I'm going to be staying just north of the river, off Michigan Ave. on Ohio St. We'll also def. be spending at least one evening in Wrigleyville too. I was considering making a trip to Hopleaf but would definitely be open to other suggestions. I'd probably also like to bring some home so a good liquor store would be awesome too.

Here's a nice map of Chicago beer http://beermapping.com/maps/citymaps.php?m=chicago

You're in a good spot in the city, I'd suggest visiting some of these:

- Binny's Beverage Depot on Grand just West of Lasalle should be walking distance for you and is one of our main "good beer" stores in the city. They are a chain but do a very good job of carrying most craft brew available to us.

- Rock Bottom Chicago is probably less than a 5 minute walk from where you are staying. While Rock Bottom is a chain, sometimes known for being shaky with their brews, the Chicago facility is by far their leading brewery and consistently wins awards and puts out highly regarded beer dinners.

- It should be about a 5-10 minute cab ryde to Goose Island Brewery - Clybourn. Do yourself a favor and go to the Clybourn facility, the Wrigleyville one doesn't have as many special beers on tap that you can only find at the brewery, I also prefer the crowd at the Clybourn one to the Wrigleyville people, but both areas are safe and nice.

- About 5 minutes west of Goose - Clybourn is the Piece Brewery. Opinions vary, but their pizza is top notch. It comes in 3 different varieties and is New Haven style pizza. Their beer is better than a chain, but not quite top notch. Don't get me wrong, they have some excellent brews, but the consensus among myself and some of my friends has been "great pizza, good beer." Try the black heffe, the standard IPA is good too.

- In the same area (Wicker Park, trendy, hipster area) is one of our two most famous craft beer bars, The Map Room. It's known as the "traveler's bar." I've been there twice, they do have a very good selection and they know a ton about the beers. On Saturday I believe they have a free food buffet type thing from noon to 2pm, though I've only heard about it.

- Hop Leaf, as you mentioned, is our other well known beer bar. This one is known for having rare belgian beers you can't find anywhere else in the US. I haven't actually been here, though I resided a block away from it for about a year before I was of drinking age. I've heard great things about their belgian inspired food as well, so I would try to stop here if I were you. It's north of Wrigleyville in an area known as Andersonville.

- If you really have some time, take the metra train (at Randolph and Michigan) south about 45 minutes and get off at the Flossmoor stop. You'll be in for a real treat, as the Flossmoor Station brewery is built into the train station. If you're feeling really good, take a 15-20 minute cab over the border into Indiana and Three Floyd's brewery. You will not be disappointed with either of these breweries.

The rest of Chicago is littered with places that have good beer, some are marginal, some are good and some are world class. That should give you a good start though and the map can guide you the rest of the way. PM me if you need anymore suggestions.

I really want to go to Three Floyds but my traveling companions will take some convincing I'm sure. Thanks for the advice!

Surly's brewer's previous job was as the master brewer at the Minneapolis Rock Bottom, so I can't hate too much.

Yeah, I reviewed this a while back. I Belgian whites, but I thought this was awful. I told a friend about it, and he actually thought he'd enjoy something sickly sweet like it. He was wrong. Everyone I've known has found this beer undrinkable.

Christmas had to be put on hold for a few days, but it's now time for another review. I was planning on reviewing the Alpha King next, but given my mental state in the last 24 hrs, I was thinking that the best beer for me would be Delirum Nocturnum . I don't have a bottle of that, so Ry's unlabeled bottle of mysterious Belgian strong beer will have to do. The ABV is unknown, but somewhere north of 14%. There's nothing much to see in the pics, so I'll skip them.

The beer pours a cloudy brown with almost no head to speak of. It has a few large bubbles around the rim, but they're dissipating quickly.

The aroma leaves no doubt that this is a strong, malty beer. It smells of dark fruit, like dried cherries and prunes, along with apple, oak, yeast, and lemon, oddly enough. The flavor is radically different. I've never been so surprised by the difference between taste and smell. I get coffee and a strong dose of medicine. I wonder if this was a spoiled bottle or something. It smelled great, but there is something awful in the flavor that is so unsavory that I can't drink anymore. I can't award this any hearts, but it's probably from a skunked or otherwise spoiled bottle than a terrible recipe.

Eeek, I apologize on that one then, nothing like coffee should be in there at all. It's been in a very dark place for many months, perhaps it wasn't fully capped correctly? It never had much of a head when I poured any other bottles either but I also never got anything near the coffee flavor and except when it was fresh (last Sept-Oct) it was pretty drinkable.

