The Great American Ale Trail (Revised Edition)

by Christian DeBenedetti

  No matter who bought them out, Goose Island deserves credit for growing and shaping the national craft beer conversation. The original Goose Island opened in Lincoln Park and has racked up well over 100 prestigious brewing medals. In the handsome wood-paneled pub with its huge, central oval-shaped bar, there are at least twenty taps, many only available there (including occasional cask-conditioned ales), in addition to bottle, growler, and keg sales to go. The pub grub consists of higher end pub fare including duck and rabbit, mussels, andouille, and cassoulet. There are often beers on tap that have been created as collaborations with local chefs including Rick Bayless and Paul Kahan of the Publican. A second brewpub, in Wrigleyville, opened in 1999. Tours of both locations (seven dollars; about an hour) can be reserved on weekends at various times.

  PHILOSOPHY

  Innovative and quality-minded. In recent years the company has made strides with Belgian-style ales such as Matilda, a 7% ABV Belgian pale ale with earthy Brettanomyces yeast.

  KEY BEER

  Goose Island has been steadily expanding its ambitious sour program, launched in 2007. Halia, (Hawaiian for “remembrance of a loved one”) was brewed in memory of a close friend of the brewery who loved peaches. This straw-hued, slightly funky Belgian-style wild ale is aged in white wine barrels with 12,000 pounds of fresh Michigan peaches. Flaxen-yellow, it smells like a wicker basket of those ripe peaches, with a bright, citrusy, mouth-watering smack on the finish (7.5% ABV).

  BEST of the REST: ILLINOIS

  PIECE BREWERY & PIZZERIA

  1927 W. North Ave. • Chicago, IL 60622 • (773) 772-4422 • piecechicago.com

  One of the best all-time pairings for pizza is dry, hoppy American-style pale ale and IPA, and this artisan pizzeria and small batch craft brewery excels at both, even winning top honors during the World Beer Cup in American pale ale in 2014. Brewer Jonathan Cutler, who trained at the Siebel Institute and Master Brewers Association of America, opened Piece in 2011 with over a decade of brewing experience. The pizzeria is a large, renovated loft-like room (formerly a roofing supply house) with skylight, flat-screen TVs in every direction, and a sunken bar area. Hit it on Sunday for a large pie and a sixty-four-ounce growler, twenty-five dollars.

  DELILAH’S

  2771 N. Lincoln Ave. • Chicago, IL 60614 • (773) 472-2771 • delilahschicago.com

  The black, Old West exterior resembles a saloon a gunslinger might have preferred, but inside it’s pure rock and roll. With punk, rock, ska, and alt-country blasting from an excellent jukebox (plus pool tables upstairs), this bar (established in 1994) offers a refreshing break from the sometimes too-precious vibe of new-school beer bars (but still organizes cool, special events and tastings five times a year). Owner Mike Miller rotates a selection of 20 taps and 150 bottled crafts and imports, like Daisy Cutter Pale Ale (5.2% ABV) from Chicago’s own Half Acre Brewing Company.

  HALF ACRE BREWING CO.

  4257 N. Lincoln Ave. • Chicago, IL 60618 • (773) 248-4038 • halfacrebeer.com

  A group of beer-loving friends living in Bucktown (home of the Map Room) started Half Acre as a contract brewing arrangement in 2006. Within two years the crew was ready to move into a big converted brick warehouse, and were soon brewing an impressive arsenal of beers including the peachy, pungent, and eminently drinkable Daisy Cutter Pale Ale (5.2% ABV). Along the way the brewery has propelled the Half Acre’s competitive cycling team to new heights. The beers are finding wider distribution in the area every day. Brewery tours are offered on Saturdays at 1 p.m. by reservation only, with a maximum of sixty adults per day.

  HOPLEAF

  5148 N. Clark St. • Chicago, IL 60640 • (773) 334-9851 • hopleaf.com

  With warm, weathered wood throughout, Hopleaf (opened in 1992) is broken up into three areas—a front bar, dining area, and loft-like seating area upstairs—offering 41 taps and 260 bottled selections. The beer selection is heavily influenced by Belgian styles, as is the menu: standout dishes include the mussels, frites, rabbit with dumplings, duck meatballs, and cod croquettes. Look for Lost Abbey beers (from California), such as the cloudy gold Carnevale on draft, a 6.5% ABV saison beer with hints of orange peel and a delicate floral aroma from ample Amarillo and Simcoe hops.

  REVOLUTION BREWING CO.

