Restaurant Review: Daisy’s Garage; Cedar Rapids

February 21, 2016February 21, 20167 Comments

Give me Po’ Boys or give me death! Thankfully, Cedar Rapidians have a great place to grab an excellent po’ boy! Daisy’s Garage and Filling Station‘s shrimp po’ boy left me impressed and craving more!

Going out with some friends is always a good time and thankfully Kizz and Diesel are two friends who are willing to try new restaurants and enjoy a few drinks or ten. They called this place last night and I couldn’t have been more satisfied. Located in the old Butcher Block location (I think), Daisy’s has a cozy atmosphere, some fine tap brews, and a menu that has so many excellent sounding options that it was difficult to pick what to eat. This is my type of bar!

Started the night out pleasantly surprised to see Royal Wee from Lion Bridge Brewing on tap. One of my favorite beers of the new year and a perfect sipper to get the night going. We decided to start with some appetizers you can’t go wrong with fried pickles. They were good, but the star of the appetizer show was the Oil Spill; a basket of fries topped with tender pot photo 1.JPG roast, pepper jack cheese, green onions, and brown gravy……PHENOMENAL! My mouth is watering as I type this! My wife and I then decided to just split a po boy. I’m a sucker for them and am always intrigued when I see them on a menu here in Iowa, but I have yet to have one that has blown me away. That all changed last night! The key to this po’ boy is the bread. You need that french baguette that has a little crunch on the outside and is soft and chewy on the inside and that’s exactly what this was, perfect bread! Fried shrimp, (a shit ton of fried shrimp), tomato, lettuce and a cajun remoulade with a side of slaw made this one of my favorite sandwiches in the area!

Our friends went ahead with the steam pot and had their work cut out for them. 1 pound of crab legs, sausage, potatoes, corn and potatoes. It takes a little work but you reap with benefits with some delicious crab meat! We washed it down wit photo 2.JPG h a few Turner Alley Pale Ale’s and you just sit back and smile after a meal that satisfying! Will I come back to Daisy’s? Hell yes! The difficult thing is going to be trying not to go 3-4 times a week! Check it out folks, great stuff!

Lion Bridge to Start Distro to Des Moines Area

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016Leave a comment

News from Facebook today that Lion Bridge Brewery out of Cedar Rapids will start shipping their award-winning beers to Cedar Rapids in the coming weeks. No specific date announced but here’s the info I got from Lion Bridge:

We are looking to roll out 15-20 accounts initially and make sure we can keep up and expand if possible. Probably in Des Moines and surrounding areas, Ankeny and Ames. They will be getting Work Comp, Disaster at Meux, Kölsch, some of the saisons and some of the barrel-aged beers. We are dialing in a more concise line up for 2016 with seasonals and specialties which we haven’t released yet.

We’ve been cautious with growth and wanted to make sure we can supply our home market and taproom before branching out. We are now ready to get on at some bars and restaurants outside of Eastern Iowa.

Awesome news for Des Moines! Drink it up folks!

Baron’s Best of 2015: Part 3

January 8, 2016January 8, 20163 Comments

best of Man, I’m sure dragging this out! Things to do folks! Here we are with part 3 of my favorite beers of 2015. Once again, these are beers I’ve had for the first time and are available for us to purchase here in Eastern Iowa. I appreciate the comments some of you folks are leaving with your thoughts and what you liked to drink in 2015, keep them coming in! Part 3, let’s do it!

*Surly Darkness – this is just the imperial stout, non-barrel aged version as I was to slow to get to the store to get myself a bottle of the b.a. version. Even so, I really enjoyed the basic imperial version of this beer. I’m not huge on dark fruit stouts usually, but this one was so wonderfully balanced that I wouldn’t think twice about buying a few more bottles of this. Chocolate covered cherries, coffee, dark chocolate, and other dark fruit flavors round out this excellent brew!

*Toppling Goliath X-Hops Gold – the best of the X-hops series in my opinion. Lot of fruit in this beer; honeydew melon, pineapple, some citrus round out this easy drinking pale ale. I’ve heard it’s similar to King Sue in the flavor profile but I haven’t had the most recent batch of the King, but I would gladly take a few more bottles of this.

*Blackberry Farm Saison – I thought about putting their Summer Saison in and also their Fall Saison that is aged in oak barrels, but I keep going back to their regular Saison. Crisp, dry, and gives you that belgian yeast with the spiciness of black pepper and fruitiness of lemon. Lovely brew, a staple in my fridge.

