Latest reviews from Hays
| 78 /100 2050 U.S. HIGHWAY 40 “Located on the outskirts of town, this place has an attractive, business-like ambiance, with the brewing equipment from the tasting room. The beers here are good and the vibe is mellow.“ |
| 70 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Considering all the brick, I should excuse the high noise level, so I will rate it average rather than lower. Service was lacking as the flight was simply dropped off with a slip of paper as to which beers were which but not which row was which. Good broad beer selection and the food was pretty good, but again, lacking service as I had to ask for silverware. Value acceptable. For such an out of the way destination, I probably won’t return. As for the beers, there were a couple of average to above average ones, but many were lacked much flavor punch seen in many craft beers.“ |
| 78 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “An absolutely stunning brewpub with tons of space and very well designed. Service was passable, expected better for a place that shows off beer. Beer was thier own, but lots of styles. Inexpensive and decent, but nothing great.“ |
| 82 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Wow, this place is pretty fucken neat for being in the middle of Kansas. Classy, modern/industrial atmosphere with good service. Usually have 5-8 beers on tap at least during my visits. They also have a Runza-style sandwich on the menu which is kind of cool. I stop here for lunch every time I drive from Denver to KC.“ |
| 88 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “I was surprised at this place in sleepy little downtown Hays. It has a very modern ambiance and food menu. The inside is expansive with tasteful brick and an open layout. The music was indie rock. I really felt like I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. They had quite a few beers on, but many of them were fruit or light wheat styles. I assume this can be contributed to the summer heat. I ate delicious sauerkraut soup and some chicken wings. Beer prices like most places in Kansas, are very good.“ |
| 78 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Stopped in for an early dinner on a Monday. Quiet. Tasted 8 beers - their entire line up. Good to very good beers. Friendly place.“ |
| 82 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “If you find yourself driving from Denver to Kansas City STOP here! This place is worth the detour through the small, quant, beautiful town of Hays. This large, open space brewpub is intentionally far from the interstate to discourage fat tourist. Ambiance is boss with exposed brick, old school wood rafters. Beautiful space. Tap list is all household beers including their root beer and cream soda. Food wad quite good with fish tacos and veggie burger outstanding. Fried garlic green beans rocked. This is a major local hangout. Very popular. Everyone knows everyone else though we were treated like friends. Had a blast! Value extraordinary coming from DC. Easy to find parallel parking along the street. House beers were above average quality wise.“ |
| 84 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “A long overdue visit to this oasis on the plains. Very nice setting. Excellent service and great prices. Had the fish tacos for lunch, which were very good. Bartender was friendly and up-to-date on all the current beers and the history of Liquid Bread. Beers were for the most part above average. Well worth the short drive off of I-70>“ |
| 74 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Second visit on trip via I-70 in two years. A great brewpub with good food. I tried the Stout, Ft. Fletcher IPA, American Wheat and Pumpkin Ale. Three out of four were great, the the fourth okay. For food I had the onion rings, bierock and black and bleu salad. They were all tasty. Service at the bar was great. They had eleven beers with one being a seasonal. $4 16oz. and $5 22oz. Growlers $14 or $5 refill. Worth stopping for lunch/dinner if on I-70.“ |
| 86 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “It looks like their stouts have won most of the awards, but I had the IPA and was impressed. Nice bar, good food and a great stop in the middle of Kansas.“ |
| 82 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Visited September 2010. This place is large and open in a fairly small town. We used this as our lunch stop heading from Colorado Springs, CO to Kansas City, MO. The service was very helpful and attentive. The food was fresh and the prices very good. This is definitely worth a stop if you find yourself traveling I-70 or points nearby.“ |
| 78 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “The best beer in Western KS. Stop here every time I head to CO. First went here in 2010 on my way to the front range for my brewery tour. Attached to a decent restaurant. Decor is old survey maps of Kansas. Downtown location.“ |
| 74 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Great place - go here for dinner EVERY time I am in Hays for work. Food is very good, especially the grilled salmon (much better than you would expect for the middle of Kansas). Beer selection is decent - about 6 or 7 regulars with 1 or 2 seasonals. Good variety, and overall good quality of beer.“ |
| 76 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Stopped in on a Saturday after a football game so had the crowd from the game loved the selection on tap and also the fodd will get back there for sure great bar in a small college town
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| 92 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “I visit Hays sometimes for the skateboarding contests twice a year in fall and spring. The last time I had a free weekend that coincided with a contest in Hays, I went down, and after the contest went to pick up a couple of growlers from LB after having them recommended to me. I bought their India Pale Ale and Oatmeal Stout. Both were out-of-this-world good interpretations of two styles I love. The food looked and smelled great, but I had to get back on the highway so I did not stay for dinner. The building is kind of quirky and cool looking. This Brewpub is at least one of the two best I’ve been to, making it the only real Kansas competitor with Free State in Lawrence in terms of quality of beer.“ |