  2323 N. Milwaukee Ave. • Chicago, IL 60647-2924 • (773) 227-2739 • revbrew.com

  Opened in 2010 with a faux Bolshevik attitude, this Logan Square brewpub roared into high gear under the leadership of former Goose Islander Josh Deth. With its tin ceilings, contemporary-classic dark wood bar island, defiant fist tap handles, and locally sourced pub grub, it’s cool enough for the young folk yet classy enough to take the parents (on a quiet afternoon that is; it gets mobbed at night). So quick and sure has the Revolution swept over Logan Square that they planned a 35,000-square-foot production brewery for 2011 with a row of 800 barrel outdoor fermenters (800 barrels each!), room for barrel aging, and a slew of styles leaving chinks in the armor of macrobrew hegemony. The 6.5% ABV Anti-Hero IPA is madly popular, with massive amounts of tangy and floral hops.

  TWO BROTHERS

  30 W. 315 Calumet Ave. • Warrenville, IL 60555 • (630) 657-5201 • twobrosbrew.com

  Brothers Jim and Jason Ebel were obsessed with craft beer after living in Europe; when they returned home, they opened a home-brew shop, which led to plans to brew commercially. One brother completed a law degree while the other mastered brewing science; using borrowed money, gear, and some dairy tanks their grandfather handed down, Two Brothers was born in 1997 in the western suburbs of Chicago, and has grown like a beanstalk ever since. Starting in 2009, the duo acquired a beautiful collection of wooden tanks called foudres for making far more complex beers than the hefeweizens (cloudy wheat beers) that put them on the map. Look for their flagship, Cane & Ebel Red Rye Ale, made with a bit of Thai palm sugar, rye malt, and unusually aromatic hops (7% ABV).

  SOLEMN OATH BREWERY

  1661 Quincy Ave. No. 179 • Naperville, IL 60540 • solumnoathbrewery.com

  Launched in 2012 by a man called John Barley (really) to brew Belgian-style ales and various experimental excursions into the brewer’s art, Solemn Oath has done a lot of cool things, including “Oath Day” tours where guests help create spice blends for Whisper Kisses, a saison that will be poured later on in the taproom. Wend your way through the ever-changing list.

  SCRATCH BREWING CO.

  264 Thompson Rd. • Ava, IL 62907 • (618) 426-1415 • scratchbeer.com

  A farmhouse brewery and restaurant located five miles from Shawnee National Forest, Scratch works with a purist focus on farmhouse styles brewed with homegrown, locally farmed, and foraged ingredients such as nettle, elderberry, ginger, lotus, dandelion, hickory, and honey. Enjoy equally adventurous wood-fired pizzas and breads from the brick oven, plus locally produced charcuterie and cheese.

  NEBRASKA

  Lincoln

  ZIPLINE BREWING CO.

  2100 Magnum Cir., No. 1 • Lincoln, NE 68522 • (402) 475-1001 • ziplinebrewing.com • Established: 2011

  SCENE & STORY

  Marcus Powers was a water and natural resources attorney working with water engineers and hydrologists of groundwater and surface water interaction. Good background for a brewery, you might say. Home brewing gibed with his science background and soon his recipes were taking shape. Around 2011, with a pair of partners, Powers began the build-out of Zipline Brewing Co. The taproom is adorned in a combination of concrete, wood, and steel; two walls are covered in pallet wood that stretches up and gets lost in a high, dark warehouse ceiling. Exposed concrete floors are set off against steampunk tables made with sawmill timbers and galvanized pipe. The warm, low light of Edison bulbs hanging from cloth cords glows in the space, which has eight taps and a beer engine.

  PHILOSOPHY

  “Our slogan is Brave New Brew,” says Powers. “[It] enshrines our focus on making high quality, progressive beer. If we wouldn’t buy it, we wouldn’t ask you to either.”
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br />   KEY BEER

  Fans of their Double IPA might race you to the door. Copper Alt won a gold medal at the GABF in 2015; also try the 4.5% ABV Gin Barrel-Aged Hibiscus Saison, a bright pink, effervescent brew of tart hibiscus flowers, gin spiciness, and wooden barrels.

  Papillion

  NEBRASKA BREWING CO.

