Sunday, August 5th, 2010... What a wonderful day. Stacie, Schenck, Melissa, Nick, Megan, JJ, Michelle and Matula all took a trip to the Amana Colonies, with the intention of eating a family style lunch and drinking a shit-ton of good beers.
Mission Accomplished.
We drank a whole bunch of great beers (which I will get into down below) and had a really great time. Also, on the day, we met this fella Jeff Clausen who just so happened to be on the 1995 National Championship Nebraksa Cornhuskers. And we ran into Stacie's 6th grade teacher, Mrs. O.
In comparison to the Great Nebraska Beer Fest we went to the weekend before, this one was very different. Nebraska had a much better location, a long pedestrian mall, easy access to all tents, but the beer wasn't all that great and it was full of volunteers only who didn't know shit about the beers they were pouring (usually out of a bottle).
At the Festival of Iowa Beers, the location sucked. It was a half gravel pit, half hilly grassy lawn. But, the beer was great, I think every brewery represented had actual employees there (usually the owners or brewers) and the volunteers were all homebrewers who could talk your ear off too.
I guess I am obligated to mention that I personally got drunk as hell, threw up all over that quaint Casey's in the Amana Colonies and when we got back to Iowa City I slept in the car while everyone else ate dinner. So like I said, great time.
Mission Accomplished.
We drank a whole bunch of great beers (which I will get into down below) and had a really great time. Also, on the day, we met this fella Jeff Clausen who just so happened to be on the 1995 National Championship Nebraksa Cornhuskers. And we ran into Stacie's 6th grade teacher, Mrs. O.
In comparison to the Great Nebraska Beer Fest we went to the weekend before, this one was very different. Nebraska had a much better location, a long pedestrian mall, easy access to all tents, but the beer wasn't all that great and it was full of volunteers only who didn't know shit about the beers they were pouring (usually out of a bottle).
At the Festival of Iowa Beers, the location sucked. It was a half gravel pit, half hilly grassy lawn. But, the beer was great, I think every brewery represented had actual employees there (usually the owners or brewers) and the volunteers were all homebrewers who could talk your ear off too.
I guess I am obligated to mention that I personally got drunk as hell, threw up all over that quaint Casey's in the Amana Colonies and when we got back to Iowa City I slept in the car while everyone else ate dinner. So like I said, great time.
(I'll go down the list of breweries and name which beer I liked best, or what I liked least or whatever. Since I may, kinda, sorta have forgotten the order of the beers, I'll use the guide as a list.)
Court Avenue Brewery - Des Moines, Iowa
I like Court Avenue, and we actually went drinking there that same weekend when we were still in DSM. At the fest I enjoyed the brown ale, Sophie's Mild, named after the owners daughter and the Belgian White was delicious.
Hub City - Stanley, Iowa
Hub City is the only brewery I did not drink from.
Lost Duck Brewing Company - Fort Madison, Iowa
Lost Duck was an urban legend to me. I had heard of it, but never found it. It was alusive, so when I finally got the chance to try it my hopes were high. My first sample was the Orange Lager, which was good, but in the you could only stand to drink about 2 ounces at a time. WAYYYYY ORANGY. The Oatmeal Stout was really good though, and the owners were great to talk to.
Millstream Brewing Company - Amana, Iowa
Millstream, the organizers and sort of Godfathers of the whole Iowa Brewing network, were great as usual. At lunch that day I got to try Millstream cream soda and root beer, which was very good. As for true beer, I am a softy for John's Generation White Ale, so I drank my fair share of it.
Madhouse Brewing Company - Newton, Iowa
Madhouse is very new to the scene, I think... I mean, they same new as hell. They only have 2 beers, the Pastime Pale Ale and American Wheat. I like the wheat a whole lot, and since they only had 2 offerings, they always had a quick line, so I downed a lot of 'em.
I like Court Avenue, and we actually went drinking there that same weekend when we were still in DSM. At the fest I enjoyed the brown ale, Sophie's Mild, named after the owners daughter and the Belgian White was delicious.
Hub City - Stanley, Iowa
Hub City is the only brewery I did not drink from.
Lost Duck Brewing Company - Fort Madison, Iowa
Lost Duck was an urban legend to me. I had heard of it, but never found it. It was alusive, so when I finally got the chance to try it my hopes were high. My first sample was the Orange Lager, which was good, but in the you could only stand to drink about 2 ounces at a time. WAYYYYY ORANGY. The Oatmeal Stout was really good though, and the owners were great to talk to.
Millstream Brewing Company - Amana, Iowa
Millstream, the organizers and sort of Godfathers of the whole Iowa Brewing network, were great as usual. At lunch that day I got to try Millstream cream soda and root beer, which was very good. As for true beer, I am a softy for John's Generation White Ale, so I drank my fair share of it.
Madhouse Brewing Company - Newton, Iowa
Madhouse is very new to the scene, I think... I mean, they same new as hell. They only have 2 beers, the Pastime Pale Ale and American Wheat. I like the wheat a whole lot, and since they only had 2 offerings, they always had a quick line, so I downed a lot of 'em.
