CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Situated in the increasingly popular Logan Square area (known as Hipster Highway) on Milwaukee Avenue just a few blocks away from Piece Brewery, ultimately rewarding gold-bricked beer haven, REVOLUTION BREWING COMPANY, practically created the whole 21st century Chi-town craft beer renaissance. An amazing modern Mecca for brews and food, Revolution opened in 2010 to rave reviews, expanding into production brewing at a nearby Kedzie Avenue location thereafter.

A nifty German beer hall-styled central island bar serves 40-plus patrons plus the left-side dining tables and right side balcony. Beautiful pine furnishings, hanging globe lights and silver ceiling tiles provide exquisite elegance. A rear open kitchen, full service second story bar, exposed ducts and windowed brew tanks fill out this ultimate north-side restaurant and brewpub.

Filled to the brim on a sunny Sunday afternoon in mid-July ’14, I grab the only seat left at the bustling bar to sample 13 well-rounded selections. Besides the excellent hand-crafted fare emanating from the colorful fist-clenched tap handles are 100-plus bottled choices – many of which were rare finds or one-offs.

The lightest fare was quaffed first. Soft-toned Bottom Up Wit unleashed orange-dried lemon zest upon floral-perfumed hops and white-peppered coriander spicing, leaving banana-breaded vanilla sweetness to contrast puckering limestone acridity and delicate mandarin orange tartness by the crystalline watered finish.

Traditional German pilsner, Mother Of Exiles, retained a light-bodied citric-soured spicing as grassy hops, musky grains and flaked corn reached its doughy bottom. Tame lagered moderation, Use The Schwarz, brought mild dark-roasted mocha malting to the fore, as dry cocoa bean, Baker’s chocolate and burnt toast reminders usurped its earthen hop bittering.

One of Revolution’s most interesting elixirs, Rosa, a tart summer ale, brought red grape, red cherry, lemon and lime souring to raw-honeyed coriander salting, rose-watered lavender florality and a latent white wine spritz that contrasted sweet vanilla-spiced banana licks.  

A worthy collaboration with Wicker Park cocktail joint, Big Star, Fist City Extra Pale Ale, fortified its light hop-roasted grain malting with frisky orange-peeled pineapple bittering.

Ultra-dry Iron Fist Pale Ale placed wood-dried Chinook hop bittering beside lemony orange-rotted souring and dewy earthiness (picking up a diacetyl hint if  warmed). A better alternative was approachable Double Fist Imperial Pale Ale, where tangy orange, grapefruit, pineapple, tangerine and papaya tropicalia overloaded crystal caramel malting.

Sessionable flagship beer, Anti-Hero IPA (also available in can), layered orange-candied grapefruit and pineapple tartness and lemon-peeled herbal notions atop oily pine hop resin. Its friendly stylistic competitor, citra-hopped medium body, Citra Hero IPA, gathered orange-peeled apple-peach-pear fruiting for its spicy crystal malt sugaring, leaving cantaloupe-melon-nectarine traces in its wake.

Peppery Belgian yeast inundated lemon-spiced Coup D’Etat, a dry mineral-grained saison with leafy-hopped sour grape esters and mild herbal nuances contrasting pleasant sugared spices.

French-styled Biere De Garde, Bastille, retained a stingy dry hop persistence alleviated by earthen green grape esters, sour-pressed Granny Smith apple tartness, sharp oak-chipped cherry acidity and latent apricot-fig snips.

Musty robust porter, Eugene, contrasted its cocoa-powdered coffee, molasses and chocolate stead with dried cherry, grape and date fruiting.

Best bet: Spectral Imperial Wheat Ale, Filibuster, a luxuriously smooth 11.5% ABV remedy aged in Old Forester and Woodford Reserve barrels, splashed bourbon hints upon rum-sugared vanilla creaming, almondine-candied butterscotch sweetness and bruised orange-cherry-nectarine chewiness.

www.revbrew.com

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Along Chicago’s youthful northwest Lincoln Park section, brown-wood-paneled gastropub, ATLAS BREWING COMPANY, opened in June 2012 (then closed in 2018). Brotherly brewers’ John and Ben Saller took the Atlas moniker from a pre-prohibition brewery specializing in diverse ales.

Competing with established local competitors such as Revolution and Piece, this laid-back modern Industrial lounge features one large community table, several booths, overhead Edison bulb lighting and black tin tiling. Glass-encased stainless steel brew tanks at the rear hold the soft-toned liquid gold soon to be consumed. And at the 15-stool right side bar, glass mosaic-tiled tap handles serve the nine hand-crafted brews to be had on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, July ’14.

Since the eight-tabled front deck is completely full, my small coterie decides to sit inside at a booth to quaff a few five-ounce samplers. Alongside the lightest fare, I munched on the outstanding cheese-sauced mussels and duck confit. Though diacetyl buttering disrupted corn-malted perfume-hopped Prager Pilsner, moderate flagship offering, Diversey Pale Ale brought decisive IPA-like fruiting (yellow grapefruit, orange rind, pineapple and mango) plus floral-perfumed hop bittering to bark-dried wood tones.

Belgian saison yeast spiced up yellow-fruited Farmhouse Wheat Ale, a light-bodied nicety gathering lemony Bartlett pear, banana, plantain, grapefruit and pineapple briskness for its sweet lychee-spiked wheat base. In a similar vein, mild tropical-fruited Two-Headed Boy Belgian Pale Wheat covered its sugary bubblegum yeast with dry-hopped grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering.

A limited edition collaboration with nearby Une Annee Brewery, Raspberry Brown Saison, brought sweet ‘n sour raspberry tartness to zesty lemon, oaken cherry and vinous grape notions, finishing dry (with a nutty quirk).

More adventurous fare included Americanized Belgian pale ale, Archaeopteryx Dreamcoat, a ‘juicy citra-hopped’ moderation with yellow and pink grapefruit tartness, lemon rot souring, green apple pucker and advertised orange-blossomed blueberry subtleties. Just as pleasurably hybridized, floral-bound Rookery Rye IPA used grapefruit and gooseberry flavors to advance its rye-dried multi-grain breaded appeal.

On the dark side, chocolate-sugared Invincible Armor Robust Porter possessed a smooth dark-roasted mocha malting and dried cherry tang while lightly creamed Freight Handler Milk Stout plied smoked black chocolate to lactic cocoa-dried Baker’s chocolate and cacao nibs snips.

www.atlasbeercompany.com