Friendly staff, great location, nice selection of guest taps, and okay house beers. That sums up my experience.
I finally managed to be in Vincennes during the Brewery's open hours, so I stopped by right as they opened. At that time of day, I was able to grab some free street parking nearby. The entrance doesn't have a lot of signage out front and the shared space on the left side of the building was undergoing renovation, so that left the common area in the middle and the brewery on the right side.
The brewery had six house brews available and easily that many guest taps. In fact, while there, other customers were ordering about the same. I decided to get a flight of four of the house brews.
Of the four I tried, I would say the "Hoptimistic" American IPA (6.5% ABV, 65 IBU) was my favorite. It was a solid IPA that I think would appeal to most IPA fans. My second favorite was the "Haulin' Oats" Oatmeal Stout (6.2%, 37). It was different from most stouts I've had, but still had a nice flavor. I had started with the "Kinda Light" Cream Ale (5.4%, 18) because my wife loves cream ales and I wanted to be able to suggest it. But this tasted heavier than the ones I've had elsewhere. I am sure she wouldn't find it as bright or possible sweet as the ones she prefers. I guess what my biggest disappointment was in the "Geoffeweizen" Hefeweizen (4.6%, 13). I consider Hefes my favorite ale to drink a pint of and really look for that balance of clove and banana in both the aroma and taste. I barely noticed either of those prime tastes in this one. Not sure what happened, but if I had done a blind tasting, I would have guessed it was something closer to a pale ale.
The place has been open a couple years and has a new brewer, so they are brewing up a storm, so maybe they will have more than six house brews in the near future. But, I hope they focus on the ones they have and make them even better/truer to the descriptions.
Review #3577 read more