Big Grove Brewery will be brining their amazing drive thru option back for beer and food lovers this coming Saturday morning (2/20)! The last series of the popular Hopocalypse series will be releasing which features:
*Great Scott – this will be a hazy double IPA brewed with Galaxy hops. *Doctor Voralouf – Pieces are going missing from Big Grove Brewery, and we’re beginning to believe that Vorlauf aka head brewer, Andy Joynt, has plans to become the most powerful brewing machine in the world! Or at least he plans to get to that right after he takes down one of these west coast double IPAs brewed with Galaxy.
Along with the Hopocalypse release BG will also be bringing back the coffee shop series with the release of Mocha Dunkel. Mocha Dunkel will feature La Union Columbia coffee from JBC Coffee Roasters and Tanzanian Kokoa Kamili cocoa nibs from Mast Brothers Chocolate.
And don’t forget the food! Chef Smart is ready to dish out hDetroit Breakfast Style pizza for the drive-thru. You can place your order for any of these items AND they are having 25% merch sale on 5 of their comfy sweatshirts! Lots going on, order now and make your weekend great! https://biggrovebrewery.com/product-category/drive-thru/
Thew Brewing and Pulpit Rock Brewing are once again coming together for a collab release of “Together 4ever”! This release will take place this Friday, February 12, @4:00 p.m. Here are the details on this beer:
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Together 4ever is back! We brew this milkshake IPA with peach, vanilla, and lactose every year with our pals at Pulpit Rock. Come get this sweet treat! Available on tap and in crowlers.
Along with the collab release, Thew will have the following beers available:
We will have cans of Pulpit Rock beers to enjoy in our taproom or to go: Island Life – pastry sour with strawberry, mango, and lemonade (contains lactose) Blemon – pastry sour with blueberries, white cake, and lemon zest (contains lactose) Show and Tell – blackberry kettle sour (contains lactose) Never Again – pastry stout with peanuts, maraschino cherries, sugar cookies, and cocoa nibs (contains lactose & nuts) Koffee and Biscotti – coffee porter with almond biscotti Chuggernaut – hazy pale aleWe will also have cans of UNIFY, a hazy IPA brewed for the Iowa Brewers Guild, to enjoy in our taproom or to go!
After two extremely popular releases of Sour Patch Man #1 and #2, Clock House Brewing is back at it this Saturday with the release of Sour Patch Man #3! This will be the green version of this adult candied beverage! DRAFT ONLY!! Here’s more on this release:
Our flagship kettle sour infused with loads of Green Sour Patch Kids. Our spin on what adult candy would taste like.Draft only release
The month of February is “Stout Month” at Confluence Brewing Company in Des Moines! Starting February 5th and ending February 26th, Confluence will be releasing six stouts throughout! Here’s the lineup and more details can be found by clicking here:
February is Stout Month and we have a killer lineup that’ll keep you rockin’ for 28 days straight! Complete our Stout Month beer tour and receive an amazing commemorative Stout Month 2021 t-shirt. This year we’re expanding our promo to include curbside orders, so you can participate from the safety of your car, or a seat in our taproom. How can you get your hands on this bada** shirt? Check out the instructions below:We’ll hand you a ticket stub in the taproom, or include one in your curbside order when you make a purchase of each of the 6 stouts we’re releasing. Qualifying purchases include a draft pour in the taproom, or a 4-pack or bottle depending on the beer (curbside or taproom). Collect a ticket for each unique beer and redeem all 6 stubs at the end of the month for the shirt. Here’s the release schedule: *2/5 Ferryman’s Fuel Russian Imperial Stout W/ Chocolate &Espresso *2/12 Stavropol Russian Imperial Stout *2/12 Sour’NDipity *2/19 Ferryman’s Chocolate Covered Cherries *2/26 Bourbon Barrel Monster Cookie Stout *2/26 50’s Dad Barrel Aged Milk Stout W/ Coffee, Vanilla, & Chocolate **We will have a hefty amount of shirts printed and ready to go at the end of the month, but redeem as soon as you can as we are making our best guess at how many we’ll need. If our shirt supply runs out, we will take your info and order a shirt for you. (available sizes S-2XL) *Must redeem offer by 3/31/21 ***Qualifying beers may be purchased at any time throughout the month, not just on the release date.
A hectic month that once again becomes bearable thanks to the brilliance and deliciousness of Lion Bridge Brewing company’s “Barrel-Aged January”. Year after year this remarkable brewery plans, develops, and brews some of the best beers in the state and maybe even the country. As of typing this, many of these releases are still available at the brewery! So, there are a lot of Drink These! beers listed, but the beauty with many, if not all of these beers is that you can buy a 4 pack, drink 2, and store two. Or in my case, drink 3 or 4, store 1 or none! Either way, well worth the trip to Lion Bridge before they are gone!
