the wimperoo wrote:Goose Clybourn - The beer list is usually pretty pedestrian and I feel the food is overpriced. I love the bar though.

I'm actually a little bit surprised by this. While the beer menu does vary quite a bit, so there's good weeks and not-as-good weeks, I find the range of beer styles at Goose to be quite varied and fun. I'm looking at the beer menu right now, and I honestly can't think of a Chicago-area brewpub that has as many styles on offer: German pils, American wheat, APA, AIPA, English IPA, Dortmunder, English Bitter, Imperial Coffee Stout, Foreign Extra Stout, American Stout, Baltic Porter, Imperial Oatmeal Stout, Milk Stout, Scotch Ale, Sahti, Barleywine, Rye Ale, Brown Ale, Belgian Blonde, Saison, Farmhouse, Belgian Pale Ale w/ brett, abbey ale, saison with wild yeast, imperial stout with wild yeast, witbier, English porter, and mild. All on tap. That's pretty impressive, in my book. I can't think of a single other brewery/brewpub I've been to that has such a wide range of beers, all done solidly.

Thought I'd share a photo of one of my practice breads. Dobey's (sp?) in Palatine picked out a 6 pack of beer for me to practice with. This one is a German Doppebock. Made a great moist bread. You can see the rest of my photos at http://rosiediscovers.blogspot.com/2013/01/chicago-breweries-beer-bread-project.html#. I'll have recipes for Church Street in Itasca later this week with Atlas to follow. Thanks again for all the recommendations.

Really digging the Pipeworks Abduction Imperial Stout...heavier on the hops than some imperial stouts but really good.

AlekH wrote:Really digging the Pipeworks Abduction Imperial Stout...heavier on the hops than some imperial stouts but really good.

Have you had the Coffee Break Abduction? I picked one up last week, but have yet to crack it open.

3 floyds is the best, i don't think anyone comes close....always an interesting experience, metal, fries, and super rare beers in MUNSTER! the guest spot(s?) and bottles are not to be fucked with. port brewing? yeah, they just might have that. stop at munster donuts for a dozen and maybe the bartenders will give you some love in exchange for a cruller.

full disclosure: owners are friends, but i've been to all of the listed spots w/the exception of 1/2acre and 3bros.

OR: you can always go to hop leaf, or pick up tacos from big star and head over to map room.

I can't believe I missed this subject until now.
I concur with many of the posts heretofore. My favorite brewery is Metropolitan Brwg.
It is currently on north Ravenswood avenue near Foster avenue; but this Twitter tweet reveals something about which you might not have learned.

Pipeworks - Something Hoppy This Way Comes

I enjoy the IPA/DIPA genre as much as the next guy but had become a little burnt out on hop bombs. For a 10% DIPA this a really balanced DIPA that isn't too bitter or too sweet. I have really been enjoying the beers these dudes have been putting out and you don't have to go to great lengths to find a decent variety on shelves.

I picked up 4 different Pipeworks bombers when I was up at Fischman Liqours for their Founder's tap takeover just over a week ago.

The Something Hoppy This Way Comes was decent but really didn't wow me. For my money I think Avery's Maharaja is a far better DIPA and it's a few bucks cheaper. One that blows them both away for my tastes is Oso's Lupulin Maximus.

I did really enjoy Pipeworks Blood of the Unicorn. Their Pastrami on Rye was a good spiced beer, which I usually don't like too much. I was curious about this one because 2 or 3 years ago Three Floyds had a Ham on Rye beer that was just fantastic. The Pastrami on Rye wasn't nearly in the same realm though. It was still decent with a nice rye flavor. The spices weren't overly strong like a lot of spice beers that come out around Christmas. So, it was more drinkable but again, it didn't blow me away.

Their Close Encounter double imperial stout was also pretty good.

I'll continue to sample more of their stuff but I guess they're kind of hit or miss for me so far.

jfibro wrote:
It's a big stretch to call it Chicagoland, but I absolutely adore Greenbush in Sawyer, MI just across the Indiana/Michigan border.

Stopped at Greenbush today. Swell place with some nice beers and good food. With Half Acre a few blocks from my door and Greenbush on the way to a frequent Michigan destination, I feel incredibly lucky in the beer part of my life. Brother Benjamin - a boozy imperial IPA with local honey - was especially good.

JeffB wrote:

jfibro wrote:
It's a big stretch to call it Chicagoland, but I absolutely adore Greenbush in Sawyer, MI just across the Indiana/Michigan border.

Stopped at Greenbush today. Swell place with some nice beers and good food. With Half Acre a few blocks from my door and Greenbush on the way to a frequent Michigan destination, I feel incredibly lucky in the beer part of my life. Brother Benjamin - a boozy imperial IPA with local honey - was especially good.

Depending on where you're heading in Michigan The Livery in Benton Harbor and Paw Paw Brewery in Paw Paw are both worth a stop. They're both smaller places but they both had some very good beers on tap when we did a Michigan brewery tour last year.

Been to the Livery several times. Another great place that is helping turn Benton Harbor's downtown around, along with the beer bar down the street, the Ideal Place. But the Livery is more of the old-school basement rec room bar, in terms of tasting rooms. Nothing as ambitious as the BBQ/bakery and soon to be wood-fired pizzas at Green Bush. It's one hell of a beer scene in Western MI these days.

Lakefront Brewery, based in Chicago's far northern suburbs, does some nice work. Try their IBA with a plain rare burger.

Roger Ramjet wrote:Lakefront Brewery, based in Chicago's far northern suburbs, does some nice work. Try their IBA with a plain rare burger.

I guess Milwaukee could be considered one of Chicago's far northern suburbs ...

yep.

