Breweries in Chicago

As craft beers and localvore trends increase in popularity, Chicago breweries find themselves in a great position. Not only can they sell their wares to the discerning or the drunk, they can also open storefronts for their brands. Breweries in Chicago exist in all sizes, but a few have founded destinations for patrons.

The granddaddy of Chicago’s brewery scene is Goose Island, and rare is the local bar that doesn’t have one of its brews on tap. The Goose Island brewery itself is set inside a large warehouse, where a full restaurant and bar gives patrons the chance to tank up on grub and suds before and after taking a tour of the production line. Even those not taking the tour show up in big groups to enjoy the award-winning beers.

Like Goose Island, a pizza place called Piece brews its own ales, but this place does not distribute its beers to 7-11s. Instead, the many varieties are on tap solely in its restaurant/bar, where hipsters show off doing live-band karaoke, and bartenders tell you which beer might complement which pizza.

Meanwhile, upstarts such as Half Acre Brewery, Revolution Brewery Co., and Metropolitan Brewing Company feature anything from full restaurants to behind-the-scenes tours with a gift shop at the end. The craft and care that goes into these companies’ beers have allowed them great success, and as long as Chicagoans like to drink and think about beer, they will have a happy audience.