Road Tips

Jerry's - LeClaire, IA

There was a new restaurant that opened up at Pebble Creek golf course that's technically in LeClaire, IA, just up the river from Davenport.  It opened in May of 2023 and my wife and I tried to get out there at least three times.  But the place - which isn't all the big to begin with - was always packed.  A few weeks ago, I had just taken a flight from the east coast with a quick connection in Chicago earlier in the day getting back home around 11:30 a.m.  My wife had taken the day off and I suggested earlier in the morning that we go out to lunch after I got home from the airport.  It was a nice day, so we took a little drive and ended up at the restaurant we had been having trouble getting into - Jerry's.  This time, we were finally able to get in.  

Jerry's is the collaboration of two local businessmen who have stakes in local restaurants in the Quad Cities.  Marc Van Severen is the owner of Van's Pizza, and was a partner in the (now-closed) Dam Tacos restaurant.  Mark Roemer is the owner of 5ive Cities Brewing, Central Standard, and has a couple Dunn Brothers coffee shops in the area.  Roemer was needing some extra space for 5ive Cities brewing production, so he built a building near the new clubhouse at Pebble Creek, a once popular local golf course whose future is in doubt after going on the market in the spring of 2024.  However, there are a number of upscale housing developments in the immediate area around Pebble Creek that Jerry's draws its clientele from.  

When Roemer built the building to house 5ive Cities brewing operation, he approached Van Severen to see if he would be interested in putting in a restaurant in part of the building.  Things got worked out between the two and Jerry's opened on May 13, 2023.  The restaurant was named after Van Severen's father Jerry who was a big influence on Marc's life.  

First, I made sure that Jerry's was open for lunch before we hopped in the car to head out there.  It's a bit of a drive from our house in Davenport out past Bettendorf and the TBK Sports Complex (known locally as the BettPlex) along Forest Grove Road which eventually turns into 195th Street.  Jerry's is located at the corner of 195th and SW 35th Street in LeClaire.  (see map)  Quite honestly, if you were coming from Davenport - as we do - it's almost easier to go out I-74 to I-80 eastbound and get off at the LeClaire exit and go west on Highway 67 to Valley Drive.  SW 35th St. intersects with Valley Drive and it's a short drive up the hill to Jerry's from there.  But the drive to Jerry's along Forest Road via 195th Street is much more picturesque.   

We pulled into the parking lot at Jerry's around 1 p.m.  The parking lot is shared with The Clubhouse at Pebble Creek, an event space that can be rented out for receptions, parties and gatherings which is owned by Roemer.  And three months ago in early October, Jerry's took over part of the space for a supper club concept - Jerry's Supper Club - that is open just three days a week (Wednesday thru Friday) from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.  So far, it's a pretty short menu with items such as a honey-glazed salmon, a beef tenderloin filet, lemon chicken, and mahi mahi, along with a prime burger, a jalapeño chicken salad sandwich, and an extensive salad bar.

There's a nice patio in front of Jerry's and that place is usually packed on warm summer days.  It features a bar and some lounge style seats along with a few tables for dining.  We saw that in the fall they put up wind screens on the north and west side to be able to allow customers to sit outside when the weather is tolerable.  It was a beautiful day when we went to Jerry's, but no one was seated outside.  

Directly behind Jerry's is an indoor/outdoor golfing range called The Rock Pile at Pebble Creek.  It features 10 bays - 5 on the ground level and 5 on a second level.  Using Toptracer technology, the facility can be used for group outings, individual play, or for training.  

Inside Jerry's, you'll find a modernistic space with a small bar and a number of high-top tables with high-backed padded seating.  There's a small sitting space on an upstairs platform overlooking the seating area.  As I said, Jerry's isn't all that big with seating for - maybe - 36 to 40 people.


Off to the side of the dining room were floor-to-ceiling windows that allowed a look into the brewing facilities for 5ive Cities Brewing.   The new production facility allowed 5ive Cities to go from brewing about 10 barrels a day to over 90 barrels a day.  While I haven't been a big fan of some of the 5ive Cities beers in the past, they've added a number of beers since they've upped their brewing capacity.  

There was a high-top table in the corner that was open and we settled in there.  There was just one server working that day, a young woman by the name of Erica who had waited on us at a couple other places around the Quad Cities in the past.  She apologized to us when she handed off a couple menus and said she'd be back to take our drink order.  I looked through the beer menu and there were a number 5ive Cities beers on tap along with craft beers from Iowa breweries such as Big Grove and Toppling Goliath.  One of the 5ive Cities beers caught my attention - the Schwifty Hippie Hazy IPA.  As I said, I was not much of a fan of 5ive Cities beers - until now.  Their hazy IPA was excellent.  They have a full bar at Jerry's including a number of wines to choose from.  My wife said that she was going to get a glass of wine for lunch with her meal.  

The menu at Jerry's started off with appetizers such as grilled wings, poutine, ahi tuna crisps, and ribeye chunks topped with a garlic & herb boursin cheese and served on crostini bread.  The menu also included soups and salads, some specialty burgers including a blackened burger topped with blue cheese, and a number of sandwiches including Jerry's popular lobster roll, a blackened salmon with avocado sandwich, a BLT served on toasted sourdough bread and topped with a garlic aioli, and their Chopped Italian rolls - a combination of ham, salami, pepperoni, and prosciutto with provolone cheese along with lettuce, tomato, pepperoncinis and red onions topped with a red wine vinaigrette and garlic mayo, all served in split-topped Italian rolls.  That really sounded good.

Jerry's also had a handful of entrees on the menu including the same honey glazed salmon that is served at their supper club across the way, as well as a 10 ounce ribeye, and chicken marsala.  The beef bolognese served over cavatappi pasta also caught my eye.  I made a mental note of that if we make it out to Jerry's for dinner at some point.  

My wife was sort of up in the air as what to get.  She thought about the pesto avocado sandwich with a choice of either turkey or prosciutto, and she thought about the grilled chicken breast sandwich served without the brioche bun.  But in the end, she went with the reuben sandwich - corned beef slathered with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and 1000 island dressing, all served on grilled thick-cut marble rye bread.  

For her side, she had a choice of fries, house-made chips, broccolini, garlic mashed potatoes, potato salad, or cottage cheese.  She didn't seem to be too thrilled with any of the choices until Erica said that she could substitute a salad for a side for a small upcharge.  My wife was happy with that news and she got a Caesar salad for her side.  

She got a glass of the J. Lohr Los Osos merlot that they had available either by the glass or by the bottle.  My wife was more than happy with what she got.  The reuben was a gooey mess that required a number of napkins during the course of the meal.  

I ended up getting the mushroom/Swiss burger - a 1/2 pound USDA prime beef patty that was topped with sautéed mushrooms and a slab of Swiss cheese served on a toasted brioche bun.  I asked Erica if I could get bacon on the burger and she said that would be no problem.  Sliced dill spears, a slice of red onion, tomato and lettuce greens came on the side.  For my side, I got the fries.  

The burger was excellent - juicy with a rich beef flavor.  The juiciness of the burger combined with the generous amount of Swiss cheese on top of the burger made it a splendidly messy meal.  The hazy IPA that I had was a great complement to the burger's overall taste.  And the fries - which were plentiful - were also very good with a great crunchy outer shell.  It was not a cheap lunch, but it was well worth the price.  

Things had quieted down by the time we had finished our meal and we engaged Erica in conversation about Jerry's, the new supper club in the Clubhouse at Pebble Creek, and other endeavors Marc Van Severen and Mark Roemer were involved in.  We were primarily interested in the supper club given that we love the supper clubs up in Wisconsin.  "The event space was just sitting there," Erica said.  "We thought we'd do something different to see if it might go over.  It's only open for 3 nights now and we have a limited menu.  But if it takes off, who knows?"

After trying to get into Jerry's for over a year, it turned out the wait was worth it.  Even though it was an expensive lunch, I thought the value was worth it, as well.  By prime beef burger was delicious, and my wife was very happy with the thick, juicy and messy reuben sandwich.  For being the only server, Erica did a great job in taking care of us and about six or seven other tables while we were there.  Jerry's is a nice upscale tavern with some good and interesting items on the menu, along with a full bar featuring a great selection of craft beers, specialty drinks, and an acceptable wine list.  From our first experience at Jerry's, we can see why it is such a popular place to get into.    

Mascot Brewery - Etobicoke, ON

I got into Toronto late in the afternoon during a recent trip up there.  I was on my own that evening as my colleague from Montreal was driving in later, and my colleague from France - who was on a France-Australia-Los Angeles-Toronto-France around-the-world trip - wasn't due from in L.A. until around 10:30 that evening.  I had it in my mind to find a brewpub for dinner that evening.  I ended up Uber-ing to one place near my hotel for dinner and some beers (more on that later on), but it turned out that only it had food at its downtown Toronto location.  However, the people at that microbrewery steered me to another place that they knew had craft beer and food - Mascot Brewery.  After getting another Uber to pick me up, I took off to head over to Mascot Brewery.  

Aaron Prothro is a native of Nova Scotia who moved to Toronto as a young man full of ambition, but really no clue as to what he really wanted to do.  Prothro was an athlete and worked out at a local fitness center.  He eventually got a job at the fitness center as a personal trainer and competed in local body-building championships.  

But he also had an interest in the hospitality industry and had some conceptual ideas of the kind of place that he'd like to run - a chic little restaurant with seasonal menu items and an extensive wine list.  Oh!  And a second-story bar above the restaurant that would feature artisanal drinks and a D.J. with a thumping sound system.  That dream of Prothro's came true when he opened Nyood Restaurant and Bar in February of 2008.  

While owning and running Nyood, Prothro and a friend came up with another concept - F-Stop - an EDM (electronic dance music) and hip-hop dance club.  But there was something brewing - literally - in his mind.  He became immersed in the craft beer community and as a black man he noticed the inclusivity and the laid-back vibe the growing craft beer scene was in Toronto.

Pictured right -  Aaron Prothro.  Photo courtesy Mascot Brewery Facebook page. 

Prothro especially liked the fact that craft beer seemed to bring people together and not try to divide them.  He didn't like the technical jargon that some microbreweries used to describe their beers and wanted a place where plain-speak in his beer's descriptions was the norm.   And he wanted a brewpub where people could gather and just chill out.  

Aaron Prothro sold his interests in Nyood and F-Stop to work on getting his concept of a brewery and taproom up and running.  He found a space in downtown Toronto and in May of 2015 he opened Mascot Brewery - the first black-owned brewery in Canada.  The original location for Mascot Brewery was on Mercer Street in downtown Toronto, but they moved to their present location on King Street West in 2019.  

Also in 2019, Prothro announced they would open up a second location in suburban Etobicoke complete with a brewing facility, tap room, patio and event space, along with a restaurant in collaboration with Matt Basile who owned the popular Fidel Gastro food truck.  The pandemic slowed down the progress of the buildout and the new Mastro Brewery location finally opened in June of 2021.  

As I said earlier, I set out to go to a brewpub that I thought had food.  The Uber driver dropped me off in front of Great Lakes Brewery (see map) and when I walked in, I sort of suspected that they didn't have a kitchen there.  After sitting down at the bar and ordering a beer, I asked the bartender if they had food.  "No, sorry," she said.  "Our downtown location does, but we don't.  This is our tap room and retail location."   They had a number of beers on tap, and cans of beers for sale in a refrigerator near a wall of wearables that were also for sale.  

But I ended up hanging out there for a couple beers talking with the two bartenders who turned out to be wonderful people.  Canada "Nice" people.  They had a couple hazy IPA's on tap and I tried them both.  I ended up getting the HazeMama New England-style IPA that is one of their year-round beers.  The place wasn't all that busy and I visited with the bartenders who were intrigued that a guy from Iowa had found their tap room.  They were also very helpful in their suggestion of a nearby brewpub that had food - which turned out to be Mascot Brewery.  

Getting an Uber from Great Lakes Brewery turned out to be a bit of a challenge as there was a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey match starting just down the nearby Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto.  It turned out that I had time for one more beer waiting for my Uber ride to show up.  As I said, it was a slow evening and the bartenders were happy for the company.  And they had great music playing in the background from artists such as Onra, The Herbaliser, and Ólafur Arnalds with Bonobo.  

Once the Uber driver showed up, it turned out to be less than a 10 minute ride through residential streets of suburban Toronto to the Mascot Brewery.  (see map)   I found an industrial building which housed some other businesses including a little coffee shop.  Mascot Brewery was toward the back of the building with a very nice wood-facade corner beer garden in front of the building.

Opening the door to Mascot Brewery, I found a small bar area with a concrete-faced bar and room for five or six chairs.  There were some tables in the bar area where some people were seated.  Music from the likes of Bob Marley, Jack Johnson and Red Hot Chili Peppers played on the sound system.  I immediately liked the laid-back vibe of the place. 

 
The on-tap brew menu was on the wall just to the left of the bar and very prominent when you walk into the small bar area.  There was no one behind the bar and I wondered if there was a dining area in the place.  

Just past the bar was a larger room with a larger bar.  There were a few people seated in this spacious room, but the bar was also unmanned.  A large garage door that opened onto the beer patio was the prominent feature of the beer hall.  

A guy came out of nowhere and asked if I needed any help.  I told him that I was looking for some beer and some food.  He said, "You came to the right place!"  I asked him if I could just sit at the bar and he said, "Yeah, I'm in the other room tonight.  We don't have this bar up and running tonight."  

Back in the smaller bar room, I took a seat at the bar.  The bartender's name was Ben and he turned out to be a great guy.  He gave me a food menu to look through and I wanted to know what they had for a hazy IPA that evening.  They had 16 beers on tap when I was there and Ben told me that that their hazy IPA was called the Juicy J.  I tried a sample and immediately signed up for a pint of that after a quick tasting.  

The menu at Mascot Brewery wasn't long, but it was certainly interesting.  They had grilled octopus on the menu that certainly caught my eye.  There was a fennel sausage and rapini dish, as well as a braised short rib served with fresh horseradish.  All three of those sounded great.  Appetizers included wings, charred Brussels sprouts, and "Bang-Bang" cauliflower bites.  And they had other items such as jerk chicken tacos, a chicken Katsu sandwich, and a beer-braised bratwurst plate.  

I really considered getting the grilled octopus - I just love grilled octopus.  But I ended up getting the Oklahoma-style (cooked with onions on a flat grill) smash burger with mild cheddar cheese and bacon.  A side of fries came with the burger.  The burger, itself, was very good.  It had the very crispy edge that you get with good smash burgers.  The cheese oozed out of the burger with each bite, and the grilled onions offered a great flavor complement to the crispy bacon on the burger.  I had absolutely no complaints with the burger.

The fries were also very good - while they weren't all that crisp on the outside, they had a wonderful flavor like they had been cooked in beef tallow.  The fries were delicious on their own.  

I had told Ben of my odyssey that brought me to Mascot Brewery that evening.  I told him that I like to find brewpubs during my travels.  "There's a lot of excellent brewpubs in the area," Ben told me.  And he proceeded to give me a handwritten list of some of his favorites that he suggested I try.  He had listed Rainhard and Shacklands breweries at the top of his list.  "They're next door to one another, probably about a 15 minute drive from here," Ben told me.  "Great beers, great people."  

He also mentioned and listed Blood Brothers Brewing which was northwest of downtown Toronto; along with Henderson Brewing Company that collaborated with the Toronto-based rockers Rush for a series of Rush-themed beers.  (I've had the Rush golden lager and it's a very good beer.)  Closing out his list, he had written down Halo Brewing which was just west of downtown Toronto; and finally he listed Nickle Brook Brewing Company, a brewery in Burlington, ON near Hamilton.  "Nickle Brook has a taproom just down the street from Great Lakes," Ben told me.  "I really like their beers.  They have a stout that I really like."  

I told Ben that I was in town for a trade show and I really didn't know if I would have time to get around to any of the breweries he had listed.  He said, "Well, hang on to this and when you come back you can check 'em out on your next visit."  I didn't know if I would be back in Toronto anytime soon, but it's a guess I'll be back next fall for the trade show.

It was past 9 p.m. and I figured I'd had enough and it was time to get an Uber to get back to my hotel.  However, I was having trouble getting a signal from Bell Canada on my phone outside Mascot to use the Uber app.  I had to go back in and get the wi-fi password from Ben to be able to get the Uber app to work.  He was more than helpful and commiserated with me on the pitfalls of having Bell Canada as a service provider.  

I was actually sort of sad when the Uber showed up at Mascot Brewing to take me back to the hotel.  The me of 20 years ago would have been taking the Uber to the next craft brewery on the list instead of heading back to the hotel.  But I knew we had a long day coming up and it was time to get back to the hotel to rest up.  But what a fun night this was!  I was able to go to two craft breweries in the Toronto area and have some good beers at both places served by typically friendly Canadians.  And the smash burger and fries I had at Mascot Brewing was a spot-hitter, to say the least.  I put the list of breweries that Ben gave me on my Google Maps of "Restaurants to Visit" listing for when I do eventually make it back to Toronto at some point.  But until then, I'll have great memories of visiting both Great Lakes Brewing and Mascot Brewing on this trip to Toronto.  

Barn Town Brewing - West Des Moines, IA

I had a dealer in the Des Moines area who had been on me since earlier in the summer to get over and see him as he was interested in talking to me about my line of consumer audio products.  I had been traveling so much since August that I hadn't been able to get over and to see him, even though it's a 2 hour 30 minute drive over from the Quad Cities. I finally made it over to have a meeting with him on a Friday morning, so I spent the night before on the west side of Des Moines.  I was looking for a brewpub to go hang out at and found a place that I had heard about before, but never been to - Barn Town Brewing in West Des Moines.  I took off around 7 p.m. to  go to Barn Town Brewing.  

Pete Faber grew up in Des Moines and graduated from the University of Iowa circa 2000.  Heading to Chicago to catch on in the restaurant industry, Faber opened his first sports bar/restaurant - Merkle's - in 2004.  The place was close to Wrigley Field and was a hang-out for Chicagoland Iowa fans who would congregate there to watch Iowa games on TV.  

Within 10 years, Faber owned or was a part owner in 4 Chicago area restaurants or sports bars.  But his wife Beth was thinking that she wanted to move back toward the Des Moines area to be closer to family who could help her raise their son and daughter.  In 2015, Faber sold his shares in his restaurants and moved the family back to suburban Des Moines.  With all the growth going on out on the west and north suburbs of Des Moines, Faber found an opportunity to open a brewpub in a new strip mall along W. University Ave. just west of the Des Moines Golf and Country Club.  

Faber's late father was a longtime employee of the John Deere plant in Ankeny and he wanted to pay homage to his dad by going with a farm theme to the restaurant.  He brought in Nebraska native Grant Brower to run the brewery and the brewpub opened in February of 2017.  Initially, Faber and Brower decided to experiment with a bunch of different styles of beers and would only have six of their own beers on tap at a time while rotating 14 other Iowa-made brews and ciders until they could figure out what their core beers would be.  (They currently have six core beers on tap and another nine seasonal beers, sours or ciders in addition to some guest taps.)   

The transformation of the space for his brewpub was an endeavor that Faber was deeply involved in.  The large open space features a well-lit room with lights hanging from wagon wheels.  Reclaimed barn boards accented the space with a number of booths along the wall and tables in the middle.  

The bar was pretty interesting in that the reclaimed barn board back wall featured a cutout of a 1955 Ford F-100 pick-up truck along with wood-carved American and state of Iowa flags.  Jug lamp shades hung over the bar and there were a number of flatscreen televisions hanging on the barn board wall.  

Along the south wall was a unique collection of beer cans that were inlayed into the barb boards with more reclaimed wood acting as a border.  It was the outline of the state of Iowa with "BTB" all in black beer cans.  This is something that Faber did himself and I have to say this is one of more clever and interesting things I've seen in any brewpub.  Antique metal farm signs hung around the border of the beer can mural.

It was a nice evening and a number of people were milling about near the front door of Barn Town Brewing waiting for a table to open up.  I asked the hostess if I could sit at the bar and she turned and said, "Well, it looks like the bar is full."  Just then, someone from the end of the bar got up and left.  I said that I would take that seat.

There was a guy and a young lady who were tag-teaming on the bar that evening.  The young lady was my primary contact for service most of the evening, but the guy was quick on the spot when I needed more napkins or another beer.  The young lady told me that Barn Town's menus are on a QR code that I had to look up with my phone.  I don't care for QR code menus all that much, but I didn't have much of a choice that evening.  

They have six core beers at Barn Town that are available year round.  They have a number of seasonal or brewer's choice beers from time to time.  They had sours and gluten free selections on tap that evening, as well as ciders from the Jefferson County Ciderworks in Fairfield, IA.  Although I thought hard about getting the Banter West Coast IPA a seasonal beer that they had on tap that evening.  I ended up ordering a Neon Hazy, a wonderful hazy IPA that is one of their core beers.

The food menu at Barn Town could be described as upscale bar food.  They had a number of gourmet-style burgers including a Beef Wellington burger that featured two beef smashed patties topped with mushroom duxelles with prosciutto ham, and finished with dijon mustard and a red wine sauce.  All of that was on a puff pastry bun.  Now, THAT sounded great.  As did the French onion melt that was served on sourdough bread.  

Other items on the menu included sandwiches such as the bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich, birria brisket crunchwrap that was served between two tostadas, and they had grilled or fried chicken sandwich with a crab rangoon sauce.  Appetizers such as a brisket quesadilla tacos, deep-fried fresh Wisconsin cheese curds served with a chipotle aioli, nachos, fried pickle slices, and an onion straw "haystack".  I was hoping they had the onion straws as a side, but they didn't.  

It was tenderloin night at Barn Town and I was told that's why it was so busy in there that evening.  I saw a few tenderloins come out, but I wasn't interested in that.  In fact, I really didn't know what I wanted.  I had a burger the previous evening and even though some of their burgers sounded pretty good, I wasn't certain that I wanted to eat burgers on consecutive nights.  They had a burger called the '55 - named after the old Ford truck hanging on the wall behind the tappers - that was just a basic cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and red onion that I considered.  But then I thought that was stupid given some of the other tantalizing burgers they had on the menu.  

I homed in on the sandwich selections looking hard at the pastrami and Swiss cheese sandwich, the pollo diablo wrap with grilled chicken with black beans, giardiniera peppers and a chipotle aioli sauce, and the birria brisket sandwich topped with chihuahua cheese, cilantro, onion, and a cilantro/lime crema.  There were certainly a lot of food options at Barn Town.

There was a guy seated next to me and it turned out he was also from the Quad Cities.  He had ordered the braised brisket sandwich - house-braised beef brisket topped with Swiss cheese, sautéed onions, and fried banana pepper rings, and finished with a creamy horseradish aioli.  All that was served on grilled sour dough bread.  Between bites, he said, "This is the best sandwich.  I'm in Des Moines a couple times a week and I always come here and get this sandwich.  I really wish one of the brewpubs in the Quad Cities had a sandwich like this."  

That was enough of an endorsement for me.  I ordered same braised brisket he had just finished.  When the young lady bartender put this in front of me, I was salivating.  I had a choice of chips or fries to come with the sandwich - I also could have chosen from sides such as cole slaw, mac & cheese, and sweet potato fries for an upcharge.  I went with the fries.   

The sandwich was outstanding.  The shredded braised brisket was piled high in between the thick slices of sourdough bread and it was very moist and tender.  The fried pepper rings gave the sandwich a bit of a zippy flavor, and the Swiss cheese oozed out of the sandwich with nearly every bite.  The fries - served in a small tin cup - were also pretty good.  But the sandwich was so rich and filling that I didn't pay much attention to the fries.  

I have to say that Barn Town Brewing was a great find and one of the more memorable brewpubs I've found in all of my travels.  The decor was interesting, the beer I had was outstanding, and the braised brisket sandwich was top-notch.  I can't say enough about the service I received from the bartender tandem that evening and there wasn't anything that I could find at fault during my visit.  Oh, I'm going back to Barn Town Brewing on my next visit to Des Moines.  It was just a great experience all the way around.

 

 

Field Day Brewing Company - North Liberty, IA

A few months ago, I drove into North Liberty to see some family members and as I was coming into town off I-380, I looked over to my right and saw a huge building that I wasn't familiar with.  I went around the block and came back by the building which turned out to be a new brewpub - Field Day Brewing Company.  Since then, I had been back a couple times to have their beers, but on a recent trip to the North Liberty area on a Sunday, I decided to stop in and get something to eat at Field Day Brewing.  

Joe Selix was going to the University of Iowa about 15 years ago for his business degree and he ended up working as a bartender at BlackStone, an upscale comfort food restaurant on Iowa City's east side owned by Matt Swift and Brian Flynn.  After getting his degree, Selix stuck around Iowa City working at BlackStone as the front of house manager for a couple years before heading out to the Denver area to work various jobs including as a pet pharmacy sales rep.  But when Shewmaker, Flynn and Brandon Pratt wanted to start a new restaurant in the burgeoning small city of North Liberty, they turned to Selix to see if he would be a managing partner in the new business.  Selix came back to the Iowa City area and helped open Tin Roost in August of 2017.  

While Selix was at BlackStone, Flynn, Swift and Eric Shewmaker had formed the Craft Concepts Restaurant Group that either fully owned or co-partnered with other restaurants such as 30hop, Big Grove Brewery, Vesta, Iowa Athletic Club, and the venerable Joe's Place, a longtime favorite drinking establishment in Iowa City.  In addition to Iowa City/Cedar Rapids restaurants under the Craft Concepts Restaurant Group umbrella, the corporation also owned Lua Brewing in Des Moines, and had put a Big Grove Brewery in Des Moines, and 30hop locations in the Des Moines area, as well as in Omaha.  The group is slated to open two more 30hop locations in the Kansas City area early next year, and a Big Grove Brewery in Omaha is scheduled to open also in early 2025.   

After getting Tin Roost up and running, Joe Selix set his sights on a new endeavor - another brewpub for the greater Iowa City area, this time one in North Liberty - the growing city's first.  The problem was that he didn't know the first thing about brewing beer.   But his brother Scott - who is the co-owner of the Lua Brewery in Des Moines - was the president of the Iowa Brewers Guild and knew a number of people who were brewers across the state.  

Scott Selix got his brother in contact with Alec Travis, an award-winning brewmaster who had first worked at SingleSpeed Brewing Company in Waterloo, then at Lion Bridge Brewing Company in Cedar Rapids.   Travis agreed to come on as a partner in the venture and helped oversee the installation of a 15-barrel system into what turned out to be a 20,000 square foot facility in North Liberty.  With everything in place, Field Day Brewing Company opened on August 1, 2023.  

It was just after noon on a windy Sunday afternoon when I pulled into Field Day's expansive parking lot off W. Liberty Way, just south of W. Penn Ave, the main east-west road into North Liberty.  (see map)  Walking into Field Day, there's an expansive main hall with booths and community tables underneath industrial Edison light chandeliers.  

For just afternoon, the place was actually pretty full.  There were people waiting for booths or large tables when I came into the place.  NFL games were playing on the large screen televisions that were interspersed throughout the main beer hall.  

Just past the beer hall was an outdoor patio area that had strands of hanging Edison lights over a number of all-weather tables and chairs.  A few people were seated closer to the building as it was sort of out of the wind with the north and east sides of the patio open.  The outdoor patio area was almost the size of the beer hall inside.  Garage doors that open during more pleasant weather were on the wall that faced the beer hall.  

Just past the outdoor patio was a beer garden with picnic tables, Adirondack chairs and some fire pits.  It was definitely too windy to be sitting out on the crushed rock beer garden that afternoon, but it would have been a nice place to hang on a beautiful day.

Field Day promotes the fact that they cater to families.  Just beyond the outdoor patio and beer garden was a playground with curved jungle gyms, tractor tires cut in half to climb on, and a mesh catwalk.  The playground fixtures were on rubber pellets to soften the fall.  They weren't all that high off the ground, but I could see some dumbshit drunk out there trying to walk across the top of the jungle gym and falling to the ground.   

Back inside Field Day, there was another room off to the side with more community seating along with duckpin bowling lanes.  All four lanes were occupied pretty much the whole time I was in the place.  The game room had its own bar, a row of stools with a narrow bar behind the duckpin lanes, and flat-screen televisions on the wall.  The room could be shut off for private events and parties.   

As people were waiting to get tables when I walked in, I noticed a number of seats were opened around the three-sided bar.  Each side had 3 flat-screen televisions on the back bar wall and they also had NFL games on them with the exception of two of the televisions around the bar that had the current beer menu on them.  There were a couple ladies who were obviously big Green Bay Packers fans seated on one of the corners of the bar watching the game.  

There were two bartenders working that day.  Both of them were very friendly, attentive and great guys.  One of the bartenders came over and dropped off a food menu for me to look through.  I saw a brew on the beer menu that I had before on my previous visits to Field Day - the Juicy Belly hazy IPA.  I remembered it being very good and I ordered one of those.  

The food offerings were pretty basic - appetizers and small plates, street tacos and pretzels, sandwiches and salads.  The ladies a couple seats over from me were working on a plate of the Iowan fries - pulled pork on top of fries, topped with cheese and a ranch sauce.  A couple other interesting appetizers included the popcorn that was popped in duck fat, and the Nashville hot cheese curds.  

Although there wasn't a lot of foods to choose from on the menu, a couple three things stood out for me.  The seared mahi mahi tacos with topped with a cilantro-lime slaw and an avocado crema sounded really good, as did the green chile-braised chicken tacos.  The pastrami sandwich with Havarti cheese, sauerkraut and 1000 Island dressing also got my attention.  

But in the end, I decided to go the burger route and I ordered the Field Day burger - two flat-grilled smash burgers with thick slices of American cheese on top of each patty sitting on a bed of shredded lettuce, dill pickle slices, and finished with a house-made sauce.    Sides consisted of fries or chips & salsa, or for an upcharge you could get a side salad, pasta salad or a cup of soup.  I went with the fries since tots weren't available and nothing else sounded like it would go good with a flat-grilled burger.

I have to say the burger was very good - a "spot-hitter", in my book. The smashed patties still had some juiciness to them, the cheese oozed with each bite, and the bun was fluffy and light, but held together very well with all the stuff on the burger.  I immediately knew I was going to need more napkins after the first couple bites and when one of the bartenders came back to check on me I asked for some more.  "A lot going on with that burger," he said as he sat more napkins down in front of me.  The fries were also very good as they had a crunchy outer shell from the batter they used on them, and had a nice pillowy inlay.  

About the only quibble I have with Field Day Brewing Company is that their menu is a little short to my liking.  But what they have seems to be interesting enough.  I can't say enough about the flat-grilled smash burger I had along with the great battered fries.  I've never been disappointed in the beers I've tried on previous visits, and the tag-bartender-team who waited on me that day were great guys - friendly, efficient and very helpful.  For North Liberty's first brew pub, I think the guys at Craft Concepts Restaurant Group have hit it out of the park.  The next time I get over there, I'm trying the seared mahi mahi tacos.  

 

Tustin Brewing Company - Tustin, CA

I was on my way back to my hotel after checking out a couple potential dealers in the Orange County area near Anaheim and decided to find a place for lunch.  A quick look for brewpubs in the area came up with one that wasn't that far away from where I was and it had a number of very positive reviews.  Moments later I pulled up in front the Tustin Brewing Company in Tustin, CA.  

Jason Jeralds was on the ground floor of the craft beer scene in Southern California when he was working at the Huntington Beach Beer Company in the early 1990's.  Jeralds did a little bit of everything at the brewery from running the front of the house to being a brewer's assistant.  Wearing multiple hats he learned that the key to running a brewpub was good beer, affordable food in a nice place people were comfortable coming to, and a place that people would want to come back to.   

Jeralds worked on getting investors for his dream.  Not that people were lining up to throw money at a start-up business, but it was at that point in the mid-90's into the 2000's when banks and capital investment companies were more receptive to putting money in brewpubs given the larger margins on the making and selling beer.  Once Jeralds got his capital in place, he found a corner spot in a strip mall in Tustin that was big enough to make 750 barrels of beer annually.  After procuring a brewmaster and assistants, along with front of house help, Tustin Brewing Company opened in the summer of 1996.  

Brewmasters came and went, but in 2009 brewmaster Jonathan Porter won a Gold medal at the renown Great American Beer Festival in Denver for Tustin Brewing Company's Golden Spike Light Ale.  A year later, Porter got a Bronze medal for Tustin Brewing Company's Blimp Hangar Porter (named after the nearby Tustin blimp hangar).  In all, Tustin Brewing Company's brewmasters have won over two dozen awards in various beer judging contests.  

It was just before 2 p.m. when I pulled into the parking lot of Tustin Brewing Company located in a strip mall near the corner of Newport Ave. and Irvine Ave., not far from the California Highway 55 Freeway and Interstate 5.  (see map)  The tall turret in the corner attached to the building was prominent in the parking lot.  Even though it was well past the lunch rush, the parking lot serving the brewpub and other businesses was nearly full.  Thankfully, a car pulled out of a spot near Tustin Brewing Company's entrance.  

Upon entering Tustin Brewing Company, a number of their awards hung on the curved wall of the vestibule.  In addition to awards won at the Great American Beer Festival, Tustin Brewing has also won awards at the World Beer Cup that is held annually in Indianapolis, and the local, yet prestigious L.A. I.P.A. Fest.    

The vestibule opened into the large dining area.  Exposed brick walls were on one side of the room with an open kitchen area in the back.  The beer menu hung on the brick wall and they had a number of flat screen televisions on the walls throughout the dining space.

The bar was off to the side of the dining area with a small half-shelf made with reclaimed barn boards bordered the bar area.  The bar, itself, was also made out of barn boards with a somewhat narrow wood top.  It was a full bar with not only the beers on tap made by Tustin Brewing, but a line-up of liquor for mixed drinks.  

Behind the bar were the large vessel tanks Tustin Brewing uses during their brewing process.  The brewery expanded a few years ago to a capacity of about 1250 barrels of beer annually. Half-kegs were stacked next to the tanks and there was the faint smell of hops in the air.  The brewery had a very rustic atmosphere.  And on top of all that, classic rock music from the 70's played in the background while I was there.  

There is also an outdoor beer garden at Tustin Brewing Company.  Part of the outdoor patio was cover while the rest was covered with fabric sheets that allowed some sunlight to come into the area.  Faux veneer table tops with metal chairs were interspersed throughout the patio area.  

I ended up taking a seat at a table along the brick wall opposite the bar.  A replay of a Dodgers game was on one of the four televisions in a quadrangle in the corner.  I understand that Tustin Brewing Company is a hopping place on Sunday's in the fall as they have the NFL Sunday Ticket package that has access to all the league's games.

I was seated for over five minutes when I started to get a little twitch that maybe this was a bad idea.  But it turned out that they had just one server - a guy named José - who was taking care of the smattering of people in the dining area as well as out on the patio.  When José finally did acknowledge me, he turned out to be a great guy.  "Sorry for the wait, boss," he said as he sat down a food menu in front of me.  "Can I get you something to drink?"  

I turned toward the bar and tried to look at the beer menu they had behind the bar.  Then José pointed up behind me and said, "Here's the beer list, boss."  It was a huge beer list that I didn't see originally.  (My wife says I'm not very observant.)  They had a couple hazy IPA's on the menu, so I took the one with less alcoholic content - the Riwaka Wacka Wacka that they had on tap.  

The food menu turned out to be pretty interesting.  Appetizers included a shredded short rib quesadilla; chicken kebabs; Korean-smoked St. Louis ribs; and ahi poke served with a miso dressing with sliced avocado, onions, cucumbers.  There were seven different salads on the menu along with clam chowder and their "People's Choice" award-winning chili that was topped with chopped tomatoes and onions, along with cilantro and shredded cheese.  

Entrees included battered fish tacos (a hard no for me - grilled only, please); baked salmon with steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes; pesto shrimp pasta; grilled chicken with penne pasta tossed in a spicy cream sauce; and a sausage platter with a tri-pepper sausage link, kielbasa and Bratwurst.  They had a couple burgers to choose from along with a rib-eye steak sandwich; a pulled pork sandwich with barbecue sauce; a pork carnitas sandwich (that got my attention); and a Cajun-grilled ahi tuna sandwich.

I contemplated getting a burger, but I had one the day before.  I ended up getting the short rib grilled cheese sandwich - shredded beef short rib topped with a combination of Monterey jack, cheddar and mixed cheeses, finished with caramelized onions and Sriracha sauce served on toasted sourdough bread.  For my side, I got tots, naturally.  And they had Cholula that I could put directly on my tots!  That was a plus in my book!  

The sandwich was simply delectable.  The toasted sourdough bread held together very well with the juicy short rib beef and all the cheesy goodness that was on top of it.  The tots had a crunchy outer shell with that wonderful flaky potato inner core.  Combined with the tasty hazy IPA, this was a spot-hitter of a lunch.  

About the only set back to the meal was that José was a little slow on his watch.  But I chalked that up to the fact that he was the only server for both the inside dining room and the outside patio.  However, the lunch I had was outstanding - the grilled shredded beef short rib with a mixture of cheeses was wonderful.  And the tots were a great side dish - especially since they had Cholula to go with them.  Tustin Brewing Company was a great place to have lunch, and their menu items showed a flair with pasta and seafood dishes.  This was a good find during my trip to Southern California.  

Helmsman Ale House - Newport Beach, CA

When we were out in Southern Calfornia earlier this year for the NAMM Show, some friends of ours took my German boss and me out to dinner at a seafood place in Newport Beach.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on The Crab Cooker.)  Just up the road from The Crab Cooker was a building that one of the guys pointed out to me.  "Hey, if you get a chance, you need to try that brew pub.  They have good beer."  I made a mental note of that.  I had to go back out to Southern California a few weeks ago and I got in around 12:45 in the afternoon.  After futzing with the rental car procedure at Avis (that's a story on its own), I finally got out of there just before 2:00 p.m.  I did a quick look up of the address for the brewpub and put it in the GPS before I left the airport.  About 15 minutes later I pulled up to Helmsman Ale House in Newport Beach.  

The Newport Beach Brewing Company - or known as "BrewCo" by the locals - opened in 1995 as the first brewpub in Newport Beach.  The original owners, Orazio "Roz" Salamone and Mike Madlock gained a reputation with the locals for a number of their brews which garnished awards at the Great American Beer Festival held annually in Denver.  

By 2018, Roz Salamone had retired and Madlock was looking to sell the business to move south of the border to Baja California to run a charter sailboat company and to teach sailboating.  In stepped long-time Newport Beach Brewing Co. customer Mario Marovic whose Lounge Group Consulting either owned or co-owned a number of bars and restaurants in the area including Blackie's by the Sea, The Country Club, and Stag Bar + Kitchen.  Along with Andrew Gabriel who co-owned Dory Deli with Marovic, and Brent Ranek who co-owned Malarky's Irish Pub with Marovic, the trio bought Newport Beach Brewing Company in November of 2018.  

Pictured right - Andrew Gabriel and Mario Marovic.  Photo courtesy Orange County Business Journal.  

The group shut down the brewpub for a facelift and renovations for the first 7 months of 2019.  They reconfigured the restaurant into a nautical theme establishment and updated the brewery facilities.  Looking for a seasoned brewmaster Marovic, Gabriel and Ranek had a bit of luck when Dylan Mobley sort of fell out of the sky and into their laps.  Mobley had qualified for the Masters Brewer Program first at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago and then at the Doemens Academy just outside of Munich, Germany.  After graduating, Mobley cut his teeth at Stone Brewing in Escondido, CA, then at Angel City Brewery in Los Angeles, and finally became a head brewer at Bottle Logic Brewing in Anaheim, CA.  Mobley had been looking for an opportunity to own his own brewery and had left Bottle Logic working on a deal.  When that deal fell through at the last minute, Mobley was more than happy to join Marovic, Gabriel and Ranek in their new project.  With everyone and everything in place, Helmsman Ale House opened in August of 2019.  

The opportunity for Mobley to own his own brewery came up again in early 2021 when he and some partners bought a small brewery in Anaheim and named it Rad Beer Company.  To take Mobley's place, the group brought in Dylan Macsata to head their brewing operation.   Macsata came over from Stereo Brewing in Placentia, CA where he held the title of assistant brewer.  

After getting my car from Avis (my first - and possibly my last time - I rent from Avis.  I was with Hertz for over 25 years, but that's another story for another time.), it was about a 20 minute drive between John Wayne Airport and Newport Beach and the Balboa Peninsula where Helmsman Ale House is located along Newport Blvd.  (see map)  There's parking in a lot directly behind the brewpub in a parking lot, or parking is available (for a fee) along the street next to Helmsman Ale House. 

Inside, I found a space that had a heavy emphasis on wood - wooden floors, walls, crossbeams and cabinetry in the main dining area.  The main bar area had two sides with a series of flat screen televisions high on the wall.  The dining area had a combination of tables and booths.  There was a stiff breeze coming in off the ocean a couple blocks from Helmsman Ale House giving the nautical-themed restaurant a true seaside touch.  In fact, the breeze was such that it was a bit cold in the restaurant as I had a polo shirt on and probably could have gotten away with a long-sleeved shirt.   

There was a secondary bar area across from the bar which included a pizza oven that was used when the place was the Newport Beach Brewing Company.  I didn't see that pizza offered at Helmsman Ale House, so it was a guess the oven was dormant.  

There was a patio area in the front of the brewpub with part of Helmsman's 15-barrel system off to one side.  Even with plastic coverings over the front of the patio, it was a little too breezy to sit out there.  

In the back near the parking lot entrance was another patio area that featured picnic tables on artificial turf.  There was a 32 foot by 12 foot tent that covered some of the tables on the patio.  Since it was sheltered from the wind coming off the ocean, it would have been a great day to soak up some sun out there. 

Since it was well past the noon rush hour, it wasn't busy in the place, so I ended up seated at the bar.  There was a couple bartenders working, but one was also waiting on tables.  And the other bartender was too busy shooting the breeze with a patron on the other side of the bar.  I sat there for nearly five minutes before I almost bailed.  But the young lady who was also working tables - Katie - came over to greet me.  She handed me a menu and asked what I wanted to drink.  I asked if they had a hazy IPA and she said, "Sure!  The Helmsman Hazy IPA!"  I took a pint of that and enjoyed it thoroughly while I looked through the menu while music from SoCal/West Coast artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer, and Presidents of the United States played in the background.   

The food menu at Helmsman Ale House isn't all that extensive, but has brewpub appetizer staples such as chicken wings, beer-battered onion rings, nachos, and crispy Brussels sprouts.  They had a couple sandwiches - a spicy chicken sandwich and a patty melt, along with a chicken & avocado wrap.  The tacos piqued my interest as they had tri-tip, brisket, and grilled shrimp tacos.  They also had chicken & waffles, fish & chips, and a burrito bowl with rice, black beans and veggies with a choice of protein items including tri-tip, brisket, short rib, and ahi tuna.  On weekends, Helmsman Ale House hosts a brunch with items such as a breakfast quesadilla, chicken & waffles, eggs Benedict, and a beef short rib breakfast burrito.  

They had a couple burgers on the menu and I ended up getting the Helmsman Burger - an American Kobe beef patty topped with lettuce, tomato slices, a sliced sweet onion, and bacon.  I had a choice of cheese and I went with the pepper jack cheese on the burger.  It all came on a brioche bun.  The burger came with a side of fries with a tub of ketchup and a tub of a chipotle aioli.  

The burger was - in a word - excellent.  The Kobe beef burger was juicy and flavorful, cooked to a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle.  The brioche bun held together very well with the juiciness of the burger and the toppings.  The fries were very good, as well, with a crispy outer shell and a warm flaky center.  The Helmsman Hazy IPA was a great complement to the meal.  

I made it a point to e-mail my friend who turned me onto Helmsman Ale House to thank him for the recommendation.  He'd only had the beer, he told me, but I told him the food I had was very good.  The Kobe burger was excellent as was the Helmsman Hazy IPA.  While the service was a bit choppy at first, Katie did a fine job in taking care of me once she realized I was seated at the bar.  The atmosphere was laid-back and comfortable.  Helmsman Ale House was a great start to a few days in Southern California for a trade show and meetings.  

Elliott Bay Brewing - Burien, WA

On a recent trip out to Seattle, I had gotten in around 1:30 in the afternoon.  After getting the rental car, I went to the hotel not far from SeaTac International Airport.  It turned out that my room wasn't ready and they asked if I could hang out for an hour or so.  I said that I could go get a bite to eat and I did a quick check of brewpubs in the area.  There were two or three, but only one that had food.  I set out for Elliott Bay Brewing in the Seattle suburb of Burien.   

