The 11 Best Craft Beer Bars in Chicago

Chicago's craft beer story pivots on a betrayal. John Hall opened Goose Island as a Lincoln Park brewpub in 1988, taught the city to drink barrel-aged stout, then sold the whole operation to Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2011. The independents that filled the vacuum are the reason this page exists.

Revolution Brewing, now the largest independently owned brewery in Illinois, had opened its Logan Square brewpub the year before that sale went through. Half Acre, Dovetail, Begyle and Spiteful turned a freight corridor in Ravenswood into Malt Row. Marz built a south side following out of a Bridgeport storefront and a three-barrel kit.

The result is a scene organised by neighbourhood rather than by style. The Blue Line delivers you to Logan Square and Wicker Park, the Brown Line and Metra reach Malt Row, and buses along Halsted handle the south side.

Our ranking covers brewery taprooms, brewpubs and pure beer bars, because Chicago does all three well. This guide explains where they cluster, what to order once you arrive, and how to run a crawl in January without losing feeling in your hands.

Ravenswood's Malt Row

Malt Row runs along the Metra embankment through Ravenswood, a strip of old industrial buildings that now holds more than ten independent craft beverage producers. The Greater Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce calls it the most diverse beer destination in Chicago, and for once the boosterism holds up.

Half Acre Beer Company anchors the district from its Lincoln Avenue taproom, with Begyle Brewing and Spiteful Brewing an easy walk away. Dovetail Brewery is the jewel: Helles, Vienna lager, Bohemian pilsner and a smoked Rauchbier, made with open-top fermenters and a coolship by founders who trained through the Siebel Institute after meeting in Germany. Forbidden Root Brewery pours here too, through its Cultivate outpost.

Take the Brown Line, or Metra's UP-North line to its Ravenswood stop at Lawrence in the middle of the corridor. Everything sits within walking distance, which matters a great deal in February.

Logan Square and Avondale

Revolution Brewing opened its brewpub at 2323 North Milwaukee Avenue in February 2010 and grew into the largest independently owned brewery in Illinois. The brewpub handles food and atmosphere; the production taproom, about a mile away on Kedzie Avenue in Avondale, handles tank-fresh pints and barrel-aged releases.

Hopewell Brewing Company has run its Logan Square taproom since 2016, and the surrounding stretch of Milwaukee Avenue carries enough good bars to fill the gaps between brewery stops. The Blue Line's Logan Square and California stops serve the strip directly.

Wicker Park and Bucktown

The Map Room has occupied the corner of Armitage and Hoyne since November 1992, decorated with maps and old National Geographics, its beer list first assembled with help from the Chicago Beer Society. It is the city's model of the pure beer bar: no brewhouse on site, just curation and a room built for staying put.

A short walk south, Piece Brewery & Pizzeria on North Avenue pairs New Haven-style thin-crust pizza with house beers that took home wins at the World Beer Cup. Ride the Blue Line to Damen and you can reach both on foot.

Bridgeport and McKinley Park

Marz Community Brewing was dreamt up in 2013 over the counter of a Bridgeport bar and started brewing the following summer in a Halsted Street storefront on a three-barrel system. In 2018 it moved across Bubbly Creek into McKinley Park's Central Manufacturing District, where the taproom now operates.

Expect the strangest tap list in the city: experimental small-batch beers alongside house kombucha and seltzers. The south side scene is thinner than the north's, which makes Marz feel less like a stop on a crawl and more like a destination in its own right.

What makes a great craft beer bar in Chicago

Independence, first. This city watched its founding craft brewery sell to the world's biggest beer conglomerate in 2011, and the bars that matter responded by treating locally owned taps as a point of principle. A good Chicago draft list leans on Revolution, Half Acre, Dovetail and Marz rather than crafty-looking macro brands.

Second, respect for lager. Dovetail's open fermenters and coolship set a standard for continental styles, and any bar still hiding behind a wall of interchangeable hazy IPAs has not kept up. The strongest lists balance hop-forward pale ales against pilsner, Helles and something smoked or soured.

Third, the room has to work in winter. Chicago drinks indoors from roughly November to April, so the venues that endure offer deep rooms, board games and staff content to let you settle in for three hours. The Map Room built itself as a neighbourhood third place back in 1992, and that remains the brief.

Service earns points too. The best bartenders here pour tasters without sighing, know which local brewery made what, and can steer a stout drinker toward a Rauchbier without a lecture. A bottle of Malört behind the bar is the final tell: it signals staff who understand Chicago ritual as thoroughly as they understand beer.

