Chicago Beer Diary | Neighborhoods

A well-worn adage is that "Chicago is a city of neighborhoods." This certainly is true. Ask residents of the city where they're from and they'll probably give you the name of their neighborhood rather than a "side" (e.g. north side, south side) of the city. And in the current craft beer and brewery boom that Chicago is experiencing, chances are that the beer you drink might originate in your favored neighborhood. Do you live in Lakeview? You might gravitate toward brand new brewpub DryHop. Do you like to hang out in Logan Square? You'll probably be found at Revolution. Is Wicker Park or Bucktown your thing? You might be downing pints at Piece.

6.13.13 | The Neighborhoods: Lincoln Park & Andersonville

Near the DePaul campus in Lincoln Park is Local Option. Here you see the slogan, Scheiß Bier kann tödlich sein: Shitty beer can kill you. If ever wiser words were spoken...

The vibe is metal; think Sinking Ship if you're Naptowner. 31 taps of craft beers from across the country and abroad, along with countless bottles and stoic but efficient service...I would frequent this place if I lived in Lincoln Park or anywhere remotely close for that matter. I might not be metal enough to completely fit in at Local Option--the closest I come to being metal is liking Motörhead--but I would do my best.

Bierwerker, which is Local Option's brewing arm, brews at other breweries, but they don't like to be called gypsy brewers or even contract brewers. Whatever you want to call Bierwerker, they make a formidable beer in American Muscle DIPA, which they brewed at Louisville favorite Against The Grain. American Muscle is sweet, potent, citrusy, sneaky. A second snifter is tempting, but I have another place to visit for a drink.

Up the Red Line to the city's far north side and I disembark at the Berwyn station for a westward hike to my Andersonville destination, the Hopleaf. I've been to the Hopleaf many times over the last five years, but I cannot pass up the opportunity to visit again. This place is comfort incarnate, and in my experience, the tap and bottle list has no equal in the city (really, look at this menu). It's an ideal place for Indy folks who enjoy Brugge Brasserie because the focus is Belgian--Belgian food and as well as Belgian beers. It's also a good place to strike up a conversation with a stranger. No one drinking or dining here is pretentious. Making new friends is easy.

Rarely do I encounter a gueuze on tap, so St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition on the draft list grabs my attention. Exceptionally tart; pleasingly crisp; notes of apple, oak, and berry. Further delving into the tap list reveals Tart Hopfentea, a unique Berliner weisse brewed in collaboration with the Hopleaf by Perennial Artisan Ales. Lightly sour, herbal, spicy, notes of tropical fruit.

6.14.13 | The Neighborhoods: West Loop and Loop

Green Line from the Loop to the West Loop. West Randolph Street, to be precise. This area is teeming with bars and restaurants. Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard has two acclaimed restaurants here. And it's home to Haymarket Pub & Brewery. As far as brewpubs go, Haymarket is the pressed tin ceiling variety of brewpub. The food isn't exceptional but is still solid. A friendly and knowledgeable staff. A bartender named "Drogo," as in "Khal Drogo." I was tempted to instruct him to carefully disinfect any cuts lest Mirri Maz Duur needs to be called in and everything goes to hell. Next thing you know, Khaleesi is smothering him with a pillow.

At Haymarket, the beer is the real attraction. Loads of house beers and quality guest taps. The Mash Made in Heaven VI White Peach Wit is a memorable quaff. An unfiltered witbier brewed with coriander, sweet and bitter orange peel, and white peach juice. It's the peach juice that pushes this beer from the good to the exceptional category. There's also Girl & the Goatee IV, a Belgian pale ale which is a collab brew with Stephanie Izard that features rhubarb and blackberries. Dry, a bit tart, floral, spicy, delicious.

Wit in the middle; Girl & Goatee on the right.

Two other special beers in the Haymarket lineup are Defender American Stout and Ombibulous American IPA. Defender is heavily dry hopped with Pacific Northwest hops, resulting in a chocolaty and citrusy brew. Best characterized as a Tootsie Roll in a pint glass. And the Ombibulous could also be called "Hop Cornucopia"--Citra, Centennial, Cascade, Amarillo, and Crystal are all in there. Super citrus and pine abound. A hop-head's best friend.

Defender on the right; Ombibulous in the center.