*Big Grove Brewery Richard the Whale – what a great beer and the variants were excellent as well, but I’m going back to the regular Richard as my favorite of the 3 (although the Hazelnut tastes amazing right). Richard is a Russian Imperial Stout aged in Heaven Hill barrels. A lot of great chocolate notes from this beer and as it warms it tastes even better as the bourbon starts to shine. Creamy, delicious, and warming, Big Grove really knocked this one out.

*Lion Bridge Sorachi Liberace – a sorachi ace hopped saison? Yes please! I drank a ton of this beer during the fall months. Citrus flavor from the hops meshes perfectly with the saison yeast. This beer is perfect for anytime of the year and hopefully will be available for drinking a growler on the deck this summer and listening to baseball games.

Lion Bridge Brewery “Barrel-Aged January” Schedule

January 3, 2016Leave a comment

Here it it! The schedule for Lion Bridge Breweries “barrel-aged January” is here and it looks wonderful!

Tues 1/5 – CSA member private event – Oktobot 3000 pre-release party (This event is for members only. If you aren’t a member of the our Community Supported Ales Program, be sure to get one for you or as a gift for your loved ones for the holiday. It’s the gift that keeps on giving: http://www.lionbridgebrewing.com/store/)

Weds 1/6 – Oktobot 3000 public release, Barrel-Aged January glassware release and festive polka from Czech Plus.

Fri 1/8 – Oktobot 5000 release! This is our Imperial Barrel-Aged Oktoberfest, Oktobot 3000, aged in Cedar Ridge Bourbon Reserve Barrels.

Saturday 1/9 – Englert Theater Collabeeration release. Local Talent Robust Porter. Not a barrel-aged beer but a great day to come out and enjoy some a delicious new beer from Lion Bridge.

Weds 1/13 – The Royal Wee (Wee Heavy aka Strong Scotch Ale) release. Aged in Cedar Ridge Peated Whiskey, Apple Brandy and Dark Rum Barrels. Music by IrishJam

Sat 1/16 – Cherry Wood Stave Royal Wee release. A portion of the Royal Wee batch aged in Cedar Ridge Cherry Stave Whiskey Barrels.

Weds 1/20 – Cabernet Saison. We took a batch of our Untitled Saison and aged it in single-use Cabernet Sauvignon barrels from Piña Napa Valley. Some lively accompanying jazz music provided by Traffic Jam.

Sat 1/23 – Maple Disaster – Our GABF Gold Disaster at Meux re-fermented with copious amount of Great River Maple dark syrup and barrel aged. Great River Maple will be on hand to sample maple products, and Eduskate will be printing Maple Disaster t-shirts on demand.

Weds 1/27 – GAZPROM! release. Our Russian Imperial Stout aged in Cedar Ridge Single Malt Whiskey barrels with a re-fermenation from a lot of maple syrup. Our favorite Grateful Dead tribute band, Winterland, will be closing out the month.

Cheers and hope you can join us for a great January!

Baron’s Best of 2015 Part 1

December 31, 2015December 31, 20156 Comments

best of.png I always enjoy looking back on a year of great beer drinking and this year was probably the best. So many great beers to choose from and what makes it even better is that there are so many great beers brewed here in Iowa that will makes this list. Don’t get me wrong, tons of good stuff on the shelves, but bringing home a growler of fresh Arms Race or Workman’s Compensation makes it that much more special to live in Eastern Iowa and have the opportunity to support our local breweries.

This year’s list will be dominated by Iowa breweries, these are all beers that were/are available for purchase in Iowa that I had for the FIRST TIME EVER in 2015. You won’t see the Bourbon county’s or the KBS, I know that they change year by year but I’m going to leave them off this list. I haven’t visited a few newer breweries in Iowa which I know I need to. Everyone has their favorites, let me know what I need to try! 30 beers on the list this year and it was difficult coming to just 30. This is Part 1 of 5, let’s roll!

*Lion Bridge Brewery GAZPROM! – a russian imperial stout aged in rye and brandy barrels that Lion Bridge gets to us in the months Iowans need to be warmed up! January and February in Iowa suck, but Lion Bridge’s release of GAZPROM! makes them a little more tolerable. Plus, the tshirt released was badass too!

