Looking to check out some breweries/craft beer bars in Chicago and the surrounding areas next week. Bonus points for any events happening at either. Appreciate the info.
Lots of different options depending on where. You may want to specify the neighborhood as some of these spots can easily be an hour apart with traffic. Someone less lazy than me can post the links to some of the past threads. I'll try to do a cliffsnotes version... Breweries: Half Acre (pretty close to Begyle and Dovetail as well), Revolution (2 locations, brewery doesn't have food), Goose Island Fulton (Clybourn is close for renovations), Pipeworks (bottle shop w/samples only) Bars: Haymarket (brew their own stuff, can visit Au Cheval for a burger and it's near Lone Wolf), Hopleaf, Local Option, Links Taproom, The Map Room, Sheffields, Hopcat, and probably 2 dozen more that I'm forgetting.
I'm gonna just throw out Logan stuff, as I'm sure others will take care of the rest of the city. Revolution is in the area. They have 2 locations, a brewpub and a taproom at the production facility. The brewpub can get really busy. Hopewell Brewing is new, but a pretty cool place to grab a drink. One of my favorite bars is crown liquors. They have about 20-something taps. A good mix of standards and more sought after stuff. I've seen some really cool stuff on draft. Not really a beer bar, but Longman and Eagle is one of my favorite bar/restaurants in the city. Great food. Fantastic cocktails that are whiskey focused. Beer list is small, but solid.
To add to the previous post, Half Acre isn't that far away and it's definitely worth a trip. It's about 3.5 miles/20 minute drive from the Revolution Brewpub. The previously mentioned Map Room and Links Taproom are also in the area (closer than HA).
And if you happen to go to Half Acre or Revolution Brewery you might want to stop at a bottle shop or two and you'd be near Capone's and the Beer Temple which both have a nice collection of goodies you may want to take home.
If you are staying in logan, hop on the blue line a few stops to Division and head to Bangers & Lace. They also have a really good tap list.