Quick Chicago Trip

Check this post out for a beer friendly CTA map. Might be small quibbles on which bars were included/excluded but gives you a general idea. O'hare is the blue line - revolution is a no brainer off the blue line.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/chicagos-first-cta-bar-map.154657/

 

Pretty much what Jaycase said....Revolution is the easiest brewery to get to from O'hare on the Blue Line. I'd say stop at Fischman's too as one half is a bar and the other half is a store and they usually have pretty good stuff at both.

 

Half Acre is about a 10 minute stroll basically due west off the Brown Line Montrose avenue stop. On the way over there you might want to hit up Fountainhead for some food and some beers you might not see anywhere else in the city. Revolutions Brewpub is technically off the California stop of the blue line, but that be closed for remodel and repair work, so you'll find yourself at Western or Logan Sqare and having to walk it up or down Milwaukee Ave, depending on which one you pop off on. The brewery/taproom is a bit harder to reach on foot, but is very worth the visit, except for they do not offer ANYTHING on cask. The brewpub has two pumps and generally always has at least one of them pouring. Ask at the bar, they don't list what's pouring on cask anywhere. They don't serve food (yet) at the taproom, and you are kind of at the mercy of big box food in that area.
Don't bother Pipeworks; who are a few blocks South of the Western Avenue stop, they'll be closed.
p.s. right near the rev brewpub, there are TWO arcade bars. The better of the two is Logan Hardware and that's because the owner is a serious geek, and just east on the corner of Western and Fullerton is one of the grand-daddies of pouring good beer for Chicago. Quenchers. Quenchers also serves food.
Oh, yeah. You might want to venture over towards Wicker Park and hit up Piece, which is on North Avenue.
Hit up Air BnB or something similar for establishing a homebase. There are plenty of bed and breakfasts, etc. in the immediate area.

 

is the California stop open? I know at one point it was closed but I don't believe it was a long term deal. Fischman's is a great suggestion too and definitely walking distance from the blue line.

 

Here's a place where some friends of mine stayed a while back. They said it was a pretty good place for a homebase in the Bucktown neighborhood.

http://www.raysbucktownbandb.com/

This is a couple of blocks from the Map Room and a short cab or walk/El to Revolution (pending construction of El stops). Lemmings is another place that will usually have some good stuff on tap in the area.

 

Was closed as of Monday. At least they're not busing between Logan and Western right now...

 

Good question, I don't know. Haven't been out that way in a while.

 

It just closed at the beginning of the month, and won't be open til mid-October at the earliest. The Milwaukee ave (56) bus stops at California ave coming from either way, or it's just a 10 - 15 minute walk from either one.