Eastern Iowa Beer Tiers
- Thread starter laminak
- Start date
Like others have said, "Not really Eastern Iowa Breweries."
So in my opinion, West of a North/South line drawn through Waterloo/Cedar Falls and east of a N/S line drawn through Fort Dodge.. this is Central Iowa, North, Central, and South. You get extra points though for choosing breweries along the Cedar River (again, my opinion).
My Take on this. With some additions and commentary (note that this is only my preference, your tastes and preferences may vary.) :
Tier A
Big Grove (Solon/IC) - Solon.. worthy. Haven’t been to IC
Clock House (CR) – Always true to style.
PIVO Brewery (Cascade) – OMG!
Tier B
Iowa Brewing Co (CR) – Has fallen on my list, but still good.
Millstream (Amana) – Has risen in potential with new owners and canned beer. Always a good visit. Iowa’s oldest active brewery. DON’T DRINK THEIR BOTTLED BEER!
Tier C
Lion Bridge (CR) – Yeah, not normally my kind of beer available.
Third Base (CR) – Mostly a restaurant, But they do brew onsite and almost always have their Oatmeal Stout on tap.
House Divided (Ely) – Perhaps Tier C because they like Cyclones and have a very good porter.
Pulpit Rock (Decorah) - Yeah, it was cold and smelled like disinfectant when I visited. Some good beers, but somewhat spotty in my opinion.
Tier D
Kalona (Kalona) – I used to like many of their beers. But the batches vary quite a lot.
Toppling Goliath (Decorah) – Never liked their beer.
Thew Brewing (CR) – See Toppling Goliath and add “Thewdo Thew”
Backpocket (Coralville) – Impressive brewery. Terrible beers.
Allerton Brewing Company (Independence) – Interesting building, limited interest in their beers.
Tier F
Quarter Barrel (CR) – Video games, kids, terrible and terribly expensive food, and beer.. some they actually brew themselves. (Hint: If you like old video games, GO. If not, then why spend the time).
Granite City (CR) – Where do they actually brew beer? And NO, It isn’t any good.
TBD (for me):
Franklin Street (Manchester)
Front Street (Davenport)
Single Speed (Waterloo)
7 Hills (Dubuque)
ReUnion (Coralville)
Jubeck (Dubuque)
Dimensional (Dubuque)
Pivo is excellent. The beers arent as good as toppling, but the variety is massive. When we were there they had something like 30 plus beers on tap. We went back a 2nd time to try more.
Depends on the time of year. During lions bridge's barrel aged January, i would say they might be the best brewery in the state. Outside of that month they are much further down
Pivo. In my opinion, BY FAR the best and most well monied brewer in the state. A large number of beer varieties, all of them brewed at a high level of competency. An incredibly sound brewery with respect to others in Iowa
And the beers better than Toppling Goliath?;. YES! IMHO ALWAYS better than Toppling Goliath inclusive of THEW brewing. PIVO IMO is by FAR the BEST brewery in Iowa, Barr none!!!!
