I 2nd short fuse. Its great and easy to get to.

It's a bit of a hike at 9 miles away but it's a nice spot with some great beers:

Behind the Mic ? Mikerphone Brewing

There's a new "Brew District" just west of Fulton Market that's had quite a few new breweries pop up in the past couple of years, including All Rise, Around the Bend, Burnt City, Finch Beer Company, Great Central, On Tour, and a Goose Island tap room. Given the industrial nature of the area, it's also easy for them to block the street off and host festivals with many of the breweries participating.

From ORD, take the Blue Line to Division and take the Ashland bus south to Fulton. If you want food, best to get it by the L as food options west of Ashland are lacking.

I'll put a plug in for Old Irving Brewing off of the Montrose blue line as well as the aforementioned Forbidden Root.

I'll add my plug for Eris Brewery & Cider House (https://www.erischicago.com/) on Irving just west of the blue line. Good beers, great ciders. Great food too.

I love that this thread is still alive :D

..and thanks for all the suggestions, particularly ERIS and Old Irving, which I'm not sure how I didn't know about--they're close enough to ORD to be possible even on a shorter layover. (I was actually at ORD 3 weeks ago, but an op-up on the inbound meant that I spent my layover/weather-related stranding drinking free beer in the Polaris lounge before giving up and getting a hotel)

I'm not sure when it'll be, but the "brew district" is going to be my next layover destination.

I hope I've inspired some other people to enjoy long layovers too.

Allow me to partially hijack my own thread: any Chicago breweries make good kombucha? Next Chicago trip I may have company; Mrs. Säufer, somewhat ironically, doesn't drink.

For those stuck with long MDW connections, Alulu is one of my favorite breweries in the city. You will need to take the Orange line and a quick hop on the Ashland bus. Moody Tongue's new brewpub by McCormick place is opening soon as well, and they are in my estimation the best brewery within city limits.

OK, this thread is 5 years old but there don't seem to be any other Chicago beer-related threads so I'm going to bump it :)

It looks like Chicago's breweries had a much higher pandemic survival rate than a lot of other places--almost every brewery mentioned in this thread is still around!

I'm headed back to Chicago in a few weeks: any new breweries that I can't miss? This time I'm actually staying a while.

My usual favorites are Half Acre and Revolution. I think Revolution just closed one of its taprooms.

You could also go to Hopleaf, which is one of the OG craft beer bars in Chicago. They have about 70 beers on tap and about 200 bottles. A lot of Belgian options if that's your thing. Good (albeit heavy) food too.

Hopleaf is fantastic for Belgian styles. I also recommend The Beer Temple and Map Room.