My wife and I were heading back to the Quad Cities from a night in Des Moines last March and I wanted to stop somewhere to watch the Iowa/Tennessee men's NCAA tournament basketball game. My niece who lives in Newton was telling us about a place that is owned by friends of hers that was part of the old Maytag Plant One complex in downtown Newton. The place sounded so interesting and I'd heard other good things about the place from friends back in Newton that I wanted to stop in to watch the game. This post is about our visit to the Cellar Peanut Pub.
Marty Duffy grew up in New Jersey and ended up moving to Iowa at the age of 15. His father owned a bar and Duffy helped his father out in his business. Going to school at William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Duffy hung out with his football playing buddies at a place called the Cellar Peanut Pub. He was studying to be a physical education teacher and a coach, but when the opportunity for Duffy to take over the bar came about in 2002, he chucked college and bought the bar. His bar-owning father thought he was absolutely nuts. But Duffy loved the bar business so much that he jumped in with both feet and never looked back.
It was at the Cellar Peanut Pub where he met his future wife, Betsy, who was going to school at William Penn. The two eventually married in 2007 and continued to run the Cellar Peanut Pub that they eventually moved to the old Rock Island Depot in Oskaloosa. Duffy was a craft beer enthusiast and he turned the little bar into a craft beer destination featuring an ever growing list of beers from Iowa microbreweries. But Duffy also became famous for his Bloody Mary's that garnered him a number of regional and national recognitions.
The Duffy's opened a second location in Pella, IA in March of 2016. Now, this sort of shocked me as growing up around the Newton/Pella area, Pella was known as a "tea-totaling" town, even with Central College the most prominent feature of the area. I understand that there was still some push-back from local officials that the Duffy's had to deal with to open the Pella location. But they were able to grow their business and their efforts were rewarded as the Thrillist web site named the Pella Cellar Peanut Pub as the best small town bar in Iowa in 2018.
In late 2017, the Duffy's lost their lease on the old depot in Oskaloosa and were forced to close down. The couple then set their sights on Newton and the spaces that were being developed in the former Maytag administration building.
The Maytag company was sold to Whirlpool in 2006 and the administration building and manufacturing facilities in Newton were soon closed leaving many who didn't transfer to other Whirlpool facilities out of work. It was a tough time for Newton for awhile as population dropped, businesses closed up, and school enrollment dwindled. However, the Des Moines Area Community College was looking to expand their campus in Newton and they took over a large amount of the former Plant 1 building in downtown Newton. In 2016, the owners of the former administration building donated the property to DMACC and the college set about with plans to develop the area that was soon renamed Legacy Plaza.
Officials with the city of Newton worked to find businesses that would be interested in taking up space in Legacy Plaza and they came upon the Duffy's who were getting a fantastic following of craft beer lovers around Central Iowa. A large space on the west end of the building was open and the Duffy's decided to turn that into their new location. In October of last year, the Duffy's opened the Newton location of the Cellar Peanut Pub.
Quite actually, I wasn't exactly certain where the place was. All the years I lived in Newton, I really didn't go to Maytag all that much. I sort of navigated around the parking lot north of the old administration building where my uncle parked when he was the office manager at Maytag years ago and into a smaller parking lot next to the Cellar Peanut Pub. (see map) We were the only car in the parking lot at 11 a.m. on a Sunday and we weren't even certain if they were open. We walked up to the door, gave it a tug and it opened. It was empty inside, save for a single young lady behind the bar. I asked, "Are you guys open?" She replied with a cheery, "We sure are! Come on in!"
The decor in the Peanut Pub is could be described as early 20th century industrial. The exposed brick walls were a prominent feature of the main bar area with large windows letting in natural light. There was a small beer garden outside behind the bar area, but it was too cold to be sitting outside that day. Heavy duty wooden tables with metal industrial-style chairs were all around the bar area. Incandescent Edison lights were strung from the rafters throughout the place. Baskets of unshelled whole peanuts were prevalent on nearly every table and on the bar top.
We ended up sitting at the bar on the not-so-comfortable metal stools. We talked with Mindy - the young lady who greeted us as we walked in - who said that she was a teacher during the week, but helped out at the bar on the weekends. Each beertender - as they're called at the Cellar Peanut Pub - must undergo a thorough training through the Cicerone Certification Program before they can become a certified beer server. The certification program features a 60 question test that focuses on proper pouring techniques, fundamental cleanliness of the bar area, and being able to talk with the customer about different beer styles and tastes.
