Chicago Over Springbreak

What area specifically? Chicago is fairly large.

Here are a few threads.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/chicago-mar-6-10.156066/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/spots-in-chicago.152493/
http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...s-for-bars-near-chicago-hyatt-regency.156104/

 

Go to the Beer Temple, talk to Chris, buy beer.

 

Good Advice here!

Is it true they have a lot of okra in Oklahoma and pickled okra is readily available and most people eat it quite regularly?

 

If you're looking for something close to the Hilton, Kasey's Tavern has a pretty nice tap list.

 

^this plus hackney's down the street has excellent burgers and beer.

 

Absolutely worth taking the Blue line out to Damon in Wicker Park. There are a lot of trendy places but more importantly, the Map Room is near there. Pretty crowded but a really great beer selection.

 

Bars near Hilton
Flo an Santos http://www.floandsantos.com/
Hackney's http://www.hackneys.net/locations/chicago/
The Scout http://www.thescoutchicago.com/drinks.html
Kasey's http://kaseystavern.com/beers/internal-beer-list

Stores near Hilton
Warehouse Liquors http://www.warehouseliquors.com/ http://www.beermenus.com/places/1266-warehouse-liquors
Printer's Row Wine Shop http://www.printersrowwine.com/ http://www.beermenus.com/places/2669-printers-row-wine-shop

 

Three Floyd's. Do it.

 

Well, since you'll be kinda close to there, "This year the greening of the river begins at 10 a.m. followed by the parade at noon on Saturday, March 15, 2014."

That's right, they dye the river green.

 

Spring Break! Spring Break!

My favorite bars in the city are Hopleaf and Map Room. You should be able to get a taste of some harder to find stuff at either of these places. They aren't necessarily close, but you can probably get to them by public transit so you can get good and liquored up without the worry of driving.

 

You can take the Redline to the Hopleaf from the Loop. The public transit is great for not driving. Just remember to load up your card at the beginning of the night.

 

+1

You can either take a cab or take the CTA Red Line to Andersonville. Hopleaf is an easy 6-block walk from the Berwyn stop. Then there's Jerry's Sandwiches right up the street, and they offer flight-size pours of all of their 40+ taps. If you like oysters, try ACRE; before and after dinner they have a nice variety for $1.25 each, plus over 20 craft taps. If you're looking for a bottle shop, there's an often overlooked spot just down the road. All this stuff is literally within 4 blocks, and all on Clark Street.

About two miles away from that section of Clark St in Andersonville, you'll find another great little beer haven. In the Damen/Montrose/Lincoln triangle there is Half Acre brewery and Tap Room, across the street from some great burgers and craft beer at Bad Apple. There's a quality gastropub a block-and-a-half away called Fountainhead, and they might even open their rooftop deck in the unlikely even that the weather is warm enough. You can take the CTA Brown line to the Montose stop to get there or back.

I added links to http://www.beermenus.com/ lists to most of the spots that I posted. But beware that these pages might not be up to date. Enjoy your visit!

 

St. Patrick's Day is a notorious clusterfuck in the city. Avoid Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville like the plague. In addition to all the great places already mentioned, I recommend the Revolution taproom(brewpub is too crowded usually).