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Bill Friday's I-80 Beer
Adventure Flossmoor Station (Flossmoor, IL) |
Other reviews available: Aberdeen (Valparaiso, IN)
Rocky River Brewery (Sevierville, TN)
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Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery
On my way to Minnesota, I decided to check out the breweries & ball parks in Iowa instead of my taking usual route through Wisconsin. It was hard to pass up my favorite stops in Madison and Milwaukee, but Richard Fudge said he had some nice tasting beers when he and Meredith visited Iowa to see some friends earlier in the Summer. So, during the stifling heat of the Labor Day weekend, I set off on a beer quest. My expectations were mixed, but I had a ringer in mind.
My first stop was multi award winning Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery in a Southwest suburb of Chicago (1035 Sterling Ave / Flossmoor, IL / 708-957-2739 / www.flossmoorstation.com). It is located about 5 miles South of I-80, East of I-57, and North of US 30.
From Governors Highway or Kedzie Avenue take Flossmoor Road East until you hit Sterling Avenue by the elevated railroad tracks. Flossmoor Station in only a block North on Sterling.
Their beers have always been a favorite of mine at beer festivals. A few weeks before I visited the brew pub, I was outside the massive crowd surrounding Flossmoor's booth at the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison during a special tapping of one of their cask conditioned beers. The people were shouting, almost chanting religiously the brewers name, Todd Ashman (Todd, Todd, Todd), in appreciation of his brews. I was also there when his Kilt Kicker Wee Heavy won the gold for the Chicagoland Brewpub & Micro Shootout last January.
Flossmoor Station is in a restored train station in downtown Flossmoor. My expectations were high as I walked up the steps leading the the entrance. A 15.5 barrel Specific Brewing System was on the left behind windows as one enters the building. There are four 15 barrel fermenters in the brew house. I quickly went to the bar and ordered a sampler set before ordering lunch. There is a huge menu: five salads, fifteen sandwiches, four soups. Also on the menu is the Burrito that Ate Flossmoor, Fish and Chips, Shrimp, Ribs, Steaks, Pasta, and BBQ. There during lunchtime, I had a cup of Beer Cheese Soup served with a garnish of popcorn and a Taco Salad served in a shell. The soup was extremely thick and filling. The taco salad was fine.
- The Zephyr Golden Ale, a blonde Ale with a "touch of rice," had a mild sense of hops in a pleasant finish. It was very drinkable.
- The Station Master Wheat Ale (33% wheat) had a mild body with again a sense of some bitterness in the finish.
- The Gandy Dancer, a Honey Ale with rye and Wisconsin Orange Bloosom honey, was very tasty. It had a well balanced hop finish. It won a Silver Medal at the 1999 Great American Beer Festival.
- The Panama Limited Red Ale "is brewed with nine different malts and 4 types of hops." It was a beer for all those hop heads out there. I drank this beer way too early in my sampling. My tongue was coated with hop residue long after I finished the beer. At that point, I wanted to stop my tasting and drink massive qualities of it, but I rinsed out my mouth and tried the
- Roundhouse Raspberry Wheat Ale. My hop-assaulted taste buds found the fruit well balanced by a mild malty body. I liked its long, subtle tart finish.
- The Chessie Cherry Wheat Ale had a mild cherry finish.
- The Belgian Wit was excellent to style with wonderful spicy finish. I asked what they used for the spices and was told rose hips, heather tips, paradise seed, sweet & bitter orange peel, lemon, peel, cardamom, and coriander.
- The IPA was well balanced. The complex taste of malt sweetness to hops held together from the initial sip to almost the finish. There the hops seem to exert themselves leaving a delightful hop breath in the mouth.
- The Pullman Nut Brown Ale had a wonderful rich grainy nose. I tasted the "hand-roasted oats" in the background of its complex body. A wonderful dark molasses sweetness was also part of its complex taste parameters. I was told they used seven different malts and four types of hops. The beer was excellent. It won a Silver Metal at the Great American Beer Festival in 1998. It also won Bronze Medals in the 1997 and 2000 GABF.
Flossmoor Station also has many fantastic award winning speciality brews: Imperial Eclipse Stout (1998 Gold Medal GABF), Kilt Kicker Wee Heavy, and Old Conundrum Barley Wine. If you are in the area, don't miss it. The beers are great.
