Big Grove releasing 4 more brews this weekend! Another Gusher cometh!

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Big Grove keeps at it, bringing us new and tasty beers every week to go along with their already solid portfolio. This weekend will be no different, and preordering can start as early as tomorrow to get your hands on these 3 plus more!

*All Together: Hazy IPA -part of worldwide brew collaboration with $5 from every 4pk sold being donated to @IowaRestaurant Associates Employee Relief Fund

*Strawberry Rhubarb Gose: – the perfect combination of sweet, tart, and salty is the latest release in their Solon Summer Series!

*Queserita: you like margaritas? Us too. ⁣

*Tang-o-Rang Gusher: –  all that tangerine goodness that would even make Rufio proud!

Big Grove Drive Thru returns! Jabroni Pils, Katie’s Day Off, Blood Orange Arms Race, Into the Woods, Dirty Little Secret, + Snowbird for this weekend!

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5 more brews coming from the busy brewers and staff and Big Grove this weekend for their wonderful Drive Thru! You can start your preorder right now by clicking here!  Let’s get to the brews:

**Jabroni Pils – available in 4 pack cans. This is collab brew with Lua Brewing and if you’re interested, Big Grove will be going live on Instagram tonight with Lua owner Scott Selix. You can join that by clicking here:

5.2% ABV – Our collab with Lua Brewing is an Iowan’s take on an Italian classic: This beer is clean and refreshing with a crispy finish thanks to the Saphir we tossed in the dry hop. Saluti!

**Katie’s Day Off –

In honor of my day off, I asked the team to make the ultimate throwback hipster IPA for my fellow skinny jean wearing, laptop- wielding, head banging, West Coast drinking punkers out there.

This old school double IPA has the most perfect piney, dank hop build thanks to Columbus Cryo, Centennial, Chinook, and Simcoe hops.

Hazies begone! This one is bitter like your attitude and delicious like your (actual) taste in fonts and palettes.

**Blood Orange Arms Race – single can sale

Arms Race blurs the line between a pale ale and an IPA. Rich malt character offsets a massive hop punch. Citra hops steal the show with their gigantic tropical bouquet. Strong. Strong like bull. This version has blood orange added!

**Into the Woods 

Something weird happened on the way to Colorado from Iowa. Some full-bodied midwestern lactose stumbled through a berry bramble and this perfect kettle sour was born. Raspberries and blackberries give a start, fruity zing and lactose adds ideal body to this delectable treat. From the fields of Iowa City to Denver’s Rocky Mountains, we know one thing: thirsty happens. When it does, support your local brewery, grab a can, and head into the woods.

**Snowbird 

A little reminder of summer never hurts. This experimental sour gives you just that with a peach, apricot, and coconut concoction.

**Dirty Little Secret

Dark strong ale aged with raspberries. Notes of roasted coffee and chocolate.

Big Grove Saturday “Drive Thru” continues this weekend (4/18)! Colorado Smuggler and Summer Jam make their returns! + Blackberry Lime Gusher debuts!

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Another weekend of social distancing approaches and thankfully another weekend of Big Grove’s drive thru comes with it! This week’s online sale for the drive thru is up and active and two new beers to the menu will be Summer Jam and Colorado Smuggler! Adding to those is Blackberry Lime Gusher! Here’s more on these two delicious brews:

Summer Jam – 4.2%
Berliner Weisse inspired beer, Sidehill Sour, all jammed up with raspberries, blackberries, and cherries just in time for summer.

Colorado Smuggler – 7.2% – hazy IPA
Passionfruit, berry, lemon, citrus, and drifting cannabis notes are the result of some Strata hops we smuggled into the state of Iowa and brewed with our pals from Odell Brewing.

New to the list is Blackberry Lime Gusher, an experimental sour!

These three brews will join a long list of beers available, along with burgers and fries, that you can order right now through Big Grove’s website and pick up on Saturday between 11-2 at either BG location. The link is below, give it a click, order some suds and burger and have yourself a wondrous weekend!

Big Grove Drive Thru Order Form!

Big Grove Drive Thru offering 4 new beers for this weekend! (4/11-4/12)

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Big Grove in both Solon and Iowa City will continue their popular drive thru for folks who need a burger and fries and some might fine ales to wash them down with! 4 new beers will be available along with many others. You will have until 8 p.m. on Friday to place your order and pick up times will be Saturday and Sunday from 11-2! Click HERE to place your order! What are the new brews? Here we go:

Norwegian Demon (16oz 4-pack): hazy IPA with Simcoe, African Queen, Mosaic, and Ekuanot 🇳🇴 ⁣
Apricot Pistachio Torte (500 mL bottle): our Sugar Bottom Series continues with this delicate, sour, dessert beer 🍰 ⁣
Tropical Wheat (32oz crowler): wheat beer with pineapple and mango 🍍 ⁣
Passion Fruit Gusher (32oz crowler): a Que Será with an irresponsible amount of passion fruit (3x our usual amount for fruited sours) 👀⁣

**Also available: Boomtown | West Main Wheat | Que Será | Arms Race | Big Grove IPA | Burch the Bear | 1939 Amber Ale | Easy Eddy | Strawberry Cherry Swirl | Iowa City Lager | Coffee Shop Series: Coffee Oatmeal Stout | Color TV | Turtle Hunter | Red Wedding Wheat | Brew Berry | Passionfruit Vanilla

4 Big Grove releases coming this weekend: Turtle Hunter, Into the Woods, Red Wedding Wheat and Boysenberry Coffee Sour!

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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:

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*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!

