The Bar Towel

[bostonfox]

Any Recs for good pubs to check out in Chi-Town???

I've heard of The Map Room & HopLeaf but would be curious if you towelers had any other spots to check out of any input the previous mentioned...

Thanks...

[mjohnston]

Was there at the end of April for DLD... Didn't actually go to either of those, although I've heard good things about them. I checked out Goose Island, Quenchers and Twisted Spoke.

If you go to Goose Island (brewpub) there's a big liquor store next door that has a good beer selection. Goose Island had their Night Stalker on tap, and the Bourbon County Stout in bottles (as well as a bunch of other taps).

Twisted Spoke was kind of a cool bar, good tap selection. Had an Allagash White and an Oberon. And, right across the street there's a real Napoli style pizzeria called Coalfire. I was in Italy last summer and this was up there among the best I had in Italy (and I tried a lot of places). And they have a few special beers in bottles.

Quenchers was an odd place. Good bottle selection, and a few good taps. Had a pint of Two Hearted there. Kind of out of the way, but they have live music frequently.

I was not impressed with Chicago pizza. I find the sauce-on-top concept to ruin the best part of pizza (the cheese/toppings getting roasty).

Umm... try hotwire.com for your hotel booking. You don't find out what hotel you get until you pay, but we ended up at the Palmer House Hilton for $80/night. Hilariously awesome.
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Mat

[Zuma]

There is also a giant beer store next to Hopleaf.

[Beermat]

The Clark Street Ale House downtown is good. Out around Wrigleyville there's the Goose Island brewpub with usually some good beer you won't find elsewhere, as well as a place called Sheffield's, which is pretty good. The Map Room is one of the great bars anywhere, and it's open early, unlike many Chicago bars. If you go on the El, take the Blue line to Damen. Nearby on N. North Avenue is Piece, a very good pizza-making brewpub. From there you're about a ten-minute walk from the Map Room. You'll like it.
Nick

[viggo]

Check out a bar called Local Option too. I think its relatively close to the Map Room.

[mjohnston]

There's also the "Local Option" which I had wanted to check out. Current taps: http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/2017799
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Mat

[Derek]

I haven't been in years...

But speaking of bottle shops, I loved Binny's Beverage Depot, though there's supposedly even better stores:
http://www.binnys.com/index.cfm

Their Rock Bottom is one of the more highly regarded of the chain:
http://www.rockbottom.com/DisplayLocationRBR.php?FKLocationID=10061

Plenty of places....

http://beermapping.com/maps/citymaps.php?m=chicago#lat=41.90125491287279&lng=-87.65029907226562&z=5

[Cass]

Clark St Ale House is probably the best place in the Loop area.

The Map Room is one of my favourite bars anywhere.

Not too far from the Map Room is Piece, which is a brewpub that has very good homemade pizzas (not deep dish style).

Hopleaf is a great place, a bit of a hike up the subway line but a nice neighbourhood.

Goose Island is a solid brewpub - easy access to the Wrigleyville location on the subway.

Rock Bottom is a good brewpub also in the Loop area. Usually have a decent selection of unique beers brewed just at that location.

Chicago is one of my fave cities around and I've been every year for the past bunch (with a trip planned for July this year). Enjoy, you'll have fun.

[Cass]

Back from a most excellent trip which included San Francisco and the weekend in Chicago for Pitchfork Music and of course, more beer.

I'll add a couple more recommendations to the Chicago tally...

As has been already well reviewed on BA is a new restaurant called Publican. This is in a unique part of town - the Fulton Market, which still seems to be an active meat-packing district. You can tell that it's changing - there are some fancy restos and galleries going in, along with some loft conversions and that sort of thing.

But the Publican is the real deal. An excellent beer list - draught which includes American, Belgian and other Euro, and a large bottle selection. I believe I had a Three Floyds and a Cantillon on my quick visit.

Cool-designed space, lots of wood and communal tables. Friendly, uniformed staff. Lots of meat but veggie options as well. Tip: Make a reservation, or you will likely not get in to eat unless it is before 6pm. Does not open til 3pm so don't go during the day. About 10-15 min walk from Clinton station on the Green line.

http://thepublicanrestaurant.com/

But a real treat, especially if you're staying downtown is the lobby bar of the new Wit Hotel called State and Lake. The hotel is obviously, at the corner of State and Lake right in the Loop.

The bar just opened (about a month ago) and has a stellar draught lineup, including Three Floyd's, North Coast, Two Brothers, Surly and others.

Nicely designed space with breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. The Wit is a new hotspot as there's also another resto there called Cibo Matto and a rooftop bar called Roof. There was a lineup for Roof at about 5pm on Friday afternoon.

The only drawback of S&L is since it's so new, we were told that they are still working out the staffing for the place. As such, they don't have enough staff to stay open late, so they generally close around 11pm or midnight. But if you're in the Loop, the closest good place for beer is Clark St Ale House which can be quite a walk if you're not feeling energetic. This is a great addition to downtown.

http://stateandlakechicago.therestaurantsatthewit.com/

[$]

I can confirm State & Lake have good beer and good food.

Rock Bottom was decent pub food and their beer was tasty. Had an IPA and a stout.

[Duct Tape]

Had a great lunch at Three Floyds, i won't bore you with the gory details of how much is now sitting on the floor of my kitchen awaiting my drinking attention.

Nothing says tailgating like passing around a growler of Alpha King, then walking into Toyota Park to discover they pour Lagunitas IPA at the game (Woot for competent stadium beer!!).

Then on to Rock Bottom, $6.75 for a sampler of all 8 beers they had on that night, about 32oz worth in total.

Did some shopping at the Liquor Stop near Three Floyds (its in Munster or Hammond or somewhere), and Binny's South Loop, what a great selection, either (with LS being the lesser of the pair) outstrips any selection anywhere in Ontario. Oh for just one liquor store with that kind of selection of beer in this province!!
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[JerCraigs]

Most of the brews at Rock Bottom were competent but not particularly exciting. A couple of the brewers specials were interesting, I guess they rotate through them. There were a lot of TVs there in the bar side on a Saturday which I enjoyed but not everyone would (they also have a restaurant side which was dead quiet at 11PM.

Three Floyds was pretty awesome, the pub itself would just be okay if it wasn't THREE FLOYDS! But all the posters and stuff were cool, and the taps are pretty awesome. Food was tasty, huge burger was over the top but delicious.

[kinguy]

[JerCraigs]

We went to the downtown location. We actually tried the RB BBA stout at thee floyds!

[kinguy]