Big Grove Brewery will be brining their amazing drive thru option back for beer and food lovers this coming Saturday morning (2/20)! The last series of the popular Hopocalypse series will be releasing which features:
*Great Scott – this will be a hazy double IPA brewed with Galaxy hops. *Doctor Voralouf – Pieces are going missing from Big Grove Brewery, and we’re beginning to believe that Vorlauf aka head brewer, Andy Joynt, has plans to become the most powerful brewing machine in the world! Or at least he plans to get to that right after he takes down one of these west coast double IPAs brewed with Galaxy.
Along with the Hopocalypse release BG will also be bringing back the coffee shop series with the release of Mocha Dunkel. Mocha Dunkel will feature La Union Columbia coffee from JBC Coffee Roasters and Tanzanian Kokoa Kamili cocoa nibs from Mast Brothers Chocolate.
And don’t forget the food! Chef Smart is ready to dish out hDetroit Breakfast Style pizza for the drive-thru. You can place your order for any of these items AND they are having 25% merch sale on 5 of their comfy sweatshirts! Lots going on, order now and make your weekend great! https://biggrovebrewery.com/product-category/drive-thru/
After two extremely popular releases of Sour Patch Man #1 and #2, Clock House Brewing is back at it this Saturday with the release of Sour Patch Man #3! This will be the green version of this adult candied beverage! DRAFT ONLY!! Here’s more on this release:
Our flagship kettle sour infused with loads of Green Sour Patch Kids. Our spin on what adult candy would taste like.Draft only release
The month of February is “Stout Month” at Confluence Brewing Company in Des Moines! Starting February 5th and ending February 26th, Confluence will be releasing six stouts throughout! Here’s the lineup and more details can be found by clicking here:
February is Stout Month and we have a killer lineup that’ll keep you rockin’ for 28 days straight! Complete our Stout Month beer tour and receive an amazing commemorative Stout Month 2021 t-shirt. This year we’re expanding our promo to include curbside orders, so you can participate from the safety of your car, or a seat in our taproom. How can you get your hands on this bada** shirt? Check out the instructions below:We’ll hand you a ticket stub in the taproom, or include one in your curbside order when you make a purchase of each of the 6 stouts we’re releasing. Qualifying purchases include a draft pour in the taproom, or a 4-pack or bottle depending on the beer (curbside or taproom). Collect a ticket for each unique beer and redeem all 6 stubs at the end of the month for the shirt. Here’s the release schedule: *2/5 Ferryman’s Fuel Russian Imperial Stout W/ Chocolate &Espresso *2/12 Stavropol Russian Imperial Stout *2/12 Sour’NDipity *2/19 Ferryman’s Chocolate Covered Cherries *2/26 Bourbon Barrel Monster Cookie Stout *2/26 50’s Dad Barrel Aged Milk Stout W/ Coffee, Vanilla, & Chocolate **We will have a hefty amount of shirts printed and ready to go at the end of the month, but redeem as soon as you can as we are making our best guess at how many we’ll need. If our shirt supply runs out, we will take your info and order a shirt for you. (available sizes S-2XL) *Must redeem offer by 3/31/21 ***Qualifying beers may be purchased at any time throughout the month, not just on the release date.
A hectic month that once again becomes bearable thanks to the brilliance and deliciousness of Lion Bridge Brewing company’s “Barrel-Aged January”. Year after year this remarkable brewery plans, develops, and brews some of the best beers in the state and maybe even the country. As of typing this, many of these releases are still available at the brewery! So, there are a lot of Drink These! beers listed, but the beauty with many, if not all of these beers is that you can buy a 4 pack, drink 2, and store two. Or in my case, drink 3 or 4, store 1 or none! Either way, well worth the trip to Lion Bridge before they are gone!
BA January Beer #1 – GAZPROM! Double Maple w/Coffee – 11% ABV Lion Bridge’s GABF award-winning barrel-aged stout with Dark Roast Dash coffee and extra maple deliciousness! BA January kicked off with a great start. The beauty of this beer is the balance between the barrel, the coffee, and the maple. Coffee can sometimes dominate a beer and so can maple syrup. In this beer, the coffee is upfront and is balanced perfectly on the finish with maple. When meshed this well, coffee and maple make a happy couple!