A 13 seat dark wood bar surface with back bar was located directly opposite the main entrance. The flooring in the bar area is red brick. The brick and plaster walls are painted white. One can see the light rail Metra loading platform from the large windows to the left of the bar. Five bar height tables are in front of those windows. There is a small bar height surface parallel to the bar separating it from an eight table dinning area to the right of the entrance. There is a larger dinning area beyond that area on the South (right) side of the building: eight large booths, eleven large tables, and several smaller booths and tables. All of them having the same dark wood surface as the bar. The dinning area has a wooden floor. There are many interesting pictures of historic train and beer related pictures. I especially liked the one with a couple workers hoisting bottles to their mouths as a horse drawn wagon was waiting to be loaded.
Both Todd and his assistant brewer & cellar master, Jeff Graczyk, took time out their chores to talk with me. Jeff even took me on a tour of their beer cooler. He is a wizard. They barely have any space at all for storage.
With four 15 barrel serving tanks, four 7 barrel grundies, five 3.5 barrel wooden casks (with active airlocks), and several kegs, Flossmoor Station is able to have nine beers on tap. Jeff even apologized that they didn't a couple more available. He explained that they had recently been slammed by several beer festivals. He says he has to careful monitor the tanks and transfers beers from the smaller tanks into kegs and larger tanks in the smaller ones as soon as he can to provide room for future beers. I mentioned that it seem to be a lot of work. He laughed and said it was worth it to be able to provide the selection. I asked if there were any possibility of expansion of the brewery. He stated that the owners were thinking of expanding the restaurant South of the building. If so, he thought they would be able to get a larger cold room and more tanks.
If you are in the Chicagoland area, it would pay to make side trip to Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery. Your trip would be awarded by superb beer, a pleasant atmosphere, and good food.
I could have sat the rest of the afternoon, but I needed to move on. I did stop back a week later on my way home, It had been a hard trip through several rain showers. I had a pint of the IPA and ordered the Bruschetta and Beer Cheese Soup. I was a little disappointed with the soup. It was not as thick as the previous time. The Bruschetta was very filling, but it didn't stop me from sampling the wings and meatballs on a buffet table. I ate way too many. With another storm front coming through, I reluctantly drove home. I plan to get back up there soon.
Continuing on during the Labor Day weekend, I decided to bypass a couple of breweries in North central Illinois that weren't as highly regarded on my way to make a baseball game in Clinton, Iowa. The stadium located on the Mississippi River was flooded during the Great Flood of '93. Ignoring several clues that there was a possibility of a brew pub in town. (Hey, it wasn't listed in Pubcrawler or the All About Beer site. I know, I know. I should have asked after seeing a billboard and seeing the same beer listed at the concession stand at the ball park. My only excuse was I was addled by the oppressive heat. Hey, by the way, I'm a male. It's in my genes not to ask directions.)
I ate dinner in R. J. Boar's (116 5th Avenue South / Clinton / 319-243-0343), a hickory smoked BBQ franchise (www.rjboars.com). The KC BBQ pulled pork sandwich was filling, but there were no interesting beers on the menu. After the game which seem to move very slowly, taking forever to end (finishing something like 14-8), I drove madly down to the Quad Cities area trying to make last call at the Front Street Brewery. Though they are listed as open late, someone that night decided to close early. I got to the front doors as they were letting the last patrons out. Was I aggravated? Not as aggravated as I was later when I found out I passed within a block of a brew pub in Clinton.
The next day, I crossed back East over the Mississippi into Illinois and ducked my head in the Rock Island Brewing Company. It looked like a good bar with a nice selection of imports and micros, but it is not a micro brewery or brew pub. It advertised it had live music on the weekends. I thought I might check it out later but fate intervened.
The Blue Cat Brew Pub in downtown Rock Island is located across large area of parking lots and gambling casinos by the Mississippi (113 18th St / 309-788-8247). It is only a couple blocks away from from the Centennial Bridge linking Rock Island and Davenport. Blue Cat is near the intersection of 1st Avenue and 18th Street. More information may be found on its web site: www.bluecatbrewpub.com.
- The Wigged Pig Wheat was served with a lemon slice. It was an American style wheat beer with a slight hopping rate to provide some balance of its sweet body in the mouth feel. What taste it had did not carry through to the finish.
