I visited both brewpubs on my trip to Chicago last month, and both are fantastic. Goose Island was all over Chicago, especially Honker's Ale in the airport. As far as Pittsburg, I don't know if they make it that far?

I tried the Honker's Ale in Springfield MO last Saturday. It's a fine ale - and if it is in SW Missouri, I imagine you will find it soon in your neck of the woods.

I have tried the oatmeal stout, which is great, and the christmas brew, which was good. I live in Minnesota and find this all over the place. Good beer and usually a good deal.

I'm in a beer tasting group and we have had seven of their beers. Here's our rating out of 5: Blonde Ale 2.5 Christmas 4.0 Hex Nut Brown 4.0 Honker's Ale 3.5 IPA 4 Kilgubbin Red 3.75 Oatmeal Stout 3.75 Those are outstanding ratings for a brewer.

In Reply To #1 Just tried the IPA, good but not outstanding. Aftertaste too bitter for me.

I'm a Chicagoan and let me tell you. I have to make a visit to Goose Island at least once a month. What they brew onsite is better than the bottle stuff if you can believe it. At any given time there are 10+ beers being served and they always change up the beers. The nice thing is that they only brew a couple of the beers that are bottled. The bartenders are really good too, if you start asking them about the beers they usually pour your a small bit to taste or you can order a sampler, which is a pick of 3 beers of your choice (6-8 oz). I drink 9 beers from the sampler and then pick a couple different pints for the rest of the night. It's a great place if your ever in Chicago, make sure you visit the site on Clyborn thats were its brewed the other is just a restaurant. Here is a list of whats being served now http://www.gooseisland.com/pubs/clybourn_list.asp I love taking out of town visitors to Goose Island. I had a couple guys that were in from England (work related) and I took them there. They were quite pleased. They have really awesome food too, one of my favs is the Stilton Pub burger. Its a 1/2 lb pepper crusted, patty served on pumpernickel with stilton blue cheese, roasted garlic cloves, and Düsseldorf mustard. Its the Stout of burgers. Regarding their bottle beers, I've come to enjoy their IPA as much as anyone elses ( on tap its amazing ), the Oatmeal Stout and Christmas Ales are great too. Even though I dont care for the Honkers and Blonde Ales they are still very good. Ed