Latest reviews from Elmhurst

“Although mainly street parking, this place has a little bit of everything. Nice selection of rare local brews on shelf, many cans in fridge, seating for eating and a bar with 20 taps or craft beers. I saw a patio in back. We had a tasty lunch and some nice stouts tasters“

BlackBeerPG 122 days ago

“Brand new as of Sept 2023, this is the second location, it has a full upscale kitchen. The decor is upscale too. The beer list ranges from reg ale to fancy bomber/wine glass sized bottle of the rare barrel aged beers. Rare bottle must be consumed on premises. We enjoyed our stout and porter. The bartender was friendly and very knowledgeable of the beer world. Some item are a bit pricey. Will go back when in the area.“

BlackBeerPG 206 days ago

“The newest location of three. located in historic downtown Elmhurst IL. bright and friendly. small but some sidewalk seating outside. our bar-tender was very knowledgeable. 16 rotating taps, and 700 to almost 800 good beers to buy to go. Individual bottles or cans.“

BlackBeerPG 345 days ago

“Lively bar with a huge list of bottle and on tap beers, friendly staff person new his stuff. will try and eat there next time. Loved the 3 Floyds Stout on draft.“

BlackBeerPG 2271 days ago

“Long narrow tap room where at your speed you can use a card and go up to 30 some taps with the info above on visual screens and fill up as many ounces in your tulip glass that they give you for each pour. I was impressed by the quality of the selections including very local breweries. Best to try 2-3 oz. pours.“

BlackBeerPG 2271 days ago

“Kinda busy on Sat afternoon for just opening 3 weeks before. Staff was friendly, selection of beers were good. Food was available and looked good. Kid friendly for those who care. We had 4 beers and all were above average. Parking might be tight. Co-owner spent time telling us about the beers. Good start!“

BlackBeerPG 2271 days ago

“Recently opened, familiar faces from former venues, but a little frazzled service for a busy 4th of July. Windows open, with no ceiling fans, so a little warm. A good deal of stereo, street, and train noise. But nice street seating for better weather, good craft selection. and decent pizza & snacks. I’m sure will settle in to a nice go to venue.“

tmoreau 2515 days ago

“44 craft beer taps & 4 wine taps-all self serve, metered, & monitored. Attentive assistance and friendly food service with tasty snacks & barbeque. Only had nachos this time around. Interesting and well designed concept in a comfortable atmosphere. Taxes & gratuities are included in final bill. Will return soon!“

tmoreau 2670 days ago

“Was never greeted by the staff. Solid selection of American craft but no European craft. Not the best place for fresh beer.“

beerguychicago 3330 days ago

“Don’t get why this place is so highly rated. The selection is good but not great, most beer is sold as 4/6-packs and you can’t mix and match yourself. Good selection of bombers and 75 cl bottles but nothing too rare or exceptional. Took a while before anyone approached me to ask if I needed help, even though the place was mostly empty of customers when I visited.“

Ktwse 3600 days ago

“Great store. Warehouse style with metal shelves. The price is right so I really don’t care. This is my place to get limited releases. I just picked up Doom and Parabola there. They have almost full lines of a lot of breweries, and are always looking for new names. I asked for Perennial and they picked up three cases a couple of weeks later. Also one of the few places I can find Jolly Pumpkin in good stock. Jeff and Tim always know what they are talking about and give some great suggestions. This is a great store.“

Dented81 4036 days ago

“Great service, and good atmosphere, but they need more cart beer, particularly in the cooler.“

jrman1386 4288 days ago

“Not the biggest selection by today’s standards. Good selection for immediate area though. The beer guy at this store is awesome. Went in on a whim looking for Founders Better Half and it wasn’t on shelf, but I was asked if I was looking for anything specific while I was walking out and I mentioned I was looking for Founders Better Half and the guy hooked me up with a bottle out of his stash in the basement. Apparently he drove up to GR on the release date and picked up some for the store. I received this level of service and I have never even been the store before. I could only imagine he would treat his locals with same high level of service as well. Will make sure I stop back in when in the area.“

msante79 4475 days ago

“Good sized liquor store with nice sized craft selection. Lots of cooler space and a ton of bombers on the self. Lots of options here and there isn’t a whole lot of competition in the immediate area. Like the other have said they have some old bottles on the shelf. Artic Panzer Wolf with the old labels and Hop-15. When was the last time you saw that somewhere else. 12 months? I wouldn’t by beer here that does not age well.“

msante79 4595 days ago

“Weird, I’m fairly certain that I rated this previously. Pretty barebones place with good prices. This is where I bought my first sets of equipment and supplies and have been back. Stuff is pretty fresh and in good shap. Don’t need go out to here anymore, but it’s worth a stop.“