*Big Grove Brewery Buster – let’s keep the Iowa breweries rolling with a triple IPA that was released last Spring. Big Grove had a dominant year with their IPA releases and their Richard the Whale releases. This triple was juicy as hell and scary drinkable. Coming in at 11.3%, this bad boy could lead to a good night’s sleep.

*Pulpit Rock Mr. Hoppy Pants – one of the newer breweries in Iowa is located across the street from Toppling Goliath in Decorah. I was lucky enough to stop in and have a pint and loved what those breweries are brewing up. Mr. Hoppy Pants is a double IPA brewed on a rotating hop schedule so this brew might change from time to time. Not sure of the hops in the draw I had but I loved it. Aromatic and crushable, visit Pulpit Rock, they are an up and comer to keep an eye on.

*Exile Raspberry Bohemian – this one might keep some talk stirred as I picked this over their Cherry Bohemian and I think many folks enjoyed the cherry more..not me. I think I just enjoy raspberry in my beer more than cherry flavor, just a personal preference and that’s why Raspberry gets my nod over Cherry. Either way, both beers were great and I would venture to say that Exile nailed it with both of them.

*Turner Alley Czech Village Pilsner – a style that’s not as “sexy” as the imperial IPAs or the barrel-aged beers of the world, but a style that seems lost in the mix is pilsners. Travis at Turner Alley has taken what some would consider a boring style and made a crisp, refreshing, balanced pilsner that I would put up against most out there. Looking forward to see what Turner Alley has in store for 2016.

*Firetrucker Black Walnut Alcova Brown Ale – another “basic” style that seems like it got lost in the shuffle of beer styles, gets amped up with the addition of 100 black walnuts. This is a beer I can drink anytime of the year and that nutty aftertastes shines through making this beer a perfect example on how to make a great brown.

**Part 2 coming soon! Iowa brewery dominant so far. Let me know your thoughts!

Restaurant Review: Sauce Bistro; Cedar Rapids, IA

November 13, 2015Leave a comment

A Friday night date night with my wife led us to the Czech Village as it does so often. We usually hit Lion Bridge for few tasty beverages and have a few bites to eat but tonight we wanted to hit the new restaurant in town, Sauce. Located 507 C Street SW this building was scheduled to be demolished due to the flood of 2008. Luckily, it was saved, gutted, and turned into a wonderful restaurant. Here’s the statement on Sauce’s website:

Sauce is a finer dining restaurant with a great atmosphere, food, and drinks.

We wanted to give Cedar Rapids something they have not had before and that everyone could enjoy.

Sauce’s menu is entirely seasonal and that will be reflected in the dishes we serve, to the wines and drinks we recommend.

We work with as many local providers as possible to source our menu. We are not looking to cut corners, especially with the quality of our products.

After a pre meal beer at Lion Bridge, (Sorachi Liberaci x 3), we headed up a block or two to Sauce. Upon entering, we noticed the chalkboard that listed all the local farms where the produce, fruit, and meat comes from, and another chalkboard on the opposite wall showcasing the local beers that are on tap. Drink local, eat local always appeals to us so we were excited to see the menu.

The dinner menu is ever-changing, I think the lunch menu might have a more set options,actually, here’s a link to the lunch menu: www.crsauce.com/menu.html, but everything sounded tasty. We started with an appetizer of chicken fajitas with a sriracha creme fraiche, paired with Turner Alley Pils and that plate didn’t stand a chance. Main course was a little difficult to choose because all the options sounded great.

My wife decided to go with the special which was a Berkshire pork ragu with mustard greens over top of tortellini I believe. It was excellent, filling, and fresh. I ordered the seared scallops which were served on a bed of buttermilk chive mashed potatoes, and smoked paprika oil DELICIOUS! Paired my scallops with another Sorachi Liberace from Lion Bridge and I was as close to a food/beer coma as you can come.

Overall, the wait staff was very knowledgeable and friendly. The room was a bit dark (sorry about the pictures), but was a perfect setting for a date-night evening. Will I go back? Absolutely, and I can’t wait to see what’s on the menu next time!

What’s New, Notable, and Local?