A return to the Loop and to the Palmer House, which is my house for the evening. The blend of Baroque and Art Deco in the hotel lobby brings to mind the scene in The Untouchables where Eliot Ness confronts Al Capone on the grand staircase of the Lexington Hotel. I half expect the lobby bar to use Al Capone's shoe as a cocktail shaker. You know, the one that Geraldo Rivera found in Capone's vault back in the '80s.

Speaking of the lobby bar, it fortunately carries some craft, including Revolution Brewing Company's Rosa Hibiscus Ale in a can. A tart ale infused with hibiscus flowers and orange peel. In the words of a craft-beer-ignorant friend, "Sounds girly." But it's not girly. Rather, it's a fitting nightcap for an expedition through some of Chicago's neighborhoods. And I'll be back to explore more of them.

Road Trip: Solemn Oath Brewing

Jake Wrote:

Earlier this summer, I had the chance to attend my second Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, WI. A few weeks before the festival, Lisa Frame posted on her hilarious Blog #SoYeahDuh about a new Chicagoland brewery called Solemn Oath (Turns out they had just opened in May). After the festival, I was out with some friends and got introduced to Paul from Solemn Oath who invited me to drop by on my next trip through Chicago.

I took advantage of the fact Caleb and I were heading to Surly Darkness Day (Read about that trip here) and we stopped for a couple of beers. After looping around the industrial complex a couple of times, we found the brewery nestled all the way in the back amongst various repair and fabrication shops. As you can see from the picture below and their website, these guys really pay attention to the design detail and knock it out of the park. Plus, they are all around good dudes.

Caleb and I each got a four pour sampler of a different combination. The tasting room and the brew deck are only separated by a four foot wall and about 10 feet of floor, so you can watch the guys working on the next batch while you drink what is currently on tap. Although there are some beers that make repeat appearances on the draft list, the guys are putting out a lot of fun concept beers right now. Definitely keep an eye out the next time you are in Chicago for them on the menu. I have seen them at most of the craft beer centric places I have been to in the last two months.

They were also recently featured on CBS Chicago's "Your Chicago" Segment.

Quick Hitters:
- They do not take cash. Period. Everything is paid through an iPad.
- You cannot leave tips. They have a "Buy a beer" program for friends and for the tap room workers, but no tips.
- New Growlers run $20-25.
- Although they opened in May, they already have some barrel aged releases hitting the tap room and won two medals at the Festival of Barrel Aged Beers (FOBAB) on November 17, 2012. (Big Deal)
- They are already planning growth, but started small and succeeded. It is all about quality and not quantity friends.

How to get there:
Solemn Oath is located in Naperville, IL which is more west than most of us Hoosiers make it when we head to Chicago. However, you should make the time to get out there. When you go:
- Follow your GPS directions to the corner of Ogden and Quincy
- Turn West on Quincy (Usually taking a Right from Ogden)
- Pass the car dealership and that THE FIRST RIGHT
- You will go behind the building on Quincy and go all the way to the back where you will see the logo on a Garage door.

Eastward Ho!

We are currently situated in an interesting slice of American brewing history.  All breweries start small, even Adolphus Busch and Frederick Miller started with modest breweries before becoming the global mega powers they are today.  The key advantage that AB-InBev and MillerCoors currently have in the market, is time.  These brewery empires were built over more than a century of brewing and brand recognition.  American craft brewing as we know it today, is roughly 25-30 years old.  You don't tackle a giant overnight, but you also don't become a fixture in the industry without growing.

Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Lagunitas have all recently realized that to meet the demand of their products, they have to grow.  Not simply grow the size of their brewhouse, but grow the size of their companies.  This happens in two ways, through contract brewing or through building new breweries.  Contract brewing is cheaper, and has historically been the most popular option with craft brewers up to this point.  Building new breweries is expensive, but it increases the size of the business while still ensuring full control of the end product.  Opening a new brewery is clearly the ideal scenario, but its prohibitive cost makes it difficult.  The Boston Brewing Company, the largest American craft brewery, has done both with a long history of contract brewing and a more recently emphasis on opening new breweries as seen in Cincinnati.

Sierra Nevada

The first brewery to make the announcement of an expansion this year was Sierra Nevada in January.  A location 12 miles south of Asheville, North Carolina was chosen for its water quality and thriving beer culture.  The brewery will initially produce 300,000 barrels with room for expansion.  For reference, Sierra Nevada is currently brewing somewhere in the ballpark of 1 million barrels per year in Chico.  Both flagship beers and seasonal releases will be brewed at the new facility.  The new brewery is scheduled to open in 2014.

