Chicago has been on my beery bucket list ever since learning about its beer scene through the voice of Michael Kiser and Good Beer Hunting. I had an opportunity to visit the Windy City in April 2023. Going was an easy choice. With so many breweries, choosing the breweries to visit was not as easy.
This is the third of three journal entries about my Chicago Beer Hunting treks in April 2023. You can read the other first journal entries by clicking the button below.
CHICAGO BEER HUNTING: TREKKING A GREAT BEER TOWN
CHICAGO BEER HUNTING: THE GOOSE AND BEYOND
Crushed By Giants
I stumbled upon Crushed By Giants simply using Untappd maps, looking to discover a brewery near the metro exit after spending the better part of the day at the natural history Field Museum. The brewery is located at the corner of Rush and Ohio streets on the second floor in the Streeterville section of town. It is a busy section of town. My impression is that this is a brewery of convenience for locals, people getting off work and tourists, being it’s a short walk from many hotels. They offer a range of beer styles and pub food.
SIDE BAR: Field Museum
If you are in Chicago and looking for something worthwhile to do, have some time, enjoy museums, natural history — the Field Museum is an excellent choice. It has easy access via metro bus and a place you could easily spend a day or three.
“The Chicago Field Museum Located on Chicago’s iconic Lake Michigan shore, the Field Museum opened its current building to the public in 1921—but our story began years earlier.
Our collection grew out of items on display in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in the “White City.” The exposition delighted visitors with 65,000 exhibits filled with natural wonders and cultural artifacts, many of which later found a permanent home in Chicago at the newly created Field Columbian Museum. Our museum name still honors Marshall Field, who donated $1 million to make the collective dream of a permanent museum a reality.
Since opening the Museum in 1894, our collection has grown to nearly 40 million artifacts and specimens. The breadth of our mission has expanded, too. We continue to research the objects in our collections, as well as document previously unknown species, conserve ecosystems in our backyard and across the globe, educate budding scientists, invite cross-cultural conversation, and more—all to ensure that our planet thrives for generations to come.”
Retrospect
Stumbling into a brewery taproom provides many first impressions. The location, the light, the energy emitted from patrons and staff, maybe food, and eventually the beer, all add up to a collective experience. It’s only after I later research the back story do I get a more fully developed picture of the establishment. It’s then that I can reevaluate my initial brief experience. Looking back, I often wish I would have ventured to the back room to see more of all that it is. I have a few more questions of the beer tender now. Dabble with the food. Take a few more photos. That is where writing about these treks brings me in retrospect. I enjoy learning about the place after having visited. I wish I could have known some of these things before dropping in. I think sometimes I have my discovery process backwards. It’s all part of learning and that must be a good thing, right?
The Backstory
Crushed By Giants was opened at perfectly the wrong time. The COVID-19 pandemic was raging and the world was uncertain about its future and so was a small Chicago brewery. They seemed to have made it.
The brewery and restaurant was established by Greg Shuff who was already familiar with Chicago beer and food establishments. Crushed was the brainchild of Greg and his team at DryHop Brewers, a brewery and restaurant in East Lakeview that opened in 2013.
Shuff owns three other brewpubs in Lakeview — DryHop Brewing, Roebuck Chicago, and Corridor Brewery and Provisions.
Crushed By Giants Brewing, Chicago IL
Impressions
I thought it interesting that the brewery was on the second floor. You have to work with what you have been given. The brewery branding is unique and interesting. Large hairy monsters — giants — are everywhere. Crushing civilization. I think it is playful and displays imagination. Even the fonts attracted my attention.
As I entered the taproom I had two thoughts. It was the end of a good day and I needed a beer and a bite.
Troll Toll Tripel - Belgian-style at 9.5% ABV
Neon Werewolf IPA - New England Hazy at 35 IBUs and 6.8% ABV.
Note: As I often do when choosing an IPA at an unfamiliar taproom, I ask the beer tender to choose one for me. My thinking is there are usually many to choose from on the menu, the beer tender knows the beers, what patrons have enjoyed most, plus they likely have a favorite.
The Food
The food menu offers a variety of expected brewpub options including Mac & Cheese, Nachos, a CBG Burger and even Poutine. I opted for the Buffalo Fried Cauliflower & Cheese Curds with Blue Cheese Dressing. Nice!
