Canned Rage
Driven by a passion for craft beers, their canned designs, and the love of the hunt — Canned Rage highlights unique styles, flavors, characteristics, and the culture of craft beer from Chicagoan Matt Thommes since February 2021.
Welcome to Canned Rage & Chicago Brew News
Your destination for a raging appetite of canned craft beer variety, styles, and designs. Bottled up and serving passion, reviews, culture, and moments from one Chicagoan since February 2021.
Driven by a passion for craft beers, their canned designs, and the love of the hunt, Canned Rage highlights unique styles, flavors, characteristics, and essence of beer. Combined with sensible and approachable content (without confusing hop lingo or beer snobbery), Canned Rage provides practical reviews and commentary for beer lovers.
Brew News (Chicago Craft Beer Commentary):
2025 Beermas Glass Design Contest:
Submitted an entry for the Beer on the Wall 2025 Beermas Glass Design Contest using a free-flowing hand-lettered script approach where the letter B includes a pint glass and the letters R and M run into one another, created in Acorn on an Apple M4 Mac mini.
- July 9, 2026 — Alarmist facility and brand purchased by Pollyanna: I did not see this coming and apparently Pollyanna is doing very well. Hope the Alarmist brand beers get the same care and love.
- July 9, 2026 — Liquid Love closed: This happened last year and was not widely announced on social feeds. Liquid Love had a strong following and brand presence.
- March 10, 2026 — Half Acre and Maplewood merging: An interesting development amid a rapidly changing craft beverage market.
- February 21, 2026 — Illuminated Brew Works shuttering: Located in Norwood Park next to a carwash and a couple blocks from the Metra stop; known for IPAs like Orange Sunshine and Astronaut Juice.
- February 18, 2026 — Mikerphone scraps new Park Ridge location plans: Disappointing news for Park Ridge, though staying focused on their Elk Grove Village location reduces risk in an uncertain craft beer climate.
- January 31, 2026 — Short Fuse Brewing closing current Rosemont-area location on River Rd.
- January 21, 2026 — Saint Errant taking over former Temperance space in Evanston.
- January 20, 2026 — Alarmist Brewing closing original operations in Sauganash (favorite beer: Vote Shaker).
- July 13, 2023 — Anchor Brewing shutting down after 127 years.
Microbloggery
A spin on "microbrewery" and "blog." Microbloggery is a curated list of in-depth, hand-crafted craft beer reviews, tasting notes, and can art highlights that go deeper than standard Untappd check-ins.
My Brewery Visit Map
Interactive Google Map tracking craft breweries Matt Thommes has visited (marked in green) as well as wishlist breweries to visit next (marked in gray) across the Chicago metropolitan area and beyond.
About Me
Hey! I'm Matt and I'm a graphic designer, website engineer, and beer lover by nature. Canned Rage is my side-hustle showcase of my passion for canned craft beers ranging from their unique can designs and names to flavor profiles.
Every beer is a new discovery, and revisiting beers is like that old home-cooked meal you loved that now has an interesting twist. The name "Canned Rage" emphasizes enthusiasm, excitement, and hype around beer—"rage" in this context means "all the rage" rather than anger. The About page also features live Untappd check-in feeds and ratings.
Links & Brewery Spotlights
Collection of web links, recommendations, and personal anecdotes related to favorite Chicago-area craft breweries and bottle shops:
Beer on the Wall
My go-to destination for craft beer purchases and sampling in Park Ridge and Arlington Heights. They have an extensive variety of beer, cider, hard seltzer, and wine, and allow single-can/bottle purchases for anything in stock. Their online storefront is accurate with inventory and great for reserving popular releases.
Tip: The Park Ridge store has Off the Wall Cafe right next door (same owners) serving Dark Matter coffee starting around 8am, where you can also pick up packed online beer orders even when the bottle shop is closed.
Hubbard's Cave
Rooted in Niles, Illinois, Hubbard's Cave (and sister brewery Une Année) is a top-rated local brewery specializing in decadent imperial stouts ("Milk of the Murder Hornet") and rotation of hazy double IPAs ("Fresh IIPA V"), while Une Année specializes in sours and wild ales. Their kitchen also serves standout pulled pork and brisket BBQ, with a large outdoor beer garden tucked behind the building off Gross Point Road.
Alarmist Brewing
Located on Peterson Avenue in Chicago's Sauganash neighborhood, Alarmist Brewing specializes in pale ales, lagers, pilsners, and New England IPAs ("Le Jus"). Standout beers include Vote Shaker (7% citrus IPA) and "The World is a Campfire" smoked helles lager.
Solemn Oath Brewery
Founded in Naperville (Quincy Avenue off Ogden) in 2012 with an additional Chicago Logan Square taproom, Solemn Oath is known for malty Belgian-style IPAs ("Butterfly Flashmob", "Ravaged by Vikings"), smooth citrus crushers ("Be All", "End All"), and hazy double IPAs ("Stranger Older Woodsier", "50,000 Comments By Midnight", and their Hidden Hand sub-brand).