- The Off the Rail Ale was an amber Pale Ale with a mild hopping rate and a slightly stronger malt body. It again finished quickly. I might consider it an entry beer to people who might not like full beer flavors.
- The Rock Island Export Lager had a firm malt body with hop bitterness filling out around the sweetness. The hop-malt balance lingers through the entire mouth feel with the bitterness kicking out at the finish. It was a good drinking beer that any home brewer would love to make. I was told later that it was a true lager beer. It had been in a secondary tank for over two months.
- The Big Bad Dog was a beautiful looking beer.
- The Old English Ale had a deep dark red color and a creamy head. As I drank the sample, there was a fine lacing down the side of the glass. The beer has an excellent full malt body.
- The Arkham Stout has a tart roasted black grain nose. The grainy flavor carries through to a smoky dry finish. It was very enjoyable.
The lunch menu had the usual suspects with a few intriguing items: a Mediterranean Melange (marinated mozzarella, artichokes, garden tomatoes, black and kalamata olives, cucumber, and hummus surrounded by grilled pita wedges); a Catfish Sate (curry marinated baked catfish served with a spicy peanut sauce); and a Yellowfin Tuna (drizzled with a reduced balsamic vinegar over Romaine lettuce, topped with fresh garden veggies mixed with garlic oil). I was also interested in the Reuben (which the bartender said was a true New York style sandwich), Cajun Sausage Sampler, BBQ Ribs, and Blackened Catfish & Tarragon Walnut Chicken Salad Sandwiches (with pulled chicken with celery, red onion,mayo and tarragon on wheat bread with tomato and Romaine lettuce). I settled on the Mediterranean Melange, the Tarragon Walnut Chicken Sandwich, and a cup of Fiesta Cheese Soup. The soup was excellent. It had an excellent hot pepper kick. The black olives of the appetizer were dried out, but the Kalamata olives were tasty. I was pleasantly stuffed.
I was introduced to the brewer, Joe Egdorf, who had been brewing there two years. He said Blue Cat sells 700 barrels a year with very little of that off site. They are trying to increase their off site sales by offering party kegs (2.5 gallon) to go. He let me have a sampling of the
- River Back Jack IPA off the fermenter. Its fruity body was well balanced by a firm hopping rate, It again had a beautiful lacing down the side of the glass. He said he was planning to start serving it later that day after he transferred it to a serving tank.
The brew house is located behind a 10 seat bar which is located in the center of the building. The 10 barrel brewing system was built by Specific. They ferment in seven barrel tanks that were obtained from a brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. The restaurant dinning area is a hodgepodge of different levels and a mix of tables and booths. Behind the bar to the right on a second level is an eight table dinner area. The bar area has three bar heights tables. More seating is available to the front of the bar area and the the left of the entrance. They have pool tables and games on the second floor. The color of the front part of the brew pub is a light blue green. The back part is light red bricks.
Joe told me about a new brew pub in Clinton, Iowa called Upper Mississippi Brewing Company. He said that there was some connection between its owner and the owner of Front Street in Davenport. To get them started, the brewer at Front Street, Steve Zuidema, was brewing at Upper Mississippi. I could have kicked myself. I could have checked it out the precious night.
There was only one thing that some one on a beer quest could do. I had the time (if I hustled) to make a quick evaluation. I quickly stopped at Front Street to get directions and wasted little time driving back up to Clinton.
Upper Mississippi Brewing Company
Upper Mississippi Brewing Company in downtown Clinton is located in the historic Clinton Paper Company building (126 6th Ave South / 319-241-1275). The building was built in 1910 near the intersection of South 2nd St and 6th Ave S.
The brew pub had been open for only three months. The interior had been gutted and rebuilt. The red brick walls were exposed. The bar area was on the front right side. It was enclosed by glass walls to provide a separate smoking area. There was a modern looking light wood bar surface against the right wall. The back bar was a bar length waist high cabinet. There were five weird 3 foot high light wood objects spaced three feet apart sitting on the cabinet as decoration. They glowed. The bar area had wooden flooring. There were three bar height tables by the front window and seven tables in the middle of the bar. The left side of the building was the dinning area.
On one of the walls there was a beautiful mural of a river boat passing by what is probably a local bridge. Upper Mississippi's logo of a river boat was painted on the lower left. There were some wonderful pictures of what probably were old local breweries and early bar scenes: What looked to be a spanking new brew house was behind glass walls to the back of the bar area. Neither the bartender or the manager could tell me who made the system.
