Cambridge House Brew Pub

8/11/2008 10:28:23 PM, monday, august 11, 2008
some solid beers, decent ipa, good service. they have an extensive food menu. This brewpub also offers beers from other local brewers in addition to their own. If you live within 30 minutes its worth checking out.

2/16/2008 6:13:57 PM, saturday, february 16, 2008 [ Updated saturday, february 16, 2008 ]
Basically located in the middle of nowhere. Shiny, tiled horse in the backyard, big patio for smoking and hanging in warmer weather than we saw, and multiple floors inside with a big bar. Very friendly, attentive service on a Saturday afternoon, nice crowd that, in general, seemed more attentive to the beer being served than most. Rowing and dart equipment lines the walls, medium-dark wood, lots of windows, unpretentious. The beers, really, are where this place shines, none of the over-the-top one-off beers you’d see at a lot of places, just excellent, consistently good beers. Flawless, well-attenuated, and very very drinkable. The Kolsch is magnificent, and the food looked pretty good as well, though we’d already eaten. About an hour away from my sister-in-law’s place, but totally worth the trip.

1/31/2008 2:32:17 PM, thursday, january 31, 2008
Rather large pub with the main section being more like a sport-brewpubs with large-screen tvs and stand-up tables. The smaller section (1/3) is more like resto-pub with sit-down tables. All total the place can easily sit over 100 people. Food was actually pretty good. A bit more refined than the standard greasy food pub fare. And now, on to the beer. Wow! I think there were 6 or 7 beers on tap the day we were there. We tried 5 of them and I rated four of the 5 in the high-3 low-4 range. The “less excellent” one was the basic stout and was still enjoyable. Definitely a place I want to visit again. And again.

1/18/2008 4:02:07 AM, friday, january 18, 2008
Stoppped by here w/ the bro-in-law after a long ride and a stop down in Williamantic for dinner and beer. The Koelsch beer here was absolutely a delight, second to Cologne only in that it was served on draft vs. straight from the wooden barrel. The atmosphere was a little upscale, Granby seemed upscale. The service was friendly and I got to keep the pint glass with my second pint. I’d love to get by here again for their altbier. I can’t comment on the food, as this was purely a beer stop at the bar.

1/2/2008 10:57:08 AM, wednesday, january 02, 2008 [ Updated monday, january 07, 2008 ]
A large building housing a typically American brewpub with lots of TV screen showing sports. Despite the terrible winter conditions outside, the place was still half-full for a Sunday lunch. The food was tasty and satisfying though my beef tips were a bit expensive for the tenderness/quantity. There were 5 house beers offered and we would not ask for more as every one of them was beautiful, some bordering extraordinary. They seem to take plasure in tweaking some modest, almost session styles into excellent hoppy delights. Smiling and knowledgeable service. A most recommendable place worth travelling far to. Top 2 CT brewpub.

12/19/2007 9:38:57 AM, wednesday, december 19, 2007 [ Updated wednesday, december 19, 2007 ]
This quaint countryside brewpub impressed us quite a bit the day we visited with 4 scrumptious beers out of 5 (the 5th was still decent). They were out of their Kölsch, which was disappointing, but everything else was beautifully drinkable, generously hopped and crafted with care. The food was quite good homemade fare too my spicy jambalaya was very tasty. Service was very friendly as well and we got a free round when they realized we were travelling around to sample local breweries. All in all, a top notch establishment which I will go out of my way to visit again, that’s for sure. They are supposed to begin bottling their Kölsch, IPA, and ESB real soon too, so I am also looking forward to trying them in the bottle format.

11/2/2007 11:54:40 AM, friday, november 02, 2007
This is a great cruise destination from the Hartford area. For me here in Farmington, I just cruise up the 10 for 45 to 50 minutes, a beautiful ride for the 64 bug. I love the place inside, a good pub feel, with a great HD 65 plasma screen for good sports. I’m not too sure about the flashy horse out by the patio - but there seems to be a lot of those around town - must be a Granby thing :). Great food and good hoppy beers.

4/20/2007 11:00:40 AM, friday, april 20, 2007
I figured since I’ve been here enough times it was time to finally review this place. Located about 40 minutes outside of Hartford in rural Granby (literally as you pass nothing but farms as you drive along rout 20), this place is located on 202 and is very easy to drive right past. There’s typically a few of their own beers on and good regional beers. The selection’s always enjoyable. There’s an outdoor deck for the spring and summer months, a large bar area and an eating area. My one complaint about them is that they never have growlers of their own but will always say they do when you call them. If you plan on buying beer to go there, bring your own growler. Overall, this place is good but very out of the way and not really worth the detour unless you’re already going to be in the area.

2/19/2007 7:47:51 PM, monday, february 19, 2007
First of all, this place is in the middle of nowhere. It’s a good 15 minutes from the highway down a random road with nothing around it. Other than that, it’s a decent place. The beer I had was quite solid. They had about a half dozen house beers as well as that many guest taps. The food was good, but the menu is typical brewpub steak, pasta, fish, burgers, etc. The interior is classy with dark hardwood floors and bar. Seems more like a place to go out for a nice dinner than a night at the bar. The bartender I had was a little slow and inattentive, but not too bad. Overall, a nice place, but definitely second to Willimantic in my book.

12/29/2006 4:35:46 PM, friday, december 29, 2006
(12/29/06) Much better beer selection this time -- six of theirs on tap, all of them were above average, and one (the Big Hoppy) was phenomenal. Good service too -- when the waitperson couldn’t answer a question, he brought the owner over to talk with me. The food was nothing special, but I was quite happy otherwise. (4/8/11/6/14)

(12/31/05) I drove a good distance to check this place out on December 31, and I was disappointed to find only three of their beers on tap. It’s fine that they had other micros available, but when I go to a brewpub, I want to drink stuff they make. I was informed that they just didn’t expect so much business (it being their first year in operation) and ran out, and that it’s unlikely that this will happen again. We had appetizers (no main courses), and they were pretty tasty. Service was ok. Nice place -- my sister-in-law enjoyed throwing darts for a spell. (4/6/6/7/10)