Wednesday 12th of October 2016 10:04:56 PM

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Wife Persimmon & I were traveling the U.S. of A. in the fall of 2016 and, after 5 weeks in Denver (and the Great American Beer Festival), we headed East.

First stop of the night, Hayes - Kansas.

Small town, arrived around dinner. Found the motel, settled in then time for a brew.

Lo and behold, little Hayes had a brewpub a few minutes away. Not only just a brewpub, but the Best Small Brewpub Award AND Brewer from the GABF in the nation in 2013.

What a lovely surprise!

The place is huge...with 10 beers on tap, most the wheat variety but of course the typical IPA, an Amber and a Gold Medal Winning Stout...and I must admit, it was one of the best I've had. More than a Guinness rip-off, this had several layers minus a big chocolate bite (but just enough to satisfy) that paired very well with our salmon burger and garlic fries (which smelled more garlicky than they tasted, unfortunately.)

Lb translates into Liquid Bread...the brewer, as I understand it, was a one-time farmer who discovered brewing beer was more fun and paid better so, what else to do but open up a pub! (By the way, it's called Gella's Diner AND Lb Brewing so, you'll be in the right place)

He's done well...and to find this little gem in the middle of wheat-farm Kansas was a real delight after a long day "in the saddle."

So, as the saying goes, if you're ever in or traveling through Hayes, stop by for a cold one.

Thursday 20th of November 2008 11:15:15 AM

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This place is an oasis in a flat wasteland. We travel across Kansas to Colorado and Utah 2 to 4 times a year. Hays has become a regular overnight stop coming and going because of this place.

Always at least 8 beers on tap. Always very high quality tasty beer.

The food is great. Good old meat and potatoes type of menu. Nothing fancy. Chicken Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy is awesome.

We have a couple of their growlers we also fill when we stop.

Only down I have ever seen is sometimes the bar staff ignores you if your not a regular. Usually have to flag them down for a refill.

Saturday 19th of April 2008 04:12:24 PM

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The Lb Brewery is attached to (yet distinct from) Gella’s Diner. Lb stands for Liquid Bread but most of the signs you see just say Lb. There is a long modern bar adjacent to a spacious dining area. Additional seating in available up the short ramp to Gella’s. As the other reviewers say, this brewpub has a friendly small town feel. There were 9 house brews plus 3 seasonals on tap when I visited. I enjoyed both the standard IPA and Pete’s Porter, a tasty seasonal. The menu includes everything from Living Heart Diet (Heart Institute of Kansas) to traditional Meat & Potatoes. We found street parking right out front but a short walk may be required during busy hours.

Thursday 27th of March 2008 10:49:53 PM

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Liquid Bread Brewing Co.
Hayes, Ks
March 23, 2008

This brewery is near downtown in (OMG where is) Hays, Kansas in middle of wheat country. I arrived on Sunday about 5pm. The bar had a few patrons but the associated restaurant, Gella’s was about 50% full.

The bar tender (Derrick Tibbetts) was a twice volunteer Air Force Medic to Iraqi. He said the largest produced beer was wheat, mainly because it is used in 3 of their beers, wheat, raspberry wheat and American Hefewiezen. The best selling beer was the Hefeweizen and the Stout. He did say they brewed an Irish Red as a seasonal beer that emptied the 310 gallon serving tank in 2 weeks. That is a lot of beer.

I sampled 9 of the beers and did not find faults with any of them. They were a bit middle of the standard. I will not take the time to rate each of the brews because there were so many.

At my visit there were 13 beers on tap. Each was number and named. See graphic. The number was the serial number of the type of beer, ie 1 was the first beer (a pale ale) brewed, 41 the 41st beer (Kilt lifter, made with heather not hops, to be tapped April 5, 08) brewed. They brew in the 10 bbl system brewing 3 days a week.

If I understood the story right, the brewer, Gerald, was a farmer who brewed as a hobby and decided to stop farming and brew. I guess this explains the preferences for wheat beers and the name Liquid Bread. To this day, he still hauls water from his farm for brew water. Gerald also has a pilot system and is really concerned about hygiene in the brewhouse.

The bar is festooned with banners of wins at the GABF, for 2005 and 2007. The aluminum barstools were uncomfortable. WiFi, was available. Children were welcome but there was no smoking area. Because of the university in Hayes, the town of 30,000 swells by 10,000 when school is in. The university has one of the best graphic arts program in the country. This may explain the popularity of the stout. The bar tender thinks that perhaps the students have leanings toward non conformity, creativity and adventure.

Beer was reasonably priced and a hamburger was $8.95. They offered growlers (Loaf) refills for $8, 5 gallon for $50, 7 ½ gallon for $70 and 15 ½ gallon for $120. A pint was $3.50 and sampler of 8 beers was $5.50.

The bar tender made a clandestine phone call. I few minutes later an assistant brewery slid up in the barstool next to me. We pleasantly chatted about beer, price of ingredients and agreed on many things. One of those agreements was the least thing we liked about beer was the alcohol.

It was sundown as I headed west to Colorado and breweries in Greely and points west.

As I walked to the car, I reflected that I would come this way again. It would be a good stop on the way west on I-70.

Thursday 4th of October 2007 05:46:25 PM

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Stop in this brewery while on the road this week. Had a pint of there Raspberry wheat.

Also sampled a two wheats they had a filtered and unfiltered and a lemon ale. Both wheats were nice. All tho the unfiltered one was not that cloudy.

They had about 8 beers on tap that they made one was a lemon ale (Lienies Summer shandy) Too much lemon for me. Wanted to try more but had a lot of driving to do.

Had fish and chips, walleye for the fish lightly battered it was good not too greasy, and the chips were a kettle style potato chip.

It was a Tuesday night mostly college aged kids and few other couples, and a party of some kind in the larger room. Service was a little slow but bartender (I sat at bar) was busy getting drinks for the party.

The beers came in 16oz for 3$ 22oz for 4.50$ growlers were available and kegs also. I took a growler of the Raspberry wheat home w/ me. I would stop in again if I was in the area, very cool place for a small town!