After every year I like to run down my favorite Iowa brewed beers! This year, I’ve teamed up with one of my good buddies and an all-around beer connoisseur, the great and wonderful Duke of Drinking. We compiled our list of the 10 best Iowa beers of ’24 based on the following criteria: *The beer had to be unique to 2024 *The beer had to be the first time either of us have tried *Of course it has to be Iowa brewed
Of course, we didn’t get to try them all as much as we’d have liked to, so if there’s a beer that didn’t make our list but made yours, we’d love to hear about it! In fact, shoot me your list or check out this post on Facebook – Iowa Beer page and give us your top 10!
Before I ramble on with our list, a shout out to all of those wonderful brewers/breweries/restaurants/establishments that give us the opportunity to imbibe on the wonderful drink that is beer. Thank you all very much and we appreciate you! On to the list:
**Field Day Revel** – 12.55% ABV – Oak Aged Imperial Stout blended with a Fresh Imperial Stout than rested on Almonds, Marzipan, Vanilla, & Chocolate. Revel in the Drink, makes you want to dance and party during this Holiday Season. This beer packed a ton of flavor and you get the flavor of each ingredient throughout each sip. I was worried it would be too sweet, but it had just the right amount. Wonderfully done brew.
**Dimensional Gladius** – 14.6% ABV – Blend of Imperial Stouts aged in Heaven Hill and Blaum Brothers Bourbon barrels for 21-26 months. What I loved the most about this beer is that it was just a big ass imperial stout with no adjuncts. Dimensional let the barrels do the talking and they sure did. I was worried as the nose smelled hot, but damn, the flavor was delicious. Viscous and full of that lovely barrel flavor. Fantastic beer.
**Dimensional/Field Day Dang** 8% ABV – Hazy DIPA with Nelson Sauvin, Motueka Hop Kief, and Citra. Brewed in collaboration with Field Day Brewing. One of the best Iowa made IPAs of the year, and one of the best IPAs made in the world this year. Dang packed a well-balanced hop punch, and if you have Nelson Sauvin and Citra in there, it’s sure to taste good. Hoping this one gets brewed again, delicious stuff!
**Clock House Orange Stripe** 13% ABV – Long-Boil Imperial Stout aged in a Driftless Glen Bourbon De Naranja barrel for 12 months. Rested on a bed of Madagascar Vanilla Beans and Ghana Cacao Nibs. Tasting notes of Orange Cream and Dark Chocolate. The perfect timing of this release as it tastes just as those chocolate covered oranges you see during the holidays do. Clock House always does a wonderful job with their stouts, long boil which equates to a viscous bottle of greatness. The orange was the perfect subtle flavor at the end of your sip. Another winner from Clock House!
**Dimensional Survey Says** – 10% ABV – Hazy Triple IPA with HBC 1019 Cryo, NZH 105, and Citra. Brewed in collaboration with G5 Brewing. You want to talk about a scary triple IPA? Survey Says is just that…absolutely delicious and scarily drinkable for a Triple IPA. This was well-balanced and smooth. Just an outstanding job by Dimensional.
**Clock House Veltross** – 8% ABV – Sanction #2. Double NEIPA dry-hopped with premium lot selected Nectaron and Citra. Not only does Clock House excel at the big boy stouts, their IPA and double IPA game are always on point as well. This year they gave us Veltross, a definite beer of the year contender, part of their “Sanction” series, which hopefully doesn’t mean we won’t see it again. Maybe if we ask Todd and Blake nicely they will brew this baby up again? Pretty please?
**Big Grove Richard the Whale: Golden Ticket 2024** – 13% ABV – The 2024 Richard the Whale Golden Ticket variant is inspired by coconut almond macaroons and we blended this extra special batch of Richard The Whale infused with toasted organic coconut and almonds. Year after year this is an extremely sought after brew, and year after year Big Grove delivers it’s decadence. Hard to get, but if you’re lucky enough, savor this baby, it’s delightful.