There are well over 450 breweries or brewpubs in the state of Washington.  It turns out that Elliott Bay Brewing was one of the first - they were the 33rd brewery to open in the state when they opened in July of 1997.  And it took off from a dream from two guys who met at one of the very first breweries in the state in 1994.   

Todd Carden was a brewing enthusiast while going to college at Linfield College in McMinnville, OR.  In the summer, Carden interned at the McMenamins brewery in the Hotel Oregon in McMinnville.  McMenamins is famous as possibly being the first brewery to repurpose old properties into breweries and refurbishing the properties into hotels.  After graduation, Carden continued to work full time at McMenamins until the corporate world came calling.  

Carden took a management position at In-N-Out Burger in Southern California.  Carden later took another position at a competing burger chain as he moved north to the Seattle area.  By 1994, he determined that he wasn't cut out for managing burger joints and he went back to his brewing roots joining Maritime Pacific Brewing Company, one of the first microbreweries in the Pacific Northwest which just celebrated its 34th year in business.    

While at Maritime Pacific, Carden met Brent Norton, a fellow brewing enthusiast.  The two became fast friends and found the both had a common goal of running their own brewpub at some point.   After getting the hang of running both a brewery and a restaurant for a couple years, Carden and Norton found a space in the historic Junction neighborhood in West Seattle that they leased in November of 1996.  After nearly 8 months of transforming the space into a brewpub, Elliott Bay Brewing opened in July of 1997.  The brewpub was named after the main bay that Seattle was founded on in the 1850's.  

In 2002, Norton and Carden welcomed Doug Hindman to become the head brewer at Elliott Bay.  Hindman brought a philosophy of using only organically grown and sourced ingredients in the brewing process.  The process to get designated as an organic brewery by the Washington State Department of Agriculture took a couple years, but in 2008 twelve of the beers brewed by Hindman got the organic brewery designation by state officials.  Elliott Bay was the 2nd brewery in the state of Washington to receive the organic designation.

While they were trying to get their organic brewery designation from the state, Carden and Norton opened a second brewery in the south Seattle suburb of Burien.  Hindman moved over to that location to run the brewery operation while they hired Dan Ashley to run the operation at the original Elliott Bay.  Ashley had worked at two Bay Area breweries in California before making the move up the coast to Seattle.  

In March of 2012, Elliott Bay Brewing opened their 3rd location in Lake City, a lakeside neighborhood on Seattle's north side.  Norton and Carden hired brewmaster Bill Jenkins away from the Big Time Brewery and Alehouse in Seattle to run the operations at the Lake City location.  

By the time I got out of the hotel after finding out that my room wasn't ready, it was around 2:30 PDT in the afternoon, but my stomach was still on Central time.  I typed in the address for Elliott Bay and I pulled up to the restaurant at the corner of SW 152nd St. and 4th Ave. SW in Burien less than 10 minutes later.  (see map)  There's no parking on the street in front of Elliott Bay, but there is a parking lot between the street and the building and I was able to find a spot in one of the diagonal parking spots.  

Upon entering Elliott Bay Brewing Company, I found a large open space with exposed beams and ceiling supports.  A series of booths were along the front wall of the restaurant with banquette seating along a short wall just opposite the booths.  I was greeted by a young lady by the name of Hilary who told me that I could sit anywhere.  I took a booth along the wall that gave me some space to stretch out.  They had a couple different hazy IPA's on tap out of the 20 beers they had listed and I tasted both.  I ended up settling on the Ride the Cyclone hazy IPA.  The North Atlantic hazy IPA I also tried had a lower ABV and tasted a little flat.  The Ride the Cyclone was very good.  

I considered sitting at the bar, but I wanted to use my computer on a table to check and return e-mails that had piled up since I had left home earlier in the day.  The bar was located just over another short wall with high top tables along the wall and an ornate bar with polished dark wood.  The beer menu was written in chalk on blackboards on the wall behind the bar.    

Toward the back of the dining room was a game area featuring two shuffleboard tables.  And they were very elaborate shuffleboard tables.  That's something you don't regularly find in bars and brewpubs any longer as video games or trivia contests usually rule in those places.

The brewery operation is on the lower floor of the restaurant.  It was a full-fledged operation with a series of tanks behind a glass window.  Things were dormant in the brewing area that afternoon, but it was a pretty impressive set-up.  

Hilary had given me a food menu when I sat down and I was busy going through e-mails when she came back a couple times to see if I was ready to order.  After the second time, I promised to be ready when she came back a third time.  "No worries," she said cheerfully.  "I'm in no hurry, either."  

The menu wasn't anything exotic - salads, appetizers, sandwiches, burgers and tacos.  Some of their specialty items included jambalaya, German potato pancakes, bangers & mash, and fish & chips.  The Southwest-seasoned ahi tuna wrap caught my eye, as did the corned beef brisket sandwich topped with beer-braised sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and a "pub" sauce on marble rye bread.  

In the end, I went with the "Shroomer" burger - a 1/2 lb. burger patty topped with Swiss cheese and sautéed mushrooms along with lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles and finished with their "pub sauce" which I determined was basically a Thousand Island dressing.  I also had Hilary add some bacon to the burger.  The burger and fixings came on a multi-grained bun that was made by a local bakery using the spent grain from Elliott Bay's brewing process.   And for my side, I got tots.  And they even had Cholula for my tots at Elliott Bay Brewing Company!

The burger was surprisingly good.  The bacon was thick cut, the burger was juicy and cooked to a perfect medium temperature with a hint of pink in the middle, and the bun was very good.  At first, I thought the bun was sort of full and dry.  But it turned out to be spongy and held together very well.  The tots were also very good with a crispy outer shell and that wonderful flaky potato consistency inside.  

I was more than happy with my visit to Elliott Bay Brewing.  They let me spread out on a table with my computer and a note pad, Hilary was patient with me as I found myself too busy to look over the menu for the first few minutes while I was there.  I really liked the burger and the tots for the side, and their Ride the Cyclone hazy IPA was also very tasty.  For just getting off the airplane and trying to figure out a place to get some lunch, I'd say that I did a pretty good job in finding Elliott Bay Brewing Company.  It's pretty easy to see why they're one of the oldest breweries in the state of Washington.  

Great Revivalist Brewery - Clinton, IA

One recent Sunday, my wife and I were looking to do lunch at some place new.  Because we seem to eat out a lot in the Quad Cities, finding a place locally that is new is pretty tough.  But there was a place up in Clinton that I had heard about, a brewpub that was in an old church they had taken over in 2022 and redesigned and rehabbed it into a microbrewery/restaurant.  We were soon on our way up to have lunch and a few beers at Great Revivalist Brewing Company.  

Actually, this is the offshoot of a place Road Tips went to in the fall of 2021 - the Great Revivalist Brew Lab in Geneseo, IL.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the Great Revivalist Brew Lab.)  

Seattle native Richard 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 10 years ago and Schwab was impressed with the variety of breweries in the area.  He became friendly with the brewers at Great River 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 Geneseo 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 River 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 River Brewery with up to 3 feet of water effectively knocking the place out of business.  

After floodwaters subsided, the owners of the Great River 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 that never came to be.  (Great River Brewing Company re-opened in June of this year under new ownership.)  

In the meantime, Schwab had his hands full with his Geneseo location.  Located at the end of a strip mall, the facility had seating for over 250 people.  But as the strip mall started to fill up with other businesses, the lack of parking for the brewpub began to rear its ugly head.  The landlord could only give Great Revivalist up to just 20 spaces.  And coupled with a high rent of about $8000 a month, they decided to find a new place. 

After selling his interest in the Great River location in Davenport, Schwab turned to a property in Clinton that used to house a church.  The church, itself, was originally constructed in 1898 as St. John's Episcopal Church.  That church closed its doors in 2006 and was replaced by the congregation of the nearby Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.  

The building had become neglected as the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church congregation had dwindled over the years. When the pandemic hit in 2020, the church ceased operation.  It sat empty for two years before Richard Schwab came across the property and offered to purchase the church.  Working with a former member of St. John's Episcopal who was also a local historian, Schwab set about to bring the church back to life.  

Plans included redoing the basement for storage and as an event space, renovations of the imported stained-glass windows, and a complete overhaul of a Byzantine mosaic tile on the back wall of the church that dated back to 1911.  Tanks and brewing apparatus were brought in, and Schwab personally oversaw a work crew who repurposed old pews into tables and bars, and did general renovations to the main area of the old church.  

Schwab had originally hoped to be open by October of 2022, but delays due to supply chain issues pushed the opening back to the Spring of 2023.  In September of 2023, Schwab was able to get out of his lease in Geneseo and he shut down that location.  However, he announced that he was purchasing the Karpeles Manuscript Museum in Rock Island.  The museum had been a former church built in 1915 and had been a manuscript museum since 2012 - one of 12 Karpeles family manuscript museums across the nation.  Schwab has said that he is hoping to keep many of the manuscripts on display with the restaurant on the main floor of the Palladian-style former church with its brewery in the basement.  

Downtown Clinton is sort of weird.  The main road into the city is U.S. Highways 30 and 67, but once we got to the downtown there were no street signs signifying the cross streets.  We were looking for 4th Ave. S. as Great Revivalist is located on that street as it intersects with S. 3rd St.  (see map)  After going past 4th Ave. S. and finally figuring out where I was at, I pulled up in front of the church and parked just across the street.  (Warning - the city of Clinton must think every one is driving small cars as the diagonal parking spots across the street from the old church are very narrow.)   

There's no signage for the brewery other than printed vinyl sign that says, "Brewery" with an arrow pointing toward the front door.  There is a "GRB" in glass tiles embedded in the dark brick above the front door.  

Just inside the front door, it's quite the breathtaking sight.  The mosaic tile on the back wall where the altar once was striking.  The ornate supports across the top of the church gave it a gothic feel.    

In the center of the floor space is a grand piano with a 3D rain drop chandelier suspended above it.  Tables made from the old pews in the church were place throughout the main area of the brew pub.  

To the left of the front door was a pool table with another 3D chandelier hanging about the table.  I was quite enamored by the 3D chandeliers as it did sort of look like water droplets suspended about the table.  But my wife said that even though they looked quite expensive, they can be found on Amazon for around $300.  "I wouldn't know where on earth we would be able to put one," my wife said.  "We don't have a high enough ceiling."  Still, they were pretty cool.  

The antique stained glass windows in the main part of the old church date back over 100 years old.  They were refinished in 1978 and the framing was part of the renovation project to turn it from a church to the brew pub.  The stained glass gave off a colorful effect from the sunlight coming through them with the afternoon sunlight.  

In what was the altar area in the front of the old church, Great Revivalist has their main bar area.  Flat screen televisions with the beer menu were situated on the wall on either side of an ornate wood-carved wall panel.  Quite honestly, Schwab and his crews did a wonderful job maintaining the essence of the old church while working around some of the more elegant features the building had to offer. 

Just in front of the steps up to the bar was another bar that was also made out of old pews.  Inside that bar area was the large wood-fired pizza oven.  My friend Neil was working on pizza dough that day and helping out the guy making the pizza.  We chatted for a bit and I let him get back to work.  The pizza seemed to be a popular item while we were there.  

Off to the side where offices and meeting rooms used to be in the church was a hallway that also had tables and chairs for dining or hanging out.  The windows of the hallway looked out into the large beer garden and the kitchen was located at the end of the hallway. 

The Great Revivalist brewery was in a large room off to the side of the hall.  It was an impressive operation - it looked much larger than their old brewery in Geneseo.  And with a new setup, Great Revivalist is also able to provide keg beer to bars and canned beer to stores via a local distributor out of the Quad Cities.  

In the hallway between the brewery operation and beer garden also has a number of items on display that preserves more of the history of the church.  There was evidently a large pipe organ at the church and some of the wooden pipes were restored and hung on the wall as part of a display.  

Some of the larger tables had parts of the old windchests from the pipe organ with a glass top showing the old spring valves that opened and closed when a note was played.  It was pretty interesting to see the inner workings of an old pipe organ.    

Outside the hall way was the beer garden.  The centerpiece is a large fountain with a number of tables and chairs placed around the large garden.  The beer garden was bordered on the south side by a small corn patch which I thought was a nice touch.  

We saw people going up and down a set of stairs and we happened to ask our server Sophia what was going on downstairs.  She said, "Oh, it's storage and an event area."  She invited us to go down there after we finished our lunch to check it out.  There was a fireplace along the long wall with chairs and sofas arranged around the ornate mantle.  More heavy duty tables made from the old pews were scattered in the basement area.  There was a small room for some private dining down in the basement, and there were a number of pallets with cases of canned beer down there, as well.  An outbuilding that was part of the purchase of the church is currently being renovated into a storage facility.

As I said, our server was a young lady by the name of Sophia.  We sat at a high top table along the bricked wall of the brew pub.  After we got our menus, Sophia asked us if we wanted anything to drink.  My wife wasn't up for a beer, but she did get a Tito's and cranberry to start out, while I got a pint of the Cloud Trippin' hazy IPA that I've had before at the Great Revivalist Brewery at their old Geneseo location.  

It's a pretty full menu at Great Revivalist featured appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and - of course - pizza.  House specialties on the menu include Nashville-hot chicken, chimichurri skirt steak, smoked brisket mac & cheese, and a sweet thai chili salmon filet served on a bed of tempura-fried asparagus.  Breakfast is available on Friday and Saturday mornings from 8 to 11, and Great Revivalist also features a kids menu.   

My wife wanted eat healthy and she got the blackened salmon Caesar salad.  It featured a salmon filet with blackening seasonings (she got it light on the seasoning) on a bed of romaine lettuce and chopped cherry tomatoes with shaved parmesan cheese and house-made croutons.  Keeping up with the healthy eating, she asked Sophia if she could get a side of steamed vegetables.  She thought the salmon Caesar salad was outstanding. 

I wasn't all that certain what I wanted.  It was late enough in the day where if I had something, I might not have dinner that evening.  But, then again, I wasn't hungry for a burger or a reuben sandwich.  I decided upon the grilled mahi tacos.  The two flour tortilla shells were filled with chunky mahi filets on a bed of cabbage slaw and topped with a cilantro lime ranch dressing and pico de gallo.  I went the unhealthy route by getting a side of tots with my tacos.  (Sides such as truffle fries, mandarin oranges, cottage cheese and a small salad were also available.  

The grilled mahi taco were outstanding.  They had a wonderful flavor and had a wonderful consistency.  They were light enough that they didn't fill me up, but were substantial enough that I felt satiated after my last bite.  The tots were a nice complement to the tacos.  They were very crispy on the outside while having a nice flaky inner core.  But there was a lot of them and I was able to finish up about half.  My wife made a dent in the remaining number of tots I had left in the bowl.  

Many old buildings go by the wayside when they become obsolete or no longer functional.  But I love it when someone takes an old church and renovates into a useful and operational endeavor.  And that's exactly what the Great Revivalist Brewery did with their Clinton location.  I read where some townspeople - especially old parishioners - were not too happy that a brewery and restaurant was going into the old church, but Richard Schwab did a wonderful job in preserving much of the historical church's artifacts and decorations.  The food was very good, carrying on that tradition from their Geneseo location.  And their beers are also very good.  While their location in Geneseo was a little closer for us to drive over for a lunch and a few beers, their Clinton location is definitely a destination that we'd be more than happy to make the 45 minute drive to visit once again in the coming months. 

 

ReUnion Brewery - Coralville, IA

My wife and I had gone back for my high school class reunion in Central Iowa earlier this June and on our way back to the Quad Cities we decided to stop in the Iowa City area to get some dinner.  After stopping at Trader Joe's in Coralville, I suggested that we go have dinner at a place I had been to with a friend a year ago, a brewpub with the ironic name of ReUnion Brewery, considering we were coming home from my reunion weekend.  We scooted down to the 2nd Ave. strip in Coralville and pulled into ReUnion Brewery around 6:00 p.m. on a Sunday evening.  

The building that houses ReUnion Brewery has been a number of different concepts over the years all owned by local Iowa City serial restaurateur Jim Mondanaro.  Mondanaro bought the old COD Steam Laundry bar and restaurant in 1978 and turned it into the Copper Dollar, a popular hangout when I was going to Iowa in the early 80's.  After selling the Copper Dollar, Mondanaro established Micky's, one of my all-time favorite bar/pubs in Iowa City.  From there, Mondanaro has owned restaurants such as Venessa's, Vito's, Givanni's, and Joseph's fine dining establishment that he named after his father.  In all, Mondanaro has opened over 40 restaurants in 4 states during his time as a restaurant owner.  

Mondanaro also put an Italian/pizza restaurant out on the Coralville strip and gave it his nickname - Mondo's.  (Actually, the first bar he owned in Ames, IA back in the mid-70's was also named Mondo's.)  Mondo's was also a popular place for a number of years before he rebranded the restaurant into Mondo's Draft House about 15 years ago.  

Pictured right - Jim Mondonaro.  I reused this photo from an earlier blog post from 2009 on Mondo's. 

In 2015, the allure of the growing craft brewery movement made Mondanaro rethink the Mondo's Draft House concept.  Along with partner Aaron Jennings, they put in a brewing facility in the building and hired Logan DePover away from the Backpocket Brewery just up the road in Coralville.  In early 2016, ReUnion Brewery officially opened.  In October of 2022, ReUnion Brewery set up shop on the Pedestrian Mall in downtown Iowa City in what the long time location of the popular Fieldhouse Bar.  

ReUnion Brewery is located on the famed "strip" in Coralville.  (see map)  Parking is available either on the east side of the building just past where you enter from the strip, with more parking available in the rear of the building.  There wasn't a lot of people there so we were able to park close to the building.  

The inside of ReUnion Brewery hasn't changed since the days of Mondo's.  It featured a long bar under a curved ceiling with table seating along the walls.  There's a little room off to the side toward the front of the building and that's where we were seated that evening.   

There's an outdoor patio at ReUnion Brewery and while we had the option to sit there, it was a warm evening and my wife wanted to sit inside in the AC.  It's actually a nice beer garden area with lights over the top and it's shielded off from 2nd Ave. by a row of tall bushes.  

On the west side of the building is the on-site brewing facility at ReUnion Brewery.  They actually have a bigger facility in Iowa City the staff calls the "Juice Factory" and it consists of a 30-barrel brewery that produces 20 different types of beers for distribution of ReUnion Brewery around Eastern Iowa.  

After getting seated and given menus to look over, our server for the evening - a young lady by the name of Clara -  came over to greet us.  We wife was "alcoholed-out" from the weekend and just got water with a lemon wedge.  But I wanted to try one of their beers from their expansive in-house tap list, and I ended up getting the Juice Factory, a nice tasting New England-style hazy IPA.  

Food at ReUnion Brewery is your typical brewpub fare - appetizers, sandwiches, soups and salads, but they also have pizza (a holdover from the days of Mondo's), Mexican food such as tacos and chimichangas, and breakfast items such as a breakfast burrito and a corned beef skillet with eggs, onions and peppers.  On Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., ReUnion Brewery has a big brunch buffet that includes ham, salmon with lemon dill sauce, eggs Benedict, rosemary pork tenderloin, and a cheesey hash brown casserole.   

My wife needed some comfort food after a weekend of eating not the best items we could have and she started off with a cup of the chicken noodle soup.  It was rather interesting in that in addition of small chunks of chicken with house-made egg noodles, it came with a scoop of mashed potatoes made with chopped celery.  I'm not certain I had ever seen chicken noodle soup served that way, but my wife said it was very good.

For her main that evening, she got the open faced brisket sandwich - slowly-braised beef brisket on a piece of sourdough bread topped with a beef gravy.  Mashed potatoes came on the side along with some broccoli.  After about three bites my wife said, "This is EXACTLY what I needed!"  

I decided to go the simple route and I ended up getting the basic cheeseburger with pepper jack cheese.  Fries came on the side.  I'm not quite certain why I got the burger because they had a prime rib wrap on the menu, as well as carnitas tacos.  But the burger was fine with me.  It came with the usual veggie additives and was served on a toasted bun.  The bun was actually very good and enhanced the overall taste of the burger.  The fries were also very good and there were a lot of them.  I was more than happy to share some with my wife who only had a couple bites of her mashed potato side with her open-faced brisket sandwich.  

ReUnion Brewery was a solid choice that evening.  The food was very good, the service we got from Clara was also very good, and I really liked the hazy IPA that they had on tap.  I've found that just about every concept Jim Mondonaro has tried over the years seems to work out very well.  ReUnion Brewery is just another feather in Mondonaro's hat and is definitely an above average brewpub.  

 

Field Brewing - Westfield, IN

Out in the Indianapolis area recently for a surprise birthday/retirement party for a friend of ours, after the party was over and the clean-up had finished, we went with the couple to the wife's chiropractic clinic in Noblesville to drop some things off.  My wife and I didn't have any plans for dinner and we sort of figured that our friends would be hanging with his family who had come to the party earlier in the day.  "My family all went home," he said as we finished putting stuff away in the garage at the clinic.  My wife suggested we do something for dinner.  I had mentioned a place that I had eaten at near a lake and they thought that sounded good.  We went ahead of them as they had to go home and drop off some more things leftover from the party.  But when we go to the place, there were three things that were wrong - 1) This wasn't the same place that I was thinking about; 2) My wife went in and checked on the place and found that it was packed; and 3) Their air-conditioning was on the fritz and it was hot in there.  

Looking for a quick Plan B, I remembered a brewpub in nearby Westfield that we had passed by earlier in the day and my wife did a quick look-up on the place.  My wife called them up to see if they had a full bar (they did) and if they had food (they did).  When she asked if they had room for 4, she was told they could get us in right away.  We called our friends and pulled a 180 on dinner plans.  They were up for a visit to Field Brewing.  

Greg and Jackie Dikos aren't your typical brewery/restaurant owners.  Greg is an orthopedic surgeon at OrthoIndy, a large orthopedic medical facility that partners with multiple hospitals and surgery centers in and around Indianapolis.  Jackie is a clinical dietician who is also a marathon runner who participated in the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic trials.  After Greg graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis in 2008, he took an orthopedic trauma fellowship in Germany for a year.  In 2010, he took another orthopedic trauma fellowship position at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.  

Pictured right - Jackie and Greg Dikos.  Photo courtesy Towne Post Network.

While living in Seattle, Greg and Jackie found a new love for craft beer.  Greg had a degree in biochemistry and had been brewing his own beers at home for a few years.  But the craft beer industry in Seattle was on another plane well above the brewpubs they had experienced in the Midwest.  Most of the brewpubs there offered artisan foods that was much better than the regular pub-style food they found back home.  And there seemed to be a sense of community with the Seattle-area brewpubs where kids were welcome to dine with their parents.  

Moving back to the Indianapolis area in 2011, Greg and Jackie found themselves with two boys and getting settled into the community.  By 2016, the couple realized they could build a brewpub that was similar to the ones they remembered in Seattle with good beer with a dedicated brewer; good food with a dedicated chef; and a place that fit within the community.  

Westfield was a growing area north of Indianapolis nestled in between Carmel to the south, Fishers to the east and Noblesville to the northeast.  They found a piece of ground at the corner of E. Main Street (Indiana State Highway 32) and Cherry Street in Westfield in early 2017. (see map)  The couple had hoped to begin building their brewery/restaurant operation by mid-year and open in early 2018.  But the local city council had some concerns about the brewpub including the fact that they would only have 13 parking spots for the business.  After all concerns were countered by the Dikos, work began on the building in late 2017.  

Hoping to offer a variety of foods from local sources, the Dikos brought in Alan Sternberg who had been a chef consultant after a stint as a head chef.  And to head up the brewing operations, Rian Umbach was hired as the head brewer.   Umbach had been an associate brewer at the Moerlein Lager House in Cincinnati.  Through a couple more delays, they were able to open Field Brewing in early October of 2018.  In 2019, Indianapolis Monthly magazine named Field Brewing the best new restaurant in greater Indianapolis.  (After getting the kitchen up and running, Sternberg left later that year for another job and today Scott Atkins is the head chef at Field Brewery.)  

Initially, the brewpub opened at 7 a.m. and offered grab-and-go breakfast items, as well as gourmet coffee, espresso, and breakfast drinks.  That part of the operation was closed up during the pandemic and didn't start up again.  However, they do offer coffee and espresso for after an after dinner choice.  

Parking is definitely a problem at Field Brewing with just a handful of spots.   There was a parking lot across the street, but it said that it was private parking.  (That didn't stop some people who came into Field Brewing later from parking there.)  But there was a parking lot south of Field Brewing that had signage designating space for patrons of Field Brewing.  That's where we both ended up parking when we got there.  

As you enter Field Brewing, the bar is off to the side.  It wasn't very long - about 8 seats total - and was partitioned off with a half fence to keep minors from coming up to the bar.  The list of current beers was on the wall near the bar.  

The main dining area was part of the large room that contained the bar.  A number of tables with mismatched chairs - many of them were repurposed from old schools in the area - were scattered across the dining space.  It was very well lit with both large windows allowing natural light to come in and large light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.  Light sconces on the wall allowed for additional lighting above banquette seating.  The tables could be easily moved on the concrete floor for larger groups.  To be quite honest, the atmosphere was rather sterile at Field Brewery.   

There is a large outdoor patio/game area just off to the side of the dining area.  Just beyond the outdoor patio was a smaller building that is used for groups, parties or private events.  It had rained earlier in the day and there was still a heaviness to the air with all the humidity.  Other than that, it would have been a nice night to sit on the patio.    

Before we were seated, I decided to go to the restroom and wash up.  Walking back toward the restroom, I was able to see into the large open kitchen they have at Field Brewing.  The kitchen was bustling when we first walked in, but by the time we were getting ready to leave it around 9 p.m., it was pretty quiet.  

We were seated at a table in the center of the dining area and given food menus to look over.  It wasn't long before we were greeted by our server that evening, a really laid-back guy by the name of Mitch.  Mitch was a great server for us all night long.  He asked us what we wanted to drink and I was sort of surprised our male friend ordered a Bull Pen Bavarian Pale Ale.  He and his wife aren't big drinkers and I'm not certain if I've ever seen him drink a beer.  His wife ordered an Amaretto sour, which didn't surprise me as she had the same thing the night before when we went out to dinner.  My wife got her usual Tito's and cranberry juice, and I ordered their Camshaft hazy IPA.  

Our male friend didn't think much of the Bavarian Pale Ale - he was hoping to get a German-style wheat beer, but they didn't have that on tap that night.  Mitch suggested that our friend get a beer flight.  Our friend thought that would be a great idea and he told Mitch what he liked.  Moments later, Mitch came back with five samples - the Luna White IPA (an American IPA and Belgian wheat beer combo); the Cream of the Crop cream ale; the Dopple Dribble doppelbock; the du Champ Ouest (French for West Field) saison beer; and the Red Handed red ale/IPA combo.  While he didn't care for the Luna White IPA or cream ale, he really liked the saison best.  And he declared that it was probably a tie between the doppelbock and the red ale/IPA as his second most favorite.  He ended up getting a snifter of the saison.  

While the food menu wasn't extensive, it was pretty interesting.  Field Brewing's menu changes seasonally depending upon what local food sources they can get hold off.  Appetizers included wings, a soft beer pretzel, loaded fries with parmesan ranch and beer cheese, and a fried chicken salad served on flat bread with bitter greens and herbs, with black pepper, lemon and topped with a Spanish koji fermented hot sauce.  They had burgers made with quality beef from Fischer Farms, a marinated grilled chicken sandwich, and a couple three pasta dishes that included a rigatoni pasta with marinated grilled chicken in a feta cheese/vodka sauce.  That one sounded pretty good to me. 

Our male guest got the Lime Leaf Curry Rice Noods - a complete vegan dish consisting of noodles and rice with a house-made coconut lime/greens curry, stir-fried mushrooms, chopped eggplant, broccoli, and baby bok choy.  He thought he'd better go vegan since his party was catered by one of my favorite Indian restaurants in Indianapolis, Amber Indian Cuisine in Carmel and he'd had a lot of curry chicken and butter chicken earlier in the day.  Our friend thought his noodle/rice dish was outstanding.  

My wife and our female friend got the same thing - the Denver Steak Frites.  It featured an 8 ounce Fischer Farms sirloin steak cut into strips sitting on a bed of hand-cut steak fries drizzled with a smoked house-made Thousand Island dressing.  My wife got a side of grilled Brussels sprouts.  My wife ordered her steak medium-rare and it came out what I would call rare-plus.  But she ate it and she was more than happy with the steak.  I had to try some of her steak fries and they were great - they had a nice puffy inner core with a crisp outer shell.  

I, too, had eaten a lot of Indian food at the party (and there was a lot left over), and I really wasn't certain what I wanted - or even if I wanted anything.  But there was one thing that just jumped out at me when I first looked at the menu - the chile verde meatloaf sandwich.  It came with a spicy tomato mayo and pickled jalapeños.  I thought that would be good without the bread, so I asked Mitch if I could just get the meatloaf on its own.  I also had my choice of sides and I had my choice of mac & cheese, fries, Brussels sprouts or soup.  I really didn't want any of those and was still demurring about even getting a side when my wife said, "Can you just get a side salad for a side?"  Mitch said that would be no problem.  

And I have to say the meat loaf was outstanding in flavor.  The green chile sauce was grilled onto the slice and it was topped with mild pickled jalapeños.  The beef was tender and juicy, and the zippiness of the michelada spicy tomato sauce helped wake up my taste buds.  I would have no problem getting that again if I went back to Field Brewing.  

Knowing that Field Brewing had A) amaretto; B) an espresso machine; and C) vanilla ice cream on their dessert menu, I contemplated getting an affogato for after dinner.  But given all the food I had eaten that day, I wasn't certain that I could eat another bite.  But I would have to think that having affogato with amaretto after having the spiciness of the meat loaf would have just exploded on my taste buds.  Oh well... Next time...

And I hope there is a next time at Field Brewing.  It thought the hazy IPA I had there was very good, and the green chile meatloaf was outstanding.  The service we had from Mitch that evening was exemplary, and everyone loved the food they got.  I can't think of one negative thing about our visit to Field Brewing.  This is definitely an upscale brewpub that focuses on a community feel, something that other Midwestern brewpubs could learn from.  (Photo courtesy Field Brewing Facebook page.) 

Clemson Brothers Brewery - Middletown, NY

I had put off going to New England to call on accounts we have across the region for nearly a year.  But it became apparent that I needed to get out there to get some face time with some of our better dealers.  On my first full day after meetings in the New Haven, CT area in the morning, I swung over to Middletown, NY, about a 2-hour drive from New Haven to see one of our better accounts there.  That evening, I decided to stay in Middletown and found that there aren't a lot of dining options on a Monday night in area.  I was able to find a brewpub that was open and decided to have dinner there.  This is my visit to the Clemson Brothers Brewery in Middletown.  

Kenan (pronounced KEN-an) Porter was a budding entrepreneur when he was in college.  Not even old enough to legally consume alcohol, he came up with a vodka/fruit punch drink concoction that was stored in sippy pouches.  Porter went around to bars and liquor stores, but found that he couldn't legally sell his product without proper licensing.  After graduating college, he started marketing a line of aloe water drinks becoming somewhat successful in doing so.  Within a short time, his aloe water line was being distributed in 18 states, primarily on the East Coast.  He was quickly running out of space at his warehouse, so he heard through the grapevine that the town of Middletown, NY was looking for companies to take over spaces in buildings the city owned.

Porter went to check out some of the properties in Middletown and one of the buildings was a large brick building that dated back to the late 19th century.  It housed the Clemson Brothers company which invented and patented the hacksaw in 1898.  The Star hacksaw was one of the most versatile tools of its day and revolutionized how saws were used on construction sites in the early 1900's.  

The building had mostly sat empty for a number of years and the city of Middletown had been trying to find tenants for the property.  Porter took one look at the property and the wheels started to turn.  He looked at the building - which then housed three small businesses - as a multi-use property.  He envisioned a new concept - a brewpub/restaurant.  Now, people who start brewpub or microbreweries are usually seasoned home brewers or craft beer aficionados.  But Porter rarely drank beer.  And his father - who was a successful real estate developer in nearby Warwick, NY - was more of a Coors Light kind of guy.  But his father also saw the potential of the building, and investors and bankers were bullish on microbreweries at that time.  The Porters bought the Clemson Brothers building in 2012.  

It turned out that finding a brewmaster for the new venture wasn't all that tough.  Porter's brother-in-law Paul Pacheco was a home brewing enthusiast.  Just after the Porters purchased the Clemson Brothers building, Paul and Kenan started to experiment with test batches of beers at home.  Needing to learn more about small and large batch production, Pacheco volunteered to go off to apprentice at Foley Brothers Brewing Co. in Vermont to immerse himself in the art of brewing.  While Pacheco was away for a couple years, Porter went about turning the main floor of the building into a brewery and restaurant.  There were a number of hiccups along the way in the design and restoration of the building, along with procuring the needed apparatus to brew the beer.  

Setting up a restaurant as well as a menu was also something Porter had no idea what to do.  He brought in Tony Tello whose family ran a couple Mexican restaurants in the area to help with the kitchen set up.  By the time Paul Pacheco's apprenticeship at Foley Brothers came to an end in early 2015, the brewery/restaurant started to come to fruition.  Naming the brewpub was a no brainer for Porter - a history buff who was determined to keep the Clemson Brothers legacy alive.  Clemson Brothers Brewery finally opened in October of 2015.  

Each month set a record in terms of sales for the brewery and restaurant.  The 10-barrel system was quickly overwhelmed and it was determined that Clemson Brothers Brewery needed to expand their operation to keep up with demand.  In early 2017, a 40-barrel system was put in place to up the output of the brewery.  

Clemson Brothers Brewery continued to grow and expansion into other towns in the area came up on the horizon.  Porter had initially set his sights on his hometown of Warwick, NY for a second Clemson Brothers brewpub, but snags occurred during the developmental process.  In 2019, Porter bought the Gilded Otter, a longtime brewpub in New Paltz, NY about 30 miles north and east of Middletown.  After spending $4 million dollars to purchase and update the restaurant and brewing system, the brewpub was renamed Clemson Brothers at the Gilded Otter.  

In late 2019, ground was broke for a third Clemson Brothers location in Pine Island, NY - about 15 minutes south of Middletown and where Kenan Porter was living.  However, when the pandemic broke in March of 2020 all construction on the project stopped.  They had hoped to get the construction project back up and running eyeing a summer 2022 opening, but so far nothing has happened with their third location in Pine Island.

The pandemic dealt a blow to a number of restaurants and event centers causing many to go out of business.  A nearby wedding event center that was very popular was one that couldn't sustain the effects of the pandemic and was forced to close.  Porter saw an opportunity and expanded both the Middletown and New Paltz locations into event centers for both weddings, corporate meetings and parties.  Both Clemson Brothers event centers opened in 2023.  

Today, Clemson Brothers produces about three dozen different varieties of beers including year-round, seasonal and special occasion beers.  All their beers are made in small batches ensuring the freshest taste possible for their beers.  

It was just after 6 p.m. when I went to Clemson Brothers.  I was able to park in a lot on the north side of the complex off the street.  I was a little confused as to where the front door was and I went to the original front door of the stately three-story building at the corner of Railroad Ave. and Cottage St. (see map).  After I discovered that the door was locked, I went around to a smaller building off to the side and found that THAT door was the door that opened into the brewpub.  

The pub part of Clemson Brothers is a somewhat large and open room with the brewing facility just past a glass wall on the north side of the room.  The pub featured exposed brick walls with a hard wood floor and metal beams across the ceiling.  Selections of music from artists such as Corey Kent, Marshmello, Hardy, Whiskey Myers, and Tyler Childers was playing in the background.  

I had to use the restroom after a bit and I found an interesting apparatus for getting water to the sink.  It was a coiled-copper water line that went up and over the mirror and down into a funnel that put water into a copper sink.  It was a guess that the original Clemson Brothers factory used a lot of copper in their manufacturing process.  

As I usually do when I'm alone at a brewpub, I saddled up at the bar.  The bartender that evening was a young lady by the name of Mariah.  She was pretty neutral in her demeanor the whole time I was there, but she was on top of things when I needed a refill or an extra napkin.  She gave me a food menu and asked if I wanted anything to drink.  Their current tap menu was on a board on the wall behind the bar.   In addition to a number of beers on tap, Clemson Brothers Brewery also features a full bar with a number of specialty cocktails available.  After trying a couple different beers, I decided upon the Trinity Test TR-3 hazy IPA.  It was a very good beer with a smooth taste and an ABV of 7%.  I ended up taking a 32 ounce can/crowler back to the hotel with me.   

The food menu at Clemson Brothers was pretty interesting.  Their appetizers included perogies - something I don't see on menus around the Midwest all that often.  They also had truffle fries, pretzel sticks, and something called Black Dirt Onion Dip - sour cream blended with French onion spices and mixed with scallions and bacon served with house-made chips.  

They had a number of sandwiches and burgers on the menu making up the bulk of the selections.  Sandwiches included a reuben sandwich, a grilled portobello mushroom sandwich, and a cheese steak sandwich.  Burgers included the Big Bad Wolf which had bacon, ham, a bacon aioli and smoked Gouda cheese; The Hacksaw that was topped with beer cheese, bacon, jalapeños and onion straws; and the Cuatro Caliente which featured jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, a honey Sriracha sauce, and a chipotle aioli.  

I was intrigued by a couple three items on the menu.  They had fish tacos on the appetizer menu, as well as short rib tacos.  But I ended up going the burger route and ordered the Star Victor burger - it was topped with button mushrooms, Swiss cheese, stout beer caramelized onions, and a garlic aioli.  It was served on a brioche bun.  Fries came on the side with the burger.  But something else that I saw on the menu also piqued my interest - the jalapeño cole slaw.  I asked Mariah about the cole slaw and she said, "Yeah, it's pretty good.  People like it."  She didn't do a very good job of selling the cole slaw, but I ordered it anyway.  

The burger was very good - flavorful, juicy, and a bit messy.  It was definitely a multi-napkin burger.  The brioche bun held together very well with all the toppings and the juiciness of the burger.  The fries were also very good.  They had a nice crunchy outer shell with a warm, flaky inside.  But the winner in the bunch was the jalapeño cole slaw.  Mariah completely undersold the cole slaw as it was a combination of sweet, spicy and a cool creamy flavor.  It was outstanding, some of the best tasting cole slaw I ever had.  I really wanted to see if I could get the recipe of how they make their spicy cole slaw so we could try to make it at home.  

As Mariah was preparing my crowler of the Trinity Test TR-3 for me to take with me, I decided to look around the beer garden area.  There was an outside bar area with a number of picnic tables scattered around a brick floor courtyard with an awning over a portion of the garden area.  It had been a late spring and the leaves were just starting to come out on the small trees in the beer garden.  It was a nice space to hang, but a little too cool that evening for people to sit outside that evening.  

Off to the side of the beer garden was a building that was the Clemson Brothers game room.  This room featured a couple pool tables, video games and a corn hole area.  This was part of the Clemson Zone which features axe throwing - I get a kick out of mixing dangerous weapons with alcohol.  Clemson Brothers touts ax throwing as a great exercise for "your core and shoulders" (whatever your core is), and as a great stress reliever.  That made me chuckle.  They also have football bowling at the Clemson Zone - it's exactly as it sounds, bowling with a football.  I understand that football bowling started in Detroit and Clemson Brothers brought it to New York.  In addition to games, Clemson Brothers also features comedy nights in the Clemson Zone.   

Clemson Brothers Brewery is one of the better brewpubs I've encountered in my travels.  The beer and food were both excellent.  The renovation and repurposing of the former factory was exquisite.  And while Mariah had a neutral disposition, she was still a good bartender who was attentive to my various needs that evening.  I just love finding spots like Clemson Brothers Brewery and I hope the people of Middletown and the surrounding upstate New York communities understand how good of a brewpub it really is.  I'll probably be back in Middletown because the large account that I have there and I will definitely be back to Clemson Brothers at some point.  

Hinterland Brewing - Green Bay, WI

It had been awhile since I was up in Green Bay and quite sometime since I'd spent the night there.  Most of my previous visits have been day trips up from Milwaukee and back again.  But this time I had a morning meeting set up with my account up there and I spent the night before near Lambeau Field.  Since it had been a while since I had been around Lambeau Field, I found that they had really built up an area just west of the stadium into a mixed use area for residential, commercial and a large entertainment area - especially for before and after football games.  The cornerstone of the complex was a restaurant with a brewery that I had been familiar with for quite sometime.  I went in to have dinner at Hinterland Brewing.  

Bill Tressler thought he was going to end up being a journalist.  He had graduated from Creighton with a degree in journalism, and along with his new wife Michelle they headed to San Francisco after Bill landed a job as an assistant editor on the city desk at the San Francisco Chronicle.  But Tressler also had a couple of other passions - music (he was a drummer in a band) and craft beer.  

Not long after he started at the Chronicle, the paper went on strike.  Needing a job pretty quickly, Tressler took a job as an editor at a magazine that focused on the burgeoning phenomena of craft brewing.  Although he was a home brewer, Tressler found that he didn't know much about the full process of commercially brewed beer.  Looking to learn more about brewing craft beer, he enrolled in the extension program on intensive brewing science for practical brewing at the University of Calfornia-Davis.

Tressler jumped feet first into the course work and immersed himself about all things brewing beers.  After he had completed the extension courses, Dr. Michael Lewis, a well-renown professor who started UC-Davis' brewing program in the early 60's, had started a new school called the American Brewers Guild.  Tressler enrolled in the brewing science and engineering program at the school and after he graduated he decided that he wanted to have his own brewery.

Pictured right - Michelle and Bill Tressler.  Photo courtesy Hinterland Brewing Facebook page.  

In 1995, Michelle and Bill moved back to their hometown of Green Bay and bought a small building outside of Denmark, WI that had been a cheese factory.  With limited funds, hard work and a drive to produce some of the best beer available, the Tresslers established Hinterland Brewing.  They named it Hinterland because of all the trips across country they made in their Volkswagen van while Bill was drumming in a band.  

1999 was a crucial year in the craft beer movement.  There had been a significant number of craft breweries that had popped up over the previous 8 years and there was a lot of price pressure on the small brewers to maintain low prices on six pack bottles.  Hinterland had outgrown their small 7 barrel facility outside of Green Bay and moved into a new facility with a tap room in downtown Green Bay in 2000.  Even though they had their own bottling facility, they could not compete with other craft breweries who were selling beer at $4.99 to $5.99 a six pack.  Tressler decided to go to draft beer only effectively shutting down his bottle line making Hinterland's beer available only in their tap room.  It turned out to be a good decision as a number of the small breweries trying to keep up with larger, more established breweries with low priced beers went out of business.  

Hinterland hung in there and when craft breweries started to go to $7.99 a six-pack, Tressler felt that he could compete with six-pack bottles of his own.  The only problem is that they had sold off their small bottling operation and had to contract with another brewer to bottle Hinterland beers.  That turned out to be a disaster, so Tressler went out and got a new bottling line for his brewery.  Not only did Hinterland grow their business in the early years of the 21st century, they also grew their distribution network.  By 2015, Hinterland was distributed in 10 states.  

Also in 2015, the Green Bay Packers announced they were developing a mixed-use entertainment, commercial and residential space across the street from Lambeau Field that would be named the Titletown District.  It would have a hotel, restaurants, bars, office space and a large park that would be both a combination walking mall/playground and a regulation size football field complete with artificial turf.  The goal was to have the first phase of the project finished by the start of the 2017 season.  

The Tresslers saw a great opportunity to grow the Hinterland brand even more by signing on to be a large component of the Titletown District.  The 24,000 square foot facility nearly quadrupled their brewing capacity from 5,500 barrels annually at their downtown brewery to 20,000 barrels of beer (at the new facility near Lambeau Field).  The new Hinterland brewery also had a taproom/beer hall and a restaurant, as well as two private dining/entertainment rooms, and a heated outdoor beer garden.  Ground was broke for the facility in the spring of 2016 and Hinterland moved into their new digs in April of 2017.  

A good friend of mine who died unexpectedly in 2016 was a huge Green Bay Packers fan and Hinterland beer was one of his favorites.   Green Bay was part of his territory for a handful of years and he loved coming to the city and hanging out at a bar drinking Hinterland beer.  It was only natural for me to head to Hinterland that evening as I think of him often when I get up to Green Bay and to drink a beer in his honor and memory.  

