Centerstage - Chicago's Original City Guide

Articles Sections >> Arts + Words Bars + Clubs Dating Festivals Fitness Food Lifestyle Music Theater Travel + Tourism Who's Who > View All Bar Tab Tales Nightlife Guides

Goose Island offers a refreshing summer brew, and decent bar food to boot.

Tuesday Aug 12, 2008.     By Dana Kavan

Bars + Clubs Feed

Drink of the week: Goose Island Summertime Kolsch Bier

Where you can find it: Order it off the tap at both Goose Island Brewery locations (Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville), or you can find it in bottles at pretty much any store that has a decent beer selection.

The damage: $5 for a pint or $6.99 for a six-pack of bottles at Binny's.

Why here? When I first moved to Chicago, my roommate and I would frequently stop in to the Goose Island on Clybourn for dinner, not because we craved its brews or burgers, but because we wanted somewhere to park. In a city where restaurant parking lots are virtually unheard of—especially ones not manned by a valet service—our just-out-of-college, not-quite-mastered-the-CTA selves defaulted to the Goose because it was an easy choice. And, thankfully, it also churned out amazing beer and quality grub. Five years later, I no longer own a car and consider my CTA Chicago Card Plus to be more valuable than my debit card. Which is why I couldn't help but chuckle when I asked my parents, in town visiting from Omaha last weekend, where they wanted to eat dinner, and my dad replied, "Well, we definitely need somewhere with a parking lot." OK, then, Goose Island it is.

How it went down: Things haven't changed a whole lot over on Clybourn in the past few years. For one thing, the parking lot is still there, with spots that accommodate a compact car's width, and no more. Once inside, we were shuffled over to the enclosed patio, which is my least favorite location in the restaurant because it's overly air-conditioned and doesn't have the decor touches—brick walls, vintage beer posters, flat screens showing the Cubs game—that the main area does. Regardless, we were starving and thirsty, so we shut out our surroundings and dug into the menu.

With 15 beers to choose from on tap, I had a hard time deciding among the always refreshing 312, the Kolsch, a Blueberry Ale and the Hefeweizen. All four sounded perfect for drinking on a toasty summer night, but my waiter mentioned that Kolsch was his favorite, so I went for it. It wasn't until after I got home and Googled the beer that I realized I had drank it from a bottle on a few previous occasions, but it definitely tasted better straight from the source. The pint glass was perfectly chilled, with a nice, icy exterior, for the light-bodied, well-balanced, slightly bitter beer. It had subtle notes of lemon and orange and a more intense carbonation than I expected. The straw-colored brew, in keeping with the beer style of Cologne, Germany, tasted refreshing and went down smooth. Though it was highly drinkable, I opted for the Hefeweizen for round two.

Would I want to become a regular? The food menu at Goose leans heavily on burgers, suiting us Nebraska natives just fine. I opted for the Stilton Burger, since it came topped with one of my favorite cheeses, the delectably sharp, moldy variety that gives the sandwich its name. The Stilton only spread across a third of the patty, and I thought the pepper-encrusted exterior was a bit much, but it had a nice flavor overall, with the roasted garlic and German mustard adding a bite that paired well with the fruity beer.

Back in April, it was widely reported that this location of the brewery would close by the end of the year, but according to the staff, it's still under lease negotiations so nothing's official. I'm certainly rooting for it to stay open. Even though its handy parking lot doesn't do me much good these days, I'll happily hop on the North Avenue bus to land a few cold pints and decent bar food.

Dana Kavan scours the city for drink deals so good you'll offer to buy a round and creative libations that outshine your average on-the-rocks concoctions. Want to give Dana tips on where to rack up a bar tab? Share your finds before her next night out.