**Pulpit Rock Alma Mater**- 5.38% – Alma Mater pale ale is the official craft beer of Luther College. A portion of proceeds support The Luther Fund. Skal Norse! The official craft beer of Luther College should maybe be the pale ale of the state of Iowa! Extremely crushable, wonderfully refreshing, and full of flavor. Pulpit Rock really nailed this pale ale!
**Lua Respiro** – 16% – Made for Iowa Craft Beer Fest 2024. Aged in bourbon barrels for 21 months, then conditioned on Teddy Graham’s, coconut, Saigon & Korintje cinnamon, cacao nibs and vanilla soft serve. I was lucky to be in Des Moines when Lua tapped this brew. All the flavors shone and blended extremely well. Was hoping the cinnamon wouldn’t be overpowering and it wasn’t. Subtle, spot on brew. Excellent for dessert!
**Pulpit Rock BA $ticker $Shock** – 13% ABV – $ticker $hock 2024 is a blend of 35 and 38 month barrel aged imperial stouts then rested on copious amounts of toasted coconut and almonds. Pulpit wows with this one, extremely thick and full of coconut flavor, not too sweet, just the perfect amount and the barrel and chocolate blend perfectly. Another taste of decadence.
There you have it! Our “Pours of ’24”! Let us know what you think and what your list would look like! 2025 should be outstanding for Iowa Beer! Cheers! Join the Iowa Beer Facebook group by clicking HERE:
Forget these winter blues for a few hours on February 17th! Big Grove will be releasing a citrus wheat beer called “Citrus Surfer” and Reds Alehouse is throwing a beach themed party to celebrate this release! Here’s more on the beer and the party courtesy of Reds’ Facebook page:
Friends!! Big Grove is releasing their new citrus wheat beer, Citrus Surfer next month. This beer packs an epic amount of orange zest and we can’t wait to get our hands on it.
We’re planning a fun, beach themed release party! Mark your calendars to be at Reds on February 17th at 4pm. Wear your best Hawaiian shirt and come drink some beers with us!
Big Grove will be releasing one of their more anticipated beers on August 27th as “Velvet” comes back to their taprooms! About Velvet:
VANILLA BARREL-AGED IMPERIAL STOUT ABV: 13.3%
This special brew is an Extended Boil, Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout that we aged in freshly emptied Kentucky Bourbon barrels. The beer was aged for a year and then finished on Grade A Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans. You can expect a viscous mouthfeel, notes of roasted malt, marshmallow, dark chocolate, and an explosion of vanilla—highlighted by a smoothness that only comes from age and using the finest ingredients.
Along with “Velvet”, Big Grove will be releasing “Tropical Jam Fruit Sour” and “Double Norwegian Demon”. To pre-order your Velvet please click HERE! Below is more info on release day:
Release Day:
• Pick up period is 10:00am to 10:00pm on Saturday, August 27, 2022
• All three Big Grove Brewery locations will open at 10:00am for beer pick-up
• Breakfast food specials will be available from our chefs from 10:00am – noon
For the first time, we’ve crafted 100 bottles of a variant aged in a rum barrel sourced from the Virgin Islands with a nose of fresh cut sugarcane and light banana. This one-time release will only be available in bottles to the first 50 guests in Iowa City, 35 guests in Des Moines, and 15 guests in Solon.
Price: $50 per Barrel Aged Velvet bottle (500mL), limit of 6 per guest, available in Des Moines, Iowa City, and Solon. It will also be available in very limited draft at our breweries.
Variant: $50 per Barrel Aged Velvet Rum Variant bottle (500mL), limit 1 per guest in order of arrival. Available in Iowa City, (50 bottles), Des Moines (35 bottles), and Solon (15 bottles). It will also be served in very limited draft at our breweries.
New Brews Joining the Party: Tropical Jam Fruited Sour Ale (draft and 4-pack), Double Norwegian Demon Hazy Double IPA (brewery-only, draft-only).
Remember to bring your order number and a valid ID.
On Saturday, come on in and a Big Grove employee will greet you, check your ID, and retrieve your order. Please have the order number from your receipt available.
You’re invited to pick up the goods (proxy) on behalf of a friend, so long as you have their order number and a copy of their ID.