Hinterland is located just across the street from Lambeau Field and is located near the corner of S Ridge Road and Lombardi Avenue.  (see map)  Titletown has a large courtyard behind it that opens into a regulation size football field, a playground, an outdoor gaming area and - in the winter - a skating rink and a tubing hill.  The man-made hill and slope is a built on a three-story building that has a restaurant/bar - 46 Below - on the first level and an event center on the second level.   The Titletown commons area is packed before and after Packers games.  

Inside Hinterland Brewing, their brewing facility is visible behind a large glass window.  Tours of the brewery are available on Saturdays starting at noon.  Above the brewing facility was a party area that hosted parties and events.  There was something going on up there the night I was there and there were a lot of people heading up and down the steps while I was there.  

The large great room that houses the main beer hall features wood-burning fireplaces at each end.  Full-bodied deer mounts and moose head mounts were part of the decorations on or near the fireplaces.  Small tables and comfy chairs were near the hearths on either end of the dining room.  

The beer hall featured a combination of brick and glass walls with an angled ceiling.  It was large, yet the reduced lighting in the room gave it a cozy feel.  

I ended up seated at the bar planting myself in front of one of the two flatscreen televisions showing a basketball game that evening.  There were three bartenders working that evening although it wasn't all that busy in the brewpub area.  The kitchen for the restaurant was located directly behind the main floor bar.  

One of the bartenders, a young lady who went by the name of Koko, came over to greet me and drop off both a food menu and a beer menu.  There was a lady who was seated to my right and she immediately said, "You really need to try the maple bock beer!"  After I told her that I'm not into either dark or sweet beers, she said, "I don't either, but it's great!" 

Not taking her recommendation, I saw some interesting beers and I asked for a taste of the Jamaican Haze - a seasonal New England-style hazy IPA; as well as a taste of their year-round Saving Gracie hazy IPA, and another seasonal Citrus haze they had that evening.  After trying a taste of all three, I settled on the Jamaican Haze.  I gave Koko my credit card to hold as I started a tab for food and beer at that point.  

The menu at Hinterland Brewing features a number of sustainably and locally grown items that can cause the menu to change from day-to-day depending upon availability.  Seafood is flown in on a regular basis from both the Pacific Northwest and New England, as well as from Honolulu.  Hinterland supports local farmers and specialty artisans from across northeastern Wisconsin supplying the restaurant from everything from beef, pork and poultry, heirloom vegetables and hand-foraged mushrooms to artisan breads and cheese.  

The food menu at Hinterland wasn't all that big, but it did have some interesting items to choose from.  Wood-fired oyster mushrooms, garlic & lemon hummus with olives and garlic naan bread, and a smoked-salmon spread were all things off the appetizer part of the menu that caught my eye.  They had a tuna poké bowl as part of the salad offerings, and wood-fired pizzas were available as well.  The steakhouse burger featured Hook's white cheddar cheese and Nueske's bacon on it.  And they had a handful of main entrees including a wood-fired halibut, a wood-fired grill ribeye, and beef short ribs braised in the maple bock beer the lady seated next to me early on had raved about.  

But I saw something else on the menu that made my stomach do jumping jacks - the prime beef and foraged mushrooms stroganoff.  It came with wide egg noodles and a brown beef gravy.  I was ready to order, but Koko was nowhere in sight.  I noticed that she had been conversing with a guy three seats down from me, but when that guy paid his bill and left, Koko disappeared.  I had to get the attention of one of the other bartenders to take my order.  

The only problem was that he came back to me moments later and said, "We're out of the beef stroganoff.  Just sold out."  I groaned noticeably as he handed me a food menu to look over.  I didn't want the burger, and I wasn't going to get a pizza.  I sort of shrugged my shoulders and ordered up the braised beef.  

And I have to say that it wasn't a bad second choice.  It came on a bed of smashed garlic potatoes with a medley of braised carrot slices and green beans.  It was covered in a mushroom gravy - possibly the same gravy they had for the stroganoff.  The beef was tender and pulled apart very easily.  The mushroom gravy was rich in taste and went extremely well with the braised beef.  While it wasn't what I originally wanted, my appetite was sated with this dish.  

After I finished up dinner, one of the bartenders - Koko was still missing-in-action - came over to clear my plate.  He asked me if I wanted any dessert that evening.  I asked what they had to offer and he said that they had a pumpkin cheesecake.  Oooo... That sounded really good.  So I told the bartender that I'd take a slice of that.  He acknowledged my order when he took away my plate.  

The only problem was that he forgot to put the order in.  And it was a good 15 minutes before the other bartender came over and asked me if I wanted another beer.  I said, "Well, I had ordered a piece of the pumpkin cheesecake from your partner behind the bar and I haven't seen it."  

The other bartender was in earshot from our conversation and when he heard me say that, he said, "Oh, shoot!  I forgot to put that in!"  I told him that I no longer wanted it and to just give me my check.  

When he handed me the check, he sort of stood there waiting for me to throw the credit card on top of the receipt.  Only I didn't have my credit card.  I told him that my card was behind the bar somewhere, that I had given it to the girl to start my tab and she never gave it back.  "And she's been missing-in-action for the past hour or so," I said sort of in a snarky manner.  I didn't care, I was half-way pissed off at the service at this point.   

It became panic mode behind the bar as the two bartenders searched for my credit card.  Finally, one of them found it next to the cash register at the far end of the bar.  They ran my card and gave me my check and I got out of there.  

Other than the poor service I received from the 3 bartenders - well, really the two bartenders after the first one ran off - my experience at Hinterland Brewing was positive.  The food was excellent, I really liked the Jamaican Haze hazy IPA that I got (I even rebuffed efforts by a fellow diner on her recommendation of the maple bock), and the atmosphere - for a beer hall-type of establishment - was warm and cozy.  It wasn't all that busy that night so I can't figure why the service was so bad.  But everything else about my visit to Hinterland Brewing more than made up for the poor service.  

The Old Man River Restaurant & Brewery - McGregor, IA

During a road trip up the Mississippi River last fall, we ended up in the river town of McGregor, IA.  My wife was starting to feel a tad peckish and we decided to find someplace locally to get something to eat.  We decided to go to a place that we'd been to a couple times before - The Old Man River Restaurant & Brewery.  

The building that houses Old Man River dates back to the 1880's and was once the offices of "Diamond" Jo Reynolds, an entrepreneur who owned grain elevators, steamboats, and mines along the upper Mississippi River.  The building has been a brewing facility since 2008 when Dave and Marci Strutt realized their dream of operating their own brewpub.  Joining the Strutt's was brewmaster Jake Simmons who was a quality control team member at the Schlafly brewery in St. Louis.  Simmons was actually going to school for his PhD in biology, but realized that he'd rather be brewing beer than finishing his doctorate.  

In 2011, Schlafly came to Simmons and asked if he could brew some specialty beers for them for distribution into Iowa, northern Illinois and Wisconsin.  Simmons readily agreed, but it turned out that Old Man River was at full capacity and had no room to add more brewing vessels.  Dave Strutt and Simmons' father James financed a new brewery on the Iowa River Landing in Coralville, IA as - at the time - there were no active breweries in the greater Iowa City area.  

The new venture was called Backpocket Brewery (click here to read the Road Tips entry on Backpocket) and it was large enough to make not only their own German-style beers, but to make the specialty beers for Schlafly.  (Backpocket brewed a very excellent American Pale Ale for Schlafly for a few years.)  Even though The Old Man River and Backpocket shared ownership and a head brewer, they were two separate entities.  

Because they were focusing more on the Backpocket Brewery, the Strutts and Simmons sort of let Old Man River Brewery go by the wayside.  It closed in the fall of 2015 and sat empty for a couple years.  In August of 2018, Duane and Diane Vorwald purchased The Old Man River, but it needed some work on the place before it could reopen.  They were finally able to reopen in March of 2019.  My wife and I had stopped in on our way back from a weekend trip up to Decorah in the fall of 2019 and we just had beer that trip.  This time, however, we were going to get something to eat.  

We pulled into downtown McGregor around 1:30 and pulled up to the two-story stately brick building with arched windows on both floors at the corner of Main and A streets.  (see map)  In the park across the street, there was a re-enactment of some sort going on.  We stood there for a moment watching people in 19th century garb doing something and it was obvious that we were late to the party and didn't know what was going on.  

We went inside Old Man River and found that the place hadn't changed since the last time we were there. Exposed wooden beams with exposed ductwork were above us while a refinished wooden floor was below.  Large wooden beam supports were placed around the middle of the dining area.  The 3-sided bar area is right up front as you come in the door from A St.  

The sign up front said, "Please Wait to Be Seated" and we stood there for a few moments before a lady with a couple plates of food whizzed by us.  "Sit anywhere, folks," she called back over her shoulder.  It was evident that they were understaffed that day - they had just two people waiting tables and serving beer at the bar.  Later on, I saw that they put a hand-drawn sign over the "Please Wait to Be Seated" sign that said, "Please Be Patient as We're Understaffed."  

It was a cold day and the patio area out back was empty.  It's actually a nice patio with metal chairs and tables attached to the west side of the building.  We've never been there when the weather is warm enough to be able to sit outside, but it looked like it would be a great place to hang out.  Below the decking on the outside of the patio were water troughs filled with dirt that held hop vines.  There were still some hops on the ropes going up the outside of the patio.  

We found a seat at a table near the north entrance of the establishment and we had to tell a couple people who came in that way later on who also waited to be seated to just find a seat on their own.   And it was cold in there - my wife is usually chilly in most places, but even I thought it was cold in the place.  There were a number of people seated at tables and at the bar who kept their coats on.  In the corner behind us was a small stage that is used for live music from time to time 

The menu at The Old Man River Restaurant & Brewery is your basic bar food - burgers, sandwiches, wraps, appetizers, soups, salads - nothing fancy.  Entrees such as steaks, stuffed pork tenderloin, seafood and stuffed ravioli were available after 4 p.m.  A prime rib special was available on Saturday nights.  They also featured pizza with a 14" regular flour thin crust or a 10" gluten free crust available.  

When one of the two ladies running around the dining room finally got to us, I ordered up an IPA they had on tap and my wife ordered some green tea to warm up from one of the ladies.  She brought my wife's tea, but forgot to get my beer.  I finally did get my beer about 10 minutes after I ordered it.  I did cut them both some slack because the place was about half full or more and they were working their asses off.  

I wasn't all that hungry and my wife thought she needed some soup.  I suggested that I order a sandwich and get some fries with it that we could split and she could get a cup of soup to help her warm up.  There was a caldron of tortellini tomato soup on a table near the door out to the patio.  My wife finally deduced that it must be self-serve.  She sort of shrugged her shoulders and went over to ladle out a cup of the soup.  

I ordered a reuben sandwich with the Thousand Island dressing on the side.  We also asked for an extra plate.  When it was brought out, there was no dressing on the side, no ketchup, salt or pepper for condiments, and no side plate.  My wife went up to the same table where the soup caldron was and picked up a small plate that is used to put the soup cups on.   I knew that we wouldn't be able to get either the side dressing or ketchup to go with the fries.  I gave my wife half of the sandwich and we decided to just eat up and cut our losses at that point.  

The sandwich was fine, a basic reuben with oven-roasted corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut.  They did have some Thousand Island dressing on the sandwich so it wasn't a complete loss.  The fries were very good - crunchy on the outside and flaky warm on the inside.  They would have been better if they would have had some black pepper on them and some ketchup to dip them in.  

Now, my wife and I are pretty understanding and patient when it comes to situations like this where the restaurant is understaffed by one or two people - especially since COVID.  But there were a couple ladies at a table next to us who were not.  They were pretty vocal with their displeasure of slow service and one of the ladies working the floor said, "Ladies, we're sorry.  We are short-staffed today.  We're doing the best we can."  

It was one of those moments when I just wanted to get up, walk over to the table and say, "Just shut up and eat!"  I mean it wasn't fine dining.  

While there were a few problems with our visit to Old Man River Restaurant & Brewery, I was more than satisfied with the food and the beer we had that day.  Service was choppy only because they were understaffed.  And it was sort of uncomfortably cold in there.  It's a neat place - the restored building has some distinctive character and an interesting vibe.  But like a lot of restaurants and brewpubs fighting to hang in there these days, it's got some problems.  If you can get past all that, you'll find that The Old Man River is a good destination to hang out for a while.  

Hanger 24 - Irvine, CA

I had been driving around calling on potential accounts in Southern California one day and I was pretty much done by around 3:30 and heading back toward my hotel.  I decided to have a late lunch/early dinner and remembered a brew pub that I had found when I was looking at area brew pubs upon my arrival to my hotel a couple days before.  I punched in the address for Hangar 24 in Irvine and headed over that way.  

Ben Cook was going to school at Cal State-San Bernardino studying biology just around the turn of the millennium.  It was in college where Cook found that he had a passion for brewing beer.  Using his biology know-how and equipment from the biology lab at the college, Cook built his first home brewing apparatus in 2001.  

It turned out that Cook was pretty good at brewing beers and he found that he could trade some of his beers for services rendered.  One of those services was to trade his beers for flight lessons at the Redlands Municipal Airport.  Flying out of Hangar 24 at the airport, Cook made friends with other pilots and instructors at the facility.  After flying planes, the friends would meet up at Hangar 24 at the end of the day to talk about their flying experiences and to drink some of Cook's delicious beers.  Cook eventually got his pilot's license, possibly the only guy in the history of flying who got his license directly because of beer.  

Cook loved brewing beer so much that he eventually enrolled in the masters brewers program at the University of California-Davis.  After graduating from the program in 2005, Cook went back to Redlands to start the next chapter in his life.

Pictured right - Ben Cook.  Photo courtesy Hangar 24.

There was land available literally across the road from the Redlands airport.  With the help of family, friends and fellow pilots, Cook was able to purchase a plot of land and he broke ground for his brewery in late 2006.  It took time to build a structure, as well as procuring brewing vessels and equipment.  On March 15, 2008, Cook sold his first beer under the Hangar 24 name.  

Within months, Cook was distributing Hangar 24 beers to local restaurants and stores.  In addition to brewing beers, Cook continued his love of flying often taking his single engine place to Lake Havasu, Arizona.  In 2017, Cook established a tap room at the Lake Havasu City Airport.  

And in March of 2020, Cook opened a 3rd location in Intersect Irvine, a complex of campus-style office buildings, retail space and entertainment areas.  While not exactly at or across from an airport, the Irvine location was close to the John Wayne Airport that services Orange County.  Cook contracted with culinary consultant James Bailey to come up with selection of food for the Irvine location that personified "California-Casual" dining. 

However, 17 days after opening in Irvine, Hangar 24 - along with virtually every non-essential business across California - was forced to shut down for a period of several weeks.  They were able to open for take-out only in the summer and finally opened for physical distance dining later in 2020.  In the meantime to keep the brewing facility busy, Cook had his crew make hand sanitizer that they were able to give out at pop-up stands where they were selling sandwiches during the deep throes of the pandemic.  

It was around 3:30 when I pulled into the parking lot at the Intersect.  (see map)  Hanger 24 isn't visible from the street and it was difficult to find until I figured out that I had to park in the lot and walk around the building. It's a pay lot, but businesses and restaurants - such as Hangar 24 - will validate for free parking.  Hanger 24 was near a large open court area north of the parking area I parked the car in.  Walking in, I found a large group of people seated at a communal table in the middle of the brewpub.  

It's counter service at Hanger 24 for both food and beer.  The food menu was on a card near the counter and the beer menu was on the wall behind the beer spigots at the back of the bar.  They had 15 beers available on tap that day including a Mexican lager, a citrus lager, a couple West Coast IPA's, a wheat beer, and a seasonal Oktoberfest beer.  My tastes veer more toward the hazy IPA's and I got a pint of the Pacific Coast Hazy IPA.   

Compared to other brewpubs I found in the area, Hanger 24 had a more food offerings on their menu.  Appetizers included carne asada cheese fries, wings, pretzel bites, and a crispy caramelized pork belly that can be had with either BBQ sauce or teriyaki.  Salads, protein bowls and flatbread pizzas were part of the menu, as were sandwiches, burgers and tacos including a grilled marinated mahi taco that they called "al-pastor".  I always thought al-pastor tacos were made with pork.  

After I ordered my food, I took my beer out to the patio area off to the side of the brewpub.  It was a nice area and I thought I'd end up having my late lunch out there.  But then the large group inside broke up and came out to the grassy area just beyond the patio at Hanger 24.  It appeared that they were going back into a meeting and I didn't feel like listening to a guy drone on about something I wasn't interested in, even though it was a nice day on the patio.

I almost got the fish tacos, and the blackened chicken sandwich caught my eye, but in the end I went with the basic burger - a 1/3 pound black angus burger topped with American cheese along with lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles.  The bun was a somewhat oversized bun that was made with a cream ale infused into the flour.  I got fries on the side - tots were available for a buck more, but for some reason I didn't get the tots this time.  

The burger and fries were served on wax paper on a small cooking sheet, similar to the way the burger and fries were served at Green Cheek Beer Company located a couple miles from Hanger 24.  And the burger was good - the American cheese was oozing off the burger all around the patty.  The burger, itself, was flavorful with the taste of the black angus beef popping out with all the cheese, veggies and condiments around it.  The bun, as I said, was pretty good sized and I tore about half of the crown of the bun off the burger as I was eating it.  But it held together pretty well for as messy as the burger was. 

The fries were crispy on the outside and had a nice feathery potato texture inside.  They were a nice accompaniment to the burger.  

By the time I finished up, the bar area at Hanger 24 was filling up with workers from the surrounding office buildings coming in for an after-work beer.  I needed to head back to the hotel to get caught up on some e-mails and I realized well after the fact that I could have easily brought my computer in with me to do some office work while I was enjoying a burger and a beer.  And I did enjoy my food and the beer I had at Hanger 24.  It was really a nice, laid-back brewpub and I would have no problem hitting the place up again at some point in my travels to Southern California.  

Crust Brewing - Rosemont, IL

I was in Chicago on a recent trip staying out in the Des Plaines/Rosemont area as I like to do when I go to Chicago for business.  One afternoon, I was looking for some place to get something to eat near the hotel and I found that there was a new brew pub that specialized in Neapolitan pizzas in a spot where the Hofbrauhaus used to be.  I decided to head over to Crust Brewing to check the place out.  

The father/son duo of Joe and Mike Matuschka were the ones behind the Hofbrauhaus, a franchise of the world famous Hofbrauhaus in Munich, Germany.  They opened their Hofbrauhaus in 2013 in Rosemont's entertainment district and followed it up with a St. Petersburg, FL location in 2015.  They ended up selling the St. Petersburg Hofbrauhaus in 2017 to focus solely on the Rosemont location. 

The Matuschka's were no strangers to the hospitality business in Chicago as they owned the famous Crobar dance club before closing it in 2010.  In 2011, Mike Matuschka opened Leader Bar, a popular eatery on W. Irving Park Road and soon opened a German tavern Uberstein in the Wrigleyville area.  They were also involved in the Max Bar, a dance club in the Lincoln Park neighborhood that opened in 2006.  While Mike Matuschka still owns Leader Bar, he closed Max Bar and Uberstein to focus on Hofbrauhaus soon after it opened in 2013.  

At 20,000 square feet, Hofbrauhaus was a giant beer hall with German music and large enough to handle the big crowds that would visit the restaurant during their annual Oktoberfest celebrations.  For six weeks in the fall, Hofbrauhaus was the place to be for all things German.  (Note - I visited Hofbrauhaus in 2015 to try their food and beers.  Click here to see Road Tips write up on the Hofbrauhaus.)   

But, like everything, things change.  The public trend of getting away from heavy German food was weighing heavily on the Hofbrauhaus.  And it became apparent that the beer hall couldn't sustain its overall business just on Oktoberfest revenues.  There were proposals put forth to cut down on the size of the Hofbrauhaus to possibly half the original size.  The pandemic was the death knell for Hofbrauhaus as the Matuschka's were forced to close the restaurant in February 2021.  

However, the Matuschka's still held the lease on the space and went to the city of Rosemont - who owns the property - with a proposal to change Hofbrauhaus into a brewery/pizza restaurant.  They still had the brewing facilities that they had purchased from Germany on site, and changing out the layout of the space to put in a new kitchen and a large bar in the center of the restaurant had to be approved by the Rosemont village government.  

After the approval was made, work started on the new venture in the spring of 2021 with hopes to be open in the summer of 2021.  However, like many construction projects started during the pandemic, it was plagued by delays due to supply chain issues.  The new Crust Brewery opened in February of 2022 in the south side of the building.  In the other half, Pete's Dueling Piano Bar - which originally had opened in the Rosemont entertainment district years ago before closing - took up about 5,000 square feet of the former Hofbrauhaus, while Pete's Tiki Tiki, a tiki bar, took the remaining 1,000 or so square feet of the building.  

I pulled up to Crust Brewing around 1:30 p.m. on a weekday.  (see map)  I was lucky to get a parking spot in front of the restaurant as there is a large (paid) parking garage that's a bit of a walk from Crust.   

The center piece of the restaurant was a large rectangular bar that featured a number of flat panel televisions on the sides.  I had my choice of sitting somewhere in the restaurant, but I decided to belly up to the bar. 

Directly behind the bar was part of the main room dining area. On the brick walls was the Crust logo with more flatscreen televisions.  Thick wooden-topped tables under direct LED lighting were waiting for customers to fill them up.  This was dubbed the cocktail bar area and could be cordoned off for private events.  

To the far right side was a modern and sleek open kitchen including a large pizza oven and a grill area.  Long tables for larger groups or communal dining were in front of the kitchen.  In all, Crust had a number different spots that could accommodate large and small groups.  

Opposite from the kitchen toward the front end of the restaurant, just over a half wall with glass partitions was another dining space that featured booths and tables.  Near the front door was a small bar area that could be used for private parties for drinks and hors d' oeuvres.  In all, the inside dining areas at Crust can seat 350 people with another 100 seats available on the patio during warmer months.  

In a room just steps from the bar were the large vats for brewing the beer on the premises.  Rob Hunter was the brewmaster during the Hofbrauhaus days and was sort of forced to follow the beer recipes handed down from the original Hofbrauhaus in Munich.  With the shackles off, Hunter has explored other style of beers including 8 regular varieties along with occasional seasonal beers. 

It wasn't all that busy that afternoon and the diverse music selections they had playing over the sound system from the likes of Loren Gray, Clayton Anderson, Mark Ronson, and the English rock band James were a nice background distraction from the sports and news talking heads shown on the televisions around the restaurant.  

Sitting at the bar, I was handed a food menu by one of the two bartenders working that day.  A young man and a young lady, the two tag-teamed on the service duties for me.   The young lady gave me a beer menu to look over and I immediately saw that they had a hazy IPA - the Hazed & Confused - on the beer list.  I ordered a pint of that beer to enjoy while I looked over the food menu.  

The first thing on the menu were the shareable appetizers that included a spinach dip with focaccia bread, spicy cheese curds, beer-steamed mussels, and crostini bread slices served with a creamy burrata cheese.  They also had a handful of salads on the menu in which protein items such as grilled shrimp, marinated skirt steak, and lemon garlic salmon could be added to the greens.  Crust also featured a few sandwiches and burgers on the menu with sides such as truffle fries, onion rings, and mac & cheese available.  

But their big pull are their wood-fired pizzas.  All the pizzas at Crust are 12" in size and cut into sixths.  And they feature a choice of either a red or white sauce on the pizza.  There were a dozen specialty pizzas on the menu with the red sauce and 10 different types of specialty pizzas with the white sauce.  Pizzas with individual choices of toppings were available as well.

I certainly didn't want a pizza for lunch - I was going out for dinner with a client later that evening.  But I felt that I needed something to tide me over for the meanwhile.  I ended up getting the basic cheeseburger with American cheese, grilled onions, and something called a "fat boy" sauce.  It was served on some wax paper on a small baking sheet.  For an extra $2 bucks I got a side of their parmesan truffle fries.  

The burger was good - the bun was a little stiff, but it didn't detract from the overall taste of the burger.  The burger was juicy and flavorful, cooked to a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle.  The cheese oozed off the sides of the burger patty and the onions didn't overpower the flavor.  The fries were fine - and there were plenty of them.  Overall, I'd call it above average all the way around.  

Possibly in the future I'll head back to Crust Brewery for a pizza at some point, but for now the burger I had for lunch gave me an introduction to the place.  Even though the place is big, I didn't feel like I was eating in a cavernous establishment.  The service I had from the two bartenders - especially from the very attentive female bartender - was superb.  I enjoyed the burger and the hazy IPA beer they had on tap was also very good.  I'm sure it can get pretty busy at times at Crust - the entertainment district can get sort of crowded, especially at night.  But for a leisurely lunch with a burger and a couple beers, I sort of liked going to Crust Brewery.  

Green Cheek Beer Company - Costa Mesa, CA

I flew out to Orange County last fall to attend a trade show and to call on accounts in the area.  I got in a little early, got my rental car, and went to my hotel near the airport.  Upon check in, I was told that my room wasn't ready just yet.  It was about 2 p.m. and with my stomach still on Central time, I was feeling sort of hungry.  I decided to head back out to the car and look up to see if there were any brewpubs in the area that served food.  It turned out there were two or three in the immediate vicinity.  I picked one - Green Cheek Brewing Company - and put in the address into my GPS.  Less than 10 minutes later, I was pulling up to the brewpub.  

The Green Cheek Beer Company story is one that is very familiar within the craft brewing community.  It all started with a guy who loved to brew his own beers at home, but was horrible in doing so.  

Evan Price loved to brew his own beer.  But batch after batch was tossed when he determined it just wasn't very good.  You'd think a guy with so many failures would just throw in the towel and find some other hobby, but the more batches of home brew that were tossed, the more determined Price became to make a good beer.  

In 2006, Price was working as a server at the House of Blues in Anaheim when a dust up with a difficult and unreasonable customer caused Price to lose his job.  He eventually got a job at a BJ's Brewhouse location, a burgeoning chain of brewpubs that started in Southern California in the late 70's as a pizza place and had established their first brewpub in Brea, CA in 1996.  

While Price started out at BJ's Brewhouse as a server, he got to know the guys working back in the brewery.  He was picking their brains about the brewing process and was eventually hired by one of the brewmasters to work in the brewery cleaning kegs.  While Price worked in the brewery for two years, BJ's Brewhouse went through a series of corporate restructuring and Price worked under five different brewmasters during that time.  While he wasn't fully involved in the brewing process, he learned different brewing techniques and beer style concepts.    

In 2008, Price was hired to be a brewmaster at the brand new Hangar 24 brewery in Redlands, CA.  (Look for an upcoming Road Tips entry on Hanger 24.)  Working with owner/head brewmaster Ben Cook, Price helped develop beers for Hanger 24's first 18 months in business.  The initial success and quick growth at Hangar 24 stressed Price out to the point that he had to quit and find something else to do.  

Looking for something a little more low key, Price was hired on at TAPS Fish House & Brewery in Brea, CA.  While at TAPS, Price worked next to brewmaster Victor Novak who was instrumental in Price's continuing on-the-job education.  Novak was more of a beer "chef" than a brewer who used only top-notch ingredients, then would sometimes tweak the content of his beers during the brewing process.  During his time at TAPS, Novak won 16 medals at the Great American Brewing Festival for his European-style beers.  Price worked with Novak for two-and-a-half years at TAPS and the brewpub was named Southern California Brewpub of the Year two years running.  

One day in 2012, the owners of the fledgling Noble Ale Works called Novak looking for recommendations of a brewmaster to take over as their original brewmaster had left unexpectedly.  Novak immediately told them they should hire Price.  Price jumped at the chance to take over the full operations of his own brewery, but when he got there, he found that Noble Ale Works was nearly broke.  The company's Chief Financial Officer Brian Rauso agreed to allow Price to basically change everything the brewery was doing and started the process from scratch.  

Pictured right - Evan Price and Brian Rauso.  Photo courtesy The Full Pint - Craft Beer News.  

Within 4 years, Rauso was the CEO of Noble Ale Works and Price was winning medals at the Great American Beer Festival.  In 2016, Noble Ale Works was named the Craft Brewery of the Year at the G.A.B.F.  The little brewery in Anaheim suddenly became a destination for beer aficionados across Southern California.    

But differences with the investors in Noble Ale Works caused Rauso to bail on the place in late 2016.  In 2017, Price saw the handwriting on the wall and decided to leave, as well.  It couldn't have come at a more critical time in Price's life as his wife Aubrey had just given birth to twin baby boys.  Rauso determined that starting their own brewery was a good career path and it turned out that a small brewery by the name of Valiant Brewing Company in Orange, CA was going out of business.  Rauso and Price bid on the brewery and its equipment and their proposal was accepted.  

In Southern California, there is a bird called the Green Cheek parrot.  They're loud, but very social birds.  Rauso and Evans thought the name would be apropos to the concept of their brewpub.  After getting a small business loan from a local bank, Rauso and Price took over the brewery in April of 2017 and opened the doors in June of that year.

Less than a year later Green Cheek Beer Co. took home a silver medal at the 2018 World Beer Cup for a West Coast IPA, and later that year they took home two bronze medals at the Great American Beer Festival.  They followed up their two medals from 2018 at the 2019 G.A.B.F. with a gold medal for a pale ale and a silver for the West Coast IPA.  

In 2019, Green Cheek had an opportunity to bid at auction on a brewpub in Costa Mesa that had fallen on hard times.  Rauso and Price bid on the brewery that came complete with its own kitchen and their winning bid was accepted in December of that year.  A week later they took over the former Barley Forge brewpub and opened their second Green Cheek location in January of 2020 just before the pandemic.  And in September of 2022, Green Cheek opened their 3rd location in Sunset Beach - a small town between Seal Beach and Huntington Beach - along the Pacific Coast Highway.  

It was about a 10 minute drive from the hotel to Green Cheek Brewing Company which is situated in an industrial park just northwest of John Wayne Airport in an triangular area bordered by the 405, 73 and 55 freeways in Costa Mesa.  (see map)  It's actually situated off the street toward the back of the building at 2957 Randolph Ave. and I was a little confused as the entrance to the brewery is pretty nondescript with a small sign over the front door.  

It is definitely an active brewery with the brewing operations in the back of the building.  There were a number of workers in the brewery when I took a look in through the window just off to the side of the bar area.  At Green Cheek's Costa Mesa location they have seven 30-barrel fermentation tanks and a single 30-barrel wooden foudre vessel for aging.    

The main area when you walk in features the main bar with counter service for ordering both beer and food.  It was a bright area with exposed rafters and ductwork.  There was a sound system that featured music playing in the background by artists such as Black Keys, Blind Pilot, The Strokes, Fleet Foxes and Spoon.  The food and beer menus were on the wall or available to download via a QR code.  A cooler off to the side offered four and six packs of some of Green Cheek's featured beers for people to take home.     

Out back was the beer garden featuring some nice picnic tables place on artificial turf with gold triangular sail canopies covering the beer garden.  The fencing was made out of old pallets banded together that were painted a deep royal blue.  I thought it was a pretty ingenious way of dealing with old pallets.  

I brought my computer in with me to do some catching up on e-mails and orders that I had received while I was traveling to Southern California.  I ended up sitting in a room between the main room and the outdoor patio that probably could be used for meetings, reception, parties, etc.  The room had windows that looked into the main room was painted in the same light blue pastel color as the main pub room.  

Before I sat down, I decided to grab a beer and I tried a couple - the 'Member IPA which was more of a West Coast IPA with Canadian hops, and the Spinning My Wheels New England Hazy IPA that I liked very much.  I ended up getting a pint of that.

The food menu is pretty limited at Green Cheek - they have a chicken club sandwich, a double smashed flat-grilled burger, and a Buffalo chicken sandwich.  Wings, fries, tots, and fresh-baked pretzels were available, as well.  Vegan options such as plant-based burgers and a nacho plate featuring plant-based chorizo were also on the menu.  

I ended up getting the double smash burger with a couple of slices of American cheese along with grilled onions on a potato bun.  It was nestled in a paper wrapper on a small cookie sheet as a serving plate.  Once I found out they had tots available, I signed up for a side order with tots.  The condiment counter was near the bar and I loaded up on napkins as this was definitely going to be a multi-napkin burger.  

And the burger was excellent.  Juicy with great flavor and it had that slight smashed char around the perimeter of the burger patties.  The cheese oozed off the burger with nearly every bite and the potato bun held up very well with the messy nature of the burger.  The tots were a great compliment to the burger, even though they didn't offer Cholula hot sauce that I like to put on them.  But there were way too many of them and I was only able to eat a few after finished up the burger.

For taking a chance on this place, Green Cheek Brewing Company turned out to be a great find.  I was able to catch up on my work and enjoy a couple beers with my meal while I was waiting for my room to open back at the hotel.  The double smash burger was simply outstanding and the tots that went with the burger were crispy on the outside with a nice feathery texture inside.  And I can't say enough about the hazy IPA beer that I had.  Even though it's sort of industrial and minimalist in decor, the beer garden was very nice.  Green Cheek Brewing Company may be hard to find, but it was well worth the visit.

505 Central Food Hall - Albuquerque, NM

During our trip to New Mexico last year, we found an interesting place not far from our hotel that was an urban food hall that housed 6 different restaurants, two bars/breweries, and a craft coffee shop.  For lunch one day, we decided to go check out 505 Central Food Hall and see what it was all about.   

Mark Baker didn't start out as a food hall owner or a coffee shop owner, but as an architect with an undergraduate degree from Oklahoma.  After working for a few years as a project architect, Baker moved to Los Angeles to work on his masters at UCLA.  While going to school at UCLA, Baker continued to work as a project architect in the greater Los Angeles area.  After graduating with his masters in architecture from UCLA in 2002, Baker moved to Albuquerque and started his own firm - Baker Architecture + Design.    

Baker had a number areas of interest - he was a musician and a part-time songwriter, he played tennis and founded Tennisopolis, the world's largest social network site for tennis players.  But he also loved coffee, especially craft coffee.  In 2014, Baker opened Humble Coffee, a small craft coffee brewer on Lomas Ave. in Albuquerque's Nob Hill neighborhood. 

But Baker also liked to travel and during his time in Europe and South America he noticed a number of food halls in place where people would congregate and have their choice of restaurants where to eat.  It was something that he visualized being in downtown Albuquerque.  So, in 2016 Baker bought the building at 505 Central Avenue just across the street from the historic KiMo Theatre.  The building had three floors each totaling approximately 13,000 square feet in floor space.  Baker planned on having a food hall on the main floor, offices on the 2nd floor, and condos on the 3rd floor.

Pictured right - Mark Baker.  Photo courtesy Albuquerque Business Journal.  

Baker moved his architectural company's offices into the building soon after he bought the building and began the task of designing a food hall similar to the ones he encountered in his travels.  Construction began on the food hall in 2019 and things were moving along nicely until the pandemic hit in March of 2020 basically shutting down all construction and commerce in Albuquerque.  

As the world slowly opened back up in the summer of 2020, construction on the food hall continued and by November the vendors were in place and 505 Central Food Hall opened to much anticipation on November 14, 2020.  9 vendors were in place including a second location of Humble Coffee and Moonwalk Bev - a brewery/distillery that was co-owned by Baker.  

505 Central Food Hall is actually the third food market in the greater Albuquerque area.  In early 2020, Sawmill Market opened on the city's west side near Old Town Albuquerque.  A second food hall - Tin Can Alley - opened in the midst of the pandemic in May of 2020 on Albuquerque's far north side.  A fourth food hall - tentatively named Highlands Central Food Market - has been in development for over 2 years along the Central Ave. corridor on the east side of downtown Albuquerque.  As of now, 505 Central Food Hall is the only one in downtown Albuquerque.  

We got into 505 Central Food Hall around 1:30 that particular afternoon.  It's located at the corner of 5th St. and Central Ave. in downtown Albuquerque, about a three block walk from our hotel. (see map)  The expansive food hall had some vendor booths in the middle and a courtyard of tables along the east wall that looks out on to 5th Street.  

Toward the back opposite corner from the front door was a common area with more tables.  It was a sunny and warm afternoon and there weren't a lot of people in the place so we were able to walk around and check out the vendors in the food hall.

In addition to Humble Coffee and Moonwalk Bev, 505 Central has a taco place (Tino's Tacos), a deli and sandwich shop (Stackt), a spicy chicken joint (KūKri), a ramen noodle place (Naruto Ramen), a pizza joint (Thicc Pizza Co.), and a sports bar/package liquor store (Packie's Bar).  

They also had a burger joint in 505 Central - Stackers Burger Company.  The man behind KūKri n the food hall - Basit Gauba - also owns the Tikka Spice food truck in Albuquerque.  Gauba is a James Beard Award semi-finalist and his food truck also won a local contest for the best green chile cheeseburger in Albuquerque in 2023.  Two spots opened up in the 505 Central Food Hall earlier in 2023 after the vendors didn't renew their leases, and Mark Baker convinced Gauba to open KūKri and Stackers Burger Company in those empty spots.  

And it was at Stackers Burger Company where we ended up.  They had a variety of burgers to choose from and we picked out a couple.  We got our order numbers and went over to Moonwalk to have a drink while we waited for our burgers to cook up.  Moonwalk has sort of a retro-70's vibe to it complete with a large moon on the wall near the bar.  We took a seat at the bar and my wife ordered up a Moonwalk-distilled vodka and cranberry, while I got a Moonwalk India Pale Ale.  I asked the bartender if it would be OK to eat at the bar and she enthusiastically said, "You bet!"

I ended up getting the Duke City Cheeseburger - the recent winner in the Green Chile Cheeseburger Smackdown contest in Albuquerque.  It featured two smashed burger patties topped with cheese, green chiles, and sautéed onions.  At that point during our trip to New Mexico, I was pretty burnt out on all things chile, but I had to try this burger.  And it was fabulous.  The green chiles had a smoky and earthy quality taste to them.  The burgers were juicy and full of flavor.  It was an outstanding burger. 

All of Stackers Burger Company's burgers come with two patties and my wife wasn't that hungry.  She asked the guy at the counter if she could get just a single burger.  He suggested the classic mustard grilled cheeseburger with just one patty instead of two.  That's what she ended up ordering and she also thought it was very good.  

We've been to food halls before, most notably in Milwaukee and Chicago where they're three or four times larger than 505 Central Food Hall.  But for downtown Albuquerque, this food hall is large enough with enough diversity to take care of people working in the area.  The burgers we had at Stackers Burger Company were excellent - the award winning Duke City Cheeseburger was a great value at $11.95 - and I thought the IPA from Moonwalk Bev in the food hall was very good, as well. The food hall/market concept is one that we're starting to see more and more of where old buildings are being repurposed.  And the 505 Central Food Hall was a good representation of just that.  

Happy Gnome - Fort Wayne, IN

I was out in Fort Wayne calling on our largest account and hosting a training session.  My colleague was flying in from Montreal later in the evening, so I was on my own for food that evening.  It had been awhile since I'd been to a brewpub in Fort Wayne, a city that has many very good brewpubs.  I found one in the downtown area that I wasn't familiar with - The Hoppy Gnome.  It had a fun name and sounded like a good place to get a beer and some food, so I headed there for dinner.  

James Khan grew up on the southeast side of Fort Wayne and on the advice of his high school counselor he went to Purdue University to study electrical engineering.  After 3 years, Khan decided to move back to Fort Wayne to finish his schooling at Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne (Now Purdue-Fort Wayne).  After graduating, Khan took a job with an engineering firm in the city, but also took a part-time job as a food runner/bus boy at the brand new Biaggi's Italian restaurant.  Within a month, Khan was promoted to server.  

Khan was still working at the engineering firm, but was thinking more and more about the restaurant business.  When Biaggi's offered him a chance to enter their restaurant management program, Khan jumped at the chance.  He left the engineering firm and started as a manager trainee at Biaggi's for a paltry $8 dollars an hour.  

Pictured right - James Khan. Photo courtesy Input Fort Wayne

Khan eventually made it to be the assistant managing partner at Biaggi's in Fort Wayne, but it was a phone call from an area restauranteur that put him on the path to owning his own restaurants.  

Doug Wood and his wife Patty had just taken over BakerStreet, an upscale steakhouse on the city's north side.  The Woods had met while both were working at the Cork 'N Cleaver for a number of years and took over the fledgling BakerStreet restaurant less than a year after it opened.  They were looking for someone with restaurant managerial experience and turned to Khan.  Khan wasn't certain he was up for the task, but the Woods offered Khan the position of managing partner of BakerStreet.  In 2009, Khan left Biaggi's and became a part-owner in BakerStreet.  

In 2014, Khan and partners Lysa Pelkington and Chad Kyle bought out the Woods and started a corporation - ObiCai Restaurant Group.   In 2015, the trio began to develop a new restaurant, a bistro/brewpub with a focus on taqueria-style foods.  

Just before the new brewpub was opened, Kyle left the group to become the executive chef at Parkview Health in Fort Wayne.  Khan was able to convince Peter Shuey to return home from Southern California to take over as the head chef and director of operations for BakerStreet and the new brewpub.  The name for the restaurant came about from a late night session with partners, managers and employees over what to name the new brewpub.  It was almost called the Hoppy Dragon until Khan found out that Shuey liked gnomes.  The Hoppy Gnome moniker stuck and the brewpub/taqueria opened in July of 2015.  

In 2016, ObiCai Restaurants opened their third location - GnomeTown Brewing Company - a burger-centric brewpub that also allows people to come in and brew their own beers.  And in 2018, Khan and his group opened Proxima, a Latin-inspired restaurant in downtown Fort Wayne that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. (As a side note - Lysa Pelkington left the company in 2019 to spend more time with her growing family.) 

The Hoppy Gnome is located at the corner of E. Berry St. and the southbound lanes of US Highway 27 in downtown Fort Wayne.  (see map)  It's located on the street level of the Anthony Wayne building that Khan helped develop into restaurant, retail and condominium space in 2014.  

I was able to find a parking space across the street from the brewpub near the stately Allen County Courthouse.  The courthouse is an impressive structure and would rival some state capitols that I've seen during my travels over the years.  

 

Working my way past the outdoor patio dining area along Berry Street, the entrance of the Hoppy Gnome takes you in to a large lobby that serves as a central point for both the Hoppy Gnome and the in-house brewery, GnomeTown Brewing Company.   There was a large mural on the wall in the lobby that was sort of a flow chart of different types of ingredients that led to different styles of beer.  

 
GnomeTown Brewing Co. maintains their own brewpub restaurant about 3 blocks away from the Hoppy Gnome, but this location is what is known as a "Brew-On-Premises" brewery that allows budding home-brewers to come in and learn about the brewing process from GnomeTown Brewing's brewing engineers.   The GnomeTown facility is the only "Brew-On-Premises" site in the state of Indiana.  

The brewing room allows people to come in and discuss the kind of beer they'd like to make, then pick out the ingredients and participate in the brewing process.  The large brewing room also has tables and benches along with a small bar area where amateur brewers can invite friends and family in to try the beer once it's finished.   

To the left of the lobby area is the entrance to the Hoppy Gnome.  It was a large space with floor to ceiling windows along the west and south walls of the restaurant.  The architecture of the restaurant was sort of what I would call modern industrial with exposed ductwork in the ceiling with concrete pillars standing at various points around the dining area.   

Wooden cubicles around padded booths were the focal point of the dining area with heavy duty wooden tables with metal chairs throughout the room.  A large window allowed patrons to look into the kitchen area.  For as much wood, concrete and glass in the dining area, it was surprisingly not loud in the place.  

The dining area was about half full when I got in to the Hoppy Gnome, so I asked the hostess if I could eat at the bar.  She said, "Sure!" and she led me to a seat at the bar.  Three or four people were already seated at the bar and there was a WNBA basketball game on the television.  

The bartender that night was a guy by the name of Park.  It's an unusual name as I've only known one other guy by the name of Park.  This Park told me that it was a family name through generations.  He placed a menu in front of me and asked what I wanted to drink.  In addition to their beers from GnomeTown Brewing Co. on their beer menu, the Hoppy Gnome also features a number of craft brews from such regional breweries such as 3 Floyds, Founders, Half Acre, and Fort Wayne's Junk Ditch Brewery.  

He had a couple hazy IPA's on the menu - GnomeTown's Prescription New England IPA, and the Mister Fahrenheit NE IPA from North High Brewing out of the Columbus, OH area.  I really liked the Prescription hazy IPA and ended up getting a pint of that.  