Does this affect Indiana?  Probably not.  There's a chance there will be a perceivable difference in the quality of the beer, but it's unlikely.  It's possible they might pass the transportation savings on to us, but that's also unlikely.

New Belgium

Hot on the heels of Sierra Nevada, New Belgium announced last week that they were also planning on building an additional facility in Asheville.  Instead of building outside of the city, New Belgium is developing a brownfield site in the River Arts district of Asheville.  While Sierra Nevada mentioned water quality as a major factor in the location choice, New Belgium cited the city's sustainability, bike paths and greenways.  Of course they were also drawn by the outstanding beer culture.  New Belgium's expansion is planned to have a capacity of 400,000 barrels, exceeding the plans of Sierra Nevada, though it should be noted that Sierra Nevada's primary brewery is larger than New Belgium's.  The new brewery is scheduled to open in 2015.

Does this affect Indiana?  Probably not.  Much like Sierra Nevada, there's a chance that the quality of the beer might change, but it's doubtful.  The bigger impact would be New Belgium's ability to distribute into more states east of the Mississippi River.  Currently 17 of the 22 states New Belgium does not distribute to are east of the Mississippi River.  Of the 5 remaining, 2 are Hawaii and Alaska.

Lagunitas

In a completely surprising move, Lagunitas announced via Twitter earlier this week that they would be building an expansion in Chicago.  Lagunitas' expansion will be built in an existing film sound stage in the Douglas Park neighborhood, just west of Pilsen and a few blocks north of the California-Cermak Pink stop.  The decision to build a brewery in Chicago instead of another city (because Asheville is probably looking for a trifecta) seems to be more of an emotional one.  Tony Magee, founder of Lagunitas, is a Chicago native.  The Lagunitas expansion is the biggest of the 3, weighing in at 600,000 barrels, equivalent to their existing brewery.  The schedule is also more aggressive, with a planned opening of 2013.

Does this affect Indiana?  Most likely yes.  It's hard to imagine a brewery producing 1.2 million barrels of beer annually with a brewery in Illinois wouldn't distribute to Indiana.  Lagunitas is typically priced at the same entry point as Sierra Nevada is grocery and liquor stores, so you'll have one more low cost craft option.

What happens next?
That's a good question, and one up for speculation.  With these 3 expansions, 3 more craft breweries will be producing well in excess of 1 million barrels per year.  It seems like a new classification of brewery is in order.  A brewery producing that much beer can't claim to uphold the same beliefs and practices as smaller, local breweries, but that also doesn't mean that they should be automatically cast into the same pile as breweries that put profits above consumers.  Sam Adams faced the same issue a few years back when they grew outside of the definition of a "craft brewery." Their response was simply to continue brewing good beer and place a focus on their philanthropic efforts towards the craft beer community.  As a result, hardly anyone noticed that they outgrew the classification.

Perhaps more importantly, what happens to the craft beer community in Asheville.  In a community with 10 breweries (give or take), what happens when not one but two giants come to town.  Will the community help each other and develop into one of the country's top beer destinations?  Or will the new breweries cannibalize the existing breweries' profits?

Share your thoughts about these new developments and the rapid growth of the industry in the comments!

Beer Diary #22 - Jim | Not Alphabetical . . . Autobiographical

Date: Monday, 1 August 2011
Location: The Hopleaf Bar
Andersonville, Chicago

Andersonville. The Hopleaf. We've been here before.

Some might say that going to familiar places is boring. It lacks novelty. It shows that one isn't adventurous. But for me, going to The Hopleaf is sort of like turning on the television and coming across a favorite movie that you've seen many times before. You know the kind of film I'm talking about--the kind that makes you stop flipping through the channels and watch it for awhile (lately, it's Batman Begins on F/X for me).

The wonderful thing about halting your channel surfing to watch such a film is that you usually catch something about the movie that you didn't notice before--a nuance to an actor's performance that finally stands out, or a line that you didn't quite "get" until the most recent viewing.

So we are in the familiar confines of The Hopleaf looking for a new experience. What do I hope to get out of our visit this time? The pub is known for its Belgian offerings, and they are what I've enjoyed during previous visits. This time, I want to focus on domestic beers. Local beers. So Half Acre's Daisy Cutter Pale Ale moves into frame. It's bone dry. Aromatic. Bitter, bitter citrus--so bitter that it almost stings my palate. Not a lot of malt backing there, and I like my pale ales on the malty side. Still, this is a killer beer, a good representative of the APA style for the city of Chicago's brewers.

