Fellow peers, it has been a while, and I’m glad to be back for what will be the first installment of my official unofficial list of best Chicago-based breweries for IPA’s. Other installments will include: Best Venue, Up and Coming newcomers (over redundancy is a theme here), and Stout edition. First up, the style that got me hooked on craft beers, IPA's. Now this list will include all IPA styles, coastal, hazy, juicy, you name it, it’s the brewery that consistently delivers the best IPA’s this city has to offer. The criteria considered for this list consists of the variety of styles they can brew, notoriety or lack thereof in the brewing circles, and...my GOT DAMN opinion. But don’t worry, I’ve never steered any one wrong when it comes to IPA's, and if you disagree with me I’d love to hear your thoughts while at the same time refusing to change my mind. I’ll list them off 1-5, 1 being the best for IPA's and 5 for being the 5th best. Without further adieu, number one goes to….. Hop Butcher for the World: There is not a brewery in Chicago that squeezes every ounce of potential out of a hop better than Hop Butcher right now. Hop Butcher is able to accentuate and showcase the different flavors of hop varietals so well. Many times they are able to do it without adding PED's like fruits. There’s nothing wrong with adding fruit to IPA's, I’m merely just highlighting the skill of this brewery. I was lucky enough to be introduced to this brewery when they were still only producing a new brew about once every 2 months, or sometimes fewer. Before that I believe the OG’s of the craft beer game knew these guys as South Loop Brewing (don’t fact check that). Now, Hop Butcher has grown so much that they can usually spin out a new release every two weeks...and they are constantly coming up with new stuff. Some newer brews like Traveling Scientist and Elder Secrets of Ancient Past go down as some of my favorite IPAs released in the last 12 months. They also have staples that seem to be making the rounds more frequently. Beers like Dun Dun Dun, Craniac, and variations of Mellotron. Most of their recent stuff has been of the Hazy persuasion, but they also make some outstanding classic styled IPAs. I also sit in the camp that their flagship beer, Galaxy Bowl, does better as a non-hazy. Regardless, Hop Butcher’s brews are worth every penny and it’s no secret why their IPAs never stay on the shelves longer than a day or two. 2. Pipeworks Brewing: Number two on this list might as well be 1b. Their IPAs rival most of Hop Butcher’s, and they’ve been able to do it without appealing to the masses and coming in heavy with hazy versions of their beer. Though, they did just come out with a hazy version of their flagship DIPA, Ninja Vs Unicorn, and I have to say it’s quite good. Getting back on track, there’s not a brewery out there that does a better job of showcasing Galaxy hops. Galaxy Unicorn and Infinite Galaxy are some of my favorite beers from Pipeworks. Pipeworks also hits so many different varieties of IPAs and they are all stellar. They blow the mosaic hop out of the water with brews like Lizard King and Mosaic DIPA. You also can’t forget about their fish series, a plethora of DIPAs all featuring honey and usually a well paired hop and fruit. The only other series in Chicago that can probably stand up to that is the Gummy series from Noonwhistle. One last great thing about Pipeworks is that they are large enough to ensure you can almost always find their beers at your local bottle shop and even Jewel’s now. It’s impressive that they can keep up the production but the quality of beer has not diminished, at least in my eyes. 3. Marz Brewing: Here is when things start to get tough for me. This list only goes to 5 but I could probably add another 5 to the list and you could make an argument for why numbers 3-10 could by listed higher. I put Marz here because they were one of the first to bring the NEIPA to the city in well distributed fashion. That could be because they had the resources to get their product out there better than most but it doesn’t take away from the quality of their product. They also have shown to be more than capable with more classic styles when they venture away from the hazy. Beers like Citra Citra Citra, Beer, Cloud Boyz are all amazing, and that barely scratches the surface of the offering they are putting out there. Marz is another brewery that has done a great job of getting new beers out there, but also making popular ones accessible enough that you don’t have to wait in line just to get them. One beer I would wait in line for though is Crushed Velvet. Another hazy IPA that stands up to its name, with a bursting hop profile and velvety mouth-feel. 4. Corridor Brewing: I have Corridor #4 for some of the same reasons I put Marz at #3. Corridor was one of the first breweries to bring the NEIPA to Chicago, at a time where the city was fiending for it. Corridor is a smaller operation than almost all of the breweries on this list and that’s another reason I wanted to give them the notoriety. They don’t have a distribution network, so if you’re looking to get your hands on some of their brews you have to actually go to their brewery. Word on the street is they will have a can release this Friday though. Again, you’ll need to visit the brewery to pick them up. Another impressive feat of Corridor is how they pivoted not too long ago. A couple years ago, when they first opened they were more of a traditional brewery, focusing on belgian techniques if I remember correctly. Frankly, it wasn’t working. I had no intention of ever trying out Corridor again until I saw they switched things up and started producing some of the best IPAs in the city (4th best according to this awesome list I heard about). This southport corridor establishment went from likely being replaced in a year or two, to having people line up outside its doors in a matter of months. That’s wildly impressive. 5. Noonwhistle Brewing: Lastly, I’m throwing Noonwhistle at number 5. It was a tough decision to make but the fact that their Gummy Series has people eagerly seeking out their beers put it over the edge. Plus how can I reference them in another brewery’s segment and not include them on this list. Noonwhistle does a great job with their gummy NEIPA’s and some of those beers really make you think you’re chewing on some sort of gummy treat. They are also showing the bravado to try new things and test limits. Such as partnering with Planters Peanuts and actually getting people to like a beer that is supposed to be sweet and hoppy, but also brings the saltiness of a roasted peanut into the fold. They also made a uber refreshing watermelon IPA this past fall that performed very well, in my opinion. So there you have it. My official, unofficial, list of the best Chicago breweries for IPAs. Some honorable mentions that definitely could be included on this list are: Mikerphone Brewing, More Brewing, Begyle, Old Irving, Solemn Oath, and Maplewood. This list could go on and on actually, which makes Chicago such a great Beer city to live in. I look forward to trying all these breweries out and I’m excited to see which ones make such a mark on me that it will force me to re-do this list a year from now. Till then, cheers!
top of page
bottom of page
Comentarios