Going to be in Champaign on Saturday and looking for recommendations. Beer bars, bottle shops, and grub stops. Cheers.
For beers: Blind Pig, Blind Pig Brewery, and Crane Alley are probably your beer destinations. All 3 regularly update their Beermenus page, so check the site out and see what's on tap. If you're in town on Tues/Wed, the brewery does a mug club thing that gets you $1-$2 off beers. Mug costs $5, so it's not real hard to pay it off. If you stay in the downtown Champaign area, there are like 100 bars all within short walking distance of one another.. each with a different scene/atmosphere. I really enjoy drinking there, for what it's worth. I live over in Bloomington, about an hour west. Binny's is going to be your best bottle shop. Not sure what part of IL you're coming from, but distribution in Central IL is very Chicago-esque. Nowhere near the selection, but we get a lot of brands you wouldn't expect. For food: If you're into BBQ, you need to hit Black Dog Smokehouse. There are 2 now -- one in Downtown Champaign, and one in Downtown Urbana. All easy cab/Uber rides. I've never been to the Champaign location, but the Urbana one is real small and you'll likely have to wait, so plan accordingly. I've seen it ranked in several "top 5/top 10 BBQ joints in the US" lists. Seven Saints in downtown Champaign has phenominal cheese curds. They're like massive meatballs, except they're breaded cheese. So good. I want some now.
You can check out Triptych Brewing in Savoy. Savoy is the town south of Champaign. They have a nice tap room. Their draft list is up to date on the website. http://triptychbrewing.com
Blind Pig (any of the locations), Quality, Radio Maria, Barrelhouse 34 (or something like that, new place) all have large beer lists. Almost any bar downtown Champaign has good taps, some more than others. Personally for food I go to Esquire. But I like greasy old bar food while drinking. Pretty good beer list. Nothing crazy usually but solid. Food is along the lines of burgers, pizza, fried broccoli, etc.definitley non-gourmet.
To echo what others have already said - Blind Pig and Destihl are going to be your best local beer options. There are plenty of nice bars in both Champaign and Urbana that will have decent taplists, food, and atmosphere, but nothing that really stands out to me as a must-hit for a beer enthusiast. I'll agree that Crane Alley is a nice little spot, though. Black Dog is definitely the #1 food spot in the area but it's a zoo. If you're near the U of I campus and looking for something low key, Maize Mexican Grill is awesome. Tiny little hole in the wall type place with top notch Mexican food. It's the best food you're going to find in the area for the time and price. Friar Tucks is a good place to go for bottles. It is just a few minutes down the road in Savoy. Not that different from a Binny's, though.
Black Dog & Crane Alley are my favorite places to eat and drink in the area. A new place called Watson's Chicken Shack has a soft opening this weekend. Looks legit but who knows.
Downtown Champaign has a lot of good places to drink, and has changed a lot over the years. The blind pig has two locations, one where they brew their own and one where they have a good tap list. Black dog's burnt ends are super good(at least the Urbana location), and the beer selection is decent. About a year ago I ran into a Founders takeover with $5 KBS at Crane Alley in downtown Urbana. The liquor stores with the biggest beer selections are binnys and friar tucks(which is in savoy close to Trytich brewing).