Back to the good beer though! I'll send you a few more of mine and wax seal them this time.

Edit: Pretty drinkable for a mid teen % abv beer / nothing unpleasant.

The gf is in Chicago this weekend, I've told her to bring back any 3 Floyds she can get her hands on. She's really good about bringing me beer that's not available in Nashville, so we'll see what she comes up with.

Until then, here's what's in my kegerator: 35 gallons, 4 different styles, and brewing a tripel tomorrow!

^ Sick

Has anyone else tried the Sam Adam's Homebrew winner beers?

I really liked the bock, thought the double IPA wasn't too bad, and didn't think the cranberry wit was bad either. The bock was very very good though. Props to that guy, made one hell of a beer.

More pics of Kegerator, please. I think I am in love.

Is that an old chest freezer you converted??

I really need to start home brewing. I have the space and all of that and I think I need a new hobby.

Ask her to pick up Flossmoor Station's Pullman Brown for you if she's going to a major beer store too. It only comes in 22s but it's such an outstanding beer.

Fishwhenican,

I think that's the first time a quote with the word girlfriend in it was asked for more pics that did NOT have to do with the girlfriend. Nice one.

Good Beer

Tonight's review is Three Floyds' Alpha King Pale Ale. It's a 6% beer, a little on the stronger side, and it's also a little on the more expensive side for APAs.



It pours a darker gold that's just slightly hazy.



The smell is mostly of piney and citrusy hops. Yep. Crisp and refreshing. It's a little drying, but that's certainly not offputting. I get a slight apricot taste in the malt, too. I suppose this isn't a direct competitor to Stone's Levitation, but they're both hoppy, lower-gravity beers that are meant to appeal to hop-heads who may not want to commit to a 22 ouncer of 9% beer. This definitely wins. It's more flavorful and I believe priced better too, albeit harder to find and still not all that cheap. I'll give this a and a half rating.

RE: Drinking in Chicago

TLDR so pictures+bolded words for anyone who doesn't want to read the trip reporty parts. Sorry for quality of photos, only have iPhone pics + google so far.


Since it was literally across the street from our hotel and ChicagoRy suggested it we went over to Rock Bottom for happy hour after checking in at the hotel. I also have a soft spot for Rock Bottom because that is where Surly stole their master brewer from. Ended up mostly drinking their IPA which was solid and went well with the assortment of $5 apps we ordered.

Later I picked up some Three Floyds' Alpha King Pale Ale (among other supplies for the weekend) from Binny's. I'd had it before but they didn't have Dreadnought there so I went with it. Look one post up for a good review

The Friday Twins/Cubs game was pretty much the reason for our trip. We got to Wrigleyville not long after 10am for the 1:20pm game. The first bar we went to was Sluggers.



I'm no connoisseur, but I thought the Bloody Mary I had there was excellent.

Next up was Vines on Clark. Lots of outdoor seating was what sold us as the weather was perfect, low 70s and sunny. Food looked ok, wasn't what we were looking for though.


(Like this only mostly Twins fans, seriously)

After one beer (Sam's Summer for me, very meh) we headed across the street to Goose Island.



This definitely ended up being our favorite pre-game location, even though it was the only place we sat inside. Drink of choice there ended up being the IPA they had on tap which I can't match to any beer they bottle? Maybe a stronger version of the Midway IPA? It was listed as 6% and was just called IPA... anyway it very good and the prices on pitchers weren't bad.

After that it was time to head in.



Of course during the game I had to have an Old Style with my brat. And then another one later with my Italian sausage





After the game we made our way over to Hopleaf.



Having never tried it I started with a Dogfish Head Aprihop since it was on tap. Interesting and very enjoyable beer but I can't see myself drinking more than one of them in a sitting. Round 2 for me was a Lagunitas IPA since apparently IPA was the order of the day and I'd never had it on tap. It was good, honestly my third favorite straight IPA of the day though. The last round at Hopleaf was a bottle of Dark Horse Brewing Crooked Tree IPA inspired by Wookie's love for their double. Third very solid IPA of the day. None of them touch a Furious though imo. Also the food at Hopleaf sounded (from reading the menu) and also looked and smelled delicious. Made me regret having the 2nd sausage at Wrigley... well, kind of.

Saturday night we went to the Signature Room Lounge for a drink before dinner which was really awesome. We were up there right before and then through sunset.

Pricey drinks and a 15 minute wait for the elevator were more than made up for by the awesome views of the city. For anyone who hasn't heard of it, it's on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Center.

