Local breweries and distilleries are all the rage these days. Lucky for our neighborhood we have quite a few in our backyard. With the rise of craft beer, eccentric cocktails, and spirits of all assortments, some of Chicago’s best alcohol is coming from our very own community.

While Hamburger Mary’s is actually one of many located around the world, the one located in Andersonville is the coolest. They began brewing beer about 5 years ago, which makes them one of the oldest mini-breweries in Chicago. They are indulging the community with a mini make-over and will be changing around what is the current recreation room, and rebranding it as the Andersonville Brewing Company. They are currently in the process of this new design and will be getting newer and more efficient brewing equipment to increase their beer selection. There will be just a few tweaks to the current menu with the addition of focusing more on beer infused foods. They will have a new BBQ sauce made from gangster brew and bourbon, a new beer cheese mac & cheese, as well as a homemade beer mustard. Have no fear, it will not be closing during these renovations as they have been slowly and steadily changing things around behind the scenes. The rec room will look slightly different with a few design renovations from restored furniture to go with the rebranding. They will be doubling the current capacity of brew flow by adding 8 more taps, which will include more beer from local Chicago breweries. They hope to be finished with these renovations by March and look forward to hosting a launch party at that time.

The Koval Distillery is tucked away at 5121 N Ravenswood and makes some of the finest, and cleanest whiskey I have ever tried. The owners of the distillery are married couple Sonat and Robert Birnecker. Both previous academics who have taken a creative and academic approach to distilling fine spirits of many kinds, and consulting with businesses and distilleries around the world, on top of running their own. The technology and craftsmanship that went into the 5,000-liter, two-story-tall custom copper stills is impressive to say the least. Going with the grain-to-bottle theory, the creators of Koval have partnered with local farmers around the midwest to grow the grain, then bring it on-site for ‘milling and mashing’, then onto distilling, bottling, and finally packaging. They have put major focus and emphasis on creating an experience with the spirits they produce. Everything is hand-crafted, and no detail is overlooked. The name Koval means “blacksmith,” in several Eastern European languages and in Yiddish it refers to a “black sheep” or the unique and abnormal member of a group or family. Sonat’s grandfather was given the nickname Koval, at the young age of 17, when he picked up and left Vienna to emigrate to Chicago to start a business. Koval has whiskey workshops, cocktail classes, and guided tours and they can all be found on their website. Koval is an active member of the community and has donated to over 100 charities in the last year.

Located in the very same building is Metropolitan Brewing. They are a production based brewery, proudly focusing on German-style lagers. Because their beer is in high demand, and their are craftsman of their art, they are constantly brewing, packaging and dealing with the daily logistics of running a brewery. There currently aren’t any tours open to the public and they don’t sell directly from the brewery, but that adds to their cool points. They are currently in search of a larger space to do their brewing but until then, we get to host them in our hood.

With so many different options for local spirits and brews, every party should be able to have cocktails made from our very own backyard!