  Shadow Lake Towne Center • 7474 Towne Center Pkwy., Ste. 101 • Papillion, NE 68046 (402) 934-7100 • nebraskabrewingco.com • Established: 2007

  SCENE & STORY

  Should you find yourself driving from the Midwest to Colorado across the vast expanse that is the Cornhusker state, it’s just a short detour off of I-80 to the French-influenced prairie town outpost of Papillion (population: 24,000) outside of Omaha. Thanks to low unemployment, crime, and traffic, it has been considered one of the best places to live in the United States by Money magazine. In 2007, life improved with the arrival of an adventurous brewery in a nondescript shopping center just down the sidewalk from T.J. Maxx and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

  Inside, there’s a beauty of a 10bbl brew- house made in Japan behind glass and a spacious eight-tap pub with locals at the bar who look a lot like reformed lager-swilling college football junkies. But founder Paul Kavulak and his team of brewers have done more than just get the attention of the local drinking populace. They’ve found distributors willing to take a chance on their beer in markets as demanding as Oregon, and started winning awards in competitions. Whoever said there’s no good beer in the heartland hasn’t been to Nebraska lately.

  PHILOSOPHY

  No risk, no reward. Nebraska Brewing undoubtedly raised some eyebrows in town when they started serving up beers aged in wood, like wines. But their timing was impeccable. Across the country the taste for barrel-aged beers was spreading like wildfire. The experiments continue, the fans and medals multiply, and the beers keep improving. Now they’re canning, too—fuel on the beer sales fire, as any brewer will tell you.

  KEY BEER

  Mélange à Trois Reserve Series, a 10% ABV strong Belgian pale ale aged in chardonnay barrels for six months, is full-bodied in the mouth, mingling pear and tropical fruit with vanilla, spice, and a faint, oaky woodiness.

  INDIANA

  Munster

  THREE FLOYDS BREWING CO.

  9750 Indiana Pkwy. • Munster, IN 46321 (219) 922-3565 • 3floyds.com • Established: 1996

  SCENE & STORY

  Home-brewing brothers Nick and Simon and their father, Mike Floyd, started their brewery the old-fashioned way: with a kettle fired by a wok burner and some old, open swiss-cheese tanks for fermenting the beers five barrels at a time (155 gallons). That was back in Hammond, Indiana. Four years later they were ready to move up to a larger facility, which is located behind an office park near a hospital. As far as their cultishly devoted fans are concerned, the Floyd brothers could have built that brewery three levels below the hospital in a moldy mop closet: in 2010, for the annual release party of Dark Lord, a buck-strong stout of 15% ABV topped in colored wax, 8,000 people showed up. Call it beer-geek Brigadoon.

  Inside, the brewpub and taproom is equal parts stoner man cave and chef’s pantry. Just when you expect to see corn dogs and tater tots come out of the kitchen, plates of cassoulet, duck-fat frites and whole roasted Wisconsin lake trout appear. Amid the psychedelic murals and flags, metal on the hi-fi, and projectors showing ’80s movies like The Karate Kid, there are eleven excellent taps and twenty-one bottles to sample across the entire brewable spectrum. In 2015, Three Floyds teamed up with Danish brewing phenom Mikkeller to open Warpigs, a barbecue and craft beer emporium built in the old meatpacking district of Copenhagen.

  PHILOSOPHY

  Officially, the modus operandi is, “It’s Not Normal.” Three Floyds has unleashed dozens of intense beers pushing the envelope of hops, malt, and other flavor components. If they were to brew too many beers on the lighter side, their fans would be confused, even irritated.

  KEY BEER

  Gumballhead is an American pale wheat ale, and on the low end for FFF (5.5% ABV). But its lemony gold flavors and hemp-like aroma is no less desirable for the restraint.

  Indianapolis

  THE RATHSKELLER

  401 E. Michigan St. • Indianapolis, IN 46204 (317) 636-0396 • rathskeller.com • Established: 1894

  SCENE & STORY

  Of the many things the Rathskeller is, subtle isn’t one of them. With history as rich as its oversize, dark wood décor, the Rathskeller is a like a true Bavarian castle encased in a massive nineteenth-century brick building (designed by, among others, Kurt Vonnegut’s grandfather) in downtown Indianapolis. Once you head inside and take in the gorgeous interior of polished wood archways and creamy walls, it’s time for a beer. There’s something mightily satisfying about drinking from a thirty-two-ounce German stein while sitting underneath a mounted moose head. There are twelve rotating imported drafts and fifty-some bottles of German, European, and American craft beer to choose from, along with a celebrated menu of authentic German fare, so the gemütlichkeit (“cheerful belonging”) is not far behind. In summer, don’t miss the rooftop biergarten, featuring a wide-screen view of the city, live music, and plenty of locals raising a stein or three. If you go on a weekend, chances are you’ll get to ride the endorphins of somebody celebrating a wedding or class reunion in one of the banquet rooms. And if you’re hungry, for the love of Klaus, do not leave without trying an oversize, pillowy pretzel coated in salt and served with a side of sinus-clearing hot mustard.

