I love a good beer vacation – or beercation if you’re into brevity. Chicago is the nearest really big city to me in Cincinnati, and I had never really fully experienced their beer scene. With 100+ breweries that’s difficult to do, but my brother-in-law Joe and I decided to take a solid swing at it over one weekend in May.
Prior to visiting I did perhaps more research than I had done for any previous beer trip, and I even did two different podcast episodes on planning a beer trip around Chicago (check them both out below).
We ended up visiting 14 distinct venues over two days, but two were home to multiple breweries and we ended up visiting a total of 21 new breweries (and one bottle shop) on our trip.
District Brew Yards
Our first stop was District Brew Yards in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood, not too far from the United Center. A sort of brewery incubator, District Brew Yards features a pour-your-own system and they are actually home to four distinct breweries. It’s all located inside of a good-sized taproom with a huge outdoor space, meaning you can have a brewery crawl all under one roof. The warehouse space is open and features communal style seating with Edison bulbs hanging from the ceiling. There are also multiple awesome murals.
The breweries at the Yards are Around the Bend Beer Co., Bold Dog Beer Co., Burnt City Brewing Company, and Casa Humilde Cerveceria. I really enjoyed how each brewery had their own identity with their own space in a corner of the taproom. The idea started out with Burnt City looking for a new location after their original location closed. The original partners were Around the Bend and Bold Dog with Casa Humilde coming on later to form a food hall, but for beer.
We ended up trying beers from each brewery, and there were definitely some standouts. Shadow Clone, a black lager from Burnt City was delicious, and I enjoyed the unique sunflower seed Helles lager from Bold Dog called Sonny.
They also feature food from Lillie’s Q BBQ, although we didn’t eat.
Off Color – The Moustrap
Our second stop was the first “bucket list” brewery of the trip. Off Color is known for their irreverent branding and their popular “Beer for” series, featuring offerings like Beer for Golf, Beer for Ball Games, and Beer for Tacos. They also pump out some fantastic farmhouse ales and sours. Started by veterans of Goose Island and Two Brothers, their taproom is known as “The Mousetrap” and is located in Lincoln Park.
Off Color was a fantastic stop and getting to meet their marketing guy (?) Ben Ustick and chatting him up for a bit and even giving him some recommendations for a trip he was planning to Ohio made the entire stop even more memorable. The taproom is smaller than I had imagined, but they also feature a good-sized outdoor beer garden in their front lot.
Their Beer for Derbies, a bourbon barrel aged lager with mint, was a dream. I also tried April Rain, a sudachi tea sour, and Troublesome, a wheat beer with coriander.
Half Acre
After checking into our Airbnb in Lincoln Square, we decided to spend the rest of the night in that area, which is also known as “Malt Row.” We rented some Lyft bikes and took the 1.5 mile ride to Half Acre’s Balmoral taproom. After opening their North Center brewery in 2009, they decided to consolidate into just the one location in 2021.
Half Acre is of course known for their Daisy Cutter, an award-winning pale ale that is known throughout Chicago and the Midwest and beyond. Half Acre was very busy when we showed up, but we waited a few minutes for a table and ended up ordering both food and beer. I ordered a couple of half pours, Daisy Cutter and Broken Horn, a lager. The brewpub has a large taproom, with a pergola covering most of the bar area. There’s also a large outdoor patio. The food menu is small and curated, featuring upscale bar food.
Spiteful
Spiteful is just down the street from Half Acre, but they survive on their own merit and not just as the neighbor of a well-known entity. They’re housed in an old brick building with garage doors that open, and they have a covered outdoor area just on the other side of their sidewalk. This place is the true definition of a neighborhood brewery, and we saw lots of folks walking from their houses straight to the taproom on a Friday night.
I had a flight here, featuring their Vienna Lager, Hefe hefeweizen, Schadenfroh pilsner, and IPA. I liked that their taplist featured mostly traditional styles, and all the beers were solid.
Empirical
We didn’t necessarily plan to go to Empirical originally, but since we were in the neighborhood, we figured it only made sense to stop. They’re a science-based and sci-fi loving brewery, and their always-changing tap list proves that out. The brewery is located in a large warehouse and it’s interesting that they note that they test out new recipes on a 1-barrel system before scaling up.
I had a full pour here, the HeLa, a Helles lager. Joe had Vibrani-Yum, a brown ale brewed with cold brew coffee that was also delicious.
Urban Brew Labs
Urban Brew Labs was one of the surprises of the trip. I didn’t know much about them before our journey, but they had a great vibe with indoor plants, bright colors, and tons of exposed brick and comfortable seating in their taproom.
They opened the taproom in what was a former distillery in 2017 and they continue to grow. The bartender was super friendly here, so I decided to put my trust in him and let him pick my flight. He picked out Dad Bod, a kellerbier, Mr. Rice Guy, an American lite lager, Hazy River, a New England IPA, and Oh, Honey!, a honey blonde ale. I believe Joe had a seltzer here.
