By Trent Modglin 93 Octane Brewery 1825 Lincoln Highway 93OctaneBrewery.com Details: The name 93 Octane is an ode to the family’s history of running gas stations and convenience stores for more than four decades (If you’ve ever gassed up or snagged a coffee or bag of chips at a Pride Store in the western burbs, ...

Hop District Community Brewing Co. Jim Koblish Owner/head brewer Hop District Community Brewing Co. La Grange Park, IL HopDistrictBrewing.com Favorite breweries: I’ve always liked Maplewood Brewery because I can always find their beer in a lot of places, and it’s always consistent and high quality. Big fan of Skeleton Key Brewery and Bubblehouse Brewing Company ...

Illinois Craft Beer Week returns May 8-15; Beer Under Glass is back at Millennium Park May 8 Clear your calendar this spring because Illinois Craft Beer Week is back May 8-15. That means a full week filled with a quality lineup of festivals, events, beer releases and specials to engage craft beer enthusiasts throughout the state. Beer Under Glass (BUG), the cornerstone event for the ...

Mike Witkowski Head brewer Mikerphone Brewing Company Elk Grove Village, IL The last really good beer I drank was… I’m always drinking so many new beers and we’re always doing fun collaborations, so it’s hard to narrow this one down to just one or two. I live in Humboldt Park in Chicago, where Suncatcher Brewing ...

Hopleaf in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood As for cozy beer-centric bars, when we are in Chicago we almost always visit Hopleaf. The staff is super knowledgeable, and the beer selection unmatched (especially in terms of rare drafts and bottles). We love the old European beer signage, and the mussels are always ordered. They have been serving ...

Jon Miller Brewer/Owner Bubblehouse Brewing Company 2121 Ogden Ave. in Lisle Favorite breweries: We are fortunate to have an abundance of amazing breweries in the great state of Illinois. I could wax poetic about so many fine establishments (that I rarely have time to visit), but a few that we find ourselves enjoying time and time again ...

By Trent Modglin Mikerphone adding a Park Ridge location in early 2026 In case you hadn’t heard: Mikerphone is on its way home to NW suburban Park Ridge, where Mike Pallen started home brewing from his house back in 2010. He opened Mikerphone Brewing in Elk Grove Village in 2017, and in the eight years ...

The following version of our magazine’s popular Last Call section is from a special digital Oktoberfest issue we published in early September. Check it out here. The question: What’s your favorite Oktoberfest or fall beer? Every Oktoberfest beer is a good beer! The ones I make sure to grab every year are Lager Town from ...

Sketchbook Brewing Company The following are some of the event listings from our special digital Oktoberfest issue. Check it out.   Sketchbook Brewing’s Oktoberfest Sept. 19-21 Sketchbook Brewing’s annual Oktoberfest celebration will take place Friday, Sept. 19-Sunday, Sept. 21 at both the Skokie and Evanston taprooms. The free event will have live music, stein hoisting ...

Luciano Fiore GM at Beer on the Wall in Elmhurst 105 N. York Street WeHaveGreatBeer.com Favorite breweries: This is a pretty tough question to answer, as we are extremely spoiled for good suds here in Illinois. Some of the names that come to mind for me are Maplewood, Mikerphone, Half Acre, Roaring Table, Goldfinger and Art ...