- The Lumber King Lager (the nickname of the local baseball team) was a light bodied beer with a metallic nose.
- The Razzleberries was a "German Kolsch" with a harsh raspberry tartness I usually associate with some sort of fruit extract. It was not well balanced.
- The Rooney's Irish was just slightly darker than the previous beer.
- The Hauerbrau, a dark amber, had a full dark grain body. There was a firm German hop finish with caramel sweetness.
- The Mudcat Stout had a weak body, but good dark grain flavors. It was served way to cold. I did not have time to let it warm up.
I started jotting down some of the menu items, but was told they were changing the whole menu. They were planning to have traditional steak, salad, and sandwich items. They were offering some interesting BBQ items, but with another BBQ place opening up in a small town, they felt they had to make a change. I was told by regular customer that the pork chops marinaded in beer was the best. Upper Mississippi was offering a interesting special: buy ten growlers of beer and get the eleventh one free.
I wish I would found the brew pub the previous night. It seemed like a comfortable place to drink and eat. But after a quick stop, I was on the road for the thirty minute drive back down to Davenport.
The Front Street Brewery is located across from the parking lots for the casinos on the West side of the Mississippi (208 East River Road / 515-282-2739). It is almost directly across the river from Blue Cat. With its red brick walls (in many places they had been patched), it reminded me of the old Stabilizer (a West Lafayette Village bar torn down this last Fall - the furniture of Front Street was in much better condition).
An exposed brew house is located in the basement level by the foyer. One can look down at the 248 gallon mash tun and 368 gallon brew kettle. There were screen doors open on the other side of the building front to provide ventilation.
Beyond the foyer entrance on the right side of the building there is a small ten seat wooden bar and functional back bar with ten wooden shelves and a mirror by the cash register. Three bar height tables were to the right of the entrance overlooking the brew house. Three small bar height tables were to left of the bar. Six wooden booths were along on the left wall. Seven dinner tables were in the back part of the room. Its wonderful old wood flooring creaked a little as I walked around the building. The ceiling was exposed showing its wooden beams. On the walls over the wooden booths there are prints of famous artwork with drinking scenes. In the back of the building, there is a small outdoor patio area with a tree and six concrete tables.
- The Hefe Weizen had a slight cloudiness and a hint of cloves.
- The Old Davenport Gold, an American light, was clean with a slight hint of hops and creaminess.
- The Raging River Ale was a solid drinking beer. Light brown in color, it finished well with a tasty balance of hops and malt. It was a commemorative beer named for the great Mississippi River flooding of 1993. During it, the brew pub actually had to close for several months.
- The Cherry Ale had a subtle fruit flavor in the mouth feel. It even lingered at the finish.
- The light bodied Summer Ale had a hint of hops in the nose, but lost that essence in its body and finish.
- The Bucktown Stout had an excellent dark grainy nose with a mild creamy body. After great promise, it weakened at the finish. Still, it was a good drinking beer. There was beautiful lacing on the side of the glass.
The menu had the usual suspects: Soups, salads, sandwiches. It did have a couple interesting items: Bangers & Mash (sausages and mash potatoes) and Lancashire Hot Pot (chucks of chicken breast minced with veggies and gravy topped with a flaky pastry shell and baked). I chose the Sausage Platter [grilled polish & brats with sauerkraut and onions served with hot mustard and horseradish] over the Santa Fe Style Quesadilla for an early dinner. It was sinfully delicious.
I drove to Iowa City after a ball game in Burlington. I felt that the Fitzpatrick's Brewing Company had a college crowd atmosphere (525 South Gilbert / 319-356-6900). On the corner of Gilbert and Prentiss Street, the fact that it is only a few blocks away from the University of Iowa probably has a lot to do with feeling. (I remember Greg and Nancy stating that they didn't want to deal with the college crowd when they opened the Lafayette Brewing Company in downtown Lafayette.) On the night I was there, the bar and outdoor patio (with stone tables) were packed with students celebrating their first weekend back at school. They were consuming mass quantities of the major beer brands. The narrow bar area had a rustic, well trashed out decor to it. The bar's wooden flooring was well scuffed. The bar could seat 12 people. There was a dark walnut like bar surface and back bar. The pool table took up the back third of the bar area. There was a interesting tin-like ceiling.
