I have been to Mickey Finn’s Brewery and Pub in beautiful Downtown Libertyville before and have always enjoyed their Mickey Burger and one of their refreshing brews. I always wondered how they make their beer and what their process all entails. So I contacted Brian Grano, owner of Mickey Finns, after his big St. Patrick’s Day celebration and he was gracious enough to show me how they make their Mickey Burger and brew their beer.

This wasn’t my first brewery tour as I have taken the tours at Anheuser Busch in St. Louis, Miller Brewery and Lake Front Brewery in Milwaukee, but learning the process at Mickey Finns was my favorite as they took me through the whole process and went into full detail on each of their steps. The Brew Master even took me downstairs to where they store the barley malt and the machine that crushes the barley grain and how it then comes upstairs and into the Mash Tun, where the crushed grain is mixed with hot water. Now if you have been to Mickey Finns, you have seen the Mash Tun and the next few steps in progress, as it is located behind class walls by the dining room. Rumor has it you can see the process happening on Thursdays. Once I found out how this process worked, I wondered how they got the beer over to the tappers at the bar. My mouth was just watering for a beer at this point! Listening to the Brew Master, I quickly realized that this was probably the easy part, as it goes downstairs to 1 of 10 tanks and each tank holds about 20 kegs and is connected to the individual tap towers. The beer at Mickey Finns never travels more than 100 ft to get it into your glass.

I usually get hungry when I have beer, so while I was there Brian took me into the kitchen and had one of the cooks show me how they make their famous Mickey Burger. This is one of my favorite dishes at Mickey Finns! In the words of Mickey Finn’s owner Brian Grano, “This is where all the magic happens. Right here baby!” Mickey Finns has daily, weekly, monthly and kid specials all the time and is an excellent establishment for happy hour after work or to have a good meal with the family. The upstairs Amber Room has events such as concerts going on every weekend. Mickey Finns is a place where “Everyone knows your name”! See you at Finns!

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I have been to Mickey Finn’s Brewery and Pub in beautiful Downtown Libertyville before and have always enjoyed their Mickey Burger and one of their refreshing brews. I always wondered how they make their beer and what their process all entails. So I contacted Brian Grano, owner of Mickey Finns, after his big St. Patrick’s Day celebration and he was gracious enough to show me how they make their Mickey Burger and brew their beer.

This wasn’t my first brewery tour as I have taken the tours at Anheuser Busch in St. Louis, Miller Brewery and Lake Front Brewery in Milwaukee, but learning the process at Mickey Finns was my favorite as they took me through the whole process and went into full detail on each of their steps. The Brew Master even took me downstairs to where they store the barley malt and the machine that crushes the barley grain and how it then comes upstairs and into the Mash Tun, where the crushed grain is mixed with hot water. Now if you have been to Mickey Finns, you have seen the Mash Tun and the next few steps in progress, as it is located behind class walls by the dining room. Rumor has it you can see the process happening on Thursdays. Once I found out how this process worked, I wondered how they got the beer over to the tappers at the bar. My mouth was just watering for a beer at this point! Listening to the Brew Master, I quickly realized that this was probably the easy part, as it goes downstairs to 1 of 10 tanks and each tank holds about 20 kegs and is connected to the individual tap towers. The beer at Mickey Finns never travels more than 100 ft to get it into your glass.

I usually get hungry when I have beer, so while I was there Brian took me into the kitchen and had one of the cooks show me how they make their famous Mickey Burger. This is one of my favorite dishes at Mickey Finns! In the words of Mickey Finn’s owner Brian Grano, “This is where all the magic happens. Right here baby!” Mickey Finns has daily, weekly, monthly and kid specials all the time and is an excellent establishment for happy hour after work or to have a good meal with the family. The upstairs Amber Room has events such as concerts going on every weekend. Mickey Finns is a place where “Everyone knows your name”! See you at Finns!

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