| 66 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “I visited this restaurant/brewpub on a Saturday night. It definitely has more of a restaurant feel (reminds me of Barley Creek in PA). It also was not terribly crowded despite being a Saturday night. They did not have many seasonals when I was there (just the lemon ale I think...was hoping to try the Liberty Stout but no such luck...). The beers were good but not outstanding and the food (had a soup and split the garlic fries) was ok. I didn’t stay here too long as I was just not feeling it. Maybe if some of the better brews were on tap, but otherwise...if you’re passing by, sure, but I wouldn’t go out of my way. This place is definitely overrated.“ |
| 70 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Been here twice now. The first time I was shocked at the caliber of brewpub hidden in the middle of KS. Big, clean interior, brick walls, lots of space. The 2 times I have been here there were almost no people, last time there were more workers than customers. Either way, great interior and the best brewpub bathrooms I have ever seen. Just seems out of place. I stopped but twice and unfortunately both times they had the same exact beers. Lots of taps, 7 to be precious, but no seasonal both times. In June there was no seasonal, how cold they let that happen. Even the regularly available Hefe was tapped out. Get the hint? The beer is well crafted. However, being in the middle of nowhere doesn’t provide the type of competition that makes for a better product. The Pale and IPA seem to have been considered hoppy 10 years ago. The beers all seem to have a similar malt base, which takes away from the beer. Their brown was excellent, one of the best I have had. Food, big menu but nothing pops out. What I ate was average. Prices were ok but seem high for the area. I was blown away the first visit but bored the second visit. I would not return unless I knew there was something interesting on tap.“ |
| 94 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “The first thing you notice when you walk into Gella’s Diner and LB Brewing Company is the aesthetics. It’s very post-industrial, with lots of dark metal and aluminum buttressed by warm and inviting hardwoods. From a design standpoint it’s top notch. Likewise the menu, from a graphic standpoint, is very impressive. Each beer even has their own unique logo. They’re all also assigned their own individual number, which is something I’ve not seen in the other brewpubs I’ve gone to. I like it. It’s a complete package and all of it “fits.” It’s modern, slick, and cool, which makes it even more out of place because it’s to be found in Hays, Kansas, which is about as far west as you can go in the state and not lose your mind. We went to Gella’s/LB on our way back from GABF, a coup de grace if you will, and it was well worth the stop. The beer is obviously the main draw if you’re a beer geek like me; the dark beers (stouts, ales, etc.) are all literally world class, as both the Liberty Stout and the Oatmeal Stout have won multiple awards at both GABF and the World Beer Cup. The lighter beers aren’t nearly as impressive as the stouts, but they’re decent in their own right. My buddy seems to think it could be the water profile in Hays (think western Kansas) may not be 100% right for the light beers and he’s probably right. Then again, our palates have had a quite a beating following GABF. Aside from the beer, the food was prompt, hot and delicious. I really like that they’re using both local ingredients as well as some local recipes in what they offer. I can’t believe I’m saying this but this place reminds me a lot of Free State in Lawrence (Free State West maybe?), and you could argue it’s even better. They’re kind of like polar opposites on different ends of the state. Where Free State has a boatload of great pale ales and IPAs Gella’s / LB has some world class Stouts and Brown Ales. That said this was well worth the trip, I was not disappointed and truly impressed. We are planning to go back sometime in the future.“ |
| 82 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Stopped by during a drive home from Denver. Immediate reaction was how modern and cool the layout of the restaurant was. I really liked the look of the place. When I was there, they had 10 beers on, and did a sampler of 8 that dropped the two I didn’t want to have. Beers ranged from fair to pretty great. The sampler was only $6.50, which was pretty amazing. I had the Chicken Fried Chicken, and my wife had a shrimp wrapped in bacon dish - both were excellent. They really took care of my kids as well, I really loved this place and wish that it was much, much closer to KC. Service was prompt, and they hustled it up since they knew we were on the road. It’s about 5 minutes off of the highway, so if you are driving across Kansas on I-70, and have the time, this is a must stop. 82 = ★★★½ (Solid place, near the top of the list for locals and visitors) I only use the total score, not the component parts.“ |
| 82 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “This is Hays Kansas??? A great space, good food and the stout and IPA were very passable. Worth a stop for sure!“ |
| 84 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “I am going to mirror everyone’s sentiments: this place is incredible. Definately stop if you are driving on Interstate 70 between Denver and St. Louis. Beers were incredible and the food well, I had the grebble for an appetizer and buirock for dinner and both were outstanding. It was very busy and the servers were frazzed but we had a great time. This place is in the middle of nowhere but it’s nice to see people coming out to try what, if it were in Chicago, would be just as busy. Great work guys.“ |
