The party before the party! Backpocket Brewing in Coralville will be hosting a pre-party before the big Brfr Fest event on Saturday, January 29th! Some amazing beers and tasty food plus much more, check it out:
Did you get your BrrrFest tickets? Join us at Backpocket for a BrrrFest Pre Party! We will be releasing our 2022 BrrrFest: Dark Day German Chocolate Cake Barrel Aged Imperial Chocolate Stout , and Maple Syrup BA Waffle Stout. We will be serving up ALL YOU CAN EAT breakfast from 9-11AM, and releasing a pin variant at 10 AM.
Tickets are $30 and include…(1) Ticket for all you can eat breakfast. (Breakfast will be served from 9 am to 11 am.)(1) 4.5 oz. pour of 2022 BrrrFest: Dark Day:German Chocolate Cake(1) 4.5 oz. pour of Maple Syrup BA Waffle Stout and early access to purchase (4)12oz bottles of BrrrFest Dark Day: German Chocolate Cake and (4) 12oz bottles of Maple Syrup BA Waffle Stout. ALL TICKETS MUST BE REDEEMED BEFORE 11 AM TO GUARANTEE AVAILABILITY!- FAQ-1. What are we having for breakfast? Breakfast will be Ham, Egg Bake, French Toast, Smoked Cheesy Hashbrowns, Yogurt Parfait Bar, Orange Juice and Coffee. 2. How many bottles can I purchase?Limit (4) BrrrFest Dark Day: German Chocolate Cake bottles per person. Limit (4) Imperial Waffle Stout per person. ABOUT THE BEER.BrrrFest Dark Day: German Chocolate CakeBrrrFest: Dark Day BA Imperial Chocolate Stout was Boiled for twenty four hours, this chocolate stout is the longest boil we have ever done. This imperial stout aged for 12 months has layers of different chocolate and caramel malts. With toasted coconut, roasted pecans, and a hint of cherry puree. Believe us when we say this dessert stout is not like the others. Imperial Waffle StoutImperial Stout barrel aged in maple syrup barrels for 12+ months infused with 150lbs of waffles, with maple syrup, and vanilla. TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE! https://www.eventbrite.com/…/brrrfest-pre-party-2022…Tickets are now on sale for our BrrrFest Pre Party!
Lion Bridge Brewing is giving all of us an early holiday gift as they prepare to release 3 new beers this week! Here’s what’s coming down the line and all available for pre-order as well:
**Raspberry Cheeseshake (Fruited Sour, 5.5%) – A kettle-soured golden ale with copious amounts of Raspberry, a healthy dose of cheesecakey goodness, and a graham cracker finish. Hope you saved room!
**Blueberry Cheeseshake (Fruited Sour, 5.5%) – A kettle-soured golden ale with copious amounts of Blueberry, a healthy dose of cheesecakey goodness, and a graham cracker finish. Hope you saved room!
**Oakonut Delight (Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout with Coconut and Caramel added, 9.5%) – Coconut and chocolate and caramel blend with a carefully selected blend of barrel aged beers from our cellar to produce this liquid treat.
Volcano Sauce Sour The tectonic plates have shifted, letting forth an eruption of gushing blackberries and blueberries. Each burst filled with milk sugar & vanilla for creamsicle smoothness. A freshly canned sour ale with explosively delicious flavor.
Cherry Lime Freeze Sour Sour Ale brewed with cherry, lime and vanilla frozen yogurt.
Velocirabbit IPA Using the same amounts of Mosaic, Simcoe and Chinook as Laser Raptors, this beer has a powerful berry aroma and nice pine note. The oats and wheat maintain the creamy mouthfeel that Laser Raptors is known for, lending the lower ABV the ability to make a crispy break just as the hops surprise your palate.
How Now Brown Cow PB/Chocolate/Coffee Milk Stout The weathers getting colder. How Now Brown Cow will warm you right up. Drinkable peanut butter cup meets coffee all wrapped up in a Milk Stout. Get ready for rich aromas of peanut butter, light roasted coffee, and a smooth chocolatey finish.