Pending availability, you’re welcome to purchase any of our remaining beer inventory at that time.
Another year in the books, and like every year since I’ve been doing this blog and releasing my Top 10 I was once again blown away by the amazing beers that our Iowa brewers and their staff have made for us this year! Not only that, the resiliency shown by breweries/restaurants/bars during the past few years cannot be overlooked and huge thank you to all service industry workers! Cheers to you! Onto the TOP 10! LIST CRITERIA *Beer must have been brewed in Iowa *Beer must have been released in 2021 *Annual releases not counted unless a new adjunct had been added to that particular beer
Like every list, I know opinions will differ and I’m looking forward to reading what your top 10 list was for this year! Once again, so many beers, so little time, and I know I wasn’t able to even scratch the surface as to the beers I wanted to try!
**Big Grove Richard the Whale Chocolate Coconut Cake– – this year’s “Golden Ticket” beer during the Richard the Whale release, and like every year, it does not disappoint. Chocolate and coconut shine as this is wonderfully balanced, great for any time of the day, another win for Big Grove with this beer!
**Lion Bridge Silvia – Farmhouse ales are a style that goes overlooked and thankfully is making their way back to some breweries, and Lion Bridge not only made a great one, but possibly my favorite beer of the year. It was a perfect accompaniment to the Thanksgiving dinner table..not just one bottle either…If you’re a saison/farmhouse ale fan this is one to definitely try!
**Pulpit Rock Island Life – first enjoyed on a guy’s trip to Decorah and was blown away by the wonderful tropical flavor this beer brought. Maybe the setting had a lot to do with it, but I’m pretty sure it’s just a great beer to drink!
**Gezellig Long Story Short – 4.9%– smoothie sours/seltzers were all the rage in the beer world this past year and Iowa breweries sure made a whole lot of good ones. One of my favorites comes from the lovely folks in Newton, Iowa at Gezellig. Strawberry starbursts and pomegranate helped make this a flavor packed brew!
**Lua Brewing Dawn – 13.5% – part of last year’s “Resolution” I set for myself was trying to make it to Central and Western Iowa more often to taste what the breweries are pushing out there, especially the ones that don’t get much distro to Eastern Iowa..I kind of failed in that endeavor, however, I did get to Des Moines a few times and was able to procure some Lua brews! One that really stood out was this imperial stout. Coffee and a hint of vanilla make this decadent brew stand out, and hides that ABV very well! Looking forward to more from Lua in 2022!
**Clock House Brewing Barrel Aged Peanut Panic Porter – 12% – the base beer was one of my favorites in 2020 and then adding it to barrels and resting it on peanuts, cocoa nibs, and vanilla really added more depth to an already wonderful beer. The misconception from some was that this was a peanut “butter” beer, not the case, straight up peanuts and the balance of the flavors comes through remarkably!
**Adventurous Easy Peel (triple dry hopped Mosaic)- 8.3% – the 2nd Easy Peel I’ve had this year and I think the Mosaic barely beats out the El Dorado for me. Both very good and the combo of the mosaic hops and cryo mosaic hops really stands out. Excellent beer, any of the Easy Peel beers from Adventurous would be a safe bet!
**Lion Bridge Percussive Maintenance Macaroon – 11% – Chocolate and coconut paired with a great barrel is hard to go wrong and Lion Bridge balances this beer perfectly. There are some beers that you’ll always remember opening and pouring and this is definitely one of those for me. One to sip on yourself or share with someone you care about….a moment making beer for sure! One of the best of the year!
**Lua Pushpop: Because My Heart is in Iowa – Lua Pushpops can be hard to come by if you live in Eastern Iowa, luckily they sometimes drop a few beers off at Tin Roost in North Liberty to get us a taste here in Eastern Iowa. Mango and cherry beer, super thick and delicious. Lua dominated the slushie/sour landscape in the beer world! A trip to Des Moines in needed soon!