Planning your night

Taprooms and brewpubs run on earlier clocks than regular bars, so build a crawl that starts in the afternoon and ends at a late-licence beer bar. Weeknights are comfortable almost everywhere, while Fridays and Saturdays fill from early evening onward.

Winter changes the calculus. From November to April you want short walks between stops, which is precisely what Malt Row and the Milwaukee Avenue corridor provide. Patio season, roughly May through September, flips demand outdoors and adds queues on the first warm Saturday.

Most taprooms take walk-ins only, and many welcome dogs and, during daytime hours, kids. Reserve ahead only for groups of six or more, and expect a wait for tables at Piece in Wicker Park on weekend evenings.

Leave the car at home. The Blue Line covers Logan Square, Avondale and Wicker Park; the Brown Line and Metra's UP-North line cover Malt Row; buses and rideshares handle Bridgeport and McKinley Park. Mickey Finn's Brewery, the ranking's suburban outlier, sits on Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville and is best treated as a day trip with a designated driver or a Metra timetable.

Etiquette is simple: order at the counter in taprooms, run a tab at bars, and tip each round. Crowlers and growler fills make the best souvenirs, since plenty of what pours here never leaves the city limits.

Chicago rebuilt its beer identity the hard way after selling its flagship, and the rebuild beat the original. Malt Row is the best brewery corridor in the Midwest for a crawl on foot, and The Map Room remains the standard for what a beer bar without a brewhouse can be, three decades in.

Revolution proves independence can scale, Dovetail proves patience pays, and Marz proves the south side never needed anyone's permission. One night: take the Brown Line to Ravenswood and walk the Row. A full weekend: add Logan Square, finish at the Map Room, and take the Malört shot when it is offered.

Where can I find the best craft beer near me in Chicago?

It depends which side of the river you stand on. North siders should head for Ravenswood's Malt Row, where Half Acre, Dovetail, Begyle and Spiteful cluster along one walkable industrial strip, or the Milwaukee Avenue run through Wicker Park and Logan Square that holds The Map Room, Piece, Revolution and Hopewell. South siders have Marz in McKinley Park, just over Bubbly Creek from Bridgeport. For a ranked list sorted by distance from wherever you are standing right now, use our craft beer bars near me finder.

Which Chicago neighbourhood is best for a taproom crawl?

Malt Row in Ravenswood, and it is not close. More than ten independent producers line the old industrial corridor, including Half Acre, Dovetail, Begyle, Spiteful and Forbidden Root's Cultivate outpost, all within walking distance of one another. Take the Brown Line, or Metra's UP-North line to Lawrence, then work your way along the Row, saving Dovetail's lagers for while your palate is still fresh. Logan Square is the runner-up thanks to Revolution and Hopewell. Our Chicago guides cover the rest of the city.

Which local independent breweries should I look for in Chicago?

Start with Revolution Brewing, the largest independently owned brewery in Illinois, then work through Half Acre, Dovetail, Begyle, Spiteful, Hopewell, Forbidden Root and Marz. Each pours in its own taproom, and their beers dominate the guest lines at the city's better bars. Goose Island still brews here, but it has belonged to Anheuser-Busch InBev since 2011, so purists no longer count it as craft. Our craft beer hub explains how we weigh independent ownership when ranking venues.

What beer styles does Chicago do best?

Three things stand out. Barrel-aged stout is a local invention: Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout, first aged in Jim Beam barrels under brewmaster Greg Hall, effectively created the category, and new variants still land every November. Continental lager is the current strength, with Dovetail's Helles, Bohemian pilsner and Rauchbier brewed on open fermenters and a coolship. Hop-forward pale ales remain the everyday currency, a reputation Half Acre built its business on, and Marz covers the experimental end with sours, kombucha and stranger things.

When do Chicago craft beer bars get busy, and should I book?

Taprooms fill on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons, and the first warm weekend of patio season strains anywhere with outdoor space. Weeknights stay relaxed, and deep-winter weeknights are positively serene. Most taprooms take walk-ins only, so booking is rarely possible, let alone required; call ahead if your group runs to six or more. Brewpubs are the exception because food service means table waits: expect one at Piece in Wicker Park on weekend nights, and plan around televised Bears, Cubs and Sox games everywhere.

What is Malört, and do I really have to drink it?

Jeppson's Malört is a ferociously bitter wormwood liqueur, first sold by Swedish immigrant Carl Jeppson during Prohibition and now made in the city by CH Distillery. A shot of it is Chicago's standing initiation ritual, and plenty of beer bars keep a bottle for exactly that purpose, since bartenders enjoy watching the first-timer's face. You do not have to drink it, but be warned that declining twice is harder work than drinking it once. Chase it with something local and hoppy, and you have earned the story.