Road Tips

Iron Spike Brewing Company - Galesburg, IL

My wife had taken a series of three-day weekends during the holiday season and the weather on one of the Friday afternoons was just outstanding - sunny skies, light winds, temperatures in the low-50's.  She thought it would be fun to take a short drive and maybe go somewhere for lunch.  I had recently seen a short news segment on one of our local television stations about the Iron Spike Brewing Company in Galesburg, IL - about a 45 minute drive from the Quad Cities.  We had known about Iron Spike and we had wanted to go there at some point, and we figured what better day than that sunny and warm December day.    

Matt Engelhaupt grew up on a farm outside Galesburg, but eventually made his way out to San Diego to go to school to become an architect.  While in school on the west coast, he got a gig tending bar at Stone Brewing Company.  He later started to help in the brewery cleaning tanks and other chores.  It was at Stone Brewing where Engelhaupt developed a love for home brewing.

Moving back to Illinois, Engelhaupt continued to experiment with home brewing while working as an architect.  But it was a chance meeting with Dogfish Head Brewing founder Sam Calagione at a brewmaster's conference in 2008 that convinced Engelhaupt to consider a change of vocation.  After trying some of Engelhaupt's beers, Calgione told him that he really needed to think about opening his own brewery.  

It was another four years before Engelhaupt finally put together a plan to open his own brewery.  He found an old building in Galesburg that used to house a community center, but before that it was the central fire station in that city from 1905 to 1970.  But in order for Engelhaupt to make his concept work, he needed to have food served at his brewery.  He turned to a young man who grew up in nearby Williamsfield, IL who had an extensive background in restaurants of all types to partner with him in his venture.  

Ryan Cardwell had his first experience working in his parents restaurant in Williamsfield at the age of 13.  From working in his family's restaurant, he ended up working for a couple national chains learning more about the business end of things.  Cardwell was hooked on the restaurant business and he ended up taking a two-year course at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Chicago.  After getting out of school, Cardwell eventually ended up out in Colorado working as the executive chef at the Sonny Lubick Steakhouse in downtown Fort Collins, as well as the catering chef at a Fort Collins butcher and deli shop.  

Engelhaupt approached Cardwell about coming back to Galesburg to partner with him in opening his brew pub.  In 2013, the two secured the purchase of the building from the city of Galesburg and set about putting in a full brewery, kitchen and restaurant.  

The build-out was a challenge as the building was over 100 years old.  They took out the drop ceiling on the main floor and took down walls that were built for the community center.  The original fire pole from the fire station was kept in place and the second floor was designed as a game area for the brew pub complete with golf simulators, pool tables and dart boards.  A large glass wall was built to separate the dining area and the brewing area.  They refinished the original concrete and brick floor and put in a bar opposite the brewery room.  

Engelhaupt and Cardwell had to come up with a name for their venture.  They decided it had to be something that honored the history of Galesburg.  The railroad has always been a big part of Galesburg's heritage and there's even a museum that pays tribute to the history of the railroad that was so important in the development of the city.  They decided to call the brewpub the Iron Spike after the spikes that were used to help lay the tracks when the railroad first came to Galesburg in the 1800's.   

To help Engelhaupt and Cardwell run the restaurant, they hired Dan Hite who had experience managing bars in the past to be their general manager.  By March of 2014, they were ready to open.  Their first day of business was so successful, they had to shut down the second day because they had run out of beer and food.  

(Matt Engelhaupt left Iron Spike not long after helping open the brewpub looking to do something else.  He got together with Steve Zuidema, the founder/owner of Front Street Brewery in Davenport, to help him figure out his next move.  It turned out that Zuidema, who started Front Street Brewery in 1992, and his wife, Jenni, were looking to retire.  Engelhaupt and three other investors ended up buying Front Street Brewery from Zuidema.) 

We had taken the backroads down to Galesburg and pulled up in front of Iron Spike Brewing Company around 1:30.  There's a free city parking lot across the street from the brewpub and we parked there.  (see map)  The stately old brick building sort of reminded me of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.  The garage doors that were used for the old firehouse were now closed up and one of them was used as the front entrance.  In warmer months, a patio area is set up in front on the left side of the main entrance.  You can see remnants of the concrete etched "Central Fire Station" on the front of the brick facade above the second story windows.  

