If you are in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area you might want to make room on your calendar for next Thursday May 19th. Uncle Harry’s Five and Dime Tavern in Cedar Falls will be hosting a Central Waters tap takeover and there are a few big guns on the menu! Check the ad below or visit Uncle Harry’s Facebook page here: Uncle Harry’s
Cedar Rapids’ latest brewery opened it’s doors last week. Located at 708 3rd St. SE I had the impression that I was going to be walking into a small, tight spaced brewery but I couldn’t have been more wrong. A 30 bbl system with TONS of room for brewer Mike Wing Jr. to work and room to possibly expand in the future and a beautiful taproom that appeals to not only craft beer nerds but holds a throwback feel that would appeal to the “supper club” age as well.
Upon entering the brewery I noticed the logo on the door. An eagle with a hop for its abdomen. Simple but stunning, I knew I would be buying a shirt. I love the “Hopeagle” look. The perfect representation of what craft beer is! The taproom was stunning. A LONG table splits the bar patrons from the folks who want to lounge supper club style on a chair or sofa. The table gives you enough room to enjoy your beer but allows for some conversation with other beer folks. A crowler system behind the bar and six beers from Iowa Brewing on tap and 6 guest tap lines as well. Here’s the mission statement of Iowa Brewing Co.:
IOWA BREWING COMPANY
Our mission is to brew great beer for the people of Iowa – and beyond.
Wherever you are, we want to be your neighborhood brewery. Located in Cedar Rapids between the Downtown and New Bohemia districts, our taproom is an easy walk to our city’s cultural and dining attractions. For a bite between beers, we are partnering with area food trucks and we also encourage our guests to bring their favorite foods, preferably enough to share.
You will soon be able to find our beers on draft across our state and eventually in your favorite stores.
Getting the tour of the brewery and seeing the massive vats was impressive and even more impressive is that there is possibly room for more. A lab will be put in to help maintain and measure the quality of the beer, and from what Andy Skelton (Taproom Manager) and Mike told me, the long term plan would be putting in a canning/bottling line. Walking back even further and into the cooler to see the massive of amounts of beautiful kegs waiting to be filled with sweet wonderful beer. Beyond the cooler sat a collection of mountain bikes. Wondering what they were about Andy explained they are thinking of painting them Iowa Brewing colors and kind of using them as non-payment rental for people to ride the bike paths up to Lion Bridge or down to Need for a pie. A nice little map of some craft beer destinations would be a sweet addition, but I thought this would be a terrific idea. Overall, very impressive system they have, and here’s more from their website:
Very shiny and growing. Our Brewhouse is a three vessel 30 bbl system with 60 bbl hot and cold liquor tanks. Our Cellar features two 60 bbl horizontal maturation tanks, three 60 bbl fermentation vessels, one 60 bbl brite tank and three 10 bbl pilot fermentation/brite vessels.
Back in the taproom and I got to enjoy their Citra pale ale which was very good. I was excited to see an oatmeal stout on tap, their IPA was damn tasty as well. Mike poured me a taste of his new Hoppy Wheat recipe and that is going to a winner when that hits the lines. Gumballhead with more citrus, excellent tasting brew. Being able to have a brew with Mike and Andy was a real treat. You can tell these guys are driven. They aren’t satisfied with mediocre and the more I talked to Mike the more you got the idea that given time, he will be pumping out some of Iowa’s tastiest brews.
Overall, definitely worth a trip down to visit. Food? No kitchen, and there probably won’t be one but expect food trucks to be rolling in so you can support a local food truck while also supporting an Iowa brewery. Can’t wait for my next visit down! Thanks Mike and Andy, it was great night!
Mount Vernon Road in Hy-Vee has an impressive lineup of events celebrating Cedar Rapids craft beer week. That stout breakfast sounds pretty damn promising!
Hopefully you can get yourself out and make it to a few of these events! Cheers!
Here are the events we are hosting the rest of the week:
Wednesday 5/11 5-7pm Meet Big Grove
We will be hosting Big Grove Brewery in our Tasting Room. They will be available to chat and answer questions about the brewery and brewing process. We will be pouring their new IIPA and they will have samples of some of their other brews. Free Event!Thursday 5/12 5-7pm Beer 101 with Chad Atherton from Founders Brewing
Come chat and have a beer with Chad as he gives us some of the basics of beer. We will be pouring Founders Curmudgeon and maybe a bonus Founders brew! Free Event!Friday the 13th 4:30-7pm Tasting Event
We will have 13 vendors pouring a variety of things to try, food from our Chefs and a DJ spinning the tunes! Free Event!Saturday 5/14 8-11am Stout Breakfast
Our Market Grille will host a Stout Breakfast featuring a Breakfast Buffet and 4 Four ounce pours of beer. The buffet will feature two special Chef prepared items, Chicken Fried Brisket with and stout and coffee gravy and Pork Belly Hash amongst other b fast favorites. The beers are Tall Grass Barrel Aged Vanilla Buffalo Sweat, MadHouse Carpe Diem, Central Waters Rye Barrel Porter( although not a stout I couldn’t pass it up) and finally Barrel Aged Yeti! Cost for the buffet and flight is $25
The news is spreading quickly that Big Grove is expanding to a production facility in Iowa City. Excellent news for all of us and even better news for the community as not only are we getting more beer but more jobs as well. Also, Big Grove going green? It sure sounds like it! I was able to talk with Chad Young, sales/marketing manager of Big Grove, and he gave me a bit more insight as to what to expect from the brewery:
Baron: How many jobs will this open up?
