We are taking a long weekend to drive to Chicago and see The Cure at the United Center Saturday night. We left around 8 am Friday morning, taking Amy’s Ford Explorer rather than my Ford Mustang Mach E GT. We didn’t have the greatest experience trying to go to the Great American Beer Festival last year, and rather than try again, we opted for the easier trip. We stopped for lunch in LeClaire, Iowa. Based on a suggestion from our friend Paul, we tried Bier Stube, right on the Mississippi River. Amy had the Corned Beef Ruben and I had the Braunschweiger Ruben, and we both had spätzle for our side. The food was excellent. The bottled beer selection was great and we were both able to get ones we had never had before, but the draft system wasn’t working for some reason.
We finally arrived at our hotel, the Chicago Marriott at Medical Center at 5 pm. Once we got to Chicago, traffic was slow, but we had no issues finding our way to the hotel. After unwinding a bit, we took an Uber to Midwest Coast Brewing, a little more than a mile from us. This is a newer, dog-friendly brewery, and had a really nice space. We each had a flight of five beers (tasters), with only two in common. We liked all of them, but my favorite was the English Sporting Beer, an extra special bitter that won a medal at the 2020 Great American Beer Festival. On the menu it was listed as an English pale ale, I assume because “extra special bitter” makes it sound like something it’s not to those who don’t know the style. Amy’s favorite was Secret Farm, a hefeweizen.
From there we walked to the Goose Island Brewery/Taproom on Fulton Street, about a half mile away. On a pole right before we got to the brewery there was a sticker from one of our favorite local breweries, Kros Strain!
The taproom was beautiful, with lots of little details like walls made from barrel staves in the bathrooms and a map of Chicago running from behind the bar and across the ceiling. I had a flight of four barrel-aged beers, and Amy had a flight of non-barrel-aged beers. My favorite of the four was Peaches & Cream Wheatwine, and Amy’s was the 312 Jams Raspberry. After spending way too much on merchandise and beers to go (I picked up some 2013 and 2014 Bourbon County Barleywine and a 2019 BCBS Proprietor’s Blend, among others), we went in search of food.
Based on a recommendation from the bartender at Goose Island, we walked to District Brew Yards for some barbeque. This was a “pour your own” location where you get a card and use that to get whatever beers you want in quantity you want. We shared orders of baby back ribs and brisket, which were both excellent. We each had a couple of beers (my favorite of the two was Proximal (2020) by Around the Bend Beer Company), then took an Uber back to the hotel.
This morning we’re going to get a workout in before figuring out what we want to see and do. The concert starts at 7:30 pm, and gates open at 6:00 pm. Can’t wait!
