Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor breweries 2018

[Cycl1]

Lions bridge just did a barrel aged January like they do every January. Fantastic beers. Expensive, but that is usually the case with specialty beers. Food was good too. I was at iowa brewing this past weekend as well and got to witness the blessing of the bock. Which was fantastic. Beers seem to have stepped up since I was last there as well. Not as good as the specialty beers at lions bridge, but a 5 beer flight at lions bridge of specialty beers was $17. 6 normal beers at iowa brewing in a flight were $8.

 

[Cycl1]

Big grove has better food than beer in my opinion. Had a fun sour that came with different syrups a while back. Been a while since I had their beer tho to be honest. Also their food is fantastic. So better food than beer isn't that big of a knock.

 

[Al_4_State]

My favorites for CR are Iowa Brewing and Big Grove. There is a big gap between those two and anyone else IMO. Third Base is probably my third favorite. Lion’s Bridge is good, but way too expensive.

The rest of them in Eastern Iowa are just ok, except for Millstream, which is complete garbage.

Gonna try Franklin Street in Manchester this weekend. Also went to Pivo, Pulpit Rock, and TG’s new tap room last Saturday. Pivo is already great.

Franklin Street is sneaky good. Pivo is bad ass. Total change of pace from TG/PR, but very good.

 

[cdface]

Big grove has better food than beer in my opinion. Had a fun sour that came with different syrups a while back. Been a while since I had their beer tho to be honest. Also their food is fantastic. So better food than beer isn't that big of a knock.

Arms Race is pretty good. Of the beers I have tried of theirs, the more IPA-ish the better. Their Rye-PA is surprisingly different but still good, IMO.

In my experience over the past 5 years or so in eastern Iowa, breweries tend to excel at either variations on pale ales or variations on lagers/porters/stouts.

 

[cc1091]

Thanks Messi - I knew there was supposed to be a new brewery in the so called "Kingston Village", but had no further info. I will bring this brewery up by name with those I know locally who are brewers. They always have some valuable insight.

And I did just this. They too have absolutely no idea who these people are, nor what their connection is to the beer and brewing industry in Iowa. I have one more resource who has been a bar owner for over 40 years. He usually has good info on who owns what bar in town (including the super-secret financial backers who CAN'T own bars due to legal problems, but who somehow have piles of cash they need to invest). His usual position is that 'all of these breweries are going to fail'. But maybe he has some usable info.

 

[CyForPresident]

We went to the CR beerfest last night. Talk about disappointing. It was way over sold, had only beer venders (no cheese, meats, sauces, etc.) and was ran by volunteers who poured beers from Hy-Vee. There was maybe 1 special release type beer from Lion’s Bridge.

I’ve been to Pitosi beerfest before and it was way better.

 

[somecyguy]

Big grove has better food than beer in my opinion. Had a fun sour that came with different syrups a while back. Been a while since I had their beer tho to be honest. Also their food is fantastic. So better food than beer isn't that big of a knock.

I know one of the owners and he has been around food service for decades and spent some time at a culinary school in CA. He loves making craft beer, but in my opinion, food has really been his passion.

 

[cc1091]

My favorites for CR are Iowa Brewing and Big Grove. There is a big gap between those two and anyone else IMO. Third Base is probably my third favorite. Lion’s Bridge is good, but way too expensive.

The rest of them in Eastern Iowa are just ok, except for Millstream, which is complete garbage.

Gonna try Franklin Street in Manchester this weekend. Also went to Pivo, Pulpit Rock, and TG’s new tap room last Saturday. Pivo is already great.

I have to agree on your assessment of Iowa Brewing and Big Grove. A very big gap between them and the others, except for the occasional specialty brew at Third Base (I enjoy 3B just because I can ALWAYS find an Oatmeal Stout on tap there - many of their other beers I consider as unworthy as a lot of the Backpocket stuff).

I disagree only slightly with your assessment of Millstream. ALL of their bottled beer is complete garbage. Get that same beer in a fresh keg though, and I usually have a completely different opinion of them.

 

[cc1091]

If you go a bit farther south to Kalona, the Kalona Brewery makes some pretty good stuff -- the lager and the doppelbock are nice, off the top of my head. I don't know how widely distributed it is outside of eastern Iowa. I've never been down there so I don't know how fun it is to visit.

Kalona Brewing is a nice spot. Some solid beers, and really good food. We have family friends down there, so I stop in when visiting them.

Thanks to "cdface" and "Al_4_State" for the Iowa City area contribs. I have quoted their statements about Kalona Brewing. I wanted to add that I see their product all the time at the Cedar Rapids HyVees. For several years I drank their Lewbricator. This past fall, Kalona released their latest version of the Lewbricator seasonal. Unlike their previous years, there was something missing. I believe it is a sharper hop profile (and seldom will I be the guy to argue for a sharper hop profile, but in this case, I'm that guy).