While tacos are a big part of the menu, they had a number of other interesting items on the menu.  Actually, a few things got my attention as I was looking through the menu including the buttermilk fried chicken tenders (I don't know, I was sort of in a chicken tender mood that evening), the flank steak with cilantro chimichurri was another thing that caught my eye, as well as the seafood gumbo.  The only thing that nixed the gumbo for me was that they put breaded and fried shrimp into the gumbo at the Hoppy Gnome.  They also had a peach/habanero-glazed carnitas sandwich that jumped out at me.  

But the tacos were very interesting to me.  They had well over a dozen different types of tacos including a Thai meatball taco, a slow-braised pork belly taco and a smoked-jerk chicken taco.  They also had a number of vegetarian taco options including a beer-battered fried avocado taco, a sautéed mushroom and garlic aioli taco, and the "Boom Boom Pow" taco that had crispy chickpeas in a chipotle honey glaze and jicama.  

The great thing about order tacos at the Hoppy Gnome is that they'll allow you to order just one of whatever style instead of 3 of just one style some other places make you order.  That allowed me to try smoked brisket taco, the pan-seared cod taco, and the "Lambda, Lambda, Lambda" taco - braised lamb in a coconut-curry sauce with a cilantro-lime crema topped with a diced cucumber salad on top.  

Unfortunately, Park came back with the bad news - they were out of the lamb tacos that night.  Somewhat crestfallen, I looked at the menu one more time and was back into a quandary - the pulled carnitas tacos sounded good, as did the carne asada taco with the salsa verde.  And they had a slow-cooked short rib taco that sounded delicious.  I ended up getting the pulled carnitas taco.

I have to say that it probably didn't matter which taco I chose as each one of the tacos were outstanding.  From left to right:  The fish taco - "The Ocean Called..." - featured pan-seared cod chunked up and topped with green cabbage, fire-roasted salsa, sour cream, an avocado slice and finished with fried fresno chile rings.  The coolness of the sour cream was a great balance to the spiciness of the other toppings.   

In the middle, the pulled pork came with a creamy Carolina barbecue sauce topped with a smoked jalapeño slaw.  It had a bit of a bite, but I didn't think it was all that spicy.  It was probably the weakest of the three in overall flavor, but not that it was bad - far from it.  It's just that there were a lot of flavor explosions in each bite of the other two tacos.

The third taco - on the right - was the applewood-smoked brisket topped with a chipotle-cherry salsa, and finished with fried scallions.  The brisket was tender, juicy and full of flavor.  The chipotle-cherry salsa had that great balance of heat and sweet, and was a great combination with the brisket.  

My colleague from Montreal got in later that night and the next day we had some time for lunch before we were to set up for our training session.  I told him about how great the tacos were at the Hoppy Gnome the night before and the number of vegetarian options on the menu.  "That sounds good," he said.  We ended up going back to the Happy Gnome for lunch.  That trip, I got the short rib barbacoa taco and the carne asada taco with the salsa verde.  Both were absolutely fabulous.  My co-worker got the Thai peanut rice noodles in a spicy thai peanut sauce with bulgogi marinated tofu.  Chopped red onions, red bell peppers, carrots, cilantro and scallions were mixed in.  "Wow," he said before he took a large gulp of his beer.  "This is really good and it's really spicy!"

In a city with a lot of very good to excellent brewpubs, I have to say I have a new No. 1 in my book.  The Hoppy Gnome had outstanding tacos, some great beers - both their own and from other regional breweries - and a great atmosphere with great service both times I was there.   They have a "made-from-scratch" kitchen that allows patrons to add or subtract items from entrees, sandwiches and tacos.  It's a great place for vegetarians and the tacos I had were simply excellent.  The Hoppy Gnome should be the first place you want to try for a brewpub in Fort Wayne and then go from there to some of the other excellent brewpubs in the area.  

Second Street Brewery - Santa Fe, NM

While exploring Santa Fe, we started off the day with a big breakfast.  I wasn't all that hungry by mid-afternoon, but my wife thought she needed something to eat.  We started to look up brew pubs in the area and one that we had noticed a day earlier in the Railyard Arts and Entertainment District near downtown Santa Fe.  We took off to check out the Second Street Brewery.  

In 1995, Rod Tweet was just out of brewing school in California and looking for an opportunity to work for a start-up brewery.  He already had his degree in engineering from the Oregon Institute of Technology and dabbled as a D.J. at the campus radio station.  But he decided to enroll at the American Brewers Guild in California to learn how to brew beer.  While he was in the apprenticeship program at a brewery in Seattle, Tweet got the call from the-then owner of the brewery to come to work for him.  

When Tweet showed up in early 1996 to work, he found a brewery that was literally under construction in a building on Second Street in Santa Fe.  Starting the brewery from scratch as the head brewer was exactly what Tweet was looking to do.  By August of that year, Second Street Brewery opened - the first in the city of Santa Fe.  

By 2000, the original owner wanted to get out of the business and Tweet stepped in to buy the brewery.  In 2010, Tweet opened the second Second Street Brewery location in the Railyard district.  A third location on Rufina Street in Santa Fe opened in 2017 basically doubling their brewing capacity.  

Pictured right - Rod Tweet.  Picture courtesy Edible New Mexico magazine. 

In 2022, the 20-year lease on the Second Street location ran out and Tweet decided not to renew it.  That location closed in the summer of last year.  However, my GPS still showed it was there.  We went there first only to find that the location was closed.  We then high-tailed it toward Santa Fe's downtown to go to the Railyard location.  

Parking is a little crazy around the Railyard.  I didn't know that there was a parking garage and a lot about a block and a half away, but I found some paid parking in a spot on Chili Line Lane near the brewery. (see map)

The Santa Fe Railyard district dates back to 1880 when the depot opened at the terminus of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail line.  The railroad brought thousands of people to Santa Fe to either seek their fortune or to vacation in the clean New Mexico air.  The site remained a central hub of travel to and from Santa Fe until the 1950's.  

With highways replacing railroads as the preferred means of transportation in the 1950's, activity at the railyard began to diminish.  By the mid-1980's, the area around the railyard had become blighted and an initiative came about to redevelop the area into arts & entertainment, shopping and restaurant spaces.  It took nearly 20 years for plans, approvals, financials, and construction before the Railyard District opened in September of 2008.  Second Street Brewing Company opened their location at the Railyard two years later. 

Inside Second Street Brewing we found a wide open area with a bar up front and heavy duty wood-top tables spread around the dining area.  The decor was decidedly modern industrial and there was a small patio area in the front.  The music playing in the background was mainly 70's and 80's classic rock.  

Our server was a man by the name of Dennis, a friendly guy who dropped off a couple menus for us to look over.  They had about a dozen of their beers on tap and we tried couple.  I tried the Kolsch, the Second Street American IPA, and the Sloppy Sloth Hazy New England IPA.  While all three were good, I went with the hazy IPA.  My wife was intrigued by the 2920 IPA which said it was a "gluten-removed" beer.  

When she asked Dennis what the difference was between "gluten-free" and "gluten-removed", Dennis quickly answered saying that gluten-free beer is using grains with no gluten in them from the start, while gluten-removed beer starts with hops and grains with gluten, then removed during the brewing process.  He asked if my wife was gluten-intolerant and she told him she was not.  "That's good," he said.  "If you do have celiac disease you can't always count on a 'gluten-removed' beer as being fully removed of gluten.  But, honestly, I don't think we've ever had a problem in the time I've worked here."  

As we were just looking for a mid-afternoon snack to keep us going up to dinner that evening, I really didn't want much of anything.  My wife needed food more than me - she needs three square meals a day while I can go all day on one meal if I can.  But while on vacation, I'll do breakfast and an occasional lunch with my wife in addition to a nice dinner.  

They had a green chile stew on the menu, but by that point in time I was pretty burnt out on green chile stew or green chili sauce.  We saw the chicken wings on the menu, but they were pretty expensive - $14 for 6 large wings.  My wife mentioned the roasted turkey wrap, but I don't care for turkey all that much.   We noticed some guys at a table near us were all getting burgers - and they looked really good - but decided that was going to be too much and possibly lay on the stomach.

We finally did find something on the menu that we figured we could share - the grilled fish tacos.  It was on the appetizers part of the menu and we had a choice between chicken, beef, grilled cod, or sautéed portobello mushroom strips.  Second Street Brewery gets their tortilla shells locally from a small Mexican restaurant Alicia's Tortilleria.  The fish tacos came with a mixed cabbage slaw and were topped with pico de gallo and an avocado-flavored sour cream.  

The tacos were certainly spot-hitters for us both.  After a large breakfast just a few hours before, they were light, full of flavor, and went very well with the beers we were having.  One taco each was just enough for us.  

We never did make it back to Second Street Brewery for at least one more beer, but I thought the Sloppy Sloth hazy IPA was pretty damned good.  The grilled cod tacos were also very good and we had great service from Dennis.  Second Street Brewery was a great place to hang for an hour or so on a warm Santa Fe day and I'm sort of sorry that we never made it back.  

Junk Ditch Brewing Company - Fort Wayne, IN

Since my largest account is located in Fort Wayne, I've been spending some time in the city.  Fort Wayne has a very vibrant micro-brewing community and I've had the pleasure of finding some good brewpubs in my trips out there over the years.  On this visit to Fort Wayne, I found one that I had not been to before - Junk Ditch Brewing Company.  

Unlike many brewpubs who got their start from home brewers, Junk Ditch Brewing Company actually started in a food truck.  Andrew Smith and Dan Campbell started up the Affiné food truck in 2012 offering customers made-from-scratch specialties made with locally sourced ingredients.  A couple years later, the duo became a trio when business partner Jack May came into the picture.  May was a chef and had an extensive culinary background as a line cook, sous chef and a butcher.  The group had talked about doing a restaurant at some point and thought about something that would be beer-centric with a farm-to-fork sustainable prix-fixe menu.  

Along with Jack May, his wife Grace Kelly May became a big part of the project.  Grace Kelly May was an artisanal baker and classic pastry chef who had moved back to Fort Wayne after working in restaurants all over the U.S.   She was in the process of opening her own bakery - GK Baked Goods.   She would provide the new brewpub concept her husband and their partners were working on with the buns, breads and other baked goods.  GK Baked Goods opened in 2015, the first restaurant under the Affiné Hospitality umbrella.  

For their brewpub, the group found a nearly 100 year old building - which abutted up to Junk Ditch Creek - that initially was a paper company, then later became a slaughterhouse before becoming a warehouse in later years.  The building needed a lot of work, but it was perfect for the plans the group had for their brewpub.   After an extensive renovation of the building, which included the destruction of the second floor to give the dining area more of an open space, Junk Ditch Brewing opened in July of 2016.  

It was around 6:30 when I pulled into the parking lot at Junk Ditch Brewing.  (see map)  The problem was that there was an outdoor gathering with live music and food trucks (including the Junk Ditch Brewing truck) that was going on in the green space next to the brewery.  The parking area was packed and I had to search for a spot.  I finally found one - next to a dumpster that was used by a Jamaican restaurant and a convenience store next to the brewery.  Not the most optimal spot, but at least I found something close to the brewery.  

Inside Junk Ditch Brewing the dining room was open and airy with distressed wood accents along the short walls with distressed wood table tops and banquet seating.  The original beams that held up the second floor were exposed with multi-color stained wood panels highlighting the area above the bar area.  The dining area wasn't all that big, seating - maybe - 70 people at capacity.  

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender whose name was Gage.  He looked like a guy who would be named Gage - actually, he looked a lot like the actor Chris Evans.  But he was a nice guy and was very helpful with any of the questions on the beer and food that I had that evening.  

The beer menu at Junk Ditch varies through the months.  4-packs of 16 ounce cans and growlers are available for people who want to drink their beers at home.  They have most of the usual suspects in the different styles of beer available year round with different varieties from time to time.  The hazy IPA that they had on tap that evening was called the Idle Enterprise.  It was...., well, it was OK.  Not the best hazy IPA I've had, but certainly not the worst.  The beer had a rich hoppy flavor with a bit of a citrus backing.  

The food menu also changes seasonally and with availability.  Burgers and sandwiches are usually fixed in terms of being on the menu on a daily basis.  Small plates such as fried Brussels sprouts and falafel bites were available as appetizers.  The Cubano sandwich made with a GK Baked Goods ciabatta along with locally sourced ham and braised pork carnitas sounded good - good enough that I briefly considered it before I realized that I was in Fort Wayne and not South Florida.  And the burgers they had - especially mushroom/Swiss burger - sounded good.  But I had a burger the night before and I really didn't want another one that evening  

Two of the specials they had that night both sounded appetizing.   They had a chuck roast with gnocchi in a pureéd sauce made with gochujang (a spicy Korean paste), brown butter and a slow-cooked egg topped with chopped fresh scallions and sesame seeds.  The other was a gluten-free chicken breast cooked in a fish sauce and caramel glaze.  It came with rice and finished with sesame broccoli crowns, pickled onions, crispy shallots, sliced radish and micro greens.  

I had to have Gage help me in my choice that evening.  I told him what I was thinking about and it was really down to the chuck roast gnocchi and the chicken and rice.  "Oh, go with the beef and gnocchi," he said enthusiastically.  

And I'm glad I did.  The chuck roast beef was tender and pulled apart easily.  The gnocchi was good, but the sauce - oh... my... GOD!!  The sauce had a bit of a spicy bite, but overall it was excellent.  It was thick and full of flavor.  I told Gage that they really needed to serve it with bread to dip into the sauce.  I mean, it was all I could do from putting the bowl up to my mouth and slurping down the rest of the sauce once I had finish the beef and gnocchi.  If I had a spoon, I would finished the sauce off like a soup.  It was just amazing.  

Fort Wayne has so many very good brewpubs that it's getting to the point that you really can't go wrong with any of them.  It's like each one of them steps up their game when a new one comes on line.  And the meal I had at Junk Ditch Brewing Company was just outstanding.  The hazy IPA I had was fine, but the meal was pretty memorable.  It's sort of hard to find, but if you ever make it to Fort Wayne, a visit to Junk Ditch should be on your list.     

 

Birch's on the Lake - Long Lake, MN

A former account of mine in the Twin Cities area knew of my affinity with supper clubs and brew pubs.  About four years ago, he told me of a place on a lake just west of Minneapolis that was a combination supper club AND a brew pub.  I had this place on my "Restaurants to Visit" list ever since.  But because of the pandemic and subsequent job changes, I hadn't been back up to Minneapolis for a while.   I did recently visit to the Twin Cities for work and this time I made my way out to Birch's on the Lake.  

Back in the early 60's, a supper club by the name of Hanson House opened on the shores of Long Lake near Wayzata and Orono just west of Minneapolis.  When Hanson House closed in 1984, Billy's Lighthouse took over the supper club and it continued to be a favorite destination for steaks, fish fries and great views of the lake.  But Billy's Lighthouse closed down in 2006 and the property was re-zoned to accommodate a proposed townhome development.  

The townhome development never materialized, however, and the original supper club building was never demolished.  It sat vacant for nearly 10 years before another restauranteur in the area came to its rescue.  

Burton Joseph grew up in the restaurant and catering business.  His family ran Joseph Catering in Minneapolis for a number of years and his father owned a franchised chicken restaurant in the 1960's and 70's.  Two years after Billy's Lighthouse closed, Joseph took over a spot in Long Lake that used to be an Italian restaurant and turned it into a contemporary supper club with an emphasis on hearty comfort food.  A longtime family fried chicken recipe was the cornerstone of his menu at Birch's Restaurant and Bar.  

Billy's Lighthouse sat in decay for nearly 10 years as Burton Joseph passed near the property each time he went to and from Birch's Restaurant.  Finally, he decided to do something about the two-tiered supper club and he had a plan.  And it involved a young man longing to run his own brewpub.  

Brennan Greene grew up in the Orono/Long Lake area west of Minneapolis and he ended going away to college at Wisconsin.  After graduating from UW, he went to the World Brewing Academy - first in Chicago at the Siebel Institute, then finishing up in Munich at the Doemens Academy - to learn how to brew beer.  Upon graduation, Greene ended up in St. Louis as the brewer at the original Schlafly Tap Room.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the Schlafly Tap Room from 16 years ago.)  For 8 years, Greene led a team of brewers making some of the better craft beers in the St. Louis area focusing on sours and barrel-aged beers that helped grow Schlafly's business.  

In 2014, Greene left Schlafly on a quest to open his own microbrewery.  He had a name - Missouri Oak Brewery - and a concept for a brewpub with a beer garden in the University City neighborhood of St. Louis.  But two failed attempts at leasing space for his brewpub caused Greene to re-examine his plans to open in St. Louis.

Pictured right - Brennan Greene and Burton Joseph during the build out of the Birch's on the Lake supper club and brewery.  Photo courtesy Laker Pioneer.   

On a trip back to Minnesota to see his parents in the fall of 2014 after failing to find a spot in St. Louis, he was introduced to Burton Joseph who happened to be a friend of Greene's parents.  It turned out that Joseph was looking into doing a brewpub at some point and shared Greene's ambition about opening a microbrewery.  

One of Greene's problems with running a brewpub was that his wife had just given birth to their first child and it was going to be tough for his wife to take care of their daughter if she had to help out at the brewpub.  But what convinced Greene to come back to Minnesota permanently was that they suddenly had a built-in baby-sitter with his parents for their baby daughter.

Joseph and Greene leased the old Billy's Lighthouse in early 2015 which by that time had turned into an eyesore as it was rundown and well-in-need of extensive repairs.   After gutting the building and starting from scratch, the duo put the supper club on the upper level of the two-tiered building, and put the brewery/brewpub downstairs with a walk-out patio that sat just off Long Lake.  After 9 months of construction, Birch's on the Lake opened in late September of 2015.  

I had an appointment in downtown Minneapolis in the late morning, then had to drive up to Fargo for meetings later in the day.  I had looked up Birch's on the Lake and found that it wouldn't be all that far out of the way if I went there for lunch.  I took I-394 west out of downtown Minneapolis and followed it all the way out of the city as it eventually turns into US 12.  A quick turn off US 12 in Long Lake took me right to Birch's on the Lake.  (see map)

The supper club upstairs is closed during the day with all lunch served in the brewpub downstairs.  But I was able to sneak a peek into the main dining room thanks to a young lady who was at the doorway.  The supper club featured a long dining room with great lake views to the north side of the room through a number of large windows.  A fireplace was at one end and I understand that they have live entertainment in the dining room some evenings.  

The brewpub is down the stairs and opens into a three-sided bar area.  The bar had a few single diners there for lunch and that's where I decided to park myself.  The bartender that day was a lady by the name of Steph and she gave me a lunch menu to look over.  The brewery was offering seven beers on tap that day including a blonde ale, a stout beer seasoned with marshmallows that made it taste like S'mores, and a blood orange wheat beer.  I got the hazy IPA which was a 1st place winner in its category at the 2023 Minnesota Brewers Cup awards earlier this year.  It was definitely worthy of the award.

There's a small lounge area on the bar level just in front of the brewery room.  The lounge featured half-barrel chairs with some small tables.  It was sort of a disheveled space with some boxes off to the side as it also appeared to be a working area of the brewery.  Lamps made with brown gallon jugs hung from the ceiling throughout the brewpub.  

                                                                                            The 10-barrel brewing system was behind glass panels and it definitely smelled like a microbrewery.  I was told that initially when Birch's on the Lake first opened they were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays as the smell of the brewing process didn't agree with some diners.  But they've since been able to vent out a lot of the more overpowering smells from the brewery.  

 

A lower level from the bar and lounge area takes you to the dining area of brewpub.  Barn board short walls lined one side of the dining space with large windows looked out toward the lake.  More of the brown jug light fixtures hung from the ceiling in the dining area.  

The outside terrace is just past the windows from the brewpub dining room.  The deck is long and narrow and looks out on to Long Lake.  The patio terrace is a popular place for lunch and dinner, and it was evident this particular day as nearly every table was filled during the lunch rush.  

The lunch menu features a number of sandwiches, appetizers, soup, salads and brunch items that are served until 3 p.m.   (The dinner menu goes more toward the traditional supper club entrees such as steaks, seafood, ribs, and pasta dishes along with sandwiches, specialty tacos and flat breads.  On Saturdays and Sundays, Birch's on the Lake features brunch starting at 10 a.m.)  

There were a lot of things on the lunch menu that caught my attention.  The grilled grouper tacos was probably the first thing that jumped out at me, but I also was intrigued with the burnt ends served with waffle fries.  The brunch part of the menu had a couple things that interested me such as the corned beef hash topped with a poached egg and a hollandaise sauce.  And off the menu that day was a duck tacos special that Steph said was very good.

But it was a guy across the bar who ordered something that made me change my mind at the last minute.

Steph brought out a plate of the prime rib benedict and placed it in front of the guy across from me at the bar.  He was telling someone just a couple seats over from him how great the prime rib benedict was and how he got it nearly everytime he stopped in for lunch.  I sort of shrugged my shoulders and ordered it, as well.  

It featured thin-sliced prime rib placed upon two English muffins halves, each topped with a poached egg and a hollandaise sauce.  Real hash browns - as in freshly shredded - were on the side with strawberry slices.  I asked Steph for some Cholula hot sauce to sprinkle on top of the hollandaise and the hash browns.  

And it was pretty good.  I don't know if I was quite as enthusiastic about the overall quality or taste of the plate of food as the guy across the bar was, but it was still very good.  The hollandaise sauce had a nice tangy taste and was spiced up with some ground horseradish, but didn't overpower the rest of the items on the plate.  The sliced prime rib was tender and was a surprisingly good combination as part of the eggs benedict.   

If you're a long-time reader of Road Tips, you'll know that two of my favorite places to visit in my travels are supper clubs and brewpubs.  Imagine my glee to find a supper club and a brewpub under one roof.  Birch's on the Lake is a great combination of both.  You can have your traditional supper club meals on the upper level, but also have a great brewpub experience on the lower level with a nice outside terrace to enjoy the views of the lake.  My only regret is that I wish I had found Birch's on the Lake sooner as I don't get to the Twin Cities as much as I used to.  But when I do get back, I really want to head back out for another meal.  

Augusta Wine Country Trail - Augusta/Defiance, MO

Thanks to the combination of the pandemic coupled with a lull in my job status, we haven't been able to get away during our anniversary weekend in May since 2019.  With everything pretty much back to normal this year, we decided to head to St. Louis for a long weekend.  While we were there, my wife suggested that we head out to the Augusta Wine Country Trail to some of the wineries that are dotted along Missouri Highway 94 west of the city.   

A number of years ago while I was working for a company in St. Peters, MO, my wife had come with me for a company meeting.  Trying to figure out what to do over the weekend, one of my colleagues at the time suggested we tour some of the wineries in the area.  We were sort of taken aback by that as we didn't really think there was any good wineries in Missouri, thinking most of the wines were of the sweet and syrupy kind that we didn't like.  But my colleague was also into wine and knew that we had spent some time in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys on a trip out to California earlier that year.  "You'd be surprised," he told us.  And we were.  We actually found some very good wine that was as good as some of the California vintages we had previously.   

It turns out that there are 10 different regions of wineries across Missouri, probably the most famous is the Hermann Wine Trail centered around the city of Hermann, MO located about halfway between St. Louis and Columbia on the Missouri River.  But the Augusta Wine Country boasts the first American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the nation.  AVA's are designated areas with specific geographic or climatic features that distinguish it from the surrounding regions and affect how grapes are grown.  Vintners are able to describe the origin of their wines more accurately to consumers and helps consumers identify wines they may purchase.  The Augusta area got the first AVA designation in June of 1980, nearly a year before Napa Valley had been designated as an AVA.   

It had been probably 25 years since we had been to the Augusta Wine Country which consists of 9 wineries stretching from Defiance, MO through Augusta and ending up in Dutzow, MO along Highway 94 (see map).  The rich soil of the Missouri River valley coupled with the rolling hills allow grape varieties such as Chambourcin, Chardonel, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Seyval Blanc to flourish in the temperate climate conditions in eastern Missouri.  Our plan was to start at the furthest point and work our way back toward St. Louis as the day went on.  I figured that it was better to be closer to St. Louis at the end of the day rather than the furthest point trying to make our way back on a curvy two-lane highway.  

The western most winery on the Augusta Wine Country Trail is the Blumenhof Winery in Dutzow.  And, of course, we didn't go there because we sort of forgot about it being there.  We had passed 7 wineries along Highway 94 and decided to pull into the 8th - the Balducci Vineyards - to start our wine tour.  (see map)  

Balducci Vineyards was started in 1988 by Carol and Rick Balducci who were the longtime owners of Balducci's restaurant in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights before closing the restaurant in 2021.  (Balducci's was the first place I ever tried St. Louis-style pizza in the mid-80's.)  In 2012, the Balducci's sold their vineyard to the Hoffman Family of Companies, a Naples, FL-based company whose founder - David Hoffman - grew up in nearby Washington, MO.  The Hoffman Companies are involved in such diverse ventures as media, manufacturing, hospitality, real estate, transportation and financial services.  We found out during the course of our Augusta Wine Country Tour that Hoffman owned 3 of the 9 wineries on the trail.  

It was late morning by the time we got out to Balducci Vineyards.  With a cool breeze coming out of the northeast, it was sort of chilly out of the sun.  But in the sun, it was glorious.  There was a small restaurant opposite the main building where the outdoor bar was located and in between was an out-building where a band was setting up to play for the afternoon.  Picnic tables and tables with umbrellas were smattered about the patio area.  

The lush green rolling hills of the vineyards was especially beautiful on that cloudless late morning.  We took some time to stroll about the grounds to take in some of the beauty of the vineyard.  

My wife was up for trying some wine and she got a flight of four wines - the Natalia, the Vidal Blanc, the Sonata, and the Chiaretto.  All four are dry to semi-dry white wines and were served chilled.  The lady who was bartending asked me if I wanted anything and I said, "Uh, no.  Not now.  It's not even 11:30 and I have to drive back to St. Louis today!"  I did try a sip of a couple of my wife's wine selections and they were pretty good.  

We left the Balducci Vineyard and made our way to the next winery - the Noboleis Vineyard.   (see map)  Bob and Lou Ann Nolan purchased an 84 acre tract of land in 2005 and turned 12 of the acres into a vineyard that produces 4 different types of grapes.  

There was a small tasting room on the grounds and we went inside to check it out.  The place was packed with people standing at the bar tasting wines and more waiting to try some wines.  We decided to bag this place, but not before walking around the grounds and through a small covered hall where a solo guitarist was setting up for an afternoon of live music.  

Our next stop was in the town of Augusta and the Augusta Winery.  (see map)  Founded in 1988, we have gotten wine from this place before, although from the outside of the building, I have to say that I don't remember the stone facade with the bright red awnings.  But, then again, it was about 25 years since we'd done the wine trail and I'm sure things have changed.  

The Hoffman Companies purchased the Augusta Winery in 2021 as part of a larger buy-up of properties and wineries in and around the small town.  Plans included a couple hotels - including a 5-star hotel near the Balducci Vineyards - as well as restaurants.  However, those efforts have stalled and much of the building that was planned has been shelved for the time being.

When we were at the Augusta Winery on our first visit, we fell in love with their Cynthiana wine - a robust dry red that had a buttery taste.  There were only two places where the Cynthiana grape was grown - Greece and in Missouri.  So, I wanted to get a couple three more bottles of the Cynthiana wine while we were there.  

But going through the wine list at the Augusta Winery, I didn't see the Cynthiana varietal.  I asked the lady at the counter about the Cynthiana wine and she said, "Well, it's actually called the Norton grape now."  She explained to me that some years ago it was determined that the Norton grape - which was first cultivated in Virginia in the early 1800's - had identical genetics to the Cynthiana grape which was first cultivated in Missouri in the late 1800's.  Because the Norton grape was an older designation, everything that was called Cynthiana wine was named Norton.  (Here's a bit of trivia that you may be able to use at some point - the Norton grape is the state grape for Missouri.)

My wine palate has changed over the years as I've been introduced to many wines from many countries.  I tried a sample of the Norton wine and while it was good, I didn't think it was $20 good.  

Still, it didn't stop us from hanging out from enjoying some time under the large grape arbor just up the street from the winery.  A man/woman duet were playing acoustic guitars while people were enjoying the afternoon warmth that was coming on quickly.

Just to the west of the Augusta Winery is the Mount Pleasant Estates winery, the oldest winery along the Augusta wine trail.  (see map)  German immigrant brothers George and Frederick Muench established a commercial winery in 1859 and built the cellars in 1881 with wood and limestone from the surrounding area.  When Prohibition was enacted in 1920, the winery closed and the vineyards were burned to the ground.  It wasn't until 1966 when Lucian and Eva Dressel bought the property and revived the winery by planting both self-rooted and European-grafted grape vines.  

In 1992, the Dressels divorced and the winery and vineyards were sold at auction.  However, Lucian Dressel's brother Philip bought the property for around $650,000 and named Lucien as the winery's manager.  In 2004, Philip's son Charles took over the winery and continues to run it today.  

The bright pink building is tough to miss as you pull up to the Mount Pleasant Estates winery.  There's a good sized parking lot off to the side and we were able to park in the shade to keep our car cool in the hot late spring sunlight.  

There are a number of structures on the grounds of the Mount Pleasant Estates winery and the first building we walked into was the spacious and well-lit tasting room.  We immediately liked the lay-out of the tasting room as there was a lot of room to move about.  

We went out of the tasting room onto the grounds of the 125 acre vineyard that sits atop a hill which looks toward the Missouri River valley.  Mount Pleasant Estates grows 9 different types of grapes on the property.  

We wandered into a building that had a bar.  We poked around for a moment before we realized that there was a private party going on.  There wasn't any signage saying that it was a private event, but once we figured out that we weren't supposed to be in there, we skedaddled for the door.

We did find another building that was next to a three-tiered patio where people had congregated to listen to a small combo.  They had wine and craft beer offerings at the bar.  I got a hazy IPA from the Three Weavers  Brewery from California while my wife got a glass of their Dry Vignoles, a dry white that my wife was pleased with.  We hung out on the patio listening to music and enjoying increasingly warm afternoon.  

The band - if you can call it that - consisted of a guy playing the piano with another man and a woman singing.  After studying the guy playing the piano, it turned out that he was doing nothing more than playing pre-programmed tracks that were stored in a hard drive on the computer.  Oh, he acted like he was playing the piano, but his hand movements weren't in concert with the music that was coming out over the small P.A.  "Glorified karaoke", I muttered to my wife.  Still, the man and the lady were very good singers.  

Taking off after finishing our drinks, our next stop was at the Montelle Winery. (see map)  It's located off of Highway 94 and up on a ridge that overlooks the river valley.  It was a very picturesque winery with a bright yellow main building that was perched above a beautiful deck that looked out to the valley below.  

The Montelle Winery was founded in 1970 by Clayton and Nissel Byers.  The Byers brought on Bob and Judy Slifer as partners a few years later and the group ran the small winery until the death of Clayton Byers in 1984.  The Slifers took on another partner, Forrest Peak, who renamed the winery the Osage Ridge Winery.  

In 1998, the Slifers and Peak sought out then-Augusta Winery owner Tony Kooyumjian and his wife Cindy to take over their winery.  The Kooyumjians saw immense potential for the small winery and bought the property and renaming it back to its original name.   In 2000, the Kooyumjians expanded the wine tasting room and added a kitchen which featured pizzas, sandwiches and salads.  The same year they added a micro-distillery making their own grappa and fruit brandy.  It was the first micro-distillery in the state of Missouri. They later installed a large multi-level deck with a striking view of the Missouri River valley. 

In 2021, Kooyumjian sold both the Augusta and the Montelle vineyards to the Hoffman Companies.  In all, 250 acres of vineyards was included in the sale.  

The wine tasting room was a large rectangular room with a large bar in the middle.   Wooden cases of wine bottles were on the sides of the room.  In the back was a serve-yourself cooler that had beer, soft drinks and water.  I found a can of the Kona Big Wave while my wife got a bottled water to cool off with.  (And to cut down on the buzz she had gotten from previous wine tastings.)  

We found a table on the deck with a large umbrella providing shade.  There was a band playing - a REAL band - on the far end of the deck and they were rocking the crowd.  The combination of the music, the great vista and the cold brew made me want to stay there probably longer than we needed.  

After finishing up at the Montelle Winery, we made our way back down off the ridge and back onto Highway 94.  We ended up in Defiance and found something I was more interested in - a brewpub!   The Good News Brewing Company is situated just off Highway 94 on the east end of Defiance, just along the popular Katy Trail bike path.  (see map)

It turns out the brewpub is a faith-based entity where co-founders Dan Tripp and Matt Fair met at church in 2014.  Both had dabbled in home brewing over the years and they found that they had an interest in making beers to share with others.  They opened their first brewpub in O'Fallon, MO in 2016 and opened the Defiance location in 2019 in what was a former barbecue joint.  A third Good News Brewing Company location opened in Augusta in 2021, and a fourth location opened in St. Charles, MO in 2022.  

The 7000-square foot facility in Defiance features a large seasonal open-air room with a kitchen featuring wood-fired sourdough crust pizzas.  There was a mix of bicycle and motorcycle riders parked out front and a few of them were enjoying the pizza.  I have to say that the pizzas we saw looked pretty damned good.  

My wife was ready for a break from the wine and we both tried a couple pale ales they had to offer - the Perfect Storm IPA and the American IPA that featured three different types of hops from the Washington and Oregon areas.  My wife liked the Perfect Storm IPA a bit more and got a short glass of that, while I liked the American IPA and ended up getting a pint

There was a large patio area off to the main room at Good News Brewing which featured a stage area for live music.  Ironically, it was the only place we visited that day that DIDN'T have live music.   

We ended up going up on the top deck at Great News and finding a table with an umbrella.  The breeze out of the northeast was constant throughout the day and it was rather refreshing on a day where the temps ended up in the low 80's (F).  

After finishing our beers, we still had two more wineries to visit before calling it a day.  Just up the road from Defiance, we found the Sugar Creek Winery.  (see map).   Ken and Becky Miller were living in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood when they bought the old Boone Country Winery just outside of Defiance.  They had a property in the Sugar Creek subdivision of Kirkwood where they had hoped to build their dream home.  However, they decided to build on the land they owned outside of Defiance and called it Sugar Creek, thinking that if they couldn't live in their dream home in Sugar Creek, they'd just bring Sugar Creek with them.  

Becky's son, Chris Lorch, had years of experience making wine in Napa Valley.  Chris joined the Sugar Creek winery and continues to oversee the operation today.  Sugar Creek features a full array of wines from dry whites and reds to sweet dessert wines. 

There was a large crowd at Sugar Creek that day.  After getting a couple glasses of their Vidal Blanc dry white wine, we wandered through the tasting room and out into a large banquet hall where it looked like they were setting up for an event.  We kept on going, eventually heading outside.  

We ended up hanging out for a few moments at a table in the lovely garden area of the winery.  There was a birthday party going on near us and they had a pretty nice spread of food at the table.  Sugar Creek is one of the few places along the Augusta Wine Trail that allows people to bring their own food in for consumption. 

Last, but certainly not least, for our revisit to the Augusta Wine Trail was the Chandler Hill Vineyards.  (see map)  It was a bit of a drive on a side road off Highway 94 to Chandler Hills.  The main building at the winery is of a Tuscan design and is somewhat reminiscent of Napa Valley winery main buildings perched on a hill top.  Owner Chuck Gillentine founded Chandler Hill Vineyards in 2008 - named after a former slave who owned the property for a number of years - with 2012 being the first year they bottled wine from the grapes they were growing.  In addition to growing their own grapes, Chandler Hill sources grapes from California, Chile and local farms.  

We got in there around 4:30 in the afternoon and they were setting up for what appeared to be a wedding event.  The stately dining room featured large wooden beams across the ceiling and reminded me somewhat of a cathedral.  

We went up to the bar to order a couple drinks - a beer for me and a wine for my wife - and we were told that there was a hard 5:00 p.m. cutoff on both drinks and attendance due to the upcoming wedding reception.  We figured that we could be done by then with no problem.  

Chandler Hills may have been the nicest of all the wineries that we visited that day.  It featured vineyards along the rolling green hills with an aqua green pond just beyond one of the vineyards.  The wind had died down and it was just a perfect late afternoon to hang on the deck.

The deck overlooked the vineyards and had a small stage where the band who had been playing there earlier was packing things up.  The sun felt good on my face as I enjoyed one last small glass of wine for the day.  It was very relaxing and very nice.  

But it was time to go at 5 p.m. as we had anniversary dinner reservations at Charlie Gitto's on The Hill in St. Louis that evening at 7 p.m.   I had paced myself pretty well all day coupling the few beers and glasses of wine that I had with water, so getting back to St. Louis wasn't that tough.  And we did the right thing - we went out to one of the furthest wineries and worked our way back toward the city.  As we were heading back into St. Louis, my wife and I were wondering why it took us about 25 years before we did the Augusta Wine Country Trail again.  The drive was easy, the scenery was outstanding, and the wines and beers we tried that day were all very good.  If you're in the St. Louis area and looking to do something somewhat out of the ordinary, I'm sure you'll be happy and somewhat surprised with the Augusta Wine Country Trail. 

 

 

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.  

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.  

Kalona Brewing Company - Kalona, IA

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday recently and my wife was antsy to get out of the house and enjoy the day.  She suggested we take a ride along the Mississippi head west and south out of the Quad Cities.  We took off around 11 a.m. and I drove down to Muscatine to go to the Contrary Brewing Company, one of our favorite little microbreweries in the area.  However, when we pulled up just before noon, we saw that they don't open until 1 p.m.

Undeterred to find a microbrewery and my wife willing to continue to drive on a beautiful day, I pointed the car west and went to the small town of Kalona, IA to check out a brewery that I'd heard about, but had never been to before.  Just after 1 p.m., we pulled up in front of the Kalona Brewing Company.  

With the last name of Brewer, you'd think that your destiny would be brewing beers.  And that's sort of what happened with Kalona Brewing Company co-founder Lee Brewer.  While living in Seattle in the mid-80's and working as a painting contractor, Brewer came across one of the first craft breweries in Seattle - Redhook.  One day, Brewer walked into Redhook - which was housed in an old transmission shop - and asked co-owners Gordon Bowker and Paul Shipman if they needed any basic labor help at any point.  They told Brewer to come back on the following Saturday.  He did go back and eventually Brewer was helping with brewing and bottling the Redhook beers on a part-time basis.  

Learning from the brewers at Redhook, Brewer started to brew his own beers at home.  This led him to a friendship with Mike Hale, the owner/brewer at Hale's Ales, a microbrewery in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.  Brewer caught on with Hale's Ale and helped brew beers for Hale for a couple years.  

In 1994, Brewer decided to move to Iowa.  He landed a job at Fitzpatrick's Brew Pub - one of the first craft breweries in Iowa City - where he worked off and on for a few years before going back full-time to contract painting.  Brewer continued to make his own beers at home and he reached out to a long-time friend from the Seattle area, Ted Nagy, with an idea he had come up with.

Nagy was a machine designer who became friends with Brewer when the two would sit around and enjoy some of Brewer's home-brewed beers.  While living in Iowa, Brewer dreamed about running his own brewery and he got with Nagy to talk about the possibility.  Nagy had turned into a serial entrepreneur and thought that a brewery situated in Iowa might be a good thing.  

Pictured right - Ted Nagy and Lew Brewer.  Photo courtesy Kalona Brewing Company Facebook page.   

Nagy eventually moved back to Iowa to run a plastics injection molding firm.  At one point, Nagy and Brewer thought about starting a winery.  But the two knew that the climate wouldn't allow for high quality grapes to be grown.  So, they went back to the idea of starting a brewery in the small town of Kalona, IA, about a half-hour drive south and west of Iowa City.  

They were having trouble finding a building in Kalona for their brewery and were resigned to the fact that they would probably have to build a brewery in a rural area outside of Kalona.  But in 2011, a building in downtown Kalona became available.  It was a former farm implement store and was large enough for a brewery and a tap room.  The two signed a deal to buy the building.  

Of course, there are always snags along the way and their quest to start a brewery was no exception.  Brewer and Nagy literally had to start from scratch putting in plumbing, heating and ventilation, and redoing the floor of the old building.  Then during the build-out, they found out that their original plan of just having a brewery and a tasting room didn't meet city code.  In order to be able to serve their beer on the premises, they had to put in a restaurant.  That effectively cut down on half of the space they had allotted for their brewery operation. 

Undeterred, Nagy and Brewer went ahead with their plans for a brewpub.  Then another bit of luck came about.  The Miller building next door to the building they were already in had become available.  They jumped on that spot and were able to use all their brewing equipment that they had originally invested in.  

To help with the build-out, Brewer enlisted the help of his son Sam who was living in Hawaii at the time.  And realizing that with the increased brewing capacity, Brewer had to have an assistant.  

Lew Brewer turned to a local man who he'd known for a few years, Warren Yoder.  Known as "W" to his friends, Yoder worked for his family's hardware store/building supply business, but dabbled in making his own beers for a number of years.  Brewer asked Yoder if he'd ever considered brewing beer as a full-time vocation.  At first, Yoder declined saying that he wasn't certain he could jump into uncertainty after working for the family business for 17 years.  But a week later, Yoder went back to Brewer and agreed to become his assistant.  

With the help of Nagy's wife Becky, the group decided to use only locally-grown or locally-raised products for both their beer and for the food they would serve in the restaurant part of the brewpub.  Kalona is a community that is home to a number of Mennonite and Amish families, and many of them grow produce and raise livestock.  Nearly everything the Nagy's and Brewer would need to brew beer and prepare food for the brewpub was literally at their doorstep.  

Brewer and Yoder started brewing their beers in 2012 while the restaurant part of the operation was being built out.  They distributed their beers in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area at first, but over time they began to self-distribute to the Quad Cities, Des Moines and other places in eastern and central Iowa.   

With the build-out complete, Kalona Brewing Company opened their doors for the general public on Sept. 13, 2013.  The Nagy's and Brewer obviously weren't superstitious as Sept. 13 fell on a Friday that year.  

Kalona Brewing Company is located at the corner of B Avenue and 4th Street in Kalona.  (see map)  The building was known as the B-4 building when Nagy and Brewer bought it in 2011.  It's in the heart of downtown Kalona which is known for its shops, boutiques and antique stores.  Kalona is a popular destination because of these shops and parking can be iffy.  However, since it was Sunday, many of the stores were closed and we were able to park on B Avenue just down the street to the east of Kalona Brewing Company.    

The inside of Kalona Brewing Company featured a polished concrete floor and and exposed truss ceiling.  Scattered with the tables in the space were couches and coffee tables giving the somewhat modern industrial motif a more homey look.  Natural light courtesy of the large windows on the south and west side of the brewpub splashed into the space.  Just past the bar were ceiling to floor windows that displayed the large brewing vats in the brewery.  

The kitchen area was situated in the back corner of the space.  It featured a large wood-fired oven and a prep area that looked out over the brewpub.  The head chef at Kalona Brewing Company is Kalona native Oliver Hassman who learned the ins-and-outs of beer and wine pairing with locally-raised/locally-grown foods at Vesta in Coralville, IA.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Vesta.)  Hassman was the head chef at Vesta before joining the Kalona Brewing Company in 2018.  

We took a seat at a table in the corner out of the sun across from the kitchen area.  Our server that day was a young lady by the name of Kris.  She brought over a brunch menu that they serve from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.  We weren't too interested in the brunch menu as my wife had breakfast earlier in the day and didn't want breakfast again.  (Although the Salsa Verde Toast consisting of two eggs over-easy, sausage, pickled onions all topped with a green sauce sounded interesting to me.)   Kris told us that the kitchen would switch over to the regular menu at 2, which was about 45 minutes away.  That was fine with us, as it gave us time to try some of their beers.  

The beer selection at Kalona Brewing Company is deep and varied.  The beer list featured a number of interesting beers including lagers, stouts, ales and wheat beers.  Some of the more interesting beers were a blueberry hefeweizen as well as a cinnamon-peach wheat ale.  We tried three or four samples - the Sucha Much IPA, the Hook & Eye hazy IPA, the Limber Legs Oktoberfest, and the Tree Stand German-style pilsner.  All were very good, but my wife selected the Sucha Much IPA and I went with the Hook & Eye hazy IPA.  The Hook & Eye was named after an attachment that Mennonites and Amish families would have on their clothing instead of buttons or zippers.  

