A few QC updates

Just wanted to hit a few happenings in the QC area.  Both Bent River and Front Street have opened up their second locations.  Looking forward to visiting both new locations, if you have a chance go check them out.  Also Blue Cat has unveiled its American Pale Ale.  As they describe it as refreshing, medium light body with plenty of hops!  6% ABV and 40 IBU's.  Great River has a small batch Golden Ale and their latest beer Dos Pistolas Negra.  As they describe it as a Mexican-style Dark Lager that is light, crisp, and smooth with just a hint of caramel.  ABV 5.6%.

So that is a quick update on the QC beer scene,

QC Beerguy

Big Brew Day 2012

As with every year the first Saturday of May is Big Brew Day, this year it was May 5th.  My homebrew club participated as usual this year.  This year we were hosted by Blue Cat Brewery http://www.bluecatbrewpub.com/ and the owner/brewer Dan Cleveland.  We were able to utilize the grassy area behind the brewpub for our brewing.  Dan went above and beyond and found out the necessary rules from the city of Rock Island so we could brew in peace.  After we fenced off both ends of the green space we were within the city's rules. Thankfully the day was a warm and sunny day.

MUGZ http://www.mugzhomebrew.org/ had at least eight different brews going during the day.  We had anything from light summer beers to hoppy IPAs.  One particular beer was brewed by several women of the group.  They annually enter their beer into the women's only events around the United States.  All in all everyone had an enjoyable day.

Inside Blue Cat, Dan had a couple of special seasonal beers on tap,  The first I tasted was the Maibock, it was a bit more caramelly than I would expect for this style, but it did have the desirable hint of pilsner malt and was rather high in alcohol as well.  Also I noticed it was a bit dark for the style, but I did enjoy the beer overall.  The second seasonal was Red Toad ESB.  It was a really nice English style ESB.  It had a noticeable hop presence with a really nice caramel presence.  This is a beer that can be a good session beer.  I thank Dan for having these good seasonal beers on tap during Big Brew Day.

As I said it was a very enjoyable day and before I had to leave for prom duties with our daughter I had a lot of fun.  If you are looking for a homebrew group to join in the Quad Cities MUGZ welcomes all brewers.   We welcome all levels of brewers from the beginners to the hard core all grain brewers.

QC Beerguy 

Toppling Goliath Brewing Company

I have had the pleasure to have a couple of beers from Toppling Goliath and have been very impressed with them.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with Toppling Goliath http://www.tgbrews.com/site/ I will help you become a bit more familiar with them.  It is a microbrewery in Decorah, IA with a tap room, so you can go to the source and try their beers.  Their motto seems to be "Big Beers Brewed in Small Batches".  They distribute their beer in North East Iowa predominately with a handle full of locations in the LA Crosse, WI area.  From the website it looks as if they currently only distribute by the keg, they are hoping to be bottling sometime this summer.  They have 5 core beers with many seasonals, a Hop Patrol Series and a few barrel aged beers.  So I am sure that they produce a beer that will meet everyone's likes.

I came across Toppling Goliath's beers at Bodega Brewpub http://www.bodegabrewpublax.com/ in La Crosse, WI.  John, the manager of Bodega, a few months ago mentioned that Toppling Goliath would be doing a tap take over at Bodega.  Unfortunately for me I was not in town when that happened, but fortunately for me the tap take over was a success and since then Bodega has had beers on tap from Toppling Goliath (TG). 

The first TG beer I had was Golden Nugget, an IPA 6% ABV 56 IBUs.  It poured golden yellow with a dense white head.  The aroma was of floral and citrus hops and the taste added a good malt backbone to offset the floral and citrus hop flavors.  It is medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation.  Overall it was a very good and lively IPA.

The second TG beer I had was Biter Double IPA, they do not list ABV, but say it has 154 IBUs.  With six different hops used int this beer it is a hop heads dream, I know I sure liked it.  It poured a deep gold with a dense with head.  They aroma is of hops and more hops.  This beer bucks the trend of having pronounced garlic or catty hop aroma in DIPAs.  A strong malt backbone equals out the hops in the flavor.  Medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation.  The beer became better as it warmed and I greatly enjoyed the beer.

Needless to say that after enjoying two of TG's beers I look forward to trying more beers from Toppling Goliath.  Maybe even some day I can find my way to Decorah to tapping room to try even more of their beers.  Hopefully as they grow they will find their way to some of the beer fests in Iowa and Wisconsin so more people can enjoy their beers.  I suggest that if you have a chance to try a Toppling Goliath beer give it a chance.