**Dimensional You Down with OCP – 13.1% – Pastry stouts can be hit and miss with me. Many are too sweet for my liking, and the adjuncts are too dominate over the base beer, but not with this one…Dimensional added 100 lbs each of oatmeal cream pies, oatmeal cookies, and toasted coconut to this big beer and it worked wonderfully. Not too sweet at all, in fact, if the 13.1% wouldn’t drop me I could easily see myself sipping on glass #2 letting the beer warm me up in the Iowa winter!
Easy Eddy fans get ready for Easy’s big brother Royal! This will be coming this October, “Royal Eddy” Imperial Hazy IPA will be making its debut on shelves and on tap! This bad boy will check in at 9% ABV. Stay tuned for more info on this release!
Big Grove Brewery in Solon will be tapping a couple of heavy hitters tomorrow (Sunday 2/28) to go along with their amazing brunch menu! 2019 Coconut Vanilla Richard and 2020 Richard the Whale will find their way to the tap lines in Solon on Sunday morning! To go along with those two beers they will also be serving: *Biscuits and gravy *Brioche french toast with coffee custard *Breakfast pizza
Brunch starts at 9 a.m. A perfect way to start your Sunday and finish your weekend!
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!
What better way to ring in December than with your very own Iowa Beer advent calendar! I was lucky enough to take part in helping pick out some amazing Iowa beers to include in this awesome calendar made by Glyn Mawr Winery in Mount Vernon, IA and now you have a chance to get one for free! Here’s what you need to do:
*Visit Glyn Mawr’s Facebook post and respond to it with your favorite Iowa brewed beer and also tag and friend and you will automatically be entered. Visit their Facebook page by clicking HERE!
*Visit Glyn Mawr’s Instagram account and respond to the post with your favorite Iowa brewed beer and also tagging a friend. Click HERE to go to their Instagram account!
*Winner will be randomly drawn and notified. Proxies are allowed for pickup, just notify myself or the winery for that!
About the calendar: We tried to include as many different Iowa breweries as possible and also tried to include as many different styles of beer as possible. There are so many great beers being brewed and I think we have a great collection included in this calendar!
GIVEAWAY TIME!! You guys have BLOWN US AWAY with pre-orders, so we have decided to have a GIVEAWAY for one of our Craft Iowa Beer Advent Calendars! ($85 value!)TO QUALIFY: COMMENT below with your favorite IOWA craft beer, and TAG a friend that might want to get in on one of our calendars before they sell out! Check out the list of breweries we have included: @clockhousebrewing, @fsbtaproom, @singlespeedbrewingco, @dimensionalbeer, @gezelligbrewing, @thewbrew, @biggrovebrewery, @tgbrews, @5ivecitiesbrewing, @reunionbrewery, @exilebrewingco, @backpocketbrewing, @sutliffcider, @lionbridgebrew, @iowabrewingco, @wilsonsorchardia We will pick a winner this weekend! It will be available to pick up 11/25, 11/27, or 11/28!ALSO, we only have 10 CALENDARS LEFT, so get online and pre-order yours today!
Some exciting news from Big Grove Brewery this week as they plan to release their hazy double ipa “Starla” in cans this weekend. Showcasing citra and Idaho 7 hops, the first release of “Starla” clocked in at 6.4%, not sure if the 2nd run will be the same or not. Along with “Starla” Big Grove has also released “All New Everything” double IPA in cans.
Big Adventure
A busy week for BG for sure and to top it off, their collab with Adventurous Brewing, “Big Adventure” hazy double IPA and “Northside” Helles Lager will be featured in Northside Oktoberfest in a box. So, if you got in on the Northside release you’re getting what are sure to be some tasty brews! The weekend approaches and cold beer will be welcomed! Support your local breweries, bars, and restaurants! Cheers!
You guys have BLOWN US AWAY with pre-orders, so we have decided to have a GIVEAWAY for one of our Craft Iowa Beer Advent Calendars! ($85 value!)
TO QUALIFY: COMMENT below with your favorite IOWA craft beer, and TAG a friend that might want to get in on one of our calendars before they sell out! 
ALSO, we only have 10 CALENDARS LEFT, so get online and pre-order yours today!