Since we couldn't get lunch for awhile, it gave us some time to end up looking around Kalona Brewing Company.  They had a spacious wood-fenced patio in the back featuring a pergola over the concrete patio.  It was a nice fall day, but it was too cool to sit in the shade.  

We hung out back inside waiting for the regular menu to turn over.   Kris had brought over some menus for us to look over so we could make our choices right at 2 p.m.  It wasn't a lengthy menu, but it had some interesting items.  First of all, Kalona Brewing Company is somewhat famous for their wood-fired pizza made with a hand-tossed, house-made dough.  There were three sauces for their pizza - a San Marzano red sauce, an alfredo white sauce, and a pesto sauce.  While we weren't in the mood for pizza that day, the margherita pizza sounded good, as did their house-made sausage pizza.  

Kalona Brewing Company featured a handful of appetizers to share including coconut-ginger shrimp, chicken wings with a choice of either Buffalo sauce or a ginger chili glaze, a spinach-artichoke dip, and a burrata cheese plate with a gremolata garnish (chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest) and served with apricots and dates.  There were a number of soups and salads on the menu as well as sandwiches, burgers and entrees such as a beer mac & cheese, fish & chips, a New York strip steak from locally-raised natural beef, and a stir fry.  

Kris came by just before 2 p.m. and said that she could take our order now for lunch.  My wife wanted to get the roasted beet salad Kalona Brewing Company had on the menu.  She loves getting the roasted beets in a jar from one of the shops in Kalona and she was pretty certain that the beets at Kalona Brewing would come from the same source.  The roasted beet salad came with fresh mixed greens, candied walnuts, and feta cheese.  A triangle of flat bread came on the side.  For her dressing, she got the house-made raspberry vinaigrette.  She thought the beet salad was outstanding and she offered me a bite of some of the roasted beets.  I never cared for pickled beets until I had some that my wife's grandmother canned a number of years ago.  These beets were especially flavorful with a bit of a roasted taste to them.  

I was in a quandary as to what to get.  Even though the menu wasn't all that vast, there were some things that definitely got my attention.  They had two burgers - one a regular burger with beef from JimRay Farms, a Kalona-area grass-fed cattle operation.  The other burger was the Diablo which was topped with a salsa verde, guacamole, and a jalapeño slaw.  (The Diablo sandwich was also available with a grilled chicken breast or with a portobello mushroom or a Beyond Burger patty for vegetarians.)  But in the end, I went with the meat loaf entree.  

The meat loaf featured JimRay Farms beef served on a bed of Kalona Brewing's beer mac & cheese, with a side of a sautéed fresh vegetable medley.  I got the small portion which consisted of 2 pieces of meat loaf instead of 3 for the large portion.  The meat loaf was topped with a red wine demi-glace.  I normally don't order meat loaf when I'm at a restaurant because my meat loaf at home is about the best I've ever had.  But I have to say this meat loaf was very good.  It wasn't dried out and it held a lot of great beef flavor.  The red wine demi-glace was a nice addition and I really liked the beer mac & cheese that came with the meat loaf.  I was not unhappy with my choice.  

My wife was torn between the chicken avocado sandwich and the grilled salmon Caesar salad.  In the end, the grilled salmon Caesar won out.  The salad featured Arcadian greens and a spring salad mix, and was topped with sliced red onions and shredded asiago cheese along with a house-made Caesar dressing.  I piece of grilled salmon finished the salad.  Another wedge of flat bread came on the side.  She was very happy with her choice of lunch that day.  

It had been a long time since we had been to Kalona and our visit to the Kalona Brewing Company had been a long time coming.  We liked virtually everything about our visit.  The beers were very good, the service we had from Kris was friendly, accommodating and she was fun, and the food was top-notch.  We're glad that we waited out the brunch period and got the regular menu, even though their brunch menu looked very interesting.  Kalona Brewing Company is a bit of a drive for us, but it was worth the trip.  And we look forward to the next road trip we make over to Kalona for shopping and a visit to Kalona Brewing.  Actually, I'll let my wife shop while I hang out at Kalona Brewing Company.  

Founders Brewing Company - Grand Rapids, MI

During our vacation earlier this year up in the Grand Rapids area, we visited many of the local breweries the city has to offer.  Quite possibly the most successful and high profile brewery in the city is Founders Brewing Company.  We found out that they had a taproom with a kitchen that featured deli-style sandwiches and hand-tossed pizzas.  We decided to head to Founders for lunch one day during our time in Grand Rapids.  

It's sort of interesting how I found out about Founders Brewing.  My Michigan brewery of choice for a number of years was Bell's Brewery based out of Kalamazoo.  About 10 years ago, my wife and I were on a vacation trip to Michigan and it seemed like every place where I tried to order a Bell's Two Hearted American IPA - a staple at bars and restaurants around the Midwest - didn't have it.  About the only Bell's beer that we encountered at places in Michigan was the Bell's Oberon Ale wheat beer.  However, most places had the Founders Centennial IPA available.  At one place, I asked the bartender as to why there seemed to be a dearth of Bell's beer - especially when their brewery was just down the road in Kalamazoo.  I was told that Bell's founder Larry Bell could be, well, sort of a prickly individual - only the term the bartender used a much stronger term than that.  "A lot of places have just given up trying to work with Bell's," I was told.  "The guys at Founders are good guys and they make good beer."  I've since sort of migrated over to the Founders All Day IPA which is a lighter version of the Centennial IPA.  

The history of Founders Brewing starts with two college buddies who had a common interest in home-brewed beers.  While he was in college, Dave Engbers received his first brew kit as a present from his parents.  His older brother had already been making homemade wine, beer and mead, and Engbers parents thought that Dave would enjoy brewing his own beer.  

Mike Stevens was enamored with the growing culture of west coast craft beers, especially the beers from Sierra Nevada.  He set about to try and replicate some of those beers at home.  Even though he threw out his first batch of beer, he persevered and little did he know that his hobby would later become his vocation.

Stevens and Engbers met at Hope College in Holland, MI and found their common interest in home brewing beers.  Engbers was the one who first proposed having their own craft brewery at some point after some of the west coast craft breweries he was so fond of.  

By 1994, both were out of college and started to work on a business plan they could present to banks and other investors for financing for their brewery.   By 1997, they had procured approximately $350,000 and were ready to open their brewery.

Pictured right - Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers.  Photo courtesy Craft Brewing Business.  

Coming up with a name was the next thing to do.  Initially, they were going to call their brewery Canal Street Brewing Company as a homage to the street where the bulk of Grand Rapids breweries were located before Prohibition.  In the process of doing background work on the history of Grand Rapids breweries, the two found a picture of four men who were owners of breweries back in the 1880's.  Above the four men was the term "Founders" which meant those gentlemen were the founders of the breweries.  Steven and Engbers used that picture on their early bottles they had brewed.  Some of their early customers started to refer to their beer as "Founders".  Both Engbers and Stevens figured out that was probably a better name than Canal Street Brewing Company.

The first Founders brewery was a 9800-square foot building known as the Brass Works Building on Monroe Street in Grand Rapids.  (Monroe Street was originally called Canal Street before the turn of the 20th century.)  By 1998, Founders opened their first tap room serving beers to the public.  Because they were on a shoestring budget from under-capitalization, Engbers and Stevens were the brewers, bartenders, bar managers and owners.  

Founders beers weren't exactly setting the world on fire.  By 1999, the co-owners had fallen behind on financial payments and at one point their only income was from the tips they were receiving working at the bar.  But it soon became evident that the two were going deeper and deeper into the hole.  

By 2001, they were far behind with payments to the bank and they were behind in rent to their landlord.  Plus they were 8 months behind in paying state taxes.  One day, they got a certified letter from their bank saying they had 6 days to make up the payments of which they were in arrears.  Their landlord caught wind of it and immediately demanded payment or he would lock up the building with a chain and lock.  Really down on their luck and not thinking straight, Engbers went out and bought a large bolt cutter that he thought they would have to use if their landlord or the bank locked them out.  

Instead of having to use the bolt cutters, Stevens and Engbers started to canvas other potential investors around the area to see if someone would help them get out of their dire situation.   One of those potential investors was Grand Rapids area philanthropist Peter Cook.  During their meeting, Cook gave no indication that he was interested in investing in their brewery.  But he did give them this advice, "Look forward to the future and not backwards at the disaster."  

After leaving their meeting with Cook, Stevens and Engbers were all but sure they would be forced into bankruptcy.  They went back to their taproom to have a "come-to-Jesus" realization meeting with themselves. They realized the beers they were making were bland and they didn't even really like them at all.  They started to talk about the beers they wanted to make at some point, not knowing if the bank would be showing up in the next couple days to serve papers on them.  

However, the next day they got a call from their bank.  Peter Cook had made a phone call and guaranteed the bank loan and authorized a line of credit for more financial help for Steven and Engbers.  Other investors stepped forward to help pay off other debts the brewery had accumulated.  That was the impetus the duo needed to continue on with their venture.  

Engbers and Stevens then fired their head brewer at the time and brought in a new team that included Jeremy Kosmicki.  With Kosmicki's vision, Founders dumped their boring beers and came up with some exciting beers such as the aforementioned Centennial IPA, the Kentucky Bourbon Stout - commonly known as KBS - that was aged in bourbon casks, and the Dirty Bastard Scotch ale that became Founders signature beer.  

As Founders Brewing Co. grew, they continued to lose money.  Distribution problems, mounting costs and the lack of a proficient space to brew their beers was the biggest problem.  Their original location could only produce approximately 5000 barrels of beer annually.  A larger place would allow them to produce more beer and to one day pursue national distribution.  

In 2006, Engbers and Stevens found a building that was an old trucking warehouse on Grandville Ave. SE just south of downtown Grand Rapids.  The 27,000-square foot terminal had closed in 1991 and had sat vacant since then.  They were able to renovate it into a brewery and they moved into their larger facility in 2007.  The brewery was soon producing 11,000 barrels annually and was growing exponentially over the next few years, finally going into the black and being able to begin to pay back investors and financial institutions.  In 2014, Founders announced a $35 million dollar expansion adding another 12,000-square feet to the building that would give them the capacity to produce up to 900,000 barrels of beer on an annual basis.  By 2018, Founders was the 14th largest brewery in the United States and was producing over 550,000 barrels of beer annually.   

To help finance that expansion in 2014, Stevens and Engbers sold a 30 percent stake in Founders Brewing Co. to Mahou-San Miguel, the largest brewer in Spain.  And in 2019, Mahou-San Miguel bought another 60% of the brewery allowing for Engbers and Stevens to stay on as combined 10% share holders in the brewery.  The further investment by the Spanish family-owned brewery was designed to take Founders nationwide.  In all, it was estimated that Engbers and Stevens were paid over $295 million dollars for their controlling stakes in Founders Brewing Co.  Not too bad for a couple guys who were hours away from bankruptcy just 20 years ago!

Founders Brewing Company is located between the Grand River and the US 131 freeway that winds north south through Grand Rapids.  (see map)   Parking is sort of limited in the area, but we found a parking spot on the north side of the brewery along Williams Street SW.  

As we went to the front door of the public entrance to Founders Brewing, we found their beer garden to the left.  It was a good sized open air space with benches, picnic tables and outdoor heaters for cooler days and evenings.  It was a brilliant sun-shiny day when we were there and we sort of contemplated about sitting outside for a moment.

On the far end of the beer garden was a full functioning bar with high-top tables and heaters hanging from the ceiling.  It was open on the sides, but it appeared that there were plastic screens that could be rolled down to continue to make it a functional space even on cold or rainy days.  

The main area of Founders Brewing Company features the original beer hall.  Heavy on wood accents, the main hall has a stage at one end for live music events.  Garage doors that can be opened to the beer garden are part of the beer hall with a long ornate bar opposite the garage doors.  

We took a seat in the middle of the beer hall and were given a couple food menus and beer menus to look over.  It wasn't long before our server, a 30-something guy by the name of John, came over to greet us.  It turned out that John had worked in the kitchen at Founders Brewing for 5 years before he grew tired of being in the back and wanted to interact with people out front.  Before he started at Founders, he told us he was a pastry chef.  "But, man, the 3 a.m. work calls got to be too much after awhile," he said.  John gave us a few minutes to get settled in as we checked out the lengthy list of beers they had to offer in the tap room.

It turned out that John was very helpful in trying to figure out which beers to try at Founders.  They have three different classes of beers at Founders - Class 1 features some of their well-known beers as well as some seasonal beers.  Class 2 beers are the more eclectic beers including their nitro-based beers and fruit-based beers including their Rubaeus pure raspberry beer.  Pints were $6.50 each for the Class 2 beers while Class 1 beers were $5.50 a pint.  

Class 3 was the upper echelon of beers available at Founders.  These were generally the highest in alcohol content (ABV) and featured some of their barrel-aged stouts.  An 8-ounce glass of these ales ran $7.25 each. In all, Founders featured 10 beers available that day that weren't available outside of their taproom.  

As we were looking over the menus, John came back to our table with two small glasses of their Kentucky Barrel Stout infused with cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa.  "It's sort of our breakfast stout," John told us.  It was complex in its flavor, but we decided that it wasn't for us.   

John was asking what we liked in beers and we both said we like the IPA's or hazy IPA's.  "I don't want to try an All Day IPA because I can get that anywhere," I said.  John said that most people don't get their mainstream beers in the taproom because of the large list of other beers that are available.  

We decided to get a flight of beers to start out with and John was very knowledgeable in the differences between some of their IPA's.  We settled on four beers the Red's Rye IPA, the Unrivaled IPA, the Hello Jane IPA, and a special IPA - Ales for ALS where the proceeds of the beer's sales went to the ALS Association earmarked for research.  

John brought out the flight of beers we'd ordered up and he brought along another one that he said he really liked - the Scarlet Dawn IPA.  Red's Rye IPA was a little too much of a whiskey taste for me.  The Unrivaled IPA was smooth, as was the Hello Jane, but just a bit more hoppy in taste.  The Scarlet Red was all right - it was basically a combination of a red ale and a session IPA.  I'm afraid that it really didn't trip my trigger and I apologized to John for that.  "No problem," he said.  "It just happens to be my favorite beer right now and thought you might like to try it."

However, the Ales for ALS was my clear favorite.  This had a bit higher ABV (7.1%) than the other IPA's we had tried and it had a wonderful flavor.  My wife thought it was a bit too forward, but she liked the Hello Jane IPA as it was sort of in between the Ales for ALS and the Unrivaled.  I got a pint of the Ales for ALS and my wife got a pint of the Hello Jane.  

The menu at Founders Brewing featured a number of appetizers such as chips and guacamole or chips and salsa, a Bavarian-style pretzel, bourbon-barrel smoked chicken wings and a beer cheese dip that was made with smoked Gouda, cream cheese, chopped fresh garlic, red peppers, spinach, all blended with a combination of their Centennial IPA and the Red's Rye IPA.  The beer cheese dip comes with seasoned crostini and tortilla chips. 

14" hand-tossed pizzas were part of the menu as well as a handful of salads.  But deli-style sandwiches were the main items on the menu.  The "Devil Dancer" featured roasted chicken, Muenster and pepper-jack cheeses, jalapeños, banana peppers with a chipotle mayo.  The "Backwoods Bastard" featured barbecued pulled-pork, Colby Jack cheese, house-made cole slaw and a house-made barbecue sauce.  They had their own rendition of a Philly cheesesteak sandwich at Founders, as well as a ham and cheese sandwich made with cheddar and Swiss cheese with Founders Dirty Bastard stone ground mustard.  

John must have come over three or four times while we were trying to figure out what we wanted to order for lunch.  It really shouldn't have been that big of a problem, but we were just sort of taking our time trying to figure out what to order.  After the third time John came back and we weren't ready, I began to apologize profusely.  "No problem," John said.  "Take your time.  I'm not going anywhere."  

My wife was sort of torn between a couple things - she thought about getting the turkey reuben on sourdough bread, but ended up getting the "Blushing Monk".  It consisted of cranberry/chicken salad topped with provolone and smoked Gouda cheese, finished off with lettuce, tomatoes and red onions on a Mexican-style telera roll.  She got a half and she was glad she did because it was huge on its own.  She got a side of their house-made cole slaw.  She really enjoyed the sandwich, but she thought the cole slaw was just all right.

I had the same problem figuring out what I wanted.  They had a smoked-pork Cuban sandwich, as well as a smoked pastrami on Polish rye.  But John talked me into the reuben sandwich - "Rubin's Reuben".  It featured thin-sliced house-made corned beef with sauerkraut cooked in Dirty Bastard beer.  It was topped with Swiss cheese, 1000 Island dressing and served on Polish Rye.  It was excellent.  Once again John didn't steer us wrong.  

After we finished up our lunch and paid the bill, we took a little look around the rest of the tap room.  The addition that was built back in 2013 added a separate tap room next to the gift shop and the office area.  There was a separate bar in there and was a bit more cozy than the main tap room. 

Part of the secondary tap room had a display of Founders memorabilia through the years.  There were old bottles, photographs, and other items they had accumulated since Founders started nearly 25 years ago.  It was sort of neat to see some of the awards they had won for their beers over the years.  

While there are a large number of great little craft breweries in Grand Rapids, a trip to the area can't really be complete without a visit to Founders Brewing Company.  There are some locals in Grand Rapids who we talked to about Founders who felt that Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers literally sold out the craft beer movement when they gave up majority interest in Founders Brewing.  But I look at it as a way to preserve their legacy from taking their little two man operation that was on the verge of insolvency 20 years ago and making it into one of the largest breweries in the United States.  The Founders Brewing tap room was a great place to relax and have some of their special beers that are not available elsewhere, and to nosh on some pretty good sandwiches.  We can't say enough about the service we had from John who was friendly, helpful, knowledgable, patient, and had a great sense of humor.    Founders Brewing Company wasn't even our favorite brewery that we visited during our trip to western Michigan, but we realized that it was good to go pay homage to one of the pioneers of the craft beer movement in Grand Rapids.  

Fork + Ale House - Carmel, IN

I had a long day of calling on accounts in the greater Indianapolis area and ended up in Carmel toward the end of the day.  I wanted to get something light and maybe a couple good cold beers and I found a place that I wasn't all that familiar with - a brewpub by the name of Fork + Ale House.  

I hadn't been in Indianapolis since the fall of 2019 due to the pandemic and I was simply amazed at how built up the Carmel downtown area had become.  And Fork + Ale House is one of the newer restaurants in the Carmel Arts and Design District. It was opened in May of 2019 by Chris and Amy Long, well-known restaurateurs in the Indianapolis area.  The Longs started a chain of local sports bars - The Stacked Pickle - in 2010.  They grew the business to six locations with the financial help from former Indianapolis Colts football player Gary Brackett.  Brackett eventually bought Chris and Amy Long out of their shares in 2014 allowing them to spend time with their growing family.  

While on hiatus, the Longs worked on a new concept for a restaurant that was a combination small batch brewery with an eclectic mix of foods.  When Allied Financial built a new building in Carmel in 2018, a 3600 square foot space became available on the ground floor.  The Longs leased the space in 2018 and began the build-out for the small brewery/restaurant soon thereafter.   Months later Fork + Ale House opened to the public.  

There is an attached parking garage just south of the Allied Financial building and that's where I ended up parking my car.  (see map)  In front of the five-story mixed-use building is a public courtyard with outdoor table tennis, high top tables with umbrellas, and a green space for people working in the area to enjoy.  

Inside Fork + Ale House I found a long rectangular space with a long bar on one side with a number of flat screen televisions along the wall.  Exposed duct work hung from the ceiling and a series of high-top tables were situated close to the bar.  A couple of the large windows in the front of restaurant facing their outdoor seating area would raise to let in outside air on cool days.  It wasn't exactly cool when I was visiting there that evening.  Even with an exposed ceiling, concrete floor and lots of windows in the place, it didn't seem to be all that loud.  

I ended up seated at the bar and I was greeted by an bubbly and outgoing young lady by the name of Jenny.  She was sassy and had a bit of a fun smart-ass streak in her.  And she reminded me of the actress Nancy Travis.  After she gave me a food menu, she said, "You look like a guy who could use a drink!"   I took a look at their beer list and saw that they had something called Maui IPA from their own brewery.  I tried one of those.  It had a bit of a fruity back taste, but it was full-bodied with a nice hoppy flavor.  I later got one of their house-made hazy IPA's.  I liked the Maui IPA much better.  And if you didn't want one of their in-house brews, they also had a number of regional craft beers and domestic brands to choose from.

It was a pretty extensive menu at Fork + Ale including a number of appetizers and shareable plates, a dozen different salads to choose from, sandwiches and burgers, main entrees such as a Tuscan pasta dish with Italian sausage and grilled chicken, grilled salmon, and a smoked-meat sampler platter consisting of smoked pulled pork, turkey breast, turkey breast and chicken wings.  And they had pizza on the menu, too, along with calzones.  I saw one of the pizzas delivered to a guy seated down from me at the bar and it looked good.  

I was sort of in a food funk.  I really didn't want a burger, but the Ale Burger - a beer-infused beef patty topped with Swiss cheese, mushrooms and applewood smoked bacon - did sound pretty good.  I wasn't too keen on some of the other things on the menu including some of the sandwiches like the battered pork tenderloin sandwich or the Cubano sandwich.  Not a lot was popping out at me, although the beer braised-beef sandwich that was topped with giardinera peppers, fried onions, mozzarella cheese and creamy horseradish served on a hoagie roll sounded kind of good.  

Jenny must have come back three times to see if I was ready to order and I was still up in the air as to what I really wanted to have.  I damned near went for one of their pizzas, but I thought that would be too much food. Finally Jenny came back and asked, "So, you made up your mind?"  I told her that it was between getting a pizza or the fish tacos.  She said, "Boy, you couldn't have picked two different things on the menu!"  She said that while their pizza was very good, she really liked the fish tacos.  

So fish tacos it was!  Actually, I had a choice of grilled cod, chorizo sausage, smoked pork or quinoa for my tacos, but the grilled fish will always win out in this instance.  The tacos were topped with a cabbage slaw, an avocado slice, queso fresco (cheese) and a corn and black bean salsa.  It was all packed in small flour tacos and topped with a chipotle sauce that's made in-house.  A side of chips and a small tub of salsa came on the side, but I wasn't all that interested in those.  

There were a lot of flavors going on with the grilled fish tacos.  The fish was light and chunky, the corn and black bean salsa was a wonderful taste sensation with the fish, and the chipotle sauce gave it just enough of a zip on the tongue to make it all come together.  I realized after I finished the last taco that I would have been unhappy had I not ordered the tacos and gotten something else, they were very good.  

Don't be fooled by the extensive menu at Fork + Ale.  For all the different varieties of foods they offer, I have to think that this isn't like a chain restaurant who has a lot of food on the menu, but doesn't do any of them very well.  Given the crowd in Fork + Ale when I was there and the different foods I saw on tables around the restaurant, I'm sure they probably do everything very well.  I'll say my grilled cod tacos were very good and they had a number of other interesting items on the menu that I'd like to try if I ever get back there.  My server that evening was fun, outgoing and bubbly - and was a bit of a smart-ass on top of it, but in a good way.  I had two of their house-brewed beers at Fork + Ale and I liked the Maui-style pale ale better than their hazy IPA.  It was a great atmosphere and a fun place to have a meal.  

Bad Habit Brewing Company - St. Joseph, MN

Up in St. Cloud, MN this past summer, I ventured out to the nearby town of St. Joseph to check out a microbrewery that one of the guys from my local account was telling me about.  He said the place had been open for awhile and had moved to a larger building a couple years ago, but he told me that it never occurred to him to let me know about it.  "It's a great place," he said enthusiastically.  "And their beers are pretty good."  It was a short 10 minute drive from my account to Bad Habit Brewing Company in St. Joseph.  

Aaron Rieland got his first home brewing kit not long after he turned 21 years old.  Rieland and some friends decided to brew some beer and they went around and gathered up bottles to put the beer in.  After topping off and capping the bottles, Rieland put them in a basement closet to ferment.  However, the gas build-up during the fermenting process literally blew up each one of the bottles making quite the mess in his home.  Learning his lesson on fermenting on the first batch, he tried a second batch.  The beers didn't quite turn out to taste as good as Rieland thought they should have.  He ended up pouring out that batch.  Discouraged, Rieland put away his home-brewing kit and basically forgot about it.

11 years later while Aaron was cleaning out his garage, he stumbled upon the beer-making kit and it rekindled his interest in home-brewing.  Now in his early 30's, he was better educated in the beer-making process and some of his early beers turned out to be pretty darn good.  Along with his buddy, Eric Geier, they started to brew beers together in Rieland's garage.  They did it so much that Rieland's family called his renewed hobby his "bad habit".  

Of course like many home-brewers who eventually mastered the art, Rieland thought he had something good in his recipes.  He began to kick around the idea of opening his own brewery.  He started to look into costs and operating expenses, then Rieland began to look for a building in St. Cloud.  It looked like something favorable for his brewery was available, but the deal eventually fell through.  

Pictured right - Aaron Rieland with his wife Karen.  Contributed photo courtesy The Newsleaders.com

Somewhat crestfallen, Rieland started to look around at spaces in St. Joseph, just a 10 minute drive from his home in Avon, MN.  A small space was found in a building along E. Minnesota St. in downtown St. Joseph.  The lease was signed in May of 2015 and with the help of friends and family, Rieland transformed the building into a microbrewery in less than six months.  By the summer of 2015, Rieland and Geier started to brew their first beers.  And on Halloween Day in 2015, Bad Habit Brewing Company opened to a standing room only crowd.  Lines formed out the door waiting to get into the first brewery in St. Joseph in over 100 years.

Bad Habit Brewing became a destination brewery for many beer enthusiasts.  But the space was too small and there were times people just walked away from Bad Habit Brewing because there wasn't any room to sit or stand. Rieland came to the realization that he would have to find a bigger building if he was going to keep up with the demands of his customers.  Just around the corner on College Ave., Rieland found his new space.

The St. Joseph City Hall had been housed in what originally was a bank for a number of years.  With a growing community, the city had outgrown the space they had been in since 2000 and they eventually built a new and larger facility which they moved into in 2017.   In the summer of 2018, Rieland made a deal to take over the building.  The space would allow him to more than double his capacity inside the brewery to 140 patrons.  And the large beer garden at the new location would accommodate 200 people - a ten-fold increase over the size of the beer patio at the original Bad Habit location.  

Not long after he took over the building, they completely gutted the inside and started from scratch.  Bad Habit had seven 5-barrel systems at their original location and the new location had the space to add an additional 5-barrel system and two 10-barrel systems increasing their capacity from about 700 barrels annually to over 1000 barrels a year.  The original bank vault was still in the building, so they fashioned it into a large walk-in cooler.  They put modern metal fabrication on the outside of the building to give it a more modern look.  

Bad Habit closed their original location in late April of 2019 to move equipment from the old location to the new location.  The new and larger Bad Habit Brewing Company opened in early May of that year and the beer garden opened soon thereafter.

One of the great things about Bad Habit Brewing is that they also inherited a parking lot.  And I used that parking lot when I found the place at 25 College Ave. N in St. Joseph.  (see map)  Bad Habit is a taproom only and the evening I visited a food truck was set up in what was the old drive-up window lane for the bank - ODB's Meat and Greet, a barbecue food truck run by a former lady professional wrestler.  (Had I not discovered a New Orleans-inspired restaurant across the street from Bad Habit Brewing, I probably would have given it a shot.)  

The interior of Bad Habit was sort of a modern industrial design.  Exposed trusses and ventilation were above the high-top tables in the bar area.  Natural lighting from skylights, large windows and a garage door that opened onto the patio helped give the tap room a vibrant feeling.  

The outdoor patio/beer garden featured a concrete patio with patio tables with bright red umbrellas.  In fact, I sort of picked up that the main color scheme with Bad Habit Brewing was red with the red picnic tables in the beer garden, the red Adirondack chairs circling a fire pit on the patio, the red corn hole boards in the grass of the beer garden, and the red accents in the tap room.  Strings of Edison lights criss-crossed the patio and a number of gas lamp heaters were situated off to the side to be used when the weather turns cooler.  

I went up to the bar and took a look at some of the beers they had to offer.  The beers were listed on planks attached to the wall in the tap room.  They had a dozen beers on tap that day including a chocolate stout, a light ale, a cherry ale, a lemon radler, and an apricot wheat beer.  Two beers that intrigued me were the Samba Mamba, a seasonal hazy IPA with an A.B.V. of 7.4%; and one of their regular beers, the Habitual American pale ale with an A.B.V. of 5.7%.  The bartender let me try a sample of both beers and while I've been partial to hazy IPA's as of late, I have to say that the Habitual APA literally stomped on the flavor of the Samba Mamba.  It was a great beer, nice and smooth on the front end with nice hoppy finish on the back end.  I ended up having a couple of beers there before heading over across the street for dinner at Krewe.  (Look for an upcoming Road Tips entry on Krewe in the coming weeks.)  

I was very impressed with Bad Habit Brewing Company.  The taproom and beer garden/patio was top-notch, as was the wonderful Habitual American pale ale that I enjoyed while I was there.  There have been a number of brewery/tap rooms that I've encountered over the years, but Bad Habit Brewing Company was one of the more memorable.  Places like Bad Habit make me jealous for the people of St. Cloud/St. Joseph who don't have far to go to enjoy a good beer in a great atmosphere.  

Harmony Brewing Company - Grand Rapids, MI

On our trip to Grand Rapids, MI, I was keen to try some of the nearly 5 dozen breweries/brewpubs in the area.  I had looked up some in advance and found that a good portion of the breweries served food.  Well, on our first night in Grand Rapids, my wife wasn't too whippy about going to a brewpub for dinner.  She saw a Cuban restaurant south and east of downtown Grand Rapids that she really wanted to try.  I decided to go along with her wishes and we found the restaurant.  We parked in the back, went around to the front door and pulled on it.  Locked.  Closed.  According to the sign on their front window, they were supposed to open at 5 p.m. and close at 9.  It was well past 5 p.m. when we were there.  My wife was crestfallen and wondered if I had a Plan B.  I did and it wasn't all that far away.  We ended up going over to the Harmony Brewing Company.  

Like most brewpubs, the genesis of the business usually starts in someone's home or basement.  And that's exactly what happened with brothers Jackson and Barry Van Dyke who started to brew their own beers at home around the start of the millennium.  The brothers eventually got into property management and helped develop some old buildings in Grand Rapids in the city's Uptown neighborhood.  However, their dream to open their own brewpub was always in the back of their minds.  

The brothers found an old building in the Eastown neighborhood of Grand Rapids that had been a liquor store for years before the place went out of the business and the building fell into neglect.  The building originally was built in 1928 and when Prohibition ended in 1933, it became a distribution center for Miller beer.  When the brothers bought the building in late 2009, they found product on the shelves, as well as bottles of soda pop still in long shut down coolers.  The Van Dyke brothers spent the first month of ownership of the building taking garbage and old inventory out of the main floor and the basement.  

Over the next two years, the Van Dyke brothers spent $300,000 on the transformation of the old building.  They used salvaged doors and floors throughout the place and their first beer vessels were re-purposed dairy tanks they bought on line from a dairy farm in Wisconsin.  Renovations took a little longer than they anticipated, mainly because the brothers were doing most of the build-outs themselves.  But in February of 2012, the Van Dyke brothers - along with their sister Heather - opened the doors to Harmony Brewing Company.  

Business turned out to be brisk and at times demand was so high for both beer and food at the original location that the Van Dyke's knew they needed to expand.  Since they were sort of locked in at Harmony Brewing, they found a 100-year-old-plus building on the west side of Grand Rapids that had originally been a sausage factory, but more recently had been a Mexican restaurant.  After renovations, the Van Dyke's opened Harmony Hall in 2015.  

We found Harmony Brewing Company at the corner of Wealthy St. SE and Lake Drive SE - a sort of convoluted intersection that puts Harmony Brewing inside a triangle.  (see map)  There's a small parking lot that we were able to get the last parking space when we drove in.  Other than that, parking is available on the street near the brewery.  

(A quick aside - we were sort of amused and somewhat curious about Wealthy Street and the origin of the name. It's a prominent street on the east side of Grand Rapids and we found ourselves on Wealthy Street a handful of times during our visit as there were a number of restaurants, shops and breweries along the way.  It almost sounded like a street on the board game Monopoly, or was named for one of the more well-to-do areas of the city.   It turns out that the street was named for the wife of one of Grand Rapids' first merchants and community leaders, Jefferson Morrison, who was also instrumental in platting out the city in the mid-19th century.  After losing his first wife to illness, Morrison married Wealthy Davis in 1850 and named one of the streets after his new wife.  That's it - the street was named as a loving gesture to Morrison's new wife.)

After getting inside, we entered the bar area and there was a hostess at the stand just inside the door.  The small bar featured a few stools and there were a small handful of booths in the bar area.  The hostess took us to a booth in the bar and dropped off a couple menus for us.  

There was a back dining area in Harmony Brewing that featured booths and tables with garage doors that would open for patio dining.  It had been raining and had cooled off after the front came through, so there was no outdoor dining that evening.  A small stage was in the corner that has been used for live music in the past, but there was a four-seater table on the stage during our visit.  

Our server that day was a young guy by the name of Keely who was a personable and helpful staffer throughout our visit.  We sampled a couple of their beers - the Fiddlestix American pale ale and the Pleasant Peninsula India pale ale - to start out.  We both liked the flavors of the Fiddlestix over the IPA and ended up getting that.  I was sort of surprised that my wife didn't get her usual vodka and cranberry juice as they had a full bar at Harmony Brewing.  

The menu is pretty basic at Harmony Brewing.  The main emphasis is on their wood-fired pizzas called by some as the best pizza in Grand Rapids.  But they also had appetizers such as house-made breadsticks that could be topped with either a pesto or with a balsamic vinegar, sea salt and oregano.  They also had pretzel rods with a beer-cheese sauce for appetizers, as well as a roasted red pepper dip served with kettle chips.  

My wife felt she needed some greens to start out with, so she ended up ordering a Caesar salad from their salads part of the menu for both of us to share.  For a dollar up-charge, she also got anchovies on the salad.  The romaine lettuce was cool and crisp with a nice house-made Caesar dressing along with fresh grated parmesan cheese and croutons.  Fresh-cracked black pepper was mixed in with the greens and dressing.  The salad was big enough for one person to have as a meal.

We ordered our usual sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza.  It was a Neapolitan-style pizza with a thin hand-tossed crust.  It was a good pizza - not the best we'd ever had - but it was still good.  I think my wife was not too enamored with the pizza because I think she had her heart set on having Cuban food.  But we ended up eating all of the 12" pizza.  

I knew we were going to go to Harmony Brewing and get one of their pizzas at some point during our visit to Grand Rapids.  Because the Cuban restaurant that my wife wanted to go to was closed for the evening, we ended up going there on our first night in town.  We enjoyed their Fiddlestix American pale ale, and my wife really liked the Caesar salad that she had ordered to start off with.  And the Neapolitan pizza we both shared was a good pizza.  Harmony Brewing's original location was a cozy and funky little joint, and the service we had was fun and friendly.  For our first visit to a brewery in Grand Rapids - a city that is known for their numerous breweries - Harmony Brewing was a good choice. 

Grand Rapids and Western Michigan

My wife and I had a week's worth of vacation time left on the calendar this year and we definitely wanted to make it count, considering our vacation to the Gulf Coast of Alabama earlier this year turned out to be quite possibly the worst vacation we had ever been on.  We kicked around a number of options and decided that we wanted to head to Grand Rapids, MI.  There were a couple three reasons why - 1) It has an extensive number of microbreweries and brewpubs in, around and near the city; 2) We've never been to Grand Rapids before; and 3) My wife wanted a place where we could go and walk along the beaches of Lake Michigan, about a half-hour drive from Grand Rapids.  

We went just after Labor Day - I had to change my vacation dates because I was supposed to attend a trade show that my company decided to attend just three weeks before the show.  I was going to be on vacation that last week of August, but our company made a decision to just go and set up in a meeting room at a hotel near the trade show site.  I was able to push my vacation back a week, but my wife had some minor problems getting her company to allow her to change her vacation.  But she was able to pull it off.  

However, with the rise of COVID-19 Delta variant cases across the nation, a number of manufacturers decided to pull out of the trade show and a week before we were to attend the show, my company decided to pull the plug, as well.  So, I guess I didn't have to change my vacation, after all.  But, it turned out for the best as the crowds along the Michigan beaches were down dramatically from the week before.  

The weather was unseasonably cool for the first couple of days we were in Michigan.  The day we were traveling to Grand Rapids, a strong cold front brought severe storms through southwest Michigan.  There was some tree damage to parts of the Grand Rapids area, but we were able to get through the rain rather easily.  After the storm front had passed, brisk winds out of the northwest brought cooler than normal temperatures.  It was refreshing, actually, from the warm humid air we had experienced for days before.  

We stayed just east of what is known as the "Medical Mile" in Grand Rapids.  The Medical Mile originated in 1996 with the Jay and Betty Van Andel Institute, a medical research facility started by one of the co-founders of the Amway Corporation.  From there, a number of other hospitals and research facilities including four different college medical schools sprung up along Michigan Street in Grand Rapids Hillside neighborhood.  The DeVos family - the other founders of Amway; and the Meijer family - from the Meijer grocery store chain - have also given millions of dollars toward hospitals and research facilities over the past 25 years.  Quite actually, the medical campuses were rather impressive.  

Being a Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond member, we naturally stayed at one of Hilton's properties while in Grand Rapids - the Hampton Inn and Suites.  (see map)  (There was a very nice Embassy Suites along the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids that was also very nice, but they wanted too many points for the stay there.)  The Hampton Inn featured a parking garage under the hotel, we got a nice upgrade to a junior suite for being a Lifetime Diamond member, and it was clean, quiet and comfortable.  We slept great every night we were there.  I would absolutely recommend this hotel if you make it to Grand Rapids. 

Getting around Grand Rapids proved to be a bit of a challenge.  Coming into the city, the eastbound lanes of the Gerald R. Ford Freeway (I-196) were closed at the bridge over the Grand River.  Our hotel was on the east side of the river and we had to get off the freeway and then sort of navigate backstreets to get to our destination.  All around Grand Rapids we found street closures and construction work going on.  Some roads were torn up completely and we wondered how in the world they were going to be able to finish those projects before the snow started to fly.  And the one-way streets in Grand Rapids were also sort of confusing.  After a couple three days of driving around, however, we were able to figure out what was where and how to get there.  

For years, the two cities of Grand Rapids and Asheville, NC have vied for the unofficial title of "Beer City USA".  We went to Asheville a little over 4 years ago to experience some of their numerous breweries.  (Click here to see some of the places we visited.)  We had enjoyed Asheville immensely and had always wondered about Grand Rapids.  Well, it turns out that Grand Rapids has over 50 breweries of all sizes in and around the city.  And in places like Kalamazoo - an hour to the south - there's another 12 to 15 in that area.  In fact, in the 6 counties that encompass southwest Michigan, there are over 100 breweries that you can visit.  We tried to focus on the ones in Grand Rapids, but we found ourselves going to brewpubs in Grand Haven, South Haven and Saugatuck.  

Unlike Asheville, however, many of the Grand Rapids brewpubs were spread out and you couldn't walk between many of them like you can in Asheville.  Ride shares are plentiful in Grand Rapids, so you can park and ride between many of the brewpubs.  

We found some pretty interesting places in our quest to discover the brewpubs in the area.  One of the more unique ones was Brewery Vivant whose taproom was in an old funeral chapel.  (Below left)  We just sort of stumbled upon it one night as we were driving by and I couldn't believe the luck of finding the place.  Brewery Vivant was styled after European pubs and their Rapid IPA was a fine beer.  Someone asked us later on if we had eaten there, but we had already eaten at another brew pub earlier in the evening.  "Oh, you should have eaten at Brewery Vivant," we were told by a young woman at another brewpub we visited.  "They have excellent food."  

We went over to Grand Haven one day, about a 30 minute drive from Grand Rapids and found Odd Side Ales.  (Above right)  It was part brewery, part coffee house situated in what was a former piano manufacturing facility.  Not only were their beers good - the Citra Pale Ale was exceptionally good - but it was a pretty neat and laid-back setting.  My wife loved the place tremendously and since we've been back she's told everyone who asked about our trip about our visit to Odd Side Ales.  

Also over in Grand Haven was the Grand Armory Brewing Co.  (Below left) This small brewery was situated in a 115-year-old historical building that once was the small town's local armory and gathering hall.  Grand Armory shared the first floor of the building with a coffee shop and a barbecue joint.  The second floor housed an art gallery.  The brewpub's tap room was a cozy little place and my wife and I both enjoyed their Crop Duster hazy IPA as well as their Weezin'-the-Juice citra IPA.    

Another interesting brewpub we went to in Grand Rapids was the Mitten Brewing Company. (above right)  Housed in an old fire station, this brewpub featured a baseball-themed taproom with memorabilia on display, primarily from the Detroit Tigers.  My next door neighbor is a huge Tigers fan and I remarked to my wife that he would have been in heaven in the place.  We enjoyed a couple of their Fogout New England hazy IPA's on their patio out back before we had to go inside as it got cold once the sun went down.  Actually, my wife was dressed for it, but I just had a polo shirt and jeans on and it was getting a little nippy for me.  

Some of the other places we stopped by were Greyline Brewing, ELK Brewing, the Grand Rapids location of the Atwater Brewery out of Detroit, City Built Brewing and the resurrected Grand Rapids Brewing Company which first brewed beer in 1883.  We also ate at a handful of brewpubs during our trip to Grand Rapids and Western Michigan, so I'll have individual entries on those places in the coming weeks.

One of the things my wife and I like to do do when we go on vacation is to check out parks or arboretums.  It turned out that Grand Rapids had a world class arboretum and sculpture garden - the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.  The grounds have a year-round arboretum and over 300 sculptures and works of art on the grounds.  Originally opened in 1995, over 700,000 people visit the park annually and we thought it was well worth the $14.50 per person admission fee.  

The Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory featured over 500 plants from 5 continents, the largest display of its kind in the state of Michigan.  Waterfalls and streams wandered through the gum trees, palms, and walls of orchids with pathways around the perimeter and into the heart of the exhibit.  Tropical birds in cages were also place throughout the floor area of the 5-story building, and in the spring the conservatory has a tropical butterfly display where hundreds of butterflies - imported in their own chrysalis from Asia, Africa and South America - fly freely throughout the conservatory.  

Also in the immediate area to the conservatory was a garden featuring cacti, succulents, agave plants and floral displays that survive in the most arid parts of the world.  My wife really digs succulents and we took our time going through that room to check things out.  

In the sculpture park, we found a number of interesting and sort of confusing works of art that had been gathered by the Meijer family over the years.  This sculpture (below left) was near the amphitheater that features concerts from mid-July thru mid-September.  (This year, performers such as the Beach Boys, Emmy Lou Harris, Squeeze, Ani DeFranco and Harry Connick, Jr. graced the stage at the Meijer Gardens Amphitheater.)  The sculpture - Lying Man by Sean Henry - was realistic looking from afar.  However, upon closer inspection, the man would have been 9 feet tall if he was real.  

Off the path of the sculpture park was this interesting looking sculpture - Neuron by contemporary artist Roxy Paine.  (Above right)  Clicking on the picture, you can see the intricate detail of Paine's work.  It was strange, yet sort of spellbinding.  

Back in an area of the sculpture park called The Grove, there was this cool piece of art by Kenneth Snelson called B-Tree II.  (Below left)  The sculpture was built on site and is another example of "Tensegrity", a concept that Snelson helped devise with Buckminster Fuller and who both have patented some of the concepts of tensegrity.  Tensegrity is explained as a "design principle which applies when a discontinuous set of compression elements is opposed and balanced by a continuous tensile force, thereby creating an internal prestress that stabilizes the entire structure."  B-Tree II is based on patterning triangles where carefully calculated tension of the stainless steel cords locks the tubes in place.  

As we continued to wander along the pathway that wove through the park, we came across this interesting statue called "Broken Nose Carrying Bottle Number One."  The lifelike bronze sculpture by Spanish contemporary artist Juan Muñoz is similar to many works that Muñoz placed in unexpected spots that would somehow cause conflict between the sculpture and the viewer.  The Meijer family acquired this work in 1999, two years before Muñoz died of a heart attack due to an aneurysm in his esophagus. 

