Chicago Area Brewpub Closes

[Rhoobarb]

I never got a chance to go there myself, but I'd heard good things about it from friends and fellow homebrewers who had. Sadly, I just learned that Govnor's Public House in Lake In the Hills is now closed. Hope this doesn't become a trend.

http://www.govnors.com/

 

[homebrewer_99]

The real question is WHY did it close?

Bad service, bad beer, bad neighborhood, over priced, etc....

 

[Rhoobarb]

The real question is WHY did it close?

Bad service, bad beer, bad neighborhood, over priced, etc....

Honestly, the two biggest criticisms I heard about it were the location and the service. It is near a mall in suburban tract-house and strip mall hell. Traffic around there is horrid. You cannot get away from yuppies with their unruly brats in tow. More in tune with an Applebee's than a brewpub. Service was supposedly untrained to downright rude. A lot like most places in Schaumburg near Woodfield!

I'd heard the beer wasn't bad at all. But even a wall full of GABF and WBC medals can't overcome those kinds of problems.

 

[hcarter]

Bankruptcy closed it.

 

[conpewter]

I've been there several times, usually the beer was good, food was good but the service really sucked.

 

[HEGENSCHWARTZ]

The sad thing is they gave no warning to their crew. They showed up and had notices on the doors from the bank. In these times you'd think you'd give them a chance to find other jobs. Since I manage a nearby restaurant in Crystal Lake I was able to hire their former kitchen manager to become a manager for me. He got lucky but I had a couple more stop by that I had no room for.

 

[kjung]

I've been there several times, usually the beer was good, food was good but the service really sucked.

That'll do it, every time !

 

[conpewter]

A new place called the "Barley House" opened up a few miles south of there (in the old claddagh building) that I'm going to tonight, I don't think it is a brewpub, but I think it may be a taphouse/restaurant.

 

[conpewter]

Barley House was nice. It just opened a couple weeks ago so they still need to train their staff a bit more (My only complaint was needing to ask for a glass for my beer, was given the bottle).

The food is really good. I had the steak, my wife had the burger. I'll probably get the burger next time as it was really good, the steak was good as well.

The beer selection is really cool, they had about 10 on tap, and about 250 different bottle selections. Their beer list is organized by style, there are some really expensive ones on there (no Utopia though..) but did have Sam Adam's Chocolate bock and a lot of other ones I've read about. I settled on "Old Peculiar" since I had not had that one before.

Overall I'll go there again, but probably after a few months. Emmett's Tavern in Dundee is still my all time favorite beer joint (they are a brewpub).

 

[clake]

Wow, I am shocked. I used to live in Crystal Lake and went there quite often. I never noticed bad service there but I always sat at the bar and only ate their pizza (O'Florentine) which was great. Their beers were okay, not great, but it was the local brewpub so I enjoyed it. Sad news.