Upland Brewing Company

Thorpe429

Illinois

4.13/5  rDev +7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

It's nice to have the full selection of their beers available--not just what they're currently bottling. Also, nothing like a fresh beer straight from the brewery.

The atmosphere of this place is pretty neat; I love the copper pipe housing all of the tap lines and coming down from the ceiling. The menu selection is quite good, and I'm a huge fun of their buffalo burgers. The service is usually quite good, and the staff does a great job on weekends when it gets busy.

Within the "service" category, I'd also mention that they give brewery tours every Saturday and Sunday, and the last time my fiancee and I went on one, it was only the two of us and another guy. Still, the tour lasted for quite a while and the tour guide was quite knowledgeable--we even had a nice discussion about the Bell's issues in Chicago, as well as Stone's trouble in getting into the Chicago market.

03-09-2009 10:55:04 | More by Thorpe429

mpcrump

Indiana

3.88/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

A: Nice, bright, open facility. Not all that large but it does have a very nice outdoor area. Given that it was December we ate indoors.

Q: Beer was excellent,

S: Service was just a tad bit slow. Took time getting a second beer while the first was gone. Same with the bill. Still our waitress was friendly, the beer came quick, and so did the food.

S: Perhaps a bit limited since it is only Upland brews. That is only reason I was there so no worries.

F: I had a buffalo burger that was excellent. So were the beer fries. My wife had the nachos and they were just ok in her opinion. I'm a huge fan of a good buffalo/bison burger so I will be back. The menu has variety so I might even try something else....

V: I thought everything was very affordable - beer and food.

Not perfect but I do believe we will be back. In Bloomington my list is Upland, Bloomington Brewing Company, Nick's, and the Irish Lion.

12-23-2011 19:28:05 | More by mpcrump

mdvatab

Indiana

4.1/5  rDev +6.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Stopped by Upland Brewing Co. for lunch on anniversary trip to wineries/breweries in Bloomington, IN. Recommended by wine server at Oliver Winery.

Upon walking through the front door, we noticed a variety of draught choices, various "guest" offerings in 12oz bottles on a shelf behind the bar, and some carry-out bombers & 750ml bottles in a small glass-doored cooler. A bottle of Peach Lambic immediately caught my eye, and I asked our waitress to hold it for me.

After sitting down, I ordered a pint of their brown ale. Definitely tasty. Roasted brown, nutty malt with a nice hoppy bitterness. Clean, with no off-flavors. A good brew, but not a stand-out. We ordered soft pretzels as an app, which were soft and warm, and were accompanied by two dipping sauces (mustard and cheese). Definitely a great start.

For the main course, my wife ordered a "Philly Grilled Cheese" (Cheddar and Swiss grilled cheese w/ grilled mushrooms and onions). According to my wife, it was a bit on the bland side. I ordered a Blue Flame Buffalo Burger (Bleu cheese + jalapeno dressing on top), which was excellent. Both of our sandwiches came with fries on the side, which were fried to crisp perfection.

I forgot to mention that we sat on the patio, which was fantastic on a sunny day. The inside of the brewpub is nice as well, and has ample seating for the winter months.

I highly recommend dropping into Upland if you're in the Bloomington area!

10-13-2011 01:48:10 | More by mdvatab

robboyd

Indiana

3.83/5  rDev -0.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

I've been local to Bloomington for about 1.5 years currently and eat/drink a few a couple times a month. In a town with many great restaurants, Upland is easily above average. They always have 5+ taps going and offer carry-out beer/growler fills. I'm a big fan of Porters and Stouts (even in the summer), which is where Upland is lacking the most. With that said, the brewery/restaurant never leaves me wanting in the beer department.

The kitchen is where this establishment shines. They have some of the best burgers I've had anywhere and offer a number of great tasting healthier options as well. I typically start with a hummus plate and finish with either a burger or their Mac and Cheese, which formerly was made with their Porter and is now made with their Wheat beer.

They've recently invested in upgrading their outdoor seating area, which now feels much more private than it was previously. The indoor seating area feels cramped at times. It could probably use a table or two less but I'd rather feel cramped than have to wait an extra 15 minutes. During the school year you can expect waits of 20 or more minutes on any night.

They have a few smalls screen TV's, which influence the social atmosphere in a good way. You can typically find a good conversation with a stranger at the bar and people at the tables are busy speaking to each other rather than watching the tube.

