Not sure where Sharkeys is but it would be the other outside corner of city park from Rookies. Across the street from the CLB&T drive thru. I struggle with knowing which direction I’m really down there in CL. I just know where I’m going.
Tap Rooms Iowa
- Thread starter dmclone
- Start date
I just Googled it. Must be pretty new. I haven't been downtown CL in over a year, I guess, but we were in town for a wedding this summer and went out to Musky for a drink. Would have checked that place out if we had known.
Never been to musky, always looked busy and heard long waits. My old dental hygienist owns 7s and rookies so we go to rookies semi often.
Musky was packed. If we were eating we would have moved on, but we wanted to just have a drink and look at the water quick.
Last time I was downtown CL we had been biking around the lake (some friends used to have a family cabin near the tiki bar that we were staying at) and had lunch at Rookie's. Very solid. Good Bloody Mary.
IMO, their beer was average. They did basic styles and did them pretty well, but that's not enough to sustain success in the current beer atmosphere. Especially with so many other choices close by.
To me it felt like Madhouse Brewing. OK beer.
I thought the house inside the building was a little hokey but I liked the spot/garage doors, etc.
Try the Wake the F Up Iowa, it’s a solid barrel aged coffee stout.
Went to the soft opening last night and yes there were plenty of kids there playing games. The ice skating rink right next to it will also help draw in young families.
We had fun with the duckpin bowling but it had several malfunctions during our game we had to call someone over to fix. Gets a little noisy in there plus they had the music louder than most tap rooms. Food wasn’t great but hopefully will improve.
They do have some decent beers and other drink options and lots of garage doors opening to patios for the nicer months. Overall a nice addition to the area for a few drinks with friends.
There’s also a wine bar going in next door that’s under construction.
Awesome. Let me know if the water tastes different there then at my house in Johnston.I plan on taking the kids soon
As a fellow Johnstonite, are you able to elaborate on what ‘the plan’ was? You can PM if you prefer
Seriously though, appreciate the review. I've wished for a brewery in Johnston for a decade plus. I know that they won't be brewing here, but it's close enough for me.
they never developed a second source of revenue, just planned on tap room sales, no real push for to go sales and they didn't can anything, plus that pub pass was oversold and I'm sure it hit their bottom line hard. We gave away $20,000 this year to it, and I guarantee, when they hit us with a pub pass, they hit them too.
A couple things. I mentioned how much better they've become over the last few years. He said in the beginning they were going to just focus on the lagers and other traditional beers. It didn't sound like they wanted to get into the game of just producing the next big thing e.g. Hazy IPAs. To me, this sounds like Kinship. They make fine beer but something you're going to seek out. They haven't completely scrapped that plan but they now put out a lot of specialty stuff and he made it sound like it's working for them.
One interesting thing is that they originally consider the new Twisted Vine location. I love that building but I'm so happy they decided to choose Johnston. He mentioned that there really wasn't anything in the area and that was a good selling point.
On a side note, my wife and her friend checked out the new wine bar next door and enjoyed it. They mentioned that they carried a lot of different wines that they normally don't see and the prices were not too bad. The Cork 50131.
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