One of the greasted breweries in America is Rogue. They posted a video of an inside look at how things are done in this place. Anyone else wanna move to Oregon?
Beer Review #42: Shock Top Belgian White
Don’t let the name fool you, this is an Anheuser Busch product. Not that there is anything wrong with that but it seems they are hiding their name on the label for some reason. Anyway, tried and was not impressed, pretty sure AB is trying to take some steam from the success of Coors’ Blue Moon product and Shock Top falls way short. Almost an artificial fruit loop cereal flavor is way too sweet for me. This beer just seems to lack its own personality and is instead trying to be a ripoff of an already successful product and not trying to stand out on its own.
I know a few people who have tried and liked this beer, but my recommendation is to avoid it. If you want a white ale try Blue Moon or Millstream’s Johns’ Generation White Ale; both are much better and stay true to what a white ale is supposed to be.
REVIEW
POUR: Hazy yellow pour.
AROMA: Smell of citrus, corriander, oranges.
TASTE: Artificial fruit taste, overly sweet. I’ll pass.
OVERALL: D+
EASTERN IOWA RESIDENTS: This beer is available everywhere and is also on tap on many bars and restaurants. Could be a good start to drinking craft beer, but if you are already drinking craft beer then you don’t need to try this one.
Beer Review #41: Bell's Hoplsam!
Going to continue with the Bell’s Beers. Got a tweet from Reds Ale House in North Liberty, IA about their keg tapping of Hopslam! from Bell’s Brewery. Big fan of this brewery and a big fan of Reds. Since they made a big deal about it I figured this beer must be the real deal.
Ordered the beer and looked like a nice perfect IPA. The aroma of grapefruit really stood out and the flavor of piney hops and grapefruit was creamy and fantastic. This beer is limited realease, I believe, so if you ever get a chance to try this please do, it is a must try beer! I also have to commend Reds Ale House and the Sanctuary for continually getting these great beers to the area for us to try.
If you try this beer let me know what you think!
REVIEW
POUR: Cloudy yellow/orange pour.
AROMA: Smell of piney hops and grapefruit.
TASTE: Very smooth, piney, bitter, grapefruit, and creamy.
OVERALL: A+
EASTERN IOWA RESIDENTS: On tap at Reds Ale House in North Liberty, IA and the Sanctuary in Iowa City.
Beer Review #41: Bell’s Hoplsam!
Going to continue with the Bell’s Beers. Got a tweet from Reds Ale House in North Liberty, IA about their keg tapping of Hopslam! from Bell’s Brewery. Big fan of this brewery and a big fan of Reds. Since they made a big deal about it I figured this beer must be the real deal.
Ordered the beer and looked like a nice perfect IPA. The aroma of grapefruit really stood out and the flavor of piney hops and grapefruit was creamy and fantastic. This beer is limited realease, I believe, so if you ever get a chance to try this please do, it is a must try beer! I also have to commend Reds Ale House and the Sanctuary for continually getting these great beers to the area for us to try.
If you try this beer let me know what you think!
REVIEW
POUR: Cloudy yellow/orange pour.
AROMA: Smell of piney hops and grapefruit.
TASTE: Very smooth, piney, bitter, grapefruit, and creamy.
OVERALL: A+
EASTERN IOWA RESIDENTS: On tap at Reds Ale House in North Liberty, IA and the Sanctuary in Iowa City.
Beer Review #40: Bell's Two Hearted Ale
A few years ago before I started appreciating the craft beer and before I was acquainted with the taste of India Pale Ale, a cousin of wife and her boyfriend at the time came over to our place and he brought Bell’s Two Hearted Ale (www.bellsbeer.com). Having no idea what the beer was and seeing a fish on the cover I immediately thought of Schmidt’s beer that the old-timers drink at the Bowling Alley. My preconceived notions had me not liking the beer already and I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Today I consider Two Hearted Ale one of my favorite beers out there. I regularly place it in my “Top 5” which changes daily, but if I want a beer to drink and I am undecided, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale is the way to go. Nice grapefruit, hop, citrus flavor that is very smooth and easy to drink. I have also seen it on tap at a couple of my favorite restaurants, Red’s Alehouse in North Liberty and the Sanctuary in Iowa City.
I also owe Christian an apology and a beer for introducing me to this beer. I laughed at it then, but now it’s one of my favorites.
REVIEW
POUR: Cloudy yellow/orange pour.
AROMA: Smell of grapefruit, more citrus, and hops.
TASTE: Very smooth, almost a creamy grapefruit flavor. Awesome!
OVERALL: A
EASTERN IOWA RESIDENTS: Found at any Hy-Vee liquor store and any store that sells good craft beer. You will be paying $10 a six pack, but you pay for what you get, and in this beer you get a fantastic IPA.
Beer Review #40: Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
A few years ago before I started appreciating the craft beer and before I was acquainted with the taste of India Pale Ale, a cousin of wife and her boyfriend at the time came over to our place and he brought Bell’s Two Hearted Ale (www.bellsbeer.com). Having no idea what the beer was and seeing a fish on the cover I immediately thought of Schmidt’s beer that the old-timers drink at the Bowling Alley. My preconceived notions had me not liking the beer already and I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Today I consider Two Hearted Ale one of my favorite beers out there. I regularly place it in my “Top 5” which changes daily, but if I want a beer to drink and I am undecided, Bell’s Two Hearted Ale is the way to go. Nice grapefruit, hop, citrus flavor that is very smooth and easy to drink. I have also seen it on tap at a couple of my favorite restaurants, Red’s Alehouse in North Liberty and the Sanctuary in Iowa City.
I also owe Christian an apology and a beer for introducing me to this beer. I laughed at it then, but now it’s one of my favorites.