CY: A lot of details are still being placed this next week or 2. Right now an estimated 70 jobs.
BARON: Will you be canning/bottling or both?
CY:The concept right now is eventually a canning line but growth of the brewery will be slow and steady and continue to focus on draft only for the first year or two.Honestly very vague on a timeline with a project like this. The 1st part is to make sure the beer is as great as what is being brewed in Solon. Everyone is absolutely behind continuing the high standard on quality first. Once we get that dialed in, then we will bring on the next phase of production.BARON: What type of brewing line will the brewery house?CY:Installing a “Meura Mash Filter”, which is an incredible piece of brewery technology. Super efficient with raw materials with very high extract yields, while using less water and energy. This will be one of the greenest brewing production facilities not just in iowa, but in the region.BARON: What will become of the Solon location brewery?CY: Specialties and barrel aging will continue at the Solon location
This Friday night at Bricks Bar and Grill in Cedar Rapids is the SHOWDOWN OF THE CENTURY!!! Well, maybe not the showdown of the century but there will be some amazing beers on hand as two of Iowa’s finest, Big Grove out of Solon and Exile out of Des Moines square off in a “Sour Showdown”! I was able to try some of both breweries beers this weekend at Benz Beerfest and if that is any indication of what’s to come then this showdown will not disappoint!
Exile has been dominating the sour scene in retail and their latest addition, Blood Orange Bohemia, has been a hot sell. I was able to try their Peachberry Beatnik and was blown away; one of the best beers at the festival.
Big Grove has had people rolling through their doors for their terrific beers, and one of those responsible has been the Que Sera. I would expect some offshoots of this beer at the showdown. I had their cucumber mint que sera pin at the beer festival and thought it was absolutely terrific.
This should be a great event, with two great breweries, at an excellent beer bar. Don’t forget to say hi to the bad ass mothers in the picture below! They are out for blood! Cheers!
One day away! Very excited about Big Grove’s new double IPA being tapped tomorrow as well as their Que Sera pin. To add to that, Jim Johnston, brewer at 3rd Base Brewery in Cedar Rapids will be bringing some new beers as well as Shame! If you haven’t been to 3rd Base, you need to get there to try Shame on tap (if it’s still there). It’s been one of my favorites of the year so far and I can’t wait to drink some more tomorrow.
Anyway, here’s a peek as to what 3rd Base will be bringing tomorrow:
What beers will be getting tapped this Saturday at Benz Beverage Depot? There will no doubt be some tremendous beers available but today we have a sneak peek into what Big Grove Brewery will be bringing to the event. Two new beers, two fantastic sounding beers, two beers that you will probably love! Here’s what’s tapping for Big Grove on Saturday:
*Cronos DIPA – 8.7% double IPA with sweet malt body that is balanced with Green Bullet with additions of Simcoe and Mosaic in the dry hop. Flavors and aromas of dried apricot, pine, and citrus rind.
*Que Sera Pin w/cucumber and mint – berliner-weisse that gives the tart and sour with the additions of cucumber and mint. Be prepared to become addicted to this.
Hope to see you there on Saturday!! Should be a great day!
Lion Bridge Brewery in Cedar Rapids will once again be tapping some mushroom beers during Houby Days. Houby Days is a yearly 3 day festival celebrating the wonderful fungus! Two “mushroom” beers will be tapped that day along with more events during this fun weekend. Here’s more from Lion Bridge’s newsletter:
Mushroom Beers for HOUBY DAYS!
Houby Days is a yearly 3-day Mushroom Festival right here in Czech Village.This year is from Friday May 20 to Sunday May 22.
Happening all day: carnival rides, street food vendors, craft market, live music, beer garden in the LB parking lot, and two mushroom beers:
Chanterelle Disaster (Mushroom Porter, 5.8%)
Celebrate the glorious mystery that is fungus. Chanterelle mushrooms contribute a unique fruit character to our world-class porter. It’s not Houby Days without a pint of mushroom beer!Oyster Disaster (Mushrooms Porter, 5.8%)
You may have heard of oyster stout? Well, how about oyster mushroom porter. The unique briny character of the oyster mushroom pairs perfectly with our world-class porter. Embrace the Houby!LIVE MUSIC on Friday evening from “The Polka Kings of Walford.”
If you’re a member of the 99 Bottle Beer Club, Mt. Vernon Rd. Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids is hosting a beer and food tasting event. Bryan and Nate are doing great things at this Hy-Vee and Lion Bridge will have some of their beers on tap. Here’s more on this event courtesy of Hy-Vee email:
We are less than a week away from our 99 Bottle Beer Club Members Only Event, so we just wanted to send out a little reminder. The event is Tuesday May 10th from 5pm-7pm in our Tasting Room. This is a free event for all members and we will have some members only specials on beer purchases after the event. We are featuring a couple of gems from Lion Bridge Brewing Company and our chefs will have some awesome things to nibble on throughout the night. This is a great chance to come, socialize, eat, drink and be merry!! Be sure to wear your 99 Bottle T-Shirt!! Also all next week is Cedar Rapids Beer Week. Make sure to check out all of the events we are having at our store, as well as all of the events going on around town atcrbeerweek.com!!
This comes from 7G and Backpocket Brewing:
New(ish) beer announcement: Last year we brewed a mega beer for the first time and everyone loved it. So this year we’re bringing it back. Which beer? Murderhorn, the 10.2% ABV Golden Strong Ale. It’s such a big beer that we’re going all out and bottling it too. Look for it on shelves and taps near you in May. #muderhorn
Sounds tasty, looking forward to trying this one!