As we walked into the brew pub, I realized that we needed our face masks as Illinois still had mask restrictions in place, but Iowa did not.  I had my mask with me, but my wife had left hers in the car.  As I was getting ready to run back out to grab her mask, the hostess - who along with the rest of the staff were masked - said, "Aw, don't worry about.  Most of the people that come in here aren't masked.  As long as we are, we're fine."

She took us to a table in the middle of the dining area of the brewpub.  The tables were butcher block thick with metal and wooden chairs.  The dining room was large and spread out with a high ceiling with Edison lights and exposed ductwork.  The room had character.  Songs by Seattle 90's grunge bands Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam were some of the background music we heard while we were there.  

The bar area was on the east side of the dining area.  Purple accent lighting shown down on corrugated tin on the front and sides of the bar.  If you click on the picture above right, you can see the original firehouse pole in the far corner of the bar.  

We had been given menus and our server for the afternoon was a young guy by the name of Matt.  He came by to greet us and said that he'd be right with us.  It wasn't all that busy and Matt was the only one working the dining area that day.  

Opposite the bar behind a 12' x 20' glass wall were the brewing kettles and apparatus. Colorful murals of the Galesburg Fire Department emblem and other fire station-themed artwork were on the wall next to the windows that looked into the brewery area.  

 
The 10-barrel brewery has the capability to make 310 gallons during a brew cycle and they can run up to 3 brew cycles a day.  Iron Spike brews approximately 2000 barrels (approximately 62,000 gallons) of beer annually.  In addition to the brewing tanks, there's also a can line in a building behind the the brewery that allows Iron Spike to can and package 12 and 16 ounce cans.  Their beers are sold in over 25 Illinois counties from the northwestern part of the state down through Central Illinois.  

The beer menu was on the wall behind the bar.  Like a lot of microbreweries, Iron Spike rotates some of their beers, but keeps their more popular offerings year round.  My wife and I wanted to try a couple of their beers - a seasonal hazy New England India pale ale and the Flatback American-hopped IPA.  Both beers were pretty good, but I liked the flavor of the hazy IPA a bit better than the American IPA.  I got a pint of the hazy IPA and my wife got a half-pint of the Flatback American IPA.  

Looking through the menu, we found some foods that were worthy of a chef who got his education at what was one of the more prestigious culinary schools in its day.  The bacon-wrapped meat loaf sounded appealing to me, as did the Cajun chicken tetrazzini served on a bed of spaghetti tossed with sautéed peppers and mushrooms, and finished with a spicy cream sauce.  The grilled salmon caught my wife's eye, while the blackened-marinated mahi mahi fish tacos definitely caught my eye.  

Iron Spike also had a number of burgers on the menu.  The Iron Spike burger featured a blend of 60% Black Angus beef and 40% ground bacon.  I've sort of winced at that much bacon mixed in with beef, but one of these days I'll give it a try.  Just not that day.  They did have a handful of other burgers including the onion & mushroom burger with sautéed onions and mushrooms with Swiss cheese.  There was a guacamole and bacon burger, as well as a bison burger, the "Sunrise" burger with cheddar cheese, bacon and an over-easy egg, and the Asian Crunch burger topped with a spicy Asian sauce, crunchy onion strings and pepper jack cheese.  

They had a grilled or breaded chicken breast sandwich, a grilled mac & cheese sandwich, and a pulled pork sandwich on the menu.  Appetizers included beer-battered portobello mushroom strips, a spinach artichoke dip served with tortilla chips, and grilled shrimp tossed in a sweet chili sauce.  Salads included a Buffalo chicken salad, a grilled chicken Caesar salad, and a smoked salmon and spinach salad that piqued my wife's interest.  Iron Spike also had flatbreads including chicken alfredo, pulled pork and a margherita style.  You can also build your own flatbread pizza at Iron Spike with various toppings, cheese and sauces.   

