Chicago Day 1

Hannah Ransom
Aug 25, 2017 · 3 min read

On the way to Chicago you cross the Mississippi River, which is quite a sight to behold.

After another pleasant 19 hours on Amtrak we pulled into Union Station Chicago, only about one hour behind schedule. I had only allotted myself about 24 hours in Chicago so I quickly checked into my Airbnb and Lyfted over to the first Brewery on my list, Half Acre.

Half Acre has two breweries in Chicago. In 2008 they built the Lincoln brewery, which is open to the public. Their Balmoral brewery was built in 2015, but is not open to the public, but they hope to have tours of it in the future. The Lincoln location has a great taproom, gift shop and delicious food available. I started off with a taster of their Pony, which is a year round pilsner. At 5.5% ABV it definitely reads like a session, but the wheat notes are really well balanced with the some hops on the front. I’m not normally a big pilsner fan, but this beer surprised me. In a way it is a gateway beer into the craft world for folks who might have only drank budweiser up until this point. I also tasted their Daisy Toronado, which is a 5.2% Pale Ale that was a collaboration with Toronado in San Francisco. A tasty Pale Ale the pulled on my hear strings due to my hometown connection.

After scarfing down one of their amazing chickens shawarma bowls I Lyfted over to Pipeworks. Right now Pipeworks is just a bottle shop. When my Lyft dropped me off I tried to accidentally wander into the back door and ran into a couple of nice employees who were having a post-work pint and were kind enough to help me find the door. Once you’ve made it inside you can taste anything they have on draft and purchase bottles to go. The guys who work here are very nice, helpful and knowledgeable. I walked out with a few bottles to gift to friends along the way.

The last stop of the night was a quick night cap beer at Lagunitas, Chicago.

I arrived about 30 minutes before they closed and grabbed a seat at the main bar. A beertender came over to greet me and I quickly realized that it was the same beertender from when I visited the brewery a year ago, he remembered me as well, which was super special. Sunny is a total sweetheart and he poured me a delicious nightcap beer (Eroica Farmhouse) and kept me company while I enjoyed it. Thanks Sunny!

I called it a (relatively) early night and headed back to my Airbnb to rest up a bit, as I knew there were more beer adventures ahead!

Steal My Trip:

Half Acre Lincoln Brewery — 4257 N. Lincoln Avenue Chicago, IL

http://www.halfacrebeer.com/

Pipeworks Brewing Co — 3912 W Mclean Ave Chicago, IL

http://pdubs.net/

Lagunitas — 2607 W. 17th St. Chicago, Ill.

https://lagunitas.com/taprooms/chicago

Beer Trip Across America

Follow my journey on the ale trail as I travel across the U.S. in search of the best craft beer in America.

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Hannah Ransom

Written by

Beer Trip Across America

Follow my journey on the ale trail as I travel across the U.S. in search of the best craft beer in America.

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