REVIEW
POUR: Cloudy yellow/orange pour.
AROMA: Smell of grapefruit, more citrus, and hops.
TASTE: Very smooth, almost a creamy grapefruit flavor. Awesome!
OVERALL: A
EASTERN IOWA RESIDENTS: Found at any Hy-Vee liquor store and any store that sells good craft beer. You will be paying $10 a six pack, but you pay for what you get, and in this beer you get a fantastic IPA.
Guest Review #3: New Belgium 1554 Black Ale by SLIM
Guest Review by Slim: New Belgium 1554 Enlightened Black Ale
I found myself standing in the walk-in freezer at a Hy-Vee in West Des Moines for almost 10 minutes trying to decide what six-pack to try out for the night. I finally decided on 1554, a product of New Belgium Brewing, a well known but still good brewery. After just a couple of sips I didn’t feel I made a good decision. It is about as dark as you can get but that didn’t help the flavor and overall it had too much else going on that I couldn’t enjoy the boldness and robustness that I expected. I also didn’t feel I could TASTE the chocolate. It was apparent in the aroma but strangely I felt the other flavors masked it when I took a sip. The beer was a little too hoppy and bitter for me and I do not think I will be enjoying another one anytime soon. It is worth noting that I drank this out of a standard pint glass which is maybe not the type of glass that best suits this brew. Most serious beer advocates think highly of this beer but it wasn’t for me.
Pour-Very dark, almost completely black with a white head
Aroma- Smell of hops and chocolate, I think I may have even caught a trace of toffee?
Taste-This was the disappointing part, not enough of the chocolate flavor was present and the excess hoppiness turned me off to this brew.
Overall-A good effort, although it didn’t appeal to me you could do a lot worse for a dark beer. It is still drinkable but that doesn’t necessarily translate to enjoyable and it just wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
Rating-C
Beer Review #39: 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon Wheat
My wife and I have a friend who live in San Francisco. I had just started reading my All About Beer magazine and they were talking about a brewery that made a wheat beer with watermelon. My mouth started watering so I did a little research on this brewery and found that it was called 21st Amendment Brewery and was located in San Francisco. I immediately shot an email to my friend begging her to find a way to get me some of this Hell or High Watermelon Wheat beer shipped to me. She found a liquor store that would ship it and my six pack of cans came a week later.
A very refreshing wheat beer that I thought would possibly be too fruity. The great thing is that the watermelon flavor wasn’t overwhelming and you got a hint of it and the rind with the great wheat flavor. They use over 400 lbs of watermelons to brew this beer.
REVIEW
POUR: Cloudy golden pour.
AROMA: Smell of wheat and watermelon
TASTE: Very smooth, subtle watermelon flavor, does not overwhelm the beer.
OVERALL: B-
EASTERN IOWA RESIDENTS: I know this isn’t found anywhere close to Eastern Iowa, my whole point of doing this review is to show that there are places to order beers from that will ship them. If you search hard enough online you will find places that will ship beer directly to your door!
Craft Breweries in Iowa
Since my blog is dedicated to finding good beer in Eastern Iowa, I thought it would be a good idea to list and talk about some the Iowa made beers. I was pretty surprised after researching this how many places there actually are in Iowa to find some good beer and I hope that list continues to grow.
Ever since Peace Tree (www.peacetreebrewing.com) has arrived in Iowa City I have found myself growing more and more attached to their products. Their Hop Wrangler IPA and their Double IPA are must trys for Hop Heads and I can’t wait to try their Gumbo Stout. I visited their website and noticed they have more beers on tap at their taproom. I really need to make a trip over to this place, I’m afraid once I get there I won’t want to leave.
*Ottumwa, IA- Appanoose Rapids Brewing Company – www.appanooserapidsbrewingcompany.com
*Janesville, IA- Briar Creek Brewing Company – www.briarcreekbrewery.com
*Des Moines, IA – Court Avenue Brewing Company – www.courtavebrew.com – **A must try! Great place, great beer!*
*Stanley, IA- Hub City Brewing Company – www.hubcitybrewingcompany.com –
*Knoxville, IA- Peace Tree Brewing Company – www.peacetreebrewing.com **I love you Peace Tree!**
*Fort Madison – Lost Duck Brewing Company- www.duckbrewing.com
*Newton, IA – Madhouse Brewing Company – www.madhousebeer.com – **Their Pasttime Pale Ale is good!**
*Amana, IA – Millstream Brewing Company- www.millstreambrewing.com – Great beers!
*McGregor, IA – Old Man River Brewing Company – www.oldmanriverbrewery.com
*Ames, IA – Old Main Brewing Company – www.oldmainbrewing.com
*Des Moines, IA – Raccoon River Brewing Company – www.raccoonbrew.com
*Cedar Rapids, IA- Third Base Brewing Company – www.thirdbasebrewery.com
*Decorah, IA – Toppling Goliath Brewing Company – www.tgbrews.com
If you have visited any of these places please post a comment about your experience! Support your local craft brewery!
If I missed any please let me know!
Beer Review #38: Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
A buddy of mine brought over a four pack of this beer from Flying Dog (www.flyingdogales.com) and I’m glad he did.
Very dark porter that is rich and malty. You get wonderful roasted notes from this beer and it goes down nice and smooth. Watch out for the 9.2% ABV as this beer will bite you in the butt if you’re not careful.
REVIEW
POUR: Dark black pour with a huge tan head.
AROMA: Smell of chocolate, coffee, and mild hops.
TASTE: Very smooth, malts, chocolate, and coffee.
OVERALL: B+
EASTERN IOWA RESIDENTS: I’ve seen this beer at John’s Grocery and at the occassional Hy-Vee. If you’ve seen this anywhere else let me know!