Big Grove releasing “Coffee Shop Series: Coffee Oatmeal Stout” this weekend!

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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!

 

“Beer Money” Book Release tonight 3/10 at Big Grove Brewery in IC!

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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, IA52240

A 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.

Big Grove Brewery Celebrating 3 years w/ 4 new can releases on 3/14!

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Big Grove in Iowa City will be celebrating their 3 year anniversary on March 14th and in doing so will be releasing 5 beers, 4 of which had yet to be canned. This beers will be available in Iowa City and Solon locations on March 14th! Here’s more from BGB!

Iowa City Lager | German Style Pilsner
Color TV | Hazy Double IPA w/ Galaxy
Passion Fruit Vanilla | Fruited Sour Ale
Creek Jumper | New World Pale Ale
Bananas Foster | Rum Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with Bananas

Available ONLY at Big Grove Brewery in Solon and Iowa City starting Saturday March 14. Both locations opening at 10:00AM.

Beer Baron’s Top 10 Iowa Beers of 2019!

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Another Top 10 list coming at you as I present to you, dear reader, my top 10 “Iowa Beers” of 2019! Once again, this list is of beers released in 2019, Iowa brewed, and with annual releases (Richard the Whale, GAZPROM!) they aren’t counted unless the brewery releases a beer with that base and a new adjunct to it. I’ve missed out on many beers this year, one being the B.A. Cake Walk from Pulpit which many of you were lucky enough to try. Another great year in Iowa Beer as our breweries keep turning out amazing things!

I’d also love to hear your Top 10 beers of the year, so shoot back on me here or on the Iowa Beer page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter! So, after tedious nights of drinking amazing beer, here’s my top 10 (in no particular order)!

**Big Grove Brewery Richard the Whale Hazelnut + Chocolate -11.5%- this is a beer that was overshadowed by the golden ticket release of Richard Coconut Vanilla, and maybe rightfully so as that beer is amazing, but if you have a bottle of this, drink it! You’d be hard pressed to find a beer with that much hazelnut flavor that is balanced perfect with chocolate. Big Grove continues to shine with their Richard series!

**Confluence Brewing Smoothest Road Hazy Triple IPA- 10% – Confluence teamed up with Weldwerks Brewing to come up with this Triple and they really nailed it. Smoothest in the title and that’s exactly what can be said about a triple that drinks like a regular hazy. Delicious and easy drinking, watch out for that 10% on this baby! Keep this coming Confluence!

**Clock House Brewing Pineapple Witch Slap– 6% – what a great year for Clock House as Todd and crew have been busy cranking out some delicious beers and even a few can/crowler releases. One of the most notable for me was an off shoot of their popular Witch Slap IPA, Pineapple Witch Slap. All the greatness from Witch Slap with some fresh tasting pineapple added to it. What I like the best in adjunct beers is when it doesn’t taste artificial, and this beer was the perfect example. Fresh pineapple, the perfect beer for a warm day or any day for that matter!

**Lion Bridge Brewing Home Baked – 11% – this was the beer that started off my 2019 and to top this beer would be quite an accomplishment! I must be a sucker for hazelnut in my stouts, and add some cinnamon and fudge and you have one of the best beers ever brewed in Iowa!

**Toppling Goliath Double Dry Hopped King Sue-7.8% – I’m not sure when this was actually released so if it was early then 2019, my bad. But, I recently had my first bottle of it and it has to be up there with the best IPAs brewed in the state. Delicious beer!

**Dimensional Brewing Imperial Peanut Butter Cup – 10% – was lucky enough to get this on tap on trip to Dubuque. If you did peanut butter porters/stouts then this is one you need to try. Not overly sweet either, that can be a deal breaker for me. Dimensional continues to do great things after celebrating their 1 year anniversary!

**Big Grove Richard the Whale Vanilla Coconut – 11.5% – one of the best beers of the year no doubt! The “golden ticket” beer has exceeded the hype. The coconut shines, and once again not too sweet. I don’t know how Big Grove can outdo themselves again next year, but I’m sure they will. A beer of the year nominee!

**Pulpit Rock Gravy Boat – 7.1% – I know it’s not the B.A. Cake Walk that would make everyone’s list if you tried it, but Pulpit is continually making great beers of almost every style. Their sours/stouts/pils/pastry stouts/IPAs are all delicious. Gravy Boat is an IPA that I could drink many of, and in fact, many of these pairs well with some Need Pizza!

**Clock House Snozberry Sour – 5% – one of the best kettle sours I’ve ever had as Clock House loaded this baby up with blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Sessionable and not overly tart. This would be ideal on a hot summer day!

**Lion Bridge Double Maple GAZPROM! – 12% – barrel aged January was amazing in 2019 and expectations have been set high for 2020! One of the highlights along with Home Baked was Double Maple GAZPROM! They upped the maple dosage and turned this into an even more decadent delight!

Well, there’s this year’s list…..Once again, sooooo many great beers being produced in our lovely state that it is hard to get your hands on all of them! It’s a great problem to have! Cheers to the breweries and the folks in the brewing industry and thanks to all the readers of this blog and my @iabeerbaron twitter handle, as well as the Iowa Beer Facebook members. I would love to hear your top 10 so give me a shout! Cheers!