BA January Beer #1 – GAZPROM! Double Maple w/Coffee – 11% ABV Lion Bridge’s GABF award-winning barrel-aged stout with Dark Roast Dash coffee and extra maple deliciousness! BA January kicked off with a great start. The beauty of this beer is the balance between the barrel, the coffee, and the maple. Coffee can sometimes dominate a beer and so can maple syrup. In this beer, the coffee is upfront and is balanced perfectly on the finish with maple. When meshed this well, coffee and maple make a happy couple!
BA January Beer #2 – 2021 GAZPROM! – 11% ABV Their 2016 GABF Bronze Medal Winner for Specialty Beer. Viscous and black. After primary fermentation this oily, Russian giant is re-fermented with Iowa dark maple syrup in bourbon barrels then blended back together to add consistency and complexity. The beer (I assume) that started the BA January revolution! GAZPROM! returns and its 2021 form is just as good as I remember with the barrel flavor really standing out. Every year this is an excellent beer.
BA January Beer #3 – 2021 Homebaked – 11% ABV Dessert for your desert island. Fudge and Saigon cinnamon meld with a little bit of hazelnut goodness to produce something we liken to a cookie in beer form. There’s not much left to be said about Homebaked really. This may be the best beer in Iowa, one of the best beers in the country, and definitely a beer that is worth seeking out. A beer that must be purchased every time you see it available!
BA January Beer #4 – Percussive Maintenance – 11% ABV Put in barrels back when the world was a simpler place. Aged for 10 months then blended with a heavy dose of toasted and untoasted coconut as well as cacao nibs. A decadent treat for a time when we need to savor every sip. An amazingly decadent beer! Barrel lovers and coconut lovers rejoice, as the beer you’ve been waiting for has arrived! Percussive Maintenance hits the nail on the head for those who aren’t necessarily into the overly sweet pastry stouts; instead we get more of a dark chocolate coconut combo that is more fresh coconut then sweetened and the balance of the barrels really makes this a special beer!
As Lion Bridge’s barrel-aged January comes to a close there is still hope for those who haven’t been down to the Czech Village to get a taste! All of these beers are still available for purchase in the taproom! If you’re lucky you may get a taste of one of them on tap, but you can definitely get a 4 pack or a few bottles to take home, and believe me, you should do just that and Drink These beers!
Thew Brewing will be bringing some barrel aged brews to their taproom and at Johnson Avenue Hy-Vee for their “A Very Barrelly Weekend” event on January 29th! Here is what’s going down that weekend:
January 29th – releases of: Max Walker: Timecop (BA Belgian Quad) Thew’s Helpful Smile (BA Imperial Stout, brewed for Johnson Ave. Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids) Crosspark in the Rye (BA Sour Rye Saison) and Raspberry Crosspark in the Rye (BA Sour Rye Saison with Raspberry) both brewed for Crosspark Rd. Hy-Vee in Coralville.
**All four beers will be on tap; limited bottles of the Hy-Vee beers will be available in our taproom.Thew Crew members will have the opportunity to reserve bottles of the Max Walker – a handful of platinum and silver memberships are left. They also just tapped This Mostly Iowa Fabric which is a NE pale ale dry hopped with cashmere hops from Buck Creek!
A perfect weekend to watch some football (Go Bills!), sip on some suds and have a couple slices of pizza. Big Grove can’t take care of 2 of those 3 things for you with their offerings this weekend as the Drive Thru is back baby! Here are this weekend’s offerings:
BEER Hopping into the tap lines and onto the shelves of Big Grove is Hopocalypse Vol. 5 👾 In this first of three total rounds, we’re releasing a mixed four-pack that includes two 16oz cans of Baron von Taks and two 16oz cans of Knockout and Crash.
Baron von Taks, a west coast double IPA brewed with Simcoe, pays respect to our beloved Brewery Operations Manager, Josh Seiler. He’s a stickler for the details and a no-nonsense fella, so don’t be messin’… ya hear?!
Knockout and Crash are all-nonsense fellas. Wild card brewers, Matt Burkey and Lincoln Hackert are brought to life in 8-bit alter ego form in this Hazy Double IPA brewed with Simcoe. The battle waging between these two troublemakers and the Baron may be worthy of Christopher Nolan’s next blockbuster, honestly.
And because we stop at nothing to please… we are debuting an amazing new fruited sour this week, Blackberry Lemon Sour. With the perfect blend of sweet fruit flavors and sour lemon notes, it’s definitely a new favorite and we can’t wait to share it.