November 9, 2015November 9, 2015Leave a comment

So many good beers are on our shelves right now it makes for a wonderful problem to have! One thing is for sure though, you never have to worry about the freshness of beer when you are buying local from our breweries in the area! Talk about good problems to have, we are pretty spoiled in having such great quality, great tasting, wonderfully brewed beer just miles away from our doorsteps. So what’s new from our local breweries? Here’s a start! (if I missed something let me know! Try to post on any Iowa breweries so feel free to contact me: benmed1515@yahoo.com)

*Big Grove Brewery – the constantly rotating lineup of beers makes for a weekly must stop for the Baron and this week the announcement that Que Amarillo is back and Que Ondo Retaca is on the line made my week! But what’s new? :

**Love Potion – a rye beer that checks in at 6.5%

Maybe the most exciting news for Big Grove right now is what we can’t drink yet! Bill, Rabbit, and Tee have been busy with some big time brews. A Lambic, more Richard, a Brett Double IPA, and Mellow Drama will be hitting lines in the future. Damn, thirsty after typing that out. Here’s the updates from Big Grove’s Facebook page:

From 11/6/15: Today we’re brewing the next batch of lambic using a traditional TURBID MASH. We’ve done the coolship thing on the last batch, and we’ve always used stale Iowa grown hops, and we’re fermenting a bunch in oak, but this giant pain in the ass mashing technique is, I believe, the next step in making real lambic. We’re also going to a 40% raw wheat grist instead of flaked wheat to try and build a more complex protein matrix.

Here’s the deal: we’re going to step the mash through a few rests, starting with the peptonisation rest at 113F, then a quick bump to 136F to extract more protein from the grain. After the first bump, we will start pulling turbid runnings off of the thing into the kettle for heating. We will hold the runnings at 176F or so to stop enzymatic conversion and leave a bunch of starches and dextrin in the liquid.

After that, it’s a sacchrification rest at 149F, more runnings to the kettle, a rest at 162F for more long chain sugars, then a mash out at 176F when we put the turbid runnings back into the mash tun.

Two hours of boiling, ambient cooling, and a pitch of some hot bugs should round things out nicely. This first batch will go into some new Opus One barrels we recently procured.

This is going to be a long damn day for two wine barrels worth of lambic somewhere down the road.

FROM: 11/5/15

Welcome, Tree Chuggers, to the great month of November! It’s a month with lots of ups and downs. I mean, we get to brew tons of Richard, Lambic, Englert Brett DIPA, and Mellow Drama Maple Imperial Porter, but you don’t get to drink those beers for quite some time. Sorry.

In the mean time, satiate your thirst with some 2015 Richard, Que Amarillo (it hit the lines last night), and Love Potion (obviously I didn’t name that one).

*Lion Bridge Brewery – I wasn’t able to get to the cask-conditioned Disaster at the Meaux w/ maple syrup tapping and I’m kicking myself for it, but more good news from Quinton and Alec at Lion Bridge is the re-release of Yard Sale! Loved this beer the first time and I’m guessing I’ll love it again. With that being said it’s hard to walk out of Lion Bridge without a coffee comp, a disaster, and one of my personal favorites a Sorachi Liberace. Here’s more on Yard Sale:

**Yard Sale – American IPA coming in at 6.4% – a must try for hopheads! Wonderfully balanced and delicious!
**Turner Alley Brewing in Cedar Rapids continues to pump out some great beers. Travis has a new brew in the works and it’s going to be Foreign Extra Stout and we should be seeing kegs of this popping up soon. Make sure to check out Turner Alleys’ other offerings, I’m digging their pils and the newly renamed Wood’s Pale Ale.

**Firetrucker Brewery – a couple of newer releases from the fine folks at Firetrucker in Ankeny. Make sure to check them out, a very cool place to visit and have a brew or 10.

*Smoking Pumpkin Porter –
ABV = 6.1%
IBU – 24
“Light up the bonfire, call your friends and enjoy this smoked pumpkin brown porter! Notes of allspice and nutmeg mingle with pecan smoke on the nose. Flavors of pumpkin and spices linger with a smokey finish. The porter base provides roasted malt flavors that tie it all together. This limited, seasonal beer is the perfect companion for a chilly fall day!”

*Acova Black Walnut Ale– their winter seasonal, Acova Black Walnut Ale is now out and is a smooth easy drinking brown ale made with local (fresh) black walnuts. This brew checks in at 6.8%.

**Third Base Brewery**- Brewer Jim Johnston has some new beers up his sleeve to be released before the end of the year at Third Base in Cedar Rapids. Here’s what he said is coming down the line soon:

I have an IPA with Citra and Mosaic coming up shortly. It currently doesn’t have a name. Our Imperial Stout this year is called “Endless Decent Into Ruin”. It is big (12%) but really smooth. To be brewed we have Coffee Cobra and an Imperial Porter. That should get us through the year.

