Located in a poorly marked and difficult to find new-ish big open building on a mall out-lot -- you know, the kind of building and location that typically houses a Chili’s or Crapplebee’s or something of that nature.No matter how you do up the decor in a building like that, whether it’s faux-Irish, faux-classic-bar-and-grille, or in this case, faux-contemporary, there’s just no disguising what it is, and any attempt to just comes off as contrived. I won’t deny that it’s nice inside but somehow it still feels phony.

Food was OK, a little disappointing given its "casual-upscale" pretension. Beer was slightly better than average, though one was so butterscotchy that I sent it back. Learning from two sources now that the head brewer here used to head up the Elmwood brewery goes a long way toward explaining the average quality of the beers here. It’s no mystery to anyone who tried their beers why Elmwood went out of business; fortunately, the fellow seems to have honed his skills a little bit in the intervening years. Maybe the brewpub format suits him better than bottling.

Service was pretty good -- a little slow to come around sometimes but I never had to endure an unduly long wait. She was very patient about answering my never-ending stream of questions.

I drove about 250 miles round-trip to check this place out, and I won’t be making another 250-mile round trip just on account of this place. If I’m in B-N on other business I’ll hit this place up but otherwise I have little desire to go back. Nor will I eagerly anticipate their arrival in Champaign.

Im going against the grain on this one. I have been to this place 4-5 times and was disapointed eveyrtime i went. The beer and food is average at best and the contemporary ambiance is terrible. From what i gather, this brewer was the same guy that was brewing at Elmwood brewing in west central IL-maybe why the beer is not so good.

A must-stop for one in the area. I can’t really add much to what has already been said. Food is very good, service is very good, the prices are a bit steep, however (but worth it in my humble opinion).

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Destihl, but I went rather quickly after they opened. The ambiance was nice, upscale restaurant and not very beer-focused, and I’m not sure the beer drinker is who they appeal to. The service was very good; we had a waiter at our table who was very attentive, moderately knowledgeable about the beers, and got us what we needed. The selection was basically limited to their beers and a few others, which was okay. The food was pretty good, which leads into the value. You need to know going in that this is a moderately expensive upscale type place that will easily charge 20 bucks a steak and 14 bucks for a burger basket... it’s not a pub! The food is still really good, though! Overall, if you’re around the town and want to hit a brewpub, go here, but be prepared to pay for the food you’re getting with their overall average beers.

Nice upscale style decoration. More of a restaurant feel than brewpub. Five "flagship" beers and five specials on tap when I was there ranging from a Pale Lager to to double IPA and barrel aged beers. I was pleasantly suprised by the variety and quality of the beers. Food was solid, featuring a lot of sandwiches and salads as well as some entrees and a limited brunch menu on the Sunday I was there. Creative ingredients and food offerings. Offering 2 dollar pints never hurts either which they were. They have interesting looking flip top growlers which they charge you 8 bucks for, but I was not complaining as it was only $6-12 to fill it up, with the price increasing for the higher abv or specialty beers. I’d like to go back and try some of their barrel aged beers and get a feel for some of their more experimental beers.

I grew up in Bloomington/Normal so when I was back in town for a wedding I wanted to finally hit this place up. Neither my parents or my sister thought it was anything special, and I agree. I have been too spoiled by Rock Bottom Chicago. The food although it sounded good...was average at best. All the beer seemed watered down and a little thin to me. I got the rotational sampler and the server couldn’t tell me what any of the beer was. When he did return he pointed at one and said it was like Bud Light and said another was like Bud Light Lime and he still had no idea what the names were. If I was the brewer I would be pissed.

We finally made our way here and while the restaurant has a weird upscale feel to it, it wasn’t really snooty. It is laid out really oddly with an 8-top on a stage. At any rate, being so new/young I didn’t have huge expectations, but they still didn’t live up to what they could be. Hopefully it’ll get better with time.

it was alright. they had a really great looking food selection, but the execution was pretty average. They’re trying really hard to be an upscale place but its just kind of a hodge-podge.

Ok, the setting is nothign special as it’s next to a big Target and poorly marked, I drove past it twice with out seeing it. The interior has a simple industrial feel that is also like a maze. The staff I talked to knew their beer. The beers were solid overall with a nice variety. The food I had was plated in a fancy manner and was very tasty. I also enjoyed the eclectic music, These guys are barrel aging lots of stuff, look for them to be contenders at future festivals. I will definitely stop in again if in that part of IL.

Being a new spot on the Veterans Parkway mall/shop/restaurant/motel strip that cuts through Bloomington-Normal, this has the shiny clean look of a something-better-than-family restaurant. There’s few food choices for someone (like me) with a restrictive diet, but the Asian Chicken Salad was pretty decent... once I found the few bits of chicken in it. Somewhat pricey. But the beer is what’s most important to me, and this is a place that shows promise. They have thirteen taps, but right now have only seven beers on tap, including a fairly tasty barleywine when I stopped in. This is definitely a place to stop at if you’re in the area. The location was crying out for a brewpub. The alternatives were either the Illinois Brewing company in Bloomington (which you might want to pass on) or a 30-to-45 minute drive to Rhodell’s in Peoria (a must stop).