The dinning room with beautiful dark wood booths and tables were blocked off from being used. Probably a wise idea at night with that type of crowd. (Look at the tables in the back room of the Chocolate Shop in West Lafayette some time, if you don't know what I'm talking about.) There was also a second bar area in that part of the building.
The building is on the side of a hill. The bar and restaurant area are on the street level. The parking area and brew house are around back of the building on a lower ground level. Parking in back, I had to climb a long narrow stairway to get to the entrance of the restaurant. I was able to take a nice picture of the brew house through a back window.
Nobody in the bar that night could talk about the brewery. The bar entrance from the main street had a wooden facade - making it look like an Irish pub. The restaurant side of the building seem to be a more recently built addition. The red brick of the back entrance and the bar part seem to be much older.
There was only one beer on tap that night: an
- American Wheat. It was slightly fruity, clean, and uninteresting.
It was too busy to ask questions about the other brews they usually had, so I slipped slowly on the one beer and left quickly.
The Beer Lover's Guide to the USA (by Stan Hieronymus and Daria Labinsky) listed two beer bars over the Fitzpatrick's in Iowa City: the Dublin Underground (5 S Dubuque St / 319-337-7660) and the Sanctuary (405 S Gilbert St / 319-351-5692). I thought about checking them out, but I had a big day ahead of me. I was planning to hit all four brew pubs of Des Moines in the afternoon and wanted to get an early start.
I was able to get an early start from Iowa City (on the Saturday before this past Labor Day) and arrived in the Des Moines metro area slightly before lunch time.
I stopped first at the Saint's Brewing Company. It was located in a Northwest suburb of the metro area at the intersection of 100th St and Douglas Ave (3828 100th St / Urbandale, IA / 515-278-4383 / www.saintsbrewingco.com). Since I was there before the brew pub opened, I drove North on 100th Street to kill a little time and found myself quite quickly among corn fields. The brew pub is located in the corner of an "L" shaped strip mall. There were four white outdoor dinning tables and chairs to the side of the entrance.
The brew pub had a middle ages theme to its decor and menu. A slogan used by the brew pub was "One Ale of a Good Time." An enclosed brew house was on the right side of the restaurant. A 22 seat old dark walnut like bar surface was located to the left of it. The edge of the bar surface had carvings of roots, leaves, and branches. A man's face was carved into the bar's corner. The back bar has carved upper torsos and heads of a winged man and a mermaid. Somebody had put frisbees in their outreached hands. A second bar height surface with ten more seats was to the left of the long bar. This surface separates the bar area from the dinning area.
There are four booths on the other side of the second bar surface. Seven more booths and fifteen regular tables made up the large open dinning area. Two pool tables and electronic dart boards were located to the back right of the room along with three bar height tables. A stone-like tile covered the floor in the bar area. The rest of the building was covered by a purple carpet. The wall surface was lightly colored up to about 12 feet. At that point, the exposed walls and ceilings were painted dark green to hide metal pipes and such. A beer memorabilia collection was on display on the ledge where the wall surface changes. A Miller Lite / Vikings banner hung above the bar area. Several English flags were also on display. There was a large screen TV in the dinning area. The kitchen area was behind the bar on the back right.
A chalk board listed their available beers. It stated their original and finishing gravities, and their International bittering units.
- I first tried the St George Dragon Slayer Light (9.3 og, 1.6 fg, 11.5 IBU). It was clean with a surprising hint of hops at its finish. There was a sight metallic aftertaste which I usually associate with the style.
- The amber colored Golden Chalice (13, 2, 13) was smooth and well balanced.
- The Barefoot Monk Weiss (11, 2, 15) was an American style wheat beer. It was unfiltered and had a faint floral nose. There were raspberry and peach syrups available for adding to the wheat and light beers.
- On that oppressively hot day (the temperature outside at 11 AM was 97 degrees), the Two Saints Lemon Beer (12, 2, 16) tasted good. The lemon taste was pleasing and refreshing.
- The Excalibur Pale Ale (12, 2, 18) had a welcome hop bitterness in its mild malt body.
- The English Cream Ale had a fruity body.
- An IPA style beer called the Iowa Pale Ale (12, 2, 38) had a strong hopping rate with a mild malt body. The malt sweetness quickly finished at the end of the taste, leaving a pleasing hop bitterness.
