Sunday 30th of November 2008 10:33:38 PM

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2017: Still making strides, much improved from years past. Haven't had a bad beer here lately. Nice taps, stuff like Café Deth, Parabola, Temperance MMR Vanilla, Goose BA Scotch Ale, Hopewell, and Grand Central. KBS at an affordable price. Jeff the bartender is a nice guy, chatting beer & music and playing nice tunes. Not a bad neighborhood option, also check out Old Irving Brewing and Lake Effect to the north on Montrose.

End of 2014: 3.86
You've come a long way baby. Drastic improvements including the draft selection and some much needed remodeling. Dare I say the place is comfortable now. Much needed in the area, though they still need to clean their tap lines more often. Sgt. Slaughter the sausage guy made an appearance and that makes for a magical evening.

9-2012: 2.81
Gave Independence Tap another chance recently, and there are still pros and cons, but some improvements too. Better than average selection for the area, though that's not saying much (Brisku's and Lizard's are better, even Bread & Wine has a few Perennial bottles). Two Rev taps were on (Anti-Hero was fresh, Bottom Up Wit), FW Union Jack (not so fresh), Two Hearted (please read on), SA Oktoberfest, and GLBC Edmund Fitzgerald were the draft highlights. The bad: two taps clearly had dirty lines, and tasted terrible. Two Hearted tasted like straight up Brett. Stick to bottles and current seasonals to be safe. Weekend crowd was laid back and friendly, good music on the juke. Bartender passed out free popcorn, and told a few stories. Next time i'll mention the dirty lines if it's still a problem. This bar is the definition of "no frills" and not worth going out of your way for.

12-01-2008 Score: 2.55/5
This is probably the most soulless bar listed in beerfly for Chicago. It's located on a bleak stretch of Irving Park Rd. across from a bible bookstore near the expressway, on the northwest corner of Irving and Harding. Macro neons line the windows, and a vinyl sign in the window says "Last "P" stop before..." as if this was your last chance to drink and whiz before getting on the expressway...eh.

Sunday night and I was the only one in the place, bartender was at the end of the bar with a laptop, said hello when I came in. Eighteen taps here are macro dominated, save for SNPA, Goose Harvest, Long Hammer IPA, Spaten Oktoberfest, and Pilsner Urquell. Someone stopped caring about the beer here years ago, or never did. Bar mats advertised the new "old" Schlitz, which was also on tap, and I saw the glasses there too. I got GI Harvest in a Bud Light pint glass. The rest of the taps were every variation of BMC you could imagine, I wouldn't be surprised if they were all chosen by a Bud distributor. There's a pool table and digital jukebox. BMC used car lot pennants and mirrors all around the place. Airy, yet cold feeling. Dim lights and a high ceiling, with a second seating area with the lights shut off. Just an awkward feeling place, one that you probably wouldn't mind if you were pounding shots, but certainly the last place you might go to relax with a craft beer.