Olde Main Brewing Company - Ames, Iowa
I have a warm spot in my heart for Olde Main. Sometimes I get tired of it, but I always come back. Dinky Wheat is one of my all time favorite beers. After I had drank a shit-ton at the Fest, I actually brought up to Olde Main's brewer how he needs to talk to the assholes in the bar about keeping the lines clean, because he makes great beer and they fuck it up upstairs. Now, I understand that's a fucked up thing to tell a guy, especially a brewer I really respect, but I wasn't in the business of being "cuth".
Sutliff Cider Company - Lisbon, Iowa
Didn't try any, when it comes to Cider, I'm a Frosty Jack's man.
Third Base Brewery - Cedar Rapids, Iowa
I like 3rd Base, even though I think it's a super non-traditional brewery. It does have great beer though. My favorite is the Oatmeal Stout, but at the festival I drank a lot of the Hefeweizen.
Peace Tree Brewing Company - Knoxville, Iowa
Peace Tree is becoming one of my favorite brewerys. I love everything about them. All the beer, the marketing, the bottles, the logos, the names, everything. My favorite si the Red Rambler, it is delicious. At the fest I got to try the Cornucopia, which has corn and cornstalks mixed in to enhance flavor, and it really truly did. I am excited to see how far these guys can go.
Worth Brewing Company - Northwood, Iowa
Like Lost Duck, Worth is a brewery I have been wanting to try for awhile. I read a write up about them in some Beer magazine and really wanted to try it. I wasn't let down. The Bar Bella Blond was great, one of the best blond's of the day. The people manning the both were really nice also.
Raccoon River Brewing Company - Des Moines, Iowa
Raccoon River is great, and I love the Vanilla Cream Ale, but they didn't bring it. So I had to settle with drinking the Lakeside Wheat and El Bandito Loco. They were amazing. The El Bandito Loco was a high gravity bitch that had a kick. Raccoon and Court are definatly battling in my heart for DSM's finest.
Rock Bottom Brewery - West Des Moines, Iowa
So, at the Nebraska Fest, I talked to these guys and drank some of the beer and enjoyed it, then it turned out that the same guys were at the Iowa Fest, and I recognized 'em. We got to talking and they poured me a White Tale Pale Ale without me even asking... if you read this blog you may know that I can't drink Pale Ale after my keg of it last May, which ruined my taste buds, so I had to throw it back quick. It wasn't bad. Christ, I hope I can hop again soon.
(That's all the breweries, now is the time in our show where we talk about the Homebrew clubs, or as refered to at the murder trial of my liver, exhibits A thru H.)
Burlington MOB - Burlington, Iowa
Great beer, not the most memorable, but that is more my drunken minds fault and not the clubs.
CR-Beer Nuts - Cedar Rapids, Iowa
My 2nd favorite club of the day. We drank a hell of a lot of these guys beer. They had a new beer up every half hour, and we even got to try a high octane White Ale, they had been keeping in a bottle. In line for the bathroom, I talked to one of the beer nuts and he was a great guy. They all were.
CRAZE - Cedar Falls/Waterloo, Iowa
Craze had a lot of really good beers, and I think they might have been the ones with the Choclate Cookie beer, which like the Orange Lager from early, is really good for about 2 ounces, but I can't imagine drinking a pint.
Cenosilicaphobia Brewers - Pella, Iowa
My favorite club of the day. These guys were great. Cenosilicaphobia (which means the fear of an empty glass), had some great brews. Including, the high octane belgian that was 11% and I pretty much had a bottomless glass of towards the end. I blame the puking and the passing out on these guys. and I loved 'em for it.
Iowa Brewers Union, MUGZ, Powder Keggers - all over, Iowa
I like these clubs, they had great beers, but it was hard to distinguish. They all seemed to work really well together and had a great since of fellowship.
THIRSTY - Iowa City, Iowa
THIRSTY, like the rest had great beers. Sadly, I cannot remember them. Sorry, I party.
So all in all, it was a wonderful weekend. I cannot wait for next year, and maybe Nick or Schenck or I will be able to take part and have one of our brews in it then... maybe not. But we'll be there.
Michelle, JJ's girlfriend, took these cute pictures at the fest. For some reason, she is not in any of them...
A commenter named Jacob brought up that I forgot to mention Old Man River Brewing Company from McGregor, Ia, and he is absolutely right. So here goes:
Old Man River Brewing Company - McGregor, Ia
As I have said before, I got pretty great towards the end of the event, and unfortunately I cannot remember my favorite OMR beer. Also, it is not mentioned in the guide, but I do not I went back 2 or 3 times, so it had to be a good belgian, white or heffe. I also loved the slogans and quotes on the coasters and cards in there booth. such as "never trust a beer with enough preservatives to survive a nuclear fallout".
And what of Old Man River?
ReplyDeleteyou know what's funny, i actually thought that to myself today. i was in my beer room and noticed the little cards that Old Man River gave out and i realized i forgot to mention them.
ReplyDeletei liked everything from them, i cannot remember what kind was my favorite, the helles or something? i had never had Old Man River before the fest.
i also loved the slogans and quotes on the coasters and cards in there booth. such as "never trust a beer with enough preservatives to survive a nuclear fallout".