NobleSquirrel 4697 days ago

“I had a later afternoon flight out, and a meeting on this side of town and wanted to visit Lunar brewing. To kill time, I hit a few of the local bottle shops listed in the area. I visited this location after I hit the Sal’s in Addison, and it is spooky similar. Identical Warehouse style layout, beers placed in more or less the same spot, in fact I really thought I had come back to the same store. Wild stuff. As with the other location, beer is on three and a half huge racks, and some in coolers. The better beer is kept warm, and I would worry about turnover but the selection is really solid. Not the greatest store I visited in Chicago area, but solid. Worth hitting as a local, maybe only if convenient for out of towners. Service was friendly, decent store.

76 = ★★★ (Worth the visit, must for locals, and visitors with time)

I only use the total score, not the component parts.“

theisti 4792 days ago

“Went here last Saturday (chicago really needs more homebrew shops). I’m new to brewing (new years resolution), the place was small but overwelming. They had everything I was looking for (hydrometer, thermostat, mesh sacks, irish moss, lots of matls, lots of hops and yeasts. Very helpful workers and easy to find things. Dont really have anything to compare this store with but looks to be a great place.“

hombrepalo 4856 days ago

“A shop that seems to buy a lot of closeouts and sell them at a very reasonable rate. Service with the beer guy seems to be good but the rest of the staff is hit and miss. Selection seemed to have improved but as others have said it is hit and miss with fresh stuff.“

Headbanger 5044 days ago

“Well, most homebrew shows can’t offer much in the way of "ambience," this one’s focus on winemaking meant lots of wooden equipment like barrels, presses and bung taps, offering a bit of a rustic feel. Beerwise I note they had a Bayou Classic burner on the shelf, and I’ve rarely seen shops with burners on display. Also a good supply of reconditioned corny kegs at $40 each (I’ve seen ’em go cheaper when they get a big shipment). Good collection of packaged homebrew kits, the usual grains – hops not on display, but there was no cooler in the front, probably in the back. I’ve so far just gotten yeast and some stoppers for that mead I’ve kept saying I’m making, but I’ll check this place again.“

DrnkMcDermott 5306 days ago

“truly has the warehouse feel with beer stacked on large warehouse style racks. very large selection of american crafts and belgians, everything is organized very well and sections are labeled. prices are more then fair, they have a long row of coolers as well. definately a hot beer destiation for me. just around the corner from corner cottage and this place might have the upper hand!“

satan165 5738 days ago

“This place is an enigma. The staff was friendly and helpful, the selection was potentially mind-blowing, and the prices were great. The flip side? About half of anything bought here is bound to have died. Far too much old, spoiled stuff on the shelves. Sometimes, to be sure, this can work to your advantage (pre-aged Chimay Blue from 2005, a tJ Natte from 2002 that was not quite right but very interesting, nevertheless), but often it can be quite frustrating to think you’ve found something that you wouldn’t find elsewhere, only to pp it open and get a mouth full of swill. The hit one will take buying beers that are undrinkable tends to offset any price advantage elsewhise. Even still, I’ll still go occasionally, but not necessarily buy unless I can feel 100% safe about the age. Just be careful and it should be OK.“

pumpkinheart 5838 days ago

“this place is definately a diamond in the rough. adjacent to a chicken frier, youd never expect the wild selection of belgians and other great scores contained within! on the other end of the spectrum, however crude, they also have a vast catalog of ’bad beers’ (huber beer?!?! panther ice?!?!) in 12 pack cans and often the most obscure malt liquors in 24oz cans/40oz bottles. during my last visit they had the st. bernardus gift sets (rare, at least in my area...AND they had it at the cheapest price ive ever seen!), delerium tremens and saison dupont 330ml 4-packs and countless countless other products. however, everytime i go in there (others have shared similiar experiences with me), they respond to even compliments or the simpelest questions/comments with ’SHOW ME YOUR ID!!’. i am 31 years old, and while i appreciate the legal pressure they are under, they make it a habit to be often rude or at least uncommonly ignorant of appreciation from their customers. but i dont care, i shall return early and often!“

satan165 5899 days ago

“Went to this place after the Chicago Area Ratebeer Gathering Feb 2007 at Lunar. Lunar is like 3 blocks away. Make sure you at least go into this place after Lunar. Wharehouse feel, beer selection is large with a large European selection in particular it looks like German stuff. Some pretty good stuff including GI BCS and IIPA. Definately worth the stop by.“