Throughout the sculpture garden were a handful of waterfalls with babbling brooks draining into small ponds.  While there weren't any rose gardens or large flower displays that we like to see in gardens when we travel, there was a tranquility in the running water that allowed my wife and I to linger in those spots before we moved on.  

Probably the highlight for us was the Richard and Helen DeVos Japanese Garden.  This 8-acre garden was designed by Hoichi Kurisu, a world-renowned designer of Japanese gardens, both in Japan and in the U.S.  In addition to the Japanese garden at the Meier Sculpture Garden, Kurisu has designed Japanese gardens in Portland, OR, Dubuque, IA (which I never knew until writing this), and in Florida.  Kurisu put in traditional elements of a Japanese garden - quiet areas (including a Zen garden), waterfalls, and numerous vistas.  The picture above right is from the Viewing Hill which overlooks the Lena Meijer Pond on the grounds.

But the most prominent feature of the Meijer gardens was the two-story tall "The American Horse" created by noted animal sculptor Nina Akamu.  Commissioned by Fred Meijer nearly 25 years ago, the sculpture pays homage to the famed Italian artist/architect/engineer/sculptor Leonardo da Vinci.  

Information boards at the site of The American Horse told the story of da Vinci's project that he was working on for the Duke of Milan starting in 1482.  He made a number of drawings of the anatomy of a horse and started work on a life-sized clay model of the horse in 1491.  Over 70 tons of bronze was accumulated for the 26-foot high horse by the time the life-sized clay model was finished in 1494.  However, the bronze that was to be used for the project was given to the uncle of the Duke of Milan to forge cannons that would be used to fend off invaders.  

In 1499, the French invaded Milan and the clay statue was used primarily for archery practice.  The elements further eroded the sculpture and it was destroyed just a few short years later.

In the 1970's, full-time airline pilot and part-time art collector/historian Charles Dent came across an article in the National Geographic magazine featuring da Vinci's horse.  Determined to finish what da Vinci started, Dent set up a large studio in his hometown of Allentown, PA and set up a non-profit corporation - Leonardo da Vinci Horse, Inc. (LDVHI) - to help raise money for the project.  By 1988, $2.5M had been raised allowing Dent to commission Garth Herrick to begin work on the project.  However, Dent later contracted ALS and died in 1994.

In 1997, the LDVHI had contacted a company to cast the horse, but the company wasn't keen on the design.  They suggested bringing in Akamu, a well-known animal sculptor who after looking at the original model, determined that it was unsuitable for casting.  Fred Meijer then became involved and raised the money for two identical 26-foot high horse statues be cast.  Akamu finished the project in 1999 with one horse going to Milan, while the other was placed in the center of the DeVos/Van Andel Piazza.  da Vinci, Dent and Akamu are all recognized with small displays and plaques in the piazza.  

We were at the Frederik Meijer Gardens for a little over two hours and we didn't even visit the interactive children's garden, nor the farm garden on the far end of the sculpture garden.  We figured we walked over two miles during our time there.  It was a great day - a bit cool, but we sort of forgot about that while we were walking.  

One morning, we took a walk along the river on the Butterworth Trail what is part of the Grand River Edges Trail.  We walked along the east side of the river from a parking lot in Canal Park up to Leonard Street and then back down south to below the dam.  For a mid-week day, there were a number of bikers, walkers and joggers on the path enjoying the morning.  There were a handful of turnout areas where you could look over the Grand River to the west side.

We made it down to the dam and noticed there were a number of anglers in waders just below the dam.  My wife asked one of the guys coming up the ramp what they were fishing for.  "Coho salmon," he said as he trudged past us, probably calling it a day.  We stood there for a few moments watching the dozen or so men fishing in the shallow water below the dam and there were no bites noted while we were hanging out.  

The I-196/Gerald R. Ford Freeway bridge over the Grand River was closed to east bound traffic, so there was a large construction presence past the dam.  Past the expressway bridge, the trail loops over across the river to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.  However, the library/museum had been closed for sometime due to COVID restrictions.  But that was OK with me.  Even though I'm a big history buff, I just didn't think the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum would be all that interesting.  It's sort of like the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, IA - 45 minutes from where I live.  I've even driven past the library/museum a number of times when I would visit a good friend who lived in West Branch, but I've never really wanted to go in to see the museum given Hoover's track record as president.  

My wife was adamant that we went to Lake Michigan and walked on the beaches.  We drove 30 miles over to Grand Haven one day and walked the beach there at the Grand Haven City Beach. (Below left)  It was a brisk day with the winds coming off the lake at about 25 miles an hour.  It reminded us of our vacation along the Gulf Shores of Alabama where the wind coming off the ocean was relentless the whole time we were there.  We walked for about 25 minutes along the beach before my wife decided that she was getting sort of cold.  The water temperature on Lake Michigan had to be in the 60's making it pretty cold on our feet and legs when the waves would wash up on the beach.   

One other day, we went down to St. Joseph, MI to Tiscornia Park, a place my wife and a friend of hers had visited earlier in the summer.  (Above right)  She was adamant that we go there as she found the place to be so peaceful and pleasant.  And we picked a great day for it, too.  Winds were light, temps were in the upper 70's and we walked along the beach then out to the St. Joseph North Pier lighthouse.  I can see why she wanted to go there.  It was actually sort of tough to leave.  

We made it over to Saugatuck, a small town that we've been to two or three times before.  This time, we walked along the boardwalk that meandered through the large marinas lining the harbor at Saugatuck.  There was very little activity going on in the marina - we figured that some of the boats probably wouldn't be going back out on the lake since it was after the Labor Day holiday.  But we marveled at the size of some of the boats in the slips at Saugatuck - some we're undoubtedly worth more than our house.  

Just outside of Saugatuck, we were driving along the back roads and encountered a hops farm.  My wife was stymied for a moment as to what the long vines growing up along wires were, then when I said they were hops, she immediately knew.  "I guess I've never seen hops vines so long," she said.  Come to think of it, I really hadn't either.  But it showed that there was a conscious effort by local farmers to help the local breweries out by having locally-grown hops for their beers.

All in all, our trip to Grand Rapids and Western Michigan was clearly one that we needed.  It was 180 degrees out of phase from our trip earlier in the year to the Gulf Shores of Alabama.  It was peaceful, the weather was nice (except for the day at the beach in Grand Haven), and we were able to catch up on sleep.  We visited a number of breweries and had some pretty good food - with the exception of one place that I'll talk about in an upcoming entry.  The parks and villages we visited and walked around were both fascinating and laid-back.  We avoided the tourist traps and found some places that we wished we could have spent more time.  My wife even came home with a big bag of Michigan peaches that we ended up freezing so she can enjoy them in smoothies for the next couple three months.  Oh, yeah - we're going back to Western Michigan again at some point.  And maybe sooner than later.  

Triptych Brewing - Savoy, IL

My wife and I have friends who, when we get together, we usually laugh too much and drink too much.  They like to drink craft beers and we'll meet up with them from time to time for an afternoon or evening of laughing and drinking.  On one Sunday afternoon a couple of years ago, we met up at Radicle Effects Brewerks (formerly Against the Grain Brewery) in Rock Island, a place that brews their own beers, has great bloody Mary's, and also offers a handful of beers from other craft breweries.  (They even have Old Style and Pabst Blue Ribbon available!)  My friend and I were at the bar and he was looking at the beer menu.  He said to me, "Hey, have you ever tried the Triptych Dank Meme?"  I said that I had never heard of the brewery.  He explained to me that it's located in the small town of Savoy, IL, just south of Champaign.  "Oh, yeah," he said excitedly.  "I was down there a couple years ago and had one of these at their brewpub.  It's great."  

He talked me into getting one and I had to say that it was very good for a hazy IPA.  I later found out that a Hy-Vee store over in Rock Island sells 4-packs of Dank Meme in 16-ounce cans and I've headed over there a few times over the last couple years to pick some up for my beer fridge at home.   

Well, I recently spent the evening in Champaign and it turned out that Savoy was just a couple three miles down the road from the hotel I was staying at.  I decided to head down to Triptych Brewing and get a Dank Meme from its source.  

Anthony Benjamin was looking for a hobby to start right when his wife entered law school at the University of Illinois in 2005.  It just so happened that he saw a program on television that showed the basics of home-brewing and he was immediately hooked.  Starting out in his garage - like any number of owners of micro and craft breweries over the years - Benjamin got to be pretty good at it.  In fact, he won a handful of awards and medals in brewery competitions while he was also working in the engineering department at the University of Illinois.  In 2009, Benjamin was named the Midwest Home-brewer of the Year based on the number of awards he won in contests across a 12 state region.

Pictured right - Triptych Brewing majority owner Anthony Benjamin

Through home-brewing, Benjamin struck up a relationship with computer engineer Joshi Fullop.  Along with a third friend, local Champaign lawyer Jason Bartell, the trio decided to look into doing their own brewery at some point.  Funding was a bit of a concern, so the three started a Kickstarter fund to raise the $20,000 needed to get their brewery in motion.  It wasn't long that the money was raised - actually over $5,000 more than they had hoped for - and things were kicking into gear.  

The trio found a space in a building in Savoy in 2012 and with the construction help and know-how of another fellow home-brewing enthusiast, Lyle Amacher, they were able to turn the space into an 500-square foot brewery with a small adjoining taproom.  By the end of 2012, Benjamin was starting to brew beers in the 1.5 barrel system and in February of 2013 Triptych Brewing opened for in-house serving of their beers.  The brewing system eventually grew to a cobbled-together 3-barrel system and then they acquired more vessels to make it a 5-barrel system.  Initially, they only sold beer-to-go in 32-ounce growlers, but they eventually put in a canning line so they could sell their beers in 16-ounce sizes. 

The name Triptych is a sort of interesting story.  Wanting to stay away from a name with a regional connotation, Benjamin looked at the three basic ingredients to make beer -  water, barley and hops.  There were also three initial owners of the new brewery.  He had learned years before that a triptych is a set of three associated artistic works blended into one work of art.  And, voila!  He had come up with a name!  The Triptych Brewing logo features a blending of water, hops and barley in three entwining circles.  

The Triptych Brewery was a hit right off the bat and as their business grew the trio of owners knew that A) they would need more space, and B) more time would have to be devoted to the business.  Fullop couldn't do that with the demands of his job, nor could Bartell with the demands of his law firm.  But this was Anthony Benjamin's full-time job since he quit his position at the University of Illinois just before the brewery opened.  Fullop and Bartell ended up selling their interests to Benjamin, who, in turn, sold shares of Triptych to Lyle Amacher - who had just retired early from his job with AT&T - and another home-brewer friend by the name of Greg Altstetter.  It wasn't long after that that a fourth partner - local realtor and property manager, James Voigtlander - became a minority investor in the brewery.

With Triptych Brewing signing distribution contracts around the state of Illinois, Benjamin and his minority partners had to find a larger space in which to brew their beers.  It turned out the owner of a flooring company just across the street from Triptych Brewing in Savoy was looking to move to a larger location.  Triptych moved into the building in the spring of 2018 and put in a much larger brewing operation going from nano-brewery status to micro-brewery status with three 15-barrel brewing systems in an 8,000 square-foot space.  

I had finished up with one of my accounts in Champaign in the late afternoon and had checked into my hotel on the south side of Champaign.  A storm front was brewing in the western skies when I made the short trek down Neil Street into Savoy.  A quick turn to the right and another quick turn to the right, I found myself pulling into Triptych Brewing on Woodfield Drive.  (see map)  I got what was the last parking space in the lot next to the taproom.  (Additional parking is available across the street at the brewing facility after 5 p.m. and along Woodfield Drive.)  

I would have to say the decor at Triptych would be classified as modern industrial.  The open space had a lacquered concrete floor with a number of metal/wood-topped tables with mismatched chairs at both the high-tops and regular tables.  A flow chart of how they make the beer is depicted in a mural on the wall in the space, and an authentic shuffleboard table was being used by two guests next to the mural.

I ended up taking a seat at the bar and took a look at the beer menu on the wall behind the bar.  Triptych Brewing had nearly 20 beers, ales and ciders on tap that day including a guest cider from the Brick River Cider Company out of St. Louis.  They had a handful of fruit-based beers including the tart ale called "Hawaiian Shirts" that featured mango and passion fruit.  I'm usually a sucker for anything with passion fruit (a.k.a. lillikoi in Hawai'i), but that sounded too fruity for my taste.  They also had a low-alcohol Belgian-style beer, as well as a mild-English ale with a 3.5 ABV.  And they had a smoked lager on tap that they made in collaboration with Narrow Gauge Brewing Company, a craft brewery located in the the St. Louis suburb of Florissant, MO 

I was intrigued by a couple beers they had that day - the Wake Up, Nero; and the Indistinguishable from Magic.  Both were hazy double India Pale Ales and had similar alcohol content (7.9 and 8.0, respectively).  I liked the smoothness of the Wake Up, Nero a little better than the Indistinguishable from Magic, but both were very good.

But I was there to get a Dank Meme on tap.  One of the bartenders by the name of Joe introduced himself to me when I first sat down and he poured me a pint glass with a nice head of foam.  It had the wonderful hazy gold color that I've come accustomed to.  And it was just as smooth and had a nice citrus back-end that I really enjoy with the Dank Meme.  It's an easy drinking beer and I was able to easily polish off a pint before ordering a second one.  

I walked around the tap room as I enjoyed my second beer and noticed that there was a food truck setting up in front of the building along Woodfield Drive.  Triptych Brewing has La Paloma, a Mexican food truck specializing in street tacos, on Thursday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m.  But guessing by the gathering storm that looked like it could just start dumping rain at any minute, I figured they wouldn't be open much longer that evening.  I hurried up and finished my beer, then took off back to my hotel getting there just moments before it started blowing and raining heavily.  

I sent my friend a picture of the front Triptych Brewing after getting back to the hotel and he texted me back, "Jealous!" moments later.  Triptych Brewing is a great little brewery and I really enjoy their Dank Meme hazy IPA.  They have a number of interesting beers and their distribution reaches nearly all corners of Illinois.  If you find yourself in the Champaign area and are on the look-out for some very good craft beers, you need to take the short trek down to Savoy and give Triptych Brewing a try.  

 

 

Jubeck New World Brewery - Dubuque, IA

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.  

River Ridge Brewing - Bellevue, IA

One of our favorite day trips to make for a good craft beer is to Bellevue, IA to River Ridge Brewing.  Since they opened in 2016, River Ridge was in a small space along Riverview St. in downtown Bellevue.  But the owners  were in the process of renovating it for a larger microbrewery just a couple blocks down the street when the pandemic hit in March of 2020.  Because of pandemic protocols, they were forced to close down their small location and offer only growlers to go that were brought out to cars by brewery personnel.  They had hoped to be in the new facility by last fall, but the build out was also going slow due to various reasons.  Since last fall, we had been anxiously awaiting the news that their new microbrewery would be opening at any time.  And it was sometime in April when we found out that they had, indeed, opened the doors to their new facility.  On a recent sunny Sunday, we made the hour-long trek up to Bellevue to check the new place out.  

The original founders/owners of River Ridge Brewing - local banker Nick Hueneke and his wife Kelly, along with Kelly's brother Jeremy Roth and his wife Nikki - decided to start the brewery after years of experience both as home brewers and working in the industry.  Jeremy and Nikki Roth decided to divest themselves from the business in 2018 and the Hueneke's turned to one of their bartenders, Allison Simpson and her husband, Nic Hockenberry, to join them in the business.  Simpson and Hockenberry had moved to Bellevue a couple years prior as Hockenberry was the associate director (now director) of the Jackson County Economic Alliance and loved to hang out at the nano-brewery before Simpson started to work behind the bar.

Once Allison Simpson told her father Greg that she and her husband were going to become partners in the brewery, he became very excited.  Greg Simpson's primary job was as a health care professional and a political operative in nearby Dubuque, but he had been a home-brewing enthusiast for a number of years.  Greg Simpson and his wife Amanda (Allison's step-mother) also invested in the business.  On previous visits to the original tap room at River Ridge Brewing, we would see Greg Simpson and talk with him about many of the beers they were working on.  

Pictured at right - Nic Hockenberry and Allison Simpson with their son, Henry; and Kelly and Nick Hueneke holding their son, Nile.  Photo courtesy River Ridge web page.

Nic Hockenberry and Nick Hueneke had their eye on an old building that was once a implement dealership along S. Riverview that had sat empty for over 30 years.  Hockenberry and Hueneke knew that it would take a lot of work to get the building into shape for a brewery, but when they walked out and saw that they could build a patio that overlooked the river, they were hooked.  Work began on the new space in 2019.  

When they finally opened in April of this year, they were able to expand from their single barrel (31 gallons) operation at their old location into a 3.5 bbl brewery at their new site.  Their old space - which was a restaurant before it was a brewery - is presently being converted back into a restaurant, a Mexican restaurant that should open later this year.  

River Ridge Brewery is open just 4 days a week - Thursday hours are 4 to 9 p.m., Friday, Saturday and Sunday they open at noon.  Friday and Saturday they're open until 10 p.m., while on Sunday they are usually open until 5 p.m.  (However, some Sunday's - including the day we were there - are declared as "Sunday Funday" and they'll stay open until 8 p.m.) 

It was just before noon when we pulled up to River Ridge Brewery after taking backroads up from the Quad Cities to Bellevue.  (see map)  There's a driveway down to a parking lot next to the new patio for the microbrewery and some people were already walking down the grade toward the patio.  We decided to go in the front door at street level and down the stairs to the brewery's tap room. 

Once inside, we found that we were the first people in the place that day, but it filled up inside and out on the patio pretty quickly.  Nic Hockenberry and Allison Simpson were behind the bar, as was Kelly Hueneke pouring beers that day.  River Ridge has a handful of regular beers including an amber, a honey blonde, a good lager, a very good IPA and the Bale Ale pale ale that my wife and I both like.  We got our first Iowa Bale Ale pale ales of the day from Nic Hockenberry and went out to the patio.  

The tap room at River Ridge has sort of a contemporary/rustic charm.  A stone brick wall was the main visual behind the bar, but concrete columns holding metal beams crossing the ceiling were prominent on the high-polished concrete floor.  On weekends, River Ridge has stone-oven pizzas available.  We had one during one of our recent visits there and it was just all right for a $12 10-inch pizza.   

Since my wife and I like the Iowa Bale Ale pale ale beer, River Ridge has some beer cheese made with the Bale Ale by a local cheesemaker.  They have a mild cheese spread and a spicy spread, but I think the mild has a bit of a spicy taste to it on its own.  It's $7 bucks for an 8 ounce container of the cheese spread and a sleeve of club crackers.  It's a nice little snack to complement the taste of their beers.  

The patio features a number of metal-mesh tables and chairs with umbrellas.  Strings of lights criss-cross the patio that is situated about 30 feet above the Mississippi River.  It was windy that day - abnormally windy - and a couple of the umbrellas had come loose from the base.  I helped one table control their umbrella, but an umbrella on a table on the other side of us got loose, went straight up in the air and sailed down and out onto the Mississippi River.  Nic Hockenberry came out with the guy who was cooking pizzas that day and they started to crank the umbrellas down, apologizing to the patrons seated outside that it was obvious they couldn't be open.  As they did that, a boater had seen the upside-down umbrella spiraling down to the river and he went to retrieve it for the brewery.  

The view from the patio at River Ridge is spectacular.  The vista goes from Lock and Dam 12 just up the river from the brewery all the way down about four or five miles south into Pool 13 of the river.  Not a lot of boats were on the river that day due to the windy conditions, but we did see a barge coming up river that locked through the dam later in the afternoon.

One of the nice things about River Ridge is that they pull people in from all over Eastern Iowa and Northwestern Illinois.  We talked with people from Dubuque - about 13 miles up river from the tap room - for awhile.  But we also met and talked with a couple who lived over in Cedar Rapids, about a 90 minute drive from Bellevue.  But the biggest surprise was when a couple who are friends of ours from the Quad Cities called us to see what we were doing.  They had been fishing above the Bellevue dam earlier in the day and had just pulled their boat out and were heading back to the Quad Cities.  When we told them we were sitting on the patio at River Ridge, my buddy said, "We'll be there in less than five minutes!"  The next thing we knew, we saw them walking down the driveway to the patio.  We had a couple beers with them before we all decided to head back home for the day.  

About the only drawback - for us - about River Ridge Brewing is that it's a bit of a drive from the Quad Cities up to Bellevue.  While the tap room is nice, it's tough to beat the view and ambiance of their patio overlooking the Mississippi River.  River Ridge has a nice selection of craft brews - both year round and seasonal - and the people who work there are friendly.  While we liked the coziness of their original tap room, the new River Ridge tap room and patio is a great place to spend a couple hours watching the river go by while having a good craft brew.   

 

Stompbox Brewing/Kitchen Brigade - Davenport, IA

We have a couple that we like to meet up with for craft beers and libations from time to time on some Sundays.  My wife and the wife in the couple used to work together years ago, while the husband and I just like to drink beer and laugh.  Earlier this year, we met up for beers at a microbrewery over on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities.  After a couple three beers there, we decided to head over to a newer microbrewery/brewpub in downtown Davenport called Stompbox Brewing.  We hadn't been there before and looked forward to giving it a try.  It turns out that they also had a kitchen on the premises - the Kitchen Brigade -  and while we didn't have food on that visit, we did go back there a few weeks later to meet up with the same couple to have more beers and food at Stompbox Brewing and the Kitchen Brigade.  

Stompbox Brewing grew out of the tragic circumstances that forced the original tenants of the new built-out restaurant space, Roam, to close less than a year after they opened in December of 2018.  

Brothers Dylan and Griffin Steil envisioned Roam as a combination bistro/motorcycle repair shop - something that is found in places in Europe where people on motorbikes roam the countryside and may need a little food and drink while getting their rides serviced.  It was a bold initiative for the Steil brothers and I openly questioned how a motorcycle repair shop in the back of a European-style bistro would go over with patrons trying to enjoy innovative foods and drinks.  

During the spring of 2019, the Mississippi River rose to record heights in the Quad Cities.  A series of HESCO barriers were put up along River Drive to help keep the river at bay.  However, at approximately 3:30 on the afternoon of April 30th, the rising flood waters pushed through the barriers just east of Roam causing the flood waters to rush in and inundate parts of downtown Davenport.  The video below is from Roam's security camera and shows the moment the barrier was breached with people inside Roam running out to move their vehicles out of the parking lot.  

Businesses in a wide area of downtown Davenport were impacted for weeks that turned into months.  It was a tragic turn of events for the Steil brothers who put just about every penny they had between them into Roam.  It became apparent that financial relief would not be coming quickly enough - nor would it be enough to recoup their investment in the bistro/motorbike repair shop - and the brothers announced in September of 2019 that they would not reopen.  They were forced to sell off equipment and fixtures to help pay for the losses incurred from the flood.  

In December of 2019, a group of investors announced that they would be taking over the space that housed Roam and put in a brewery.  When I first heard that a brewery was going into the old Roam building, I was sort of taken aback as it was right next to arguably the most established brewpub in the Quad Cities - Front Street Brewery.  But, so far, they seem to cohabitate pretty well.   

The group of investors - which include local music enthusiast/photographer Matt Erickson and James Prickett, a cost analyst at the Rock Island Arsenal who is also a musician and homebrewer - took over 6 months to renovate the space putting in a micro-brewery in the back where the motorbike repair shop was, and put in a kitchen area for food to be served in the space.  They started to brew and can beer in June of 2020 and officially opened their doors in early July of last year.  They called their new brewery "Stompbox" after a switching device a guitarist uses to control volume and tone that they step on with their feet.  

To run their kitchen, the group turned to an established food truck entrepreneur who has been around the Quad Cities food scene for a number of years.  Chad Cushman started his culinary journey at the age of 15 working in a number of restaurants over the years before becoming an executive chef, restaurant manager and consultant.  For the past 10 plus years, Cushman has been known locally as "The Crepe Guy" who would offer his services for coffee houses, outdoor markets, private parties and local events as a pop-up restaurant making sweet and savory crepes.  Cushman's distinctive red "Cushman's Food & Engine" box van is a staple at the Freight House Farmers Market in downtown Davenport from May to October.  

(Pictured left - Chad Cushman.  Photo courtesy Quad City Times)

When he's not doing the food truck thing, Cushman runs Kitchen Brigade with a European-inspired menu of snacks and shared plates, as well as a short list of main entree items such as a burger, chicken and green chile grits, a pork tomahawk schnitzel chop, and mussels that are steamed with a Stompbox beer and served in a unami broth.  You can find Cushman and his Kitchen Brigade staff at Stompbox Wednesday and Thursday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., on Friday from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

We got to Stompbox not long after noon on a recent Sunday.  There is ample parking in the area including a parking lot in front of Stompbox that is open for public use after 5 p.m. through the week and all day on Saturday and Sunday.  (see map)  The long bar sits in the middle of the space with a number of tables that are spaced throughout the place with a couple community-style tables near the bar.  I would call the decor with dark walls, exposed duct work and a polished concrete floor as contemporary industrial.  They also have a patio in front of Stompbox, but very few people were out there as it was sunny, but a bit cool.  

The bar area features seating on one side. The beer tap spigots all have "stomp boxes" as their handle tops.  A flat-screen television on the south end of the bar lists the beers currently on tap at Stompbox.  Another flat-screen on the opposite end of the bar usually has a sporting event being shown on it.  Just past the bar area are more tables and some booths with half-circle bench seating.  On the wall behind the booths was a large 3-piece colorful medieval-style mural. 

Our friends showed up not long after we got there.  My wife and I had settled in at a high-top table near the seating side of the bar.  Just off the bar was the open window with a "Kitchen Brigade" neon sign above it.  

Beers can be ordered at the bar, but they also have servers who can take beer and food orders at Stompbox.  Alexa was our server that day and I was dismayed to find that they don't have a full bar at Stompbox - just beer only.  "For now," one of the bartenders told me when I asked if they had bloody mary's.  "We may do a full bar sometime later on."

Since this was just our second visit, I remembered a beer that I had on my previous stop into Stompbox - a wonderful hazy IPA that they called "Chilly Nelson".  I ordered up one of those and my wife got the same.  But in talking with James Prickett who came out to our table later during our visit, he said that the Chilly Nelson was going away as they're trying a number of different types of beers from recipes they've garnered over the years.  I was sad to hear the Chilly Nelson was going away.  "We may bring it back at some point," Prickett said.  "In fact, we probably will and make it a seasonal beer."   I hope they do bring it back - it's excellent.  

As we were talking for awhile, my wife said that she was a little peckish and wanted to get something to piece on.  Our friends suggested the cheese curd plate, but my wife isn't big on fried cheese all that much as it gives her indigestion.  While our friends got the cheese curd plate to munch on, my wife got a bowl of the roasted olives.  "That's perfect," the wife of our friends said. "You can't handle fried cheese and we don't like olives all that much."  The olives were a mixture of green and black slightly roasted olives served in a bowl topped with a citrus oil and whipped feta cheese.  Some toasted country bread came with the bowl of roasted olives.  

I was looking for something a little extra.  The chicken and green chile grits were intriguing to me, but I didn't want that big of a meal.  At one of the booths near where we were seated, a couple of the Kitchen Brigade burgers were placed in front of the people seated there.  I told my wife, "That looks good.  But if I get one of those, I probably won't have dinner tonight."  She assured me that she could rustle something up on her own if I wasn't hungry later on.  

The burger featured a 1/2-pound beef patty from cattle that were initially grass-fed, but were fed corn before they were processed.  It was topped with butterkäse cheese - a German/Austrian butter cheese that is rich and creamy - and a house-made sauce.  The burger was served on a bun topped with black and white sesame seeds.  The burger came with julienne-chopped romaine lettuce, butter-pickle slices and an onion spread.  And a generous portion of their thin cut fries came with the burger on the side.  

The burger was very good.  The burger patty was cooked to a pink center and maintained its juicy taste throughout.  The butterkäse cheese didn't overpower the taste of the beef patty and helped enhance the overall taste of the burger.  The bun was spongy and there may have been a little too much of it as I was peeling off parts of the bun as I ate.  But the bun stayed together very well with all the toppings on the burger coupled with its juiciness.  It was a big burger and I was definitely full after I finished what I could.

The fries became community fries for the table as there was going to be no way that I was going to be able to finish them.  My wife especially liked the fries that gave her some salty flavor to counteract the tart and sharp taste of the olives.  We still had some left over by the time Alexa came to clean our plates and she wanted to know if I wanted to take them home.  I declined because I knew there would be no way they would be better heated up later on.  But my wife did end up taking more than half of her roasted olives home.  Shared among two or more people, there would have been enough.  But for one person, well, it was a lot of olives.  

My wife and I like to go out to brewpubs around the area from time to time and Stompbox has entered our rotation. And coupled with having a good burger from the Kitchen Brigade, we'll probably be there sometime in the near future for our semi-regular Sunday afternoon burger and beer.  The only problem is that I can't get a bloody mary to go along with the beer and burger at Stompbox/Kitchen Brigade.  It's a nice, laid-back atmosphere there, the staff is friendly, and the beer we've had in our visits there is very good.  I used to think we were getting too many brewpubs/microbreweries around the Quad Cities.  But if they all offer something a little different - and many of them do, like Stompbox - then I have no problem with more of them popping up.  Stompbox is a very good choice if you're looking for a tasty craft beer with some interesting food.  

Guanella Pass Brewery - Georgetown, CO

A few weeks ago, I had a post on the brewpubs of Steamboat Springs.  (Click here to see that entry.)  At the time I included a microbrewery we visited in Georgetown, CO, about an hour's drive west of Denver.  Then I realized after the fact that it probably needed its own entry.  The brewpub was fun and fascinating, and the back story of how it came to be was also pretty interesting.  

Situated at just over 8500 feet above sea level and a few miles east of the Continental Divide off I-70, Georgetown is a historic, yet touristy town that reminded me a lot of Galena, IL.  My wife and I stopped in Georgetown to look around and we found a brew pub near the downtown area called Guanella Pass Brewery.  The brew pub takes its name from the high mountain pass of the same name located about 10 miles south of Georgetown on a scenic road that is open from Memorial Day to the end of November.  

Steve Skalski got his start in the business world working for EchoStar, the Denver-based company that operated Dish Network.  Skalski was in charge of EchoStar's interests in China for a number of years before moving back to the U.S. in 2011.  He eventually became the head of a company that designed and installed interactive entertainment and business systems in Hyatt hotels across the country before going to work for another communications company in California.  

One thing that Skalski loved was craft beer.  He started to brew his own beer at home and became friends with his neighbor Jon Strother who also brewed his own beers.  The two would brew beers together before Skalski decided that he wanted to get serious about it.  With the blessing of his wife, Skalski quit the corporate world, grew his hair long and grew a beard.  He then enrolled at the Siebel Institute in Chicago and their prestigious brewmaster course.  In the meantime, Strother got some advanced brew-training at Regis University in Denver.   

Skalski and his wife, Stacey, began to look for a building that would house their microbrewery.  But they found real estate around Denver to be cost prohibitive.  However, one day Steve found a building for sale in Georgetown - it was built in 1943 as a gas station, but had been an antique shop for a number of years.  The building was in a sad state of disrepair and the price was right.  The Skalski's bought the building, rehabbed it into a brewery and brought in Jon Strother to help with the operation.  They opened Guanella Pass Brewery in the late summer of 2017.  

As we were driving back to Denver from Steamboat Springs, we stopped in Georgetown to use the restroom.  My wife wanted me to drive toward the downtown area to check the place out.  We found the main street through the heart of downtown was closed off.  We were guessing they did that for the loads of people who come out from Denver - 45 miles to the east - on the weekends.  We walked around to a few shops, but I became quickly bored seeing knick-knacks, trinkets, and figurines.  My wife dangled the carrot of finding a brewpub after she was finished going through some of the stores.   

Getting back to the car, we did a quick search for breweries in the area.  The first one that came up was Guanella Pass, just a block off the main shopping street in town.  We pulled into a parking lot across from the brewery and went in.  (see map)  

Guanella Pass Brewery is not a big place.  It sort of reminded me somewhat of Storm Peak back in Steamboat, only much more cozy.  It seemed that we were right in the middle of the brewery operation enjoying a fresh beer.  There was a small bar area where you placed your order for their beers.  They had 12 beers on tap and we decided to taste 4 of them to start out.  


There is a patio off to the side of the building, but it was pretty brisk in the mountains that day so we ended up at a bench near the window.  We're glad we came in when we did because they got pretty busy.  The place seated - maybe - 18 people inside.  

We tried four beers - the Clear Creek hazy New England IPA that was delicious, a wheat and rye IPA that was all right, an Oktoberfest Märzen that I liked, and the Liquid Gold double IPA that was also very good.  I decided on getting a pint of the hazy IPA.  My wife took a half pint of the same beer.  

They also had pizza by the slice at Guanella Pass.  They opened a second location with a pizza kitchen in the town of Empire about 7 miles away from Georgetown in April of this year and they would ship their Detroit-style pizza over to warm up in a pizza oven.  My wife thought she should have something to tide her over until dinner in Denver that evening and we both got a slice of their pepperoni pizza.  It was thicker than Detroit-style that I've had in the past - more like the crust-less deep dish pizza that we both love from Pequod's in Chicago.  But it was very good.  The pepperoni was salty and spicy, which went well with the beer.  And the sauce was sweet and tangy.  I would have been happy having a couple more pieces along with a couple more beers and not eating dinner that evening.  But we needed to move on to Denver.   

It turned out that Guanella Pass Brewery was a great find on our trip to Colorado earlier this year.  Their New England-style hazy IPA was a great beer, their Detroit-style pizza - although made in the kitchen of their sister brewpub and brought over to the Georgetown location - was very good, and the small cozy atmosphere with the seating within the brewing was a nice touch.  We never did venture out to the patio, but if we would have been dressed for it better, it would have been a great place to hang.  If you're headed west from Denver and have the time to stop into Georgetown, don't forget to stop in to Guanella Pass Brewery.  

Brewpubs of Steamboat Springs

 When my wife and I went out to Colorado a couple  years ago we ended up starting out in Fort Collins      and trying some of the brew pubs there.  However,  after a couple three days of that, we decided to head  over the mountains to Steamboat Springs, a lovely  mountain town in northwest Colorado.  We  immediately fell in love with the town and the area  and made plans to go back out there again at some  point.  That time was this past September when the  weather began to change from summer to winter then to fall in that order.  As we are wont to do when we go on vacations, we have to check out the local craft breweries.  We'd done that on our first trip a couple years ago, but since we were going to linger in Steamboat a little longer this time, we were able to truly enjoy the different brew pubs in the area.  

There are four brew pubs in Steamboat Springs - Storm Peak Brewing Company, Mahogany Ridge, Mountain Tap Brewery, and Butcherknife Brewing Company.  There's also a distillery - the Steamboat Whiskey Company - and all five are stops on the Steamboat Brew Trail tour that is promoted by the Steamboat Springs Chamber of Commerce.  On our first trip to Steamboat two years ago, we hit them all, with the exception of the distillery.  This time we knew we wanted to hit three of the four again.  

During our first trip, it turned out that our favorite brewery in Steamboat was a funky little place called Butcherknife Brewing Company on the far northwest end of town on the road out to the airport.  (see map)  Mike Fitzgerald and Nate Johansing started the brewery after Johansing - a Steamboat Springs native - had spent a year studying at the World Brewing Academy in Munich, Germany.  Fitzgerald had spent time in Czechoslovakia a few years prior to moving to Steamboat Springs about 15 years ago and he came up with the idea for a microbrewery in 2009.  Plans were in place for two years before Johansing returned from Europe and they debuted their first beer at an Oktoberfest event in Steamboat Springs in 2011.  They moved to their present day location in early 2014.  

In 2017, Johansing bought Fitzgerald out of the partnership and became the sole proprietor of Butcherknife Brewing.  To take over the brewing process at Butcherknife, he was able to convince Grant McFarren to come to Steamboat from Asheville, NC where McFarren worked at the popular Wicked Weed Brewery there.  (Click here to read about Wicked Weed and a few other impressive small breweries in Asheville.)  McFarren has been with Butcherknife since late 2017.  

We liked Butcherknife for a number of reasons.  It was a fun and hip little place that had board games for patrons to play while they enjoyed a beer.  Artwork from local artists was on display and offered for sale.  And they had some very good beers.  Their Sunshine Express pale ale made with Australian hops won a gold medal later that year at the Great American Beer Festival, and I especially liked their Amputator American IPA.  It was bold and hoppy, yet very smooth.  

But probably most of all we liked their Director of Sales and Marketing, Erin Orr.  Orr grew up in Cascade, IA, went to Iowa State and graduated with a degree in apparel merchandising.  She went out to Oregon for a few years before going to Steamboat Springs for a change of scenery - a place she had visited with her ski club when she was going to college.  She found out that a new microbrewery was opening and she applied for a job there.  She landed a part-time gig pouring beers and working on events for the brewery.  She eventually got the top sales job at Butcherknife and spends a lot of time out around the state of Colorado selling their beers to retail establishments, bars and restaurants.  

When we went to Butcherknife the first time, Erin happened to be there and saw our Iowa license plates.  She about freaked out.  "Are you guys from Iowa?  Where?  Davenport?  I'm from Cascade!"  (Cascade is about an hour and 15 minute drive north and west of the Quad Cities.)  We sat with her, she told us her life story, we told her our story, we drank beer and had a great time with a fellow Iowan.  

Butcherknife was our first stop for brewpubs when we got to Steamboat on this trip.  Unfortunately, we found the place was closed up due to COVID-19 restrictions.  Their taproom was just too small to host people.  And they suspended their brewing operations so you couldn't find any Butcherknife beers around Steamboat.  That was probably the most thoroughly disappointing part of our trip to Steamboat Springs.  We hope they're able to reopen after all this madness has subsided.  

Conversely, we never really cared much for Mahogany Ridge all that much.  This upscale bar and grill in downtown Steamboat was formerly called the Steamboat Brewery and Tavern, the first brewpub in Steamboat Springs.  (see map)  The brewmaster at Steamboat Brewery, Charlie Noble, bought the place in 2003 and transformed it into Mahogany Ridge. The beers they had at the time we were there two years ago were sort of "meh!" to us.  They had a pale ale that was a little too fruity on the backend for me, and they had a lighter pale ale that didn't trip my trigger all that much.  Coupled with an atmosphere that was more like a wine bar and a food menu that was geared more to tourists with copious amounts of money, we decided to pass on Mahogany Ridge on our most recent visit to Steamboat.

With Butcherknife closed down and Mahogany Ridge off our list, it gave us time to focus more on the two other brewpubs in town.  We liked both, but we liked one a little more than the other.

Mountain Tap Brewery is located on Yampa Street in the heart of downtown Steamboat.  (see map)  It's sort of near and dear to my heart as co-founder Rich Tucciarone was once the head brewer at Kona Brewing Company, the maker of my favorite beer, Big Wave Golden Ale.  In 1990, Tucciarone was bumming around Steamboat Springs and he happened to meet a fellow ski bum by the name of Richard Squire.  Squire had just opened the 3rd microbrewery in Colorado - Breckenridge Brewery.  Tucciarone had tried Squire's craft beer and immediately fell in love with the beer and the concept of small batch beers.  When Breckenridge opened a bottle facility in Denver in 1992, Squire hired Tucciarone to work in the brewery there.  

Tucciarone worked for Breckenridge for nearly 6 years before taking time off for a travel sabbatical with his wife, Wendy.  They toured breweries in Europe, most notably Germany and Italy.  After his travels were over, he was recruited to become the director of operations and head brewer for the Kona Brewing Company in Kona, HI in 1999.  

Tucciarone stayed with Kona for a dozen years before finally getting island fever - or as some people in Steamboat Springs call the "Yampa Valley Curse" which supposedly pulls people who have spent appreciable time in Steamboat back to the area after years of being away.  He and his wife moved back to Steamboat where Tucciarone became a salesman for a company that supplied ingredients to small breweries around the state of Colorado.  

But Tucciarone wanted to eventually get back into the brewing game and a new mixed-use building was going up along Yampa Street in the fall of 2015.  The Tucciarone's took a large space on the end of the building and made a small brewery out of the space.  Mountain Tap Brewery opened for business in July of 2016.  

Mountain Tap Brewery has a large outdoor patio in the front of the place with large garage doors that will open on nicer days.  Inside, they have a bar area and a number of community tables for people to use.  Mountain Tap has food in terms of sharable plates and wood-fired pizzas.  

My wife and I trekked up the steps to a second level that had some tables back in sort of a small area near the restrooms.  The ordering procedure was a bit confusing to me and I didn't remember doing this during our first trip to Mountain Tap a couple of years ago.   They had an order sheet with their beers and glass sizes listed on the table.  I ordered up a pint of the Picking Hops IPA from Chad who collected our beer order sheet.  Chad was a good guy and took good care of us while we were there on this visit.  My wife got the Current IPA in a 10 ounce glass.  

The Picking Hops was a little too fruity on the back end for me.  My wife let me try some of her Current IPA - a forward tasting hoppy beer that's perfectly mixed with malt to mellow out the hoppiness of the flavor.  I liked it tremendously better than the Current IPA.  So did my wife.  Chad came back to check on us and I said that I wanted to switch to the Current IPA.  I still had a little bit of the Picking Hops left - about a 1/3 of a glass.  We got to talking about the difference between the two and he said that he, too, liked the Current more than the Picking Hops.  He picked up the rest of what I had and I sort of protested that I would still drink it.  He said, "Let's get you what you want."  

I had two of the Current IPA's that day in addition to what I had with the Picking Hops. It was a very fine beer.  When it came time to pay our bill, Chad didn't charge me for the Picking Hops.  He got a good tip.  

And that brings us to Storm Peak Brewing Company.  Storm Peak was high on our list when we were in Steamboat two years ago and once we found out that Butcherknife was closed, we went down the road back toward the city and went to Storm Peak instead.  (see map)  For a consolation prize for not being able to go to Butcherknife, Storm Peak is definitely no slouch.  

If you're a longtime reader of Road Tips, you'll find a recurring theme in the history of many of the brewpubs that we've visited - they start out in someone's garage.  And that's what happened with Storm Peak as Tyler and Wyatt Patterson started to experiment with brewing beers when they were growing up in the suburbs of Denver.  After graduating with an MBA from the University of Denver in 2013, Wyatt Patterson knew that he wanted to open his own brewery.  He checked around Denver to see if there was any space available, but he soon realized that the area was too crowded with other microbreweries.  The Patterson family used to go to Steamboat Springs for vacations in the past and Wyatt Patterson decided to look at the area for a possible small brewery.  

Along with brother Tyler, Wyatt found a space in downtown Steamboat Springs along Lincoln Ave. - the main road through town - that would be perfect for their brewery.  With investment help from their father and a local bank, the brothers started the build-out of their brewery in late 2013.  With the help of a third Patterson brother, Zach, the family was able to get everything in place for their grand opening in June of 2014.  

In their first year of business, the Patterson brothers produced 300 barrels of beer in their seven barrel system.  The following year, they more than doubled their output and by 2016 they were nearing 1000 produced barrels of beer.  It was in 2016 that they realized that they needed to move to a new location.

In September of 2016, they found out that a body shop located on the far north and west side of Steamboat would be moving to a larger building across the parking lot and their old building would be available in early 2017.  The Patterson's jumped on the new location that nearly doubled their square footage of their original location.  They were able to put in a 20 barrel system to help with increased production and they completed their move in early May of 2017.    

In September of 2018, Dave Eliason - who has been involved in a handful of restaurants in Steamboat Springs over the years including Back Door Grill (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Back Door Grill) and O'Neill's Tavern and Grill - opened a pizza place in a space attached to Storm Peak, How Ya' Doin' Pizza and Eats.  This place wasn't open when my wife and I first came out to Steamboat in 2018, so it was definitely new to us when we pulled up in front of Storm Peak on our most recent visit.  

There is a nice patio in front of Storm Peak - which is named after one of the mountains in the Steamboat Springs area - with a fire pit and outdoor patio heaters for when it gets a little cold, like it was the days we stopped in for a couple beers at the brewery.  Inside the front door is the front counter where you order your beers.  They have 18 beers including sours, fruit beers, and hard seltzer on tap at Storm Peak.  

With most microbrewery operations, the brewing systems are usually hidden, or they're behind glass windows separating the operation from the tap room.  At Storm Peak, it's like you're sitting in the brewery.  It's cluttered and sort of smelly from the brewing process, but there's something sort of charming about that.  I equated it to being able to eat in a chef's kitchen.  The atmosphere was definitely laid-back and very informal.  The employees at Storm Peak were friendly and accommodating.  