The combo of good food and good beer make Upland one of my favorite places for dinner. It also happens to be a 2 minute walk from my office, which makes it one of my favorite places for a beer only happy hour as well.

09-18-2011 03:36:30 | More by robboyd

thomcatr3t

Indiana

4.15/5  rDev +7.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

The best word that I can use to describe this establishment is cozy. Although they fit a lot of people into the restaurant, it never really seems overly crowded. They always have a good selection of beers on tap, with very appetizing seasonals. They also offer specials on their pints/pitchers everyday.

The food is delicious and they make an honest effort at using locally grown/raised products in their dishes. Decent price point, with most entrees found around $10.

The only thing that I find a little lacking is the variety of beer that they keep in their cooler, as it usually is heavy on the Wheat and DragonFly, but it is understandable since these are their best sellers. This is definitely a place that you cannot miss if you come through Bloomington!

09-16-2011 07:14:30 | More by thomcatr3t

mulder1010

Australia

3.88/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$

Went there on way to Louisville and wanted to check them out.

Cool little place. Nice outdoor patio and nice indoor area to dine at. Much bigger operation than what I thought it would be. Good vibe in the place. Older crowd inside the place, really different than what I got in Munster.

Good service from the bartender as me and my GF sat at the bar. Very talkitive and one of the better places we got service in.

Beers were decent. Had their Triple and it was awful. the brown ale and Bad Elmer were quite good. Smallish tap list though

Food was good. Had the bison burger and also had the loaded chips. Oops!! Been in Australia too long and thought chips were fries. Loaded potato chips, still quite good.

Still had some of their sours available when I was there. Good to see and the bartender was honest enough to say not to bother as they were not the good ones. Big plus!!

07-10-2011 04:20:30 | More by mulder1010

Urbancaver

Ohio

4.25/5  rDev +10.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Stopped here a few times to pick up lambics. The most recent time I decided to have dinner and a beer while there and really take in the atmosphere. Been toured aruond a few times (AWESOME) and am really impressed with the incredible scale that these guys operate at! The beer is solid but the tap selection isn't always as varied as I would like. The food.... top notch! I had the buffalo burger and was blown away. They also have some really interesting things on the menu including chocolate bacon ice cream which was surprisingly tasty. Overall, one of my favourite brewery stops :)

06-07-2011 13:55:06 | More by Urbancaver

flyingspatula

Indiana

3.5/5  rDev -9.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 3 | $$

I had been planning on going here for a couple months, but between weather and obligations I haven't been able to...until now. Tons of people made it hard to get around. We had alot of friends there and we ended up sitting in different places and walking around a bit. Anyway, had a Dragonfly (IPA), a wheat, and the Ard Ri, and a buffalo burger. The view of the brewery was pretty cool, and the place is put together well with good decorating. Service was good. All in all well done. Will have to go back when it's less busy!

03-13-2011 00:35:52 | More by flyingspatula

kbutler1

Minnesota

3.88/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$

Stopped in here to pick up the most recent batch of Upland Lambics.
Walked in to a nice, if a litle small, cozy bar with a long bar setup that fits probably around 20-30 people and several tables as well. We sat down and were greeted very nicely by the server and ordered 2 beers (Black Komodo). We also ended up grabbing some nachos that were preety good. I also grabbed a growler while I was there and was pleasantly surprised to find that along with the growler purchase you get a free pint, score!
All in all, a good visit to a nice brewpub. Not sure if I would make an extra drive down here again from Indianapolis, but it was cool to check out nonetheless.

12-29-2010 21:34:34 | More by kbutler1

phisigben

Kentucky

3.63/5  rDev -6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I went there for lunch with a friend to pick up the lambic release. It was lunch hour and it wasn't packed but they were a little busy. We got seated right away and ordered a beer in fewer than 2-3 mins after entering the place (I had the Winter Warmer, Komodo Dragon, and Preservation Pilsner). I ordered their Blue Flame buffalo burger w/ fries, the food was delicious and reasonable priced. It was a good place to go grab a beer and a bite but nothing really stood out to me.

The only problem is that they double charge my debit card for the lambics because the original bill they gave me had too many lambics. I was told that the original charge would be erased but it looks like it hasn't on my debit card statement, hopefully I can get this resolved.

12-20-2010 14:06:25 | More by phisigben