The Best Brewery Hops in Chicago

“I’m visiting Chicago— my stomach is lined with brats and deep-dish pizza, and I’m ready for beer. Where do I go?”

Chicago is a terrific brewery hop city, because it’s packed to the brim with breweries and its public transit is, in our experience, among the best America has to offer. No need to rope a friend into being a designated driver in a city where driving is largely unnecessary. There are probably a good 8-10 brewery hops in the city itself, so there’s no shame if you’re intimidated by the sheer volume of options of terrific Chicago beer at your disposal. We haven’t done every hop the city has to offer (there will surely be new hops popping up on our radar before our next visit), and we haven’t even scratched the surface of the dozen-plus tremendous breweries in the greater Chicagoland area. Still, we’ve hopped a-plenty in the Windy City– and, along with Russell’s brother, Brendan, we feel confident that our favorite hops in the city will give you the Chicago beer experience you crave.

HONORABLE MENTION: Forbidden Root Brewery —> On Tour Brewing Company —> Goose Island —> Great Central Brewing Company

Start your day at Forbidden Root Restaurant and Brewery. Mason jars of dried goods line the walls, and glasses of botanic beers line your flights. Worth noting that they have some tasty (albeit a bit pricy) food options here, so those of you looking to fill your stomachs before the booze hits have a great opportunity— the pork schnitzel sandwich should suffice. The beers themselves are compelling: a number of strange flavor combinations and floral sensations emanate from every pour. While this is far from “standard fare,” the beers succeed far more often than they don’t, and a tip of the cap to the good people at Forbidden Root for serving us one of the more unusual flights we’ve had in Chicago. Our recommendation: try a flight, sample a number of these delectable curiosities— and make sure, if it’s on tap, to include the Assembly Required, a pear rhubarb sour New England IPA. You’d think from that jumble of words that the tastes would overwhelm each other, but it achieves a surprisingly nice balance. (Props also for reserving a few guest taps for local breweries— this enabled us to enjoy the Skrap Metal, a fantastic hazy IPA from Hop Butcher For The World.)

From there, head half a mile south down North Wood Street to get to On Tour Brewing Company. In contrast to Forbidden Root, this is exactly what you’d expect from a brewery: a sizable interior with an industrial vibe, plenty of seating with bar stools, tables, and couches, and an outdoor area for those non-winter Chicago days. If hanging out with a high number of friends, this would be one of the better places to gather, drink, and chill. The beer itself isn’t as standout as several of the other places mentioned in this article, but everything we tried was at worst pretty good. Our recommendation: The Hubbard Street Brown Ale on Nitro— creamy, caramely, and malty.

Choices emerge from here. You could go east on W Hubbard to go to All Rise Brewing, a brewery that, admittedly, we didn’t get to enjoy, as they were closed on the Sunday we were in this area. You could also go west on W Hubbard to return to your southward stroll down N Wood. You will see the very well-known Goose Island Beer Company on your right. We at The Beer Travel Guide prioritize supporting craft beer, and Goose Island is now a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, so those with limited beer budgets looking to spend with discretion may choose to skip Goose Island. That having been said, if you’re looking for barrel-aged stouts and/or wild ales on this hop, Goose Island is more or less going to be your top destination. The inside of the brewery definitely has a sanitized, corporate feel to it at this point, but the barrel-aged beer is still damn good. Our recommendations: skip the stuff you can find at your local grocery store and go straight for the barrels. We had the 2018 Madame Rose, a tasty sour with a nice pucker to it, and the bourbon stouts and barleywines also attract nationwide attention for a reason.

Finally, go another two blocks past Goose Island to go to Great Central Brewing Company. If you’re looking to throw a big shindig with a ton of friends, this is likely *the* best place of everywhere we’ve been in Chicago to do so. Huge interior, tons of seating, tons of games including giant-sized Connect Four and Jenga, family-friendly— from a location/design perspective, this brewery has what any gathering needs. From a beer perspective, they don’t have a wide variety of their own beer… but they have AMPLE guest taps dedicated to Chicagoland breweries, so even once you’ve made it through all of Great Central’s beers, you’ll still have scores of pints left on the board— exactly what you want to see when you’re halfway through a Jenga game and you realize you aren’t leaving any time soon. Our recommendations: Great Central has a very sturdy and refreshing Bock. Start there, and then explore the guest taps.