BA January Beer #2 – 2021 GAZPROM! – 11% ABV Their 2016 GABF Bronze Medal Winner for Specialty Beer. Viscous and black. After primary fermentation this oily, Russian giant is re-fermented with Iowa dark maple syrup in bourbon barrels then blended back together to add consistency and complexity. The beer (I assume) that started the BA January revolution! GAZPROM! returns and its 2021 form is just as good as I remember with the barrel flavor really standing out. Every year this is an excellent beer.
BA January Beer #3 – 2021 Homebaked – 11% ABV Dessert for your desert island. Fudge and Saigon cinnamon meld with a little bit of hazelnut goodness to produce something we liken to a cookie in beer form. There’s not much left to be said about Homebaked really. This may be the best beer in Iowa, one of the best beers in the country, and definitely a beer that is worth seeking out. A beer that must be purchased every time you see it available!
BA January Beer #4 – Percussive Maintenance – 11% ABV Put in barrels back when the world was a simpler place. Aged for 10 months then blended with a heavy dose of toasted and untoasted coconut as well as cacao nibs. A decadent treat for a time when we need to savor every sip. An amazingly decadent beer! Barrel lovers and coconut lovers rejoice, as the beer you’ve been waiting for has arrived! Percussive Maintenance hits the nail on the head for those who aren’t necessarily into the overly sweet pastry stouts; instead we get more of a dark chocolate coconut combo that is more fresh coconut then sweetened and the balance of the barrels really makes this a special beer!
As Lion Bridge’s barrel-aged January comes to a close there is still hope for those who haven’t been down to the Czech Village to get a taste! All of these beers are still available for purchase in the taproom! If you’re lucky you may get a taste of one of them on tap, but you can definitely get a 4 pack or a few bottles to take home, and believe me, you should do just that and Drink These beers!
Clown Shoes Zebra Warren 2021 24/16oz CAN – Double IPA Mango and Pink Guava. 8% ABV.
Clown Shoes DDH Zen Garden 6/4/16oz CAN – Double Dry Hopped New England India Pale Ale, flush with full-bodied, hazy flavor from wheat and oat in the malt bill and a steady stream of hop additions. Hopped with Azacca, Citra, and Mosaic. 6.75% ABV.
Clown Shoes The Beast With No Name 1/12/19.2oz “Stovepipe” CAN – Imperial Stout Blended with Barleywine Ale Aged in Rum, Rye, and Bourbon Barrels. A proprietor’s blend of some of their best barrel-aged ales, this imperial stout can’t be described by a single name, so they didn’t try! 10.5% ABV.
Clown Shoes Hammer of the Lion 24/16oz CAN – Imperial Stout blended with Wee Heavy Ale aged in Rum, Bourbon, and Brandy Barrels. Rich malt sweetness paired with complex notes of Rum, Bourbon, and dark chocolate. 11% ABV.
Clown Shoes Leviathan 6/4/16oz CANS – Big, Bold, and Full of Powerful hop Flavor, Leviathan is an intense TRIPLE IPA. Relentless hop additions throughout blend earthy, fruity, and floral notes. 10% ABV.
Clown Shoes Rainbows are Real 6/4/16oz CAN – Hazy IPA Infused with Terpenes. 6.75% ABV.
Clown Shoes Space Cake 6/4/16oz CAN – Double IPA with Mosaic and Citra Hops. 9% ABV.
Clown Shoes Galacticake 6/4/16oz CAN – Double IPA Featuring a base brew of Space Cake dry-hopped per Galactica specs, Galacticake combines Clown Shoes signature Double IPAs to make for a bevy of tropical citrus aromas and flavor. A balanced body showcases notes of both pine and citrus. 9% ABV.
Clown Shoes Tropical Blender 6/4/16oz CANS – Smoothie IPA with Guava, Pineapple, Mango, and Lactose. 7% ABV.