Crushed By Giants Coaster Art
I picked up a conversation with a younger man who came it and sat across the bar from me. It seemed he was familiar with this place. It turned out he had just moved to Chicago for work a few months ago. Other breweries came up in our conversation. He shared that he had enjoyed the Goose Island brewery tour. As I'd mentioned in a previous journal entry, Goose Island was not a brewery I'd planned on visiting until that moment. I booked it then and there.
Crushed By Giants Brewing Co
600 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60611
CrushedByGiants.com / Untappd
Off Color Brewing
The Off Color Brewing Mousetrap was always on my list of breweries to visit on this trip to Chicago. Like many Chicago beer establishments, I first learned about the brewery from Good Beer Hunting. A few years ago their beer began shipping to Maryland and to my local bottle shop. We do have limited availability but the Apex Predator saison is one I come back to often. It found it on the draft menu at Robert’s Pizza and Dough Co. earlier in the week and it was as good as I hoped.
On my way to Off Color I learned why they call Chicago the “Windy City” as I had to chase my hat down the street. This Sunday afternoon the Mousetrap taproom was alive with a group of 30-somethings, families with small children, couples and a few solo drinkers.
The patrons at the front of the taproom can enjoy natural light but the lighting drifts to electric variations as you move toward the back and the bar.
Foeders grace you as walk into the taproom — large and numerous, with bright red paint along the front edge. These reminded me of the label from Samuel Smith Stingo bottles. Stainless vessels are on display from the taproom to prove to visitors, beer is brewed here.
Oak foedres are showcased.
The Beer
On the beer menu were a variety of wood-aged sours, stouts, one-off variations of a few signature beers such as a hopped up Apex, and a barrel-aged Dino S’mores stout. OMG, how to decide from a luxury of choices. I had time for two.
Rum Barrel Aged Oncilla Taxi a funky, fruity, bretty, puncheon-aged saison aged in a Jamaican rum barrel.
Fox in the Snow is a Barolo Foedre-aged kriek refermented with Balaton and Montmorency cherries.
I wanted/needed to bring some of this beer back to Maryland. My indecision was solved with their sour beer 4-pack bottles. Perfect! Now, I was just imaging how to share these precious gems.
Off Color Brewing - Mousetrap
1460 N. Kingsbury
Chicago, IL
OffColorBrewing.com/taproom / Untappd
Final Thoughts
If you are reading this, then you have come along way with me and my adventure across Chicago. I hope you have enjoyed the ride… walks, sipping, and other diversions along the way.
The journey after returning home and looking through my photos, reading the reviews of these breweries and taprooms (many years afterward they were written) have taught me a new respect for all I was taking in.
I leave you where we began. With a quote, a thought, an awareness from Anne Lamont about writing. This beer journal has taken me to places I may never have otherwise gone. Writing about them has taken that journey even deeper or perhaps higher or both.
“One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you an excuse to do things, to go places and explore. Another is that writing motivates you to look closely at life, at life as it lurches by and tramps around.”
I ventured across many metro lines, buses, neighborhoods some good and some other ones. It’s interesting where the pursuit of good beer will take you. I had a few pleasant surprises. I wasn't planning on going to the Goose Island brewery until I had passing conversation from a new Chicago local. The tour, the taproom, the beer tenders and Jonnie the tour guide were all very open and willing to share. I have a renewed appreciation of Goose Island. That experience opens the quandary about who owns the brewery versus the beer they make.
Off Color was another surprise. I knew I liked their beers but have been exposed to only a few. The range of well made beer plus their foedre beer was more than expected. There definitely was beer left to be tasted there.
In all, it was the larger breweries that captured my attention and it was those beers that traveled back to Maryland with me.
But Wait, There’s More
As with any good beer town, you cannot do it all in a day or a single week. I would imagine there are dedicated beer drinkers that live in Chicago that have not been to all of the breweries within the city. Just walking to the Goose Island I passed three other breweries that weren't on my radar. And oasis that was Spiteful Brewery was reason for my respite on the way to Half Acre.
Here are some of the other beery spots I had on my list but just were not able to get to:
Rabid Brewing as heard on Bean to Barstool podcast. The art work is said to be great.
Map Room taproom - another Good Beer Hunting tease
And now that I feel comfortable traveling to and around Chicago, I’ve turned my attention to the Festival of Wood and Barrel-aged Beer in the fall. “Festival attendees will have the opportunity to sample hundreds of barrel-aged beers, ciders, meads, and perries, each hand-crafted and aged in contact with wood or wood barrels in breweries from coast to coast.”
Share your thoughts and experiences about Chicago beer scene in the Comments section below.
