Dovetail Brewery is the Malt Row taproom for people who think a perfect Helles is harder to pull off than any hazy IPA, and they are right.
Dovetail sits at 1800 W Belle Plaine Ave, a block from its Ravenswood neighbors on Malt Row. Co-founders Hagen Dost and Bill Wesselink met in Munich while training at the Doemens Academy, and they opened Dovetail in 2016 with three beers: a lager, a Hefeweizen, and a smoked Rauchbier. The brewery built its reputation on old-world method, and Craft Beer & Brewing magazine has profiled its use of coolships, open fermentors, turbid mashes, and decoction, the slow techniques most American breweries skip.
The room
The taproom is plain in the right way: a clean, calm space attached to a working brewhouse, with the coolship and tanks doing the talking. There is no television wall and no DJ, which fits a beer list that rewards attention. As a former bartender I judge a taproom on whether the pour is treated as the main event, and here it is, served in proper glassware at the right temperature instead of a slushy too-cold pour that hides the beer.
What to order
Order the Helles first. It is Dovetail's calling card, an easy-drinking pale lager with a grain aroma and a soft floral note from Saphir hops, and the brewery makes it with a single decoction mash, a coolship rest, and open fermentation. The Hefeweizen is the other must, a banana-and-clove wheat beer that has anchored the lineup since opening day. If the Rauchbier is on, take a half-pour for the campfire-smoke style few American breweries brew well, then go back to the Helles to clear your palate.
The crowd and best time to go
Hours run from noon Monday through Saturday, to 10pm on weeknights and 11pm on Friday and Saturday, with a short Sunday session from 1pm to 7pm. The crowd is lager purists, Malt Row crawlers, and Ravenswood locals who want a quiet pint. A weekday early evening is the calm window. Friday night fills the room without turning it into a club, which is exactly the register Dovetail wants.
What regulars say
Reviewers on Yelp, where Dovetail carries 181 reviews as of early 2026, single out the lagers, the Hefeweizen, and the quiet, beer-first atmosphere. Choose Chicago lists it among the Ravenswood breweries worth the trip, and the recurring line is that this is a place for people who came to taste, not to shout over a sound system.
Who it is for
Dovetail is for the lager devotee, the homebrewer who wants to taste a real decoction mash, and the drinker who wants a calm pint and a clean glass. Skip it if you came for screens, cocktails, or a loud night, because this taproom is built around the beer and nothing else.
The verdict
Dovetail wins on craft and on calm. The first is the brewing, where coolships and decoction produce a Helles and a Hefeweizen that hold up against anything imported. The second is the room, where a beer-first taproom lets those styles land without distraction. Come on a weekday evening, order the Helles, and add the Rauchbier if you want to see how far the old methods reach. For a neighboring Malt Row taproom with a more casual, community bent, compare Begyle Brewing around the corner.
For the rest of the city's tap lists, see our guide to the best craft beer in Chicago and the wider craft beer bars by occasion. The full local scene is mapped in the Chicago bar guide.
Sources: Dovetail Brewery official site (2026); Craft Beer & Brewing magazine; Choose Chicago; Yelp reviews.