I thought about getting one of the burgers, but the mahi mahi fish tacos were intriguing, as well.  I was having trouble figuring out what I wanted to get, and at the last minute I did a complete shift and went with the reuben sandwich.  It featured house-roasted corned beef on grilled rye bread with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a house-made Thousand Island dressing.  Fries came as a side with the sandwich along with a pickle spear.  

My wife was really thinking hard about the smoked salmon and fresh spinach salad that came with dried cranberries, toasted pecans, chopped celery and fresh dillweed, then finished with an olive oil and lemon juice combination.  But she ended up getting the fish and chips - wild caught cod filets beer-battered and deep-fried.  But she didn't get the fries, she asked Matt if she could substitute a dinner salad with their house vinaigrette dressing.  He said that was no problem at all.  Besides, if she wanted a fry or two, she could have some of mine.  

I was not unhappy that I got the reuben sandwich.  It featured generous amounts of tender and flavorful corned beer with a very mild Swiss cheese to complement the meat.  There was enough sauerkraut to make it noticeable, but it wasn't overpowering.  And the same with the house-made Thousand Island dressing.  It gave the reuben a tangy taste that mixed well with the other flavors.  The fries were also very good - crispy on the outside and not overcooked at all.  

My wife was very pleased with her beer-battered cod.  I had a bite of one - I normally don't care for deep-fried fish - but the batter was light and had a nice taste to it.  The fish wasn't overcooked, nor did it have a fishy taste.  It was very good, as well.  

I really don't why we hadn't tried Iron Spike Brewing Company before this.  We don't seem to go south into Illinois all that much when we go exploring or looking for places to eat.  The food was very good, the service was friendly and efficient, the atmosphere was inviting, the music they played was excellent, and the beers we had were as good as the food.  With many tantalizing options on the menu, my wife and I said that we'd have to come back at some point and try more of their food items.  Iron Spike Brewing Company was definitely worth the drive for us.  

First Watch - Lee's Summit, MO

A guy who had worked for one of my accounts for over 20 years had made a monumental decision last summer to leave that store and open his own store on the opposite end of Kansas City.  He and I had been in talks about picking up some of my lines and he was getting ready to open his doors last fall.  We made plans for a breakfast meeting near his home in Lee's Summit, MO just outside of Kansas City.  I told him to name the place and he suggested we meet at First Watch, a breakfast/lunch bistro located in the new Streets of West Pryor mixed-use development in Lee's Summit.  

I had seen First Watch restaurants in some of my travels, mainly on vacations to the South and Mountain West.  But I had no idea the extent of the number of First Watch locations.

John Sullivan was living in Denver in the late 50's and early 60's managing a steak and seafood restaurant.  He hated the long hours and wanted to try a concept of a breakfast place that focused on just breakfast, brunch and lunch that would close in the mid-afternoon.  He chose the ski village community of Aspen to open his restaurant.  In 1963, Sullivan started Le Peep, one of the first - if not the first - upscale bistro-style restaurants that focused on early and mid-day dining only.  Many of the dishes at LePeep were egg-based because eggs were more of a stable commodity than beef was at the time.  (Well, and that's certainly true today.)  

Le Peep, of course, was a hit - and continues to be so today - and it wasn't long before Sullivan opened more locations in the greater Denver area.  He was joined in the firm by Ken Pendery who worked for the same steak and seafood restaurant as Sullivan.  Pendery eventually became the president and CEO of Le Peep and by the early 80's they were looking to sell the growing chain of restaurants.  

Another veteran of the Colorado restaurant industry, Buddy Waldman, headed a group of investors who ended up buying Le Peep in 1981 with the plan to take the concept nationally.  Sullivan and Pendery stayed on during the transition, but the two soon left the company after a falling out with the new corporate ownership.  

(My French-Canadian colleagues used to get a kick out of seeing the Le Peep restaurants when we would be in Denver for trade shows years ago.  The term "peep" is evidently a Quebecois word for a certain sexual act.)  

Looking for a new challenge, Sullivan and Pendery moved out to California to start their new breakfast/lunch venture.  The two found a place overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Pacific Grove, CA, just outside of Monterey.  They opened their new restaurant - First Watch - in 1983.  The name First Watch comes from a nautical term for the first duty time of the day on ships.  They opened a second First Watch location in San Mateo, CA in the South Bay area of San Francisco.  

