Editorial
Chicago's bar scene is not trying to be New York and has not been for at least a decade. The bar guide to Chicago is the guide to a city that developed its own cocktail tradition, its own sports bar culture, and its own version of the neighbourhood tavern independently of anywhere else, and is better for it. The craft cocktail movement here started in the early 2000s, predates the equivalent movement in most US cities, and produced bars that are still among the best in the country.
The geography matters. The Loop and River North are where the destination bars concentrate. Logan Square and Wicker Park have the neighbourhood cocktail scene. Wrigleyville and the North Side have the sports bars. Pilsen has the local Mexican bars that the rest of the city should be paying more attention to. This guide covers all four zones.
Chicago's cocktail bars have a specific character: more serious than New York's in terms of the drinks, less performative than LA's in terms of the atmosphere. The best bars here are working environments where the bartenders are focused and the cocktails are the point. We recommend 4 that represent the range.
Chicago has 3 baseball teams and one of the country's most intense sports bar cultures. The bars around Wrigley Field on the North Side have been serving fans since 1914. The culture around the United Center on the West Side is entirely different. Both are worth understanding as part of what Chicago's bar scene actually is.
Chicago's craft beer scene has produced 80-odd breweries operating within the city limits, a number that is genuinely remarkable for a city of its size. The bars that serve this beer well are spread across every neighbourhood and represent one of the better arguments for moving away from the River North tourist zone.
Chicago does not need the comparison to New York, though it often gets it. The Violet Hour was doing serious cocktails before most of Manhattan figured out what that meant. Delilah's whiskey list embarrasses bars that charge three times the price. The sports bar culture around Wrigley Field is one of the genuine American bar traditions still operating in its original form.
The Chicago craft beer guide covers the city's 30 best dedicated beer bars in detail. For the sports bar culture specifically, the Chicago sports bars guide organises the best venues by team and neighbourhood. The complete Chicago bar guide covers all 8 occasions and 80+ listings.
James has been covering the American bar scene since 2009, with a permanent base in New York and regular dispatches from Chicago, New Orleans, and Boston. He was present at The Violet Hour on its opening night and considers it one of the ten most important bar openings of the century.