SubstanceT 6311 days ago

“What a nifty little shop. It doesn’t look like much, but has a solid selection of beers at reasonable prices. AND - I was able to find six Polish beers as well as brews from Lithuania and Latvia that I hadn’t had! Even a "new" beer from India! Oh yeah - They have a good selection of Belgian, German, and other counties’ beers as well. A definite place to stop when in the area. You’ll see me at the end of the aisle drooling at the selection of Mocnes.“

Cornfield 6350 days ago

“I agree with gdoak about the prices. Lower than what you see in most places. In some cases it’s dramatic ($7.99 for Jolly Pumpkin stuff where it’s $9.99 in other places) and in some cases more subtle (Dreadnaught for $9.49 instead of $9.99). Nevertheless, you have to appreciate a store that has the customer’s interests in mind. Selection is pretty solid; not too much in the "blow you away that they have it" category, but they do have a good variety of American craft bombers, and all the Belgian standards. Definitely worth a stop.“

ElGaucho 6586 days ago

“I was on my way to Lunar Brewing and didn’t realize Sal’s was on the same street just about a 1/2 mile away. So I went in. Very large selection of brews, with considerable emphasis on quality. Among the highlights: Peche Mortel, almost a full line of DFH, a couple of Founders brews, some 3F’s and a full complement of international beers. They have a suggestion box, which I meant to use to suggest they allow breaking up of 6-packs. From a pure quality perspective, doesn’t top Archer Liquors, but this place is easier to navigate, is cleaner, in a better part of town and has more selection (for whatever that’s worth).“

ElGaucho 6635 days ago

“
First off, don’t believe the MapQuest map that places Sal’s east of Rt. 83. Depend instead on Google Maps. You’ll want to head west, towards Villa Park and Lunar Brewing Company.

With a warehouse atmosphere right down to a cement slab floor, their building won’t win Sal’s any awards for innovative design but it’s the content that matters. A few fairly long aisles of beer (with many singles) from a wide variey of countries. I had no problem filling a "Brewmasters Collection" 24-bottle case (the box cost $4.99 but it’s 20% off each bottle if you fill it, so my net savings was around 7 bucks).

Cashiers were pretty hilarious, and I may have converted one who was a confessed Lite drinker as she showed great interest in my Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome.

All that and RateBeer shelf tags... what more could you ask for?
“

frankenkitty 6782 days ago

“pretty excellent selection of imports and micros, but the prices are what sets this place apart. in april i was buying kostritzer for 3.99/sixer! yeah, it was the oktoberfest, but it’s still a ridiculous deal. the rogue hazelnut was $3.29/bomber bottle until i cleaned out the stock, and they haven’t brought it back. i also like the $9.99 dead guy half gallon jugs. plus i’m friends with the son of one of the guys working there, so we can order anything we need.“

gdoak 6786 days ago

“Very good selection of Belgian and Belgian-style ales. Knowledgable staff.“

hradilv 6859 days ago

“I’ve passed this joint many a time on my way to Lunar Brewing and didn’t give it a thought. Thanks to JoshuaB for listing it, prompting me to check it out. (Place ratings are important, people!) They’ve got a really decent selection of Kraut beers, enabling me to fill in many a hole in my ratings with many future drinks. Nice with the British, Belgian, and other aliens brews, too. They’ve also got a fun "oddball" collection of singles that someone like me thrives on. I’ll be stopping by again.“

Cornfield 6901 days ago

“Overall a decent place in the burbs. Service s great during the weekdays during the day, but on the weekends and at night, it can get pretty desolate. A lot of the staff are very knowledgable and most of them are into homebrewing. Not much for ambiance, but that doesnt really matter to me. Selection is above average overall. Selection is fantastic for Belgian, British, and German beers, pretty good to great for American craft brews, and pretty good for macros. Liquor selection is awesome too. They have several tastings a year. Prices are average. If you are near the area, stop by, you will find some hidden gems.“

JoshuaB 6904 days ago