For just about anyone not stumbling out of the nearby McCormick Place convention center, you have to want to make it to Motor Row. Planted way down at 23rd and Michigan, the average Loop drinker has to pass the likes of Vice District on the way down to this taproom and production facility, but once the new Baderbrau facility moves into their Wabash space maybe this corner of the Sloop won’t feel so beer-lonely. One you get there, though, you’ll find a plethora of hop-friendly beer options on tap.
The taproom features many different Motor Row beers, with mainstays including the light-bodied Reclamation Lager, the zippy clean hoppiness of the Out of the Loop India Pale Lager, and the Multigrain Zwickel with wheat and spicy rye. Other options on our visit were a “Coiffable” American Red with a fun fruit-punch tropicality to it, a Bi-Polar Bear Pale Ale that will please fans of Revolution’s A Little Crazy, a Belgian brown IPA with root-beer-barrel candy sweetness called Pander Bear and a chewy, hearty but not overwhelmingly bitter Never Ever Land IIPA.
Growlers and howlers are both available. Street parking as well as a small lot across the street is available, food can be brought in and tours are not yet available though will be in the near future. As a production-first facility, Motor Row’s offerings are making their way into bars and restaurants across Chicago as well.