Cigar City Brewing out of Tampa, Florida will soon have their beers gracing our shelves and tap lines around the state. In fact, the Cellar Peanut Pub in Pella has already tapped a Maduro Brown from Cigar City.
Here’s a link to all of Cigar City’s brews: https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/our-beers/
I’m sure we will be starting with their core lineup and hopefully some harder to get brews will trickle in. Cheers everyone!
Big Grove Brewery continues to stay busy getting us beer amid this difficult time and this coming Saturday (4/4) they will once again be getting some fresh and delicious beer into our remarkable washed and clean hands. Here’s what’s coming this weekend:
*Turtle Hunter – this popular hazy IPA is back; featuring citra, mosaic, and ekuanot and checking in at 7.4%!
*Into the Woods – a collab with Copper Kettle brewing brings us kettle sour with lactose, blackberry, and raspberry and checks in at 6.4%.
*Boysenberry and Coffee Sour – this will be crowler fill only and is another beer brewed with JBC Coffee Roasters. For this particular beer they have used San Sebastian Colombia beans.
*Red Wedding Wheat – checking in at 4.7%, this fruited sour ale, brewed with blood orange and plum, is the perfect addition to your banquet table. Big Grove sends its regards
Stay tuned for more as a beer, burger and fries drive thru may happen again as well. Cheers everyone!
If we keep on drinking; they’ll keep on supplying! Kudos to the folks at Abu Nawas who continue to stock our shelves and for all delivery/distro workers during this time! Thank you all! Here’s the latest from Abu:
- Prairie Rainbow Sherbet 12oz CAN – Have you ever drank a rainbow? Well, now you can! Sour ale with raspberry, pineapple, and orange..5.2% ABV.
- Prairie Standard 12oz CAN – ***NOW IN CANS*** Light, crisp farmhouse ale dry-hopped with Motueka hops, a lovely New Zealand hop with a spicy lime like flavor and aroma. 5.6% ABV.
- Prairie Vape Tricks 12oz CAN – Sour ale aged on cherries. 5.9% ABV.
- Prairie / American Solera Collab. All Y’all 6/4/12oz CAN – Hazy India Pale Ale. 8.8% ABV.
- Prairie Funky Gold Mosaic 12oz CAN – Mosaic Dry-hopped sour ale. 5.8% ABV.
- Prairie Blueberry Boyfriend 6/4/12oz CAN – Sour Ale with Blueberries and Lemon Zest. 5.4% ABV.
- Prairie Weekend 12oz BOTTLE – Imperial Stout with Coconut, Cacao Nibs and Marshmallow. 13.3% ABV.
- Prairie BOMB 12/12oz BOTTLE – Imperial Stout aged on Nordaggio’s espresso beans, chocolate, vanilla beans, and ancho chile peppers. All the flavors meld to create a truly unique beer. The peppers add just the right amount of heat to complement the intense coffee and chocolate flavors. 13% ABV.
- Prairie Oh! Fudge 12/12oz BOTTLE – Imperial Stout brewed with Brownies. 11.5% ABV.
- Prairie Paradise 12/12oz BOTTLE – Imperial Stout with Vanilla and Coconut. 13% ABV.
Along with their first “Coffee Shop” release this coming weekend, Big Grove will also be releasing “Double Nod” hazy double IPA as well! Here’s the release info on this brew! The original “Nod” release checked in at 7.4% so we will see where this one comes in at. Cheers!
You have to love the continued hard work from our local breweries and restaurants during these difficult times and also a ‘thank you’ to those who have continued to support these small businesses! With that being said, Big Grove Brewery will be releasing their first installment of their new “Coffee Shop Series” and it will be a coffee oatmeal stout brewed in collaboration with JBC Coffee Roasters!
This will be the first of 4 seasonal releases with JBC with the beer recipe and coffee used for this series changing for each release! Rumor has it there will be a few more things getting released this weekend, stay tuned!
Grab some of your favorite Iowa brewed beers and join your fellow Iowa beer lovers, Iowa beer brewers, and Iowa beer workers as the Iowa Brewers Guild is hosting a “BYOB Virtual Beer Festival” on March 28th with all proceeds will go to Iowa’s brewing industry staff. Here’s more on this great event:
A BYOB virtual beer festival to raise money for Iowa’s brewing industry staff. Though we love to drink beer in the company of friends, the future of one of our favorite pastimes—beer festivals—is tenuous. And so are the livelihoods of our Iowa breweries and their teams. To help our industry staff in their time of need, the Iowa Brewers Guild is holding a BYOB “virtual beer festival,” and you’re invited to join us!
Here’s how it works:
1. Buy a ticket
2. Pick up some of your favorite Iowa beer
3. Join us on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram on Saturday, March 28, so we can drink beer together (from a safe distance), with the help of our hashtag, #virtualbeerfest
ALL proceeds will go to affected Iowa Brewers Guild member breweries’ staff that have lost jobs or significant hours!
More info and how to get a limited edition shirt at www.virtualbeerfest.org
Abu Nawas with an exciting drop of some very tasty beverages. Take a look at this week’s releases and make sure to support your local establishments during this tough time! Cheers!