Two new beers will be making their way to the Clock House taproom this Friday, January 8th, at 3 p.m. Here are the details on these two new beers courtesy of Clock House Facebook’s page:
Come join us in the taproom on Friday, January 8th as we release two new but old school beers.Great Uncle Dunkel: A dark and bready lager with notes of mild caramel and toast. Brewed with Black Gold Local Craft Premium malt from our friends in Cascade, Iowa.Nothing But Plaid: A West Coast style IPA dry-hopped with Amarillo, Citra, and local 2020 Chinook from Buck Creek Hops in Solon, Iowa. Notes of heavy citrus and floral.Available on draft and in growlers to go
A lot of news from Thew Brewing today! A barrel sampling coming on January 13th, Thew Crew membership opportunities, and a barrel aged quad release coming? Here we go with this update:
Let’s start with the barrel sampling. All info courtesy of Thew:
Have you ever wondered what beer tastes like at different points in the barrel aging process? This event will give you the opportunity to sample beers from all barrels currently in use in our taproom. Our brewmaster, Chris, will give background on the barrels and the beers created for them.Chris Luken, Cheese Specialist at Oakland Road Hy-Vee, will be creating cheese and meat boards to be enjoyed with the samples. A vegetarian option is available.Cost for the event is $20 and includes one full pour in addition to samples from each barrel. Cheese boards are $15 and will be suitable for two people to share!Email haley@thewbrew.com to register. Please specify which night you are attending (Wednesday, January 13th or Thursday, January 14th), number of tickets, and number of cheese boards. Seating is limited.Appropriate Covid-19 distancing protocols are in place in our taproom. Masks are required when you are not seated at a table.
Thew is now offering memberships for the 2021 year. Membership includes:
Join the Thew Crew! Members at all levels enjoy the following benefits:
20% off flights
$2 off growler fills
$1 off four-pack bottles
$2 off full pours on Thew Crew Wednesdays
Option to create a personalized Thew Crew mug (cost of mug $10; option to use it in the taproom for 2021 or take home immediately)
Priority for special releases
Thew Crew party with special release beers later in 2021
As the restaurant industry goes through the most trying times, it’s so important to visit and support your favorite establishments now more than ever. If that means curbside pickup, a quick to go order, or if you’re feeling comfortable dining in, do it, order, get there, and help keep these folks in business. We are so lucky to have the variety of restaurants in Eastern Iowa that we do and when a new venture pops up in a trying time it’s definitely worth the time to check it out…so…on to Tribute we go.
Tribute is directly across the street from 30hop in Coralville in the Iowa River Landing location and has the same ownership group of the 30hop crew. As a dine in situation, I was extremely comfortable with the staff being masked up, the spacing between tables, and the availability of getting to go/pick up orders if I choose that.
The restaurant itself is a perfect blend of business, date night, and every day casual. It’s a place where all circumstances are welcome. A beautiful bar with give or take 12 taps, and a nice menu of cocktails and an extensive wine list lends something to every drinker. What about the food? I love a place that doesn’t have a 14 page menu and Tribute doesn’t. They have an assortment of appetizers, salads, and sandwiches that can satisfy any palate. So here’s what went down:
BEER Clock House Witch Slap on tap. I always appreciate having local brews represented and Big Grove, Lion Bridge, Reunion, and Barn Town all had something on the lines. Went with a Witch Slap to pair with the starter of:
STARTER *Black and Bleu Chips – here’s the thing about this dish, I love bleu cheese, and I know it’s a funky ass flavor that some people can’t get behind, but Tribute takes this pungent cheese, makes a fondue, makes HOMEMADE potato chips and dusts them in a buffalo spice blend and VIOLA! An amazing starter that everyone should try! The chips alone should be bagged and sold separately, absolutely delicious, and the bleu cheese fondue is tangy but not overly funky for those who scoff at that cheese. A dish to crave, a dish for a football day or for a quick app. Craveable.
*Deviled Eggs– your grandma’s deviled eggs keep getting a makeover with restaurants as of late. Don’t get me wrong, Grandma made a fine ass deviled egg, but that chive oil and pickled shallot put these over the top.
*Ahi Stack – a dish that satisfies the Asian craving. You hungry for Chinese? You want sushi? You need a light dish? This checks all those boxes. A bed of ahi tuna mixed with a ginger soy sauce with perfectly grilled bread. Decadent, light, and mouth watering. You want this in your life.
*French Onion Burger – the flavor is in the name. If you’re a French onion soup fan, then it’s easy to say this burger is for your. Swiss cheese, onions, parsley chutney, served on brioche bun with some onion jus on the side is exactly what you’d expect for the delicious soup transformed into a burger. Don’t forget to double dip that burger!!
-Tribute has something for everyone. No matter your dietary needs they can hit on it. If you just like a wide arrange of delicious food, give them a look. Head in for a comfortable/socially distant experience or get an order to go. Worth a look folks, they’re doing it right!
