Dryhop Brewpub in Lakeview

grand opening is today. not sure if they have a history as local breweries but i don't think anyone has tried their stuff.

 

They were giving free samples and pouring growlers for $10 on Saturday. Beers were decent to solid...the APA was the highlight of the four they were serving. Talking to a bartender (who seemed to have quite a bit of knowledge, could have been an owner/partner), it seems like they will be doing some high gravity/fun brews.

Refills of their flagships, a Wheat IPA and a Chicago Common, are only $6 on Saturdays. Not bad at all.

 

I wasn't in love with the APA & IPA, thought they were a pinch over hopped (which is a minority opinion it turns out) but I thought the common cream ale was light and balanced and pretty delicious. But the coconut stout was great, much better then Maui's version of the brew. The growler filler looks like its out of some science fiction movie, I half expect a robot to be handing it to me when its done.

 

I dont think so, it looks like most newer brewpubs (antique chic) but the brewers have decent pedigrees of previous work if I remember from old articles. I thought the stout was amazing and also its very hard to launch to the masses on goofass esoteric beers that idiots like me like. Can you imagine what the masses of Lakeview would think if they offered 6 dollar growlers of smoked berliner weiss's (abraxxxas is one of my fav beers)? The majority of people are in love with IPA's why not give the people what they want on launch day. They have saison's on deck and since I live 500 feet away, I have a feeling I'll be getting lots of growlers from there, I just wish the menu had more vegetarian options for idiots like me (even the fries are fried in beef fat).

 

I met one of the brewers at dld, and he couldn't have been a nicer guy. I'd patronize his establishment for the simple fact he's a good guy.

 

Stopped by for dinner and the food was AMAZING!!!!!
The beers are:
Shark meets Hipster - Wheat IPA 5%
Batch 001 -chicago common 4.6%
The Judge -American Pale Ale 5.4%
The Angry Samoan- Coconut milk stout 5.5%
Vampire for your love - Saison 6.2%
Johnny Quest -black IPA collab with Begyle 5.3%
grab a flight of 6 x 4oz pours for $12

I liked the JUDGE the best followed by Vampire and Angry Samoan.
The service was awesome and they know beers as well as food. The chicken and donuts were fantastic. The desssssseeeerrrttt is insane. Great vibe, great music and windows open for fresh air. Just a very cool spot.... plenty of poles to lock your bike up...Revolution Brewery ,Half Acre Tap room, Haymarket and Dryhop are the BIG BOYS in town to visit when coming to this great beer city. Cheers to the crew at Dryhop!!

 

I thought the same thing....even the damn fries are fried in beef fat.

EDIT - I'm repeating myself....I had the same quip in an earlier post.

 

Yeah, I was kind of shocked by the food menu posted on the website. Seemed like almost nothing was vegetarian. What did/could you eat?

 

One of the first images on their website is a roasted pig's head. What kind of menu did you think they were going to have?

 

I hear ya but almost every place in chicago (even ones with the name goat in the title) still leave a handful of vegetarian options for folks. Seems like a bad business move (in my opinion) to alienate a large percentage of people (i.e. lots of folks in that neighborhood that frequent the chicago diner) by not having more then one option. But its their call, I dont care. I'll eat the deserts and go somewhere else to eat a meal. ((authors note - I'm not a full on vegetarian, but my wife is.))

Haymarket, Goose, and especially Rev all have plenty of options, I guess I'll give them my dining dollars despite the fact I live 500 feet from Dryhop. If only Pig Minds wasnt 150 miles away.

 

From the Dryhop Website... I know I'll be there today. Love living two blocks away.

Growler Saturday. Round 2.​

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​

You guys were incredible last night. Thank you. We love you.​

And to show our huge thanks, here’s info on Growler Saturday #2:​

Tomorrow starting at 11am, Velvet Divorce, our Czech Pils, is available for $10 in 64-oz growlers (includes fill and glass, $6 if you’ve already got the glass). You can fill growlers of the rest of our kick-ass beers too. Just for the regular ol’ price.​

 

Now I'm sold on checking the place out.

 

Food sounds amazing, but what are prices like? No prices listed on the food menu (http://www.dryhopchicago.com/eat/dinner/)

 

do they fill growlers from other breweries? i've got some empty rev growlers sitting around...

edit: also, what are dryhop's growlers like? fancypants swingtop growlers or normal screwcap ones?

 

I love to eat meat, and I love good vegetarian fare. I don't see how having vegetarian food trades off with having a roasted pig's head.

My guess is that the menu will expand a bit in the future, I was just surprised at the menu I did see. Anyway, looking forward to a visit at some point.