In 1986, Sullivan and Pendrey moved their base of operations to Bradenton, FL and continued their growth of the First Watch concept.  They decided to keep many of the restaurants company-owned with a handful of franchise locations.  In 2014, First Watch bought the 20 locations of the Phoenix-based Good Egg breakfast/lunch cafe chain, then a year later they purchased the 114 locations of the Colorado-based Egg and I restaurants eventually converting them to First Watch restaurants.  

Today, there are nearly 400 First Watch restaurants in 20 states - primarily in Texas, Florida, and Arizona.  (Ironically, there are no First Watch locations in California, the state where they first started.)   The Lee's Summit location opened in the summer of 2021, the fourth location in the Kansas City area.  (A First Watch location in the Corporate Woods business park in suburban Overland Park closed a little over six years ago.)  

First Watch locations are open from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.  They won't seat anyone after 2:15 p.m. and the restaurant locks their doors at 2:30 sharp.  They rely upon the freshest ingredients and produce for their food, and they don't have a deep fryer in any of their restaurants.  They feature a number of vegan items, and they also are conscious of dietary restrictions or allergies with many of the foods they offer.  And to celebrate their 35th year in business, Fresh Watch released a cook book - "Yeah, It's Fresh" - that showcased 75 of their more popular breakfast, brunch and lunch items.  

We had agreed to meet at the Lee's Summit First Watch location at 8:30 a.m.  I got there a little early and I'm sort of glad I did as I had a little bit of trouble navigating through the area as it's just off I-470 and U.S. Highway 50 off NW Pryor in Lee's Summit.  (see map)   But once I saw it in the distance in the Streets of West Pryor complex, I was able to drive right to the front of the place.  

I went inside and my breakfast meeting guest had not yet arrived.   The restaurant featured dark wood flooring with matching dark wood tables and chairs.  An open kitchen was in the back of the place with and outdoor dining patio off to the side.  There weren't a lot of people in the place for a weekday morning.

I was greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand and I was taken to a table with banquette seating along one of the outer walls of the place.  I detest banquette seating, but since there wasn't a lot of other people in the place, I settled in for breakfast.  She dropped off a couple menus for me to look through as I waited for my guest to show up.

Our server that day was a pleasant young lady by the name of Sydney.  She asked what I wanted to drink and I asked if they had espresso.  "Uh..., no, I'm sorry," Sydney said hesitantly.  "We don't have espresso."  I was sort of incredulous that a place like First Watch wouldn't have espresso.  They did have fresh brewed coffee, but no espresso.  I ended up ordering a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice. 

My guest made it in a little late, but no big deal.  "My mom doesn't live far from here," he explained to me after he sat down.  "We go out for breakfast every once in a while and we came here a few weeks ago.  She won't go anywhere else for breakfast."  

The breakfast items feature omelets, benedicts (including a BLT benedict and a smoked salmon benedict that got my attention), frittatas, pancakes (including a lemon ricotta pancake that sounded sinfully delicious), Belgian waffles and a couple of French toast breakfasts including the Florida French Toast that featured French toast covered in sliced bananas, strawberries and kiwi fruit.  First watch also had quinoa or granola breakfast power bowls and three or four Mexican-inspired breakfast plates including a spicy chicken/chorizo chimichanga served with grilled potatoes.  Lunch items on the menu featured grilled and deli-style sandwiches along with four or five types of salads.

I was torn between a number of items, but I was still sort of full from the meal I had the previous evening.  Although the Farmhouse Hash with house-made corned beef hash topped with two eggs and avocado slices sounded good, as did the green chile/chorizo omelet, I ended up going light and getting the avocado toast with two over-easy eggs.  The plate was dusted with paprika and chopped parsley.  

They have combination breakfasts at First Watch such as the Tri-Fecta - choice of either a Belgian waffle or a pancake (multi-grain, regular, blueberry or a banana-crunch or carrot cake-pecan pancake), eggs made-to-order and a side of either smoked bacon or pork sausage links.  My guest got the blueberry pancake with eggs over-easy and a side of bacon.  The pancake - which was the size of a hubcap - took up most of the plate and Sydney had to go back and get a smaller plate with the bacon on it.  A side of strawberry compote came on the side with the pancake.  