My favorites in no particular order:

Two Brothers - This was one of the first craft breweries I got into back in the early 2000's when I started home brewing and I frequented their home brew shop The Brewers Coop. It's been great to see how far they've come since then, I love their beer, food, and any time me and some friends show up at the tap house in Warrenville or the Roundhouse in Aurora, we get great service. Their coffee is pretty tasty too!

3 Floyds - First went there for Dark Lord Day 6 years ago and have been back every year since, and make regular trips out that way for a case or two of something (lately it's been Zombie Dust).

Lunar - Great little place in Villa Park that you'll probably pass by the first time. They do a handful of great beers in small batches, as well as having an enormous selection of other beers on tap and draft. I love the look of their bar and coolers, and I've seen many great local bands play there.

Pipeworks - Haven't had a bad brew from them yet.

Solemn Oath - I'll usually go here Friday afternoons, I work nights so by the time 8AM comes around Friday morning I'm ready for a beer, but they open a few hours later. I loved their Khlorost, coffee infused Wit beer, which sounded like a terrible combination to me at first. I'll usually grab a growler of their Butterfly Flashmob when it's on tap, which is a Belgian style IPA, that's got to be my favorite of theirs.

Goose Island - Not sure what to say about them that hasn't been said already. Except I need more Bourbon County Stout for my cellar!

Revolution - Been a handful of times, and love it. Anti-Hero may be the perfect IPA for me. I'm really happy the Jewel by me in Romeoville now carries some of their beers!

Flossmoor Station - I like the building, and like a lot of these other places the food is good (which is a plus having a girlfriend who doesn't drink), I haven't been in some time, though I've heard the quality of the beer has gone down in recent times. I'll have to go back and find out.

Spiteful - I've only had 2 beers from them, they're pretty new but I've got to love someone that makes a beer called G.F.Y. Stout (which explained on the bottle if you don't know what g.f.y. stands for well then you can g.f.y.)

There are a lot of others that I don't really have a solid opinion on, good but I either haven't been enough, or I haven't had enough of their beer. But I remember not terribly long ago trying to find a new brewery/brew pub in the area was pretty tough, but they seem to be popping up every day now. Need to check out One Trick Pony soon, as well as go back and try Horse Thief Hollow now that they're brewing on premises. Same with Nevin's brewing in Plainfield (from what I hear I shouldn't expect much). I spent about an hour at Haymarket (which is a shame it's less than a mile from my office) and had a few good beers, but would like to go back and try some more. There's so many more, but I feel like I'm just rambling now, so I'll leave it at that.

Burn 'Em Brewing is opening later this year in Michigan City. I had some of their first batches at a beer fest last month. Both the Pale and the Russian Imperial Stout were exceptional. Keep an eye out for these guys. http://www.burnembrewing.com/

Between them, Greenbush, and the new Pleasant House Bakery, I see myself making an Indiana/Mchigan border run regularly.

I tried Hophazardly IPA by Begyle at Amelia's in Forest Park last week and was very impressed. It actually tasted like something that Three Floyd's would make which is rare for other brewers I think.

I'd never heard of Begyle before but it looks like they're a newer start-up brewery in Chicago. I'm going to be keeping an eye out for more of their stuff. Their site doesn't seem to have been updated since May so I'm not sure what they're doing as far as a tap room or anything like that.

I like everything I've tried from Begyle. They're planning a retail space for bottles, growlers and kegs. More on new breweries here.

More legal woes at 5 Rabbit. Per the Trib's website:

A year after legal squabbles led to the departure of one of 5 Rabbit's two founders, four of the brewery's original investors have sued the company, alleging a complex scheme to depress 5 Rabbit's value and force out those investors with artificially low financial returns.

5 Rabbit brewery embroiled in another lawsuit

=R=

This reminded me to note my stop by Greenbush the other day. The beer and the food, especially the food, just gets better. Lots of very well smoked stuff, from bacon to brisket to turkey and all done in house. And they switched their bread supplier to Bit o' Swiss, the quirky and very serious old bakery a few exits north. I am not usually a pretzel roll super fan, but the one they are using at Greenbush is pretty special. Not my favorite beer or anything, but definitely my favorite brewery visit.

An often overlooked Northern Indiana brewery is the Back Road Brewery in LaPorte. Compared to nearby Hoosiers 3F, their beers are rather restrained, but they are well balanced and tasty renditions of various styles. I am not a huge fan of Stouts, but I think Back Road makes one of the best stouts I have tasted. Their annual Doppel Bock offering is also worth the trip across the border to purchase. The Liquor Stop in Highland is a great resource for Indiana craft brews.

http://www.backroadbrewery.com/

Liquor Stop
9218 Indianapolis Blvd
Highland, IN 46322
(219) 838-6884

One Trick Pony in Lansing is a great back-up plan for anyone that gets shut out of Three Floyds. We tried to go to FFF on Jan. 2nd and it was almost a 2 hour wait. One Trick is about 10-15 minutes away tops so we headed over there.

This is a great little start-up operation making some very tasty beers. Their Warlander triple IPA was one of the best new beers I've had in a while. When the guy put a 9oz. glass of it down in front of me the smell of the citrusy hops just hit you without having to even pick up the glass. You can seriously smell this beer from a few feet away and the smell is fantastic.

They also had a winter ale brewed with cocoa nibs and peppermint. This had the aftertaste of frango mints. They actually had bombers of this so I bought a couple. Most of their beers are only dispensed in growlers. So, if you're heading there make sure to bring a growler or 3 with you. They were out of them when we went but I had a couple in my trunk fortunately.

They don't serve food but you can order food in. Really nice guys running this place and 9 of us got in and got seats with no problem at all. So, next time FFF has a line you don't want to deal with look at it as an opportunity to try out this other amazing brewery right in the area.

One Trick Pony
17933 CHAPPEL AVE, LANSING IL 60438