A commoner reviews The Winery, Decatur, Ill.

The Winery has to be one of the most inappropriately named drinking establishments I've ever been fortunate enough to have visited. 

On the other hand, if you’re judging The Winery by its merits as a dive bar, it has to be one of the best I've ever encountered. 

Like other Decatur establishments Lock, Stock & Barrel and University Dogs, located on the strip of businesses that cater to the Millikin University crowd, The Winery serves its fair share of college students.  But it also serves a fair share of college professors.  And other locals.  And professional barflies.  And anyone else who just wants a place where they can feel comfortable having a shot and a beer, a burger grilled to order and an old jukebox filled with CDs catering to the owner’s personal musical tastes. 

Yeah, it’s a dive bar in every sense of the word.  In fact, if you actually did make the mistake of ordering wine here, your choices would probably be white or red, and you might get it served to you in a rocks glass.

And this is yet one more reason why I love my girlfriend … she knew this was my kind of place.  Conveniently, it’s her kind of place.  That’s a sign of compatibility if there ever was one.    

Although The Winery is located near the busy corner of Main and Oakland, if you’re not from Decatur, you’re liable to miss it.  The entrance is not flashy by any means.  Here’s what it looked like before the recent “remodel” …

The facade is now a fresh blue, but as of this writing they still haven’t put the letters back on.  

Still, if you stand in front of the entrance and see the Millikin University sign diagonally across the street, you’re at the right place, or at least in the vicinity. 

The interior is appropriately dark, worn and a little dirty.  A few restaurant-style booths provide spaces for groups to mingle.  A pool table gets occasional action in the back.  But the long bar that starts near the entrance is where most of the interaction takes place.

The drink prices are reasonable as you’d expect.  The mixed drinks are appropriately on the stiff side.  The beer selection is larger than you might imagine.  And what made me happiest on my first visit here was peering inside the cooler and seeing they served …

 … Old Style beer.  Yes, The Winery is the type of bar where you can relax and get fully krausened. 

But that menu to the right of the old Style bottle gives away what the best thing is about The Winery – the grilled burgers.  Order them your way (as long as you follow the menu, of course), and the bartender turns around and slaps them on the grill behind the bar. 

The photographer was blurry; the burger was not.

The Winery burgers are so good, in fact, that they have developed a following all their own.  My choice – a double with Swiss cheese, grilled onions, ketchup, pickle and mustard.  You know it’s good when the grease and cheese combine to ooze out of the side of the sandwich.  I wish this picture did a better job of visually showing the melt-in-your-mouth goodness, but I was admittedly fully krausened when I took it. 

And then there is the jukebox.  It's not digital; it's a 100-CD turntable (the only way it could be better was if it played vinyl).  And the mainstream choices are few and far between, so you better know your stuff.  Fortunately, the very first time I was offered the chance to pick a few selections, I chose songs from John Hiatt, Canned Heat and the Grateful Dead.  At that point, my girlfriend decided I had a few redeeming qualities after all. 

Finally, The Winery has not one, but two Facebook pages devoted to it.  There is, I presume, the "official"page, as well as a fan page.  That’s when you know you have a serious following.    

Sadly, the soul and owner of The Winery from 1989 until just a few years ago, Keith Boaz, passed away earlier this summer.  But by all accounts, the current ownership is keeping faithful to his vision of The Winery as a great dive bar where all good people can feel welcome to chill, have a great burger and listen to some awesome tunes. 

Cheers, Keith, and thank you.  Whenever I can make the trip to Decatur, I'll be back.