13 Best Craft Breweries near Crystal Lake

“Absolutely love this brewery! Hoptopus is my fav CL IPA! They don't serve anything else but beer and popcorn along with cucumber lemon water! Now they do have vendors and there's so many places that you can hit up if you're hungry before or after. It's located in downtown Crystal lake and it does have its own parking! They also organize fun game nights and music events depending on the season! Summer it's so fun! I cannot wait to come back and have a cold hoptopus! The service is amazing, you come you sit and order and enjoy .. repeat! That's all for now“

“I cannot say enough good things about Black and Gray Brewery! I have been a few times and always have had a phenomenal experience between the amazing brews, kindest staff, and immaculate vibes. A few weekends ago, we hosted my brother’s 30th birthday at Black and Gray and it was absolutely perfect. As always, the staff went above and beyond to make the experience amazing for the entire party and the drinks were superb too. If you are thinking of visiting Black and Gray, do it. You will not be disappointed but rather will find your new favorite spot for some great beers. Thank you Black and Gray for always being the best of the best! Cannot wait to come back soon.“

“TL:DR - A unique and wonderful place that I cannot recommend highly enough.Now to the review:If Willy Wonka and Marie Curie had great great grandchildren who continued studying and refining the two fields you would end up with Spirit Water’s owner and this location.My brother had spoke about this magical place several times. He enjoys introducing people to the unique options offered here. I, having recently arrived from Florida, indicated that I too would enjoy trying beer that do not taste like beer.We arrived and each ordered a flight. Mine consisted of Root Beer Barrel Aged, Vanilla Cream, Butterscotch Root Beer and French Toast. My brother grabbed (at my urging) the Peanut Butter & Chocolate, Apple Pie, Orange Cream and Lazy Dog.We were served and began tasting. These – are – incredible .Each of them tasted exactly as expected, with one small caveat, they did NOT taste alcoholic. Danger Will Robinson...This was where some sampling came in. Trying a Naughty Decaf Iced Coffee beer and the slightly more potent 24% Root Beer. Yes, that one tasted like I expected a 10% to taste. Danger.Hmm, if beer is this good, what about the spirits.Holy Hanna… I shant list all that we tried, but I will say that I did not find a single one that was not spectacular. This man is a genius. I felt that way prior to finding myself just a wee bit drunk of my a$$.I can assure you that the cookies and cream tasted like an Oreo, that the Moo line was awesome and that we left with several bottles. Thankfully my brother had the sense to reign me in or I would have needed a truck to return to Florida.That said, I am both glad and very sad that this place is 1274 miles from my house. Glad because I cannot afford a second or third liver, and sad because I very much want to introduce as many people as possible to this.Hey, I found this place that is beyond your imagination… oh, no… it exists in a place far far away. This makes me a sucky friend.Soo for all the people in the Chicagoland / Central Illinois to Central Wisconsin / Indiana and Iowa area… this place is absolutely worth the drive.It is dangerous. This stuff goes down so smooth and tastes way too good. EAT FIRST! Have a designated driver / uber.This is not like other places. I used the word unique and I meant it in it’s literal form.Cheers!“

“Great beer, a fun atmosphere and friendly service. We stopped here as part of the McHenry County Brewery Trail and would definitely come back. The food menu is very limited but you can bring your own. We ended up ordering a pepperoni pizza and it hit the spot.“

