Breweries in Chicago?

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AubreyR6

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My girlfriends and I are planning a girls weekend to Chicago in mid February and was wondering if anyone could give some recommendations to some breweries in the downtown area?
 
Goose Island is a bit north of the loop on Clybourne. Great food, atmosphere, and (of course) beer. I had a friend's bachelor party there and they gave us a room above the bar with pool tables and about 8 taps.
 
I'm not sure how much Goose Island does as far as touring/etc, and I've never been to the downtown location, but they have a couple of brew pubs in addition to the main brewery.

Theres also Piece, which is Pizza/Brewpub, Half Acre Brewing (actual brewery, not brewpub), and a bunch of others.


Goose has some great beer (especially their Reserve collections), but I'm not a fan of their food. Piece is great.
 
Goose Island does tours of their brewpubs plus a tasting for $5. I did it over the summer with my girlfriend and was well worth the experience.
 
Well, I can't give any recommendations, but I hope you have a great time. I used to work down-town Chicago and it was always a trip going out for lunch and seeing the tourists/workers/beggars/locals.
 
I'm a big fan of Goose Island. Great beers, food's pretty good. Piece has a good rep, but I've been told it attracts a younger (Early-Mid 20's), college sports, loud crowd. There's also Flossmoor Station, in the south 'burbs. There are also a couple of amazing neighborhood bars on the Northside that specialize in Belgians.
 
I'm a big fan of Goose Island. Great beers, food's pretty good. Piece has a good rep, but I've been told it attracts a younger (Early-Mid 20's), college sports, loud crowd. There's also Flossmoor Station, in the south 'burbs. There are also a couple of amazing neighborhood bars on the Northside that specialize in Belgians.

Second Flossmoor Station. Tried the Pullman Brown after hearing about it on CYBI it's fabulous.
 
Goose Island does do tours, but only at their Clybourn location. Make sure not to mix it up with the one on Clark. You have to call ahead of time to make sure the right people are there to give the tour. It's the better of the two locations anyway. Piece is a good choice too, and it is a younger crowd, but really laid back/chill. they have amazing pizza too. can't go wrong with Rock Bottom either. if you're ever in chicago in the summer, that's def the place to go, awesome rooftop. plus it's right in the loop (Grand/State) so there's a lot going on around it....i've only been gone for a month and already want to move back, ha.
 
Revolution Brewing just opened up a couple weeks ago


http://revbrew.com/beers

About the Brewer
Jim Cibak has been brewing professionaly for over 12 years. He and owner Josh Deth worked together at Goose Island in the late 1990's in the opening years of their Fulton St. production plant. A native south-sider, Jim has spent time manning the kettles at Three Floyds and helped open Crown Brewing. He also worked as brewer at the award-winning Firestone-Walker Brewing Co. in Paso Robles, CA under the leadership of former Goose Head Brewer Matt Bryndilson. Jim's favorite styles are porter, milds and well-balanced pale ales. He is known for his barrel-aging techniques that he developed in California after researching the use of barrels by the wine industry.

(I bolded)

2323 N Milwaukee Ave; Chicago, IL; 60647




Theres also Moonshine on Division.
 
Three Floyds' in nearby Munster, IN (about 20-30 minutes south east of Chicago, IL) is an absolute must. Apart from their own great beers on tap they have a really extensive selection on tap from other breweries around the country and a really diverse bottle selection as well. There's a lot of beers there that you can't get anywhere other than Three Floyds, most being collaborations between Three Floyds and other American breweries.

If you go for dinner, be sure to sit in the bar for the projection screen showings of old Kung-Fu and Chinese sci-fi flicks. The place has A LOT of character.

Oh yeah, and the food is just as good as the beer too.

:mug:
 
I'm a big fan of Goose Island. Great beers, food's pretty good. Piece has a good rep, but I've been told it attracts a younger (Early-Mid 20's), college sports, loud crowd. There's also Flossmoor Station, in the south 'burbs. There are also a couple of amazing neighborhood bars on the Northside that specialize in Belgians.


I had the ribeye sliders at the store on Clark before a Cubs last summer. They were great!!!!!

The guys that go with me to the Cubs games hate BMC, so Goose Island is a good choice.

What are the names of the bars on the northside that specialize in Belgians?

Can you get to them on the "L"?
 
I had the ribeye sliders at the store on Clark before a Cubs last summer. They were great!!!!!

The guys that go with me to the Cubs games hate BMC, so Goose Island is a good choice.

What are the names of the bars on the northside that specialize in Belgians?

Can you get to them on the "L"?

One of them is HopLeaf:

http://hopleaf.com/
the Berwyn stop of the Red Line is a 6-block walk or transfer to the #92 Foster bus when you get out of the el station.

The other one is The Map Room:

http://www.maproom.com/

It's about the same distance, from the Blue Line Western stop.

FWIW, I was at the Clybourn Goose Island a couple of weeks ago, and they're featuring a cask-conditioned Belgian-style that is AMAZING! It's called La Deuxieme.
 
Two Brothers Brewing in Warrenville has excellent beer and food. The tour is free on Satudays and they give you free tastings.
 
Have you been to Revolution yet?

Please post a review when you try it out if you haven't already.


I went there last weekend. It was a good tour, very informative. It's a husband and wife running the place, they take you through their brewing process and give you a few samples of their latest beers. It lacked a lot in atmosphere though, not as interesting as some of the other breweries in Chicago (mainly Goose Island and Half Acre).
 
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