Chicago visit mid-June

- best breweries for a visit Sunday/Monday

Spiteful & Half Acre (Balmoral) are next door open on Sunday, but not Monday.

On Mondays, Revolution Brewpub, Off Color Mousetrap, Piece.

If you like German Lagers hit Dovetail. If you like hazy beers hit up Corridor.

- post-White Sox bars on the Saturday after a 1:10pm game

Hit up Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar, great beer selection and Kimski (Polish / Korean fusion) restaurant is connected. It's about a mile from the park.

- best arcade bar

Probably Emporium Wicker Park or Logan Arcade. Logan Arcade is right by Quenchers Saloon, which is another great beer bar. Emporium in Wicker Park is in the heart of Wicker Park and close to lots of stuff (Piece Pizza & Brewery, Bangers & Lace, Map Room)

- good dive bars

I like Stella's Tap on Western, also they have a pool table. Also, Archie's Iowa & Rockwell tavern (also have pool)

 

I second everything Kodt said.

Maria’s, down by Sox, can be a great place to try some cellar beers. They have some fun ones on their list. Lots of Marz beers too which are always great. If you hang around down their - moody tongue, and low rez are down that way.

You can always try to hit up Goose Islands taproom, just north of Off Color’s Mouse Trap.

If you want Haze- you have to hit up Corridor.

Dive Bar- Delilah’s on Lincoln and Diversey. There is a a brewery down the block and Beermiscious to the North of there if you want to hit a bottle shop.

 

Agreed that Maria's is a great post-Sox option. But if you want to go the dive bar route after the game, definitely hit Bernice's after the game. It's an old-school, friendly Chicago dive. And there's a great taqueria across the street, Tacos Erendia.

And to piggyback off Delilah's. It's a great punk-ish dive with an upstairs pool table and a TON of whiskey.

A block and a half south of Delilah's is Rose's, a great dive ran by an 80 year old Macedonian woman named Rose. It's basically a grandma's basement, but with Old Style, a cheap juke (seven plays for a dollar, all shuffled), and decorations for all holidays all year.

 

Lots of good suggestions already. I would say that the Sox game itself will be stocked with nice beer options. Look for the ‘craft cave’ and enjoy! This is one of the few ways IMHO that a game at Comiskey beats Wrigley.

When it comes to dive bars, are you talking true dives? Or dive bars that you can still get good beer at, because there’s a difference.

Lots of your questions have subjective responses, but one does not.
The best place to shoot pool in the city of Chicago is Chris’ Billiards. Tons of quality tables. Fairly cheap. Dim, dingy, and a little dirty, but it just adds to the charm. BYOB, so hit up Binny’s Six Corners, load up on your Chicago favorites and don’t drink so much that your start playing with the sharks.

 

Just for the sake of clarity- taproom is on Fulton, brewpub is one near Off Color. And I wouldn't recommend the brewpub until they start making actual beer there.....

 

I’m totally biased, because I live about 7 buildings away, but Archie’s is hands down my favorite Dive bar. Hamm’s is the house swill, and Hamm’s and shot of Beam is $5 all day every day.

If you wanna drink a little better, they have a great selection of craft (in cans/bottles) and always have a 3 Floyd’s beer, many times zombie dust, and sometimes even bottles of bourbon county.

If you go to Archie’s, shoot me a message, and the first round of hamm’s is on me.

 

My favorite has been plugged (Dovetail), but Forbidden Root is my preferred hazy delivery service (over Corridor and everyone else), and they do basically every other style very well, too, plus the food is stellar. No one has mentioned them yet, so I thought that I would.

 

Speakeasy? Tell me more.

 

I've heard good things about the Globe Pub on Irving Park. I believe they open early to show the games. They're also about a five minute walk from Dovetail and a ten minute walk from Half Acre Lincoln.

 

Paddy Long’s may do stuff for the World Cup. I know Fado in River North is showing all the games live.

 

Just FYI to you, @gruffyboy, and anyone else that might want to go to the Globe, they are currently temporarily closed. Per their website, they'll be back open June 5 (today), but since it's a remodel, sometimes these things don't go as planned and there may be delays. I'd call first, is what I'm saying, or check their website/facebook before going.

 

You'll find places. They'll show games everywhere. Google your team, bar, and Chicago to see where it might play. This isn't like the late 90's where your choices were limited to a game a week at either the Abbey Pub or Sedgwicks.

Given the amount of TVs in Haymarket, I would imagine they would have games on.

 

I would say it all depends on how much he and his buddy want to be engaged in the game while at a bar. Sure, nearly every bar will have the games on when they open around lunchtime, but with games starting at 7 am Central time, you'll most likely need to find a handful of specialized places that will open that early and have the games on. Places may also have Cubs or Sox games on most of the screens (OK, maybe not the Sox ), while the World Cup games are on a more limited amount of screens. Another factor is sound, and whether they are pumping the sound of the game on, or if they are just playing music that may distract from the experience (at least this is something I take into account when going out to watch my teams play).

Another place with a ton of TVs that shows pretty much every sporting event and has a good craft beer selection is Timothy O'Toole's.