Anything in the Loop/Wrigleyville area that has a nice taproom? I’m not looking for a brewery tour (I know how beer is made at this point) but perhaps bars associated with brewerys where you can try some of the more rare and unique brews? Thanks.
Goose Island in Lincoln Park (1800 N Clyborn) and Wrigleyville (35** N Clark, just south of Wrigley)
Revolution Brewing in Logan Square
Half Acre near Lincoln Square
Hopleaf on Broadway in Andersonville (not a brewery, but great selection)
Revolution brews some great beers.
The Map Room is a bar (not affiliated with a brewery) and has a great selection. Cool vibe too.
Is that Wrigleyville location going to be a mess with traffic and fans?
<notes it’s October.
Nah I guess I’ll be fine.
I enjoyed Half Acre and Revolution as well. Kumas Corner had a good beer selection at lunch and so did The Bad Apple restaurant across from Half Acre (which was really good hangover food). Here is their beer menu: http://www.badapplebar.com/beer-menu/
Obligatory post: Of course, if you have a car, head down to Three Floyds.
Not a brewery taproom, but if you like beer, go to Sheffield’s. See list below
ugh, you can do better than wrigleyville. The L can easily take care of your needs.
Take the Brown Line to the Montrose stop for Half Acre’s tap room
Take the Blue Line to California for Revoltuion
Take the Red Line to North/Clybourn (or Brown Line to Armitage) for the proper Goose Island Tap Room
Take the Green Line to either Clinton or Lake for Haymarket
all of this would be much much much better than bothering with Goose’s wrigleyville location
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m actually staying with a friend who lives 6 blocks from Wrigley, so the WV location might be good for me. Is there something wrong with it or are you just suggesting I avoid making the trek up there?
It’s clearly the 2nd rate Goose location and it looks like it used to be a nightclub inside. If you really want Goose beers, go to the clybourn location as that’s the flagship.
If you don’t want to go far, Dryhop is worth a go right now, but they are still developing the style and what they do well. They’ve only been open for 4 months and their beers have been hit or miss so far.
If you also want to keep things in the area, Sheffields is the much wiser choice. Just don’t stay in the front bar and move more towards the back.
Given your friend’s location, Half Acre is definitely the best choice as it isn’t too far and I would fully recommend checking out Revolution as well
Wrigleyville is a bit, well, Clark Street (cavernous, lots of rowdy youngsters, popped collars, etc. - They also come with young girls in short dresses) I live five blocks from there, so I have developed some immunity over the past 25 years
From what I remember, Half Acre does a special cask every Friday at noonish so look into that. I thought Sheffields cellar was worthwhile. I still regret not buying the Bourbon County Rare that day I was there.
Every time I’m in the city, I make it a point to stop at Revolution. Haven’t been to Half Acre yet, but everybody I know (well, everyone who’s into beer) loves it.
Another spot worth checking out is Fountainhead. They have good selection of beers and food. It is located at Damen and Wilson which is about one mile north and one mile west of Wrigley Field. Here is link to their website:
And I love (i) Cleetus Friedman’s food there and (ii) the name Cleetus Friedman
Thanks everyone. My schedule got fuddled but we did make it to Half Acre. The Mr. Goroboros Wet Hop Ale didn’t quite hit the spot for me, but their Space IPA was really on point. Wish I would have had more time - they’ve got a nice tap room with about 10 or so beers on tap.
Goroboros isn’t as good as it’s alter ego Ouroboros from previous years IMO. You did pick well with Space. It rules and is one of my favorite Chicago IPAs
so, this is a bump for Chad. I’ll also go way more in depth here (I’m sure that Jimmy+Phil will agree with me on the choices)
^this is what I originally wrote. I’ll add to it:
Brown Line
Montrose:
Half Acre tap room (this is a tier 1 stop)
Bad Apple
Fountainhead
Addison:
Village Tap
West Lakeview Liquors (this is for bottle buying)
Chicago Ave:
Farmhouse
Diversey:
Atlas Brewing Company (this is a brewpub)
Red Line
Belmont:
Sheffields
DryHop (this is a brewpub)
Fullerton:
Local Option
North/Clybourn:
Goose Island (brewpub and the flagship Goose brewpub)
Berwyn:
Hopleaf (this is a tier 1 spot)
Blue Line
Division:
Bangers&Lace (this is a tier 1 stop)
Jerry’s
Damen:
Piece Pizza (this is a brewpub as well with new haven style pizza)
Big Star (okay, this is more for bourbon+whisky, but they have killer tacos and you’ll be doing a ton better than most if you go here. Bring cash and lots of it as they are cash only)
Western:
Map Room (this is a tier 1 stop. Cash only)
Quenchers (cash only, this is a historic spot as they were one of the first to bring craft beer to chicago)
California:
Revolution (this is a tier 1 stop and it’s a brewpub)
Logan Square:
Longman&Eagle (well, not really a great beer spot, but great cocktails, food, and whisky)
Green Line
Lake:
Haymarket (this is a brewpub. I also highly suggest you don’t go much further than lake on the green line)
if you get to a decent amount of those, you’ll have done a great job
Thank you, sir! ![[thumbs-up.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f84c5acc11486ee4baba6dee6cf61dbd133abb18.gif "[thumbs-up.gif]"){kind=small}