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!
We are super pumped to share MORE exciting news with you… We have partnered with Iowa’s very own Kinship Brewing! We will be distributing these beers in the Eastern part of the state only. For specifics on where we will be able to distribute, please reach out to your sales person directly.
“We have a passion for making good beer and fostering a thriving community.” -Kinship Brewing **Specific beers to be announced soon!**
Ghost Stories TIPA Do you believe in ghosts? Bust out your flashlights, ‘cause sh*t’s about to get spooky. Terrifying quantities of our Hand-Selected Strata, Idaho 7 Cryo, Simcoe & El Dorado. Regardless of if you’re a true believer or not, this one is ghastly.
Building Blocks Strata & Spelt DIPA A simplified (relatively) expression of some of our favorite raw materials. The ones we can take a leap with and know we have something close to home to land on. This version is comprised of Briess Pilsner Malt, Weyermann Speltmalz & our hand selected Strata from the amazing folks at Indie Hops & our beloved LA3 yeast.
In the day and age where hazy IPAs, fruited sours, and pastry stouts are the craze and dominate the release landscape of craft beer, Lion Bridge brewery in Cedar Rapids release a style of beer that my taste buds have been craving….a farmhouse ale! YES! REJOICE! As much as I love every style of beer I was ready for this one to hit my lips! Brett, barnyard funk, and wonderful hop aroma, exactly what I needed!
*STYLE – Farmhouse Ale *ABV – 5% *AVAILABILITY – On tap and in bottles
We hand-selected a blend of Brettanomyces and wild beer from our wood program and then dry-hopped it with Vic Secret hops and naturally carbonated kegs and bottles.
The nose is superb. Vic secret hops pair perfectly with the brett to give it that wet hay/barnyard smell that makes farmhouse ales so spectacular. First sip was exactly what I was hoping for, hops up front with the funk on the back of the tongue, wonderful dry finish and slightly tart – just right and just what I was looking for in this beer!
If you’re a funk head, love brett, and are looking to go back in time a bit in the craft world, this beer is a must try! It’s on tap now or you can stock up your cellar as it’s available in bottles too! Get out there and DRINK THIS beer!
It’s that time of year! For the 2nd year in a row I’ve teamed up with Gly-Mawr The Local in Mt. Vernon, IA to put together an Iowa-only beer advent calendar! We tried to include as many Iowa breweries as possible and also to include different options than we had last year! With that being said, I’ll be giving one calendar away to one lucky winner! Here’s how you can win!
Comment on any of my Facebook pages where this link is posted by telling me your absolute favorite Iowa brewed beer, Iowa brewery and tag one of your friends!
Comment on my Instagram account by doing the same. Tell me your favorite Iowa brewed beer, Iowa brewery and tag a friend!
-Deadline: Last time to comment to enter the drawing will be Sunday, November 14th @ 8:00 p.m. I will be randomly drawing a name and will contact the winner. Pick up times for the calendar are as follows:
Wednesday, Nov 24th, 10-4 Friday, Nov 26th, 12-8 Saturday, Nov 27th, 8-8
Please spread the word! There are a few calendars left for purchase as well and they make wonderful gifts! Cheers and good luck! For more info on the calendar please click HERE!
Thew Brewing Company in Cedar Rapids will be paying homage to their “Old and in the Way” IPA with the release of “Older and in the Wayer” Triple IPA this Friday! Here’s more on this release courtesy of Thew:
Celebrate with us on Friday – Old and in the Way is turning another year older. Do you know what that means?We’ve got a special release for you – Older and in the Wayer – triple IPA – made just for you to celebrate Old and in the Way!Join us in the taproom on Friday – we’ll have popcorn and a few additional surprises us our sleeve.
Two beers coming back to the Lion Bridge rotation getting re-released today! Majestic Beast and Fun Size are now available in the taproom and at select beer retailers! Here’s more on these two delicious brews:
Majestic Beast (Hazy IPA, 6.8%) – We dry-hopped our Majestic Beast with Galaxy and Motueka hops and dumped in a healthy addition of Comet at the end of boil to add even more beauty to this magnificent creature.