Anyhow, Kalona Brewing: Usually surprisingly very good beers. However this last batch of Lewbricator has left me wondering if I need to jump off their bandwagon.

 

[Rabbuk]

Is there a big grove in actual crapids? Or are we talking about the one in Solon?

 

[somecyguy]

Is there a big grove in actual crapids? Or are we talking about the one in Solon?

Solon. They have also opened a new location in Iowa City.

 

[laminak]

I have to agree on your assessment of Iowa Brewing and Big Grove. A very big gap between them and the others, except for the occasional specialty brew at Third Base (I enjoy 3B just because I can ALWAYS find an Oatmeal Stout on tap there - many of their other beers I consider as unworthy as a lot of the Backpocket stuff).

I disagree only slightly with your assessment of Millstream. ALL of their bottled beer is complete garbage. Get that same beer in a fresh keg though, and I usually have a completely different opinion of them.

We were at 3B yesterday and they had a seasonal Imperial Outmeal Stout (Vengence I think), which was fantastic.

 

[laminak]

We went to the CR beerfest last night. Talk about disappointing. It was way over sold, had only beer venders (no cheese, meats, sauces, etc.) and was ran by volunteers who poured beers from Hy-Vee. There was maybe 1 special release type beer from Lion’s Bridge.

I’ve been to Pitosi beerfest before and it was way better.

We went to a beer wine and cheese/food expo sponsored by Hy-Vee years ago next to Wells Fargo Center. That was also a disappointment. There was hardly any food there and the drinks were limited.

So far in the CR area, I liked going to Benz's beer fest in Mays, however haven't been to one in years.

 

[jbell71464]

I have to give a shout out to Big Grove. We just brewed a collaboration IPA with them and they are great people to work with. Thinking about incorporating CyHawk in the name

 

[Cycl1]

Update On Big grove. They had a new release, blueberry tart or something. Was pretty good, the sour rose was good. The other beers our group had were decent as well.

 

[cc1091]

We were at 3B yesterday and they had a seasonal Imperial Outmeal Stout (Vengence I think), which was fantastic.

THAT's the one Vengence Unleashed. Incredible. 13.3% so watch out. When they first tapped it, it tasted more like a barley wine. But now that its had a few weeks to mellow out, the Oatmeal Stout it was built on is showing itself. Very good.

 

[cc1091]

We went to the CR beerfest last night. Talk about disappointing. It was way over sold, had only beer venders (no cheese, meats, sauces, etc.) and was ran by volunteers who poured beers from Hy-Vee. There was maybe 1 special release type beer from Lion’s Bridge.

I’ve been to Pitosi beerfest before and it was way better.

MANY of the local beer brewers vowed to stay away from that beerfest. It is a 'For Profit' beerfest, rather than being like the one at Benz where a large portion of the profit goes toward charity.

That said, I did hear that they ran out of Blue Moon.

 

[cc1091]

Investigated Thew Brewing via the articles by B.A. ('Wrongway') Morelli in the CR Gazette.
My Notes:
Travis Flenker is the apparent owner and lead brewer. A 'data analysis' manager at Hibu by day, and 'home brewer by night'. Perhaps someone in the CR Homebrewer's group knows of him, I do not. Some other documents about him online, but nothing that would prevent him from starting a brewery or being the lead owner of that brewery.

Apparently some connection with the "Kingston Corner Development Group" who consists of Jason Rogers, Frank Stephen III, Matt Miller, Tommy Le, Tyler Oswood. They are developing the building that Thew is locating within. Matt Miller I know to be a Mechanical engineer and involved with a little engineering and 'architecture' firm located on the west side.

And Flenker has apparently sold an interest in the brewery to 'The West Side Wolf Pack V, LLC.". I know nothing about two of the three names listed with this group, but what I've heard about the business practices of the third name associated with that group will curl your hair. Anyhow, I wonder if the name 'Wolf Pack' is quite appropriate.

Hopefully Travis brews good beer and can recover that interest sold to the Wolves.

More about West Side Wolf Pack V: This apparently was the group who considered opening up a different brewery on the west side of the Cedar River (Council member Poe's "Kingston Village"). So perhaps with the letter of interest sold to WSWP, Flenker has secured the right to be the only brewery in that area? One of the members of WSWP is a former part owner of Red's Public House in Cedar Rapids. He then moved on and opened Newbo Ale House, which closed with the last flood, and never re-opened. I believe he still maintains a partial ownership of 'The Kickstand'.

 

[Al_4_State]

I'm pretty sure Travis is Chris Flenker's brother. Chris brewed for Toppling Goliath for a few years and is an excellent brewer (and a good dude). I'd be surprised if he wasn't involved, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't really good beer.

 

[cc1091]

I'm pretty sure Travis is Chris Flenker's brother. Chris brewed for Toppling Goliath .....

Does this mean that Thew will produce a beer called "Thewdo Thew"? <cymbal crash>