An IPA with citra and mosaic? Yes please! And a big stout to warm us up for these chilly months!

Pullman Bar and Diner Celebrating Local Craft Beer Week

October 11, 2015Leave a comment

Pullman Bar and Diner in downtown Iowa City will be celebrating drinking local this upcoming week. Each day they will be adding two Iowa craft beers on tap as well as having representatives from each brewery talking about their beer. Here’s the official announcement from Pullman along with the beer lineup:

Just a little FYI for next week. Pullman along with some other fine establishments will be doing a local craft beer week. We will be doing a progressive tap takeover starting Monday at 3 pm. Each day we will add two new local craft beers. Matt O’Neil (local mason/artist and super talented) will be painting each brewery on our vestibule leading into the restaurant. Also, each day at 3-5 pm we will have representatives from each of these breweries here to talk about their beers. So, if you want some insight and meet the people behind the beer, here’s your chance! All of these beers will be discounted during our happy hour from 3-6 pm. Here are the beers along with schedule of who’s going to be here and when. Cheers!

Monday: Wilson’s Orchard – Hard Cider, Hoppy Hard Cider
Tuesday: Exile Brewery – Gigi (Gold Medal), Raspberry Bohemian
Wednesday: Turner Alley – Czech Pilsener, Woods Wheat
Thursday: Lion Bridge – Work Comp (Gold Medal),Sorachi Liberace (New saison)
Friday: Big Grove Brewery – Desperate Measures, and the coffee version of Richard the Whale.

Northside Oktoberfest: A Fall Spectacle

October 4, 2015October 4, 2015Leave a comment

Shamed to say that this year was my first Northside Oktoberfest, but after yesterday, I can safely say that it won’t be my last. The folks at John’s Grocery, the City of Iowa City, all of the brewers and vendors really pulled out all the stops and made yesterday’s event one to remember.

I was lucky enough to get a Brewmaster’s ticket enabling me to take part in the “Real Ale” contest. The setup to get in was wonderfully done as lines were moving at a great pace and no one had to wait too long to get in. Once you get in, the Ale tasting began! 11 breweries were a part of this contest. After tasting each beer, the ticketholders were given a wooden token to put into the basket of whom they considered having the best real ale. Some excellent submissions in this contest as folks from Kalona, Big Grove, Tallgrass, Peace Tree, Confluence and more had beers for this contest. In the end, the winner with their double dry citra-hopped Arms Race Pale Ale was Big Grove Brewery in Solon!

After the real ale contest you then get to walk up and down the streets trying and tasting tons of beer, wine, soda, ciders, etc. I was very impressed with the amount of room given to this festival and to top it off, in the middle of the festival was a huge seating area, similar to a German Beer Hall, where there was a big screen showing the Iowa v. Wisconsin game! That really helped cap a beautiful Iowa day, as being able to sit, eat, and when you wanted a brew you simply got up and hit whatever tent was calling your name. Watching the Hawks beat Wisconsin was the cherry on the top.

I can’t comment much on the food as I prepared myself for lunch at Brix Wine and Cheese Shop but it seems that most of the food that I saw looked delicious. Burgers, brats, pizza, steak sandwiches, it looked like a little bit of everything. Brix was tremendous. Some charcuterie and cheese to pair with Exile’s Raspberry Bohemian beer sure hit the spot.

So many great brews, so little time! Luckily I found a bunch that kept calling my name throughout the day. Call me a snob, put for a beer festival, I usually avoid hitting the lines where they are pouring out of cans or bottles, unless it’s something very rare to get. I usually stick with who brought some kegs in. The beers that really stood out to me were:

*Big Grove Brewery Que Sera w/ raspberries and honey. This was a blow away beer. The raspberry addition added that perfect amount of fresh fruit flavor and the honey added that sweetness to set off the tartness of this berliner weisse. I kept going back for this one and was very happy I got to try it!

*Lion Bridge Brewery Sorachi LIberace – a heavily hopped Saison using Sorachi Ace hops and once I had my nose in the glass I got a whiff of juicy fruit bubble gum and the same on the tongue followed by the dry grassiness that a saison gives. This will not be available at the brewery for another week I believe, so to be able to try it was a real treat. Another winner from the 2-time gold medalists at GABF.

