Chicago this weekend

Go check out Bavarian Lodge. Awesome bar in Lisle and not too far from Naperville. Others will no doubt have even more recommendations.

 

Solemn Oath in Naperville and Urban Legend in Westmont, two awesome breweries

 

Solemn Oath Brewery in Naperville is a must. Also, Two Brothers Brewery is right down the road.

For bottles, Binny's is a good choice and there is also The Beer Cellar in Glen Ellyn.

 

Are you actually making it in to Chicago proper? If so, go to either West Lakeview Liquors or the Beer Temple if you want an amazing beer shop. Also, make it to a Binny's (the big liquor chain); there's one in Naperville and a bunch in the city, so you've got choices. Both the Lincoln Park and South Loop Binny's have tap rooms with great beer lists, so maybe check them out as well.

In terms of bars in the city, maybe Northdown Taproom or Local Option?

 

I second Solemn Oath. Binny's Naperville is super close from them East on Ogden. Downtown Napervillle is very festive- Front Street Cantina has great food, and a nice tap selection. Heaven on Seven has a tighter tap list, but usually has a few gems. Bav. Lodge is great, a bit pricy at the end of the evening, but has a stellar tap list. All of the above mentioned are on BeerMenus.com. Have fun!!!

 

I'll be in Chicago this weekend as well (heading to the Chicago Fire game on Saturday). Local Option, Sheffield's, and Hopleaf are our beer bars of choice downtown. Harrigan's for a proper Guinness and Eliot Ness. Delilah's for some scotch. Weiner Circle for some drunken humor.

I've never been to Binny's so I'm hoping to get a backpack full of goodies to bring back with me. Is there any other good stores towards downtown that will have some limited stuff on shelves (Zombie Dust, 120min, Sucaba, etc)? I know Binny's is huge, so I'm not sure if it gets picked over a lot.

 

@AstraXtreme these are some good spots since you will be south of the loop for your game:

Maria's Package Goods (http://www.beermenus.com/places/1974-maria-s-packaged-goods-community-bar-) half bar and half liquor store
Printers Row Wine Shop (http://www.beermenus.com/places/2669-printers-row-wine-shop)
Gentile's Wine Shop (http://www.beermenus.com/places/2705-gentile-s-wine-shop) same guys as Printers Row
Binny's South Loop is always great and they have a bar in it, but you are right, it will be picked over unless you catch a delivery being made...

 

Yeah, this is a good list. Chicago is pretty brutal in general when it comes to big releases; 120min tends to stay on the shelves a little while, but most beer shops will run out of something like Sucaba (to use @AstraXtreme's example) within a few hours. Zombie Dust is always really hit or miss; in my experience Binny's will also sell out of that within the day (a lot of people come in to Binny's and the first words out of there mouth are "do you have any 3 Floyds?"). I've found that places like Foremost Liquors (they're a chain of liquor stores) will sometimes have high demand beer sitting around a little longer, but I speak mostly for the one off Ashland, in Lakeview.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. We're actually taking a shuttle bus from downtown to the game, so we'll primary be bumming around downtown all weekend except for the 2-3 hours for the game..

 

so are u coming to chicago or naperville?

 

where u staying downtown?

 

id try to break it up into a couple neighborhoods then. rather than cabbing or driving all over the place. wicker park/bucktown/logan square area is full of places. west lakeview has a good amount of beer bars as well. best bet might be to get a couple day el pass. i live in w lakeview near southport corridor. between northdown, green lady, southport lanes, sheffields etc i can ususally get my fill within walking distance. and tons more only a short cab away (im a sucker for the half acre tap room) let me know if end up in my area and have some questions i can help with. im sure plenty here live in other areas and can help as well. enjoy chicago!

 

I also am a sucker for Half Acres tap room, great place to visit same goes for revolution,finches, Haymarket, piece brewery(I like their pizza there), goose island clybourn I believe just opened up. tons of great places. For stores I would have to second binnys Lincon park( head to the back of the store for their tap room) or south loop. Westlake view, beer temple and capones also have some great selections. but if your in the burbs I would say check out solemn oath or beer world.as for bottle shops binnys glen Ellyn and downers grove never disappoint also the beer cellar in glen Ellyn and for pipeworks selection I would visit Ardmore station liquors in villa park, they have the biggest selection of PW I've seen in a single store.

Cheers, good luck and thank you for supporting WW

 

We were at the Congress Plaza. Pretty crazy weekend in the city with a ton of festivals going on, Ribfest in particular.

As usual, Local Option didn't disappoint (except for CW Exodus blowing 10 seconds before we walked in the door). But after 5 rounds of high gravity brews and some amazing food, we stumbled onto our next stop, Beercade. And damn, that is one of the coolest bars I've ever been to. KBS, Devil Dancer, Zombie Dust, and a bunch of other limited stuff on tap, mixed with old school arcade games. That place will definitely be a regular stop when I go back to Chi-town.

Was hoping to do the Half Acre tour Saturday morning but after getting back at 5am, we were alll feeling pretty shitty when we woke up.

I wasn't able to make it to either of the downtown Binny's (sad face), but I stopped at a few other smaller places. Picked up a few FiftyFifty, Pipeworks, and Maine Beer Co bottles. I was really hoping to come across the Pipeworks Coffee IPA or Citra Ninja, but I'm definitely not disappointing with what I landed. I'll be back in September for Riot Fest and I'll try again.

 

You might also be interested in Emporium (2 locations) and Logan Arcade.

 

Yeah we heard about those too. I believe they're both a bit further outside of the downtown area though, and not as close to the bar hotspots. Emporium will likely be on my agenda the next time I'm in town.

 

Just returned from Chicago and stayed in the South Loop area. Check out Warehouse Liquors on S. Wabash. Loads of good stuff from Pipeworks, Spiteful, Central Waters, 3 Floyds and others. Staff was helpful in pointing me to the local's that I don't get back in DC/NoVa. Highly recommended..