By Trent Modglin
Publisher

Hop District Brewing Co.
23 E. 31st Street in La Grange Park
HopDistrictBrewing.com

The details: Hop District, which celebrated its two-year anniversary on June 14, purchased a century-old building in Brookfield last year that will — hopefully by the end of fall with continuing renovations — turn into their primary production facility that will allow them to expand, install a canning line and begin distribution to bars and restaurants throughout the western suburbs. 

While they have a dozen taps at their disposal, they sell through beer so quickly that they’ve never been able to fill their entire tap list in two years. “I guess that’s not a bad problem to have,” owner Jim Koblish tells us, “but we’re trying to grow organically and meet the demand as we grow, so the new building will help with that increase in production for sure.”

What caught our eye: The Hop District space is much larger than it looks from the busy street out front, with a decent-sized taproom, comfy lounge area at the end with leather booths, board games and large chairs, and a large walled-off patio out back that’s nicely hidden away from the surrounding traffic and neighborhood. Several square windows and a massive garage door all open to provide plenty of fresh air to the taproom when it’s nice out. 

A pair of wood-paneled walls accent the industrial interior nicely, and visitors are treated to an up-close glimpse of the brewing equipment behind the bar. A 100-inch, drop-down HD projector screen in the corner is a nice touch for major sporting events. 

My wife’s passion is community and fundraisers, so our focus for the taproom experience is treating everyone like a neighbor. With the beer, I’m an absolute perfectionist and take the beer seriously so that people who come here don’t have to.” — Owner/brewer Jim Koblish

The beer: Koblish, who worked in commercial distilling early in his career, started brewing in 2013 and cut his teeth as an assistant brewer for a brewpub in Fort Myers, Florida before starting a family and moving back to Illinois. Hop District is self-described as “an IPA and lager-focused craft brewery that never shies away from sours, big imperial stouts and plenty of seasonal brews.” 

On a visit in May, we enjoyed the Juice Illusion hazy IPA, the SoCal Squirrel West Coast IPA with dank citrus and pine flavors from classic American hops, the Würld Class Vienna lager that carries a light toast and caramel flavor and — the winner of the day — The Schwoz, which is a roasty, easy-drinking and surprisingly light black lager. Keep an eye out for the Gold As Hell hazy IPA (“the yeast and hops we use make it like pineapple juice on steroids”) and their American lager that was released over the 4th of July. They also offer a few blue-collar favorites like Old Style, Miller High Life and Hamms. 

While Hop District doesn’t serve food, patrons can order food from Mattone Restaurant next door via a QR code and have it delivered directly to their table. The customized menu is tweaked on a seasonal basis, but try the chicken parm sliders or ribeye hoagie for sure.

From the brewery: “We kind of approach all this as me and my wife, Shayne, we’re the owners. This is us. In the taproom, her passion is community and fundraisers, so our big focus for the taproom experience is treating everyone like a neighbor. With the beer, I’m an absolute perfectionist and take the beer seriously so that people who come here don’t have to. The beer is a big part of the experience, being with friends and family.”

— Owner/brewer Jim Koblish

Milk Money Brewing Co.
75 S. La Grange Road in La Grange
MilkMoneyBrewing.com

The details: The name Milk Money, which opened in 2021, is a nod to the classic DIVCO milk delivery truck from the 1950s that used to deliver milk to homes throughout the Midwest. 

With all four owners being local, the concept from the very early stages (with planning beginning prior to the pandemic) was focused quality food and beer, and all about the family component. They even made history by convincing the village of La Grange to change an ordinance so they could become the town’s first official brewery. 

“I used to take my kids to breweries in Michigan, and I knew how important they were to their communities,” says co-owner John Janowski. “We were always supposed to be family-friendly, not just a bar. All spring and summer, we’ll have strollers lined up on the patio, and that’s exactly what we all envisioned. Adding the live music now is like the icing on the cake.”

It’s been a cool thing to do something innovative in town, which led to a live music schedule in La Grange and us becoming a destination. … With our roots, we became what we are in a family-friendly town, and we are very proud of that.” — Co-owner John Janowski

What caught our eye: The charming downtown La Grange, for one, loaded with shops and restaurants like it is, as well as the historic LaGrange Theater across the street. The front of Milk Money is all windows, with a giant garage door that’s open as long as the weather allows. 

