Granite City Brewery - St. Louis, MO

Date of dining experience: June 16, 2015

Place: Granite City Food & Brewery

Location: 11411 Olive St. in Creve Coeur, MO (West Oaks Shopping Center)

Entree: Grilled Salmon Oscar ($20) - Atlantic salmon topped with steamed asparagus, lump crab, and hollandaise. Accompanied with broccoli and wild rice. This dish was absolutely delicious! I will be going back to this restaurant just so Audry can try it. The salmon was perfectly grilled, the broccoli was perfectly steamed, the asparagus was perfectly sauteed, and then it was topped off with lump crab and hollandaise! Wow!

Beer Sampler: Eight small samples of beer for only $5! For the price, you can't beat it! Unfortunately, all of the beer tasted pretty watery. But I hear that Granite City brews the beer for all of their restaurants in a central location and ships the beer to the restaurants for fermentation. That shipping process really hurts the beer.

1. The Northern - Pale Golden American Lager (ABV: 4.5%)
2. The Bennie - Deep Garnet German Bock (ABV: 5.5%)
3. The Two Pull - Amber German/Bock/American Lager blend (ABV: 4.5%) --- This is a half & half glass of The Northern and The Bennie. Honestly, it's better than either of the two alone. It was devised by a guest and became a regular on the menu.
4. The Duke - Copper Pale Ale (ABV: 5.2% - IBU: 59) --- Overall, this was decent.
5. Batch 1000 - Light Copper Double India Pale Ale (ABV: 8% - IBU: 76) --- Again, this was decent. But it was nowhere near as strong of a hop flavor as one would normally expect with it being a double IPA and having a 76 IBU.
6. Broad Axe Stout - Opaque Black Oatmeal Stout (ABV: 5%) --- This stout was nowhere near was stout should be. I'd say this is definitely the "Bud Light" of craft stout brews.
7. Irish Red (seasonal) - a little weak for my taste.
8. Belgian Golden Ale (seasonal) - two different bartenders told me that this was a very strong ale, and it is. However, when you add in the "watered down" factor, this one was the only of the eight that  I actually thought tasted decent. This was definitely my favorite of the eight beer samples. I'm just glad I didn't order a full glass of any of them!

The atmosphere and service are both great. Overall, I'd go back here again at least one more time. But, honestly, there are much better places to get good craft beer in the St. Louis area.

Try this place out for yourself and let me know what you think! Enjoy!