They have a number of very good to excellent beers at Storm Peak on their beer menu.  The Penny's Pale Ale is an American pale ale made with Pacific Northwest hops, their Money Tree IPA is a forward hoppy beer with a fruity backside, the Copper Ridge Cali Common is similar to an Anchor Steam beer down to its amber color, and their Mad Creek Kolsch is a very good tasting lighter beer that has a hint of a hoppy flavor.

But my favorite beer at Storm Peak is the Chowder New England IPA.  It's a full-bodied hazy IPA that they make with oats and wheat, then they add in three different types of hops including a Citra hop for a floral backend.  Now, I'm not big on wheat beers, but this is some seriously good beer.  When my wife and I go on extended trips and we're flying, we usually ship our dirty clothes, some purchases and other things that we pick up on the trip back home via UPS.  I stuck a six pack of the Storm Peak Chowder in the box with all the other things.  Two days after we got back home, the box showed up on our doorstep.  I immediately chilled the beer and enjoyed one for dinner that evening.  It's a very tasty beer.  

One day while at Storm Peak, my wife was a little hungry and needed a late afternoon snack.  As I said, right next door was How Ya' Doin' Pizza.  There was a connecting hallway between the microbrewery and the restaurant and my wife ended up heading over there to see what they had for something light to eat on their menu.  

What she found were these little bruschetta bites they had next door.  She placed the order and a young lady brought them over to us a few moments laters.  They featured chopped tomatoes and basil with small slices of mozzarella cheese drizzled with balsamic vinegar.   The were very tasty, but not so heavy that they would spoil our appetite for a nice meal later in the evening.  

My wife and I love finding great little breweries and brewpubs on our trips, and the ones that we liked in Steamboat Springs are definitely some of the more memorable ones we've come across in our travels.  We hope that Butcherknife is open the next time we're in Steamboat.  But if it's not, we can always go to Storm Peak or Mountain Tap.  We just wish we had these breweries closer to our home.  

Bemidji Brewing Company - Bemidji, MN

When we go on trips, my wife and I like to search out brewpubs or microbreweries in the areas we end up.  We figured that choices would be pretty limited in Northern Minnesota, but it turned out that there was a small microbrewery in Bemidji called - appropriately enough - Bemidji Brewing Company.  The only problem was that it was closed the first couple of days we were there.  Finally, when it opened on Wednesday, we stopped in to try some of their beers.  

Hibbing, MN native Tom Hill was a student at Bemidji State University in 2003 when he and his roommate discovered there was more than just domestic beers available to drink.  The only problem was that the selection in Bemidji at the time was less than desirable.  But it turned out that another friend had started to brew his own beer at home.  Homebrewing was something that Hill never thought about, but after talking with his friend he found that the process was similar to making wine at home - something his father had been doing for years.

His friend had been making brown ales and stouts and he ended up giving Hill a book on home brewing.  After reading through the book, Hill became obsessed with the art of home brewing and tried to learn as much as he could about it.

After graduating from Bemidji State with a degree in design technology, Hill took an internship in Austin, TX.  It was there that he was exposed to Austin's burgeoning craft brew community.  He enjoyed his time in Texas, but he really wanted to get back to northern Minnesota.  After six months working in Austin, Hill went back to Bemidji State to enroll in a grad program and to teach a class on machining.  

It was back in Bemidji that Hill met another craft brew enthusiast by the name of Justin "Bud" Kaney.  Kaney had taken the machining course Hill taught and the two bonded over some of the beers Hill was making.  Hill became so obsessed with becoming a brewer that he quit school and moved down to Minneapolis to work in a microbrewery there.  But this was 2008 going into 2009 and times were tough with the Great Recession going on.  Finding a brewery that would take him on as an apprentice brewer was pretty much out of the question.  

Hill eventually found work as a machinist, but in his spare time he studied more of the art of brewing beer.  He helped out at Northern Brewer, a home-brew supply store in St. Paul, he became a certified cicerone learning about all aspects of selecting and serving beers to people, and he enrolled in the World Brewing Academy's Concise Course through the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago.  

In the meantime, Bud Kaney had moved out to Rhode Island to work for Hasbro Toys.  But he just knew that he didn't want to be sitting in a cubicle designing parts for toys on a daily basis.  He ended up calling Hill to discuss the possibility of doing their own microbrewery.  

Through all of this, it turned out that Hill's and Kaney's girlfriends - now their wives - were into the home/craft brewing thing, as well.  The four got together back in Bemidji to try different beers, and Tom and Bud would discuss about running their own microbrewery with Hill as the head brewer.  That dream came true when the two couples formally incorporated their new nano-brewery, Bemidji Brewing Company which was named after a brewery by the same name that was in Bemidji nearly 100 years before which shut down due to Prohibition.  

Pictured at left - Justin "Bud" Kaney, Tina Hanke-Kaney, Tom Hill and Megan Betters-Hill.  Photo courtesy The Growler magazine.  

The group had some obstacles to overcome - primarily financial.  But they instituted a Kickstarter program on-line that raised over $17,000 to buy equipment and cover other start-up costs associated with brewing beer.  Secondly, they had get the proper state and federal permits to brew beer.  And third, they had to convince others to try their beer.  

The group set up shop in the community kitchen at the Harmony Food Co-op in Bemidji.  They brewed beers in a 25-gallon brewing apparatus and used a barrel-aged mixed-fermentation process since their first day of brewing.   Kaney and Hill took their beers around to some of the bars in downtown Bemidji and one - Brigid's Cross Irish Pub - started to sell their beers.  Bemidji Brewing Company was finally starting to gain momentum.

Over time as Bemidji Brewing's output gradually grew and more aging barrels had been acquired, Hill and Kaney knew that they couldn't continue to work out of the kitchen at the Harmony Food Co-op.  In 2013, the group found a building that was less than a block from the food co-op that was perfect for not only their brewing tanks, but as a tap room, as well.  The group worked with the Bemidji city council to pass an ordinance to allow on-site sale of their brewed beers and for growlers to-go.  Once the new brewing apparatus and tanks were in place - and setting up a tap room with a small outdoor patio off to the side - Bemidji Brewing Company opened in their present location in July of 2013.  

We had seen Bemidji Brewing Company beers at a handful of places we had visited when we first got to Bemidji on our northern Minnesota vacation in August of this year.  Some places, that's all they had for craft beers on tap.  But I wanted to go to the brewery first before we had one of their beers out in one of the bars or restaurants.  We tried to go there on Monday, but it was closed that day and on Tuesdays.  

It was just after 1 p.m. when we pulled up to Bemidji Brewing.  (see map)   It was a nice day, but we decided to head inside to try some of their beers.  We found a nice little space with knotty pine accents, heavy duty tables with metal chairs, and a walk-up bar with a corrugated tin facing.  It wasn't big, but tables were properly spaced for COVID-19 restrictions.   

The brewing operation was behind large glass windows on the backside of the tap room.  It was a pretty impressive operation with kegs and canning equipment.  There was also a small kitchen off behind the bar area and they had a short menu of items to munch on consisting of things such as a traditional bratwurst on a bun, a couple flatbread pizzas, a pretzel with cheese sauce, meat sticks, stringed cheese, and a smoked lake trout dip that sounded pretty good.  

They had a very nice, but small outdoor patio area off to the south side of the building.  We spent some time out there one evening on a subsequent visit to Bemidji Brewing.  It was a nice place to chill out.  

Their available beers were listed on the wall behind the bar.  I stood there for a moment looking at what they had when one of the young guys working that day came out with a beer card for me to look over.  "You don't need to stand there when you can be sitting down looking at this," he said when he handed me the card.  

My wife wanted to try a flight of beers.  She got a 5 ounce glass of the summer lager, a glass of the Oktoberfest (it had evidently just come out), a glass of their traditional IPA, and a German blonde ale.  I tried samples of two beers - the espresso porter (it was too forward in taste) and one other one that I really liked. 

That one was a hazy double IPA which was absolutely delicious.  That and the IPA were my beers of choice at Bemidji Brewing.  But I especially liked the hazy double IPA.  In fact, I bought two sixers of both the double IPA and the regular IPA before we left Bemidji to go home.  I wish I would have bought more as they didn't last very long after we got home.  

My wife didn't care for the summer lager - I tried it and I have to say that I agreed with her.   I saw it on tap at a couple three places around Bemidji and I'm glad I didn't try it before I sampled it at the tap room.  She also liked the IPA, but wasn't too enamored with the Oktoberfest (I wasn't either - it was all right), and she didn't care for the German blonde ale, but I thought it was not bad.  

After spending some time at Bemidji Brewing Company sampling beers and hanging out, then having more of their beers at other establishments around town, I have to say that there were some things that I really liked and others that I didn't.  But everyone is a little different in their tastes and likes, so you shouldn't think that some of their beers are clunkers.  They've done a fine job marketing their beers across northern Minnesota and the tap room at Bemidji Brewing seems like a fun place to hang.  We really enjoyed going there.  

7 Hills Brewing Company - Dubuque, IA

A couple three Saturdays ago, my wife had had enough of working out of the house and not being able to get out and go somewhere.  I wasn't too enamored with taking a day trip somewhere, but that's sort of what it turned out to be as we drove up to Guttenburg, IA, then made our way back down through Dubuque.  My wife - who needs three square meals a day - was getting hungry by the time we made it to Dubuque and we decided to stop for a late lunch.  We had been to a brewpub in Dubuque - 7 Hills Brewing Company - once before on a brewpub/microbrewery weekend tour of NE Iowa a little over a year before.  We decided to stop in and get something to eat.  

Keith Gutierrez was a PRN occupational therapist who loved craft beer.  Working around the Dubuque area, he was getting weary of finding part-time gigs as a PRN.  He always had it in the back of his head that he would love to run a brewpub at some point.  However, he had no experience brewing beers, nor running a restaurant.  

Gutierrez saw a need for a brewpub in Dubuque and local developers were turning buildings in the historic Millwork District in downtown Dubuque into residential and commercial spaces including restaurants, shops and gyms.  He thought that he could put a brewpub in one of the spaces that was being renovated, but he needed to assemble a team of experts that could help him in making his dream come true.  And he turned to social media to figure out who those people could be.  

It turned out that there were very knowledgeable people locally who could help steer Gutierrez in the right direction.  One of those people was Sean Carter, the brewmaster at Galena Brewing Company over in Galena, IL.  Carter was a graduate of the World Brewing Academy curriculum at Chicago's Siebel Institute of Technology and had garnered several medals at the Great American Beer Festival while working at Galena Brewing Company.  His wife, Megan, was the front of house manager at Galena Brewing for a couple years before she went to work as a restaurant/catering manager at Eagle Ridge Resort outside of Galena.  The Carter's were intrigued with the prospect of helping start a new brewpub that they signed on with Gutierrez.  

Gutierrez wanted to have food offerings that were a step above just regular bar fare.  He enlisted the help of Tim Conlin, a graduate of the (now closed) Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Minneapolis, to come up with a selection of foods that people could either have for appetizers or for full meals.  Gutierrez's team came together in early 2016 to plot their course to opening up the new brewpub.   

The group initially thought they'd be able to open by the end of 2016, but unforeseen obstacles and some hiccups got in the way of some of those plans initially.  After getting the OK from the City of Dubuque to start work on the building in the summer of 2016, more snags developed and hurdles had to be jumped.  Brewing tanks were delivered in early 2017 and Gutierrez hoped to have the business open by the spring.  But more delays set back the opening day for a few months more.  It was in late August of 2017 when the brewpub opened, the name "7 Hills" coming from the number of hills found in Dubuque.  

Gutierrez and his team were together for one year before Sean Carter decided to get out of the brewmaster business and open up an outfitters business in Galena.  Megan Carter followed her husband in their new endeavor in late 2018 leaving her restaurant manager post at 7 Hills Brewing Company.  Sean Carter was replaced as brewmaster by 7 Hills associate head brewer Brian Zeimet in the summer of 2018.  Zeimet was at the helm of the brewery at 7 Hills for a couple years before he left earlier this summer.  His replacement, Adam Rubach, came over from Galena Brewing Company.  Rubach also had a part-time gig as an associate brewer at Titletown Brewing Company up in Green Bay, WI.  

7 Hills Brewing Company is located in the heart of the Millwork District at the corner of Washington and E. 11th Street in downtown Dubuque.  (see map)  We were able to find parking just across the street on Washington.  From the outside, the building is pretty nondescript.  A small sign hangs above the main door into the brewpub and there's outside seating on what was probably a shipping dock at some point in the building's previous life.  

As I said, we had been in there once before when we had taken a weekend journey up to Decorah to try some of the brewpubs/microbreweries there, then made our way down to Dubuque stopping at a couple three breweries along the way.  We sat at the bar in the spacious German-style beer hall at 7 Hills on our first visit. Wooden supports held up large wooden beams that crossed over the main dining/bar area in the brewpub.  Exposed brick walls gave the large room a sort of retro-warehouse vibe. 

They also feature live music from time to time at 7 Hills Brewing.  A small stage is set up opposite the bar area as the brewpub hosts small bands or 1-2 person musical performances from time to time.  Karaoke and trivia nights also are part of the entertainment at 7 Hills.  

We were greeted by a young lady who took us to one of the long tables in the beer hall.  Social distancing practices were in place and we were at the far end of one table leaving room for others to sit at the other end of the table if needed.  But it was the middle of the afternoon and there weren't a lot of people in there having food at that time.  

The hostess dropped off a couple food menus for us, and it wasn't long before a 20-something guy by the name of Elijah came over to drop off a couple of beer and craft cocktail menus for us to look over.  He said he would be our server that day, but he needed to take care of a couple things before he could take our drink selections.  That gave me some time to look over what they had at 7 Hills.  

The beer menu that day was pretty extensive.  They keep 7 beers on tap year-round and a number of seasonal beers pop up from time to time.  I had their 7 Headed Monster American Pale Ale on our first visit over a year ago and I thought it was pretty good.  But they had two other beers - both hazy pale ales - that I was interested in.  One was the Triple Hoptics that had a much lower IBU than the Cerebral Haze.  When he came back, I asked Elijah if I could try a sample of both.  My wife was not that much in the mood for beer, so she ended up getting a Strawberry Fields, a fruity-tasting margarita.  The Triple Hoptics was much too fruity for my taste while the Cerebral Haze had a wonderful smooth taste with a bit of bitter hoppiness to it.  The Cerebral Haze is offered as a seasonal beer in conjunction with the Potosi Brewing Company just up the Mississippi River a ways in Potosi, WI.  

For food, 7 Hills offers your typical appetizers - wings, tortilla chips with artichoke dip, onion rings, and nachos - as well as a selection of salads, burgers, sandwiches and pizza.  A family at a table near us were having pizza and it looked very good.  They also have smoked barbecue meats such as brisket, chicken and baby back ribs available, too.  They also had a couple of seafood dishes such as a blackened salmon platter served with garlic mashed potatoes, and a shrimp linguine served in a garlic butter sauce.  

I told my wife that if I got something like a sandwich or a full meal, I wouldn't probably have dinner that evening.  She didn't like the sound of that as she knew that she would probably be eating alone later that evening if that happened.  She said, "I just need something, not a lot.  Just something to tide me over until later."  

My neighbor had been to 7 Hills before and he got the chicken wings.  He raved about how good they were and my wife suggested getting those.  She asked Elijah how many wings came in a pound, as it was advertised on the menu.  He said, "I think it's 8 or 9, depending upon how big the wings are today."  Well, there were 7 wings in a pound that day.  We got them with the mild Buffalo sauce - there were other options such as a sweet barbecue sauce, a barbecue sauce made with stout beer, a sweet chile sauce, and a peanut butter curry sauce. We got a side of both ranch and blue cheese dressing with them.  

And they were very good.  The wings had a nice crispy outer shell to them covering the tender meat morsels.  They weren't small, but they weren't too big, either.  The mild sauce had a bit of a kick that I enjoyed and it was tolerable enough for my wife who doesn't do spicy all that well.  

We also got an order of the red ale beer-battered onion rings.  These alternated from very good to sort of disappointing.  I don't know how they could serve onion rings where some were cooked perfectly and others were completely overdone.  The ones that did survive the overcooking were very good.  The ones that didn't were too crispy and had sort of a burnt taste.  But the beer-batter was also pretty thick and between the wings and the onion rings I was pretty full.  I told my wife that even though we ordered a couple appetizers that I didn't know if I would have dinner that evening.  The onion rings sat like a brick in my gut.     

7 Hills Brewing Company is a nice place with a notch-above-bar-food menu.  Their beers are good, they have a full bar with specialty cocktails, and it's situated in a historic building in downtown Dubuque.  It's a large open spot that is akin to German beerhalls with long community-style tables and it has a nice comfortable feeling to the place.  I thought their chicken wings were very good, but was somewhat disappointed in the onion rings as they were alternately very tasty to almost inedible.  But what I did eat, it filled me up to the point where I don't believe I did have dinner that evening.  I would like to go back at some point, however, and have either a burger or a sandwich, or we may even try one of their pizzas that looked pretty good.

Twin Span Brewing - Bettendorf, IA

My wife and I have been cooped up in our house for the past 3 months doing a lot of cooking at home and occasionally getting some food from curb-side pick-up to bring back home.  However, the state of Iowa has been slowly opening up lately and a couple weeks ago most of the restaurants and bars had been allowed to re-open following social distancing regulations.  We had our eye on a place that just opened up a little over a month ago next to the TBK Bank Sports Complex on the northern edge of Bettendorf, Twin Span Brewing.  Last Saturday night, we decided to give the place a try.

Actually, we tried to head out to Twin Span Brewing a couple Friday nights ago - the first day that restaurants were allowed to fully open in the state.  However, on our way out, we were stopped by a road block thrown up by Bettendorf police for a "Black Lives Matter" rally that was getting ready to begin.  We decided to just turn around and head down to the Village of East Davenport and go to Rudy's Cantina for a quick bite that evening.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Rudy's Cantina.) 

After having a couple of drinks at our favorite neighborhood watering hole last Saturday, my wife and I took off to go north to I-80 and on east to the Middle Road exit (Exit 301) a few miles down the road.  The TBK Bank Sports Complex - known as the "Bett Plex" to the locals - is tough to miss as you're traveling along I-80 in that area.  There have been a number of businesses - restaurants, retail stores, convenience stores - that have sprung up around the complex since it opened a little over two years.  Parking was plentiful around Twin Spans when we pulled in off of Forest Grove Rd. just before 6:30 that evening.  (see map) 

Twin Span has actually been open since the second weekend in May when they began to allow "to-go" sales of their beers.  A couple weeks later they opened their carry-out or patio-seating food service under the guidance of Juan Hernandez, a native of Mexico City who is known around the Quad Cities for his work with Steventon's and the Blue Iguana in Le Claire, IA.  Our visit was the second weekend of full seating in the restaurant.  It went against our usual rule of thumb of allowing a new restaurant to work out the kinks for the first three months before we would visit.  

It turns out that the restaurant manager at Twin Span is the girlfriend of a guy my wife works with.  He was telling us when we visited him a couple three weeks ago that the place was "really nice".  He is a beer drinker and he said he thought their beers were very good.  He said he had been part of a soft-opening the ownership group had in May and he was impressed with everything.  

And it was his girlfriend who greeted us at the hostess stand when we first came in.  My wife re-introduced herself to her and we stood and chatted for a few moments.  A storm was brewing off in the distance and she said, "We have a large group in here, so we're slammed in the kitchen for a moment.  And I'm certain you guys probably don't want to sit outside with the storm coming at us."  I saw a four-seat table off to the side and asked if we could sit there.  "Absolutely," she exclaimed as she grabbed a couple menus and escorted us to the table.  

The inside of Twin Span Brewing featured a very open floor plan with a sort of contemporary/industrial decor.  Globe lighting hung from the ceiling and wooden accents and booths were prominent throughout.  A series of high-top tables - all pulled together for the large group eating there that night - were in the center of the dining area.  

Off to the far end of the building was the brewing room featuring a number of large glistening tanks.  Adam Ross - who is a Cicerone Level 2 certified professional; and Glenn Cole - who helped put the Geneseo Brewing Company on the map - head up the brewing team at Twin Span.  We were told that there were a number of investors - up to 15 - who have a stake in Twin Span Brewing, but the manager we talked with didn't divulge who the managing partner was in the group.  

The patio area featured a large expanse of area off to the side of the indoor-outdoor bar.  We were told that they would normally have more tables on both the patio and in the dining area, but due to social distancing restrictions they have cut back the number of tables available.  The outdoor patio was very nice - and it never did rain while we were there.  

Our server for the evening was a young lady by the name of Hayley.  With all the ambient noise in the place, plus the fact that she was speaking to us through a mask, we thought her name was Kaylie.  And I think that's what we kept calling her.  But when we got the bill later in the evening, we saw that her name was Hayley.  We apologized to her when we realized we got her name wrong right off the bat.  

She explained to us that the large group of 20 to our right had thrown the kitchen into a tizzy and it would probably be another 20 to 30 minutes before she could take our food order.  Baseball and softball tournaments at the TBK Bank Sports Complex had started up again and there were a number of people in there from out of town.  We immediately recognized the fact that we probably shouldn't have come here on a weekend evening - especially a Saturday night - with tournaments starting up at the Bett Plex again.  And couple that with the fact that the kitchen and wait staff were trying to work out the kinks.  But, not to worry - we wanted to drink some beer.  

We took a quick look at the beer menu for Twin Span and saw that they had six or seven beers to choose from that evening.  The Ten-Forty was a traditional German lager that was unfiltered.  The Liffey was a combination English ale and Pre-Prohibition American lager that is more of an Irish heritage beer.  The Steel Beam was a traditional Irish stout, while The Gold was a traditional English golden ale.  We've been really getting into hazy India Pale Ales as of late and we both ended up getting a 13-ounce tulip of the 80 East, a wonderful concoction that featured Ariana, Citra and Mosaic hops.  From the first taste, we immediately liked the beer.  

We were told the food menu at Twin Span was evolving, but there seemed to be some interesting items to choose from.  Their appetizers featured blistered shishito peppers served with a sriracha sauce.  There were beer-brined chicken wings tossed with a choice of sauce that included a buffalo sauce, a sweet Thai chile sauce, and a mango/serrano pepper/honey sauce.  And they had barbecued pork nachos, as well as a signature appetizer called The Gift of Bacon which featured hand-breaded fried buffalo mozzarella that was wrapped in bacon and served with a house sauce.  There was a seared tuna salad on the menu that caught the eye of my wife, as well as flatbreads, burgers, and sandwiches including a Nashville hot chicken sandwich and a mahi mahi "poor-boy" sandwich.

Since we had plenty of time to look over the menu, we pretty much were set on a couple three things that we wanted to try.  After a second 80 East for me, Hayley came over and said that the kitchen was no longer overwhelmed and we could order up some food.  One of the first things we ordered was the beer mussels appetizer.  They sautéed mussels in a combination beer and garlic sauce. Fresh parsley and chopped tomatoes came with the mussels with a couple small pieces of garlic bread on the side.  

The mussels were fresh tasting, meaty and all opened up in the sautéing process.  Chunks of tomatoes and fresh parsley added to the flavor of the garlic/beer sauce the mussels were swimming in.  The sauce was absolutely outstanding - so much so that we asked the manager for more garlic bread to sop up the sauce when she came over to check on us.  (Note to Twin Span staff - you can't just serve two small pieces of bread with the mussels.  You need to serve at least six, if not eight pieces.)

One of the other things we got off the appetizer menu was the tuna poké.  It featured sashimi-grade tuna mixed with chopped mango, red and green onions, avocado, and a sesame seed sauce. All of that was placed on a bed of lettuce greens, then topped with cilantro, wonton chips and a sriracha aioli.  The poké was simply outstanding.  We made very short work of the tuna poké.  

My wife was very interested in the moho tacos.  It was a choice of grilled or fried/breaded ancho-seasoned mahi mahi - we ordered grilled - that was topped with a citrus slaw, sliced avocado, and a sriracha aioli.  It came with a side of house-made tortilla chips and a beer cheese dipping sauce.  When I first glanced at the mahi mahi after it was served to us, it had a golden brown covering on it like they were breaded and deep-fried.  

When the manager came over and asked if everything was fine, I said that we had ordered grilled and not the deep-fried mahi mahi.  She immediately ran to the kitchen to get us another order.  But then my wife - who is much more observant than I am - realized that the ancho-seasoning gave the fish a breaded and deep-fried look to them.  We waved Hayley down and told her to tell her manager that we got the right order and not to make us a second one.  We were somewhat embarrassed when the manager came back and we told her that we were fine with what we had ordered.  Rookie mistake at a new restaurant, I'm calling it.  But the mahi mahi tacos were also very good.  

But everything we had was also very expensive.  When Hayley came by to present us with our bill - which was not on paper, but on the screen of a handheld point-of-sale device - I about jumped out of my seat when she said we owed $73 before tip and tax.  I was incredulous, but it was true.  My wife and I had 5 total glasses of the 80 East at $7 a glass, the mussels were $13 bucks, the tuna poke was $12 bucks, and the moho tacos were $13.  I sort of shuddered a bit, but paid it - along with a nice tip for Hayley who had a great attitude while working her butt off the whole time we were there.  Plus, the fact that we kept calling her "Kaylie".  But, as my wife said, "It IS Bettendorf, and it IS next to the sports plex.  They have a captive audience out here and food is going to be more expensive out here than most other places."  

So, be forewarned - if you go out to Twin Span or stop by the place as you're driving by the Quad Cities on I-80 - expect to spend some money.  But I have to say that everything we had - from the 80 East hazy IPA, to the moho tacos, to the tuna poke, to the excellent sautéed mussels - was very good.  We could tell there were some kinks that needed to be worked out in terms of the overall operations, but we sort of expected that going in.  As the menu continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see what they add to the choices of food in the future.  But for right now, they've hit a home run at Twin Span in terms of their food, beer and ambiance.  

 

Geneseo Brewing Company - Geneseo, IL

My wife and I had no plans on a recent Sunday and I suggested a "Sunday Fun-day!" that entailed bar-hopping to brew pubs and distilleries in the area around the Quad Cities.  One of the places that I wanted to go to was the Geneseo Brewing Company in the small town of Geneseo, IL about 20 miles to the east of the Quad Cities.  We had been there once before, but that was before they were serving food.  I thought it would be nice to head over for lunch to start our "Sunday Fun-day!"  

We had actually been to the Geneseo Brewing Company once before about 3 years ago.  We had been down the road at the Lionstone Brewing Company for lunch and decided to stop in to GBC on the advice of a buddy of mine.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Lionstone Brewing.)  I don't remember much about that visit other than they had a pretty good IPA and that they didn't serve food.    Friends of ours also like to go to brewpubs around the Quad Cities and we met up with them one Sunday afternoon about a year after we had been to Geneseo Brewing Company and they told us that GBC started to serve food just a few months after we were there.  

That was after owners Jerrod and Andrea Minnaert built a kitchen in the lower level of the brewpub and hired local chef Lisa Dixon to run the kitchen and come up with a menu that focused on "farm-to-fork" selections.  And it was only natural that the Minnaerts wanted to only serve locally grown foods as Jerrod Minnaert runs his family's farm located just north of Geneseo.  But it was Andrea Minnaert who got the family into the bar and restaurant business.

In early 2010, Andrea Minnaert was running into Geneseo to do an errand and she happened to drive by a recently closed bar by the name of Christy's and Cat's on the north end of downtown Geneseo.  She saw that the building and its contents were up for auction and the next thing she knew the Minnaerts were in the bar business.  It took about nine months of renovations and updates to the place before she got the place ready to open.  Raelyn's Pub and Eatery opened for business over the Thanksgiving weekend later that year.  

Raelyn's quickly became a popular place with the locals and the Minnaert's were forced to expand to a building next door for their kitchen creating more space in their small tavern.  They opened up the backroom of the place for community groups to come in and have meetings.  

One of the groups that took the Minnaert's up on their offer for a meeting space was a local home-brewing group.  Jerrod Minnaert was in Raelyn's one evening and decided to sit in on the meeting.  He found that he was very interested in becoming a home-brewer, so he ended up joining the group. 

Over a short period of time, Jerrod Minnaert's interest in brewing beer heightened and he wondered about not just brewing beer at home, but having his own brewpub in Geneseo.  He got to talking with one of the other members of the group, Scott Welch, who had a number of interesting brews that Minnaert really liked.  Welch agreed to come on board if Minnaert started up his own brewpub.  

In 2014, the Minnaert's took over a historical building in downtown Geneseo that had most recently housed a meat shop.  Renovations started including a glass-enclosed brewing room in the back.  Getting the brewing process up and running took some time and in August of 2015 Geneseo Brewing Company opened their doors.  Scott Welch was instrumental in the early success of the brewery, but he ended up leaving the brewpub about two years later.  But waiting in the wings was a young guy by the name of Glenn Cole who had worked part-time at Bent River Brewing Company in Moline.  Minnaert hired Cole to take over the brewery at Geneseo Brewing Company in late 2017 and continues to be the head brewer today.  

We timed it so we would pull up to the Geneseo Brewing Company right at noon when they open on Sundays.  We found a parking spot in front of the place located on S. State Street in the heart of downtown Geneseo.  (see map)   As you come into the GBC, there's an area with chairs, couches and tables where people can congregate in a laid-back and casual area.  Some evenings, they move the furniture around and they have live music performances.  Beyond the lounge area up front is a line of high-backed booths opposite the small bar.  

In the far back of the brewpub was the brewery operation situated behind glass walls.  Antique tin ceilings were throughout the main floor of the building with tile walls in the brewery.  Old maps and photos of the Geneseo area hung from the walls in the dining area of the brewpub.  A framed article from a local newspaper gave information on the original Geneseo Brewing Company that started in the mid-1860's and grew to be a regional favorite in the early 1880's.  A fire in December of 1884 destroyed the brewery and the owners decided not to rebuild.  (Curiously, the Geneseo Brewing Company's website states that the original GBC started in 1884 and was in business for a little over 10 years.)  

We took a seat at one of the booths opposite the bar.  A young lady by the name of Tiffany came over to greet us.  She brought us a couple of food menus and pointed out the current beer list which was on a flat-screen television in the corner behind the bar, as well as on a chalk board on a wall near the bar.  They have three beers that they keep on tap most of the time - the Geneseo blonde ale, the Viking's Beard amber ale, and the Yep Yep pale ale.  

They also had a handful of other beers available - most of them were fruit-based.  They had a cherry ale - the Scarlet Witch; a sweet Orange ale - Orange You Glad; a hazy pineapple IPA; and the Bananarama, which was a banana and mixed fruit beer.  We generally stay away from most fruit beers, but my wife was sort of intrigued about the Ope - an IPA made with Wisconsin-grown hops.  She got a sampler of that along with a sampler of the hazy pineapple IPA.  She thought the Ope was just OK and was not liking the hazy pineapple at all.  I tried a bit of the hazy pineapple and I had to agree with her.  I like pineapple and I like beer, but I didn't like GBC's pineapple beer.  

But they do have a full bar at Geneseo Brewing Company, so my wife got her regular Tito's vodka and cranberry juice.  I had enjoyed the Yep Yep IPA on my previous visit, so I got one of those.  But I also got a bloody mary to go along with it.  Tiffany asked me to let her know what I thought about the bloody mary when she served it to me.  She came back later on to check on us before we ordered food.  "How's that bloody mary," she asked.  A spot hitter, I told her.  In fact, the combination of the Yep Yep IPA and the bloody mary were a winning combination for me on that early Sunday afternoon.  

The food menu at GBC features a number of sharable appetizers such as a stuffed portobello mushroom, spinach artichoke dip served with tortilla chips, and mussels sautéed in Geneseo Brewing Company's Chonky Boi imperial stout.  They had a wide variety of sandwiches and wraps, as well as burgers and sliders, as well as flatbreads.  Entrees such as spicy shrimp tacos, chicken cordon bleu, and macaroni with smoked gouda cheese were also available.  

My wife was wanting to eat somewhat light this day and she ended up getting the Apple Pecan Chicken salad made with both romaine and iceberg lettuce.  A vinaigrette dressing was supposed to come on the salad, but the first couple of bites pretty much told my wife that the salad was served dry.  She got the attention of Tiffany who ran back to the kitchen to get some dressing for her.  After the dressing was applied, my wife declared the salad as being very tasty.  

I went with the cheddar bacon burger with a side of the home fries.  I had a choice of mayo or chipotle mayo to go on the burger and I asked if I could get the spicy mayo on the side.  I also asked for sautéed mushrooms on the burger - sautéed mushrooms were available on another burger, so I thought it would be no problem.  Well, while Tiffany said that if would be no problem, the person making the burger got the message crossed up and put sautéed onions on the burger.  Now, I like the taste of sautéed onions - and these were sweet from the sauce they used to sauté them in.  But my stomach usually tells me later on that I'm not supposed to order sautéed onions.  However, I wasn't going to complain.  It would have taken too long for her to get sautéed mushrooms for me and I was hungry.

The burger was actually pretty good.  It had a nice flavor to it (the beef came from a local farm) and was cooked to a nice pink inner core.  The cheddar cheese was mild and didn't overpower the burger.  The burger came on a pretzel bun that was soft, chewy and flavorful.  I didn't put any of the chipotle mayo on the burger - instead, I dipped the home fries into it.  That was a great combination in taste.  

We lingered in Geneseo Brewing Company for another beer.  My wife contemplated getting another drink until I reminded her that it was "Sunday-Funday!" and we were going to head to another place to get something to drink.  

Within a 25 mile radius of our house, we have something like 15 different brewpubs/craft breweries to choose from around the Quad Cities.  Some we like a lot - others not as much.  However, one of our favorites has become Geneseo Brewing Company for a number of reasons.  My wife and I were happy enough with the lunch items we had during this visit to the Geneseo Brewing Company.  It was a comfortable setting and their beer was very good, as was the bloody mary that I had.  Other than putting sautéed onions on my burger instead of sautéed mushrooms like I ordered, there wasn't anything wrong with our visit.  

Fox River Brewing Company - Appleton, WI

I had an early morning appointment in Appleton, WI this past fall and I got into town the night before.  I stayed near the Fox River Mall and I took a look on line to see what was in the immediate area for food as I'd been driving most of the day and didn't feel like going far for food that evening.  I found out there was a brew pub attached to the mall - the Fox River Brewing Company.  I thought I'd head over there to check the place out and maybe get a bite to eat.  

I like to joke that whenever I cross over the border into Wisconsin, I immediately get thirsty for a beer.  With a large German-heritage population throughout the state, beer is a way of life with many people who live there - and has been for generations.  The first breweries in the state popped up in the 1830's - long before Wisconsin was granted statehood in 1848 - started by German immigrants whose precise brewing techniques learned in their homeland to carry on the tradition of German-style beers in their new home in America.  By the Civil War, there were over 150 breweries scattered across Wisconsin, and by the turn of the 20th century there were nearly 300 registered breweries in the state.

During Prohibition, many of the smaller breweries went out of business - but not all.  During Prohibition, some made soda pop or root beer, and there were some underground breweries that defied the ban on alcohol to brew and distribute beers in a clandestine manner.  After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, that paved the way for large scale, mass producing breweries across the state.  Many of the smaller breweries went by the wayside and for years the only beers made in Wisconsin were made by the likes of Miller, Pabst, G. Heilemann (Old Style) and Schlitz.  

The landscape began to change starting in 1985 with the founding of the first microbrewery in Wisconsin after Prohibition, Sprecher Brewery.   From there, the Capital Brewery opened in the Madison suburb of Middleton in 1986, with Lakefront Brewery opening in Milwaukee in 1987.  By the mid-90's, there were six microbreweries across the state of Wisconsin.  Not exactly electric growth, but craft brewing was still in its infancy.

Enter the three Supple brothers - Jay, Joe and John, Jr.  Their father, John, Sr., had left his job as a train engineer in the late 60's and opened up a Shakey's Pizza franchise in the Oshkosh area.  His sons followed their father into the restaurant business and managed other Shakey's locations in the Fox Valley.  In the late 1980's, a capital investment group bought the Shakey's chain and a slow decline of the remaining locations took place with many of them closing in the early to mid-90's.  The ones managed by the Supple family were among those that closed and by 1995 the brothers were looking to do something else.  

They had talked about doing an Italian restaurant in Oshkosh, but it was Jay's wife who suggested they look into doing a brewpub.  The brothers joked that they certainly knew how to drink beer, but they didn't know how to make it.  But they met with Rob LoBreglio who had started the Great Dane Brewery and Pub in Madison in 1994.  The Supples signed LoBreglio to a one-year consultancy contract to help them get started with their own brew pub in Oshkosh.   

Pictured at right - John, Jr., Jay and Joe Supple.  Photo courtesy Oshkosh Beer Blog.

LoBreglio had contacts in the industry to get the needed equipment for the Supple family to start their brewery.  They had procured a building in downtown Oshkosh that over looked the Fox River and hired a chef to run their restaurant which would be called Fratello's, which is Italian for brothers.  LoBreglio helped the brothers find a brewmaster, Al Bunde, who had just graduated from the famed Siebel Institute in Chicago in 1994.  LoBreglio was also an alumnus of the Siebel Institute and the day after Bunde graduated, he was in Madison helping LoBreglio open the Great Dane brewery.   LoBreglio suggested to the Supple brothers that Bunde be their first brewmaster.  The brothers liked Bunde right from the start and hired him to be their first brewmaster.  Fratello's and the accompanying Fox River Brewing Company opened in October of 1995.  

Within the first 18 months in business, things were going so well with the Fox River brewery that the brothers decided to open a second location in Appleton.  They were able to build on to the west side of the Fox River Mall and they opened the second Fox River Brewing Company location in November of 1997.  Steve Lonsway was hired to be the assistant head brewer at Fox River Brewing and handled operation at the Appleton location.

Keeping brewmasters is a problem for many microbreweries and with the sudden uptick in the craft beer revolution, Fox River Brewing Company was not immune to this problem.  Al Bunde left in 1998 and Lonsway took over the operation of both breweries.  Lonsway left in 2002 and Brian Allen came in to take over as brewmaster.  Allen stayed for 7 years before moving on to Mother's Brewing Company in Springfield, MO.  But a young man who first got his start bussing tables at the Appleton location at the age of 16 stepped in to take over for Allen.

Kevin Bowen also helped out in the kitchen at the Fox River Brewing Company, but he was soon fascinated by everything that Steve Lonsway was doing in the brewery.  Bowen graduated high school in 2000 and bummed around for a couple of years before coming back to Appleton.  He came back to Fox River Brewing just after Brian Allen took over and Bowen helped out in the fledgling bottle works the brewery had just opened.  Learning all aspects of brewing from Allen, Bowen eventually was awarded a scholarship to the Siebel Institute in 2005.  Upon graduating in 2006, he was named the brewmaster of a small microbrewery in Wausau, WI.  When that place closed in 2008, Bowen came back to Fox River Brewing to work along side Allen.  And when Allen left less than a year later, the Supples had no problem naming the 26-year-old Bowen as their brewmaster.  

Bowen stayed on for 10 years with Fox River Brewing Company before moving to France to be with his girlfriend earlier this year.  But over his tenure, brewing output increased by two and a half times.  When he took over, Fox River Brewing had limited distribution in the Fox Valley.  When he left last year, Fox River Brewing was found on store shelves all through the state of Wisconsin.  Bowen's successor, Andrew Roth - who had been the lead brewer for Fox River Brewing for 10 months prior - was named as his replacement in August of last year.   

(A large thanks to Lee at the Oshkosh Beer Blog for much of the information on the history and brewmasters of the Fox River Brewing Company.)

The Fox River Brewing Company is located on the west side of the Fox River Mall.  (see map) I probably could have walked over from the hotel, but it was sort of a cool evening and I had only brought a light jacket with me.  Parking was plentiful in front of the restaurant.  

Inside the Fox River Brewing Company, I found a large bar that had zigs and zags giving it a unique shape.  It was a Monday night - usually a slow night for many restaurants - and there were a few people in the place.  The beer list for that evening was on the wall near the bar which touted Fox River Brewing's regionally famous Blu Bobber blueberry ale, their Marble Rye Scottish Ale, the Buzzin' Honey Ale, and their 2 Dams Blonde Ale.

There was a short wall that separated the bar area from a small dining area in the back.  This area was closed off for the evening as there just weren't enough people there that evening.  An open kitchen with a wood-fired oven was off to the side of the dining room and bar area.

I ended up sitting at the bar that evening and was greeted by the very congenial bartender who made some suggestions on beers after he gave me a food menu to look over.  He was meticulous in the description of some of the beers, and when he got to the Shakedown IPA I stopped him and ordered one of those.  

Much of the food at the Fox River Brewing Company was your typical pub food - shareable appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and wood-fired pizza.  They had tacos on the menu and a handful of entrees including a porcini mushroom and truffle ravioli served with barbacoa beef in a dijon mustard cream sauce, grilled chicken in a pesto with cavatappi pasta noodles, traditional fish and chips, and Pad Thai shrimp bowl.  

I wasn't really up for a burger as I had one the day before with my wife.  But their mushroom/Swiss burger made with ground steak was really trying to get me to order it up.  However, I ended up getting the jambalaya that evening.

I pretty much knew going in that the jambalaya probably wouldn't be all that great and I wasn't all that disappointed when I found it to be just all right.  It featured andouille sausage, smoked chicken chunks, and grilled shrimp mixed with bell peppers, caramelized onions, a black bean with corn salsa and served with a brown rice/quinoa mix with a bit of a tomato sauce and a blackened Cajun seasoning mixed in.  It wasn't authentic Cajun, but it was a nice try at trying to come up with jambalaya at a brew pub in the middle of Wisconsin.  I ate it and was happy enough with my choice.

Now, here's a Road Tips first - after paying my bill and walking out side to get a picture of the outside of the brew pub, I had snapped a couple pictures (one of which is below) and as I was walking back out to my car in the lot, a security guard - a young guy just driving around the parking lot - cruised up next to me and said, "Uh, sir.  Pictures of the mall are not authorized."  

I sort of stopped and said, "Huh?"

Once again, he said, "You can't take pictures of the mall without permission."  

I turned to the young police academy dropout and said incredulously, "You've got to be shitting me!"  

"No sir, I'm not," he replied matter-of-factly.

Now, what was he going to do?  Take my phone from me?  Tell me to delete the picture?  Take me in?  I just shook my head and moved on, crossing in front of his mall security car to get to my car.  

What did he do?  He just sat there as I got into my car, pulled out of the parking spot and moved down the line of cars in the lot.  And he followed me - not closely, but close enough to let me realize that he was behind me.  I drove through the parking lot and he continued to follow me.  I got to a stop sign where I would turn right out of the parking lot and off the property and he came up behind me again.  I took the right turn to go back to the hotel and he sort of sat there at the stop sign probably trying to figure out his next course of action.  I looked in my rear view mirror again as I made my way down the small frontage road away from the mall and saw that he went straight and wasn't coming after me.  

Now, I've been asked just a handful of times by some restaurants as to why I'm taking pictures of their place, but I've never been told that I couldn't take pictures.  (Years ago, I did almost get busted at a store in the Kansas City area that had big signs that said "No Photos!")  I've since been told by more lawyerly types that the security guard was probably correct - you really can't take pictures of private property without the consent of the owner.  But as one person told me, "It hardly ever gets enforced in this day and age of camera phones, Instagram and Twitter."  The consensus among the law scholars I talked to  was that this mall cop was probably a bit too heavy-handed in his enforcement.    

Getting accosted by the mall cop for taking the picture of the outside of the Fox River Brewing Company was just a side light to what turned out to be an OK meal and some pretty good beer.  I pretty much knew going in that their jambalaya would be just all right and it didn't turn out to be anything more or less than that.  I really enjoyed the Shakedown IPA they had on tap at Fox River Brewing Company.  It had a nice forward hoppy taste, but a very smooth finish.  The service and recommendations by the very friendly bartender was very appreciated that evening.  Fox River Brewing Company was a nice find in my travels.  However, it sounds like I need to go to the one in Oshkosh to check that location out at some point.  

Lost Signal Brewing Company - Springfield, MO

Down in Springfield, MO this past fall, I was looking on-line for a brew pub to have dinner one evening.  There was one in the downtown area that I wasn't familiar with, a combination brew pub/barbecue joint by the name of Lost Signal Brewing Company.  I found out where it was and took off to give the place a try.   