3. Hopewell Brewing —> Revolution Brewing —> Maplewood Brewery

Start by taking the Blue Line to Logan Square and going to Hopewell Brewing. Hopewell’s tap room features long tables with stylish stools and a crisp, clean interior. As Brendan said, “This is what a brewery at an IKEA might look like.” There’s ample seating and plenty of games to play. The beer itself is solid, offering a nice variety of selections beyond the usual pilsner/IPA/stout boilerplate. Our recommendations: the On Purpose, a Brett Pale Ale, was quite refreshing, and the Dirt Party is a surprisingly dank lager. Both are a nice, light way to start your hop.

It’s a straight shot walk down North Milwaukee Avenue for under a mile to get to Revolution Brewing— or, if it’s too hot/cold, depending on season, you can take the blue line at Logan Square down one stop to California. Revolution is well-known, winner of several Best Brewpub in Chicago awards, and you can see ads for it around the city with some frequency. They serve quality pub food, and they have tons of seating for bigger parties. The Anti-Hero is their best known beer, an IPA sitting at an impressive 3.86 on Untapped with over 150,000 check-ins. Our recommendations: Revolution may be known for its IPA and pale ale to most, but we gravitate toward its heavier, darker ales. Any variants on its Eugene porter tend to be delicious— the coffee is our favorite— and you can’t ignore the Deth’s Tar, their potent barrel-aged Russian imperial stout, or the Straight Jacket, their award-winning barley wine. If you’re looking for a beer to warm you up in a cold Chicago winter, these would do the trick.

It’s a walk of a little over a mile to the next location, and it’s not really something one can take the L to, so this hop loses points for relative inconvenience. It’s also not the most scenic of walks, strolling east on Diversey under the freeway overpass. Still, the last location is a must for any fan of hazy IPAs— Maplewood Brewery and Distillery. It’s a quiet, chill lounge, the music more Lou Reed than Lou Bega. It’s the type of place that makes you feel cooler the moment you walk in. Hazy lovers will gravitate immediately to the Juice Pants and the Son of Juice, light and creamy juice bombs— and those who prefer a little more hop with their haze can crush the double version, Husky Pants. These are some of the more balanced and refreshing hazies in the city. Our chief recommendation, though: the Charlatan. Apologies to Daisy Cutter and Fist City, but for our money, this is the best pale ale in Chicago.

2. Corridor Brewery —> Half Acre —> Dovetail Brewery —> Begyle Brewing

Do you like starting your hops early? Corridor Brewery and Provisions has you covered. Open at 11 AM during the week— 10 AM on weekends!— it’s a terrific restaurant in which to grab a beer-soaked brunch. Our recommendations: well, since we teased the brunch, we should start by praising the spicy chicken and waffles. Depending on how you handle your spice, you may want to consider the half order… but *someone* at the table needs to order it. In terms of beer, they’re known for having delicious hazys. We particularly enjoyed The Juice Beyond, a dry-hopped hazy DIPA that tasted like delicious hop juice— the perfect complement to the spicy chicken!— so any dry-hopped hazy option they have on tap when you visit is where you should go first.

After finishing up your breakfast, take the Brown Line from the nearby Southport station up to Montrose, and walk the half a mile from there to Half Acre’s Lincoln taproom. It somewhat felt like I’d wandered into a Portland taproom— delightfully weird art on the walls, service from densely bearded men and women who seemed much cooler than us, and, of course, hoppy pale ales and IPAs galore. (For the record, they also had delicious-looking breakfast burritos, for those who wish to start their hops here.) You’d expect a brewery as successful in Chicago as Half Acre to have tap rooms that feel like bigger operations, but this place still feels a little like a hole-in-the-wall, which is sincerely to its credit. Our recommendations: the Daisy Cutter is famous, but we prefer its cousins, the Double Daisy Cutter and the unfiltered Fully Saturated Double Daisy Cutter. They also had a terrific sour collaboration with Trve Brewing when we were there, Path of Nomad, a blackberry tart bomb that suggested that any sour found on the menu here is worth ordering.

INSTRUCTIONS: go south on North Lincoln, left on West Belle Plaine, and walk down to North Ravenswood. You’ll be smack between two breweries. Our suggestion is to turn left and go straight to Dovetail Brewery. It’s a great little spot, oozing a European vibe, with plenty of Euro-style beers, fresh-made pretzels and sausages. They also make some interesting radlers, including a rauchbier/root beer combo that tastes like a smoky glass of Barq’s. The bartenders are friendly, the beer is distinctive, and… did I mention the fresh-made pretzels? Our recommendation: everything here is well-made for its style… but if there’s a Kriek on the menu, we’re ordering it. Dovetail’s Kriek is tart, creamy, almost a lambic— big thumbs up.