My avocado toast was OK - the avocado spread was salty, however.  But the multi-grain bread that is made special for First Watch was very good.  My eggs were good - nothing special.  The breakfast was a little expensive - $11.90 for the avocado toast and eggs - but it was fine for what it was.   

For my first visit to a First Watch location, I thought it was fine for what I had.  It's pretty difficult to do anything real special with two eggs over-easy and avocado toast.  My guest - who had eaten at this First Watch a handful of times - was more than happy with his Tri-Fecta breakfast consisting of a blueberry pancake, eggs over-easy and a side of smoked bacon.  I did like the fact that they had fresh-squeezed orange juice, but I was sort of blown-away that a place like First Watch didn't have espresso or cappuccino.  It didn't matter, however.  Breakfast, brunch and lunch bistros/cafes are extremely popular and with the lineage of being the offspring of the first restaurant of this concept, First Watch has had a large head start over all the other places of its kind across the nation.  

Darkbird Taphouse - Peosta, IA

Our local newspaper - the Quad City Times - has downsized their news staff over the past few years which means fewer stories with a local angle.  These days, the bulk of the the newspaper is filled daily with articles from other news outlets around the state of Iowa and the Midwest.  One article that they had back in early December was from the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald on a new craft beer and wine-centric restaurant in the fast growing town of Peosta, IA - a bedroom community located just about 15 minutes south and west of Dubuque off U.S. Highway 20.  My wife had a Friday off and was sort of in the mood for a little road trip.  We took off going north out of Davenport and I made it over to Peosta to search for this new restaurant.  After some confusing twists and turns trying to get to the place, we finally pulled up in front of the Darkbird Taphouse to check it out.  

It had been less than a month since Darkbird Taphouse had opened their doors.  And that went against our usual 90-day start-up period we try to give restaurants to try and work the kinks and newness out of their system.  But the article intrigued me enough where I wanted to go to a place that wasn't a brewpub, but a place that highlighted craft beers from across Iowa, parts of the Midwest and beyond.  We weren't even really thinking about food, but if they had food we'd certainly consider it.  

Jeff Burds is the man behind the Darkbird Taphouse.  The local entrepreneur helped start Dimensional Brewing Company in Dubuque along with co-owner/co-founder Tom Rauen in November of 2018.  Living out in Peosta, Burds saw the potential for a modern-style taphouse that he wanted to build on a greenspace area in southeast Peosta.  Burds went to the Peosta City Council in March of last year with his plans for a $2 million dollar building that would be the focal point of other development in the area.  Work started on the site later in the spring and the building was finished in late October.  After a handful of soft-opening dates which featured live music, Darkbird Taphouse opened around Thanksgiving of last year.  

To run the place, Burds called on his daughter-in-law Amanda Burds to manage the day-to-day operations.  To run the kitchen, Burds hired Andrew New.  For the previous five years New worked in the kitchen at Brazen, an upscale bistro in downtown Dubuque that my wife and I have wanted to go to for quite sometime.

We sort of knew where Darkbird Taphouse was, but it was so new that it didn't show up in our GPS.  My wife used her phone to direct us back onto Highway 20 eastbound from Peosta and we saw the building just north of the divided highway on a frontage road.  We got off at Thunder Hills Road and then took a left onto Thunder Valley Drive, the frontage road that goes in front of Darkbird Taphouse.  (see map)  As I said, it was a little confusing for our first visit, but will now know how to get there on subsequent visits.  

We were lucky the day we went to Darkbird Taphouse - they fully open (bar and kitchen) at 11 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  They open at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, but the kitchen doesn't open until 4 p.m. those days.  They're closed on Monday and Tuesday.  There was a large parking lot in front of the building.  

Going inside, we found a large open space with a high ceiling with exposed ductwork and ceiling fans, polished concrete floors, and large southern exposure windows that let in an abundance of natural light.  Two garage doors were on the east end of the space that could be opened in warmer months for access to an outdoor patio.  

