Any beer houses in Chicago? (Flossmoor, Richmond: travel, bars, move)

[CrazyJay]

Are there any bars in Chicago that serve beers from around the world? You know, like a place that breaks down their selections by country, or type of beer.. etc etc?

Thanks

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

There are a couple of solid threads on this:

Here's one: Favorite Bars

Here's the other: Your fave bar or microbrewery in Chicagoland

You'll probably get a lot of recommendations of The Map Room and Hop Leaf. Those places are less about beer from around the world and more about really great beer with a preference for Belgian beers. Good selections, though.

I've never been to Quenchers, but it has a pretty huge selection, too, I understand.

[CrazyJay]

Thanks, i'll look at those threads... perhaps i should have searched the forum first..

[Drover]

The two majors in Chicago are The Hopleaf and The Map Room. Quenchers and Clark Street Ale House are sort of an also-rans compared to the other two but they're still worth considering.

And while CBC suggests the big two are heavily Belgian-oriented, the truth is most serious beer bars are because that's where a preponderance of the world's great beers come from. Belgium is to beer as France is to wine. But off the top of my head I know that the Map Room also carries beers from France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Holland, Mexico, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Czech Republic, Japan, etc. I'm sure Hopleaf carries at least a couple beers from most if not all of those places too.

You can find the beer menus for each online at their websites, except Clark Street which inexplicably doesn't have a website.

Hopleaf Bar
The Map Room - A Traveller's Tavern in Chicago
Quenchers Saloon - Chicago's Premier Beer Bar

[coldwine]

Yes. Yes yes yes. Oh god yes.

If you want to complain about weather, fine, but if you want to talk beerhouses Chicago has it going on.

[CrazyJay]

thanks for the replies all... hehe.. these are some interesting places to check once i finally move up there (in less than two months).

[Savoir Faire]

Originally Posted by CrazyJay

Are there any bars in Chicago that serve beers from around the world? You know, like a place that breaks down their selections by country, or type of beer.. etc etc?

Thanks

quenchers and map room are two that come to mind.

[Lookout Kid]

Not to mention there are dozens of smaller bars that have good beer selections. They won't come close to approaching the Map Room or Hopleaf, but you can often find a handful of Belgians or unique micro-brews in smaller neighborhood bars like the Bar on Buena, Feed the Beast, Smalllbar, etc. It's never hard to find a good beer in Chicago.

I fully concur that the Map Room, Hopleaf, and Quenchers are at the top of the list.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by coldwine

Yes. Yes yes yes. Oh god yes.

If you want to complain about weather, fine, but if you want to talk beerhouses Chicago has it going on.

For a city of its size, Chicago actually doesn't have that many truly great beer houses. There are a handful of good brewpubs in the area though and that helps make up some of the deficit, but they're so far flung and spread out -- from Flossmoor and Munster all the way up to Richmond on the Wisconsin border -- that it's hard to get to all of them.

So far I haven't found a city that tops Pittsburgh for being a great beer town, especially on a per-capita basis. But I haven't been to Seattle or Portland yet...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

For a city of its size, Chicago actually doesn't have that many truly great beer houses. There are a handful of good brewpubs in the area though and that helps make up some of the deficit, but they're so far flung and spread out -- from Flossmoor and Munster all the way up to Richmond on the Wisconsin border -- that it's hard to get to all of them.

So far I haven't found a city that tops Pittsburgh for being a great beer town, especially on a per-capita basis. But I haven't been to Seattle or Portland yet...

I just saw a story on Television a few weeks ago about how Denver is becoming the "Napa Valley of brewing". I have absolutely no firsthand knowledge to back this up and can only think of a few Colorado-based micro-breweries I respect, however. Does anyone have any knowledge of this? I do wish that Chicago had more micro-breweries with good distribution. Goose Island can be great (especially their small batch four packs in the brown packaging), but it would be nice to have other options nearby as well.

Speaking of this, I may go to the fridge and enjoy a Goose Island Pierre Jacques right now! Nothing like sitting around home waiting for a baby to be born...