Species x Hyperthermic DIPA Certain yeast strains of Norwegian origin, known as “kveik”, can ferment at extremely high temperatures with little to no off-flavors. Popular with craft brewers for good reason, we naturally decided to put a lot of these strains in the same beer. On top of this, we scrounged around for some additional strains and species of yeast that also perform well at kveik-like temperatures. The result is a big-bodied juice chimera for the ages.
Drippin’ on the Cheap DIPA Drippin’ On The Cheap DIPA drinks like absolute silk!! Smooth, Mosaic’s berries & dankness stealing the show upfront, with Citra’s stone fruit and candied clementine to balance it all out.
TDH Sponge Bath DIPA Our constant pursuit of pillowy hop perfection leads us down many paths, but some combinations lather better than others. Triple helpings of our hand selected Citra Cryo, Mosaic, Cashmere Cryo & Strata. Soothing and refreshing, just like a sponge bath at Burning Man. Relax, Rinse & Repeat.
Pyramid Scheme TIPA Our hand selected strata and simcoe with some preposterously stinky new zealand motueka & nelson sauvin on a spelt heavy base. Believe us, you’re gonna want to get in on the ground floor of this one.
Local 755 IPA Our Foggy Favorite. Azacca, Amarillo & a Gwop of Citra. Soft, Juicy & Hazy like 70’s Home Movies.
Fugazi Italian Style Pils Italian-Style Pils dry-hopped adoringly with Czech Kazbek. It’s the Real Deal.
Hex Code Quantum Mirror x REM5 VR Lab x Modist Lager brewed with Premium Pilsner malt, milk sugar, marshmallows, pineapple, toasted coconut and Madagascar vanilla beans
Knees in the Breeze There’s not much better than the open road, driving up the west coast, Knees in the Breeze and not a care in the world. Now imagine, after a long day of cruising, cracking open a balanced West Coast IPA. Introducing Knees in the Breeze, our West Coast IPA w/ pale ale malts, wheat malt, hopped & dry hopped w/ Simcoe, Citra & Cryo El Dorado.
Cinnamon Roll – Gold Stout Bakery in a glass! This gold stout is a liquid cinnamon roll in a glass. Perfectly balancing the Cinnamon which can be overdone, and landing in at only 8% ABV. I mean, who doesn’t like cinnamon rolls?! **Lactose Free**
Non-alcoholic Smores Dark Brew Think of the regular Untitled Art S’mores stout, but now in a non-alcoholic form! This beer will have you warmed up and feeling like you’re sitting by the fire roasting marshmallows. If you’re looking for a N/A option for Thanksgiving, the Smores Dark Brew is the way to go!
Huntley Helles The perfect lounging lager is back and crisper than ever! Whether it’s to beat the end of Summer heat, or embrace the coming of the Fall season, 𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘀 has you covered and coming back for more. (4.5% ABV)
Arga Strawberry/Kiwi Seltzer MADE WITH REAL FRUIT. AGRA Strawberry Kiwi is a delicious blend of ripe juicy strawberry and fresh kiwi nectar.
Amplify The Absurdity Sour This smoothie style sour ale with raspberry, banana, vanilla and marshmallow comes together for a decadent treat in liquor form! We took our base sour ale recipe and amplified it with some of the most delicious flavor combos we could think of along with a healthy dose of milk sugar.
Add November 20th to your beer calendars and plan a trip to West Des Moines to get in line for the release of Barn Town’s BA Cicada Killer! Here’s more from Barn Town on this sought after release:
Mark those calendars! Saturday, November 20th, BARREL AGED CICADA KILLER is back in two new versions! We are super stoked about these two and look forward to you getting your hands on them! First, COCONUT FUDGE! Thicc and brewed with a ton of toasted coconut and cacao nibs aged for over a year. Second is CINNAMON, COCONUT, CARAMEL, & CHOCOLATE, also aged for over a year. Both will be in new formats of 500 ml bottles. Stay tuned for allotment and price info.