It is a sleek, modern taproom with one wall of exposed brick, one wall of white tile, bow-truss ceilings, concrete floors and a sizable sidewalk patio. A party room that’s partially secluded and has a few retro arcade games is available for rental — and quite the commodity for fantasy football drafts and birthday parties.

Milk Money offers live music Thursdays and Sundays (a three-member jazz band was playing the night we stopped), and the specials — like $10 burger Mondays, half-off chicken wings Tuesdays, half-off wine Wednesdays, buy-two-growlers-get-one-free Saturdays and $20 bottomless mimosas and beermosas on Sundays — are impressive.

Food and beer: This is a serious food menu, making it quite the lunch and dinner destination in La Grange for sure. We’d like to introduce you to the Milk Money Street Burger in all its glory, consisting of two 28-day dry-aged patties, smoked gouda, lettuce, pickles, roasted garlic aioli, bacon jam and onion rings on a pretzel bun. It was everything we had hoped for. 

Salads loaded with fresh local ingredients, a lot of which is purchased from the local farmers’ market, are big sellers, especially in the summer months. Additional fun offerings for next time: buffalo chicken sandwich, lobster sliders and a grilled skirt steak with chimichurri and cilantro lime rice. 

For beers, you can usually count on 12 on draft. Vibrant, a solid hazy IPA, is a go-to for regulars, as is the light Mexican lager called Caballo de Mayo. We enjoyed the Punch Dance hazy IPA with a piney bite to it, as well as the smooth Blarney Girl Irish red.

From the brewery: “It’s been a cool thing to do something innovative in town, which led to a live music schedule in La Grange and us becoming a destination now. Typical of a brewery, we do things out of the box a little, but it’s worked. With our roots, we became what we are in a family-friendly town, and we are very proud of that. 

— Co-owner John Janowski 

BuckleDown Brewing
8700 47th Street in Lyons
BuckledownBrewing.com

The details: Looking back, Buckledown could be considered one of the “original” Illinois breweries, as they opened their doors back in 2013. “It was honestly just a random smattering of breweries back then,” owner and head brewer Ike Orcutt says. “It was some Chicago breweries and then Solemn Oath and Two Brothers out west and maybe a couple up north, and that was it. But my old partner grew up in this area, so it made sense.”

In his previous life, Orcutt was a home brewer who worked in the West Loop, coincidentally across from where Haymarket Pub & Brewery was being built at the time. It didn’t take long for him to strike up a friendship with Haymarket founder Pete Crowley, who showed him the ropes of the industry.  

“My wife was pregnant and I had a safe, corporate job — and for some reason she kind of agreed to it,” Orcutt added with a chuckle. “It was something I really wanted to do — run an actual brewery and craft the product.”

Ike’s wife Michelle, a long-time entrepreneur, later came aboard to take over the business operations.

The way we run BuckleDown is very hands-on, and things organically happened in terms of attracting a mix of people and really soaking up a blend of the diversity from the surrounding communities.” — Owner Ike Orcutt

What caught our eye: The location, if you haven’t been, is a bit of a unique one in Lyons. The building dates back to the 1940s, and it served as an auto body shop prior to them taking over. Orcutt and his team built a lot of the bar and taproom themselves — i.e. “buckle down” —  and the result is a dark, cozy and rustic taproom with concrete floors, a bow-truss ceiling, exposed wood and metal, and stylish string light fixtures. There are a handful of arcade games and pinball machines and a nice mix of tall-top and longer communal tables for different sized groups.  

“The way we run it is very hands-on, and things organically happened in terms of attracting a mix of people and really soaking up a blend of the diversity from the surrounding communities of La Grange, Riverside and Berwyn,” Orcutt says.

Food and beer: “(Head brewer) Joe Jung and I like our beer-flavored beer,” Northcutt is quick to point out. “When it’s just throwing ingredients in there just to do it, that doesn’t really work for us. If I’m feeling like a key lime pie mojito, I’ll just get one of those.”

“You can get a lot of character and a lot of nuance out of the basics, and the classic styles. We put our spin on a lot of things, but we make sure there’s a place for it.”