Later Saturday night we met up with my brother, who was in town for the Sunday game, at a bar called McFadden's (no idea why). I have to say, I really liked the pub that was right next door... no idea what it was called though. It probably got extra points due to comparison to the place we'd just left though.

All in all it was a very enjoyable weekend.

Sounds like a pretty nice weekend (except for ugh, Cubs).

My father had his 2nd marriage wedding reception in the Signature Room, it was a pretty good time.

And what is up with drinking 2 American IPAs and DFH Aprihop at one of the top Belgian beer bars in America?! It's like ordering pasta at David Burke's Primehouse (top steak place in Chicago)!

SL,

Good write up.

And remember folks, NOTHING compares to a Furious, NOTHING.

Funny thing is I think I was the only one who didn't drink any Belgians and am the only one (of the group of four) who consistently buys/drinks them at home. The name made me want to drink something that really tasted hoppy. Or I didn't see anything that stood out as "haven't had and want to try" other than the three I went with.

You're right, in retrospect probably a minor mistake.

I was just down the street from Hopleaf today at a nice Mediterranean restaurant called Reza's.

Stopped by hopleaf for a quick beer, the place looked nice and the belgian bottle selection was top notch. I only had one beer, Westmalle Tripel, didn't really have time to dig and and figure out what I wanted to try. The beer was solid, as expected, I've had it before and it has been reviewed here a few times I believe, so I won't go into detail.

I'll definitely be going back, probably when I move closer to the area in August and will do a full review on the place, including the food (rabbit tenderloin looks yummy, mussels are supposed to be very good too).

Having my second Hercules, about 3 years after the first. I still love it. I don't get all the mediocre reviews. It's delicious.

I might not have been in the mood for it at the time, but I found it too dry and bitter and not as flavorful as the Old Ruffian barley wine. Have you had that one for comparison?

Time for another Christmas review. Tonight's beer: Bell's Expedition Stout. I'm going to skip doing pics on this one. I didn't realize this beer was so mighty. The label is unassuming and the world "imperial" isn't anywhere to be found on it. The ABV is even hidden away just above the nickel refund info, but it's 10.5%.

The beer pours as you'd expect for an imperial stout: jet black with a brown head, thick and rich. I smell in it coffee, but also an almost fruity, cherry sweetness in the malt. In the flavor, man, maybe my nose is off, because I didn't smell how hoppy this beer is. I can maybe smell it now that I know what I'm looking for, but the light hop aroma belies the true nature of this beer. This may unseat Victory's Storm King as the driest, hoppiest imperial stout I've had. The caramel sweetness I smelled is there but for a fleeting moment at the front of the sip before the hops take over. On the other hand, it does make for a layered flavor profile. You get a little caramel and chocolate at the beginning, then the hops take over for a while, and finally they subside leaving you with a little coffee. This is obviously good beer, but I feel like the hops are so strong that they're blocking out other flavors I'd like to enjoy in this beer. A good dose of hops is welcome in an imperial stout so it doesn't turn into a sickly syrupy mess, but here, I think they're masking the coffee, chocolate, and caramel flavors that are there and good, but too fleeting. If you're a hop head who finds many imperial stouts too sweet, this is your beer, but for me, it's about a beer. It's very good, certainly, but I think I'd reach for Great Divide's Yeti or North Coast's Old Rasputin before this one, even if it were available in my area.

Brag: Weihenstephan is doing a beer tasting here in town on Wednesday, and I have tickets.
Brag: K is coming with me.

Brag: While I was picking up my tickets, I drank a couple glasses of new beer.

1. Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball: a medium brown strong ale. Very rich and malty and perhaps completely unhopped. Good, but not superb. It's more like fall beer to me than summer beer, but I liked it. If you're in the mood for something that is as malty as their IPA is hoppy, this is your beer.

2. Clipper City's Red Sky at Night Saison: very nice, and quite cheap by the standards of the bar I was drinking at. It's a Maryland brewery. It wasn't quite up to the standards of the best Belgian saisons or even the best American immitations, imo, but it was a solid example of the style, very good for the price, and exactly what I was in the mood for.

Lucky mother ****er! I Wiehenstephan beers, a lot. I'm envious!

Hairy Eyeball really isn't a Spring beer imo, I agree with you, more Fallish. Good, but not great, strong B rated beer.

Yes, I loved that too. Not quite as much though. I generally prefer doubles/imperials to barley wines though. Hopslam and Hercules are the two best I've had.

Isn't the Expedition a little cheaper than Yeti or Old Rasputin?

Also, have you had the Oak Aged Yeti? How do you think that compares to the Yeti?