“I gave this place a 4 star and that's only because Chelsea came and saved it from being a 2 star. Our original server was atrocious and had no idea what she was doing. We got sat at our table and another couple got sat right after us. The other couples server came right away and took their drink order and also gave them some tickets for something. We sat down at 540. That time is important to the next part of my story. So after about 15 minutes our server finally came and took our drink and Appetizer order. After another 10 minutes our drinks finally arrived. At that point we hear a bunch of commotion. They were apparently announcing that they were doing a raffle from the tickets they were handing out. I said I had no tickets, and OUR SERVER said, "you had to be here before 6pm". I said we were here before 6. She said I don't think you were. I said that table behind us sat down AFTER US and they got tickets. So how is that possible. She said we'll I'm sorry its the owners rules. Really? She was the one who couldn't be found for over 20 minutes. As they are doing the raffle I see the guy coming with our Appetizer. I said hey that's ours. He said I have to verify first. Really? You don't know table numbers? After running around and waiting for OUR server to finish the raffle we weren't even part of, She finally tells him it's ours and he brings it to us. It wasn't cold, but it wasn't hot either. It tasted really good but would have been better hot. There was alot of bad this server did before Chelsea came to take over. Everyone there seems clueless and ran around trying to figure out what to do. Chelsea should be a trainer since she was the only one that could deliver. Looking at previous reviews that seems to be the continuous problem, bad staff. Keep Chelsea or you will have to close your doors with poor service. The food we did get after she took over was very very delicious. So very good. These days service means everything and if you keep this poor server you won't last, even if your food is phenomenal.“

“We visited McHenry Brewing Company in (surprise) the town of McHenry awhile back. MBC is stationed in an historic building dating from 1868 (that's what the plaque says). Barrels have been decorated and repurposed as stools - fun! I enjoyed my fruity beer, and I hear that the root beer is good too. Interestingly enough, they have a turntable with LP's that you can play - yup real wax records. Although we did not play any of the albums, it was neat to peruse the checklist of everything in this music collection.“

“Stopped in late on a Sunday afternoon. The place was not crowded, about half full.Nice choice of beers, so many to try. We samples six over the course of an hour. The beers were quite good, with only one being average. Three above average and two excellent. The Kolsch is very pleasant for those not into microbrew ales.The service was excellent, too!Highly recommend Sew Hop’d.“

“After reading the 1 star reviews from a drunk fest a few months ago I feel this brewery deserves some more 5 star reviews. Theydo all the necessary things right! Their beer is delicious and true to style. Their staff is, friendly, attentive and quick and they have a clean, open end welcoming environment. If you read the other 1 star reviews you'll see a pattern, individuals were "sick".Want a great beer in a comfortable environment, you will not be disappointed.“

“Really yummy selection of home made, locally made beers and fruity beers for the sweeter enjoyers. Flights are a great way to try many things!Their blood orange hickster and the hey chicago were my favorites!Recently expanded their inside seating into the storage space, makes for a fun atmosphere.Often there's a BBQ pop up on site which is sooo good!!!Enjoy coming here after a raceway ride to quench my thirst and my belly and not disappointed yet :)“

“What an amazing time My daughter has been wanting to visit that place and we finally got around to it. First of all the atmosphere is very comfortable The servers were very nice, his name was Christian very friendly very on top of things so Christian thank you for the great service we will definitely be visiting again and again I personally had the crispy chicken wings they were very very tasty very good some of the largest chicken wings I've ever seen and had. Oh yes it was our very first time there Thank you thank you thank you.“

“Just had a shower on Saturday April 20. Everything turned out wonderful. Our servers were the best. They did an amazing job! The staff was also nice and friendly. Thank you all so much for a great experience. This was also my second shower event here.“

“This review is for late lunch for two at the bar on a Saturday in mid-February. service: Meliada (hope I got that right) was our bartender and she was awesome. Very professional and knowledgeable. Everyone we interacted with was fantastic. bar: Their Heartbreaker IPA ($7 for 16 oz as of 2/2024) is highly recommended! We also bought a four-pack of tall boys of their Misfit IPA ($10, what a bargain!), which turned out to be equally great. Looks like a full bar plus wine. food: My wife got the South Chicken Salad ($16) with avocado on the side and I had the Western Burger ($17). Both were really fantastic. Wide ranging menu with lots of options. details: Plenty of surface parking, which is great. Wild Onion is in a bit of an industrial or commercial area. Interior is nice and it looks like there is special events space. '70s and '80s arena rock on the sound system.“

“We have been members of the Vintner since before they started the restaurant and we have never had any complaints!!! I have had many great experiences here with Janet and Bob! If you like connecting to people and a great time this place is awesome!!“