Beer Under Glass 2025: An Evening Beneath the Skyline

• Words: Karl Klockars
• Photos (except where mentioned): Jaime Hernandez / @jaimelikesbeer

I very much hope this new home for Beer Under Glass sticks around for a while.

While my compatriates Steve, Eric and Jaime were at the Union Station events of recent years, It’s been a while since I attended a Beer Under Glass. The last one I joined was the final Garfield Park gathering of 2019, and then it’s taken me over five years to get back to Chicago for one of these after the world fractured and sent me careening out of the city.

I’m glad I came back for this one. I had a really good time under the deep blue Chicago sky surrounded by city skyline at this year’s edition, and it feels like the sold-out crowd did also. Even before the general admission ticketholders rolled in at 5:30, the VIP/Media access was already humming to the tune of hundreds of beer drinkers all well underway with their tasting time.

More than a few people made reference to Half Acre’s Far and Away invitational that was held at the same Harris Theater space a while back, and I’m very glad to find that it’s still a wonderful place for a beer event. A central location almost certainly helped move tickets for a Friday event within walking distance of thousands of office spaces looking to kick off some early-summer drinking in a big way. I still saw quite a few familiar faces from throughout the years of beer drinking, which was a nice reminder that there’s still a small sense of community that runs through the years and many, many square miles of beer drinking experiences around Chicagoland.

And the beer was very good as well. While past years may have been a chance for some breweries to try and out-weird the other breweries with wild concoctions pushing the limits of what beers could be, it seems that maybe the recent plateau or general downturn in beer drinking had brewers bringing out some tried and true favorites alongside the somewhat weirder stuff for the hardcore like myself.

Overall: so many hits, so few misses. Here’s what I found myself really liking.

My Beer Takeaways from Beer Under Glass 2025:

The awards for Double Clutch are, at a quick glance, well earned – their true-to-style E-Town Vienna Lager was spot-on tasty for my first pour of the night.

The only line I stood in was for Brothership Brewing’s Barrel-Aged Space Debris, which spent time in rye and bourbon barrels with raw and toasted coconut. Every year there’s a hype brewery and the word is out on Brothership – their line was dozens deep at the start of the fest and only tapered off after a good hour plus into the event.

I was plenty glad they came to me at BUG instead of me heading out to Mokena, and the Space Debris was syrupy-rich, thick, bold and still balanced between stout and adjunct. I followed that up with a pour of Begyle’s Imperial Pajamas with Coffee, just for a bit of comparison – I know that FoBAB is all about the barrel but still, it’s fun to put a couple adjuncted BA stouts back to back and see the differences.

Things really started kicking when I got a pour of Flipside’s Rascal King pub ale, a 4.8% mid-ABV banger that was just spot-on about what I like in this style. Drinkable, caramel-roasty, bright with fresh earthy malt goodness – I know they put this on cask on occasion; I strongly recommend taking advantage of that option if you can.

A brewery who I have known by their very distinctive name but never had a chance to try one of their beers is Dutchbag Brewing. I quite enjoyed their Things that Dreams Are Made Of, a 3.6% “Nordic Weiss” that was fluffy as hell, sparkly and citrusy and creamy and very refreshing.

As I mentioned in Friday’s BUG Gameplan, I was looking forward to trying a beer or two from Wolfden, and their Trail Mix Porter paid off: It was a deliciously well-balanced porter with the chocolate complexity bouncing off the savoriness of roasted peanut while not being too heavy-drinking. A tough needle to thread but they did it well. Speaking of porters, the Imperial Porter from Moor’s Brewing was another richly fruity pour that – to me – felt like it had some deep pomegranate notes to it that were quite welcome.

I knew that Guinness Chicago wouldn’t hire any just-average brewers but I didn’t expect to enjoy the Czech dark lager from them as much as I did. True to style, clean, up-front sharp roasty character and present body; no complaints, just a very good beer.

You know what Pipeworks is good at? Making beer. No, really, I mean their straightforward American light lager, simply called Beer, was really a nice option to have on a night where my palate was getting a bit slammed. Bright, sweet, grainy, you’ve had an American light lager if you’re reading this, I don’t need to explain it to you. But it was a tasty one.

Crust Brewing’s Orange is the New Radler was a mid-festival blast of soda sweetness and sparkle that I didn’t know I needed but greatly appreciated. Seriously, it tasted just like Orange Crush but a little less sticky.

Sundial Brewing & Blending was another brewery I was happy to have for the first time, and their Table Blackberry was a revelation. Barrel-aged saison refermented with second-use blackberries and blended with table beer (per the label – no way I’d remember all that) was big with sharp wild flavors and punched way above its 4% weight. Delicious.

I think a lot of people have slept on Adams Street Brewing, assuming the brewery jammed into the back of the Berghoff Restaurant in the heart of the Loop could only be average at best … but probably not so much after many of us tried their spot-on Export Stout that recently came home with World Beer Cup hardware. I heard a lot of people talking about this in a happily surprised manner and hopefully everyone that came away impressed pay a visit.

I think I’m still tasting the El Gallo Chingon from Whiskey Hill — their BA stout with cocoa nibs, coconut, cinnamon and three types of chiles. A sipper to be sure – that heat would build and build fast if you took it too quick, but patience with it allows you to draw out the sweetness and spice in tandem for a beer that was also impressive in an unexpected way.

Finally, the “Gnome Launcher” watermelon sour from Rabid Brewing was an end-of-evening suckerpunch to my palate that was just a joy to drink. Like sticking an immersion blender into a watermelon and letting it rip, then sneaking in a 6.5% ABV sour beer underneath it as a framework for that pink melon sweetness with a touch of tart beneath. This one’s probably quite dangerous in hot weather. I could drink this fast; too fast, probably.

Those are my takeaways from Beer Under Glass 2025 – a lot more good than bad or even mediocre, thankfully, and a testament to how strong the entire Chicagoland brewing scene is. Fun times, and thanks to the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild for taking a big swing in bringing this festival downtown. It was a hit.

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