Grafton Winery & Brewhaus

 

 

I visited this place with my family, while taking a little road trip, enjoying the sites up and down the river. The location is a dual winery and brewery. I had a beer flight and my wife enjoyed some wine. There is plenty of seating, and garage-style doors that open for nice weather and views of the river. We liked the atmosphere, and they seem to regularly host live music. We didn't try any food, but the beer was lackluster. It has a homebrew-like flavor and all of the brews had a similar flavor. Unremarkable beer, but worth a visit for the atmosphere.

 

Visited this establishment on a fall day, actually with the intent of going to the winery (upstairs) but noticed they had a brewhaus down below, so stopped in there first. Cool setting in the bar area with about 6-7 large steel tanks behind the bar, each with a tap. Only had one beer here, their stout offering, and it was quite good. Parking was tight, but otherwise a great place to stop by if in Grafton, IL.

 

 

was there for a rehearsal dinner this weekend. while the house made beers were not particularly memorable, the were tasty enough, and the service at this place was phenominal. we were treated like family here, chatted to the owner for awhile, really great folks. they are first and foremost a winery, that does beers on the side. they did make a couple of excellent wines. also had a few impressive guest taps from the st. louis area craft scene. they get live music in there a few nights a week and the prices are completely fair. they were generous with the samples and are planning all kinds of exciting improvements on the beer side, so expect this place to get better. we were there on a cold rainy night, but in the summer the atmosphere must be much better, with a HUGE deck overlooking the mississippi river, i will definitely go back here in the summer to check it out. all up the pilsner is probably their best beer, but the dark wheat was reasonable as well. worth a stop if your in the area

Showed up on a Sunday night about a half-hour before they closed, and the bartender was counting out the drawer for the night. He was really friendly though, and ran through the house beers and guest taps for us. The best beer here was Six Row Dunkelweiss (a guest tap), sadly the house beers tasted basically all the same with slight color variation. We were told the beers ferment for 3 days, condition for 3 days, and are ready to go... homebrewers I know allow 2 weeks for conditioning and natural carbonation. The house beers were all overly carbonated, making me wonder if they force carbonate everything. Apparently the "nut brown ale" here is a blend of the pilsner and stout... what? They did have one seasonal (red ale), but the bartender said they really don't stray from the basic "3" (meaning 2... pilsner & stout, and a blend of those) which says to me that this "brewpub" is really just phoning it in. A brewpub needs to make more than 2-3 beers to be taken seriously. The potential is there, but they need to get more creative to make it remotely interesting. We left with the impression that the Brewhaus was an afterthought of the adjacent Grafton Winery.

The Brewhaus had it's own entrance separate from the winery, with a logo on the front door. Spartan and clean interior, with a partial view of the river outside. Limited hours, only Fri-Sun. There was talk of expansion in the future, when the current tenant next door moves out. Currently there were 2 kettles behind the bar that doubled as serving tanks. A side row of 6 taps had Matilda and 6 Row Dunkelweiss, which was the unexpected gem here. Considering the location the selection was ok, but the Piasa Pub across the street was far better.