Chicago Recommendations

Chicago is considered a Great Lake region, so would get more input in that sub forum. Also would recommend where in Chicago you’ll be. It can take over an hour to get from north side to south side, so recommendations can be narrowed down just based on location

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/2019-visiting-chicagoland-resource-thread.601977/

This thread should help you.

Screen re-loaded so I lost my detailed recs- oops. No time to re-type, here is abridged. Around Tri-Taylor, check out On tour, Goose Island Fulton & Wood, and great central. District brew yards and All Rise are also close.

Good luck!

 

GI Fulton and District Brew Yards are great recommendations. GI doesn't lean into English-style beers as much as they used to, but you can probably still find some stuff you'll like (and if you like barrel-aged beer, you'll be fine), and District BY is pour-your-own with 3 main breweries and a bunch of different taps. The space is very cool, and there's a lot of stuff to try, so those are good bets.

Unrelated to beer, but if you're 1) in town through Sunday and 2) like tacos, I highly recommend swinging by the Maxwell Market: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/maxwell_street_market.html

It's a cool place, and they have absolutely top-tier Mexican food.

 

jesus, i've lived here for 20 years and i've never heard of the tri-taylor region of chicago

[hangs head in shame]

 

*looks around*
*whispers*
I was right about where it was, but I had to Google it to make sure...And I went to high school around there.

 

I went to the Berghoff earlier this week. Was impressed with their much larger bar and their German style beers. I think they are all or mostly all brewed in the brewery they built in part of the restaurant. Pleasant surprise to see an old dog learn new tricks.

 

Owen & Engine.

 

& a little farther away, on Lincoln, near Fullerton (Lincoln Park/near DePaul) I still love the Red Lion pub; talk about old school! Fuller's London Pride and ESB on tap. Great kitchen too.
Have fun!

 

I’ll echo this. They have great cask beer. Best in the city. Beer Temple is also worth checking out.

Both are worth the time and effort.

 

As @Quilentro mentioned, be sure to check out the "Visiting Chicago" thread:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/2019-visiting-chicagoland-resource-thread.601977/
(really, this entire discussion should probably be in that thread, but I realize you're new to BA)

I too, was vague on the "Tri-Taylor" neighborhood. I pretty much consider that area the "Medical District." If you're looking for good spots near that neighborhood, the aforementioned breweries in the "West Town"/"Near West Side" neighborhoods are good choices, and they're in a general cluster of each other, so you could potentially walk from place to place:
Forbidden Root, On Tour, GI Taproom (Fulton & Wood), Great Central, District Brew Yards, All Rise

I added Forbidden Root, which is about 0.5 mile (10 min) walk north of On Tour. They're known for hazy ipa's & sours, but they make stouts, lagers, & other styles, and also have solid (sometimes "rare") guest taps. It's the only place of those listed (aside from All Rise) that has food, and it's quality food. All Rise has decent enough bar food, but I will say I'm not the biggest fan of the atmosphere there (people don't seem to necessarily be there for the beer; it's more of a concert venue with a dive-y connected bar that happens to also brew their own beer- but decide for yourself or look up on Yelp).

Lagunitas is just south of Tri-Taylor. They have live music 530p w-f, 420p wknd.

While brewery hopping is fun, don't miss out on all the other cool spots near you. There are tons of good restaurants near Tri-Taylor. Just east of Tri-Taylor & Medical District is Little Italy. South of Little Italy is Pilsen, which has good Mexican food. North of Little Italy is Greek Town. North of Greek Town is West Loop & Fulton Market District which is known for some of the best restaurants in the city.

Pilsen restaurant- check out Cantón Regio. It's more traditional Northern-Mexican-style ("arrachera- style") where you order meat by the kilo, make your own tacos, etc. They also have meat skewers that are essentially enormous shish kebabs (order a shrimp skewer!); it's BYOB & there's a bottle shop across street with surprisingly good craft options (although I enjoy guzzling Pacifico's with my Mexican food lol).

Pilsen Breweries- Lo Rez Brewing & Alulu
Lo Rez makes some solid beer; both are cool spots & worth checking out if in the area. Moody Tongue used to be nearby as well, but closed to move to a new place in the South Loop (old Baderbrau brewpub), and they're still transitioning.


Craft-centric West Loop places:

Kaiser Tiger- great beer garden; typically well-rounded taplist; if you like lagers, they usually have Dovetail on tap (best lagers in Chicago)

Cruz Blanca Brewery- I love the upstairs w all its natural lighting & high ceiling; Rick Bayless' brewery; underrated beers; right now they appear to have a ba stout, ba barleywine, ba wheatwine on their bottle list; good tacos; connected to their sister (higher-end) Mexican seafood restaurant called Leña Brava

Little Goat- gourmet diner; great brunch spot; taplist less stellar than Au Cheval, but decent craft options nonetheless (could argue it's not exactly "craft-centric," but has great food, so I included it)

Lone Wolf- always has ~5 Three Floyd's beers on draft

Au Cheval- gourmet diner; solid taplist; always a wait, but can grab a beer at Lone Wolf or Haymarket while waiting

Haymarket Brewpub- back bar has the best atmosphere & often has live music; underrated barrel program, but typically not on tap during summer

Ballast Point Brewpub- nice rooftop patio; they brew a few beers on site; 40+ beers on tap (rooftop has less options); check out their daily food specials; $5 Black Marlin Porter during Sox games, $5 BP Lager during Cubs games, $5 Aloha Sculpin on Fridays (thru Labor Day)

Publican- styled after a European beer hall; well-rounded beer list & food is great (fyi- sister restaurant Publican Quality Meats is a butcher-shop & deli across the street)

Kuma's Corner- great burgers & taplist


Also, South Loop Binny's has a taproom, and is a good place to purchase bottles to bring home.

Lastly, the OG craft beer bars in Chicago are Hopleaf & Map Room. Beer Temple has pretty much taken the mantle as the new-school go-to craft beer bar, but there are plenty across the city.

...and I've barley even touched on the even more abundant options up north in the Ravenswood-North Center-Lakeview-Lincoln Park-Wicker Park-Logan Square areas lol. Basically, this is a great craft beer city with endless options. Hope this helps!

Exactly what I was going to suggest when I saw OP this morning, good call if you're looking for English styles.