A week after their limited can release of the delicious Easy Eddy, Big Grove will be releasing in limited quantities Turtle Hunter IPA 4 packs! They will be available at both the Solon and Iowa City locations starting at 10 a.m. They will also have all of their canned beers available including Summer Jam available for purchase!
Check out that sweet ass label! Cheers!
In what will no doubt be an amazing time with terrific food, beer, and socializing, “Chef’s Night Off” will feature chefs from Big Grove, Pullman, and Saint Burch, cooking you a feast potluck style right before your eyes. Here are the deets on this Big Grove inspired summer BBQ!
Here’s your invitation to:
…a beautiful summer day
…a backyard barbecue
…8 talented local chefs cooking for you.Ever wonder what chefs are cooking for their friends and family on their day off? This is your opportunity to go behind the scenes and experience a bountiful potluck style meal, cooked right in front of you and served al fresco on a wonderful Iowa summer night. Chef’s from Big Grove Iowa City, Big Grove Solon, Pullman Bar & Diner and St. Burch Tavern will be pulling back the curtain and sharing their passion (and maybe a beer or two) with you!
In the wake of several high profile suicides, and the rampant metal illness issues that plague the service industry, a portion of our proceeds will be donated to support The Crisis Center to aid suicide awareness and prevention. https://www.jccrisiscenter.org/
Tickets are $30 for this all you can eat potluck. Visit the link below to order, cheers!
A summer favorite will be making it’s way back to the tap lines as Lion Bridge will be releasing their annual summer crowd pleaser Cucumber Kolsch on July 31st. Here’s more info on the release courtesy of Lion Bridge’s release:
Join us for the release of one of our summer favorites!
Cucumber Kolsch: a light, clean, 4.6% abv and highly drinkable kölsch with a refreshing cucumber twist.
200 pounds of locally sourced Bass Farms L.L.C. cucumbers went into this bright summer beer.
Local gardeners are hard at work growing and providing fresh produce to our community and farmers markets. Some prefer to can and pickle their fresh garden harvests, but here at Lion Bridge we ferment and keg our fresh produce to bring a refreshing summer beer to YOU!
A wonderful sounding menu that will no doubt include some wonderful beers, here’s the press release on the latest local beer dinner courtesy of Lion Bridge and Chef Escalante! This sounds like a can’t miss event!
Join us for a unique evening with Chef Regina Escalante from Merida, Mexico on August 6th at Lion Bridge Brewing Company.
Regina studied Culinary School and Restaurant Management at the prestigious Paul Bocuse Institute in France. She has worked at some of the finest restaurants in Paris, Lyon, and Marseille before returning to her hometown in Merida, Yucatan to start her own restaurant, Merci. She worked at Michelin star restaurants such as La Table de Lancaster with Chef Rochetau; the Hotel Crillon, with Chef Christopher Hache in Paris; and at Le Petite Nice, under Chef Gerald Passedat in Marseille.
Regina started her career under the tutelage of Chef Cheryl Lewis in Portland, Maine as well as Chef Roberto Solis from Mexico at the young age of 17. Regina’s mother is American and her father is from Merida, Mexico. The fusion of Mexican, American, and French cultures from her upbringing manifests itself in her dishes and creations.
Regina and her husband Vincent Ros opened the doors of their own restaurant Merci in 2014, where they focus on serving breakfast, brunch, and lunch chef-inspired, locally sourced dishes.
Regina was named one of “Mexico’s Top Chefs” by The Larousse Institute at the young age of 29.
Chef Regina Escalante has worked with The Nature Conservancy on a project to protect the traditional milpa systems of the Mayan and supports urban farming projects to empower her French-style cuisine and invite her consumers to support local products; in this meeting of worlds we are taken deep into the Maya Forest to discover how milpa farming systems continue to evolve to protect seed diversity and stop deforestation.
Regina is also part of the Slow Food Movement.
She will be presenting at Newbo Evolve™ in Cedar Rapids the weekend of August 4-5 and hosting a 4-course dinner at Lion Bridge Brewing Company on August 6. We will have suggested beer pairings with all of her courses.