Fun Size (Oatmeal Porter w/Chocolate and Sea Salt, 6.0%) – Brewed with Sea Salt and then rested on toasted cacao nibs. The result is an adult treat for Halloween. No tricks needed!
Pixie Mix Cherry Crusher This Cherry Crusher Pixie Mix is taking us back to 1995 and will have you listening to Nirvana, playing Mario and reminiscing the good ol’ days when life was simple, the days were long and a big pitcher of cherry kool aid solved all the world’s problems.
BA Exhausted Parent Imperial Stout – Chocolate Shoppe Series Barrel aged imperial stout with espresso beans, cacao nibs and mik sugar. Based off of the ice cream flavor Exhausted Parent which is bourbon-spiked espresso ice cream swirled with bittersweet chocolate chunks.
Double Blueberry Sour This is THE BEST beer to come out of Untitled Art in months. Truly a 10/10, pouring a perfect blue & purple color. The amount of true blueberry, body, and carbonation is spot on.
Bride of Dankenstein IPA You know what they say, the best things come in pairs. This Classic west coast single IPA is the significant other, or bride so to speak, to our Danknestein’s monster. We sewed together a bouquet of Citra, Idaho 7, Cascade, Cashmere, Strata, and Amarillo to create a beer that is lighter and more fruit forward than her more monstrous other half, although sure to still ELECTRIFY
Dankenstein’s Monster DIPA IT’S ALIVE!!! IT’S ALIIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEEEE!!! Just in time for the spooky season, this monstrous unfiltered double IPA packed is packed to the brim with classic and dank hops. We pieced together this monster with Cascade, CTZ, Chinook, Centennial, and Simcoe giving you big citrus. big pine, and all the dankness you could ask for.
Brothers of the Freemason IPA The only password you need to get into this masonic lodge is the word “Citra”. Created in collaboration with our Bros (Pun definitely intended) at Booze Brother’s Brewing out of Vista CA, this beer contains nothing but Citra. But don’t take that as it being boring by any means. We tracked down every different variation of the Citra hop we could find to create this citrus bomb. Containing Cryo Citra, Incognito Citra, and regular T90 Citra hop pellets, this beer is much more complex than your standard single hop beer. All you need to do is know the password and the handshake
Cash Stout Imperial Coffee Stout Collaboration with Mostra Coffee. Notes of Dark Chocolate, Espresso and Rich Malt
Galaxy Revengeance DIPA – Beer Zombies Collab What do you get when Mason Ale Works and Beer Zombies put their head together for a collaboration? You can a hazy bursting with the Citrus, Peach, and Passionfruit that Galaxy is known for. This single hopped hazy double IPA is as dangerously crushable as it is delicious
Willy Time Belgian Style White Ale: Brewed with Orange, Grapefruit Peel, and Coriander, and for a crisp and refreshing brew.
Mason Ale Works + Horus Aged Ales = Ferrous Falcon Brewing
Kyle Harrop (Horus Aged Ales) teams with Mason Ale Works’ Grant Tondro on new brewing project! These beers are amazing, you’re really going to want to try these. Read about it here.
Cutthroat Committee DIPA – Collaboration with Outer Range Brewing Double Dry Hopped Double IPA with Motueka, Riwaka, and Sabro Hops. Collaboration with Outer Range Brewing Co.
Mosaic Moose DDH IPA – Collaboration with Foam Brewers Double Dry Hopped IPA with Flex, Mosaic, and Mosaic Cryo Hops
Life in the Clouds NEIPA Fall into the rich embrace of this New England style IPA. Simcoe and Mosaic hops balance each other to make this juicy IPA explosively fruit forward in both taste and aroma while curbing any unbearable sweetness to make an extremely drinkable beer. The huge mouth feel ensures all of your tastebuds are enveloped in a blanket of tropical bliss, paradise in a can.
Rainbow Sherbet Sour This Rainbow Sherbet Sour is our take on a classic warm-weather treat but can be enjoyed anytime throughout the year. Packed full of key lime, pineapple, orange and raspberry, it strikes the perfect balance between fruity sweetness and sour tartness.
