Beer stores in Chicago

I'm going to be making a short visit to Chicago in the coming weeks on my way back from South Bend. I've done some research on pubcrawler and I have a list of bars I want to visit but I'm also looking for a good retail outlet or two with a good selection of local beer. We're staying in the Loop without a car so stores in the vicinity would be best.

thanks, mike

Reply to
Grafix8888
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way back from South Bend. I've done some research on pubcrawler and I have a list of bars I want to visit but I'm also looking for a good retail outlet or two with a good selection of local beer. We're staying in the Loop without a car so stores in the vicinity would be best.

Take the short cab ride to Sam's (just off North and Clybourne):

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Local beer, regional beer, international, etc. Pretty much has the bases covered. Nice selection of Begian's, as well. If you ask nicely, sometimes they have little treasures hidden back in the storeroom (usually barleywines, harvest ales and the like). And, best of all, it's right across the street from Goose Island.

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While you're in Chicago, I'd recommend you also try and visit the Hop Leaf and the Map Room. Intimate settings, wonderful beer selections and, at the Hop Leaf, excellent Belgian cuisine.

Have fun. You can't go wrong at any of 'em.

Cheers!

EFB

Reply to
Eric Berg

As a Chicago area resident, I second all of Eric's suggestions above. He hit it right on the money.

Reply to
BAD's Revenge

I haven't been to Sam's in about a year, but was always disappointed in their beer selection--wine and spirits were fabulous, and then they had one aisle devoted to beer and a lot of that aisle was devoted to Bud, Miller etc.....have things changed in the beer dept there?

Reply to
Larry Swain

Well, I don't think it's *quite* as extensive as it was a few years back, but it's still pretty darn good. Good selection of micro's, Europeans (especially Belgian's, as previously noted), and seasonals. Of course, some brewery's output just doesn't seem to make it to the Midwest (Stone and Bridgeport come to mind). Anything in particular you were looking for and failed to find?

Cheers!

EFB

Reply to
Eric Berg

How long has it been since you've been there?!? I just spent $235 in one visit, on beer alone, and passed by a few things I haven't tried yet (but not many! :-).

Basically, there's a half-aisle of the budmillercoors s**te, a half-aisle of US micros etc and a few foreign beers, facing a row of boxed US micros etc, a half-aisle of foreign beers with lots o'love from Belgium, and finally a fair-sized cold case full of beer of all varieties. If you remember one aisle, well, I'd say things got better for sure. That doesn't mean you'll find everything you want, but if you can't find SOMETHING good, and/or something you can't find somewhere else, I need to know where ELSE to look! (For the record, Binny's does okay, but there's always more at Sam's that I can't get at Binny's than things at Binny's I can't find at Sam's).

Reply to
Russ Perry Jr

Yah, Sam's RAWKS, basically. I've got some gripes with them (like taking the paper bags off the DFH Liquor du Malt), and my wife certainly does ("you know how many diapers we could buy?"), but retail does not get better in Chicago than that. It's particularly nice if you run into Beer Brian and have an idea of what you're looking for, it's not on the shelf, and he grabs some out of the secret back room that has stuff "for beergeeks only."

--NPD

Reply to
Nick Dempsey

Nothing specific, just went to check out the selection, and I must have gone down the wrong aisle because all I saw was pretty much anything I could get at a 7-11, just more of it.

Reply to
Larry Swain

Clybourne):

nicely,

(usually

Island.

Come to think of it, it has been a few years since I've been to Sam's. I remember it being pretty good though.

Reply to
BAD's Revenge

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