I love trains. I love beer. I don't love driving when I'm having beer. So how to reconcile all of those things, I wonder?
My solution: identify breweries in and around Chicago close to rail lines and visit them. Starting in February 2020, I identified 98 locations ranging from one as close as 400 m from a downtown Chicago train station to four that require a 100-minute train ride to a neighboring state.
Even better, the densest stop on any train line turned out to be the one closest to my house: there are were seven breweries and one distillery within 1.7 km of the Metra UP-N Ravenswood station; as of July 2023, we have six breweries, one distillery, one winery, and one brewery opening soon.
In July 2023, I officially codified a few things:
- Chicago-area breweries must be reachable by a single rail journey of 120 minutes or shorter from one of the downtown rail terminals (Ogilvie Transportation Center, Union Station, LaSalle Street Station, Millennium Station, or the Loop structure), and must be reachable by foot within 2 kilometers of the destination train station. Note that Milwaukee qualifies in this category, as it's only 89 minutes from Chicago Union Station by Amtrak.
- Destinations outside Chicago must be reachable from the city center by a single rail journey of no more than an hour, and must be within 1 kilometer of the station.
- The facility must brew, ferment, or distill at least some of their products on site.
- The facility must have a dedicated tasting room or restaurant—not just a bottle shop.
This brings a few more breweries into the Chicago orbit, west to Princeton, Ill., east to Elkhart, Ind., and south to Rensselaer, Ind. and Kankakee, Ill.
Metra, the regional heavy-rail carrier, offers a $10 unlimited-ride weekend pass good from midnight Saturday to midnight Monday, making lazy Saturday brewery hopping that much more accessible. The CTA charges $2.75 between any two destinations, with re-entry into the system just 50c within two hours of starting your journey.
Another note: I'm not going crazy at these places. Typically I get a 3- or 4-beer flight, which means 450 to 600 mL, about one European pint. That, plus travel between stations and waiting for trains, works out to about 35 mL of alcohol per hour. Enjoyable, but not overboard.
If you want to visit any of these breweries and distilleries—and I encourage you to do so—check their website to make sure they're open before hauling out on an hour-long train ride. And check the train timetables carefully! The Heritage Corridor, South West Service, and North-Central Service have terrible schedules, with only a few trains Monday through Friday during rush hour. You could easily find yourself stuck in New Lenox with no way back to the city if you don't pay attention to the time.
The Map
The list
You can see the list of breweries I plan to visit on Google Drive.
Visited so far
The following lists are organized by distance from Chicago, and then alphabetically at each station. (I've delayed-published some of the posts linked below with a new post about every other day. If a link appears dead, try back later.)
Downtown
You can get to these breweries and distilleries via multiple train lines:
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF)
Heritage Corridor (HC)
Metra Electric (ME)
Milwaukee District North (MD-N)
North Central Service (NCS)
Rock Island District (RI)
Southwest Service (SWS)
Union Pacific North (UP-N)
- Piece Brewery, Chicago–Clybourn (also UP-NW and CTA Blue–Damen)
- Begyle Brewing, Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown–Irving Park) Top 10!
- Cultivate by Forbidden Root, Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown–Montrose)
- Demo Brewing, Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown–Irving Park)
- Dovetail Brewing, Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown–Irving Park)
- Empirical Brewing (closed), Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown–Damen)
- Half Acre Balmoral Brewery, Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown-Damen)
- Is/Was Brewing, Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown-Damen)
- Koval, Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown–Irving Park)
- Spiteful Brewing, Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown-Damen) Top 10!
- Urban Brew Labs (closed), Chicago–Ravenswood (also CTA Brown–Damen)
- Sketchbook Brewing, Evanston–Main (also CTA Purple–Main) Top 10! – revisited
- FEW Spirits, Evanston–Main (also CTA Purple–Main)
- Smylie Bros. Brewing (closed), Evanston–Davis (also CTA Purple–Davis)
- Double Clutch Brewing, Evanston–Central (also CTA Purple–Foster)
- Steep Ravine Brewing (previously named Ravinia Brewing), Highland Park–Ravinia
- 28 Mile Vodka, Highwood
- Broken Tee Brewing, Highwood
- Kings & Convicts Brewing (closed), Highwood
- Lake Bluff Brewing, Lake Bluff Top 10!
