Virgil G.
Yelp
Was down visiting some family over thanksgiving weekend. Was staying at the FUNkles place, and had to get a way for a bit, as the afternoon there would have been spent unpacking boxes. So we looked for a nice place to kill time in the afternoon. There was a possibility of going to see the mother, but the timing didn't work out correctly, so that didn't happen. We scrolled through most of the breweries listed on yelp, and found a majority to be closed on Sunday.
This place was recommended by an aunt, even though she had never been here. We went in, and were immediately impressed by the draft selection. Not just great local beer on tap, but also some very nice rare beers from throughout the rest of the U.S.
We both got a flight, because that's all you can do. We thought about joining the "Flight Club", but knew we shouldn't ask, because ... the first rule is YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT FLIGHT CLUB!!!
As we were getting ready to leave, we looked for a shopping cart, or other method to carry beer out, but that didn't exist (I'd assume most locals just go in for a mixed 6), as we were visiting a way out of area place, we picked out several beers to go, all local and not available in Champaign/Urbana. Again, no cart, so we ran out to the car, and pulled out the cooler, and brought that in as our own little shopping cart. Filled that up, and wound up getting more than 2 cases worth of beer. The overall bill was really low (we thought they didn't ring it all up; but they assured us they did).
While we were there, a couple was transferring a beer they had brewed from primary fermentation into secondary, and doing an addition of whiskey soaked oak cubes. The lady seemed a tad upset that they weren't using a higher end whiskey and were using something from a plastic bottle. The staff (and us) assured her that the quality of the whiskey would not come through, and all you are really looking for is whiskey flavor (and oak), so you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on a bottle of Van Winkle, you can spend $3 on a cheapo, and wind up with a good (if not better) product. Let your beer shine, don't make it about the whiskey.
When the brewery I work at hired a new assistant brewer, who had a homebrewing background, I asked him how he liked the job... the job is just like homebrewing, except cleaning on a much larger scale. This place does the cleaning for you (if you brew there) (or so it seemed). So, you can have all the joys of brewing a 5 gallon batch of beer, without messing up your stove, without making the entire house smell like you brewed, and without having to spend your time cleaning, brewing, cleaning while brewing, and cleaning once you get done. Also, you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment just to brew a batch of beer.