*515 Brewing Reaper in the Rye – I could easily put their OJ IPA on here as well but
I’ve had that one before and wish I could have it whenever I wanted but I’ll go with their newer release. This heavily hopped cascadian dark/Black IPA was so good I had to go back for 2nds and then 3rds. The amarillo hops shine and pair nicely with the photo 5 (1) spiciness that the rye brings to the table. An excellent brew!

*Exile Raspberry Bohemian – I missed this at their tent but was informed it was on tap at Brix Wine and Cheese Shop. Luckily, I planned on getting a bite to eat at Brix so that confirmed my decision. A bit sour and tangy with the perfect amount of raspberry. This is a beer that I would love to keep stocked in my fridge. Refreshing and delicious!

*Peace Tree Sour Mash Saison – wasn’t sure what I would think of this one but I really enjoyed it. Very sour and tart but also refreshing and extremely drinkable. Between this and the No Coast citra-hopped Peace Tree really had a great day!

*Firetrucker Resuscitator Doppelbock – goes to show that almost every style of beer was well represented at this beer festival. Firetrucker showcasing a style that I usually don’t go out of my way for but after tasting theirs, I would be more than happy having this in my beer fridge arsenal on a constant basis. Excellent body, malty aroma, and the caramel and nuttiness on the flavor makes this the perfect beer for fall. Give me a slice of pumpkin pie to pair with this beer and I’m in heaven!

Lots of great bottled stuff like Goose Island Bourbon County, some great offerings from Founders, 30th Anniversary by Bells, Silva Stout from Green Flash, and quite a few things from Abu Nawas. A great event that I can’t recommend enough! Looking forward to next years already and I hope to see you there!

New to Shelves: Barrel-aged Buffalo Sweat, Eric’s Ale, Ovila Dubbel, Pecan Pie Porter!

July 6, 2015Leave a comment

Quite a few tidbits to get the week started. So much great stuff going on in the area. Many new restaurants out and open. I’m hoping to hit up the Sausage Foundry in NewBo sometime this week. Steve does great stuff! If you’ve ever had any of the sausage from Lion Bridge, Steve is responsible for those, so get out and support him! Everytime I’m at Lion Bridge I make sure to check what the week’s sausage is and when they had that mushroom sausage available, holy shit, one of the best things I’ve eaten in some time. This week they had Zivawurst, he’s making blueberry sausages using Oregon blueberries, last week he had lamb, polish, cheddarwurst, and I believe chorizo. I can’t wait to get there and buy 2 of everything.

And courtesy of Steve, I recently read about Sauce Bar and Bistro which is located at 1507 C St in CR. It looks like that will be my next date lunch with my wife as their hours are currently only 11-2 but I believe that will change soon. And we have a new double IPA coming from Big Grove this Friday! If you haven’t had Fear get out and try it! A delicious black double IPA, very reminiscent to Blakkr for me. Lion Bridge has their Untitled Saison back on tap and it is tasting mighty wonderful. Quinton has hit a home run with this brew! On with the tidbits!

**Tallgrass Bourbon Barrel Buffalo Sweat**– I think this one will make many people happy. Tallgrass taking their beloved Buffalo Sweat stout and aging it in bourbon barrels. This beer will be available in 12 oz cans and will be available this fall.

**New Belgium Brewing Eric’s Ale** – the sour peach ale returns to shelves (and probably already has) this month! Eric’s Ale comes in at 7% and is a member of New Belgium’s Lips of Faith Series. More from the brewery:

Eric’s Ale, named for long time New Belgium brewer Eric Salazar, combines a dry, sour beer aged up to three years in oak foeders with a semi sweet, higher alcohol base beer. The resulting blend is re-fermented with peach juice, creating a smooth ale with subtle peach tones and a warm, spicy finish. The aroma has pleasant hints of vanilla and tropical fruit, the wood characteristics are present but nicely muted.

**Clown Shoes Coffee Pecan Pie Porter – this beer will hit distro this fall and come in 22 oz bottles coming in at 8% ABV. I’ve really been digging Clown Shoes offerings lately and am looking forward to this one.

**Sierra Nevada Barrel-Aged Ovila Dubbel – the last time Sierra Nevada released this beer it was only available in California. With the expanding footprint and another brewery it looks like this might make a larger distro. Fingers crossed we get to see this in Iowa as this falls’ version will be aged in red wine and bourbon barrels. This brew will check in at 7.5% and will be available in 750ml bottles.