Next, I turn to Finch's Sapsucker California Common Rye Ale. Finch's is new in town. Their flagship offerings are a blonde and a pale ale, and they seem to be spreading all over town. Sapsucker appears to be a seasonal. It is dry, bready, light in flavor, but a little too heavy on the rye if that makes any sense. Seems to me that the brewery might still be trying to find its legs. While Sapsucker doesn't wow me, I know that I'll be trying Finch's beers in the future to see how things are progressing.

Date: Thursday, 4 August 2011
Location: Handlebar
Wicker Park, Chicago

It's been eight years since we visited Wicker Park. Back then, the neighborhood was only partly gentrified. Large patches of the neighborhood were gritty in a way that Fountain Square is today. Indeed, in 2003, Wicker Park was still the neighborhood of Championship Vinyl and its "fetish properties."

"Do you even know your daughter? There's no way she likes that song."

Today, Milwaukee Avenue is teeming with shops that were vacant storefronts eight years ago. Many of these shops are independent, but a good number are national or semi-national: American Apparel, Starbucks, Pitaya, Urban Outfitters. Mind you, I'm not anti-gentrification. Progress is a good thing, and the neighborhood certainly made for an entertaining shopping experience for us.

But damn, the neighborhood made me feel like I had entered my dotage. Case in point--we stumbled on to a coffeehouse called The Wormhole. This place is a themed coffeehouse. The theme? Full-on cheesy '80s nostalgia (a visit to their Facebook page's photo album will give you a taste). They even had *full-size* replica of the Delorian time machine from Back to the Future and a Nintendo NES set up on an '80s-era tube television so people could play Mario Bros. After walking into the place, I finally had a good idea of how my parents must feel when they walk into a '50s-themed restaurant.

Exactly 1.21 gigawatts.

Before we went shopping and experienced the shock of The Wormhole, we ate lunch at Handlebar. We were initially attracted by the place's vegetarian offerings, but the tap list certainly didn't hurt. My selection: Lagunitas' A Little Sumpin' Sumpin'. I'm ashamed to admit that this is the first time I tried A Little Sumpin'. This wheat ale is best described as Gumballhead's West Coast fraternal twin. It's cloudy with a golden-orange hue instead of the clear yellow color of Gumballhead, but its flavor profile is very similar to Gumballhead's: citrus with a bit of mango and pine topped off with a slightly sweet malt backing. If I had ready access to this beer, I'd be on it consistently in the summer months.

Date: Thursday, 4 August 2011
Location: Acre Restaurant
Andersonville, Chicago

Back in our home away from home, Andersonville. Ask anyone who's spent any period of time in this neighborhood and you're not likely to find much of a bad word. And I'm not kidding when I say that this is our home away from home. This is the fourth time we've stayed in the neighborhood while visiting the city.

Our selection for a dinner location is Acre Restaurant, which is less than a year old because it wasn't around when we visited Andersonville last summer. What drew me is the amazing beer list. Whoever is the beverage manager at this place is not messing around. My guess is that Acre boasted 20 taps plus around a 50 to 60 beer bottle list. All craft, and diverse to boot.

The star of the night at Acre was Port's Mongo IPA, which is a double IPA. It's also one of the most citrus-dominated IPAs I've ever had. I got a different citrus fruit character on each sip--lemon, grapefruit, orange all came through. Nice caramel malt backing as well. This beer was so nice that I picked up a bottle at Binny's the next day to take home with me, plus some other selections that I'd been craving. What are they? Come to Tailgate for Nothing 5 this fall and you might find out.

36 hours in Chicago

You may have noticed that we collaborated with STL Hops and Madison Beer Review to create 36 hour guides for visiting St. Louis, Madison WI, and Indianapolis.

Well, Noah at Draft Magazine and Beer Mapping noticed our work and was inspired to do one of his own: 36 Hours in Chicago.

Illiana Beer Trail (Introducing Jess)

Since this is my first post, I feel I need to introduce myself. I'm one of the smoked beer riffraff and I was on the injured reserve list for the Microbrewer's Festival this year, and a word to the wise - stomach flu and drinking doesn't go well together.

Not so long ago, at the last Rock Bottom Brewer's Dinner downtown, Iain Wilson of the Orland Park Rock Bottom told us of a magical journey starting in Northwest Indiana and ending in Chicago. This journey would take us through a brewery adventure that we hadn't anticipated. It would appear that Three Floyds, Flossmoor Station and the Orland Park Rock Bottom are all conveniently about a 15 minute trip apart, and all along a route to Chicago. Now I won't lie to you, it's a very confusing trip that got us lost multiple times thanks to road names being different in person than they are on Google Maps, but ignore that, you'll want to make this pilgrimige again and again.