Big Grove Brewery, fresh off of a successful release of their core beers is about to release a summer favorite to cans. Summer Jam will be coming soon (Ragbrai?). Expect 4 packs with 12 oz cans to hit and it sounds like they are hoping in time for Ragbrai. Stay tuned for more on this release, but check out those sweet ass labels! A BeerCast live from Big Grove during Ragbrai sounds great, doesn’t sLim? Cheers!
Up and coming Dimensional Brewing company out of Dubuque will be releasing crowlers of their beer for the 1st time to the public on July 14th. They will be releasing a sour and a NE Style IPA. More details below, a great opportunity to check out one of Iowa’s newest breweries! Cheers!
Dimensional Brewing Company…..
CROWLER RELEASE!
Date: 7.14.18
Time: Noon
Location: Monk’sName: A Little Drippy (Sour)
Stats: 5% ABV
Availability: 25.4 oz. Crowler (Quantity: approximately 100)
Featured Ingredients: Pink Guava, Passion Fruit and MangoName: Claw Machine (NE IPA)
Stats: 6% ABV
Availability: 25.4oz. Crowler (Quantity: approximately 100)
Featured Ingredients: Citra HopsQuantities Limited. Per person limits will be determined the day of the release.
Tons of news tidbits from the past week to pass along to beer lovers. Iowa brewers have been busy with new releases, canning lines, and getting their beer to our shelves. So much great stuff out there to drink right now, get out there and support local breweries! Next Saturday (June 30th) is packed with beer releases! Big Grove, Barn Town, and Thew all will be doing bottle releases. Huge beer day in Iowa!
**Big Grove Brewery**– Big Grove has just announced that next Saturday (June 30th) they will be releasing bottles of Cherry Pie, a berliner weisse beer with tart cherries, lactose, and spices that is part of their Sugar Bottom Series. Both locations will have bottles, limit 6 per person, and a bit on tap. Make sure you check it out!
**Lion Bridge** – Lion Bridge keeps kicking out beers with the release of 380 South and Majestic Beast this week. 380 South is a collab with SingleSpeed (who did 380 North), and is a hazy IPA brewed with guava. Here’s more on these beers from Lion Bridge:
Lion Bridge and SingleSpeed are connected by more than a highway, and while we may not be mirror images of one another, the commonalities between the two of us are certainly worth noting. Both organizations are passionate about: community, historical preservation, authenticity, and of course, perhaps above all, the creation of great beer.
380 South sits as one half of what is a truly unique collaborative experiment. This hazy, single-hop Denali Pale Ale was crafted at Lion Bridge Brewing in Cedar Rapids, using the same grain and hops as 3-Eighty North, crafted at SingleSpeed Brewing in Waterloo. The only differences were the yeast, water and the fruit added. 380 South features guava, while 3-Eighty North features mango puree. A side by side tasting of the two sister brews is highly recommended.
The other Lion Bridge release is a re-release of Majestic Beast. One of my personal favorites. Here’s more on this brew courtesy of Lion Bridge:
This mirthful beverage was dry-hopped with Mosaic Lupulin Powder, as well as a bit of Simcoe and Eukanot. By using hop powder with the green plant material removed, we are dry-hopping a concentrated version of the aromatic oils found in the hops. Resinous and tropical; potent yet graceful. It may just bring a tear to your eye.
**Contrary Brewing** – heading over to Muscatine and Contrary Brewing company as they continue their line of Milkshake IPAs with a perfectly timed Bomb Pop Milkshake IPA. Here’s more on this brew courtesy of Contrary:
Next in our series of Milkshake IPA is the Bomb Pop! We combined raspberry purée, blueberry purée and lemonade with milk sugar, vanilla and hops. Summer is here! See you soon.
**SingleSpeed Brewing ** – everyone knows by know that SingleSpeed cans have it the market. Victory Dance, Ring Around the Gose, Tricycle, and Tip the Cow are all available so if you haven’t gotten some, this is the perfect weekend to grab a couple of sixers!
**Backpocket Brewing** – a widely anticipated release is on the horizon as Backpocket as announced the release of their 6th Anniversary barrel-aged stout. July 7th is the date, mark it on the calendar, make a day of it!
