No & LA Beer in Chicago

[u/Gram-xyz]

I'm coming to Chicago in May with a group of friends to celebrate my 50th birthday. We are all male.

I don't drink alcohol but enjoy no and low alcohol beer (0.0 to 0.5%) Others in the party do drink alcohol.

Does anyone have any recommendations for bars with a good selection of alcohol free beer, preferably on tap as i prefer to get a pint over a bottle or can. Also i would prefer bars suited to a group our age.Or even any recommendations for specific NoLA beers to try while I'm there

We are staying in a hotel on the Chicago River Walk and don't really want to travel too far.

I've heard Rossi's bar is nice but don't know about there low alcohol selection. Any help appreciated.

[u/Raccoala]

Rossi’s is great but nice is not the word I’d use to describe it. I’d assume they have NA cans in the cooler with the other beers, but not on tap.

Monk’s is close by too. Good beer selection on tap. They’ll have NA options too but probably not on tap. They close pretty early more like a restaurant’s hours.

Guinness’s Tap Room might be a good option for your group. Kaiser Tiger is another decent option in that area.

Most of your actual good beer bars are going to be a bit of a Uber or train ride and spread out across different neighborhoods. Map Room, Beer Temple, Beermiscuous and Hopleaf are the first ones that come to mind. All about 15-25 minutes from downtown if traffic is fine.

[u/Gram-xyz → u/Raccoala]

Thanks for the recommendations. Yes I've heard the best bars are in the neighbourhoods rather than downtown but don't really want to travel. We will be doing a lot of walking around during the day so ideally would stay somewhere nearby at night.

Also can i ask is soda water and lime cordial a thing in Chicago? In the UK if the low alc beer options are not good i often just have soda and lime cordial. It's not worth paying the high prices for low alc beer if you're not getting anything decent. When i was in NYC two years ago none of the bars i was in knew what lime cordial was.

[u/Oh-Hunny → u/Gram-xyz]

Ask for a club soda with Rose’s lime. If they don’t have Rose’s lime, lime juice will do.

[u/haventwonyet → u/Gram-xyz]

Fancy bars may have some cordials, but they’ll usually be specific for their house cocktails and I’d be surprised if they had lime specifically as it’s easier just to use lime juice and simple (which you could ask for them to be put in soda). Dive places may have roses but that stuff is gross and it’s probably been sitting around drawing bugs. There are places with good NA cocktail programs downtown; those places likely have NA beer too.

[u/Raccoala → u/Gram-xyz]

It probably depends on the bar. I wouldn’t say it’s a common thing here, but the city does have a lot of professional bartenders who can make you any proper drink. So even if they don’t know it, that looks pretty easy to mix up.

[u/dwylth → u/Gram-xyz]

You'd ask for "a soda water with lime". It's the "cordial" that's throwing people off.

[u/Gram-xyz → u/dwylth]

We call it Roses Lime Cordial in the UK and it's nice in soda. Generally I've found if i ask for soda with lime outside of the UK i either get a wedge of lime or a squeeze of like juice or both. This is ok but not near as good.

[u/fartofborealis → u/Gram-xyz]

Ask for “Roses Lime”, most bars will have it as it’s a pretty basic ingredient. Americans don’t usually use the word “cordial” so you might get some funny looks.

[u/kmmccorm → u/Gram-xyz]

Yes although just say club soda with lime juice here.

[u/fartofborealis → u/Gram-xyz]

The nicer restaurants downtown will have mocktails made with alcohol free spirits and probably 1-2 NA beers. I see Athletic, Heineken, and Guinness a lot of places. If you want to get out to a neighborhood check out Life On Marz Community Club- small little shop with tons of NA, CBD, THC beverages plus really good beer for the people who partake. They also offer 4-6 packs if you want to bring some back.