- Nightshade & Dark's Pandemonium Brewing, Waukegan
- Oppidan Spirits (closed), Waukegan
- Harbor Brewing, Winthrop Harbor
- Rustic Road Brewing, Kenosha
- Public Craft Brewing, Kenosha
Union Pacific Northwest (UP-NW)
Union Pacific West (UP-W)
- Oak Park Brewing (closed), Oak Park (also CTA Green Line–Oak Park)
- Exit Strategy Brewing (closed), Forest Park (also CTA Blue Line–Forest Park)
- Elmhurst Brewing, Elmhurst
- Lunar Brewing, Villa Park
- More Brewing, Villa Park
- Afterthought Brewing, Lombard
- Two Hound Red, Glen Ellyn
- Dry City Brew Works (closed), Wheaton
- Art History Brewing, Geneva
- Penrose Brewing, Geneva
- Stockholm's, Geneva
- Obscurity Brewing, Elburn
CTA Blue Line
- Forbidden Root, Chicago
- Piece Brewery, Damen (also UP-N and UP-NW Clybourn)
- Bungalow by Middle Brow, California
- Chicago Distilling Co., California
- Pilot Project Brewing, California
- Revolution Brewpub (closed), California
- Solemn Oath Brewery, California Top 10!
- BiXi Beer, Logan Square
- Hopewell Brewing, Logan Square
- Maplewood Brewing, Logan Square
- Ravinia Brewing Chicago taproom (closed), Logan Square
- Revolution Brewery & Taproom, Belmont
- Eris Brewery & Cider House, Irving Park (also UP-NW–Irving Park)
- Exit Strategy Brewing (closed), Forest Park (also UP-W–River Forest)
- Crust Brewing, Rosemont
CTA Brown Line
- Goose Island Beer Co. (moved), Armitage (also Red Line–Clybourn)
- Corridor Brewery & Provisions, Southport
- Begyle Brewing, Irving Park (also UP-N Ravenswood)
- Demo Brewing, Irving Park (also UP-N Ravenswood)
- Dovetail Brewing, Irving Park (also UP-N Ravenswood)
- Koval, Irving Park (also UP-N Ravenswood)
- Cultivate by Forbidden Root, Montrose (also UP-N Ravenswood)
- Hop Butcher for the World, Montrose
- Is/Was Brewing, Damen (also UPN Ravenswood)
- Urban Brew Labs (closed), Damen (also UP-N Ravenswood)
- Empirical Brewing (closed), Damen (also UP-N Ravenswood)
- Spiteful Brewing, Damen (also UP-N Ravenswood) Top 10!
- Half Acre Balmoral Brewery, Damen (also UP-N Ravenswood)
- Burning Bush Brewery, Rockwell Top 10!
- Twisted Hippo, Francisco (destroyed by fire 21 February 2022)
CTA Green Line
- CH Distillery, Clinton (also CTA Pink–Clinton, Union Station, and OTC)
- Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Clinton (also CTA Pink–Clinton, Union Station, and OTC)
- All Rise Brewing, Ashland (also CTA Pink–Ashland)
- District Brew Yard, Ashland (also CTA Pink–Ashland)
- Goose Island Beer Co., Fulton taproom, Ashland (also CTA Pink–Ashland)
- Great Central Brewing, Ashland (also CTA Pink–Ashland)
- Midwest Coast Brewing, Ashland (also MD-W and MD-N Western Ave)
- On Tour Brewing, Ashland (also CTA Pink–Ashland) Top 10!
- Rhine Hall Distillery, Ashland (also MD-W and MD-N Western Ave)
- Moody Tongue Brewing, Cermak–McCormick Place (also CTA Red–Cermak/Chinatown)
- One Lake Brewing, Austin
- Oak Park Brewing (closed), Oak Park (also UP-W Oak Park)
CTA Purple Line
CTA Red Line
CTA Yellow Line
South Shore Line
Amtrak
(Alpha by city then brewery.)
Outside the Chicago area
(Alpha by city then brewery.)
- Two Tribes Brewing, London
- Greenwood Brewing, Phoenix
- Pedal Haus Brewery, Phoenix
- Black Hammer Brewing, San Francisco
- Olfactory Brewery, San Francisco
- Southern Pacific Brewing, San Francisco
- Fox Tale Fermentation Project, San Jose, Calif.
- Big Time Brewery & Ale House, Seattle
- Old Stove Brewing, Seattle
- Off the Rails Brewing, Sunnyvale, Calif.