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  • Orval Day!

    Orval Day: Saturday, March 23, 2019
    Orval Day celebrates a global flavor touchstone, a beer brewed within the walls of a Belgian monastery with a thousand-year history: Orval Trappist Ale.  After a trout returned a lost golden ring to a princess 1070 AD,
    she gave the “Golden Valley” to the church in gratitude. The current monastery has ancient ruins outside the walls and a brewery within that brews this bold, spicy, deeply appealing ale. The extravagant head, compelling bouquet, rich body, and sharp hint of sourness in the finish of Orval make it a favorite of professional brewers everywhere.

    First imported to the US 35 years ago, Orval is widely available. Merchant du Vin and its partners—the thousands of stores, bars restaurants, and wholesalers that sell Orval—invite you to join them to celebrate this  amazing beverage.

    A purchase of Orval always supports Notre Dame d’Orval Monastery—and delights your taste buds— but for every bottle of Orval sold on  Saturday, March 23, 2019, Merchant du Vin will donate 50 cents to Safe Water Network, a Charity Navigator Four Star non-profit organization providing clean, safe water to people in Ghana and India. Win win!

  • Timmermans Lambic

    FRIDAY March 15, 6-9pm~~Brand Ambassador will be on hand. Timmermans has been brewing lambics since 1702!

  • KBS Release Day Tappings

    Founders KBS 2019 is March 15. We’ll also have KBS 2018, CBS 2018 & 2017, and All Day on tap too starting at noon.

  • Pi Day (The Ides of Dark Lager)

    Tapping of Spiteful Dark Lager and Dovetail Czech Dark Lager 6pm.
    And Pi Day specials for dinner —Shepherd’s Pie (local boar & ribeye) w/ramp mashed potatoes. And Blueberry-Beer Pie w/sourcream-whipped cream. Both made w/ Spiteful Brewing Dark Lager.

  • Our Collaboration Beer with Dovetail

    Hopleaf’s Michael Roper and Joe Huminiak and Kaiser Tiger’s Pat Berger got together with Hagen Dost at Dovetail recently to sample some coolship beers that have been aging in wood casks at Dovetail.  These beers are essentially American lambic beers that ferment with wild yeasts unique to the area surrounding the brewery.  Seeing as the brewery sits very close to and between the Metra and the CTA Brown Line tracks, I have to think that the wild yeasts are stirred up a bit every time a train passes, adding a very uniquely Chicago character to the beers fermenting in the large open fermenting vessel, the coolship. From the coolship, the beer is transferred to oak casks to develop flavor and character and to mellow.  Since each barrel has its own distinctive environment, the beer goes its own way as it ages.  Our task was to create a blend from the barrels we sampled that accentuated certain aromatic and flavors we sought.

    We are proud of the result!  Until it is gone, Hopleaf and Kaiser Tiger will be pouring our Dovetail Special Collaboration Blend. We are tapping it at 6pm Friday Feb 15.  It is funky, complex and mildly tart. Compares with many of the Belgian Gueuze beers we have carried for many years at Hopleaf.

  • 2018 Bib Gourmand

    Hopleaf has again made the 2018 list of Michelin’s Bib Gourmand

    Since 1997, ‘good quality, good value restaurants’ have been pointed out using the Bib Gourmand award. The price limit for ‘Bib’ consideration varies from country to country, depending on the cost of living. It’s not just about the price though – the cooking has to be good quality too.

  • Flagship February

    Canadian James Beard Award-winning beer writer Stephen Beaumont recently wrote about the decline of classic “flagship” beers. At one time, every brewery had one and that beer often defined the brewery. It also was the top-selling beer that subsidized a brewery’s seasonals, specialty brews, experimental beers and one offs. Because the flagship beer was made over and over, batch after batch, often for decades, it was very dependable and also with the years, it might even be slowly tweaked to be better and better.

    Alas, today’s beer drinker, more often than not, is always seeking something new and many breweries don’t even have a flagship beer anymore. While that has given us a never ending wide spectrum of flavors, it has been a tough time for many of the dependably delicious beers that defined the early craft beer movement.

    Stephen Beaumont’s writing has inspired many bars across the nation to feature some of the great flagship beers in the month of February and Hopleaf is happily joining in. In our early days many of these beers helped define Hopleaf and were instrumental in building our business. We have decided to pick some of the best flagship beers from breweries that we’ve had long relationships with.

