Lil Beaver Brewery — Restaurant in Bloomington

Everyone loves a lil beaver...

This place has been on my list for years since I first heard of it. The name alone was enough for me to go and check it out. Emily and I made plans to come here on a day we both had off and both were in the mood for beers.

We ordered our drinks and took a seat inside. There is a back patio/beer garden where you can enjoy the weather but we just got done walking around outside and needed to cool down. Plus it smelled like rain was coming based on how the air smelled.

I ordered their Kolsch due to it being a favorite of mine and they are relatively hard to find. I was excited to get it and Emily was excited to try a flight of beers herself. While we sat there and discussed our beers, we both came to the conclusion that we weren't exactly digging our beers. My Kolsch tasted almost acidic like a cider than a bitterness of a Kolsch. Maybe that's basing it off the Canoe Paddler (R.I.P) by Leinenkugel but I was expecting a deeper heavier taste than a lighter cider. It was good in its own right but when expecting something else, it was the smallest of let downs.

Emily ordered a flight of beers of what she thought sounded good and she was equally let down to some degree. I tried each of her drinks and based on what they should've been, I was feeling the same as her. All the beer wasn't bad but for what it said it was... it just tasted a bit off.

I will say that the bartenders were beyond great and friendly. They visited our table multiple times to make sure we were good on our drinks. The main seating area we were in was nice and I loved the various beaver artworks on the walls that were all based on famous images. My favorite being the Bernie Sanders sitting on a chair with mittens on.

I really dug the vibe of this place, the humor, the great customer service and overall aesthetics of the place. It was just a bit of a bummer that the beer was just... not hitting the right notes.

This won't stop me from ever coming back should I be...

Dog friendly and family friendly. Gluten free options on the menu. Fun string lights and umbrellas on the tables outside. Great drinks menu.

Food...idk. Burger - nothing spectacular. Reuben - needed more dressing but there's no service so you can't get anything extra/necessary to make your meal better w/o standing in line for 10+ mins to talk to the bar person. So...I can't give that sandwich higher ratings, either.

Bar line is long; you'll waaaaaait to get your drinks. (Only one person staffing the inside the register on a busy summer weekend afternoon).

No water jug outside on a hot day to refill your beverages, but you can wait in line for 10+ mins if you want more (or just disgustingly go to the restroom and fill your glass there because water is water, I suppose...).

The "service" makes me wonder why the lowest tip I'm suggested to give on the app is 15%. For a party of 4 or 6, that gets spendy for someone to drop off your food and never be seen again.

We left after suffering too many minutes of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant Massacre," which just wouldn't stop playing. (It's an 18-min "song" - the one several cities play loudly in parks at night to keep the homeless from sticking around. Why on EARTH would it be on a playlist at a bar where you want people to stay?? Wut?)

I might go back for drinks if I wanted a fun cider or hard seltzer.

Tip: order alllll your beverages for your visit at one time (and bring your own tray to take them to your table outside). Warm beer be darned; it's the best...

My wife and I had a date night and saw an event for Music Bingo at Lil Beaver Brewery. As soon as we arrived, we decided we didn't want to be surrounded by people so we took advantage of their outdoor seating. We were able to snag a table and found there was a QR code we could scan and order our food through (this was perfect for our introverted selves).

We waited about 10 minutes and our food was brought out hot and fresh. My wife ordered the Smash Burger (two patties) which she throughly enjoyed. I ordered the crispy chicken sandwich tossed in Buffalo sauce. This paired with fresh fries and wings, successfully satisfied my hunger. When we were done, there was a "self-service" station that had boxes and utensils to pack up your food and take home (absolutely loved this!)

The time finally came for Music Bingo and we had an absolute blast enjoying some adult beverages, which you can try samples, and singing.

Overall we had an excellent first time experience and we will be returning for the food and future events.

The pricing was fair for the qauilty of food. For the Smash burger, Chicken Sandwich and wings plus drinks we...