A Show-Stopping Bar

Unless you’re reading this in a Dublin pub, Open Gate is now the most memorable place around to sip a pint of gat. You can’t miss its most jaw-dropping feature: the nearly 10,000-pound harp sculpture that hangs over the 16-tap bar.

Local Flavor

In addition to the signature stout (and its nonalcoholic counterpart), the brewery, which opened this fall, offers a rotating selection of more than a dozen taproom-exclusive drafts. Try the throat-tickling Mango Chile Ale or the smooth Corn Maize Cream Ale, made with local corn.

All-Day Eats

The restaurant component, helmed by Taylor Bischof of Brekkie & Bake Shop, melds Chicago favorites and Irish classics into upscale bar food. That means bites like giardiniera dip with potato chips, beer-infused beef stew, and a corned beef Benedict. Snacking isn’t just reserved for happy hour: Intelligentsia coffee and fresh-baked brown bread made with stout greet early visitors. (The bakery is open daily at 8 a.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. weekends, though the brewery is closed Monday and Tuesday.)

Green is the New Black

While we associate Guinness with black (the company line is that its classic stout is actually a deep ruby red), this brewery is quite green. Spent grains from the brewing process, which is powered by solar panels, are turned into compost.