When I first started to go to Springfield over 30 years ago, the downtown area was sort of a jumbled potpourri of businesses with not a lot of places to eat.  Over the years - especially within the past 10 years - there's been a renaissance of specialty shopping and eateries in the heart of Springfield.  Tyler Hoke recognized the revitalization of downtown Springfield and decided to look for a building to put his combination brewery/barbecue joint.  

Like many people who open craft breweries, Tyler Hoke was brewing beer at home for his friends and family.  But his father, Jack, was known for making good barbecue for friends and family, as well.  Jack Hoke headed up a competition barbecue team - Smooth Smoke BBQ - and like many people who have competition teams they end up opening restaurants.  With Tyler's beers and Jack's barbecue, the two joined forces to have something that you don't see very often - a combination brew pub/barbecue place.  

Pictured right - Tyler Hoke. Photo courtesy Feast Magazine.

A local radio station in Springfield - KICK-AM - was bought by a large corporation and they moved out of their longtime home in downtown Springfield to a building with other local radio stations.  The old radio station building was empty for two years before Tyler Hoke discovered it would be perfect for his brew pub/barbecue joint.  The Hoke's acquired the building and set about setting up a brewery on one side and a kitchen on the other with a smoker just outside.  Working throughout most of 2016, Lost Signal Brewing Company opened in February of 2017.  Hoke brainstormed for names for the business, writing down dozens of names for the place.  But he thought the Lost Signal name was the best which paid homage to the former radio station.  

I put in the address for Lost Signal into my GPS, and as I got closer I began to recognize a building just a block away as the former location of an account I had called on a number of years ago.  Finding Lost Signal was actually pretty easy once you figured it out - the original transmitting tower still stands on the roof.  (see map)  I came up to the front of Lost Signal, but realized that I had missed the parking lot off to the side.  I came around to the back alley and parked in the lot.  The smoking area was working on the side of the building near the back entrance.   

Coming in the side entrance, I found the bar off to the left.  It was a small - it sat, if I remember right, six or seven people.  Listings of the beers they had that evening were on the wall behind and to the side of the bar.  

The dining room was L-shaped with a big area between the bar and the kitchen, then there was a long stretch that was between the brew room and the outdoor patio area.  There was a private function going on in the patio area that night and I was getting dirty looks when I went out there to take a snap shot of the area.

I took a seat at the bar and one of the bartenders on duty, Zachary, came over to greet me.  He gave me a food menu and I ordered up an American pale ale that they had on tap.  Later on, I tried one of their India pale ales.  Both were very good beers - hoppy, yet smooth on the finish.  

They didn't have that big of a selection of barbecue at Lost Signal, but they had the basics - ribs, smoked chicken, pulled pork and brisket.  You had your choice of having the meat on its own or as a sandwich.  They had three or four appetizers including a brisket and gravy poutine, street tacos with a choice of meat or black bean salsa, and loaded barbecue nachos.  Sides included mac & cheese, bacon jalapeño cornbread, and a spicy cole slaw made with a chili/barbecue sauce.

As I normally like to do when I try out a barbecue place for the first time, I went with the combo - sliced brisket and pulled pork.  I got the baked beans for my side.  It was served on a small cookie sheet with wax paper.  They had a couple three different types of barbecue sauces to choose from including a sweet and smoky sauce and a somewhat spicy sauce.  

The brisket was very good.  It was tender and had a great smoked beef flavor.  It was very easy to cut and it really didn't need a lot of sauce to help enhance the flavor.

The pulled pork, however, needed help.  It was dry and somewhat lifeless in taste.  A mixture of the sweet and smoky and the spicy sauces helped give it some moisture, but it was still pretty suspect in flavor.  As good as the brisket was, the pulled pork was disappointing.  

The baked beans were fine, but nothing special.  I did mix some of the spicy barbecue sauce in with the beans to give them a little more zip in taste.  Overall, it was an OK meal with the brisket really standing out above the pulled pork and beans.  

Lost Signal Brewing Company was a pretty unique place.  In all my travels, I'm not certain if I've ever come across at combination brew pub/barbecue joint - at least I don't remember if I have.  The beer I had - an American pale ale and an IPA - were both very good, as was the brisket slices I was served.  The pulled pork, however, was rather disappointing and the baked beans were just so-so.  But the space in which the brew pub/barbecue joint occupied had that kind of a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere.  I thought Lost Signal was OK, the beers were fine, but the barbecue was sort of up and down.  But I'd still say it's worth a visit if you make it to Springfield.

Goat Ridge Brewing Co./Model Citizen - New London, MN

During our vacation in the Glacier Lakes region of West Central Minnesota earlier this summer, we found out that there was a brew pub in the small town of New London, the sister city to Spicer which were about five miles apart.  And upon visiting the brew pub, we found out that they had a farm-to-fork restaurant with locally sourced foods attached to the place.  The restaurant happened to be closed the first time we went to the brew pub, but we went back the next day to give it a try.   Here are two of the more memorable places we went to during our vacation - Goat Ridge Brewing Company and Model Citizen - the Restaurant.

Josh Reed grew up on his family's farm outside of Brooten, MN.  Learning about helping and maintaining the environment while working on the farm led Reed to study natural resource management at Western Washington University.  After college, he landed an environmental resource gig with the federal government that kept him the Pacific Northwest.  Reed loved the areas craft beers and in the mid-90's he started to brew his own beer at home, even raising some of the hops he would eventually use in his beers.

Reed married a young lady from Brooten by the name of Christa Otteson and the couple lived in the Seattle area for a handful of years, but had a hankering to move back to Minnesota at some point to raise a family.  After much conversation and planning, Reed and Otteson moved back to the Brooten area in 2010 and lived on a homestead that had been in Otteson's family for years.  The acreage sat on a glacial ridge they nicknamed Goat Ridge and it was there where Reed - who was working for a non-profit organization upon his return to Minnesota - started to grow hops that he would sell to various brewpubs around Minnesota.  But his dream was to one day have his own brewpub where he could share his beers with the public.  

Reed started working on a business plan and found that it was sort of difficult to come up with the proper paperwork for the plan.  Then fate intervened where at a gathering in Brooten, Reed met Kelly Asche, a community and economic development director whose wife also grew up in Brooten.  Reed and Asche found that they both had a love for homebrewing and when Reed told Asche that he was trying to come up with a business plan to one day present to the bank for a business loan, but he was having some difficulty with it.  Asche agreed to look at the business plan and after some tweaks here and there, he told Reed he could help with the financing in the venture with his community development contacts.  The two formed a partnership with Reed as the head brewer in the new project with Asche as his assistant brewer. 

After quitting his job at the non-profit in October of 2014, Reed found a building along the bank of the Middle Fork of the Crow River that ran through New London, MN.  It was an 1800 square foot building that had been a variety of businesses in the past including a car repair shop.   Reed, Asche and Otteson renovated the building using reclaimed barn boards and using repurposed furniture for tables and chairs.  With the brew tanks up and running in early 2015, Goat Ridge Brewing Co. opened their doors in April of that year.

The nano-brewery is located on Central Ave. W. in New London, just west of State Highway 9 that is the main north-south road through New London.  (see map)  Head-in parking is available on the street next to Goat Ridge, but a municipal lot is just across the street.  The bar is to the left as you come into the place.   We took a seat at the bar and a young lady greeted us.  We took a look at the beers they had to offer that day - Goat Ridge changes beers pretty regularly - and I ended up getting their Kolsch, a great summertime beer.  (Actually, I think a Kolsch is a good beer at any time of the year.)  My wife tried a couple of their beers in a sampler size - a New England IPA that was a little too fruity for her taste, but she ended up liking the Smash Mosaic, a forward hopped flavored IPA that was actually pretty good.  In fact, for my second beer I went with the Smash Mosaic.  And I thought it was a pretty good deal, too, as a 20 ounce pour of Goat Ridge's beers were $6 bucks.

Out back is a pretty good sized beer garden that featured picnic tables and Adirondack chairs that looked out onto the Middle Fork of the Crow River.  The water rushes past the beer garden coming from the Mill Pond Dam which holds water from the Middle Crow for some nice little connected lakes and ponds around the very picturesque town of New London.  At one end of the beer garden was a small stage for live music at Goat's Ridge.  I was somewhat amazed to see that they were going to have Chris Duarte - a very good blues guitarist who I've seen a handful of times in the past, primarily at Summerfest in Milwaukee - playing there.  Unfortunately, it was going to be on that Saturday night and we would be making our way back home when he was there.  But I was impressed that they could get talent like Chris Duarte to play there.  

There's an addition off to the side of the tap room and just behind the outdoor stage.   A small local political group was having a meeting in there when we were there that evening.  Later on, after they left, we saw a family in there playing one of the  board games that Goat Ridge keeps in or near the room.  It was kind of a whimsical space with mismatched chairs, old drapes and even an old church pew on which to sit.  

Directly behind the bar is the brew room.  Glistening brew tanks stood tall in the very clean facility.  The room had that sort of malty and hoppy fragrance to it.  

Seated at the bar, we were befriended by a young couple who had a lake home on Green Lake in Spicer, but their primary home was in Willmar, about 15 miles away.  They had sent their kids off to church camp and were having their own vacation at their lake home.  My wife recognized them from the night before when we were sitting out by the dock at Zorbaz in Spicer and they pulled up in their pontoon boat.  My wife made small talk with them as they were leaving later on - I don't remember because I was on my 4th mai tai at that point.  But the woman told us, "We had just pulled out of the dock at Zorbaz and I told him (her husband), 'You know, those people look like they would be fun on a boat ride.'  We came back to see if you wanted a boat ride, but you were already walking away."  I told her that it was probably a good idea that we didn't go on the boat ride as I was pretty popped from all the mai tais I had.  They were really fun to talk to and gave us some good recommendations on places to go and do and see - as well as some other bars and restaurants - in the area

They had actually come in to have dinner that night at Model Citizen, the farm-to-fork restaurant attached to Goat Ridge Brewing Co.  We had looked the place up on line before we got up there and the web site said they would be closed that evening as they were extending some days off after the Fourth of July holiday.  But Model Citizen was open the next day and we went there for a late lunch/early dinner.

Josh Reed wanted to expand his taproom and possibly put in a restaurant.  But he didn't have any experience running a restaurant, nor did his wife.  At the same time, it turned out that a couple of young chefs in the Twin Cities, Mateo Mackbee and Erin Lucas, were looking for a change of scenery, a more simpler way of making food rather than the high-end cuisine they had been involved with for years.  Once again, it was divine intervention - this time helped out by a man of the cloth from the New London area - that brought Reed and Otteson together with Mackbee and Lucas.  

Mateo Mackbee had a long resume of working as a chef for some of the finest restaurants in the Twin Cities.  Erin Lucas was a Culinary Institute of America-trained pastry chef who met Mackbee when they were both working at Mozza Mia, an upscale wood-fired pizza place in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina.  Lucas and Mackbee both liked to prepare and eat naturally-raised foods and they harbored a dream of one day owning their own small place that made and served locally grown foods to patrons, while also teaching young teens the ins-and-outs of a farm-to-fork restaurant.   A chef with Mackbee's background usually finds someone who likes what he does and backs him in a restaurant.  But that wasn't happening with him - Mackbee was a black man in the culinary world of predominantly white males.  

It was one evening when Mackbee was sitting at a bar in the Twin Cities when a man came in and sat down next to him.  It turned out that the man was a Lutheran minister - Pastor Mark Kopka from the Nordland Lutheran Church which is located between Paynesville, MN and Spicer, MN, not far from New London.  Mackbee and Kopka talked at length that evening about their hopes and dreams.  Kopka and Mackbee kept in touch with one another over the next four years and it was Pastor Kopka who became the intermediary in getting Mackbee and Lucas in touch with Josh Reed.  

Pictured at right - Josh Reed, Erin Lucas and Mateo Mackbee.  Photo courtesy West Central Tribune.

Pastor Kopka knew that Reed wanted to expand and add a space for a restaurant, but he didn't have anyone available to run it.  But he also knew that Mackbee and Lucas were looking for an opportunity.  Finally, Kopka went to the couple and told them that he had an offer - he was able to procure some land near New London that the two of them could use to raise their own organic produce, and that there was a chance to run the restaurant of their dreams in New London, as well.

Mackbee and Lucas drove out to New London to meet with Josh Reed and Christa Otteson.  The couples hit it off immediately, and after subsequent visits it was determined that Mackbee and Lucas would be the perfect fit to run the restaurant space they wanted to build.  Work on an 1800-square foot expansion of Goat Ridge began in late 2017 with Reed and Otteson financing the build-out of the restaurant space and kitchen.  In the meantime, Mackbee and Lucas began to network with a number of local farmers who could supply them with the organic produce, meats and dairy products.  Mackbee would be the main chef while Lucas would be the kitchen supervisor/coordinator and also bake bread and pies.  Once everything was in place, Mackbee and Lucas opened Model Citizen in June of 2018.  

Model Citizen is counter service only with no wait staff.  Patrons are asked to bus their dishes after they've finished.  The restaurant furniture is similar to what we saw in the small area off to the side of the tap room at Goat Ridge including a church pew that is used for banquette seating along one wall.  The chairs and tables can be easily moved to make the expanded room a dance floor if needed.  

The food counter is opposite the bar area in the expanded tap room at Goat Ridge.  They have a chalkboard above and to the right of the window that shows daily specials, as well as a list of farms they're working with - all within a 100-mile radius of New London - and what food or produce that farm provided.  Sometimes local people with backyard gardens will come in with vegetables that they just give to Model Citizen because they would go to waste because they had too many tomatoes, peppers or beans.  

They have printed menus at the counter, but many of the items are subject to availability since they source all the food at Model Citizen locally.  For example, my wife saw that they had an asparagus salad on the menu, but it was crossed off that day as they were out of asparagus.  (As we were having our lunch, a lady came in with tubs of asparagus to drop off.  "I guess the asparagus salad is back on the menu," my wife quipped.)  It's not an extensive menu at Model Citizen, but they had entrees such as a baked mac & cheese with blue cheese, muenster, and cheddar cheese, as well as a ratatouille pasta dish.   Sandwiches such as chicken parm, a roast beef sandwich, and a BLT (that I almost got considering they sourced everything locally) were available as was a grass-fed burger.  Shared plates such as a meat and cheese board, tempura battered veggies, and a sautéed kale with a garlic pesto on toasted rye bread were also available.  After 4:30 p.m., Modern Citizen fires up their wood-fired grill for beef, pork or chicken specials of the evening.  

We stepped up to the counter to order our food and Mateo Mackbee took our order directly.  My wife went with the steak salad - a heaping helping of arugula mixed with roasted red potatoes and onions all mixed in with chunks of steak, topped with fresh shaved parmesan cheese and a house dressing.  It was a huge salad and my wife couldn't help but remark how fresh the arugula tasted.  "This is definitely farm fresh," she said between bites.  "I've never gotten arugula like this in a store."  

Since everything at Modern Citizen is made from scratch, it takes awhile for some orders to make it to the table.  That was no problem as I we were enjoying the Smash Mosaic from the bar at Goat Ridge while we waited for our food to show up.  It turned out the hold-up was my fault - I ordered the jambalaya.  Mateo Mackbee's family on his mother's side hails from New Orleans and this was obviously one of the recipes he has taken from the family.  This was true jambalaya with big chunks of andouille sausage, shrimp, chicken, the "holy trinity" of onions, bell peppers and celery, with a rich and fresh tomato broth on a bed of jasmine rice.   A lot of times if I'm having jambalaya in a restaurant, I'll get some Tabasco to help give it a kick.  This jambalaya didn't need any help as it had a kick of its own.  It was simply outstanding, some of the best and most authentic jambalaya I've ever had.

My wife and I loved everything about both Goat Ridge Brewing Company and Model Citizen - The Restaurant.  The beer was very good, the food we had was excellent, the vibe of the place was laid-back and the staff and patrons were extremely friendly, and we felt that it was one of the better brew pub experiences we've ever had.  Having something like Goat Ridge and Model Citizen in a small town like New London was very unique.  We were there no less than three times because we liked the place so very much.  It's an hour drive down from St. Cloud and I may have to go back to New London at some point when I get back up that way when the weather gets better in the Spring of 2020.  

Update Spring 2021 - Mateo Mackbee and Erin Lucas gave up their lease to the kitchen and moved on to open a new New Orleans-inspired restaurant in St. Joseph, MN by the name of Krewe.  Look for an upcoming Road Tips entry on Krewe.  The owners of Goat Ridge now run the kitchen and primarily make pizzas in the kitchen.

 

Toppling Goliath - Decorah, IA

Earlier this year when my wife and I spent a long weekend up in the Decorah area of NE Iowa, one of the places we wanted to go to was the Toppling Goliath brewery.  Toppling Goliath has become a destination for beer aficionados, not only from around the Midwest, but across the nation, as well.  I especially like their Pseudo Sue American pale ale that has a hint of a citrus flavor to cut into the bitterness of the hops they use in the beer.  One afternoon while we were in Decorah, we headed out to Toppling Goliath to check the place out and maybe have something to eat.  

You might say that Clark Lewey has been working around beer for most of his adult life.  Not actually brewing it, but working for his family's company that made items such as beer coolers with taps, movable beverage carts, and beverage kiosks that you would see on concourses of arenas and stadiums across the nation.  He traveled the nation to visit breweries and venues selling his company's products.  Lewey grew fond of some of the craft beers he was encountering in his travels, but living in NE Iowa proved to be a wasteland for finding upscale brews.  He would travel over an hour's drive one-way to Rochester, MN or La Crosse, WI to find some of the craft beers he craved.  But that got tiresome after a few trips.

One Christmas about 11 or 12 years ago, Lewey's wife, Barbara, got him a home-brew kit figuring it would be cheaper to brew his own beer rather than face long drives to pick up the beers that he really loved.  Lewey liked the hoppy, forward tasting beers and he started to brew some pale ale beers.  While his family didn't really like the beers he was brewing, he was happy enough with them to convince his wife that maybe he needed to open a brew pub in Decorah.  

Lewey started brewing his beers in a backroom with a half-barrel system and had to come up with a name.  He had founded a consulting firm a few years before calling it TG Inc. that was designed to help small start-up businesses with accumulating the proper applications for grants, as well as helping with business plans.  The "TG" stood for "Toppling Goliath" which was a metaphor for the little guys having to deal with big business.  However, he never really got the consulting business off the ground, but he did file the proper paperwork for trademarking the Toppling Goliath name for his business.  When he started his small brewery, he filed a trademark amendment to change the business from a consultancy to a brewery.  

One of Lewey's first beers was the Dorothy's New World Lager, a California common lager that was named after his grandmother who Lewey said introduced he and his brothers to beers at a very early age.  His grandmother died shortly before he started his small brewery, and naming the common after her was a tribute to her memory.  But it was probably Lewey's hoppy American pale ale - the Pseudo Sue - that garnered the attention of beer lovers in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.  

Pictured right - Barbara and Clark Lewey.  Photo courtesy of Travel Iowa.  

Lewey connections to breweries both big and small through the family business steered him in the right direction for getting the word out on his beers.  He initially self-distributed his beers and focused on college towns such as Iowa City and Madison, WI.  (I remember having a Pseudo Sue with a friend at a bar/restaurant in Iowa City about 8 years ago and thinking that it was a fine beer.)  As demand for his beers grew, he had to find another spot in the area for a larger brewing system.  

Just outside of the downtown area, Lewey found a building that had been everything from a pizza place to a record store to a flower shop.  He put in a larger 10-barrel system and was soon approached by a young guy by the name of Mike Saboe who said he wanted a job at the brewery.  Saboe had dabbled with brewing beers and he soon convinced Clark Lewey to take a chance on him.  It worked out pretty well as Saboe helped concoct many of the signature beers Toppling Goliath has become famous for both nationally and internationally.  

The 10-barrel system soon became too small for the demand for Toppling Goliath beers, and Lewey had to find another place locally that could house a bigger system.  They found a building outside of Decorah and put in a four-vessel, 30 barrel system.  They continued to self-distribute to places in Eastern Iowa, Southeastern Minnesota and Central and Western Wisconsin, and by 2015 they were having trouble keeping up with the masses who loved the beers.  It was then that Lewey contracted with Brew Hub, a Florida-based contract brewery headed by a former Anheuser-Busch executive, to brew many of the Toppling Goliath beers and to distribute them in other states.  (Mike Saboe temporarily left Toppling Goliath over the decision to contract out to Brew Hub, but he was back in the fold with Lewey months later.)  That contract ended in 2017, and in the meantime Lewey contracted with Wisconsin Brewing Company in Verona, WI to brew many of their beers for distribution in Wisconsin and other upper Midwestern states.

But Lewey was looking at doing something even bigger in Decorah.  In 2016, Toppling Goliath broke ground for a brewing facility/tap room/brew pub just east of Decorah that would boost production ten-fold.  In February of 2018, the new Toppling Goliath facility opened allowing for the increased production and distribution of their beers which are now found in 20 states.  The building is 52,000 square feet that sits on 15 acres of land.  Special releases of Toppling Goliath beers such as Kentucky Brunch and SR-71 will attract hundreds, if not thousands of beer aficionados to Decorah.  And earlier this year, Toppling Goliath announced that they were going to get into distilling their own whiskey at some point.  

After getting into Decorah and checking into our hotel, we took off to the eastern outskirts of town just past the Decorah Municipal Airport to Toppling Goliath's location.  (see map)  It was a massive structure with a grey and red fabricated metal facade with a stone wall accent.    The large parking lot was full on that Saturday afternoon and we were forced to park near the loading dock on the side of the building.  We saw cars with license plates from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky and North Carolina in the lot that day.  A number of Iowa plates from other counties were also parked in the lot.  

Entering Toppling Goliath we found a massive open area with a number of tables throughout the tap room.  A large stone hearth with matching gas burning fireplaces enclosed in glass was the centerpiece of the room.  Three large deer heads hung from the stone hearth.  The place was very bright from large windows letting in natural light from the outside.  Even for a cloudy day, it was rather bright in the place.  

The brewing facility was located in the back of the large building.  Windows on the second floor offered glimpses into the brewing area.  The 100 barrel brewing system at Toppling Goliath is a long way from the half-barrel system Clark Lewey started out with just 10 years ago.  

The main bar area is to your right as you walk into the tap room.  They featured 25 beers on tap the day we were there.  Nearly every seat at the main bar was taken at around 1:30 when we got there.   On the opposite end of the tap room from the bar area was a large gift shop that we had to stop at to grab some stickers - a tradition we started a few years ago to mark our visits to various brew pubs.  

Upstairs was a second bar area that is used primarily for overflow and functions.  In addition to tables and chairs, there were couches for people to relax in while enjoying a beer.   

We took a seat in a booth along the wall that separates the tap room from the brewing facility.  A young lady brought over a beer list along with a food menu.  Of course, I had to get the Pseudo Sue APA while my wife got another one of Toppling Goliath's more popular beers, the Golden Nugget IPA after trying that as well as the Pompei IPA and another pale ale they had on rotation.  

The food menu at Toppling Goliath isn't all that extensive.  They have pizzas, sandwiches, a burger, tacos, salads and appetizers available in the tap room.  We weren't really all that hungry, but my wife - who needs to have three square meals a day or she gets "hangry" - said she really needed to have something.  We thought we'd share a couple of things.  

What she picked wasn't what I really wanted, but I went along with her on that.  She got the roasted tomato and rosemary hummus plate that was served with carrot and celery sticks, sliced cucumbers, and sliced bread.  I tried a bit of the hummus on a celery stick and, quite actually, it was pretty good.  It had a bit of a spicy bite on the backside of the taste.  My wife was very happy with the rather healthy food choice she made.  

I thought about getting either the burger or the pork bahn mi sandwich that featured sliced slow-roasted pork with a daikon radish slaw and a Thai chili aioli on a hoagie bun.  But that was all trumped when I saw that they had blackened mahi mahi tacos on the menu.  Three small flour tacos with chunks of grilled and blackened mahi mahi along with cilantro and a chipotle mayo sauce were on the plate along with a side of a ginger cabbage slaw.  (Cojita cheese is available with the mahi mahi tacos at Toppling Goliath, but I don't care for cheese on fish tacos.)  The tacos were pretty good.  The mahi mahi had a nice spicy taste quality and the chipotle mayo had both a cooling and spicy flavor.  I did add some of the very good ginger cabbage slaw to the two tacos I had.  I shared the third taco with my wife and she was impressed with the flavor of the taco.  

You have to say that it's rather remarkable that in less than 10 years Toppling Goliath went from a half-barrel nano-brewery in a small backroom to a large 100 barrel facility cranking out over 20,000 barrels of their variety of world renown beers in the small town of Decorah, IA.  Their brew pub/tap room/brewing facility on the east side of town is a must stop if you make it to Decorah at some point.  It was a pretty impressive facility that was lively, yet comfortable.  The service we had - which turned into a tag team effort between about three or four young men and women - was fine.  And the food we had was fine for a brew pub.  But the beer at Toppling Goliath is the draw and they have some very good ones to choose from.  This will definitely be a destination drive for us in the future.  

And while you're in Decorah...

...and you're looking to try more brew pubs in the area, here are a couple more.

Pulpit Rock Brewing Company -

Pulpit Rock - named after a geological glacier formation outside of Decorah - was founded by Pete Espinosa, Kristi Wolf, Jon Tollefson, and Mark Bjerke.  All four are actually family members - Espinosa is married to Kristi (Tollefson) Wolf's twin sister, Kari, and is Jon Tollefson's brother-in-law.  Bjerke is married to the Tollefson's sister, Jodi.  The group was able to wrangle away a couple of Toppling Goliath's assistant brewers - Robert Slack and Justin Teff - to be the co-head brewers at Pulpit Rock.  

Pete and Kari Espinosa had bought the building at the corner of 5th St. and College Ave. that used to house a car repair facility on one side and a laundromat on the other.  Wondering what to do with the space, they brainstormed with other family members and came up with a nano-brewery that would have limited - as in only in Decorah - distribution.  They opened Pulpit Rock Brewing Company in August of 2015.  

In one of the former garage bays is the bar area.  It's not very big, but there is a front room that was in use for a graduation party the day we were there. My wife and I grabbed a couple of their delicious IPA's - a Foggy Notion for her and a Saftig for me.  The Saftig was more forward in the hoppy taste than the Foggy Notion.  

There's a couple of outside beer patios that feature tables, chairs and picnic tables.  The weather that day had been iffy, sort of all over the place in terms of sun, no sun, cool, warm, rainy, not rainy.  When we were there it was warm enough for us to enjoy our beers on the side patio by the bar.  Pulpit Rock is not a large place, but we did hear earlier this summer that they had purchased the building just to the north of their brewery that used to house a furniture store for an expansion that is planned for next year.

PIVO Brewery - Calmar, IA

I have to give credit to my wife on this one.  She's actually becoming a pretty good brew pub hunter on our trips and she was reading about a place in the small town of Calmar, IA, about 10 miles south of Decorah, called PIVO Brewery.   On a cold and somewhat rainy Sunday, we made our way down to Calmar and found Pivo just on the outskirts of the north side of town.  (see map)

Craig Neuzil was a native of the Calmar/Spillville area of NE Iowa and he traveled the world as a communications officer for the United States Air Force.  He and his wife, Sara - who also grew up in the area - lived in a lot of different places during his 20+ year career for the military.  One place where they lived was Colorado Springs where Craig worked at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).  During his off-hours, Craig's hobby was home-brewing.  And when he wasn't doing that, he was working at any one of three brew pubs in the greater Colorado Springs area learning the trade from the ground up.  As long ago as 2005, Craig and Sara began to plan for life after the Air Force and Craig thought that his home area of Decorah/Calmar needed a brew pub.  This was four years before Toppling Goliath opened up and a full 10 years before Pulpit Rock opened their doors!  

When Craig retired in 2015, the couple moved back to Calmar to start their second life.  Sara was already an artist whose specialties included decorating eggs - goose eggs, ostrich eggs, chicken eggs, etc. - and the art of Azulejo, which are blue and white ceramic tiles that she learned about when the Neuzil's were stationed in Portugal.  The couple decided to pair their passion for art and craft beers by building a two-story structure in Calmar that would house both an art studio/gallery and a brewery.  

Pictured right - Sara and Craig Neuzil.  Photo courtesy The Decorah Newspapers.  

The Neuzil's decorated the building with a number of reclaimed and repurposed window frames, doors, and barn boards.  Craig installed a 15 barrel steam heated system in the brewery, while Sara put her studio on the second floor.  And to help with the brewing process, Craig recruited Richard Mar, an assistant brewer at one of the Colorado Springs microbreweries that he befriended during his days in the Air Force, to come to Iowa to be the head brewer.  Mar's wife, Laresche, was hired to be the tap room manager.

In a nod to their Czech heritage, Craig called the brewery Pivo - which means beer in Czech.  Sara's grandmother used to call her "Blepta", which meant "chatterbox" in Czech, when Sara was a little girl.  She decided that would be the name of her art studio/gallery.  The couple opened the building on November 22, 2017.  

At first, the Neuzil's focused on the beer, but in early 2018 they added a small menu of food that included sandwiches, charcuterie plates, cheese curds, and chips and salsa.  And to keep the locals happy in case they didn't quite care much for the beers that Neuzil and Mar were brewing, PIVO also features Grain Belt, Hamm's and Old Style beers on tap.  

When we pulled up to the place, we were sort of confused.  It looked like a big two-story farmhouse with a pole barn attached to the rear.  But once we went inside and saw what was going on, it became clear to us what Pivo was all about.  

The tap room was a large open area with a bar whose front was paneled with seven or eight different types of wood.  A number of tables were placed throughout the room (more on those in a bit), with old feed sacks hanging from the wall.  Burlap sacks were also part of the drop ceiling in the tap room giving it sort of an industrial/rustic feeling to the place. 

We sat at the bar and found that the bar top was a collection of medals, patches, coins, and foreign currency under an epoxy shield.  Many of the items were from the Neuzil's travels and their immediate families collections from when the Neuzil's were young kids.  

They have about 25 beers, sours and ciders on tap at PIVO and many are made with locally-grown, naturally-raised grains, fruits and nuts.  Many of the beers are named after communities in the area - Cresco Cream Ale, Festina Farmhouse Rye, Protivin Czech Pilsner, Jackson Junction Pear Cider - not only as a nod to the surrounding communities, but to cut down the chances that Neuzil accidentally named one of his beers the same as another brewery in some other part of the country.  (Trademark lawsuits between microbreweries have escalated over the past few years as more breweries come on line.)

My wife and I tried a couple beers and my wife settled on the Ossian IPA, a hop-forward beer that was actually pretty smooth, and I got the Lawler Irish Ale, a nice sipping beer that also had a pretty smooth finish.  After I finished my Irish Ale, I got an Ossian IPA for my second beer.

We walked around the tap room looking at the tables they had.  Nearly all of them had a decorative theme with an epoxy top over the items.  One table featured a number of political campaign buttons, another had beer coasters from other breweries.  A table made with shiny new pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters was featured, as well as a table made out of flattened bottle caps with "PIVO" spelled out in red bottle caps in the middle.  

As we were taking pictures of the table tops, we were stopped by a couple who asked why we were taking pictures.  I told them that I thought the table tops were pretty cool.  It turned out they were close relatives of Craig Neuzil.  They asked us where we were from and we said the Quad Cities.  They wondered what we were doing in Calmar and we told them we were spending a long weekend in the area, visiting brew pubs and other things.  The lady said, "They get a lot of people who come up for Toppling Goliath that end up down here."  We told them that we thought PIVO was possibly the most interesting of the ones that we visited in the area.  

And with that, our visits to the three area microbreweries was complete.  If you're into good craft beers and are looking for a great weekend getaway, I can't recommend more highly a trip to the Winneshiek county area of NE Iowa for stops at Toppling Goliath and Pulpit Rock in Decorah, and a side trip to Calmar for the PIVO Brewery.  I don't think you'll be disappointed. 

Big Grove Brewery - Solon, IA

I've been wanting to go to the Big Grove Brewery in Solon, IA for quite sometime.  They have been getting rave reviews not for their beers - I especially like their Easy Eddie Hazy IPA - but their food was supposed to be very good, as well.  My wife and I went on an extended drive on back roads on Sunday afternoon and we found ourselves not too far from Solon.  Instead of heading back toward the Quad Cities, we took a right and headed west toward Solon.  

Matt Swift literally grew up in the restaurant business.  His mother, Faye, was the owner of Slugger's, a sports bar/restaurant that was located on the strip in Coralville, IA.  Swift started out bussing tables and washing dishes, but eventually he moved up the ladder to work as a cook and eventually became the manager of the restaurant.  

In 2007, Faye and Matt Swift opened Blackstone, a bistro-style restaurant on Iowa City's east side.  (I've eaten at Blackstone a handful of times over the years and I'm sort of surprised I don't have a Road Tips entry on the place.)  But a year later, the Swift's faced a major crossroads with their Coralville restaurant.  

The historic flood of 2008 inundated the Coralville strip and it wiped out Sluggers.  Rather than rebuilding, Faye Swift decided to close up for good and the Swifts opened a new restaurant in North Liberty called Red's Alehouse.  The success the Swift's had at Red's prompted Matt Swift to look for new opportunities in other start-up restaurants in the area.  

Doug Goettsch was a native of the Calamus/Wheatland area of eastern Iowa who first got into the restaurant field working as a dishwasher while he was going to junior college in Clinton, IA.  After graduating with a food service degree from the now-closed Marycrest College in Davenport, IA.  Goettsch worked as a representative for an eastern Iowa food distributor before heading out to California to study at the Culinary Institute of America.  He became a certified chef de cuisine from the C.I.A. and he eventually became the director of corporate relations for the school.  

While he was in California working at the C.I.A., Goettsch came back to Iowa in 2012 and he started to look up some of his former accounts in the Iowa City area to catch up.  Goettsch called on Faye Swift 20 years earlier when she owned Slugger's in Coralville and he went up to Red's Alehouse to see her and her son.  Matt Swift was telling Goettsch that he and the beer specialist at Red's Alehouse - an old Swift family friend by the name of Bill Heinrich - were thinking about opening a brew pub somewhere in the area.  Heinrich had cut his teeth in the brewing trade first at the Millstream Brewery in the Amana Colonies before moving out to Reno, NV to be the head brewer at a microbrewery there.  

When Matt Swift had hired Heinrich to come back to Iowa to be in charge of beers at Red's Ale House, Heinrich stopped off in Colorado and picked up a small brewing system that he had packed into a rental trailer.  Heinrich had been experimenting with different types of beers at this home before he and Swift started to come up with an idea for their own brewpub.  Telling Goettsch about the potential brew pub, Goettsch got excited about the possibilities of partnering with the Swift's and Heinrich in the venture.  

It was less than a year later when Goettsch decided to move back to Iowa to help open the brew pub.  The group found a location in Solon, IA and began to renovate the space into a brewery and a gastropub.  The building used to house Joensy's which was famous for their large pork tenderloin sandwiches.  Faye Swift's brother, George Pappageorge, was an architect in Chicago and he was called in to design the space that had become available after Joensy's closed in 2012.  

They knew they needed a quality chef to head up the kitchen and Goettsch and the Swift's knew just the guy - Benjamin Smart.  After Smart had graduated from culinary school at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, the Swift's hired him to work in the kitchen at Slugger's in Coralville.  Smart quickly outgrew the sports bar food served at Slugger's and eventually became the executive chef at The Herbfarm, a celebrated and award-winning farm-to-fork restaurant in the Seattle area.  It was sort of serendipitous when Goettsch - who also knew Smart - reached out to him to see if he would be interested in coming back to Iowa to head up the kitchen in their new venture.  Smart and his wife had been thinking about moving back to Iowa to raise their young children.  Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, Smart immediately signed up as the head chef at the new brew pub.  With everything in place, Big Grove Brewery opened in February of 2014.  

Big Grove quickly became a destination restaurant for their food and their beers started to gain status among beer connoisseurs in east central Iowa.  By 2016, it became apparent that they were running out of space to brew their beers.  Goettsch, the Swift's, and Smart partnered with former NFL and Iowa football player Nate Kaeding - who also owned Short's Burger and Shine - to develop an Iowa City location that would allow Big Grove to brew up to 20,000 barrels annually, along with a large pub space for people to eat and drink.  The Iowa City Big Grove location opened in March of 2017.  

(The Swift's and Goettsch are also involved in Pullman Bar & Diner, a bistro in Iowa City; while Matt Swift, Goettsch, Smart and Kaeding are behind St. Burch Tavern, an upscale bistro that opened in downtown Iowa City in April of 2017.  Matt Swift is also involved with others in 30hop, a burger/craftbrew-centric restaurant with locations in Coralville, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines.  Click here to see the Road Tips entry on 30hop.)  

We pulled into Solon around 1:30 p.m. and parked catty-cornered from Big Grove on the street.  (see map)  We entered and found a place that had been significantly transformed from what was a dingy, small-town bar during the days of Joensy's into an impressive modern-rustic style brew pub.  High ceilings with wooden trusses crossed over both the bar area and the dining room.  A mix of contemporary and antique-style lighting hung from the trusses.  A brick wall back-bar with liquor shelves and flat-screen televisions were the focal point in the bar, while a large fireplace in the middle of a wall of reclaimed barn board was the center feature of the dining room.  

That particular Sunday, the weather was sort of all over the place.  It was warm, but the fluffy cumulus clouds were billowing up and spotty showers would break out at any time.  We thought about sitting outside in Big Grove's beautiful patio area, but we didn't want to risk getting rained on during one of those pop-up showers.  We ended up taking a booth near the fireplace in the dining room.  

Our server that day, a nice young guy by the name of Tiber, came over to drop off a couple of menus.  My wife wasn't all that familiar with their beers, so I suggested we get a sampler flight of beers.  As I said, I was familiar with their Easy Eddie Hazy IPA and I suggested getting one of those in the flight.  We also got the BGB India pale ale to try, the Red-headed Stranger - an American red pale ale, and the Boomtown Premium, Big Grove's golden ale beer.  After giving them all a try, she decided upon the BGB IPA while I stayed with the Easy Eddie Hazy IPA.  

The food served at the Big Grove location in Solon is not like your normal brew pub/tavern fare.  Ben Smart has put together an eclectic mix of locally-grown Midwestern favorites, pasta specialties, interesting flat-bread pizzas, and some interesting shared plates such as crispy salmon spring rolls, braised pork shoulder with pickled onions and mustard seeds, and a burrata cheese and tomatoes appetizer that features roasted garlic, summer squash, and zucchini confit with herbed focaccia bread.   Smart's reputation for having interesting foods at Big Grove led to him being named as one of the 30 top chefs to watch in the U.S. by Plate magazine in 2016, and two years later he was named Iowa Restaurateur of the Year by the Iowa Restaurant Association.   

We weren't looking for a lot of food, but just needed something to tide us over until dinner later that evening.  My wife went on the light side with the Korean salmon salad they had as a special that day.  It featured a small piece of grilled salmon with vegetables, Korean noodles and what appeared to be smoked hard-boiled egg.  She said it was simply delicious and was more than happy she ordered that.

I wasn't too certain what I wanted to get.  I was hungry, but not THAT hungry.  I thought about getting the Big Grove burger made with locally-raised black angus beef, or the prime rib French dip that was topped with a creamed Wisconsin white cheddar cheese and horseradish aioli.  But I kept going back to the pastrami sandwich they had on the menu.  

And that's what I got.  It featured thick slices of house-smoked pastrami topped with Swiss cheese, house-made sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing.  The sandwich came on lightly toasted rye bread.  A side of battered French fries came with the sandwich.  I thought the meat tasted more like a traditional brisket than a seasoned smoked pastrami.  But that's a very minor quibble as the meat was tender and had great flavor.  The house-made sauerkraut gave each bite a nice kick and the Swiss cheese wasn't overpowering.  Even the battered fries were very good.  My wife and I shared nearly the whole pile of fries and that was remarkable because we generally never eat many - if any - fries if they're served as a side.  

Now that we finally made it to Big Grove Brewery in Solon, we're sort of kicking ourselves for not getting there sooner.  The food was top-notch compared to many other brew pubs I've visited in my travels.  And the beers served at Big Grove is well worth the visit on their own.  The pastrami sandwich I had was very good - as were the fries served on the side - and my wife simply loved her Korean-style grilled salmon salad.  The service was friendly and efficient, and the decor was a wonderful mix of modern Americana.  We were sorry we didn't sit on the beautiful patio as it turned out that it didn't rain while we were there, but there's always next summer. 

Twisted Oak Tavern - Agoura Hills, CA

We were called for a weekend meeting out in California earlier this summer and many of us got in on Saturday afternoon.  I met some of my colleagues at one of the rental car places and we took a drive up to Agoura Hills, north and west of Los Angeles where the meeting was to take place.  After checking into the hotel, we were hungry and we found out that we were sort of on our own for dinner that evening.  It was late in the afternoon, but with many of my colleagues coming in from the East Coast and Midwest, we were sort of famished.  It turned out that there was a restaurant - Twisted Oak Tavern - just down the street from our hotel, literally walking distance from where we were staying.  We decided to head there for a late lunch, early dinner.  

It turns out that Twisted Oak also houses a brew pub - the Lab Brewing Company.  Co-owner and brewmaster Roger Bott had a number of years of home-brewing experience as he worked in the biotechnology field.  Co-owner Jeff Walker also had a background in brew pubs before the two got together to open their own brewery on the site of a former dance lounge in the Agoura Hills Town Center in November of 2011.  

Sensing a need to re-brand after three years in business, Walker and Bott temporarily closed Lab Brewing Company just before Christmas in 2014.  They came up with a new concept that promised a "fresh twist" on a gastro/brew pub.  They reopened about a month later under the name Twisted Oak Tavern.  The Lab Brewing Company continues to operate out of the facility and in addition to supplying Twisted Oak with a variety of craft beers, Lab Brewing also distributes to a handful of restaurants in the Agoura Hills/Thousand Oaks area.  

A group of us made the very short trip over to Twisted Oak around 2:30 on a brilliantly sunny Southern California Saturday afternoon.  (see map)   We found a high-top table for 8 in the bar area.  A young lady working behind the bar came out to give us some menus and to take our drink orders.  In addition to the 8 beers on tap made in house by Lab Brewery, Twisted Oak also has a number of other craft beers on tap primarily from California.  I got a local IPA that was made with hops from New Zealand.  It had a somewhat hoppy, yet smooth taste to it.   

The three-sided bar wrapped around the front and into the dining room.  Recessed away from the large windows that let in natural light on the other side of bar, the dining area was more dark and cozy with a number of booths along a wall of reclaimed barn boards.  Tables with banquette seating lined the east side wall of the dining area. 

Off to the side of the dining area bathed in a soft purple light were fermenting tanks used by Lab Brewing Company.  There were also a number of tanks behind a glass wall across an entry way in the brewery area.  The entry way exited out to a nice little patio where a reunion party was just getting started when we got there.  

We really didn't want to eat too much as we figured we would be going out for dinner later on that evening - after 8 p.m. in true European fashion.  While Twisted Oak has burgers and sandwiches, they also feature a handful of entrees served during the dinner hour in the evening such as stout beer braised short ribs, a miso salmon dish, and an oven-roasted pig's head that is brined over night and available on a limited basis each day.  They also have flatbreads, salads and a number of appetizers.

We sort of focused on the appetizer part of the menu deciding to get a little bit of everything to share at the table.  I also got a dinner salad with a raspberry vinaigrette to start out on so I wouldn't overeat so much on the appetizers as It was getting close to 5 p.m. body-time and I was pretty hungry.  

My choice for an appetizer were the mahi mahi fish tacos.  The tacos featured large grilled chunks of mahi mahi topped with great tasting creamy chile verde sauce on flour tortilla shells.  Shredded cabbage and lettuce along with chopped tomatoes were part of the toppings on the tacos.  I'm a sucker for good fish tacos and I have to say these were pretty damned good.  

We also got a couple double orders of chicken wings for the table.  Someone ordered the habanero-spiced wings that I didn't think were all that spicy.  And we also got the tandoori chicken wings that I felt tasted like something you'd get at Kentucky Fried Chicken.  The chicken wings were pretty underwhelming to me.  

Finishing out the food order at the table was a large plate of the loaded chicken nachos. &#