Clown Shoes Haze Cake 6/4/16oz CANS – Hazy Double IPA with Mosaic, Citra, and Centennial hops, Honey, and 2-row malts, wheat. 9% ABV.
Clown Shoes Tuscan Picnic 6/4/16oz CAN – Rosé India Pale Ale brewed with Lambrusco Grape Juice for sweet fruit flavor and a refreshing dryness reminiscent of a picnic under the Tuscan Sun! 6.5% ABV.
Clown Shoes Clementine 6/4/16oz CAN – White Ale with Spices, All Natural Clementine Flavor, Sweet Orange Peel, Coriander, Mandarina Hops. 6% ABV.
Clown Shoes Mango Kolsch 6/4/16oz CAN – American Kōlsch with All Natural Mango Flavor, Columbus, and Huell Melon Hops. 5.5% ABV.
A perfect weekend to watch some football (Go Bills!), sip on some suds and have a couple slices of pizza. Big Grove can’t take care of 2 of those 3 things for you with their offerings this weekend as the Drive Thru is back baby! Here are this weekend’s offerings:
BEER Hopping into the tap lines and onto the shelves of Big Grove is Hopocalypse Vol. 5 👾 In this first of three total rounds, we’re releasing a mixed four-pack that includes two 16oz cans of Baron von Taks and two 16oz cans of Knockout and Crash.
Baron von Taks, a west coast double IPA brewed with Simcoe, pays respect to our beloved Brewery Operations Manager, Josh Seiler. He’s a stickler for the details and a no-nonsense fella, so don’t be messin’… ya hear?!
Knockout and Crash are all-nonsense fellas. Wild card brewers, Matt Burkey and Lincoln Hackert are brought to life in 8-bit alter ego form in this Hazy Double IPA brewed with Simcoe. The battle waging between these two troublemakers and the Baron may be worthy of Christopher Nolan’s next blockbuster, honestly.
And because we stop at nothing to please… we are debuting an amazing new fruited sour this week, Blackberry Lemon Sour. With the perfect blend of sweet fruit flavors and sour lemon notes, it’s definitely a new favorite and we can’t wait to share it.
A lot of news from Thew Brewing today! A barrel sampling coming on January 13th, Thew Crew membership opportunities, and a barrel aged quad release coming? Here we go with this update:
Let’s start with the barrel sampling. All info courtesy of Thew:
Have you ever wondered what beer tastes like at different points in the barrel aging process? This event will give you the opportunity to sample beers from all barrels currently in use in our taproom. Our brewmaster, Chris, will give background on the barrels and the beers created for them.Chris Luken, Cheese Specialist at Oakland Road Hy-Vee, will be creating cheese and meat boards to be enjoyed with the samples. A vegetarian option is available.Cost for the event is $20 and includes one full pour in addition to samples from each barrel. Cheese boards are $15 and will be suitable for two people to share!Email haley@thewbrew.com to register. Please specify which night you are attending (Wednesday, January 13th or Thursday, January 14th), number of tickets, and number of cheese boards. Seating is limited.Appropriate Covid-19 distancing protocols are in place in our taproom. Masks are required when you are not seated at a table.
Thew is now offering memberships for the 2021 year. Membership includes:
Join the Thew Crew! Members at all levels enjoy the following benefits:
20% off flights
$2 off growler fills
$1 off four-pack bottles
$2 off full pours on Thew Crew Wednesdays
Option to create a personalized Thew Crew mug (cost of mug $10; option to use it in the taproom for 2021 or take home immediately)
Priority for special releases
Thew Crew party with special release beers later in 2021
What a year it has been! With all that is going on our local breweries still put out a ton of amazing beers and this was the toughest “Top 10” I’ve had to come up with. As the year winds down, a heartfelt thank you to all the brewery/restaurant workers out there working their butts off to get us excellent beers and delicious food while trying to keep their businesses afloat. Keep supporting local people!
