The Chicago issue
Walking Ravenswood, Chicago's brewery and maker district
Malt Row's taprooms, an 1883 timber church, a restored prairie and the one hotel bed anywhere nearby, plus the hours and booking rules that set the order you walk them in.
By Bram de WitThe long way round any city
Ravenswood Avenue runs south from an 1864 castellated limestone gate, crenellated towers under a pointed arch, into a line of brick industrial sheds holding copper stills and pottery wheels. The gate opens onto 350 acres of lawn and obelisks; the sheds are Malt Row.
Rosehill Cemetery and the north end
Rosehill Cemetery (north end of Ravenswood Avenue) is Chicago's largest and oldest private cemetery, and its Boyington gate is a Chicago Landmark listed on the National Register. It is the single most photogenic structure in the area, which is worth knowing if you only have time to stand outside it. Behind the gate, old-growth trees run between the monuments, and the vast 1914 mausoleum holds Tiffany stained glass.
The grounds open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Self-guided walking is free and small groups are fine on the paths, though larger parties should contact the office before turning up. Free guided tours leave at 10 a.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. Burials still take place here, so keep your voice down.
Two taprooms sit at this end of the walk. Half Acre Beer Co. (2050 W Balmoral) is the biggest name on Malt Row and the brewery that made Chicago pale ale famous. The Balmoral site is the full production brewery, with a mural-covered taproom, stacks of Daisy Cutter cans and a gravel beer garden of picnic tables under strung lights. It is walk-in, $$, and the garden has room for a large party in warm weather. The brewery books on-site events.
is/was brewing (5121 N Ravenswood) opened in 2024 and is the row's newest and most specialised room, with mixed-fermentation saisons served in stemmed glassware. Forty pale sound-damping panels cover the ceiling and walls, which makes it the only bar in Chicago acoustically engineered so that you can hear your own table. It is walk-in, $$, and runs to midnight on Friday and Saturday. The food pop-up in the corner changes weekly, so check before you plan dinner around it.
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Winnemac Park
Winnemac Park (between Foster and Argyle) is 22 acres of open green and the best free hour in Ravenswood. Head-high switchgrass and coneflowers close over a gravel nature trail through the prairie garden restored in 1999, and the brick bulk of Amundsen High School and the Winnemac Stadium bleachers stand on the skyline. By late summer the restoration has gone wild.
Entry is free and unticketed. Picnics and dog walkers are the norm, and permits apply only to organised events. Winnemac Stadium has been home to Edgewater Castle FC since 2026, and grassroots football here is cheap.
All Saints' Episcopal Church on Hermitage
All Saints' Episcopal Church (4550 N Hermitage) went up in 1883 just outside the city limits, because post-Fire ordinances banned timber construction inside them. It is the oldest wood-frame church still standing in Chicago, a Chicago Landmark and a Driehaus restoration award winner. This is the building that explains why Ravenswood exists.
The Stick Style frame wears its stickwork on the outside, exposed over pale clapboard under steep gables, with a shingled bell tower above. The interior is all wood and warm with it. Sunday services run at 8, 9 and 11 a.m., and visitors are welcome at them. Ring ahead for weekday access.
Malt Row taprooms
Dovetail Brewery (1800 W Belle Plaine) is the one to take if you have time for a single taproom. The brewing is old-world Continental and done with rigour: decoction-mashed lagers and Berliner weisse, with the brewhouse and the horizontal lagering tanks in full view from a high open hall of long communal wooden tables. Beer comes in tall thin glasses and the room smells of dark rye bread. Doors open at noon daily and close at 10 p.m. on weekdays, 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. You can reserve tables online, and there is a private-party programme.
Begyle Brewing (1800 W Cuyler) was the original Malt Row brewery and is still the most neighbourly room on the corridor, a small brick corner taproom in the shadow of the rail embankment with farmhouse-logo signage, taster flights and a growler and crowler station behind the bar. The draft list is broad and locals drink here. It opens at noon most days and 11 a.m. on Saturday, closing at 9 p.m. and later on Friday and Saturday. The room is modest, and they take reservations and small events.
Cultivate by Forbidden Root (4710 N Ravenswood) is Chicago's first botanic brewery and the best sit-down meal on the row. Jars of botanicals and dried herbs line the bar of a bright plant-filled dining room, foeders and barrels of botanical beer stand behind, and the plates are vegetable-forward, vegetarian-led and vegan-friendly. A smaller dark craft-beer taproom sits behind the restaurant. It is $$ and reservations are advised at weekends.
VIN312 Winery (rear of 4710 N Ravenswood) is a working city winery reached through a red door at the back of the same building, which once held Band of Bohemia, the world's first Michelin-starred brewpub, closed in 2020. Stacked barrels, stainless fermenters and crates fill the floor, with a small candlelit tasting bar in among them. The week here is four days long. Thursday opens at 4 p.m. and Friday at 5 p.m., both closing at 9 p.m.; Saturday runs 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. It is $$, and you can hire the tasting room or the whole venue.
Lillstreet Art Center and KOVAL Distillery
Lillstreet Art Center (4401 N Ravenswood) is the maker half of the brewery-and-maker district, a big converted brick industrial building beside the Metra embankment filled with rows of pottery wheels, shelves of drying greenware, gas kilns and printmaking presses. The street-level gallery and shop are free to walk into. Classes, one-off workshops, private group sessions and children's parties are all bookable, $ to $$$. It opens daily and runs to 7:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday. Winter sessions are running now, and a two-hour taster class drops neatly between two taproom stops.