What works for us is their delicious Double Down dunkel, as well as Ride the Barrel, a fast-growing, year-round West Coast IPA that provides a hint of berries, grapefruit and pine along with some of that sought-after West Coast dankness. Raspberry Party Pillow is a pale, refreshing German-style wheat beer brewed with raspberries, and Cactus Pants is a Mexican lager Orcutt developed after he fell in love with the style during a long vacation in Mexico. Not feeling beer? Don’t worry, they have a few tasty cocktails on draft as well. If you’re hungry, check out their pizza options or indulge in a warm pretzel. 

From the brewery: “We have our Oktoberfest celebration on Sept. 21 in our parking lot with tons of food, music and fun happening. … Everyone has been amazing to us since the beginning, and especially since Covid, so we’re very appreciative to that. And thanks to the guys from Goldfinger and Dovetail and other awesome local breweries, we’re very excited for a return of the pendulum to a focus on lagers and more classic styles and flavors in the craft beer movement.”

— Co-founder Ike Orcutt

Imperial Oak Brewing
9526 Ogden Ave. in Brookfield
ImperialOakBrewing.com

The details: Co-owner Grant Hamilton originally met his business partners, Brett Semenske and Chris DiBraccio, at the longstanding Brixie’s bar, where the Brixie’s Brewers homebrewing club — which still exists and has won competitions in the vast majority of the 50 states — regularly met. Hamilton had been brewing for about five years at that point and was getting complacent in his previous job, so he and Semenske would brainstorm about what it would take to grow something from a fun hobby into a profession, and soon they added DiBraccio, who had managed Brixie’s since 2002 and knew the back-end responsibilities of the bar business. 

They rather quickly found their original Willow Springs location — which Hamilton described as “such a small dot on the map” but one they couldn’t turn down with a forest across the street, nearby train station and plenty of room for a patio. Then, in 2020, they returned to their roots and bought Brixie’s, converting it to a full-fledged brewery and adding a lot of the elements that were working well for them in Willow Springs. As a business, they celebrated their 10th anniversary in June, host regular Sunday markets with Streetz Artz Alliance and have a three-day music fest called Beats and Brews with local musicians July 19-21.

One thing the brewing team isn’t afraid of is infusing some of their brews with fruits, spices, chocolates, etc. They churned out a mojito pilsner with lime and mint recently that was deemed a game changer. “I like surprising myself and surprising people,” says co-owner Grant Hamilton

What caught our eye: The building itself is close to 90 years old, and although you could easily pass it by if you’re not looking for it, they rather quickly made this a reliable destination in Brookfield. The interior has two large, distinctly different rooms — the first with a long, double L-shaped bar and TVs to catch the game, and the second one around the corner, which serves as an ideal space for semi-private parties, comedy nights, trivia and Imperial Oak’s increasingly popular live jazz on Tuesdays. An underrated feature is the patio out front with string lights and natural gas fire pits. 

The beer: “We run the gamut of all styles at all times,” Hamilton says proudly. “From week to week we have different beers being tapped, so there’s something new to find, to taste and to explore each time you visit. We believe in the classic styles and beers that we grew up brewing ourselves, but now we have a focus on how we can make those recipes better.”

One thing the brewing team isn’t afraid of is infusing some of their brews with fruits, spices, chocolates, etc. They churned out a mojito pilsner with lime and mint recently that was deemed a game changer. “We like to use fun things that aren’t traditional and use them in single kegs to test them out,” Hamilton admits. “I like surprising myself and surprising people”

On a recent visit, we enjoyed the juicy-but-not-too-sweet Crank It Hype hazy IPA, the crisp and refreshing Brookfield Lager, and the drinkable but full-flavored Buzz Lite Beer honey golden ale. Also, you’ll want to keep tabs on their Savage Oak wild and sour beer program, which is quite impressive. 

From the brewery: “We really spent a lot of time figuring out what the community was looking for and wanted to bridge that gap from Brixie’s and make it family friendly with good beers on tap and a nice community meeting place. We’re always changing a little bit here and there and finding what we can do better, but the 10-year event was a pretty big deal and it feels good how far we’ve come as a company.”

— Co-owner Grant  Hamilton