Goose Island brewery in Wrigleyville is one of two brew pubs in the Chicago city area, the other and original Goose Island Brewpub is at Clybourn. I have been to the one at Wrigleyville the most and while it can be packed and lively when the Cubs are in town, it is also a pretty chilled out place on other nights as well. We like to sit up at the bar where you can choose your experience. If you want to, you can get plenty of banter from the ‘strangers about to be friends‘ alongside you, or you can sit and stare into your beer while keeping an eye on the game on one of the many TV screens.

Lets Try Some Food>

Turkey Club Sandwich

A standard myfoodhunt test is a club sandwich, and here at the Goose Island brewery they offer a pretty decent (and rather large) Turkey Club Sandwich for $11. On the menu it is described as ‘roasted turkey breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, wheat toast’. The layers of turkey are thick and there is plenty of it as well. It is served up in a big basket of fries, but to be honest you really did not need all those fries.

 Pulled Pork Sandwich

Another favourite here that I like to try is the ‘Pulled Pork Sandwich’ described on the menu as “a brioche bun filled with pulled pork shoulder and smothered gently in Honker’s Ale BBQ sauce”. It comes with a huge mound of fries and a large pot of slaw all for just $11. I will say that it is a bit of a messy affair though, that Honker’s Ale BBQ sauce gets everywhere, all over your chin and all over my fingers. Still it is quite delicious and it is a sticky price worth paying. Again I will say that the sandwich is big enough on the plate without all of those fries, having said that its pretty good for sharing the fries with your fellow drinkers at the bar and it keeps them away from your sandwich.

Now How About some Beer?

Tasting Flight

We came in here specifically for a couple of pints of the excellent 312 but once we had supped those down we had to try a few more of the different beers that the Goose Island Brewery had to offer, and the best way to do that was with one of their ‘Tasting Flight’s of beer’ You get four glasses on a bit of paper that explains how to drink beer (I never knew that you needed instructions before). The way it worked was that you could choose your beers from a number of different sections of the beer menu such as the ‘Session section’ or the ‘Hoppy section’ all quite self explanatory.

On my tasting flight I tried the “Wind Chill Wit” which was described as having a ‘Hazy yellow colour, orange herbal aroma, sweet coriander flavour, and a light body.’ It was quite a fruity affair but also quite refreshing as well.

The next to that I went for a classic from the Session Section; A glass of the “Green Line” – ‘a honey colored, sessionable, American pale ale with a pronounced, bright, American hop aroma and citrus flavor’. They also say that is has ‘notes of biscuit and lightly toasted malt’ which ‘create the backbone for Green Line’s pleasant, crisp bitterness.’  I both like the fact that Green Line Pale Ale is available on draft only in Chicago but it also makes me slightly sad that I cannot get it anywhere else.

I tend to like my beers on the light and pale side so I was being careful when I chose from the Hoppy Section, trying to pick out something more lager or pale ale like. I chose the “Sea Change” – this is described as having a ‘Hazy straw colour, honeysuckle and citrus aroma, bright citrus and wheat flavour with a dry body’ and it is a unfiltered wheat lager at 5.9% strength. It was also a most pleasant affair

The last glass that I chose was some of the “Lake Effect” which wasn’t a glass of melted snow mixed with beer as I imagined, no it was actually a decent beer. It was described as a ‘deep, copper colored brew’ with ‘a spicy hop nose’. “It’s malt sweetness is balanced by a lingering hop flavor and a hint of alcohol warmth in the finish”. It was not as strong a taste as that might have sounded, it really was quite drinkable.

So we tried the beer and we tried the food and n summary as the tagline suggests, Goose Island Brewery in Wrigleyville serves Fantastic Beer and Good Bar Food too. With it being located tight in the heart of Wrigleyville it is also a real fun place to head to, especially on Game day.

It is within easy walking distance of the Addison Red Line stop on North Clark Street.