 

They do not fill other breweries growlers due to the mythical law against it that places like Destihl in Normal reference, while the Half Acres of the world RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE! The half growlers are swingtops.

Food items are small plates, ranging in price from like $6-$9 a pop.

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

They don't fill other breweries' growlers, but I was told last night that they will exchange them. So if you bring another breweries' growler they will switch out for one of theirs. The 64oz growler is a screwtop, but the cap is plastic and seems to have a much stronger seal than the traditional metal screwtop. The 32oz is a swingtop. The guy filling growlers said last night that they don't want to fill other growlers because of their claim that they can keep for 6 weeks in the fridge.

 

Having worked in the food service / bar industries back in my youth ... I remember how crazy and totally chaotic it was opening up a new establishment. Especially one that was packed, wall-to-wall. These guys didn't even blink. Service was plain outstanding. I'm guessing they've all done this before. There was practically no waiting around for beer/growler fills and samples, and every server was just friendly as hell. I don't know how they managed it.

Food was excellent, as was the beer. The highlight for me was their black IPA, Johnny Quest; a collab with Begyle brewing. They absolutely nailed that one; killer dark roastiness with a nice little hop bite to it. Awesome. Can't say enough good things about this establishment.

 

Anybody there now? Just curious regarding crowds... called 5 times, no answer. Headed that direction for dinner with the lady regardless unless it is a zoo...

 

It was a two hour wait for a table last night when I went at 8.

 

Seating at the bar is first come first serve. I got a seat with my girlfriend in about 10 minutes of standing there

 

Went at 1pm yesterday with my girlfriend and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

The Brisket Burger is skippable we found but the smoked sausage is really good. Rosemary Mustard is definitely one of the best things I've ever eaten (truth be told I'm a Rosemary fiend). I'm nowhere near a vegetarian so I didn't notice the lack of Rabbit food.

Atmosphere was great considering how small and busy they were. Customers seemed to be about 70/30 normal people to nerds with the Lakeview plague of Dude-Bro's kept at bay, thankfully. Overheard people near us who sounded like they had a good general understanding of Chicago beer but no snobbery or drunken debauchery, unexpected and nice.
Music was also nice. Heard Pavement, The Smiths and mid-career White Stripes: good stuff that's also easy to tune-out for conversation.

Had Flights and favorites in order were:
1) The Judge (Could drink this Pale Ale all day, left with a Growler)
2) Saison (Easy to drink and my girlfriend liked it the most, left with a Growler)
3) Coconut Porter (I'd just ask for more body but still a nice beer)
... other beers were definitely solid just not for me in certain ways.

After moving to Chicago 6 years ago I swore off Growler purchases entirely as their pricing in this city is, in a word, fucked.
It's really nice to have a Brewery near the Lake with such reasonably priced Growlers. What's more the 3 illuminated cylindrical devices they use to fill them are genius. During the hour and change we were there the line was never fewer than 3-deep and their system is as efficient as it gets.

I'm a big enough nerd I brought my own Growlers to fill and as mentioned above they don't fill other people's glass. Not sure if the helpful bartender comped me my new swing-top 33.3 oz. Growlers or not but I can fill them with Homebrew in my down-time - win/win.
As an Edgewater resident who spends the vast majority of my time on-bicycle (and a good amount of that on the Lakefront path) I'm curious to see how the Growlers hold-up during a 10-mile ride... will find out soon enough.

If you can I definitely suggest you stop by!

 

What are their official hours now?

 

They do not fill other breweries growlers. 64oz are screwtap, 32oz swing top.

 

I was there yesterday and it was packed. I also had the flight and agree with some of the other posters that the Judge was the best beer in the line-up. I also really like the Vampire. The place is pretty small, if there's a wait it could be a while as the tables were turning extremely slowly while we were there. I was there between lunch and dinner so we shared a piece of the key lime pie and pecan pie. Both were outstanding. The pecan pie went perfectly with the stout.

 

From FB.

 

I'm not usually big on non sour saisons but the lime forward Vampire is awesome. Happily left with a growler of it

 

Seems like I had a similar experience as many. Thought that they had very good beers, and some very good food to match. Will definitely be returning. I thought the Vampire was the top beer offering, followed by the Judge, the Angry Samoan, and Shark Meets Hipster. The other two were pretty ordinary, IMO.

 

looking forward to checking the place out, its about a 10 minute walk from me, dangerous!

I've had multiple conversations with Greg the owner. great guy so far, I hope this place is successful and becomes a staple of the neighborhood