Revolution Brewing Company

I was recently in Chicago for a friend's wedding and while in town I was given the royal beer tour by my friends Nick, Nik and Julie. I flew in on a Thursday afternoon and went directly to Revolution Brewing to meet up with them. Revolution is a fairly new brewpub in a area that's a little bit off the beaten path. Very friendly atmosphere and the decor of the place was pretty hip (wood-worked bar and growler chandelier). For what seems like years, my friends and I had been watching the construction of this place online, so it was exciting to finally bear witness.

The pretzel with cheese dip was G.d. amazing. The bacon fat popcorn was insane and tasty (though some in my group were not impressed). The pizza went too fast to judge, but it was pizza, always excellent when called upon.

In terms of their beer, I tried the Iron Fist Pale Ale, the Paddy Wagon Stout, the Village Green English Bitter, Samadhi (their double IPA) and the Willie (Wee Heavy, oak aged). Each beer I tried was excellent. One thing to keep in mind is that they will bring samples around of their beers (I would recommend that). If I had to pick one favorite, it would be the Iron Fist Pale Ale. It's dry hopped beer that was as refreshing and complex as any pale ale I've had.

I was impressed by their beer menu, it had a great representation of styles, from English Bitter, IPA's, a Wit, and a Bock. Who ever is brewing seems to know their ales, and really knows how to assemble a beer menu. On top of the outstanding house brews, they also had a pretty extensive bottle list.

Upon computing my final analysis, I have to say there are very few drawbacks to this place. I did hear they don't use their TVs too often, but that's an easy work around.

On a side note - I did see a near knife fight as I got off the Blue Line at California. As I exited the train station, I had to scoot past a teenager with a knife while he was busy keeping 6 or 7 shirtless other teenage boys at bay. But don't let that deter you from making the trip. It is seriously one of the top brewpubs I've been to and the Iron Fist Pale is worth braving an occasional knife fight any day.

Bacon Fat Popcorn: