Granite City "Brewery"

So last night SWMBO and I went to the new Granite City in our area for a couple drinks and dinner. We got there to a modest 15 minute wait, not bad-we went to the bar to wait. I ordered their Bock, and SWMBO tried the Light Lager. I drank the Bock- Not bad, but not great. It was just kind of like a plain-Jane representation of the style. The same went for the Light Lager. I thought I would try their stout out as well, but yet again it was your typical almost oatmeal stout. At 5 bucks a beer I felt like it was money wasted.

All in all I was disapointed with their brews--To add to that they dont even brew on site. They have a brewhouse in Iowa that ships the wort to their locations to be fermented. Meh.

I hope Im not the only one who feels this way about GC.......:cross:

I will say though the food made up for it, I had a bleu cheese burger and SWMBO got the walleye, and they were both great.

I agree. The food is really good, but the beer is very mediocre. They had a Scottish seasonal that I really liked over the winter...haven't tried their Irish seasonal yet.
I actually have a GC card and I get the big beers for $3.50 along with 10% off my food. The wife likes the place and we actually go several times a year.

I saw their "Mug club" deal and it seemed like that would make it a little more worth while, more beer for cheaper. I just dont know how often I would go there.

Well, I dont know what to say exactly. While I was not overly impressed with their beer, I would certainly not go as far as to say as they were bland; and I definitely would not call it bad. They have a nice selection of food, and they have a good selection of craft made beer.

Certainly not the best beer in town, and not the best food in town, but definitely one of the best beer/food combos in town.

mr_stimey said:

I saw their "Mug club" deal and it seemed like that would make it a little more worth while, more beer for cheaper. I just dont know how often I would go there.

Click to expand...

If you're an AHA member you're automatically a "Mug Club" member

I went last Feb in North Dakota while moving a friend back to Michigan. The food was pretty good, and I thought the beer was ok too. I had the sampler, and the Scottish was my favorite.

Last night I chatted with another friend who still lives out there, who never drank beer. He said he tried one of the lighter kinds there recently, and really liked it! There may be hope for him yet. He's a very scrawny guy, so maybe he will start drinking beer and actually gain a few pounds! LOL!

Just made it to a newer built one in Orland Park, IL yesterday for dinner.
Thought both the food and brews were decent.
Took home a growler of IPA. A bit costly at like $15 for the growler itself (neat design with a flip top etc. though...worth it to add to collection) and about $9 to fill it.
I'll return for sure.






Thought the following was somewhat interesting as well...from their website...thoughts?

"Shortly before we opened our third store, we launched our patented brewing process, Fermentus Interruptus™, which makes micro brewing for multiple locations more efficient. This process, conceived and designed by Mr. Burdick, allows us to ship sweet liquid called wort, from our central brewing facility to individual stores. When this liquid reaches the stores, we begin the fermentation process and complete the brewing. We use Fermentus Interruptus at all of our Granite City Food & Brewery® locations."

Im glad someone ressurected this thread, because between my first experience and now I actually moved about a block away from a GCB location, and joined the mug club. $2.75 25oz happy hour mugs is not a bad deal, especially for being within walking distance.

My wife and I are both mug club members. $20 for a lifetime membership that gets you 10% off food purchases and the 25 oz. mug for $3.25 is a great deal IMHO. The food is great and it's one of our favorite places to go. While the beer isn't fantastic, it's pretty good and beats the only other "brewery" we have in town.

As for the beer being brewed off site, they have a patented process for producing the wort at their main brewery in Iowa and then shipping it to all of their sites for fermentation. This is to ensure consistency between all restaurants. It's actually an interesting idea and I don't consider it a bad thing just because it's not brewed on premises.

There's an interview here that explains a bit about the process:
http://stlhops.com/interview-with-larry-chase-of-gc-food-and-brewery/

Edit: I think on Tuesday, the mug club memberships are half off, which really makes it a no brainer.

jfrizzell said:

As for the beer being brewed off site, they have a patented process for producing the wort at their main brewery in Iowa and then shipping it to all of their sites for fermentation. This is to ensure consistency between all restaurants. It's actually an interesting idea and I don't consider it a bad thing just because it's not brewed on premises.

There's an interview here that explains a bit about the process:
http://stlhops.com/interview-with-larry-chase-of-gc-food-and-brewery/

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link!
I thought it an interesting process just from the blurb on their website but that link had more info on it.

I agree with most everything already said, but to recap:

• Beer is mediocre
• Food is better than to be expected
• They should call themselves a fermentery, not a brewery
• Being a mug club member makes it a little easier to go back
• They have awesome growlers that work great to serve homebrew in

Granite City opened up here earlier this year. I concur with most of the comments. The beer is OK, but certainly not spectacular. SWMBO and I generally get the IPA though I'll sometimes get the Bock. Food is pretty good, though they could lay off the Onion Straws that seem be be all over everything.

I imagine your feelings towards Granite City (or any other big chain brewpub) depends on the range of choices that you have. If you've got 6 other brewpubs in your area and tons of restaurants featuring craft beers, then I suppose Granite City might seem a bit of a letdown so far as the beer goes. But if you're in an area like mine with only one other Brewpub within 80 miles and a beer selection in most other restaurants that rarely strays past Killian's or Newcastle, then a place like Granite City is pretty welcome.

The Mug Club membership is well worth it btw, if you're planning on going more than once.