We took a seat at a booth along the west wall of the tap house.  It's counter service at Darkbird Taphouse and beer and food menus were available via a QR code that we could easily scan with our phones.  

I was sort of intrigued by some of the beers they had available on tap.  Of course, they had beers from Dimensional Brewing Company out of Dubuque, but they also had beers on tap from breweries such as Exile Brewing out of Des Moines, and brews from 3 of our favorite microbreweries -  Pulpit Rock out of Decorah, Wake Brewing from Rock Island, and Contrary Brewing out of Muscatine.  I was also surprised to see beers on tap from breweries from different parts of the country including Weldwerks out of Greeley, CO.  

They had four or five hazy IPA's to choose from on tap and I went up to the counter to see if we could get some samples.  It turned out that Amanda Burds was working the bar area that day and I asked her about samples or some flights.  She told me that they did have flights of 4 available, so I picked out 4 of the hazy IPA's they had on tap.  My wife and I agreed that the Juicy Bit's hazy IPA from Weldwerks was the best of the bunch.

It was a limited menu for the time being during our first visit to Darkbird Taphouse.  (We were told the menu would expand as time went on.)   There were appetizers such as fried pickles, a beer house pretzel, cheese curds and a charcuterie board that were available.  Chicken tenders, a reuben sandwich and three different burgers were available.  Frozen pizzas from Chad's Pizza - which is out of Cedar Falls, but has an outlet in nearby Dyersville - were also available. 

We had a beer and my wife started to think that maybe a burger didn't sound too bad at that point.  We made our choices and I went up to the counter to order them from Amanda.  About 15 minutes later, Andrew New came out of the kitchen with our two burgers and served them to us.  

My wife went with the beer cheese burger.  They make their own beer cheese sauce at Darkbird Taphouse.   Fresh lettuce, sliced tomato and red onions, and pickles came with the burger.  Battered fries came on the side.   

I went with their regular cheese burger that came with Muenster cheese as well as the battered fries.  It was a generous slice of Muenster that they put on the burger which sat on a lightly toasted bun.  The burger patty was thick and juicy.  

And it tasted very good.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good the burger tasted.  The condiments were fresh, the bun was soft and spongy, and it held together well with all that was going on with the burger.  The battered fries were also very good.  They had the right amount of crunch on the outside while maintaining that nice feathery potato texture and taste on the inside.  

We had finished up our burgers and Andrew New came out to check on us.  As he was was clearing our plates, he asked how the burgers were.  There were absolutely no complaints on the burgers from my wife and I, and we were both very happy we ordered them.  

After finishing up our lunch, we decided to go up the stairs and check out the second floor mezzanine area.  There was a small bar up there and a door that went out onto a deck that overlooked the patio below.  A number of tables with chairs were in the space and you could look out over a heavy railing onto the taproom below.  

Sitting up at the small mezzanine bar with an open laptop computer was a guy who we had noticed running around the place earlier.  I asked him if he was the owner and he said, "Well, I pay the bills here."  It turned out that it was Jeff Burds and we were able to talk with him for a moment.  

I told him that we were from the Quad Cities and we had read the article from the Dubuque paper in our local paper.  Jeff was sort of surprised that the article made it into the Quad City Times.  "I know it was in the Waterloo newspaper," he said.  "But I didn't know that it was in the Times."  

I asked him what the relationship between Dimensional Brewing Company and Darkbird Taphouse was.  "Well, I helped start Dimensional," he said in a vague fashion.  "Other than that, there's no real relationship other than we have some of their beers."  I thought it was kind of odd that he was being somewhat evasive about the relationship, figuring that possibly he wasn't part of the ownership at Dimensional any longer.  

We were asking him about some of the beers he had on tap, including the Weldwerks hazy IPA that we liked so much.  "There's a beer wholesaler up in Wisconsin that we've been working with who will get tanks of some beers from around the nation from time to time," Jeff Burds told us.  "That's where the Weldwerks comes from."  

When I asked him about the beers from the Quad Cities area and he said, "I have a son who has a girlfriend down in the Quad Cities."  Burds chuckled and said, "He's my runner for the beers from down there."  