We started out at Three Floyds early in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we were immediately met with bad news, Fantabulous Resplendence was not currently on tap. We held back tears (mostly until we saw that we could purchase bombers of Fantabulous Resplendence to go) and Rod ordered a sampler of the standard 4 Three Floyds beers; Pride & Joy, Alpha King, Robert the Bruce and Dreadnaught. All of them were pretty typical except for the Robert the Bruce, which was much more malty (and delicious) at the source.

The beautiful bar area at Three Floyds, more bars need chalkboards with their tap listing!

The Osti Helles was described as a smoked helles.
Jess: I immediately picked out a significant smoked nose, reminiscent of hot dogs. The flavor, however, did not carry as dominant of a smoked flavor. A delicate kolsch-like fruitiness emerged that balanced well against the light smoked flavor. This was a very refreshing summer beer!
Rod: I found a layer of pears underneath the mesquite smoke aroma. The pears carried through into the flavor of the beer that was gradually followed by a fatty smoked meat flavor. At the swallow the smoked flavor almost completely disappeared providing a crisp, clean finish. The first taste proved to be the smokiest, as later drinks became more sweet and developed a German lager level of hoppiness.

The Osti Helles, quite delicious, quite light in appearance

Thanks to Indiana Beer Week, Three Floyds still had on the New Albanian Conesmoker and Brugge Tripel de Ripple. Since we've had the Tripel numerous times, we naturally moved to the Conesmoker. Are you noticing a pattern here?
Jess: This beer had a very faint nose containing traces of roasted malts. The flavor was more hopped than smoked and would prove a good starting point for someone unfamiliar with smoked beers.
Rod: I picked out the trademark Schlenkerla smoked nose. The flavor was a balanced combination of ruby red grapefruit, grapes, cherries, citrus hops and smoke. The finish was quite hoppy for a smoked beer.

Conesmoker on the left, Alpha Naught on the Right

Rod picked out the Alpha Naught as our final beer of the visit since neither of us had tried it.
Rod: The nose was full of evergreen and citrus. The flavor of this beer can only be described as hops. Every kind of hop flavor you can imagine. Citrus, evergreen, herbs, honey, butter and bitterness, all brought out by the hops. If a beer can be complex purely on hop flavor, this is it. Quite well balanced, despite the hop insanity going on.
Jess: A very chardonnay-like nose. The flavor is tart, spicy and hoppy with grapefruit pine notes. Very inviting for the Imperial IPA style while still retaining the hop "bite."

We then proceeded to get lost looking for Flossmoor Station, but after driving around a bit (including going past the Infant Jesus of Prague - seriously did someone name the Church after that bit in Talledega Nights?) and a call to the brewery we got ourselves straightened out. That's right, Rod called for directions, someone should take his man card or something. Flossmoor Station is very unique because it's actually connected to the Metra Flossmoor stop. The interior is done up like some kind of railroad station meets a Rock Bottom, it feels a bit like manufactured but still comfortable. We decided to go with a sampler of all the beers to try as many as we could. As a result, these reviews will be much more brief.

An interior shot of the bar area, there's a train going around the ceiling.

Zephyr Golden Ale
Jess: Light nose, lemony American Pilsner style
Rod: Lemon pilsner nose with a slightly hopped flavor. Standard pilsner

Gandy Dancer Honey Ale
Jess: Hoppy, caramel nose, smooth honey flavor with a rye style hoppiness
Rod: Honey, malt and a bit of..... vomit in the nose. Kind of gross. The flavor doesn't have that last item at all but instead is composed of caramel malt, honey sweetness, rye and a slight bitterness. Tastes better than it smells.

Station Master Wheat Ale
Jess: Lemon nose, hoppy taste for a wheat. Overall a good American wheat, reminiscent of 312.
Rod: Typical hefeweizen nose of yeast, banana and citrus. Lemon and light malt with a sweet, watery finish.

Roundhouse Raspberry Ale
Jess: Dried fruit nose, sweet raspberry taste, very standard for the style
Rod: Getting soap, raspberries and a sock smell in the nose. Odd. The flavor is super raspberry, lemon and honey. Like Oaken Barrel Razz-wheat plus sugar but less fizzy.