    All of these breweries are over 20 years old. Some of the flagship beers were their first brews. Some were intentional and some not. Sometimes the public made the decision as to what the flagship would be. See the list below of beers we’ll be featuring on the first “Flagship February”

    Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA ( replaced Shelter Pale Ale which now is available on draft and in Delaware only )
    Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold ( although in their home market Eliot Ness is their top seller and in some other Midwestern states Edmund Fitzgerald is )
    Firestone Walker Union Jack
    Three Floyds Alpha King ( although Gumball Head is their best seller now )
    New Belgium Fat Tire
    Bell’s Two Hearted is tied with Oberon. ( Amber Ale was their—and Hopleaf’s—first flagship beer )
    Brooklyn Lager
    Anchor Steam ( The flagship of all flagship beers! )
    Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
    New Holland Dragon’s Milk ( An unusually strong flagship )
    Founders Dirty Bastard was first for many years but All Day IPA has recently displaced it.
    Lagunitas IPA
    Victory Prima Pils ( although they have said that their volume leader was once Golden Monkey )
    Allagash White
    Left Hand Milk Stout
    Stone IPA
    North Coast Old Rasputin and Pranqster tied make up 20% of the sales now. The original flagship was Red Seal.
    Unibroue Fin Du Monde
    Deschutes Black Butte Porter
    Ommegang Pale Sour ( recently came out of nowhere to be their flagship )

    We hope that you’ll discover or rediscover these beers during the month of February and maybe keep a six pack of one or more of these on hand at home because these are beers that always please a guest or are nice friends to have around after a long day.

  • Taproom Exclusive Release and Panel Discussion

    Solemn Oath’s “Taproom Exclusive” debuts on tap Thursday Feb 7—this is the collab rye stout we brewed with them and Bavarian Lodge. Both we & BV have release events—Hopleaf’s panel discussion, in which Michael Roper will take part, is at 7pm in the upstairs bar. Scroll down for all the details!

    The beer is a 6% stout featuring rye for complexity, oats for silky smoothness, chocolate malt to round out the beer, and a small addition of lactose to accentuate the creaminess. Prolific Willamette hops pay tribute to trailblazers of beer purveyance and the supply side in the beer world. A draft-only offering, Taproom Exclusive will *not* be served at Solemn Oath’s retail location; instead it will be exclusively available at select craft-focused Chicagoland bars, restaurants and retail locations, including its partner establishments.

    The beer will be unveiled at two separate release events, each featuring panel discussions about retail competition and the future of the local beer industry. Michael writes: “if you have interest in the future of local craft beer and neighborhood taverns and the prerogative of beer choices, come to Hopleaf for a panel discussion about these issues and others that are bubbling beneath the surface of our industries. The explosive growth in the number of breweries is changing the post Prohibition “three tier” distribution system, the role of the corner pub, whose beer does or does not make it onto your local store’s shelves, the viability of many import brands in the American market, and beer pricing strategies. It will be interesting! The details:

    February 7, 2019 at 7PM at Hopleaf, 5148 N Clark St, Chicago
    Moderator: Michael Kiser, Good Beer Hunting
    Panelists
    Michael Roper, Hopleaf
    Eric Hobbs, Solemn Oath Brewery
    Jay Jankowski, Maproom
    Peter Rock-Ternes, Middle Brow Beer Co.

    February 13, 2019 at 7PM at Bavarian Lodge, 1800 Ogden Ave, Lisle
    Moderator: Michael Kiser, Good Beer Hunting
    Panelists
    Alan Taylor, The Bavarian Lodge
    John Barley, Solemn Oath Brewery
    Dave Hawley, Beer Cellar
    Dakota Defever, Minor Threat Restaurant Group

  • Omer Vander Ghinste Sour Night

    Omer Vander Ghinste night—you see their big name on the north wall of our dining room. Flemish Sours go amazing with food. To demonstrate, we’re featuring this delicious 3-course fixed price pairing menu, that includes 6 oz. pours and a glass of Omer as a welcome beer. $45. Dinner starts at 5pm.

    1st—HOUSEMADE CHICKEN LIVER MOUSSE w/shallot- currant jam, Bruin mustard and grilled sourdough —(paired w/Oud Bruin.)

    2nd—BRAISED VENISON OSSO BUCCO—Sour beer-braised Broken Arrow farms venison w/herbed polenta, charred carrots, pickled onion, cherry-black walnut-pepita gremolata —(paired w/Cuvée des Jacobins)3rd—GOAT CHEESE CHEESE CAKE w/Jacobins Kriek-and- sour cherry compote, candied walnut, Maldon sea salt —(paired w/ Jacobins Kreik)

    There will also be special pricing on the beers with two sizes on offer so you can sample them all. Plus Cuvée des Jacobins Prestige is available in bottles.

  • The Mitten Series Variant Release & Clothing Drive

    First chance to try all 3 Mitten 2018 Variants—The Mitten,  Cherry Mitten, Maple Mitten!

    Special Menu featuring Virtue Cider Farm Pork

    AND Keep our community warm! Please bring mittens, hats or coats and Virtue Cider will donate them to Sarah’s Circle