Hopleaf Bar Bar / Pub / Restaurant

Andersonville / Edgewater, Chicago –

Popular with an amiable bunch of grad students and young professionals bent on conversation, the modest Hopleaf Bar harbors an intense dedication to beer, and lots of it.

Every night, the worn wooden tables and booths on the first floor quickly fill up with easygoing patrons pouring over the selection of more than two hundred beers, each meticulously described in the venue’s weighty drinks menu.

A bar adorned with hopleaf vines and beer signs features a wall of ninety different types of glasses, each designed for a particular kind of beer. In the back, trendy couples and groups of friends chat beneath the vaulted ceilings of the brick dining area, ordering from a selection of authentic Belgian cuisine like the signature mussels steamed in Wittekerke White Ale.

Those looking for a bit of air can step through the glass door to the patio, where the venue also grows its own herbs and spices for use in the kitchen.

Upstairs, a second dining area overlooking the first offers a prime vantage point for viewing the venue’s collection of art and retro ads – not to mention scoping out the action below – while another room with group tables and a half bar sees an influx of intellectual types when the bar hosts its monthly literary events and occasional (and very popular) beer tastings.

A utopia for beer and food lovers, Hopleaf Bar impresses with its obsessive focus on specialty and rare beers and on delivering an authentic experience for its sophisticated and jovial patrons.