Chicago/Northern Midwest beer suggestions needed!

My friend is going to be in Chicago next week and offered to get me some of the beers that we can't get down here in Houston.
What do you guys recommend that fits that criteria?
I already plan to get some New Glarus, but that's the only one I'm familiar with! Help a brother out!

tronnyjenkins said:

My friend is going to be in Chicago next week and offered to get me some of the beers that we can't get down here in Houston.
What do you guys recommend that fits that criteria?
I already plan to get some New Glarus, but that's the only one I'm familiar with! Help a brother out!

Click to expand...

I doubt he can get New Glarus in Chicago. He'll have to take a road trip to Wisconsin, as New Glarus is only distributed in Wisconsin.

There are some other Wisconsin beers he may find- Lakefront IPA is a good one, I like some of Sprecher's beers, and if he can get his hands on Bell's Hopslam and Capital Brewery's Blonde Dopplebock, those are fantastic.

Ah blast. I didn't know that about New Glarus!

Thanks for the recs!
I'll need more too, I hope to get a lot!

You're definitely not finding New Glarus in Chicago.

Half Acre Daisy Cutter is one of the local brews you might want to try, and it's cheap. Or there is Goose Island, Three Floyds, and Bell's which are easy to find in the store. My local liquor store has had Hopslam in stock for weeks, and I just picked up some Consecrator today. My main recommendation is to have him visit Binny's Beverage Depot, a Chicago chain of giant liquor stores, if you want to find the stuff you're not going to get in Texas.

You can search the store online...
http://www.binnys.com

Half Acre, Two Brothers, 3 Floyds (Munster, IN), Metropolitan (they make craft lagers) are the biggest current up and coming local breweries. There are also a few Michigan beers you might not be able to find like Founders, Crooked Tree, and obviously Bells...

Not sure what's generally available out of this selection, but that's probably a good "local sampler" starter.

And confirming New Glarus does not do business in the state of Illinois.

I hadn't seen Consecrator in the stores yet but now I am going to run out so I can have a side-by-side with Celebrator.

I would definitely find a Binny's and grab some Dark Horse's Double Crooked Tree and their Sapient Triple. Bell's Winter White and Berghoff's Octoberfest are some others.

i dont know if these are sold in texas but i believe you can find em in chi town
schlafly- oatmeal stout, or their coffe stout i like
O fallon- goats breath bock, weach, and their smoked porter has won a bunch of awards but im not a fan of smoked beer
bulevard- smokestack tank 7 farm house ales

these arent necessarily the best beers on the planet but local to the midwest that you might not of had before

Tyranena also makes some good beer.

I'm a huge fan of Two Brothers Brewing Co. Their Cane & Ebel Red Rye Ale is delicious. Their flagship brew Domaine DuPage is also fantastic, I like pretty much all of their stuff.