Begyle
For our next two stops we had to get a Lyft back right near our Airbnb. We made it to Begyle right before they were doing last call, but I was still able to grab a flight. Their taproom is a brick industrial building with a garage door and some seating on the street out front. Their community supported brewery program has become very popular, and they’re known for approachable styles.
My flight here consisted of Picnic Island, a cream ale, Blonde, a blonde ale, Euchred, and IPA, and Hophazardly, an IPA.
Dovetail
Dovetail was a great main event for day one. The all-lager brewery had been high on my bucket list for a long time. I honestly wish we had visited Dovetail a little earlier in the evening to get the full experience, but we still had a great time here. We got to spend a few minutes on their patio before they closed it, but the indoor space was cool too.
I tried their fantastic Vienna Lager and Kolsch in the taproom, and then grabbed a four-pack of the equally great Helles lager to go.
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We kicked off day two with lunch at The Chicago Diner (highly recommended for vegetarian cuisine) as we took the bus and L train to Logan Square.
Pilot Project
Pilot Project is another brewery incubator with a little bit of a different vibe than District Brew Yards. They focus on brewery startups, helping them with everything from recipe creation to marketing, packaging, business plan, and more. Their goal is for brands to “graduate” from their incubator and potentially open their own space. Pilot Project features startup breweries Azadi, Brewer’s Kitchen, Funkytown, and Histrionic Brewlab. They also feature a hard kombucha brand, ROVM, and Flora Brewing from an LA-based homebrewer named Sara Flora.
The taproom is open with a modern feel, and they have a large outdoor patio as well. We tried beers from all of the breweries, and really enjoyed Hayrick, a cream ale from Histrionic and Notorious Crown, a rye stout from Brewer’s Kitchen.
Life on Marz
Life on Marz is the second location from Marz Community Brewing, and this is a very small space that’s meant to be modeled after Eastern European worker’s clubs. They had a nice selection of offerings here, including some non-alcoholic beers. I kept it simple and had a pint of Life, their India Pale Lager. A solid choice for the mid-afternoon when we were there.
Revolution
No brewery trip to Chicago is complete without a visit to Revolution. We decided on the brewpub since it was conveniently located in Logan Square near lots of other breweries. The brewpub is really popular and even had a wedding in their upstairs event space on the day that we visited.
Known simply as “Chicago’s Brewery,” the brewpub sits right on Milwaukee Ave in bustling Logan Square, and the main feature is a large square bar that takes up the middle and is surrounded by tables. They also have some garage doors they can open to create and indoor-outdoor space on nice days. I had a flight here, with Ryeway to Heaven, a 15.8% rye wine, being the standout. It was the first time I had seen the style and it was delicious and not overly heavy despite the ABV on a warm day.
Ravinia
Up the road from the main part of Logan Square is Ravinia. They sit in a colorful brick building, with an awesome mural painted on the front with their name. Inside it reminds me of an English pub but with higher ceilings, and their outdoor beer garden feels like you’re drinking in someone’s backyard.
Their taproom also features tacos and is very popular. I tried the Diversy Station session IPA and Grunsfeld Lager, while Joe had Casa de Guava, a tasty guava sour that was only 4% ABV.
Maplewood
Sitting on the end of a residential street in a small brick building that almost feels like a club inside is Maplewood. They’re the first brewery and distillery under one roof in Illinois, and it seemed like people were drinking similar amounts of beer and spirits in The Lounge.
They’re probably best known for their IPAs, including the hazy and juice Son of Juice, and I tried a couple of IPAs here. Crushinator was a nice session IPA, while Mosaic Juice Pants was a delicious single hop version of their popular IPA series.
The Beer Temple
Although not a brewery, The Beer Temple was a great stop to check out some beers from places we weren’t going to get to. After a quick stop at Bucket O’ Blood Books and Records, we walked right across the street to the taproom and bottle shop.
Metropolitan
Our last stop of the trip was perhaps one of the best breweries I’ve ever been to. Metropolitan is a name that is spoken in revered tones around Chicago, and for good reason. They produce some of the best lagers not only in Chicago but in the Midwest and maybe even the entire U.S.
Their brewery sits right on the north bend of the Chicago River, in an industrial building that also houses a huge event space. The location of their brewery and a huge patio offer some great views.
This is the place that proved to me that lagers are on the upswing, because they were packed.
We also met some new friends here from Sweden and Denmark, proving that beer is a worldwide language.
The beer here was nothing short of fantastic. I tried Magnetron, their schwarzbier, and Flywheel, their German Pilsner, and I would have tried every beer on the menu if I had had time.
So that’s it. Our Chicago trip was definitely one to remember, and it’s a really great beer town that’s easy to get around on public transportation, shared transportation like rentable bikes, and even walking in most neighborhoods. Stay tuned for an episode of the Brewery Adventures podcast on our Chicago trip featuring none other than Joe Saunders.