KOVAL Distillery (4241 N Ravenswood) was Chicago's first legal distillery after Prohibition and has collected international medals since. The brick shed sits hard against the Metra tracks, a tall copper-and-steel Kothe still behind glass, pallets of organic grain beside it and slanted-label bottles along the tasting bar. The whiskeys and the gin are made from organic grain. Tours, tastings and cocktail classes are booked in advance at $$, and KOVAL takes private and corporate parties. That makes it the Malt Row stop for a group you have to arrange ahead.
Dinner on Sunnyside and Ravenswood
Spacca Napoli Pizzeria (1769 W Sunnyside) is 20 years in and still routinely called the best pizza in Chicago. A domed wood-fired oven built by artisans from Naples glows at the back of a tiled room hung with the owner's artwork, and certified pizzaiuolo Jon Goldsmith works it. The crusts come out blistered and leopard-spotted. It is $$ and closed on Mondays, and reservations go by phone, 773 878 2420. The room is small, so a group above six needs to call well ahead, and the weekend queue is real: go early or book. A small front garden patio opens in summer.
Rojo Gusano (4217 N Ravenswood) is a family-run modern Mexican kitchen from Atizapán de Zaragoza, directly across from KOVAL, with one of Chicago's deepest mezcal lists. Vivid murals run across the walls, slim bottles stack up on the back bar and a comal turns out handmade corn tortillas. It opens Tuesday to Sunday until 10 p.m., with weekend brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and there is a patio off the side. They take reservations and group menus, $$.
Hazel on Montrose
Hazel (1835 and 1902 W Montrose) has anchored the Montrose shopping strip for 20 years: a gifts, jewellery, stationery and homewares shop with a separate apparel shop a few doors along, everything hand-picked from US makers. Buckets of fresh-cut flowers sit out on the pavement, the windows hold letterpress cards and ceramics, and the fittings inside are pale wood. Both rooms are tiny. It opens 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, $$.
Old Town School of Folk Music
Old Town School of Folk Music (Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Square) is three blocks west of Ravenswood Avenue, a 10-minute walk, and it is the area's great institution. Founded in 1957, it is the largest non-profit community arts school in the United States and the best place to hear live roots music on the North Side. The building is a 1930s former public library in limestone and brick; inside, the 400-seat Maurer Hall has a wooden stage, and the music store wall is hung three-deep with guitars, banjos and ukuleles.
Concerts are ticketed most nights at $$, with drop-in classes alongside them. Membership brings pre-sale access. The lobby and store are free to wander.
Where to stay
Ravenswood itself has essentially no hotels. The nearest good bed is The Guesthouse Hotel (4872 N Clark) in Andersonville, a mile and a half north-east of Malt Row, 20 minutes on foot or one Clark Street bus. It is a red-brick boutique block of 25 apartment-style suites in one, two and three-bedroom layouts, all with full kitchens, fireplaces in the deluxe rooms and private balconies fitted with gas grills. Pets are welcome and check-in is express. Rates start at $470 a night.
Planning notes
Spacca Napoli closes on Mondays, VIN312 trades Thursday to Sunday only, and Cultivate and Spacca Napoli both want a weekend booking made in advance. Ring All Saints' ahead for a weekday look inside.
See the Chicago guide and the Chicago hotel search.
Gallery
Ravenswood in pictures
Ravenswood — your questions
What is Malt Row?
It is the run of drinks producers along Ravenswood Avenue and the side streets off it: Half Acre Beer Co. at 2050 W Balmoral, the brewery at 5121 N Ravenswood, Dovetail Brewery at 1800 W Belle Plaine, Begyle Brewing at 1800 W Cuyler, Cultivate by Forbidden Root and VIN312 Winery at 4710 N Ravenswood, and KOVAL Distillery at 4241 N Ravenswood.
Can you visit Rosehill Cemetery, and are there tours?
Yes. The grounds are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., self-guided walking is free, and small groups are fine on the paths. Free guided tours leave at 10 a.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. It is a working cemetery, so keep the noise down, and larger parties should contact the office before arriving.
If I only have time for one Ravenswood taproom, which one?
Dovetail Brewery at 1800 W Belle Plaine. It pours decoction-mashed lagers and a Berliner weisse in a high open hall where you can see the brewhouse and the lagering tanks, it opens at noon daily, and you can reserve a table online.
Where do you stay if you want to be near Ravenswood?
Ravenswood has essentially no hotels of its own. The Guesthouse Hotel at 4872 N Clark, over in Andersonville, is the nearest good bed: a mile and a half north-east of Malt Row, 20 minutes' walk or one Clark Street bus. Its suites come in one, two and three-bedroom layouts with full kitchens, and rates start at $470 a night.
Which Ravenswood places are closed on which days?
Spacca Napoli shuts on Mondays, VIN312 Winery opens Thursday to Sunday only, Rojo Gusano runs Tuesday to Sunday, and Hazel opens Monday to Saturday plus Sunday afternoons. Lillstreet Art Center, Dovetail, Begyle and Winnemac Park open daily.