Club 76 in North Liberty has announced the date for their always amazing “Stouts, Sours, and Oysterfest” event! Saturday March 26th is the date and tickets will be going on sale on November 28th! Click HERE to follow their Facebook page with updates. Here’s more from Club 76 on this event:
Oysterfest is back. We discovered last year that most people who attended enjoyed the setup change we used last year. We also discovered it worked better for the volunteers and staff as a fewer ticketed and more intimate event with the opportunity to reserve tables. Same great food and spectacular beers selection. Tentative date for tickets to go on sale is November 28. We will update the page if that changes as we are going to try to make the process even easier this year. We will be having our Whiskey Raffle again. This is a great event for the American Legion and the proceeds helps us help the community including brand new scholarships this year locally at Liberty High School for sons and daughters of American Veterans. We also appreciate any feedback back on how we can help local organizations in the community in need especially Veteran or Children in need.
Along with the amazing food, you know there is going to be an amazing, hard to get tap list of some of the best stouts and sours that are attainable in Iowa. Here’s a list of possible brews being tapped at Oysterfest:
2017 Stone Mikhail 2019 Prairie Bible Belt 30th Boulevard Imperial Cuvée Richard Port Barrel 2015 Sierra BA Narwal 2020 Clown Shoes Hammer of the Holy and Hammer of the Lion Cascade Kentucky Peach and Pear Mary Big Grove Trip in the Woods Multiple Bourbon County’s 18 and Varietals
Spyglass Sour A lemon & lime golden sour ale, Spyglass is tart and refreshing with a lower calorie count.
Paperweight Midwest Fruit Tart Apricot Midwest Fruit Tart. 3,000lbs of apricots per 30bbl batch.
Bushel Gose A gose with heritage cider apples and baking spices. Tart, salty, and delicious
Sour Mixed Variety Pack The mixed twelve packs will feature three cans each of four different beers, two of which are going to be exclusive to the mixed packs. Harrow, Keypunch, Spyglass & Pinery
The Tumi The Tumi is brewed with 3,000 lbs of Yellow Mombin per 30 bbl batch. Yellow Mombins, also known as caja or hog plums, originate in the rainforests of Central and South America. The taste is vaguely tropical with hints of mango, banana, papaya, and pineapple.
The Gadget Midwest Fruit Tart A Midwest Fruit Tart brewed with 1,200 lbs of blackberries, 1,200 lbs of raspberries, and 30g of vanilla beans per 30 bbl batch
Xmas Pickle Gose Naughty or Nice, our beloved Pickle Gose is ready to be unwrapped and enjoyed this holiday season. The light and refreshing taste of cucumber and dill make the perfect pairing for all the heavy, holiday feasts to be had.
Astronaut Food This otherworldly brew is made with freeze-dried blueberries, and has more fruit than any other beer we’ve made. With a 15% ABV and a dizzying amount of blueberries, this beer is out of this world.
Dear Annie Hazy IPA Deliciously juicy and hazy love note of lemon peel and orange pith with medium hoppy notes and light bitterness.
Off the Leash Pils Modern Iowa Corn Pilsner – Our approach to a refreshing corn lager. Clean, crisp, and off-the-charts crushable.
Kobes Unleashed Kölsch Light, refreshing, and clean. With a mild bitterness, this traditional brew is super crushable.
Spirit Foul DDH Hazy IPA Brewed in collaboration with San Diego’s Modern Times Beer, Spirit Foul was Fair State’s first hazy IPA. Brewed with the freshest Strata hops and plenty of Citra and Mosaic for its passion fruit aroma. Pilsner malt, pale wheat, flaked oats, and flaked barley give this beer its soft body and signature haze. Super juicy, tropical, and dank.
Luxury of Restraint IPA IPA you can see through? Yes, you read that right. The Luxury of Restraint is a collaboration with Shared Brewing (St. Louis, MO), hopped liberally with hand-selected Strata, Simcoe, and Nelson Sauvin. Assertive but polite bitterness, crispy malt character, and notes of stonefruit, gooseberries, nebulous tropicalia, and a waft of dankness. Can- and keg-conditioned for extra intangibles.
Double Hi-Five DIPA – Collab W/ Ology This Triple Dry-Hopped Double IPA brewed with our good friends at Ology Brewing is just bursting with tropical notes from 3 massive dry hops of Citra, Galaxy, Idaho 7, and Mosaic.
Huntley Helles – Kegs Only Named to honor the home of our Huntley facility, this German-style lager is brewed with our soft water and some of our favorite German malts and hops, then lagered in our horizontal tank. An extremely soft mouthfeel with a pleasant malt profile and hints of noble hops, then ends in an ever so smooth finish.