Abomination
- Abomination Ales Drawing A Blank 16oz CAN – Triple NE-IPA with Galaxy, Citra, & Mandarina Bavaria. 11.2% ABV.
- Abomination Brewing Urayuli 16oz CAN – IPA hopped with Galaxy, Citra, and Mosaic. The Urayuli stands nearly 10 feet tall with arms down to their ankles, covered in a thick fur. The easiest way to spot them is by their luminescent eyes. Unlike some yeti species, the Urayuli is said to be peaceful. 6.3% ABV.
- Abomination Brewing Shotgun Sour 16oz CAN – Sour Ale with Raspberry & Blackberry. 6.6% ABV.
- Abomination Brewing Hop Thing16oz CAN – NE-IPA Brewed with flaked oats and wheat hopped and double dry-hopped with Zappa, Citra, and Mosaic! Beware of the Hop Thing! 6.9% ABV.
- Abomination Brewing Hop Roulette 16oz CAN – Rotating Hop series Double Dry-Hopped DIPA. 8.8% ABV.
- Abomination Bro Beer 16oz CAN – Extremely crushable New England session IPA brewed with flaked wheat and oats. Gently dry-hopped with 100% galaxy hops! Juicy, tropical and hazy! The perfect beer to crack open with your bro’s! 4.7% ABV.
Short Throw Brewing
- Short Throw Cop and Go 16oz CAN – American IPA with Galaxy & Mosaic hops, dry-hopped with the same varietals.. 6.5% ABV.
- Short Throw Straight Bars 16oz CAN – American IPA hopped with Citra, Galaxy, and El Dorado. Lovingly dry-hopped with the same varietals. One sip and you’ll know we ain’t playin games. This ish is Straight Bars. 6.5% ABV.
Dugges Bryggeri
- Dugges Bubble Gummy 16oz CAN – Follow our journey as we tweak our way towards the perfect Double IPA. A DIPA in the CRUSH series. From Sweden with love! Hopped with Mosaic, Simcoe, Citra and Ekuanot. 8% ABV.
- Dugges Daylight 24-7 16oz CAN – A beer to salute the never-setting sun. Follow our journey as we tweak our way towards the perfect IPA. Step by step, beer by beer, on and on and on. Forever! For our third IPA brewed on US soil and our first IPA brewed att the all-new Twelve Percent Beer Project brewery in North Haven, CT, we wanted to bring Sweden. During a couple of months every summer the northern parts of Sweden experience a never-setting sun. Literally daylight 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is that daylight in a can. Cheers! 7% ABV.
Freethought
- FREETHOUGHT Twenty Twenty 16oz CAN – Unfiltered DIPA dry-hopped with Citra and Mosaic. Brewed with Maris Otter, flaked and malted oats, raw and malted wheat. Aromas of citrus, vanilla, guava and coconut followed by hints of chive blossom and mint on the palate. Smooth, creamy and full-bodied. 8.5% ABV.
- FREETHOUGHT Night Vision 16oz CAN – Double Dark Sour Ale with blood orange and drinking chocolate. Brewed with chocolate malt, raw wheat, flaked and malted oats. Notes of citrus, raspberry and cocoa. Lush mouthfeel with a bright and dynamic finish. 8% ABV.
- FREETHOUGHT Good Eye 16oz CAN – Sour Ale dry-hopped with Citra, Galaxy, and Mosaic. 7% ABV.
- FREETHOUGHT Kismet 16oz CAN – Unfiltered IPA double dry-hopped with Cashmere. Aromas of eucalyptus and root beer. Smooth, rich and full-bodied with flavors of white chocolate, coconut, pawpaw and mint. 7% ABV.
- FREETHOUGHT Levitate 16oz CAN – Sour Ale with Pineapple, Tumeric, Lemongrass and Makrut Lime. Pours bright ocher. Opens with earthy aromas of turmeric countered by tropical fruit and citrus tones. Lively and delicately tart with notes of makrut lime, yellow curry and fruit loops. Finishes clean, dry and crisp. 5% ABV.
- FREETHOUGHT Lucid16oz CAN – Unfiltered IPA double dry-hopped with Amarillo flowers, pellets and lupulin powder. 6% ABV.
- FREETHOUGHT Madcap 16oz Can – Madcap is a smoky sour ale inspired by campfires, s’mores + hot cocoa with the flavor profile of a mezcal sour cocktail. Brewed with raw wheat, flaked + malted oats, lapsang souchong, cocoa + tamarind. Hopped with noble hops + dry-hopped with simcoe lupulin powder. 6% ABV.
- FREETHOUGHT Museum Dose 16oz CAN – Museum Dose is a botanical sour ale with strawberries, sarsaparilla + birch. It’s a celebration of Spring, an homage to nineteenth-century soda fountains + a total trip. 6% ABV.
- FREETHOUGHT Open 16oz CAN – Unfiltered IPA brewed with flaked + malted oats, raw + malted wheat, double dry-hopped with Simcoe flower, pellets + lupulin powder. 6% ABV.
