Forbidden Root is the rare brewpub that built its whole identity on an idea, brewing with flowers and roots instead of just hops, and then put a real kitchen behind it.
The brewpub sits at 1746 W Chicago Ave in West Town, inside the former Hub Theater, a high-ceilinged room that gives the place more drama than most brewery taprooms get. Forbidden Root bills itself as Chicago's first brewery dedicated to botanic beers, using herbs, flowers, leaves, and spices the way early American and British brewers once did. The self-titled flagship, Forbidden Root, launched in 2014, and the brewpub opened on Chicago Avenue in 2016.
The room
The old theater bones are the draw. Tall ceilings, big windows, and a long bar make the room feel like a destination rather than a side door off a production floor. There is table service and a full menu, so this works as a sit-down dinner as easily as a stand-up pint. From a bartender's seat, the tell is that the staff can actually explain a botanic beer, which matters when half the list is built on ingredients most drinkers have never tasted in a glass.
What to order
Start with the flagship Forbidden Root, the botanic ale that defines the house. Then split the two beers that show the range: Sublime Ginger, a 3.8% dry wheat beer with key lime, ginger, honeybush, and lemon myrtle, and WPA, the 5.6% pale ale built with elderflower, marigold, and sweet osmanthus. Sublime Ginger is the one to convert a skeptic, low in alcohol and sharp enough to drink with food. Order from the kitchen too, because this is a brewpub where the comfort-food menu is meant to be part of the visit, not an afterthought.
The crowd and best time to go
The kitchen opens at 4pm on weeknights, 3pm on Friday, and noon on weekends, running to 10pm midweek and 11pm on Friday and Saturday. The crowd is West Town locals, beer travelers chasing the botanic angle, and dinner tables that came for the room. A weeknight early seating is the calm window for the food and a quiet pour. Friday and Saturday nights fill the old theater and turn it social.
What regulars say
Reviewers on Yelp, where Forbidden Root holds 649 reviews as of June 2026, point to the theater-sized room, the unusual beers, and the kitchen as the reasons to book. The brewpub also takes reservations through OpenTable, which sets it apart from the walk-in taprooms on this list and signals that dinner is half the draw.
Who it is for
Forbidden Root is for the drinker curious about beers built on botanicals, the West Town local who wants dinner and a pint in one room, and anyone who likes a brewpub that doubles as a real restaurant. Skip it if you only want classic styles and a quick pour, because the whole point here is the experiment.
The verdict
Forbidden Root wins on concept and on setting. The first is the beer, where botanic ales like Sublime Ginger and WPA give you flavors no other Chicago brewery is chasing this hard. The second is the room, where a former theater turns a brewpub into a night out with a kitchen worth ordering from. Book a weeknight table, start with the flagship, and let Sublime Ginger do the convincing. For a maltier, more traditional beer hall a short ride north, compare The Northman cider and beer house.
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: Forbidden Root official site (2026); Time Out Chicago; OpenTable; Yelp reviews.