List criteria: *Beer must have been released in 2020 *Iowa brewed only *Annual releases not counted unless a new adjunct was added to the beer
I know that I’ve missed many, my goal in 2020 was to get to as many Iowa breweries as possible and I was able to get to many that I hadn’t been before and hopefully that trend continues in 2021. After you read my list I would love to hear what your Top 10 is this year! Follow me on twitter @iabeerbaron or join the Iowa Beer page on Facebook. Cheers to you all!
*Richard the Whale Vietnamese Coconut Coffee – 12.5% – the last few years of the Richard release, the golden ticket addition has added excitement but also even more creativity from the BG brewers and crew to up the ante every year to produce an amazing beer and this year was no different. The balance between the coffee and coconut blends perfectly with barrel and the vanilla rounds it out perfectly. A truly decadent and delicious beer. To quote Virginia Madsen from “Sideways”, “You know, the day you open a Richard the Whale Vietnamese Coconut Coffee….that’s the special occasion”.
Big Grove Richard the Whale Vietnamese Coconut Coffee
*Lion Bridge Off Grid – 6.6% – there may not be a better beer to showcase the trying year many people have faced in 2020. Off Grid was brewed after the derecho storm left many in the Cedar Rapids area without power, shelter, etc. Brewing with generator power, not only did Lion Bridge get beer to us, they gave us one of the best IPAs brewed in Iowa in 2020 and I hope we get a taste of it again in 2021….minus the derecho.
Lion Bridge Off Grid
*Barn Town Nelson Sauvin Neon – 6.5% – as Barn Town’s Neon is becoming more available in Eastern Iowa, it has certainly taken its place amongst my ever revolving beer fridge as a staple. However, Barn Town decided to showcase different hops in their popular IPA and after tasting Nelson Sauvin Neon, dare I say I want more of this version? I love Nelson hops and the addition of this adds a nice peppery finish to an already delicious citrus IPA.
*Lua Algorithm – 4% ABV – trips to Des Moines in the last year certainly have been more common to get some to go beers from many of the breweries in that area and one certain stop has been Lua. Lua’s lineup of beers range from wonderful pilsners, hoppy IPAs, BA stouts, and one their extremely popular Pushpop lineup of brews! There were many that I really enjoyed but Algorithm was the one that stood out to me most. The combo of orange, mango and peaches can be enjoyed any time of the day! Lua is currently doing curbside only for the foreseeable future so make sure you place an order with them and pick up some amazing beer and food!
*Clock House Peanut Panic Porter – 5.5% – Clock House has had an amazing year with their beer releases and with the addition of a canning line they can get us our favorites more efficiently and timely. Of all the beers I’ve had of theirs this year, (I think I’ve had them all), their Peanut Panic Porter stood out. I’m a huge porter fan, Founders Porter is still one of my all-time favorite beers, and when Clock House added peanuts to this beer I was sold. Now, this isn’t a overly sweet “peanut butter” beer, this is boiled raw peanuts and some added cocoa nibs making this one of the best porters I’ve had and definitely the best peanut porter I’ve ever had. Still on tap I believe, give it a shot!
*Big Grove HDTV – 9.2% – galaxy hops gone mad! Big Grove took their popular Color TV and added a bunch more galaxy hops to it to give us this baby! A wonderful welcome addition to Richard the Whale day, HDTV is not only delicious, but it’s deceptively drinkable coming in at 9.2%. You still may be able to find cans of this in the wild or certain bars (Club 76 has it on tap).
Big Grove HDTV
*Single Speed Barrel-Aged Double Donuts – 10% – aged in Cedar Ridge single malt whiskey barrels? Yes please! Single Speed took inspiration from their popular Zach’s Mexican Donuts, threw it in some amazing whiskey barrels and barrel-aged Double Donuts was born! Luckily I have a few cans left of this and I have every intention to sit by the fireplace and watch the snowstorm blow in tomorrow night and sip and enjoy this wonderful brew!