QC Beerguy

It's about more than just beer

If you are like me you pick a brewery, brewpub or beer bar based on the beer that is available and give it a shot.  Either it can be a good experience or a bad experience and usually the beer has little to do with your experience.  Beer is very important but the service and ambiance have a great deal to do with your experience as well.  When either one of these is less than desirable it  may doom your your visit.

I know when I find a place that I enjoy, it usually combines all three.   If one is lacking I begrudgingly over look it, but if two or all three are lacking that spells doom for that place and next time I will try somewhere else.  I do not want to waste my time or money on somewhere that does not really care about the customer.

Since I am the QC Beerguy, I always try to chose a place on its beer first.  Usually that will work well for me but not always.  Sometimes the beer is not as good as advertised and leaves me wanting.  In most cases though there is more than enough good beer to save the day.

If the beer meets my demands the service and ambiance either seal the deal or leave me disappointed.  There are times when places I am a regular at leave me disappointed and angry.  This causes me to take a hiatus from that place.  This happened at a couple places locally about a month ago and I have not gone back since.  I know I will go back eventually, but I guess to me it is some sort of principal to not go there for a while.

Service to me is a big key.  If I am greeted with a "Hello", a smile or at least a tip of the head when I sit down at a bar that is a big step on the way to good service.  If instead I am ignored or even worse greeted by a look that tells me "You are not welcome here" it can be bad for a visit.  So needless to say like a first date the first 30 seconds spell success or failure for the place I visit.  Since I work in sales I understand what is good service and do not accept poor service.  I guess that is why I enjoy being a "regular" at the places I frequent, because it usually means good service is on the way.

If the beer and service meet my acceptance it comes down to the ambiance or feel of the place.  There is one place I go to on a regular basis that is in a strip mall and from the outside looks rather disappointing, but once inside the place I feel very comfortable.  If the feel is there as well with the other two keys this is a worthy place.  One such place we were just at this past weekend after our niece's concert in Normal, IL.  Probably my wife and I would of never found this place but it succeeded in all three phases.  The only negative was that my wife's beer was bad, probably the beer sat in the line to long or some other cleaning issue caused the beer to go bad.  Once my wife brought it to our waiter's attention he apologized and than thanked her for telling him about the beer.  He said that they want to k now when a beer is bad so they can address it.

I look forward to exploring places on my travels and when I find a gem I am very excited.  Conversely if I find a dud I am also in a way excited, this means next time I am in the same city I have a new adventure ahead of me.  The beer brings me in, but it is not the be all end all to my decision.  The service and the feel of the place are important as well.  So to repeat "It's about more than just the beer"

QC Beerguy

Additions a bit further a field

Beside the local QC additions, I have become aware of a couple other additions a bit further out from home.  First is the new brewery that Backpocket Brewing is building at the Iowa River Landing District in Coralville, IA.  The building can be easily seen from I-80.  Anticipated opening is late Spring of 2012, so it will be open soon.  The building now is totally enclosed and looks like only a few finishing touches on the exterior left, with most of the work left on the inside before opening.  Besides brewing their own beer they will be a contract brewery for Schlafly's out of St. Louis.

The second addition is a new production brewery is planned to be built for Laguintas Brewing Company in Chicago, IL.  The brewery will be a 250 barrel brewery with initial capacity of 200,000 barrels per year.  Expected operational date is the 4th quarter of 2013.  For more info follow this link http://www.beer-universe.com/beer-education-article/2012-04-16/Laguintas-Furthers-Expansion-Moves-East-to-Chicago/.

The demand for good craft beer continues to fuel the growth of these two breweries as well as other around the country.  Keep drinking craft beer.

QC Beerguy

QC Brew News

This Spring and early summer will be an exciting time for the QC beer scene with two brewpubs expanding production into new facilities and a new nano-brewery opening.  Front Street Brewery is in the process of moving brewing operations into the Freight House building in downtown Davenport.  Besides having the brewery in the Freight House, they will also have a tasting room.  Also they went local with their brewing equipment having Crawford Company from Rock Island, IL make it.  This is the first time for such a project for Crawford Company.  That is pretty cool.  Even cooler is the thought of sitting in the tasting room, enjoying a beer and looking out the window to see Le Claire Park and the Mississippi River.  This will be a great location to enjoy a beer.