Fruit Fusion Blueberry/Mango Yogurt Fruit Fusion is all about pushing the limits. This brew is no exception as we have paired two amazing fruits (BLUEBERRY & MANGO) with tons of real vanilla yogurt and a touch of granola. This is a thicc boy, and absolutely smooth and delicious.
Chubby Bunny Kiwi Mallowmellon Marshmallow and real Kiwi puree.. what more can you ask for!?! Sweet/tart/and absolutely delicious all the way down the hatch. This is the first time that HBC has used Kiwi and we must ask ourselves… why have we waited this long?
Haze Head Seven Candles Celebrating our seventh year in style with Seven Candles. This one has stupid amounts of hops. Like all of our NEIPAs– they are balanced with a strong backbone of chewy malts, but we pushed hard to give this one an edge as we incorporated seven of our favorite hops! This beer is absolute heaven to the hazy and IPA lovers. This may be the silkiest NEIPA we have offered thus far!
Spin 2 Win Pit Boss Blueberry, Pomegranate, Black Currant: Three fruits perfectly matched by cupid himself. This brew features ungodly amounts of pure fruit. It is tart, rich, and features a wonderful mouthfeel.
Swingin’ Sticks Imperial Sweet Stout – Collab w/ Angry Chair Austin teamed up with our friends at Angry Chair Brewing out of Tampa Bay Florida to bring you an Imperial Sweet Stout with coconut from Sri Lanka, pistachios from California, and cocoa nibs from Bolivia. This decadent brew should remind you of a rich chocolatey pistachio ice cream with the perfect amount of coconut and caramel swirl!
Hiking With Pulpit Rock This newly developed pastry seltzer showcases Pulpit Rock Brewing Company’s innate talents for creating outstanding pastry sours while blending Austin’s style and love for new creations; like his previous Forager Brewery “Seltzer Pops”. The two styles come together for an epic Dole whip meets a citrus gin and tonic one-of-a-kind refreshing summertime beverage that begs you to wonder— just how did they do it?
Haizer Triple IPA Version 4 This triple IPA is brewed with motueka, nelson, citra & hort 4337. Coming in at 9.8%, this beer is incredibly smooth and easy drinking. One of their best TIPA’s to date!
Blackberry Cobbler A La Mode This berliner weisse style ale with blackberry, pie crust & cinnamon tastes dangerous close to an actual blackberry cobbler. This one will seriously WOW you!
Can I Speak To Your Manager? NEIPA A lil’ liquid shout out to all of our service industry compatriots. Strata, Mosaic, Ekuanot Cryo & HBC 568 in condescending quantities. Sometimes it’s just one of those nights.
Now Presenting Passionfruit/Plum/Grapefruit Sour Our Foeder-Fermented Mixed Culture Berliner Base conditioned on gobs of Plum, Grapefruit & Passionfruit with a bit of Milk Sugar to round things out.
Double Maple Imperial Morning Stout Brewed with loads of coffee beans and a multiple of maple, this 11% brew goes down smooth. The first notes of maple sweetness are balanced out by the flavors of deep roasted coffee
Another week and another big time brewery bringing their beers to our shelves. This time, it is Modern Times coming to us using Pequod Distribution! Not sure on the timeframe of the release but it looks like Modern Times will be getting us their beers quarterly. Stay tuned for more, and take a look below at some of the possible beers we will be seeing!
Fortunate Islands – Tropical Pale Ale
Fruitlands w Passionfruit and Guava – Fruit Gose
Laser Rain Gose – Gose w/cucumber, lime, & guava
Orderville – Hazy Mosaic IPA
Space Ways Hazy Nelson IPA – Hazy IPA with Nelson, Motueka, and simcoe
Sparkle Wolf – West Coast Ipa w/El Dorado and Mosaic
Dungeon Map West Coast IPA – West Coast IPA w/strata, mosaic, nelson, cent
Limited release series
Glimmer Void 2020 w/ Vanilla 12 x 375mL BA Red Sour with Strawberries & Vanilla
News from Nowhere: Moscatel Cuvvee – red sour cuvee aged from 14-52 months in red wine, cognac, and sherry barrels. Then racked in Setubal Moscatel sherry pipes for 4 months
Phantom Twilight – We aged this foeder-fermented saison in a terracotta amphora for two months before racking onto second-use Montmorency and Balaton cherries. The result is a stunning spectacle of funk with restrained acidity and a delightful mineral and berry character.
