Hello, I am from western PA, and my family and I will be going to Chicago for a trip soon. What are some of the beers from this area of the country readily available that I must try? Any input would be great!
Anything by Revolution or Half Acre. Also now that Toppling Goliath is available in Illinois Pseudo Sue is very good.
If you have never heard of it, get it. Or stick to Half Acre, Noon Whistle, Pollyanna, Forbidden Root, Pipeworks, Revolution,..ad infinitum, ad rediculum...
My top 2 would be Half Acre and Pipeworks cans, though as noted, there's more stuff here these days than you can reasonably get to in one trip. Which is good!
My recommendation is to go to a store like Beer Temple or Bottles & Cans where the place is small and most beer is fresh. Ask anyone working at either place what to get. Avoid a place like Binny's because a lot of the beer is not fresh and it will be hard to tell.
While I agree BT and Bottles & Cans are great stores and definitely worth a visit, I don't agree with the blanket statement of avoiding places like Binny's. Sure, there might be older stock at a given Binny's, just like could happen at any other store, but it's not that difficult to tell as most beers are dated these days. Just skip the odd beer which is not dated if one is not sure on how old it is. To recommend skipping Binny's outright is not good advice imo as they tend to be much more conveniently located & generally have a wider array of choices.
They only have a wider array of choices because stock moves slower and they keep old product on the shelves.
