Free State Brewing Company

The OG and classic Kansas brewery, though not the best one of the Lawrence breweries these days. I'm sure, back in their heyday, this was truly something. The place is located in the heart of downtown Lawrence, with pay street parking during the day and week. They had a dozen or taps when I visited, with 5 oz pours of everything for $2.25 (or $5 for their more expensive beers, which is a ripoff given that you can get a bottle of Old Backus for barely over $3). Beer quality is solid, service is fine, and the place is pleasant. Worth a hit if you're in Lawrence.

Nice open room with glassed off production facility in back. Service was friendly and prompt. 12 beer selection on tap. Food was good. Recommend if in Lawrence.

Stopped in for a beer with Patty and Erica. Nice small place in a nice downtown area. Good service. Brewers in this area don't know how to make a good NEIPA yet. Nice air cooling on a hot day.

First visited while in town auditioning at KU back in the spring of 2009, but never reviewed the place, apparently! Visited again late May, 2018 with Mrs. Owl and a couple of friends after a friend's wedding. Couldn't visit Lawrence without hitting up the iconic (to us old RBians) Free State! Neat enough place, friendly and knowledgeable bartenders. Lots of wood everywhere, dimly lit in the evening, but nice and clean. I thought this place was a golden gem back in the day, and they still have some uber famous beers to old school beer nerds, but the truth is most of the beers you'll get on tap are clean but nothing special. They've gotten pretty big now and you can get their mix 12pks and random 6pks all over town and they usually aren't anything special. Hopefully a couple good one off unique beers are on tap when you stop in because those are often worth it!

Revised rating: I said I would be back if I was ever in town again and here I am 13 years hence. Same footprint, but everything is way better. Service is outstanding, beer selection is now huge, food excellent and with very reasonable prices. They still don’t have Owd Macs or Old Backus, and since I could find neither on Untappd, I’m guessing they don’t make them anymore. No matter; all the beers I had in my 5 beer flight were excellent. A must stop for beer lovers in Lawrence. Original rating (3,6,7,na,na,13,58) 6/21/05:I’m a little surprised by the high ratings here. The bar area is tiny, though not nearly as small as Barley John’s in New Brighton, MN. The extent of the seating in the bar area that is not actually at the bar consists of 4 chairs set up along a ledge to the right of the bar and 4 lower chairs around a small bar stool posing as a table. There was no service to either of these areas. All the rest of the seating in the place, which has two stories, is reserved for diners. We arived at around 4:15pm on a Saturday, and they would not give us a table in either of the "dining areas" and the bar itself was full. The outdoor patio was full of smokers. So, I was forced to write my notes on the bar stool, a tough task when you are sharing such a small surface with 3 beer glasses. Finally, for a place that has gained a world-wide reputation based upon 2 beers, to not have either of them year round is a disservice to the customer. The offerings that were available were solid, but not anything extraordinary. I was frankly underwhelmed but would still go back if in the area and I knew either the Owd Macs or the Old Backus were available.

About 15 of their own beers on tap - most available in 5 oz pours for less than two bucks each - which translates into lots of tasting opportunities. All were very good, some exceptional. We were there on a Friday night but it was not too crowded or unruly. Friendly bar tender and the well lubricated customers, made for a fun time.

Very nice looking place, crowded, friendly people, could have used more brewery exclusive taps. Value was great.

Free State is in a old renovated storefront location, with a small bar & the kitchen on the ground floor and most of the seating on the second floor (I didn’t check it out). I thought the selection was pretty good. I got a flight ($1.85/sample, 4-5 in a flight) son I could sample a few and I liked the Octoberfest and the Garden Party (very herby and vegetal) the best, though the seasonal watermelon tart was interesting. This is a family friendly brew pub with free balloons for the kids and a lot of to go orders for the locals. The ladies room was in pretty good condition.