are only looking for Bourbon County, there is also a thread dedicated to "Bourbon County Sightings - Chicago" that people will occasionally update throughout the year. You can try reviving that thread if you decide to visit Chicago.

Best of Luck!

 

Another good thing, is you are close to Michigan if you come to Chicago. Perhaps a couple nights in Grand Rapids would be worth your time. Hop Cat in Grand Rapids is one of the nations top beer bars and Grand Rapids has tons of breweries. I love that city too. Lots of great places to go in Chicago, and Cheers to you for coming from S. Korea!

 

If your looking for Zombie Dust on draft, Kuma's Corner is the place. Flew into Chicago yesterday. Staying out in the Elk Grove area. Hit Binney's Des Plaines for bottles/cans to bring back to California. Then took the L & bus to Kuma's. Loved the place. If you like heavy metal, burgers and great beer then this the place to go in Chicago. And yes Zombie Dust fresh on draft is awesome. Now if I could bring back a six pack with me.

 

Chicago is great, they have wonderful distribution and a lot of non beer related things to do.

I was there at the beginning of March and saw Bourbon County on draft at a ton of different places, you probably won't find bottles, but you will probably see it on tap somewhere. If not, it seems like people would be willing to hook you up with one for going so far.

In terms of breweries to visit, I would have to list Lagunitas as one. They get a lot of flack on here, since they were bought out, but they churn out some great beers at a great price, plus in terms of size it's one of the bigger ones.

Goose Island is owned by AB-inBev but it is still a cool place to visit, their sour program is very good.

There are a lot of smaller brewpubs and microbreweries, but if you don't have a lot of time you can probably find their stuff on tap or at a Binny's (beer store). I would recommend Half Acre just because of their customer service.

Pipeworks does not have a taproom at this time, but they distribute all over the city. Everything I have had from them is above average to great, depending on the beer.

3 Floyd's is about 45 minutes outside of Chicago and definitely worth a visit. I'm not their biggest fan, personally, but they do have some good beers and a cool location.

Hope you have a great time!

 

It is frequently on at Kuma's and Kuma's is awesome in its own right, whether ZD is on tap or not.

The only place I can think of where you are, as far as I know, absolutely guaranteed to see ZD is Hopleaf. In all my visits there in the past few years, it has never not been on. It's frequently also on at Lone Wolf, Local Option, Northdown, etc., but not at all times.

 

Not sure if you're going to be back in the city at all, but if you really want a 6 pack, I could probably grab you one today or maybe even tomorrow.

 

What is your location? I am staying in the Elk Grove area. Algonquin/Linneman. In training till Thursday. Might be able to head back into city.

 

I'll shoot you a PM to discuss.

 

Heading out of the Windy City (and it looks to be blowing pretty good this evening) tomorrow night. Another great time in your beautiful city. Even though I only had 1 day (Monday) to hit up a few spots and grab whatever bottles/cans I could fit in my carry on bag to take back to California. Looks like I will finish up at the Goose Island Restuarant in T1 before boarding my flight back to SNA. Wish they had better choices. Oh well. One more thing, this Mikerphone Special Sauce I'm drinking right now is pretty damn tasty. Bringing 2 bottles back to share. Cheers.
@croush I'll BM you when I get ready to come back out. It might be around 4-18/19.

 

Wait...how do you bring bottles/cans of beer on your carry-on?

 

im wondering the same thing

 

I'm hoping it's supposed to read as "checked bag," or else I'm pretty salty I left a bunch of good beer in North Carolina!

 

It's a carry on bag size......checked in!

 

bottles & cans all tucked away safe in the beer fridge ready for tomorrow. it's all good.....

 

1.Is there any great/nice breweries that you guys can recommend in Chicago?
Plenty. A few that serve pretty good eats are Corridor, Half Acre, Dry Hop, Oak Park Brewing Company, Lagunitas, Piece, Atlas, Revolution.

2.If I go to Chicago, can I get Bourbon County bottles? I heard it got pretty easy to get BC in the States, so are there any benefits getting those bottles in Chicago?
This gets a no. But....
For most of us. Regular BC was really only "easy" to get shortly after the initial freak out.
BUT. Since the city is freaking massive. I'd hedge that there are probably some ethnic corner / convenience stores that also happen to sell beer where it might still be lurking because one of the sons ordered it and no one else knows what the hell it is.
3.My beercation will be 2 for weeks, can I get to other close Great Lakes cities easily, and is there any other nice beer cities near? Fairly easily, yes.
Tuck in close as you head out and hit 18th Street and go out wide on 94 and hit 3 floyds on the way home. Trek north about two and half hours up the Left Coast of Michigan. Michigan can start with Round Barn, or (with lunch) Green Bush. The map should then read thick with breweries, and there are plenty of places to stay at to because the list should make you question your sanity in driving back to the city.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Okay, round 2 coming up next week. I'll be in Chicago next week Monday till Weds. But really only Monday to hit up any spots in the downtown area. Well, just outside in the suburbs again. Been to Kuma's Corner on Belmont on last visit. But would like to visit it again for ZD. But this time would like to stop in at Piece Brewery/Pizza? Looking for bottles/cans to bring back once again......so besides VAS Foremost is there another place I can visit for fresh Chicago beers? I'm thinking Beer Temple(not far from Kuma's) then stop in Revolution for a round before taking the L to Piece. I haven't been to Half Acre yet. Should I instead of Revolution, then head back over to Piece? I am trying to hit up places I haven't been to yet, but this time have a couple or co-workers tailgating this time. Thanks.

 

Right next door to Piece Pizza is Liquor Park. It's a smallish, boutique type bottle shop that stocks all the local heavyweights.