After Dovetail, head to your final destination a block or so away— Begyle Brewing. The interior is spacious, kid-friendly— people sitting at barrels, some playing games (including a skeeball machine!). It fits the image of the prototypical tap room, hop-shaped coasters notwithstanding. The beer options are also somewhat prototypical— it’s your pales, your IPAs, your hazys, your stouts. However, Begyle stands out from the pack in terms of sheer beer execution. If you like IPAs and stouts, there isn’t a better brewery in the city of Chicago that delivers to Begyle’s level on both fronts.

Several breweries will border on going too far with either the juice in the hazy IPAs or the bitterness in the hoppy IPAs, and Begyle does a top-notch job executing balance. You’d describe plenty of their IPAs as juicy or hoppy, no doubt, but they’re confident enough in their flavors to avoid tipping the scale too far. They also, when we were there, had a guest tap devoted to Saint Errant Brewing, a Chicago nanobrewery that makes exceptional IPAs and stouts itself— any brewery confident enough in its own product to host acclaimed product on guest taps is great in my book. Our recommendations: the Megapixel, Begyle’s Mosaic IPA, is as good an IPA as you’ll find on tap in the city, and the Imperial Pajamas is a potent coffee stout. If Saint Errant has a guest tap, we also recommend anything from them— the Basic Set was as fine a New England IPA as Illinois has to offer.

1. Old Irving Brewing Company —> ERIS Brewery and Cider House —> Une Annee/Hubbard’s Cave

Confession: this is not a “hop.” This is an admittedly strained effort to include our favorite brewery in the Chicagoland region into a hop. We followed the directions below the last time we were in Chicago, and we had an absolute hell of a time. We strongly encourage you make the time to see this through.

Start at Old Irving Brewing Company. It’s a full restaurant/brewpub, but it still has some of the trappings of the tap room vibe, such as board games to play and an expansive bar seating area. They were also playing a Nicolas Cage movie at the bar when we visited— major bonus points for that. The full menu will help you line your stomach before the tremendous drinking to come— the spicy chicken sandwich is recommended. (This is twice now we’ve recommended spicy chicken in this guide. We apologize to your esophagus.) Their beer list goes beyond usual brewpub fare on occasion, as you’ll find some double dry-hopped IPAs, milkshake IPAs, belgian dubbels and tripels, etc. Everything we tried ranged from drinkable to good, but our big recommendation: the Cinnamon Prost Crunch. A white milk stout that, you guessed it, tastes just like the popular children’s cereal. Some dessert stouts reek of artificial flavoring/chemicals, but not this one. It’s a slam dunk.

From there, take the .7 mile walk or hop on the Blue Line from Montrose to Irving Park. There, you’ll take the short walk to ERIS Brewery and Cider House. We know what you’re thinking: “Hold on— did I stumble onto The Cider Travel Guide and not know it?” First of all, for the cider-phobes out there, they serve beer— and good beer, too. You wouldn’t expect to get a tasty New England IPA at a cider house, but the Foiken Haze hit the spot. Second, they serve some knock-your-socks-off sausages, just in case the food at Old Irving didn’t tickle your fancy. Lastly, their cider is among the better ciders we’ve encountered in our time doing this. They also serve cider/beer blends, for those looking to get wild. Our recommendation: the Van Van Mojo is a Mosaic-hopped blueberry cider. It’s tart and fruity, but it’s not so sugary that it sticks to your teeth and tongue like some ciders. It might be Russell’s favorite cider he’s ever had. That’s a recommendation right there!

Here’s where the hop gets interesting. Stick with us, it’s worth the trek. Go to the Metra Station at Irving Park. Not the Blue Line— the Metra, Chicago’s commuter rail train. You’re going to want to look at the times for northbound Metra trains before you embark upon this hop, so it’ll take some planning. Take the Metra toward Harvard/McHenry, and get off at Dee Road, a 17-minute trip. From there, call an Uber, and take it to Une Annee Brewery. We know— that’s a lot of work when the other hops are simpler, but there’s a reason we’re doing this: Une Annee is, simply put, the best brewery we’ve yet to encounter in the greater Chicagoland area.