- The Red Knight Amber Ale (12.5, 2, 20) had a fruity body with a slight sour taste in the finish.
- The Black Dragon Stout (18, 6.2, 33) had a full roasted malt body. Hop bitterness filled out the background of the taste's parameters. There was a slight tartness at the finish. As the beer warmed up, the stout's body picked up a slightly annoying sweetness.
A branch used as a binder for the menu. The middle ages theme carried through to the items on the menu. I ordered the St. Francis Spinach Salad with the Hot Glazed Bacon dressing served with a long thin roll. Other items on the menu were Monk's Hoods (potato skins] and Morgan la Fey's Hot Legs (Buffalo wings).
Mike Clark brews and is part owner. The brew house was a seven barrel DME system with four fermenters. Kegs were available for purchase. Their beer was also available at the local Triple A baseball stadium. Live music was scheduled for several weekends in September. I liked their framed poster-sized collection of micro brew labels in the men's restrooms.
Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery
Sticking with the West suburbs of Des Moines, I next checked out the Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery in West Des Moines (4508 University Ave / West Des Moines, IA / 515-267-8900 / www.rockbottom.com).
The building was located about a mile from the Western intersection of Interstates 80 & 35. It opened around three years ago. Located across a parking lot from a Barnes & Noble's, the brew pub had the smallest square footage and was one of the few suburban locations in the Rock Bottom chain. It was built there because "people thought that downtown Des Moines was dead." The bartender stated that it would be the last Rock Bottom located in a small market area by the chain even though they were doing great business at their location.
A thirteen seat bar area was on the left side of the building. Another thirteen seat bar height surface separated the area from the rest of the main dinning area. The dinning area had typical Rock Bottom booths and tables. The light brick structure had an approximately 30 foot high ceiling. The wall's bricks were made to look older by slightly covering them with various patches of plaster over them - almost white washing some sections. Smoke from a group of three cigar smoking individuals filled almost the entire bar area. Another group of smokers moved right next to me as I was half way through my tasting. The menu advertised that fine cigars available for purchase.
An outdoor patio was located on the front and left side of the building. Part of the brew house could be seen through windows on a second level. It was built over the kitchen and a small dinning area in the back part of the building. Serving tanks were located behind the bar back. Pool tables could be found beyond the bar area in the back left of the building. Paul Krutzfeldt was listed as the brewer.
- The Heartland Light had a light body with a weak malt finish.
- The Whitetail Pale Ale had a mild creamy body with a slight hop finish.
- The Mud in Your Eye Red had a slight amber color. It was a well brewed beer with a delicious balance of sweetness and bitterness in the mouth feel.
- The Lumpy Dog Brown had a mild body with a very sweet fruity finish.
- The Liquid Sunshine, an unfiltered American style wheat, had a very harsh sour finish.
- The Hefe Weizen, true to style, had a clovey nose with a slight bubble gum finish. It lost a little balance in the body - maybe a little too sweet, but it was very refreshing on that hot day.
- The Iron Horse Stout had a mild grainy body with a pleasing balanced finish of roasted grain and cream-like characteristics.
- There were also two cast conditioned beers available. The Bourbon Brown Ale was delicious. Aged in an Old Grand Dad barrel, it had a mild English style body with a kick of sweet whiskey overtones. It was slightly disappointing at the finish - the flavors didn't linger in the mouth as long as I thought they should have had. (I still finished this beer first of all my samplings.)
- The other cask was called Stout des Oranges. They transferred their stout into a oak cask and added some sugar and a bottle of Orange Curacao - a flavored liqueur. There were some interesting flavors mixing in the mouth feel. I probably would have had ordered a full pint that day if I didn't have two more brew pubs to check out.
The Rock Bottom bartender bragged that they sell more beer than the other three Des Moines area brew pubs combined.
While I was tasting beers at Rock Bottom the bartender let me know that there was an annual Labor Day weekend beer festival going on in downtown Des Moines. I thought about checking it out as a chance to taste beers from other Iowa breweries, but decided to continue my exploration of Des Moines brew pubs.