There wasn't much - if anything - to complain about during our initial visit to Darkbird Taphouse in Peosta.  The place had been open for less than a month, but it seemed that there were no operation kinks or service problems new restaurants tend to experience during their first 90 days.  The beer selection was interesting, the burgers we had were very good, it was a nice atmosphere in the place, and the service we had was very friendly.  Although it's a bit of a haul from our home up to Peosta, we figured that it would be another place where we could go for a weekend drive once the weather warms up again.   Well, then again, it would be a nice place even before springtime hits.  

 

Great Revialist Brew Lab - Geneseo, IL

One very nice fall Sunday afternoon a couple months ago, my wife wanted to go for a little drive.  I was up for our regular burger and bloody mary Sunday, so we drove over to Geneseo, IL via backroads.  We tried to get into the Geneseo Brewing Company, but we found that they were closed until 3 p.m. on Sundays.  I remembered that a new brewery had taken over the old Lionstone Brewery in Geneseo, so we ended up heading out there. Five minutes later, we pulled up in front of the Great Revivalist Brew Lab.  

Not long after I did the original post on the Lionstone Brewing Company in 2017 (click here to see that post), I received an e-mail from Logan Hamilton who let me know that he was no longer the head brewer at the brewery.  He never told me the reason why, other than he was going to get back into teaching.  

Through the grapevine, I had heard that Lionstone owner Steve Fiers was looking for someone to take over the brewery/brewpub.  In 2019, he was introduced to Seattle native Richard Schwab who began to negotiate the takeover of the Geneseo operation.  

Schwab literally grew up around beer.  He had family members who were all home brewers and Schwab started to help brewing beer when he was in junior high.  He continued his interest in home-brewing beers as he climbed up the corporate ladder in the telecommunications industry traveling across the nation.    

His job brought him to the Quad Cities about 8 years ago and Schwab was impressed with the variety of breweries in the area.  He became friendly with the brewers at Great Bend Brewery in downtown Davenport and Schwab became part of that group who experimented with different styles of beers.  

Leaving the corporate life, Schwab took the leap to buy the Lionstone Brewery in early 2020 and was in the process of rebranding the brewery as the Great Revivalist Brew Lab.  But a day before he was set to take over the Geneseo location on May 1, a tragic natural disaster took place that knocked out his friends at Great Bend Brewery in downtown Davenport.  A Hesco barrier that was holding back the waters of a historic flood on the Mississippi River caved and the onrushing water inundated the Great Bend Brewery with up to 3 feet of water effectively knocking the place out of business.  

After floodwaters subsided, the owners of the Great Bend Brewery decided not to carry on.  In came Schwab to buy that location with plans to revamp the property that included the original brewing operation and a building across the street that he was planning on turning into a small brewpub.  Plans were to have the Davenport location of the Great Revivalist Brewing Company up and going in late 2021, but so far that plan has been pushed back into mid-2022.  

We pulled into the parking lot of the Great Revivalist Brew Lab around 1:30 in the afternoon.  Really not much had changed from when we were in to Lionstone Brewing a couple three previous times.  

We initially sat at a table near one of the floor to ceiling windows in the front of the brewpub.  However, I looked over at the bar and noticed a familiar face behind it.  It was an old friend from working events for the City of Davenport over the years, Neil.  Neil and I had lost contact for a handful of years, but for some reason we kept running into one another at different places around the Quad Cities where he was working for the now closed Crust pizza restaurant, and when he would help out with the Floyd's Burgers food truck when it was parked at various brew pubs around the Quad Cities.  We decided to go up to the bar and have Neil wait on us.

After exchanging pleasantries with Neil - who told us he was wearing various hats for Great Revivalist Brew Lab - we took a look at the list of brews they had on their beer list.  But, of course, I was there for a bloody mary, as well.  Neil promised that he made a great bloody mary and I sent him away to start on that while we looked at the beer list to see if there was anything that caught our eye.