ReplicALE Belgian Blonde
Jess: Nose of coriander and orange. A creamy texture reveals a warm, almost wheat taste. Similar to a hefeweizen.
Rod: Orange, banana, lemon zest, coriander and cream in the nose. Cream, lemon, lemon zest, banana, honey and malt in the taste.

Pullman Nut Brown Ale
Jess: Great hazelnut meets porter nose. Creamy, robust nutty taste with lots of caramel. A great dessert beer!
Rod: Roasted coffee bean and caramel syrup aroma. The beer was lighter and more bitter than expected from the nose. Flavors of coffee, dark chocolate and walnuts.

Our impressive sampler tray, we enjoyed the design and descriptions on the mat.

Milky Way Stout
Jess: Basic malt / toffee stout nose. Big lactose sweetness with a very smooth slight bourbon taste.
Rod: Dark roasted malts and a slight coffee and chocolate aroma. Similar to an imperial stout but not as alcoholic. The flavor brought out characteristic sweet stout flavors such as lactose, dark malts and coffee. Nutty flavors were mixed in with a light bourbon finish.

Leftorium
Jess: Perfumey nose. Cherry tartness with the same level of tartness as Diamond Kings' persimmons.
Rod: Hilarious name for a Flanders Brown! Yeasty funk to the nose with cherries, malt and a distinct sourness. The flavors were composed of cherries and persimmons with a caramel maltiness and a balanced sour flavor. Very refreshing and clean finish with a light tartness remaining. Definitely a good session beer.

12
Jess: Belgian style anniversary ale with a big banana nose. The flavor is a banana-plosion! Like 99 bananas beer. This needs to be aged.
Rod: Tons of banana in the nose with an alcohol sweetness. It tasted of banana candy, alcohol and mint.

Panama Limited Red Ale
Jess: Hops! Very hoppy nose with a slight malt finish. Grapefruit and red ale maltiness with pine needles.
Rod: The nose on this one was very malty and sweet. The bitterness was that of an ESB with caramel malt flavors and grapefruit hops. Reminded me of the Raccoon Red at the Rock Bottom Downtown.

Lady Columbian IPA
Jess: Pine nose, not very strong but a great balance between hops and drinkability
Rod: Big wet cascade hops in the nose. Grapefruit hop flavor with high IBUs. Kind of like the Sugar Creek Pale at the Downtown Rock Bottom but sweeter.

We decided to finish out our visit with a full tulip glass of Leftorium. A great choice by us if we do say so, it was the perfect compliment to the free appetizer bar that we stumbled upon at Flossmoor.

The Flanders Brown "Leftorium" - seriously, we laughed about that for a while. We're easily amused apparently.

After Flossmoor we headed towards the Orland Park Rock Bottom. With 14 beers on tap and after reviewing 12 at Flossmoor we decided to say screw this reviewing stuff, we want to just savor the flavor!

As you can see from the picture, this is a fully equipped Rock Bottom!

You may remember Iain from the College Park Rock Bottom. He was the previous brewmaster up there, and moved to the Orland Park location when they opened (placing Liz at the reigns at College Park). The most impressive beer here was the American Dream aged in Bourbon Barrels. It had a huge bourbon flavor which was very surprising for a hoppy APA. More brewers should do this instead of only using the barrels on stouts! We'll definitely make this journey the next time we head up to Chicago!

Thanks Iain for the idea and starting a tradition on our Chicago trips.

Aid regarding ales in Andersonville

This weekend, the Lovely Redhead and I are traveling to Chicago for a little R&R. We're eagerly looking forward to this trip, especially because we've decided to stay a little off the beaten path by foregoing accommodations downtown, which is where we usually stay. Instead, we've found a cool little B&B in Andersonville.

Once the center of Chicago's Swedish community, Andersonville is now one of the funkiest and fastest growing neighborhoods in the city. We are amped to explore the independent shops and restaurants that Andersonville is known for. I'm particularly excited about visiting the neighborhood's crown jewel of beer geekdom, The Hopleaf Bar. This bar is a well-known Chicago attraction for beer aficionados, and I'm pretty sure that at least one of our readers has visited (though I can't remember who that is--maybe Rodney or Matt, or both of them).

Anyway, I need some tips on what to drink while I'm there. So, fair readers, if you wouldn't mind, please peruse the draft and bottle menus and give me some suggestions, 'kay? I will be forever in your debt--that is, until I'm able to buy you some Rodenbach Grand Cru when Brugge opens their upper level.