Also moving their brewing into new digs is Bent River Brewing Company.  They are moving into a former car wash in Downtown Rock Island, an interesting new use for the building.  Bent River will include a tasting room and a retail space to sell Bent River goodies.  As well they will have a drive up coffee hut that will sell packaged beer to go.  With the expanded capacity they hope to meet the continuing expanding demand for their beers.  Also a familiar face will be in charge of quality control, original owner Tim Koster.  I am looking forward to checking out how a car wash can be changed into a production brewery.

Last but not least is the opening of Against the Grain Brewery and Alehouse.  As I mentioned this will be a nano-brewery, owned by the only GABF award winning brewer in the Quad Cities, Rich Nunez.  Rich is in the process of getting his location up and running; it is located in Rock Island near Augustana College at 1340 31st St.  Rich will be brewing his own beers as well having some guest taps.  Since this is a nano brewery, brewing in small batches less than a half barrel at a time, Rich will be able to have a variety of his beers on at a time.  I am looking forward to enjoying some beers from Rich and maybe even giving his garlic porter another try if he decides to make it again.

I believe all locations are hoping to be up and going at the latest by the end of May.  This will be a fun adventure checking out these new locations and enjoying the beer being produced at them.  Hope to see a lot of people out supporting the new locations and the new brewery.

QC Beerguy

South Chicago Suburbs

Another weekend of homebrew judging sent us to the South Chicago suburbs and a couple brewpubs prior to the event.  First stop was the Three Floyds Brewing Company in Munster, IN  http://www.3floyds.com/ under normal conditions a three hour drive.  Upon arrival around 11:30 a.m. the parking lot was already full and we had to park on the street.  Currently they are doing some remodeling and have limited service for their beers.  However, they still have 20 tap beers for the offering.  

The taps run from session beers to high octane IIPAs and barley wines.  Of course the year round beers are on tap, but also a bunch of seasonal as well.  Between the four of us we tried 12 of the 20 tap beers, ranging from several ESBs to IIPAs.  My first beer was Das Kleine Schwarz Einhorn a wonderful Schwartz beer.  Black in color but light in taste, probably one of the best Schwartz beers I have had recently.  A proper Schwartz is dark, malty and refreshingly hoppy.   My next beer was Lord Admiral Nelson a good traditional ESB.  My last beer was Zombie Dust; I am now a new convert to this beer.  This is an outstanding IPA. I think it supplanted Arrogant Bastard as my favorite beer.  It has a strong hop presence with a strong malt backbone.  Even though the hops are featured in the beer it is well balanced making it very drinkable.  Now if someone asks which IPA to have, I will mention Zombie Dust first.

 Among our group we also tried the Lawless ESB, Stygian Darkness, Jinx Proof, Arctic Panzer Wolf,  Mushy P and Brian Boru the few that I remember.  The tap list can be seen at http://www.3floyds.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/current-beer-menu1.htm.  Every beer we had was at worst good if not great.   After our visit I understand why they have such a cult following for their beer.  Unfortunately we were a bit early for Dark Lord, but we still enjoyed the visit.  If you find yourself within an hour of Three Floyds make the detour and enjoy the beers you can only find at the brewery.    With beer requests to bring home the four of us left with over $200 of packaged beer for friends and ourselves.

Next stop was Flossmoor Station Restaurant and Brewery in Flossmoor, IL http://www.flossmoorstation.com/.   This is a great location in downtown Flossmoor in the old train depot next to a current train station stop.  Our group has all been to Flossmoor previously and we were not disappointed with our return visit.  We found seats at the bar and promptly ordered a sampler of their beers, which entailed a total of 16 different beers. Here is a link to the beer selections: http://www.flossmoorstation.com/brew/selections.htm.  Some of my favorites include Panama Limited Red Ale, Pullman Brown Ale (of course since this is their flagship beer), Intercontinental Pale Lager, Smoked Porter and Wallonian Saison.   The IPL was smooth, refreshing and hoppy.  The porter had a noticeable strong smokiness that I loved.  The saison was dangerously smooth and refreshing, this is not a session beer.  Flossmoor is a worthy stop all by itself.  They have great beer and a good food menu.  Another good thing was that we happened to be there at the correct time and we able to partake in a happy hour food bar.  We also we able to picked up some growlers to go of our favorite beers.

At the hotel we enjoyed a growler of the IPL and watched some NCAA tournament basketball.  It was an early night for all of us since three of the four of us had a judging event on Saturday.  The beer judging contest was very enjoyable, and our friends that we were with won some ribbons including the Best of Show Mead.    
 All in all it was another great weekend of beer.

QC Beerguy