- FREETHOUGHT Temporal 16oz CAN – Sour Ale with Plum, Cardamom + Rose Water. Floral nose complemented by flavors of chai and fermented lime. Finishes tart and dry. 5% ABV.
Nightmare Brewing
- Nightmare Brewing Gunga Rao 16oz CAN – Soured on pineapple with coconut, Moroccan mint, sabro, rohatu and cashmere hops. 8.3% ABV.
- Nightmare Brewing Flayed 16oz CAN – Imperial Oat IPA with Azacca, Zythos, Galaxy and Pacifica. 9.6% ABV.
- Nightmare Brewing Exposure 16oz CAN – Citra and Mosaic Cryo-Hopped DIPA. 10.1% ABV.
- Nightmare Brewing Scaphism 16oz CAN – Imperial Stout Brewed with Milk Sugar, Honey, Aged on Tahitian Vanilla & Organic Cacao. 15.% ABV.
- Nightmare Brewing Blowing From A Gun 16oz CAN – DIPA w/ Indian Cane Sugar and Quintuple Dry Hopped w/ El Dorado, Calypso, Cashmere, Mosaic and Hull Melon hops. 10.5% ABV.
- Nightmare Brewing Blood Eagle 16oz CAN – Scandinavian Sour Ale Soured on Lingonberries, Hawthorn Berries, Cloudberries & Comice Pears with Strawberries, Plums and Tart Cherries. 7.5% ABV.
- Nightmare Brewing Crucifixion 16oz CAN – DIPA w/ Sacramental Bread, Calypso, Vic Secret & Simcoe. 10.6% ABV.
Beer lovers, book lovers, Iowa City lovers, and history buffs rejoice as tonight “Beer Money” by S.C. Sherman gets released at Big Grove Brewery in Iowa City. I was lucky enough to get a copy and it truly is a fantastic read. Murder, beer, history, beer….it’s all there! This story puts you at the epicenter of the Iowa beer wars and the fact that we can still visit these spots make the story all that more special. If you can’t get a copy tonight you can preorder on Amazon by clicking here.
Here’s more on the release tonight:
Beer Money Book Release | Benefit for Strengthen Grow Evolve
MARCH 10TH, 7:00PM – 9:00PM
Big Grove Brewery
1225 S Gilbert St
Iowa City, IA52240A captivating feat of historical fiction set during the 1880s clash between the prohibitionists and the three most powerful brewers in Iowa City—known as “The Beer Mafia.”
German, Czech, and Irish immigrants poured into America in the mid-1800s. They brought their language and traditions with them…and their love of brewing and drinking beer. In 1881, Iowa City was a bustling town full of immigrants. The population was exploding, and that meant two things: Fortunes were being made overnight and trouble was afoot.
Three large breweries had taken root, sprouting strong and proud in the “Northside” neighborhood. In one generation the brewers became wealthy and powerful men. They also came to be known as “The Beer Mafia.” The more powerful the brewers grew, the more passionate the ladies of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union became about abolishing alcohol altogether. They took their fight to the saloon, the street, and the Statehouse, preaching prohibition.
Conrad Graf, J.J. Englert and John Dostal thought of themselves as honest businessmen capitalizing on America’s explosive growth by simply providing a product people wanted. Vernice Armstrong thought they were selling sin and destroying everything that made America great, one beer at a time. She made it her mission in life to bring them down, but they weren’t about to go down without a fight.
Blending real-life historical figures with compelling fictional characters, Beer Money is the story of how the brewers and “Teetotalers” slammed head-on into each other, turning the prairie red with blood. This is a tale of how the seemingly innocuous love of brewing and drinking beer became the flashpoint, sparking events that would shape America for a generation.
Thew Brewing in Cedar Rapids will soon be celebrating their 2 year anniversary. Festivities will start on Friday March 13th and continue through the weekend. Here’s a rundown of what’s to come!
Friday, March 13th:
– Open at noon
– Release of new Berliner Weisse
– Firkin of Fair Enough (English ale)
– Beer infused in the RandallSaturday, March 14th:
– O’s Grill on site
– Bottle release at noon of Lily, a barrel-fermented saison ($20, 22 oz. bomber, limit 2 per person). 50% off one previous bottle release with purchase of Lily! (Limit one 50% off bottle per person.)
– 10% off previous bottle releases
– March Comedy Madness at 8 p.m. showcasing the best of Central Iowa and Corridor comedy! Ticket includes two beers or hard seltzers or one canned wine. Tickets at shop.thewbrew.com, $15 in advance, $20 at the door.Sunday, March 15th:
– Yoga at 10 a.m.
– Trivia at 5:30 p.m.
In the market for your own brewery? Old Man River in McGregor, Iowa is up for sale and there will be an open house on March 27th. There will be half price appetizers and some gourmet food as well as 5 new beers being released.
The building was built in 1880 and has recently undergone a $4.5 million dollar renovation and has 8,236 square feet. Here’s the link to the Iowa Realty website for more info if you’re interested!