We wanted to try some samplers and we decided upon the Project Hazy IPA and the Mile 19 pale ale (Geneseo is Exit 19 on I-80 in Illinois).  I was also sort of interested in trying the seasonal Pumpkin Eater pumpkin and yam spiced beer and Neil suggested his favorite beer they had at the time - the Ryevolution rye and red ale.  The Ryevolution red ale was pretty good, the Pumpkin Eater was a little too strong on the taste buds, and we liked both the Project Hazy IPA a bit more than the Mile 19 pale ale.  

Neil's bloody mary was more of an artisan bloody mary with a splash of beer added to the mix.  It was a bit more thin in texture than I like for my bloody mary's, but it was still pretty good.  

While we were enjoying our beers and the bloody mary, Neil had dropped off a couple food menus for us to look over.  They still had the big wood fired pizza oven in the corner of the restaurant that was there when we would come out to the Lionstone Brewery.  They still had a number of pizzas and flatbreads on the menu - something that we had said we were going to try at some point, but never did.  Salads, sandwiches, and appetizers such as wings, a spicy tot poutine, and a combo basket of fried pickles and fried Wisconsin cheese curds were also on the menu.  

While I had my heart set on a burger, my eyes wandered over to the mahi mahi grilled tacos - I'm always a sucker for good grilled fish tacos.  Fresh cole slaw, pico-de-gallo, and a cilantro/lime ranch dressing came with the fish tacos that were also available deep fried.  The fish tacos gave me pause, but I still ended up going the burger route.  

They had three different types of burgers on the menu at Great Revivalist - a sharp cheddar and bacon burger; an avocado/queso burger with pico-de-gallo and a Creole aioli; and a traditional burger with a choice of cheddar, Swiss or pepper jack cheese.  I went the traditional route with some pepper jack cheese.  I had a choice of sides which included truffle fries, kettle chips, cottage cheese and a side Caesar's salad.  But they also had tots and I had to go with those.  

My wife saw the blackened grouper sandwich on the menu and she asked Neil if they could hold the bread on the sandwich.  It came with lettuce, tomato, and an onion slice with the Creole aioli on the side.  She got a choice of sides and she went with the house-made cole slaw.  

My burger was on a pretzel bun that was, quite frankly, sort of dried out.  In fact with the vegetable condiments and a little ketchup on the burger, the bun literally disintegrated.  And that was a shame because the burger patty was very good.  I ended up using a fork and knife to finish off the burger.  The tots were excellent, however, especially with some Cholula splashed onto them.  But, it's pretty tough to screw up tots.  

My wife was more than impressed with the grouper.  It was light, flaky and had just enough Cajun spices on it to give it a kick, but not too much where it was too spicy for my wife.  I had a small bite of it and I have to say that it was better than my burger.  And my wife let me share some of her Creole aioli for some of my tots.  That had a wonderful flavor to it and I almost liked it better on the tots than the Cholula sauce.  

After we finished our lunch, Neil invited us to take a look at their back patio where they put in individual greenhouse-style huts that they use for outdoor dining in the winter.  They first started doing this in late 2020 to provide dining space when inside dining restrictions were still in place.  With most restrictions now lifted, the little huts were such a hit with Great Revivalist patrons that they decided to bring them back again for the winter of 2021-22.  The plexiglass huts will seat 4 to 6 people and each have their own heater.  I understand there is a wait list for the huts on the weekends.  

The top of a old silo had been fabricated on one end of the deck to provide another space for dining or drinking outside in the elements.  While it wasn't as nice as the huts, it was kind of a neat rustic touch.  The deck overlooked an open field with a creek and featured chairs and stools to relax on.  It was a little cool that day - definitely cold in the shade - so there weren't many people hanging out on the deck.  

Our first visit to the Great Revivalist Brew Lab was deemed a success with a very good hazy India pale ale, a delicious chunk of blackened grouper, a bloody mary that was pretty good, and a burger that even though the pretzel bun disintegrated, it was still edible.  It was also good to see our friend Neil and to get caught up on the goings and doings of the Geneseo location and the upcoming Davenport location for Great Revivalist.  We have a number of breweries and brewpubs within a 25 mile radius of our home and it's good that Great Revivalist Brew Lab continues on in Geneseo.