| 84 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “A true high desert oasis in the vast nothingness that is Western Kansas. It is always a pleasure coming here, stop everytime I drive through town from Kansas City to Denver or vice versa. Post industrial within an old downtown revitalization. This place has really grown since the last time I was here. Some strange people in this particular evening. Come to find out WWE was in town. Nicely structured just like their beers. Lots of open ceiling and exposed brick like you would find in a big city loft. A very nice view of the brewing area from behind the bar. Very clean and well thought out. Great crafted beers and well done comfort foods. Kansas is a brewing state to watch, you heard it here first. Oh and try the chicken fried chicken and garlic fries. They are to die for!“ |
| 80 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Holy oasis in the middle of nowhere! Visited while driving cross country in September 2007 on the recommendation of a few people here. Maybe it was the fact that I was driving a convertible with no a/c and it was pushing 90, but fuck if their rye ale wasn’t the sexiest thing that has ever graced my lips. Atmosphere is very post industrial, lots of exposed beam, very high ceilings, food was above average. Am I missing something? What is in Hayes? College town? What is this gem doing in the middle of Kansas?“ |
| 86 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “Visited for lunch on a Wednesday. Located in a very cool part of town, the inside of this place was beautiful. There were three sections of the place: one a deli-like place, another a plain seating area, and the last, the bar with plenty of seating and a nice window over-looking the brewing tanks. They had 12 beers on tap, and their samples were pretty generous. The beers were very good, much better than I had expected. The food also was very good, and the garlic fries are a must. The price was about as expected, although it was great considering the quality of the food and beer. The only issue was that they appeared to be understaffed and it took us a long time to get our bill. The waitress seemed a little overwhelmed, so I’ll cut them some slack. Also, the head brewer came out to say hi to us and even made and gave us a sticker for our RV. If you are ever traveling on I-70 and going through western Kansas, a stop at Gella’s Diner and Liquid Bread Brewing Company should be a must-stop for beer lovers.“ |
| 84 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “A very very pleasant place to visit, and worth the 3 hour drive to get there. The beers are all solid, even though they do the typical brewpub color spectrum of pale (wheats) to copper (pale ale) to amber to brown to black. Nothing adventurous but still solid and well made beers. Further the food was really very good. Garlic fries: holy cow! Also tried the fried bologna sandwich (which they took to a level I didn’t know existed for such a thing!), the ale & cheddar soup, and the bread pudding: all great. But the garlic fries! Man, the garlic fries! The atmosphere was really nice here, very clean and modern, open spacious layout. Cool bathrooms too. Oh, and garlic fries! Moderately kid friendly, at least in the middle of the afternoon - we left just as the Friday night dinner crowd was thinking about arriving. One more thing, try the garlic fries.“ |
| 88 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “What a pleasant surprise! I never expected a place like Liquid Bread out in the middle of nowhere. Everything very well thought out. Multiple eating rooms with a great view of the brewing equipment in the main room. Clean and inviting appreance. Well rounded menu and everyone in our party enjoyed what they ordered. An excellent selection of their own brews; nine year around brews with a few seasonals. Most important, they emphasize quality before quanity. I’ve been in too many brewpubs where they have 15 beers, but only 4 or 5 are worth drinking. This will be a great stop going out or coming back (or both) from the GABF.“ |
| 80 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “I noticed mjames’ post for Liquid Bread back a few months, and made a mental note to stop next time I made the cross-Kansas trek to Denver. Finally got a chance to go last week, and what a great place! A really well-thought-through and implimented look for the brewpub. Clean, bright, comfortable. From a designer’s perspective, the logo, the menu, and general choice of decor were all really nice. The reproduction Goodform chairs were a great finishing touch. The food was well made, with excellent, understated flavor. Our waitress recommend the chicken fried chicken, and it was unusually good. (I can’t think of the last time I had chicken that tasted like this: actually, like chicken, instead of some kind of industrial tofu sponge for sauces.)
The beer was all unusually solid interpretations of traditional styles. Nothing with any bombastic flavors to scare the constumers here, which seems like a saavy plan for a new brewpub so far from any hub of beer activity. I got to spend an hour or so chatting with Gerald the brewer, who is doing all the work of brewing by himself, all the way down to driving out of town every brew day to a well with a good water profile. I was really impressed with his attention to detail, and I felt like I could taste it in the beer.
This is a place worth going out of your way to visit. And I suspect, one that will get even better with time.“ |
| 80 /100 117 EAST 11TH STREET “A gem located in an otherwise barren area of central Kansas, the only brewery in a 540 mile stretch from Topeka to Denver. The lineup was somewhat plain, recipe-wise, as is common with small town breweries, but up and down the line you’ll fine every beer brewed exceptionally well. I couldn’t help but repeat my comments to my wife a number of times while visiting: "Simple recipes, but almost perfectly brewed." There’s some skill behind this place, some formal training would be my guess. If you’re passing through the area, it may be worth your time to visit. I got the feeling that there was some big time restaurant money behind this venture, but the brewer and the staff were all beer. I couldn’t help but think that if this brewery finds success in central Kansas and begins to experiment with unique styles, they could become something very big in the craft beer world.“ |