Remember how much we raved about The Bruery in Anaheim? Une Annee is Chicagoland’s The Bruery. Do you want the best sours that the city has to offer? Une Annee has them. What if you’re more of the “IPAs and stouts” kind of beer drinker? Never you fear: Une Annee has an offshoot called Hubbard’s Cave, and the IPAs and stouts they produce can easily hang with the best in the state. When we went there, we tried everything on the menu— and we mean *everything.* There wasn’t a single thing we had that made us think, “I’m okay not trying that again.” The sours are intensely sour and beautifully fruity. The stouts are rich, boozy, and smooth. The IPAs are abnormally well-balanced, hoppy, flavorful, and delightful.

What makes this even better: it’s such an inauspicious location. They’re in a strip mall in a small suburb called Niles, and as you pull into the parking lot, you just drive to the simple sign that says “BREWERY” in all caps. The bartenders are kind and gave us more than one free sample of drinks not on the menu. You’d think a place of such ridiculously high quality would carry with it some ego or pretention, and the exact opposite is true. We, along with Russell’s brother, spent several hours there, playing UNO, eating the chips and guac you can buy at the bar, sipping world-class beer, and laughing about how great the night had ended. That’s the perfect way to close a brewery hop. Our recommendation: you can’t go wrong with anything. Do make sure you try at least one sour, one IPA, and one stout, just so you run the gamut of the Une Annee/Hubbard’s Cave experience. Then, either time your return back on the Metra, or just break the bank further and hop in an Uber all the way back to the city. You can’t take it with you.

BONUS: BOTTLE SHOP HOP!

Off Color —> Pipeworks

HOLD UP NOW. A bottle shop hop?? You heard us. If you’re lucky and you’re on the west end of the Logan Square area on a Thursday or Friday between the hours of 3 and 7 PM, you can do the coveted Chicago Bottle Shop Hop. Start at Off Color, since they close earlier. Off Color puts out a wide variety of interesting beers, several in the saison/farmhouse family. Most of these are very good, but all of them are, at minimum, worth a taste. For instance, Russell doesn’t love the more floral beers out there, but Emily thoroughly enjoyed the Sparkles Finds (Some) Trouble, a hibiscus gose. Russell tends to prefer Off Color’s terribly impressive collection of sours. If you can’t make it to this bottle shop, hit up their delightful tap room The Mousetrap, located near Goose Island (the island, not the beer company)— they often have some exclusives there. Our recommendation: either Spots, a fruity Tiki weisse, or the Coffee Dino S’mores, which packs an impressive marshmallow flavor. If you make it to the Mousetrap, Market Rate is the best sour we had in the city proper on our last trip.

Back at the bottle shop, once done there, head to the Pipeworks Dojo, located— wait for it— *right next door.* Yes, you can buy some tart bottles at Off Color and head a stone’s throw away for some of the best IPAs and stouts the city has to offer. Pipeworks doesn’t have a tap room yet— it’s coming to Logan Square 2019!— but their cans and bottles are absolutely worth seeking out. It can be a little difficult on a vacation to manage unless you’re making an extended stay, but leave some extra room in your checked luggage and give it a spin regardless. Our recommendations: Ninja Vs. Unicorn is as delicious a double IPA as you’ll find, not just in Chicago, but in the country. Whenever we’re not in Chicago, we’re begging Russell’s brother to smuggle us cans via luggage, cardboard box, drone, however he can manage it. Hyper Dog and The Abduction are also both potent options for the stout lover in your group– and if you aren’t one, then these would be the bottles to help convert you.

BEST PLACE FOR IPAS:
Pipeworks (Runner-up: Hubbard’s Cave, Begyle Brewing, Maplewood Brewing)

BEST PLACE FOR SOURS:
Une Annee (Runners-up: Off Color, Half Acre, Goose Island)

BEST PLACE FOR STOUTS:
Hubbard’s Cave (Runners-up: Pipeworks, Revolution, Begyle Brewing)

BEST PLACE TO PLAY GAMES:
Great Central Brewing Company (Runner-up: Begyle Brewing, Hopewell Brewing, Une Annee)

BEST PLACE FOR A LARGE GROUP:
Great Central Brewing Company (Runner-up: On Tour, Hopewell, Begyle Brewing)

BEST PLACE FOR A SMALL, QUIET DRINK:
Une Annee (Runners-up: Off Color, Maplewood, Forbidden Root)

BEST PLACE TO EAT:
Corridor Brewing and Provisions (Runners-up: Half Acre, Forbidden Root, Revolution)

Which is your favorite of these brewery hops? Are there any you love that we neglected to mention? Please shout them out in the comments below! Also, please check out our other beer travel guides, including guides to other great beer cities like Portland, Los Angeles, and Anaheim!