Raccoon River Brewing Company was located at the corner of 10th and Mulberry Streets on the Western part of the Des Moines' downtown business district [200 10th Street / 515-283-1941 / www.wynkoop.com]. It is part of the Wynkoop brew pub chain. It is located in a restored red brick building a few blocks West from where the Raccoon River flows into the Des Moines River. I was told the brew master was Dave Coy.
A fourteen seat stone slate "L" shaped bar was located to the center right beyond a twelve table dinning area by the entrance. The bar surface had a gold colored scaled outline of the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers' intersection embedded into its surface. Five bar height tables were to the right of the bar. The brew house was to the left of the bar area behind glass walls. Serving tanks were in a room behind the bar. To the left beyond the brew house, there was a large dinning area. It was on a raised wood flooring that overlooked Mulberry Street (South) through large glass windows. It looked like a comfortable area to spend some time.
Private dinning areas were available behind the serving tank area. The front part of the building was exposed to the second floor ceiling. About half way back (over the serving tanks & private dinning rooms) there was a second floor with another bar area, a couple of table shuffleboards, and ten pool tables. The flight of the stairs leading to the second floor went between and over the mash and boiling kettles. I was told the upper bar is open late on weekends as they close the lower bar and dinning areas after serving dinner. Small black and white checkered tiles covered the floor of the lower bar. The dinning areas were carpeted. There was a canoe hanging from the ceiling and many decorated painted paddles hung on the walls. Raccoon River used a fifteen barrel Specific brewing system with four fermenters.
The menu included the usuals: pizzas, salads, sandwiches, and pastas. It also had fish & chips, chicken wings, Bruschetta, a raspberry chicken breast. I was told the dinner menu has some good steaks and a Grilled Iowa Pork Tenderloin with a pineapple chili glaze served with mashed potatoes and green beans sauteed in garlic, onion and bacon. I thought about trying the Top Sirloin Steak Salad (cooked to order steak on lettuce with fresh mozzarella, grilled tomato, shaved red onion, fresh basil, and toasted pine nuts) to compare it with the one served by the Berghoff in Chicago.
But I decided to try a "Des Moines Favorite," the Brew Chips (potato slices) with Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses, bacon and sour cream. The bartender suggested an option of topping it off with some Chili Con Carne. The combination was wickedly delicious, though I probably would have been better off with the salad.
- The Tallgrass Light was a clean mass market clone beer.
- The Tallgrass Prairie Gold was supposedly a Kolsch style. Its mash was made up with 10 percent wheat. It wasn't very interesting.
- The Vanilla Cream Ale had a nice vanilla quality to its nose and finish. Its body was weak and uninteresting.
- Railyard Ale had a reddish tint to it. It was listed as an Oktoberfest style. There was a good balance of malt and hops. It was a good drinking beer with a slight complexity of caramel overtones and hop characteristics in its finish.
- The Bandit IPA had a good full hop finish. It was amber in color. There was a complex hop bitterness and malt sweetness in the body.
- A special brew, the Cerveza Negra, was a mild dark ale. It had a firm malt flavor in its body with a slight fruitiness in the middle of the mouth feel.
- The Stonecutter Stout was a full bodied oatmeal stout. It was a well balanced drinking beer - very enjoyable to sip.
The bartender said Raccoon River gets a strong weekday crowd, but, being downtown, their weekends were weak. The weekday crowd comes from the many hotels and a convention facility within a few blocks of their location. They used to do cask conditioned beers on hand pumps, but they stopped doing it because it wasn't selling fast enough.
After Raccoon River, I was planning to kill a few hours by hitting a downtown used book store - to pace myself as each brew pub I had visited had at least seven brews to sample. Unfortunately, there was an empty lot at the address I had for the store. With time to kill, I decided to check out the location of the fourth Des Moines Brewpub so I wouldn't waste any time finding it after the baseball game is was planning to attend. Much to my delight, Court Avenue was located only five blocks from the ballpark. I parked between the stadium and brewery and continued on with my beer exploration that afternoon.
Court Avenue Brewing Company was located in the renovated historic Saddlery Building near the corner of Court Ave and 3rd Street (309 Court Avenue / 515-282-BREW / www.courtavebrew.com).
The area around the brew pub looked liked it was being revitalized. The old buildings were being taken over by restaurants and night clubs. There was still a lot of empty store fronts and vacant lots. A band was setting up that night in the vacant lot next door to the brew pub.
