Where Does Chicago Stand?

I have just returned from Chicago, a font of which will produce at least three more posts. I’d like to throw two questions out to the wisdom of hive mind in the meantime—and I’ll throw in some photos as well. The first one is an open-ended question and you may buttress your argument with as much or little supporting documentation as possible. Among America’s great drinking cities, where does Chicago stand?

And does Malort strengthen or weaken whatever case you’re making?

(Based on initial social media posts, I suspect this may look more like trolling than I intended. My answer is “high,” and it’s really a matter of how high.)

Question two is superficially empirical, but probably as equally unanswerable. Does Chicago now contain the most breweries in the US? It’s unanswerable because people don’t agree on what a city is (sorry, San Diego, buy your ginormous county definitely doesn’t qualify) nor what a brewery is. Take for example two of the more novel arrangements in Chicago: Pilot Project and District Brew Yards. These are collectives in which companies use a central brewery and share a taproom, but otherwise sell their beer throughout the city. Two breweries, ten? Eight years ago it was impossible to figure, and things were simpler then.

Still, let’s throw it out there for discussion. I heard several people claim Chicago has the most (citing wildly varying numbers; see above), and I found it plausible. Make your case.

To the photos (more in those future posts, but these were extras).