*Pulpit Rock Double Dave-O – 7.6% – I remember having this beer way back in January at Marquee Pizza in Coralville during their anniversary celebration. Marquee always did a great job getting Pulpit Rock on tap (Thanks Sam!) when many places couldn’t and I remember thinking that it’s going to be nice being able to visit here, have some great food and sip on some Pulpit beers…..things have changed a bit because of the pandemic but Pulpit sure has adapted to the changing times and have done an amazing job getting their cans available in certain locations around Eastern Iowa (Need Pizza + Reds Alehouse). Double Dave-O stood out because of the hop profile. Citra and mosaic, two of my favorites made this a quenching IPA leaving me wanting another one!
Pulpit Rock Double Dave-O
*Dimensional Imperial Cinna-Man Bun – 11.7% – there are some beers that you can be a little hesitant to order because you’ve already played it out in your head how it was going to taste. With this particular beer, I thought for sure it would be way too sweet for me with over the top cinnamon, admittedly I was completely wrong. Dimensional brought balance to a beer that could have gone the complete opposite direction, especially for a pastry stout. Another great fall/winter beer to sip on, wish I had some more of it!
Dimensional Imperial Cinna-Man Bun
*Clock House Sweet Innocence – 5.2% – 42 lbs of black cherries added to this kettle sour which made for a truly refreshing beer to sip on on hot ass August night in Iowa. This is a beer that I hope to see again during the warmer months and if you haven’t tried it, if Clock House does release it again, it’s worth the trip to Cedar Rapids!
Clock House Sweet Innocence
There is the list! It’s always fun to compile but never easy to narrow down! With such a trying year in the beer/restaurant industry it is amazing on how these breweries have adapted to keep their businesses alive and to also keep us stocked with beer. A huge cheers to all of them and I hope you continue to support your local brewery and businesses. I know I probably missed your favorite of the year so please let me know what your list looks like! Cheers!
Clock House will be releasing a barrel aged stout on December 23rd just in time to help keep us nice and warm during the holidays! “Frayed Knot” BA stout will be available for purchase starting this Wednesday at noon! Here’s more on this brew from Clock House:
The cellar doors have opened. This Monster Imperial Stout was Aged for over a year in Cedar Ridge No. 9 Reserve Rye-Bourbon Blended Barrels then Rested on Cacao Nibs and Vanilla Beans.Bombers of Frayed Knot will be available at noon on Wednesday, December 23rd until supplies last. These will be sold exclusively inside our taproom. Pre-sales will not be offered.$20 per bottle.
A busy week for Reunion Brewery as they released 4 new barrel-aged stouts this past week, 2 of which are exclusive only to certain stores. Below are the details of these 4 new brews and where you can find them! Cheers!
*Imperial Banshee w/ vanilla + almond – 13% ABV – A veil of inky blackness. Roast soaked in booze and oak. Distant screams in the dark. The Banshee has been waiting. The Banshee is calling. Vintage 2020 of our feared Imperial Banshee Imperial Stout aged 10 months in Cedar Ridge Bourbon barrels. 30 cases of this variant, visit your local liquor store to find it!
*Imperial Banshee – 10% ABV – Our 10% abv Russian Imperial Stout is an inky black, roasty, barrel aged monster. Aged in Wild Turkey and Four Roses bourbon barrels for 7 months this ale is layered in rich notes of bourbon, vanilla, toasted coconut, and cocoa. 30 cases of this variant, visit your local liquor store to find it!
*The Knob Diablo – 12% ABV – This one we’re really excited about. Our buddies @waterfronthyvee were kind enough to hook us up with a 15 year old Knob Creek barrel. We pulled some of the base beer for our Cocoa del Diablo out of the cellar to rest in this extremely special barrel. This single barrel Imperial Stout is thick and creamy with 15 years worth of bourbon notes. Available EXCLUSIVELY @ Water Front Hy-Vee in Iowa City!
*I Already Had This Last September – 12% ABV – Another barrel aged stout you say? But I ALREADY HAD THIS LAST SEPTEMBER! This is a very special stout collab we did with the goons down @johnsgrocery last September. A long boil RIS that was rested for a full year in a single Jefferson Reserve barrel. This silly stout will be at John’s Grocery this weekend so go snag some before they drink it all! Available EXCLUSIVELY @ John’s Grocery in Iowa City!