I asked Mindy if they had food as they had a couple menus on the bar from a couple of restaurants in the Newton area. She said, "No, but we've worked out a delivery deal with Giovanni's for pizza and with Moo's Barbecue." (Giovanni's is the pizza I grew up with and I haven't been in there in years, while Moo's Barbecue had a downtown Newton location until about 3 years ago before moving to a larger building out by Interstate 80). "But people bring in their own food all the time," Mindy said. "Sometimes people will bring in crockpots and set them up on the table and have kind of a party buffet going."
Most of the beers, ciders and sours on tap were from small breweries around the state of Iowa. Local breweries such as Exile in Des Moines, Firetrucker in Ankeny, Big Grove in Solon, Peace Tree in Knoxville, and Backpocket Brewing Co. in Coralville were represented. They also had beers on tap from the New Holland brewery up in Holland, MI, the Church Street brewery in Itasca, IL, and they had the Victory at Sea imperial porter from one of my all-time favorite breweries, Ballast Point in San Diego. And as a nod to the Maytag family, they also had Anchor Steam on tap. The great-grandson of Maytag founder Fred Maytag - Fritz Maytag - resurrected the Anchor Brewing Company in the 1960's and is widely regarded as the first craft brewer in the United States.
As I said earlier, I knew that Cellar Peanut Pub was also somewhat famous for their Bloody Mary's. They've twice been named as having the Best Bloody Mary in Iowa and have garnered awards at the New York Wine & Food Festival. I asked Mindy if she could make me one and she said that would be no problem. We also ordered a couple beers to go along with it. She asked, "Are you guys wearing sweat pants?" Well, no, we weren't, but we inquired as to why she would ask. "Sweat pants Sunday," she replied. "People who come in here wearing sweat pants on Sunday get a discount. But you guys are first-timers, so I'll go ahead and give you the discount."
As Mindy made my Bloody Mary, I took a look in the back part of the building. I was amazed at how big the space was at the Cellar Peanut Pub - about 7000 square feet. The back room featured games including pinball and bags boards, and had a somewhat homey, yet unfinished look to the room.
By the time I got back to the bar area, my Bloody Mary was up next to my beer. I had ordered a Drugstore Cowboy pale ale from the Franklin Street Brewing Company in Manchester, IA (the birth place of my wife). It was a hoppy New England pale ale that had just enough of a citrus back taste to cut into the hoppy-ness without having an over-powering fruity flavor. My wife got the Tank Puncher IPA from the ReUnion Brewery in Coralville - a place I've been meaning to try at some point.
I was remarking to my wife about how big this place was. Mindy told us that they have bands play in the back room from time to time. "Duke Tumatoe was here just last night," she told us. I was amazed that Duke Tumatoe would play in Newton and was sort of upset that I didn't get a chance to see him at the Peanut Pub. That would have been a fun show to see.
The Bloody Mary lived up to its billing. They use a homemade tomato juice mix for their base, then load it with vodka, veggies and fruits. It was a very rich Bloody Mary mix and it was somewhat filling. I thought about getting a second one, but I didn't think I could finish it. And my wife is usually only good for one or two sips from a Bloody Mary.
As we were enjoying our beers and watching the basketball game on TV, Marty Duffy and another guy came in and went behind the bar. Marty came over to talk with us and I introduced myself and told him that he and his wife knew my niece. Well, it turns out that my niece is very good friends with the Duffy's. After all the pleasantries were exchanged, I complemented him on his place. "We've had a good run, so far," he said. He said that there were some locals who love Budweiser and Miller Lite who will never come in. "And that's fine," Duffy said to us. "There's plenty of other bars around town that can cater to that. I'm just trying to expose people to the better beers out there." (I've since been told by one of my local friends that they now have Schlitz on tap.)
The other guy behind the bar with Duffy turned out to be Grant Heuer, the head brewer at the Gezellig Brewing Company (pronounced "hezellig") that Duffy's wife Betsy was opening up just down the plaza from the Peanut Pub. "We've been down there working to get it going," Duffy told us. "We hope to be open by this spring." (They officially opened for business on June 7.)
We had a couple more beers as more people came into the place on a lazy Sunday afternoon. My niece even made an appearance and she hung out with us for a few moments before taking us down to the Gezellig Brewing Company across the plaza from the Peanut Pub to look into the window to see the work going on at the nanobrewery.
I have to say that my wife and I both loved every aspect of the Cellar Peanut Pub. What they've done with the repurposing of the Maytag facilities that have been closed for years is a pretty amazing thing. Great beer selection, great Bloody Mary, great space - the Cellar Peanut Pub just gave me another reason to go back to my hometown more than I have over the past few years.
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