This was my second time at Granite City in Madison. This time we just went into the bar area for drinks since we were waiting to pick something up in the mall. I noticed maybe 4-5 of their beers on tap with no signage saying they offered any other beers than those. Not much for a selection and a little overpriced but at least it was a 20 glass. They do have a mug members club discount but I don’t live close enough to get much use from it. The classic craft vs crafty argument can be made here. Considering Old Chicago is just across the street, that makes for a much better selection and price!

awful chain brewery that has awful beers. food is about as good as a TGI Fridays. That’s about it. Not expensive...friendly staff...but shit beer and mediocre food.

I tried to hit JT Whitneys yesterday, only to find that it was out of business, so I went here since it was right down the street - I could tell this place was going to suck before I even pulled in the parking lot - it’s location in the mall, and exterior decor, all screamed crappy chain brewpub - faux upscale mall restaurant, nuff said? - this place is like the Cheesecake Factory, only instead of delicious cheesecake, they make crappy beer - as I had been to a couple brewpubs that day, I didn’t feel like taking any more notes, but the beer was quite bad (if you can’t make a halfway decent IPA, you should not be in business!), and there were only four to choose from - the food was okay - the staff was very friendly, but trying a little too hard to be so - our waiter was so chatty that is was almost awkward - anyway, stay away from this place.

A chain brewpub located right next to the West Towne Mall. Ambience seems like they are trying really hard to pull off the local brewpub vibe, but not doing too good of a job. Staff was very knowledgable about the varieties of beers and gave 2 small snifters as free samples. I tried the stout and the porter which were both average. The food was typical pub fare, burgers and such. Way overpriced though! $24 for a new growler, with a special $1 refill on tuesdays, otherwise $14 for a refill any other day. Not an overly bad experience, just way too expensive for a modest product.