Thursday 23rd of April 2009 06:46:40 AM

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This person needs 3 or more reviews on the site for their scores to start counting.

First, in the "read no further" category, the Blind Pig Co. is a classic beer bar, and has no food other than a few typical bar snacks. The bar also features a decent selection of liquors and a few wines. Patrons will often bring food in from other venues, and this is allowed.
Beer selection is as good as any bar we've ever been in, and we've been in a few. The Blind Pig Co. is no Map Room, but the Map Room is in Chicago, and this is in a downstate college town.
As of this writing, there are about 26 taps, with about 10 regular beers, a dozen rotating, and the other four or so what I would classify as "obligatory suds"- PBR, Bud Lite, Miller Lite, Stella Artois. Care is taken with the rotating beer selection- Three Floyds, Dogfish Head, Avery, Left Hand, Flying Dog, and many other quality micro /craft brews are typical of what might be found in the Pig. In March, they featured a different brewery every Thursday. The month finished with Sierra Nevada, with five beers on tap, including two -the Ruthless Hefeweizen and Chico IPA- that aren't normally served outside Sierra's own taproom.
The atmosphere is definitely in the "old wood" category, and no attempt has been made to refinish it. The interior is done in "Knight Tavern Eclectic" style, with a magnificent old hotel bar he found somewhere, old posts and beams being the theme of both rooms, the Pig being divided into two large rooms with a single large door connecting. There is a set of bathrooms in each room.
The patron complement is varied, with both local and university components, but rarely any undergraduate students from the big U., - which is just the way we like it. We have never seen rowdiness or distracting behavior in the Pig.
The second room has a less conventional arrangement than the North room with its bar. It features great booths, high and low tables of different kinds and a Steinway baby grand. The Blind Pig Co. is not an entertainment venue (if you're thinking that, you haven't been to Champaign in a while, and are confusing it with the old Blind Pig, which was in a different location), but a Celtic band will play in the South room on Sunday evenings, and a great pianist will occasionally uncover the Steinway and play- and you'll enjoy it.
Service is what may define a bar, and the service is always prompt and polite. Bartenders are friendly and there is not a large turnover, which also says something about the place, I think.
We are grateful to have such a great bar in Champaign-Urbana.

Monday 16th of February 2009 04:43:15 PM

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The Blind Pig is a great place to have a beer. The atmosphere of the place is the best in town for sitting around drinking. The selection is also really good, but seems like it used to be better. A couple years ago, the only "lite" option on the menu was PBR. Now it's common to see Miller AND Bud on tap. I guess you have to sell what sells, right? And it's a college town. Even so, there's always something new that I want to try and the lineup changes every week. I don't pay much attention to the bottles. Very limited snacks like chips and some candy are available at the bar.

Sunday 13th of April 2008 12:36:43 PM

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logic dictates when going to see dueling piano's at a piano bar, you have a favorite and a favorite to pity. This place imo, is the donald to it's neighbor's daffy.

I went in here first.

The blind pig's beer selection on this day was 26 beers... I eyed the cask pulls of which they were out of... and this place has a lot of filler on it's tap list.. strongbow, blue moon, stella, smithwicks, pbr, guinness. I do like their sampling 5 3 oz samples for 8, but they have plus a dollar exceptions for some of the beers which is sorta dumb... a 3oz sample is just that. The beer that I had double crooked tree, had to be had... it's good, it's new and I know it's fresh... so I sipped at that and walked around... overall I thought compared to the neighbor, the taplist was conservative, sans a few choices, but there were no real standouts that made me want to come back... it's craft, but it's craft you've had... a stop on your road, but not your destination. The bottle list is okay, and has a few surpises, but if you're from chicago or st. louis, not so much.

this place is a cave with three dart boards, a beautiful oxblood bar, really beautiful booths in the room off the bar, it's a well worn place.. the dust on the bottles that are set up on the rafters should be attended to... the cobwebs up there are charm for some and infestation for others, it's a great layout for a bar. I swooned at the privacy and woodwork around the bar for some time... the place made me feel at ease, tho the patrons, drinking their stella and delerium, were rowdy... I had a guy push me and tell me to move it... That was surprising as anything I'd experienced in a bar thus far... I've been to champaign's drunk tank before in my 20's... I didn't feel like returning. So in recap, the place good, the people, not so good.

service existed... and I like caveman grunting, but when I asked for my beer, the bartender was like, you know that's 6 dollars right? nuff said.

and food does not exist at the pig.

they have excellent t-shirts of the metalwork pig logo outside the place... and if my experience would have been better I might have got one, but dbl x fatties don't exist at the "pig" so, say no go...

I'd recommend this place for comparison with the neighbor next door... and if you've been here before, go in for the sampling of fine hospitality and local flavor, you'll prolly choose which side of the line you stand on...

parking is tricky around this area of town. get a spot, feed the meter.