Need something to do before Cubs game!!!

Assuming you are staying in the city, there is Half Acre, Revolution, Local Option, Hopleaf, Sheffield's (best beer bar walking distance to Wrigley), Kuma's, Forbidden Root, Link's, among others. Bottle shops are Binny's Lincoln Park (or Binny's on Grand if you're downtown), Beer Temple and Bottles & Cans.

There are plenty of other options, that's just my gut reaction listing.

 

@croush knows his stuff. What he said. I'll also add, if you go to Half Acre, which I'd recommend, then you are just up the street from Bitter Pops. Another good bottle shop with a tasting room to check out.

 

Sheffield's is my go to bar before Cubs games. Good beer and food. Easy walk.

 

Definitely Sheffield's around Wrigley. Saw yesterday that HopCat, which is not too far, is doing free crack fries with a ticket stub during May and June

 

following. doing almost the same trip. only sat to mon. une annee is 10-15 from the airport if you dig sours.

 

If you're from out of town, you really should experience the gameday Wrigleyville scene on Clark Street (right by the stadium):

Grab craft beers & food at Lucky's Sandwich Co., and then bar hop (ie Irish Oak-Old Crow-Merkles-Moe's Cantina-John Barelycorn-etc) up Clark towards the stadium. Obviously, not all of them, but check out a couple places. Most of the Wrigleyville bars have decent craft beer options these days. Atmosphere on Clark Street is unlike any other…

Lucky's- Huge sandwiches w fries inside (can easily split between 2 people). Featured on "Man v Food" back in the day.
Entire taplist is Chicago local craft; Rev, Half Acre, Off Color are all currently on; Surly cans.

Merkles- Legit taplist: Rev, Half Acre, Three Floyd's, Toppling Goliath (cans), etc

Rockit Burger Bar (Clark & Waveland)- great burgers, awesome bloody marry bar, craft drafts & bottles.


Craft Beer Places near Wrigley:

Sheffield's (8 min walk)-
Definitely my go-to spot before games. Great beer garden, solid beer list. It's too bad the forecast is 10 degrees less than was forecast a week ago, but that's Chicago Spring for you... It's beyond me why they didn't schedule Cubs-Yankees for mid-summer (ie 4th of July Wknd!). At least there's supposed to be some sun this wknd. I find the food at Sheffield's decent enough for bar food. Basically, the BBQ is average- not bad, just not great. If you're from Texas, I'm sure your BBQ expectations will be on point.

Corridor Brewery (10 min walk)-
Great up & coming brewery that's been gaining popularity. Recently, people have been raving about the New England-style ("hazy") IPAs they've been releasing. Food is great- more on the "gourmet" side of the spectrum.

Craft beer bars in Wrigley vicinity (20 min walk to Wrigley, 10min walk to Corridor)-
Northdown Cafe & Taproom
The Green Lady
Bitter Pops (bottleshop/taproom)

In Chicago, beermenus.com is your friend. Most craft places list their drafts there, and tend to update more frequently than their own websites. I usually just Google “[insert bar or beer] beermenus.com” for most efficient searching. Beermenus has an app as well.

 

If I only had two days, I’d focus on craft bars w beers you want to try as opposed to trying to hit up too many individual breweries. I’d also want to make sure I try these specific breweries’ beers: Pipeworks, Spiteful, Three Floyd’s, Half Acre, and Revolution. Beermenus is the best way to search out specific beers on draft. The Map Room hasn't been mentioned in this thread, but it’s a staple Chicago craft bar. I’m sure it’s arguable, but Map Room & Hop Leaf are considered Chicago’s original craft beer bars (I think they’ve both been at it since 1992).

Here are some different ideas:

a) Bucktown/Lincoln Park
Revolution Brewpub (for brunch & beers)- Map Room- Local Option- Pequod’s (deep dish pizza for dinner)

You could hit Hopewell Brewing taproom before or after Rev.
Could add Piece Brewery & Pizzeria after Map Room or sub for Pequod’s if eating (Piece is NOT deep dish, it’s “New Haven style”- Dare I say New England style? Haha).
Lincoln Park Binny’s and Whole Foods have taprooms (see beermenus)
Note: Revolution has 2 locations- “Brewpub” & “Taproom.” Both are cool spots.

b) Ravenswood/North Center
Band of Bohemia (brunch & beers)- Begyle (next to Dovetail)- Dovetail Brewery- Fountainhead (craft rooftop bar)- Half Acre- Bad Apple (dinner & beer)- Hopleaf (night cap?)

I actually happen to be doing this on Saturday…
Band of Bohemia brews beer to specifically pair w their food; only brewpub to receive Michelin Star; such a unique brewery; inside of the place is pretty epic as well.
Begyle- could skip if low on time, but might as well have a beer
Dovetail- European-style beers (lagers, pils, etc); rated very highly
Bad Apple- known for burgers & craft beer
Could also hit The Northman- a Cider bar owned by Fountainhead

c) West Loop/Fulton Market (Randolph St)
Haymarket Brewery
Cruz Blanca Brewery (by Rick Bayless)
Lone Wolf (always has 4 Three Floyd’s on tap)
Kaiser Tiger (Sausage, Beer & Bacon bar; beer garden)
Beer Bistro (on Madison)

Relatively close-
Forbidden Root brewpub
Goose Island Taproom

If you want to check out the restaurant scene, this is the area to do it. You can DM for more specific places if you’re interested in restaurant ideas. A lot of these restaurants have great craft beer lists.

To name a few:
Au Cheval (“gourmet diner” known for burgers)
Little Goat (“gourmet diner” love their breakfast, served all day & night)
The Publican


Lastly- don't forget to try at least one of these Chicago classic foods:
Chicago-style Hotdog (Portillo's)
Chicago Italian Beef sandwich (Portillo's or Al's Italian Beef)
Deep Dish Pizza (Pequod's [mentioned above], the original Uno's [or Due's] downtown [this is not the franchise-chain bs], Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, Giordanos)- everyone likes to argue which is better, but they're all great in their own way

Go Cubbies!

 

And if you're going by Une Annee in Niles, might as well swing by Mikerphone in Elk Grove for their IPAs...

 

I'm unfortunately beat on both now, had planned on them but had to drop the rental car bc the price difference. with alot of ppl but only a few wanted a car, so uber it is. my flight get in too early and both are closed monday. kinda bummer. band of bohemia, begyle and bad apple all on the radar still. hopefully a few others. nice in depth suggestions tho, much appreciated. as for une annee, are the 2017 series 3pp brewery only? I'd guess so, but really have no idea. few my friends brought different le seul back, solid stuff. I heard i can at least find some of that likely. hoping for maybe one lucky draft find too.

 

For sure man. Bummer timing doesn't work out, I've run into that when traveling as well. Always seems the out-of-the-way taproom is closed the one day it works out...
With only 2 days, I'd say your time is better spent staying in city anyhow, even if you had car or Uber'd it.

Pretty sure those Le Grand Monde bottles are brewery only, but I'd give them a call. Maybe ask them where you could find their beers on tap in city while you're at it...