Beer Under Glass 2025

The official kickoff for Illinois Craft Beer Week and the unofficial kickoff for drinking outside nearly everyday for the next four months, Beer Under Glass moved to the Harris Theater rooftop at Millennium Park for 2025 – and it was a welcome improvement over the Union Station location. We may still have a soft spot for the Garfield Park Conservatory days, but at least this year, bathrooms were readily available – as long as you were ready to walk for it. Though breweries were not organized in any sort of way that I could figure out, the area was both contained enough to locate everything quickly and spread out enough to avoid feeling overly crowded the whole time. Though on a lovely spring night like were gifted, the majestic sights of the greatest city in the world (biased) made for one of the best festival experiences in years. Below is a combined list of Craig and Ryan’s drinking highlights.

Sundial Brewing and Blending (Barrington) – Table Blackberry

Everyone recommended this at the fest. Light, tart, refreshing, and very fruity – pure blackberry jam upfront, both sweet and sour, before finishing completely dry and with a little tart smack. Just what was needed on a spring night. – Craig & Ryan

Adams Street Brewery (Chicago) – Der Reisende

My beer of the fest is the Adam’s Street Der Reisende, their recent World Beer Cup silver medal-winning Export Stout that is full-bodied up front, rich and roasty all the way through, and lightly bitter with an easier finish than its 7% would suggest. – Ryan

Werk Force Brewing (Plainfield) – BA Mexican Hot Chocolate Sleepy Bear

This 2024 barrel-aged variant is big on chocolate and a lovely amount of spice and barrel character to complement it. My beer of the fest and one I’ll be seeking out for personal consumption. – Craig

Wolfden Brewing Company (Bloomingdale) – Game Trail

The trail mix-inspired porter, Game Trail, from Wolfden is flavorful enough to give you that aftertaste from a handful of salty nuts and chocolate, but it’s subtle enough to drink like a sessionable dark beer. – Ryan

Crust Brewing (Rosemont) – Orange is the New Radler

Thanks to Karl Klockers for the recommendation on this one. Tasted exactly like orange crush. Light, refreshing, orange-y. – Craig

Revolution Brewing (Chicago) – Cherry V.S.O.J.

The fact that Rev brought Cherry VSOJ, probably my favorite VSOJ variant (unpopular opinion, I know), made my night significantly better and worse at the same time. Holy gods, this thing still smacks of oaky caramel and cherry ganache, and it goes down too easy for the good of my sobriety. – Ryan

Hop Butcher for the World (Chicago) – Tropical Hop Water For the World & Floe

I took it to the next level using Tropical Hop Water as my rinse water. Lovely tropical flavors that kept me going back for more, regardless of rinse necessity. – Craig

The latest modern West Coast-style IPA from Hop Butcher, Floe, slams the never-miss combo of Citra and Mosaic with the newer Nectaron and Krush hops, creating a tropical berry bouquet of dank that would make a dispensary blush. – Ryan

Brother Chimp Brewing (North Aurora) – Ludwig Vienna Lager

Right after downing a ceremonial pour of Rascal King from Flipside, I grabbed the Ludwig Vienna Lager from Brother Chimp, and it’s a true-to-style crusher that gives you some honey wheat bread malt along with a light bite from noble-esque hops. Fantastic stuff. – Ryan

Industry Ales (Chicago) – Anniversary Ale

This was the surprise of the fest for me. A Biere de Garde that was malty sweet with some lovely dark fruit notes and bready character. Easy drinking for 8%. – Craig

Mikerphone Brewing (Elk Grove Village) – Pale Pauper 2025 and PB&Jam Juice (Grape)

I didn’t believe it was back, but it was. Their long-absent Saint Errant collaboration pale ale is just as bitter and malty as you remember it when it was can-bottom-waxed. – Craig

I really thought I’d take one sip of the peanut butter and jelly hard seltzer from Mikerphone and say, “That was fun, but not for me” and toss it towards a dump bucket. But man – it’s not only an amazing approximation of the flavors of a classic PB&J, but it drinks way easier than I expected – and I considered another pour before my senses kicked back in. – Ryan