Grist Iron Brewing Company — Restaurant in Town of Hector

Family friendly establishment. Just want to get that in the review for other families doing Google searches for family friendly establishments that have children, kids, toddlers, babies, etc.

My family went to Grist with another couple and two toddlers. It was Halloween weekend. We called ahead of time to check if there were any available tables. We were told there were, but that it’s first come first serve (very normal for the area). Hard on families for planning purposes, but it is what it is.

When we arrived, the hostess explained how the seating works and pointed out where there are multiple tables in different areas. I saw enough room for our party, and texted my wife and the gang waiting in the car that it was safe to come in. While waiting for them to arrive, another masked (for Covid, not Halloween) staff member came up to me. He said, for young toddlers, it’s probably best if you sit in the next room as there are some lower tables. He also said there might not be a table available in the room, but outside there are lots of tables, fully covered and heated well. He also explained the most heat is on the north side of the building, but all seats are well heated. How this staff member took the time to explain all of that to me was completely unnecessary, but it’s a gesture that’s very appreciated for a dad trying to scope out a place for a group like ours. It also speaks that this is someone that understands what it’s like to cater to families.

Ultimately we found a table in the initial room he suggested. We saw other families with young children seated as well. There were also couples, other adult only groups, all ages. It was a big mix of people just having a good time. Everyone was nice and respectful.

The food was solid, drinks very good, service at the bar quick and kind. They were also having a Halloween party, the place was buzzing. Again a big mix of people having fun, and the best costumes I ever saw at a single Halloween event.

Grist, you did an excellent job. You made the nights of 4 Moms/Dads + 2...

Beers: Their Front Porch IPA, cream ale, and blueberry wheat are currently very good beers and you will enjoy them if you are into beer. The rest of the offerings are hit or miss, and might depend on individual taste. As of 8/23/15 they have delved into porters, offering a smoked vanilla porter that is way too smokey for most tastes (more like a rauchbier) with almost no detectable note of vanilla. So this one needs some work.

Food: I've tried only the pizzas and they are very good. They don't take too long to come out, even when the place is very busy. I recommend the garlic pizza and the buffalo chicken pizza. Each one can serve about 2 people comfortably.

Atmosphere: Pretty good. There is plenty of indoor and outdoor seating--I mean, this place is immense compared to most craft breweries. You will not really have to battle people for tables unless it is insanely busy. The turnover is high enough that I've never really seen people standing around looking for a seat for very long.

They do have live music a lot of times, which they set up indoors and is obnoxiously loud. Both times I've been there they've had local "standards" bands. They're not too bad, but I wonder if the owners have really asked their customers about whether they want to shout themselves hoarse just to be heard while they are drinking. The live music actually limits the amount of time I want to spend there.

Overall worth a stop, but I hope they work more on their dark beers and consider setting the band up somewhere where people can limit their...

Our party arrived in the early afternoon in accordance with our reservation and we were greeted by one of the owners who, in short, told us that they "didn't like limo busses of college kids because they had clogged the toilets in the past". We all sort of looked at each other in exasperation as our group was made up of 6 individuals with doctorates, 2 police officers, and 3 high school teachers, not a bunch of college kids.

I asked for an apology because the comments before we had even exited our limo were rather offensive and overtly unwarranted, and was told that we could get back on our bus and leave. A more appropriate greeting would have been something like "welcome to our establishment, please be respectful of our facility," which would be an understandable request for any group regardless of their background.

There is clearly significant discourse between the brewery's leadership because the second of the two owners did later apologize and gave us a growler of beer but the damage had been done. So, here's the review as promised.

I can't speak for all beer lovers out there but I don't look for free beer, I look for good beer from cool breweries. The building was neat but this stop was certainly not worth being mistreated. To summarize, on behalf of the entire group of not-college-kids, I hope the toilets get clogged for many, many...