What Micro Breweries to Vist in Chicago

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Chicago's a big big area so it depends a little on where you will be.

If you are in the city, there is Rock Bottom downtown, Hay Market, Revolution, Piece and Goose Island brew pubs. I also think that Half Acre has a tasting room, but I don't know its hours.

South are Rock Bottom Orland Park, Flossmoor Station, Brickstone (in Bourbonnais), 3 Floyds and Crown Brewing in Northwest Indiana.

In the west, the only place I know is Two Brothers brew pub. And I'm not familiar with any in the north.

Breweries that you could contact to see if there are tours are: Argus, Goose Island, Metropolitan, Finch, Half Acre, 5 Rabbits, and Pipeworks.

Have a great visit!
 
Good info from Pappers.

I recommend seeking out Goose Island's Green Line...it's a Pale Ale only served on tap in the city. I love it.
 
My personal favorites are Revolution, Goose Island, and Piece. If you go to Goose Island (and you should), make sure you go to the Clybourn location, not Wrigleyville. All three of those places, in addition to outstanding beer, also serve excellent food. I love Half Acre too but they are more of a place to grab a growler to go rather than hang out and have multiple pints. Across the street from Half Acre is Bad Apple, a bar/restaurant with amazing burgers and one of the best beer lists in the city.

Goose Island, Revolution, and Half Acre all do tours on Saturdays. Not sure about Piece. Revolution's is free (but short), Goose you have to RSVP and pay $10, Half Acre is first come first serve and $10.

If you're willing/able to drive ~45 minutes from downtown, Three Floyds is definitely worth the trip.
 
Jdm5209 said:
+1. Quite a ways outside the city, but an awesome brewery. Dreadnaught IIPA is amazing.

Yesterday they actually sold extra dark lord day tickets at the pub along with reserve bottles of barrel aged behemoth and alpha klaus for the locals who couldn't get tickets online. That would have been nice to go to but I worked.
 
My favorites right now are Haymarket and Revolution. Also 2nd the Hopleaf for a non-brewery visit, they have an amazing list of Belgians!
 
Used to work close to Haymarket. Pretty decent beer and they do a get a lot of meat from the area and their prep on the premises. They smoke their own meats and make their own sausages, for example.

As for Three Floyd's, definitely a recommend but you'd be going out of your way if you plan to stay in Chicago proper. Also, they're expanding their kitchen so the menu is currently smaller than normal.

Ditto what someone said about the Clybourn location of Goose, and If you're a Cheap Trick fan, Piece is cool because it is (or at least was) co-owned by Rick Nielsen. Hopleaf is great but the restaurant can be very hard to get into these days.
 
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