Forgotten Landscapes aged in Tawny Port Barrels with Nectarines (Burial Collab) 2020 Release BA Fruited Sour
Cosmic Entity Pecan Pie Edition -This marvelously decadent imperial dessert-stout is loaded with house-toasted pecans, house-roasted coffee, coconut, cocoa, and vanilla.
Stout weather is upon us and stout releases are on the horizon! Backpocket is releasing their popular “Wake the F Up!” barrel-aged coffee imperial stout on December 4th! Here’s more from Backpocket on this release:
𝚂𝙰𝚅𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙳𝙰𝚃𝙴 Wake The F Up Iowa 2021: Barrel Aged Imperial Coffee Stout release party will be December 4th. This BA Stout was aged in Mississippi River Distilling Barrels for boozy flavors that blend perfectly with the locally roasted coffee from Wake Up Iowa. If you love coffee and barrel aged beers, you gotta get some of this! Stay tuned for more details on the release party!
Last night I was lucky enough to get to visit the latest restaurant being opened by the guys who have brought us Bricks, Local Pour, Cliff’s Dive Bar, and Moco Game Room! The hip-stir in Marion is officially opened and let me tell you, you’re going to want to check this place out! The food, ambiance, drinks, and staff made this a place that I will be frequenting!
Upon entering from the back alley you walk up a small flight of stairs and are greeted with a amazingly creative interior. Booth seats enveloped by wooden barrels and old parlor-esque hanging lamps coming down from the ceilings really give the comfortable vibe of your favorite speakeasy/pub. Upon being greeted by the friendly staff, we were sat in one of the wooden barrel booths to the delight of my kids.
Waters for the kids…beer for me. A nice mix of craft beers and domestic bottles were available along with some creative cocktails (ordering at least 1 next time) and a number of wines for the wine lover to choose. The hard part was coming up….narrowing down what to order! Every single thing on the menu sounded unique, creative, and most importantly delicious. I could be wrong but many items seem to be asian inspired which is perfectly fine with me! Onto the food:
*CALLAHAN WINGS – the wings were mammoth! Definitely not your traditional wing, these were oven baked and had a tangy/spicy sauce that seemed to be a mix of a buffalo/sweet and sour/orange chicken combination with big chunks of funky blue cheese. Terrific! These were a meal in itself and that tangy sauce hit the spot!
*HOT FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH – Usually when your read hot fried chicken you are thinking Nashville hot or maybe a spicy breading, well the hip-stirs’ version might be even better. A kimchi sauce…that’s right…kimchi sauced chicken sandwich with black garlic ranch. Simply delicious! Sweet and spicy and don’t forget those seasoned waffle fries on the side!
*BIGGER BETTER BURGER #1 – just an outstanding hamburger. Probably a top 5 all time burger. Two brisket patties, velveeta cheese, mustard sauce, onion, the coup de grace…pickled fresno chiles. The taste of the burger patties itself was delicious, add the accompaniments and it’s on another level. I’m a huge fresno chile fan and to get these pickled on this burger added a wonderful sweet and briney heat element. Excellent burger!
*PORK BELLY STEAM BUNS – this item right here will be ordered every time…without question. Sometimes steam buns can either be too pillowy and thick and too sweet…the hip-stir completely nailed the buns themselves. Not super thick, but enough to hold the ingredients on the inside. The pork belly was crispy and delicious and every steam bun needs that crunch and freshness from a cucumber. Add the kimchi sauce and you have a deathbed meal right here! THE BEST!!
OVERALL: Can’t say enough good things about the place really. I was blown away and it will be a place I return to frequently. My picture taking skills are shit and don’t do it justice by any means so you simply have to visit on your own. Marion has some great things going for it and the hip-stir certainly adds a unique and delicious destination to an up and coming area! Thank you Tim and staff!
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