My wife had been having cabin fever working at home while I've been on the road traveling the past few weeks. Quite honestly, one of the last things I want to do on my weekends at home is to get in the car and travel anywhere of distance. However, this one particular Saturday, after moaning about going somewhere when my wife brought it up, we decided to head up to Potosi, WI and get lunch at the Potosi Brewery. (Click here to read about one of our previous visits to the Potosi Brewery.) While we were there, my neighbor - who is very in-tune with microbreweries - called us to see what was going on. After telling him that we were at the Potosi Brewery, he said, "Hey, if you're going home through Dubuque, you guys need to go to Jubeck's Brewery." About an hour later, we found ourselves in front of Jubeck New World Brewing in the Old Historic Main district on W. 11th Street in downtown Dubuque. (see map)
Jay Jubeck got into home-brewing just after graduation from the University of Dubuque. And he soon found a kindred soul in Dan Caraway who was also a home-brewer, as well as a musician and an aviation enthusiast like Jubeck. The 18-year age difference (Caraway is 54, while Jubeck is 36) didn't get in the way of their friendship and shared passions. In fact, they started a rockabilly band - The Fast Clydes - with Jubeck on guitar and Caraway on upright bass that lasted until 2015.
Like many other home-brewers, Jubeck and Caraway made a number of different types of beers for friends and family. This was at the height of the craft brewery explosion and they often noted that Dubuque did not have its own microbrewery.
In March of 2013, Caraway and Jubeck decided that now was the time to look into opening their own small brewery. However, they couldn't raise the money needed through banks or financial institutions, so they decided to do a Kickstarter campaign to raise the money. Over the next two months, Jubeck and Caraway solicited backing money by hosting events showcasing their beer in private settings.
Pictured at right - Dan Caraway and Jay Jubeck. Photo courtesy Jubeck New World Brewery Facebook page.
By May of 2013, 175 people kicked in money for Jubeck and Caraway's dream and by the time it was all said and done, they had raised $7,000 over their goal of $30,000. Approximately 100 of those people who pledged funds for the brewery became initial members of New World Brewing's club. This guaranteed those members that they would have free beer - depending upon their level of financial participation. Some members received a growler of beer free of charge each week, while some members were guaranteed a set number of pints in a month.
Next was finding a building in which to house their microbrewery. They found a space in a historical building in downtown Dubuque in August of 2013 that used to be an Asian restaurant. The space was completely gutted - no plumbing, no electricity, everything was stripped down to the bare brick walls. The two set about putting in a new floor, overseeing plumbing and electricity installations, and finally they were able to build a bar and bring in brewing tanks, finishing the build-out in the spring of 2014. With six beers on tap, Jubeck New World Brewing opened to the public in July of 2014. Initially, they were open just one day a week, but by early 2015 they were able to hire bartenders that allowed them to be open 4 days a week. (Wednesday thru Saturday.)
We found Jubeck Brewery and parked across the street from it on W. 11th St. There was a small roped-in area in front of the building that allowed patrons to drink outside.
The space at Jubeck Brewing is not very large. It seats somewhere between 20 and 25 people in the tap room. Contemporary lights and fans hang from a tin ceiling, as well as a large model airplane - a nod to Jubeck's and Caraway's love of flying.
There are no televisions in Jubeck New World Brewing, something that Caraway and Jubeck wanted to promote more of a community feeling with people having conversations rather than watching sporting events. One of the things I liked about the place was that they were playing Classic Rock vinyl records on a turntable behind the bar. One of my favorite albums - Elvis Costello's "My Aim is True" was playing through the JVC receiver when we walked in. The intimacy of the place and the vinyl on the turntable made me fall in love with the place immediately.
The brewery's brewing tank is located along a short wall next to the bar. Much of the ingredients for the beers brewed at Jubeck come from local farmers or food sources.
The tap list is one the opposite side of the bar from the brewing facility. They had seven beers and a cider to choose from that day. Three new beers were on the board - the IFR, a hazy IPA that also reflects Jubeck's and Caraway's love for flying (IFR stands for Instrument Flight Rules - when pilots have to navigate via instrument read-outs in cockpits, primarily when flying in heavy clouds.); a Lavender/Honey Wheat beer, and a fruity farmhouse ale called X9 Grissette. They had two sours on the beer menu - sours are somewhat popular with the younger drinkers, I've never taken a liking to them. Rounding out the beer menu was an imperial porter and a Czech-style Bohemian pilsner.
I actually tried a sample of the pilsner along with the IFR hazy IPA. While I liked the lightness with a somewhat forward malt flavor on the pilsner, I thought the IFR was even better. It had a smooth hoppy taste that was tamped down by a citrusy back-side. It was a seriously good beer. Good enough that I had a couple while my wife had one. And before we left, I picked up a four-pack of 16 ounce cans of the IFR hazy IPA to take home with us. The beer was just as good at home as it was at the brewery.
We have a lot of brewpubs/craft breweries around the Quad Cities (with more coming this fall), but I would put the IFR hazy IPA from Jubeck New World Brewing up there with some of the better beers I've experienced around the area. In fact, I'm not certain it's better than some of the other hazy IPA's that I've had around the Quad's. And what's not to like about the atmosphere at Jubeck Brewery? It's a small, cozy place. They're playing classic rock vinyl on their small sound system. And it seemed like a friendly and inviting little brewpub. We like heading up to River Ridge Brewing in Bellevue from time to time, so a 20-minute drive up the road to Dubuque and Jubeck New World Brewing is not out of the question on our next trip up there.
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