Favorite Local Brewery

Since beer and cycling seem to go together, I am posing the question: what is everyone's favorite Chicago brewery? Mine is a toss-up between Half Acre and Revolution. If we are including all of Chicagoland, then I'd go with Three Floyd's. 

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on April 6, 2012 at 11:30am

Modus Hoperandi - my favorite neighborhood liquor store at 100th & Western carries it.

Tony Adams said:

...I'm also a hop head and no-one other than my brother across the hall is making an IPA that I'm in love with. (For reference, Modus Hoperandi - from Colorado somewhere is pretty close to my ideal.)
Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on April 6, 2012 at 11:43am



Kelvin Mulcky said:

I heard The Onion Pub & Brewery in Barrington Hills is great too. I've never been, but that'd be a great Ride-out / Metra-Back kind of thing. 

Google bike map here:

 

 

Map

Then you can hit Lake Bluff Brewing, Micky Finns in Libertyville, Tighthead Brewing in Mundeline as well as ending at the Onion.

Lake Bluff Brewing is newer and really underrated. Their beer gets better every time I stop for a visit.

Permalink Reply by Amber K on April 6, 2012 at 12:39pm

PIECE!!!  My fav in the city, and it's only a mile from my house.  Three Floyd's would possibly be number 1 if they were in Chicago!  I like Half Acre and Rev is ok.  I'm only talking about the beer, not food or anything else.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on April 6, 2012 at 12:59pm

The Onion Brewery's beer is available in the city in 12 oz cans. I've had it at Xoco, as well my local beer store. I like their Hopslayer IPA

Kelvin Mulcky said:

I heard The Onion Pub & Brewery in Barrington Hills is great too. I've never been, but that'd be a great Ride-out / Metra-Back kind of thing. 

Google bike map here:

Permalink Reply by Duppie on April 6, 2012 at 1:02pm

Lake Bluff is great. The first time I went to Lake Bluff Brewery was with Envane on a North suburban brew pub tour. I had a great time, which was even enhanced by the fact that Lake Bluff Brewery is right across from the Lake Bluff UP-N Metra. It takes you right back into town

envane x said:



Kelvin Mulcky said:

I heard The Onion Pub & Brewery in Barrington Hills is great too. I've never been, but that'd be a great Ride-out / Metra-Back kind of thing. 

Google bike map here:

 

 

Map

Then you can hit Lake Bluff Brewing, Micky Finns in Libertyville, Tighthead Brewing in Mundeline as well as ending at the Onion.

Lake Bluff Brewing is newer and really underrated. Their beer gets better every time I stop for a visit.

Permalink Reply by Blatherskate on April 7, 2012 at 6:54am

Long time lurker and first time posting, so here we go.

Three floyd's is an obvious front runner, granted they're a little one sided (hop heavy).

Rev brew is probably the most ambitious/most improved brewery in town. Their barrel aged beers are really good.

Half acre I don't get. The daisy cutter is decent enough (better in a can) but the rest is meh.

Metropolitan I wanna love. I appreciate that they are strictly making lagers, but outside of their alt beer, nothing wows me.

Piece is unbearable (the crowd) but they excel on hoppy beers.

I'm leaving many out, but inside the city limits, I gotta say revolution. Yeah, they got some duds  but they're only getting better. Hopefully with all the new ones sprouting up that will change. I'm just glad no one has mentioned goose island.

Cheers.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on April 7, 2012 at 9:14am
Half Acre's year-round beers are okay, but what makes them great are their one-off beers that they do on a fairly regular basis. Double Daisy Cutter is excellent, as are Baume and Big Hugs. 

Blatherskate said:

Long time lurker and first time posting, so here we go.

Three floyd's is an obvious front runner, granted they're a little one sided (hop heavy).

Rev brew is probably the most ambitious/most improved brewery in town. Their barrel aged beers are really good.

Half acre I don't get. The daisy cutter is decent enough (better in a can) but the rest is meh.

Metropolitan I wanna love. I appreciate that they are strictly making lagers, but outside of their alt beer, nothing wows me.

Piece is unbearable (the crowd) but they excel on hoppy beers.

I'm leaving many out, but inside the city limits, I gotta say revolution. Yeah, they got some duds  but they're only getting better. Hopefully with all the new ones sprouting up that will change. I'm just glad no one has mentioned goose island.

Cheers.

Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on April 7, 2012 at 9:52am

I'm a huge fan of Flossmoor. Their beers are very good, but the actual brewpub is what makes it. It's 13 miles from me, which in the suburbs is right next door. :) You can walk in any day and one of their beers will be  on special for $3. You can't beat that.

I also really like Half Acre.

Permalink Reply by Michael A on April 7, 2012 at 3:47pm

I am kind of biased, but my vote would probably still be or Half acre even if they did not sponsor my racing team

Permalink Reply by Blatherskate on April 7, 2012 at 7:41pm

Double daisy and big hugs are good beers, baume I've never had. I just feel like way to much credit is given to this brewery that I wanna love. The ratio of great beers to mediocre from them is highly skewed.

Also, local option is contract brewed outta Louisville. Does that count? Oh and to keep it bike related, cycling to three floyds is fun!

Cheers

Adam Herstein said:

Half Acre's year-round beers are okay, but what makes them great are their one-off beers that they do on a fairly regular basis. Double Daisy Cutter is excellent, as are Baume and Big Hugs. 

Blatherskate said:

Long time lurker and first time posting, so here we go.

Three floyd's is an obvious front runner, granted they're a little one sided (hop heavy).

Rev brew is probably the most ambitious/most improved brewery in town. Their barrel aged beers are really good.

Half acre I don't get. The daisy cutter is decent enough (better in a can) but the rest is meh.

Metropolitan I wanna love. I appreciate that they are strictly making lagers, but outside of their alt beer, nothing wows me.

Piece is unbearable (the crowd) but they excel on hoppy beers.

I'm leaving many out, but inside the city limits, I gotta say revolution. Yeah, they got some duds  but they're only getting better. Hopefully with all the new ones sprouting up that will change. I'm just glad no one has mentioned goose island.

Cheers.

Permalink Reply by rb on April 8, 2012 at 7:21am

Lake Bluff +1 I had a Weeee!!! Heavy Scotch Ale, 10% ABV, 30 IBU-The last time that i was in there- not my fave beer style at all, but this was the most relaxing beer that I have had in years- super fresh as well.

I like my hops, so I would have to second Daisy Cutter as well- think that I prefer it in a can tho!

Permalink Reply by Duppie on April 8, 2012 at 11:10am

Ah, yes. The underdog being unfairly beaten up by the big guys. Make you want to root for the small guy, no?

Except that it is not quite true.

For the second year in a row, the craft brewing industry saw 15% growth (in dollars), whereas the big brewers saw a decline in volume. That decline has been going on for a while.

It appears that craft brewers are very well able to compete against the big brewers.

http://www.brewersassociation.org/pages/business-tools/craft-brewin...

clp said:

As long as we continue to allow the mega-brewers to control brewing, distribution and retailing in the US, craft brewing will operate at a disadvantage and under a cloud...kinda like cyclists being shoved around by the massive auto industry.

Blatherskate said:

Also, local option is contract brewed outta Louisville. Does that count?

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