  PHILOSOPHY

  Auf freundes wohl! To the good health of friends! The Rathskeller is authentically German, with a side of Hoosier pride—check out the bust of the late author Vonnegut.

  KEY BEER

  Something German in a stein, naturally, like the Mönchshof Kellerbier; its creamy, caramel taste shines through the cloudy texture of this unfiltered, traditionally brewed lager (5.4% ABV).

  BEST of the REST: INDIANA

  UPLAND BREWING CO.

  350 W. 11th St. • Bloomington, IN • (812) 336-2337 • uplandbeer.com

  Bloomington is a college town for Indiana University, and this sunny, brick-sided brewpub draws youthful imbibers in with great burgers and an outdoor patio, where locals sip on cloudy gold glasses of Upland Wheat Ale, a 4.5% ABV Belgian wit (white beer), made with organic coriander, chamomile, and orange peel. Lately, the brewery has delved into more exotic Belgian and other brewing styles with strong results and opened two more locations. Indiana still doesn’t allow beer or alcohol sales on Sunday except from breweries or wineries, so during the summer, it’s common practice for locals to buy a growler of the slightly tart and quenching Wheat and head to a local lake, sit in the sun, and sip beer straight out of the bottle—Indiana summer at its best.

  SUN KING BREWING

  135 N. College Ave. • Indianapolis, IN 46202 • (317) 602-3702 • sunkingbrewing.com

  Sun King’s original Indianapolis location opened up with a twelve-tap tasting room with a fifteen barrel brewhouse in half of an unused warehouse space. Today they’ve expanded, they’re canning, they’re making a beer with the Indiana Pacers, they’re filling growlers like mad and selling a great deal of beer across the state, and they’re pulling down gold medals at almost every GABF and World Beer Cup. Pay a visit and taste some Sunlight Cream Ale at the source.

  HEOROT

  219 S. Walnut • Muncie, IN 47305 • (765) 287-0173 • theheorotpub.com

  What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? If you comprehend this Monty Python & the Holy Grail reference, you’d probably like this place, named for the mead hall of heroes in the epic poem, Beowulf. This beer bar in the home of David Letterman’s alma mater Ball State University comes complete with a dragon sculpture curling in and out of the wall, stuffed animal heads, shields, skulls, various faux-medieval bric-a-brac, and Basil Pouledouris’s soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian on the stereo. The service is spotty and the whole thing is a bit hokey, sure. But when you have fifty-four-plus inc
redible taps and over 600 bottles to choose from, including vintage ales in casks the likes of which are found almost nowhere else in the world, a sword on the wall lancing through cans of macro-brew for inspiration, and a house brewery coming online, who really cares? Order up a Dogfish Head Midas Touch (based on a 2,700-year-old Turkish recipe found in the tomb of King Midas; 9% ABV) and call your Round Table to order.

  SHALLO’S

  Country Line Shoppes • 8811 Hardegan St. • Indianapolis, IN 46227 (317) 882-7997 • shallos.com

  A cluttered, dimly lit and very old place on the south side of Indianapolis that’s connected to the Old Time Pottery store in a desolated strip mall, Shallo’s is the craft beer bar as imagined by David Lynch, with smoke-darkened, wood-paneled walls, pressed tin ceilings, deep padded booths, and a beer cooler with a neon sign reading “INSURANCE.” With 300 bottled beers and forty drafts (presented on a perpetually outdated list) including the likes of Indiana’s own Three Floyds, Mikkeller of Denmark, and San Francisco’s He’brew (“the Chosen Beer”), it’s a holy land for beer lovers if there ever was one.

  IOWA

  Des Moines

  EL BAIT SHOP

  200 SW 2nd St. • Des Moines, IA 50309 (515) 284-1970 • elbaitshop.com • Established: 2006

  SCENE & STORY

  For a bar with such a kooky mix of blue Formica, faux-wood paneling, retro video games, Maurice Sendak murals, and other late-period Greg Brady–era stylings (lacquered marlin; plastic grapes, assorted tchotchkes), El Bait Shop has an incredibly up-to-date beer list, with 180 taps and hundreds of bottles from over thirty countries. Especially strong is the draft list from the Midwest—Boulevard, Bells, and Goose Island.