**Thew Brewing ** – the new kid on the block is going to start bottling soon as Thew Brewing in Cedar Rapids has announced for June 30th. Two amazing sounding stouts and other releases for the day. $50 gets you food and 2 12 oz bottles of their stouts. More below:
**Barn Town Brewing ** – Barn Town keeps pumping out the releases with another announcement of a guava berliner weisse and a sour IPA. More below:
SingleSpeed Brewery will be hosting a few launch parties around the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City area today, Tuesday June 19th. The brewery will be releasing 4 core beers: Tricycle (Cream Ale), Tip the Cow (Cocoa Espresso Milk Stout), Victory Dance (IPA), and Ring Around the Gose (Gose). Check their release poster below to see where they will be available in the IC/CR area and make sure to stop in a grab some of their beers. Congrats SingleSpeed!
Your plans for this weekend are here! Get a babysitter lined up, tell them not to expect you home for 4-5 hours because you are going to plant your ass on a chair and enjoy some amazing food, beer and wine and you’re not going to be in a rush about it! This restaurant review could be as simple as, “Just go there” or “Must eat here” because that’s really how good this place is. But, I’ve got some sweet food snaps so I’ll go a little deeper.
Ladora, Iowa is about a 50 minute drive from Cedar Rapids a little more than an hour from Des Moines and is essentially in a ghost town. Situated in an old bank sits Ladora Bank Bistro and if it wasn’t for my son’s little league game, I wouldn’t have made it in to see just how great this place is. In a town of 287 people sits a culinary work of art!
The bank was opened in 1920 and the owners did a great thing by not taking out the teller windows, vault, etc. Essentially keeping the history of the bank in tact while opening up a great restaurant. Upon entering, the structure and the objects from the past were what you noticed, and the quaint ambiance is what you feel. Plate after plate of tapas leaving the kitchen and being served to eager guests as they lick their lips at what is presented before them made you feel like this was the right place to stop and eat.
We dined with some fellow foodies and wine lovers, and as the late great Anthony Bourdain once said, “You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together” and that couldn’t have been more true, as during some pre-meal drinks we were able to connect some people from our pasts to one another. The plates come out tapas style and are served when they are ready.
THE FOOD
The first few dishes to come out where the “Angels on Horseback” which are bacon wrapped scallops with a horseradish marmalade and the red snapper tacos. I didn’t try the scallops but the rest of the party loved them and the fish tacos were some the best tacos I’ve had. Perfectly cooked and not overly seasoned fish, the chipotle lime sauce was tart and delicious and a big heaping mound of pickled red onions were good enough to eat by themselves.
The rest of the dishes then came out. The Thai shrimp crostini was good enough to eat like a stew but when toasted sourdough is presented you can’t say no. The shrimp were plump and perfectly cooked, the sauce was extremely flavorful and every bite was a flavor explosion. Excellent dish. The Pork Belly Bao buns are the perfect hand held snack food. Pork belly was crispy, not too fatty and melted in your mouth and the pickles and dill were the perfect companion to the sauce. Last but not least were the duck potstickers. This was truly one of the better things I’ve ever eaten. The duck was fork tender, melt in your mouth, and the asian cabbage slaw paired perfect. It’s hard not shove your face when the food is this good and I was proud of myself for not looking like a complete glutton. I can’t recommend this place enough, for the food alone, it’s worth the trip, it’s a must try experience, so make the journey!
BEER
This was the real shock of the experience. The beer list was terrific! Fulton Mosaic IPA on tap, Dogfish head Indian Brown, Great Divide Yeti, Lion Bridge Plum Saison, and Big Grove Boomtown all on tap along with a HUGE wine list! I believe our waiter was a certified cicerone but I forgot to ask, but he definitely knew his beer. The vault was also stocked with a ton of bottles for your pleasure.
OVERALL
Foodies rejoice. This place is for you. Beer geeks rejoice, a terrific tap list with a bottles to follow. Make some time to check this place out, you won’t regret it!
Many topics covered in the latest podcast that we recorded at Club 76 in North Liberty. Double Dry hopped Juice Factory and Central Waters Peruvian Morning on tap during recording…listen if you dare!