The beer sampler came in an unique octagon shaped wooden tray. The labels of their beers have been placed on the 3 inch square sides of the tray. The sample glasses were placed into eight holes in the top surface. There was a metal retractable handle to carry it.
- The Capital Raspberry Wheat (1.034 starting gravity, 3.1 % alcohol by volume, and 9 bittering units) had a tart nose, but it was balanced by a mild malt body. It finished short and dry.
- The Rising Sun Soy beer (1.034, 3.1, 9) was advertised as the first beer in the world to use Soybeans as an ingredient in beer. It was a weak bodied ale and not very interesting.
- The copper colored Topping Pale Ale (1.049, 3.8, 33) was a mild English style ale. It was an excellent drinking beer with a pleasing hop finish.
- The Pointer Brown Ale (1.052, 3.9, 16) had a strong malt body with a mild sense of hops on the edges of the malt sweetness. It was a little disappointing as the initial pleasing complexity flatten out in its body.
- The Blackhawk Stout (1.052, 4.5, 31) had an excellent dark grain flavor. It had a very complex mouth feel which lingered nicely at the finish.
- The initial taste of the Japanese Black Lager had a wonderful dark grain texture. It was followed by a smooth balanced mouth feel. It finished with a touch of creaminess. It was stated that the beer was lagered for six weeks.
- The Honey Lemon Ginger beer was served with a lemon. It wasn't as bad as you might think. It was very refreshing and the ginger slightly burned in my throat as I swallowed.
The Specific system brew house is between the main entrance and the bar area on the right of the building. It had a 345 gallon brew kettle and a 314 gallon mash tun. Four fermenters: (two 463 gallon and two 616 gallon) were also located in glassed in brewery. The main dinning area was to the left of the entrance. It had 12 booths. There was another dinning area further back. The West (left) wall had some large windows giving the area a good pleasant quality.
There was another small dinning room in the center of the building with a combination of 12 tables and booths. A twenty seat bar was on the right wall of the building. There were three booths on the wall separating it from the center dinning area. 5 two seat booths were located between the bar and the front windows of the building. Three bar height tables were next to the fermenters. There was a rich old wood floor in the bar area. The restaurant area was carpeted. The walls in the bar were a red brick. The walls in the dinning areas were dried walled and painted light blue. The ceiling was mainly exposed.
600 mugs hang from a dropped canopy over the bar. The mug club seemed like a great deal - a good looking mug, a t-shirt, and 1/2 price beer anytime. There were 4 by 5 foot paintings of their beer logos mounted on the East bar walls. A six table outdoor seating area was located on the right side of the front sidewalk. Court Avenue also advertised live music performances.
The kitchen offered the usuals, but these items were only just the beginnings of a wonderfully diverse menu. It started with Bruschetta, Crap Cakes, Walnut Chicken Salad, and Wings. I thought the crab sandwich looked interesting: "a blend of snow crab and fresh veggies grilled and topped with a spicy Bayou dressing and Swiss cheese served on an onion Kaiser roll with baby greens." Also on the menu was a Jamaican Pork Sandwich, a Buttermilk Chicken Salad, and a Porto Bomber - "grilled portabella layered between Roma tomato, grilled onions, roasted red peppers & sage gorgonzola cheese."
I almost ordered a Falafel Hoagie. The newspaper menu also proclaimed a "Taste of Iowa" section featuring soy based items - a pizza, burrito, and pocket sandwich. I thought the Soy Lasagna sounded interesting: "texturized soy protein, rotini pasta, mushrooms, silken tofu, low fat ricotta & mozzarella cheese, spinach, roasted peppers, yellow squash and green chilies."
Need I get into desserts? I am still thinking about the Black Hawk Chocolate Mousse served with a homemade raspberry sauce and whipped cream that I ate before the baseball game. Afterwards, I ordered the Colossus Salad - "mixed greens topped off by roasted garlic hummus, falafel chunks, balsamic Roma tomatoes, cucumber sauce, marinated Kalamata olives, feta cheese and toasted pita bread." I was just slightly disappointed with high percentage of iceberg lettuce in its mixed greens. In spite of it, the salad was delicious and filling. It went well with a glass of the delicious Japanese Black Lager.
My I-80 beer trip was at a close. I needed to head North to Minnesota for a family visit. There were many well made and interesting beers in Iowa and Illinois and wished I could have had more time to taste them.