Iowa City/ Coralville

Well I'm in Coralville tonight.  After considering a few places I went to a place I have been before, probably should of went to somewhere new but oh well.  Wound up at the Vine in Coralville, there is also one in Iowa City.  It is your typical college sports bar.  They have approximately 20 taps mostly mass produced beer, but I did have a Sam Adams Noble Pils and a Blue Moon Abbey Ale.  Both were very good drinkable beers.  They really like their beer evidently since they charge a sizable amount for them.  The food was good they do have a quite extensive menu and seem to be know for their chicken wings.

As far as the real beer scene in Iowa City it is downtown or just slightly off of it.  The Sanctuary is the class of the Beer bars in the area, http://www.sanctuarypub.com/ ,  it has a large beer selection and a slightly upscale pub food menu.  The major drawback to the Sanctuary is parking, there is practically none.  You can park a couple blocks away in a parking ramp.  Also there is an Old Chicago located in Coralville, a typical dependable pizza and beer joint.

Probably one of the best beer stores I have been to is only a few blocks from the Sanctuary it is called John's Grocery,http://www.johnsgrocery.com/.  It is a true gem, a corner market that has one of the oldest cold storage areas in Iowa.  They have extensive American, British, German, Belgian and other world wide beers.  Also they usually carry a few good meads.  Besides beer it is truly a corner market that many students from University of Iowa Student frequent.  The white house on the other side of the parking lots is apartments upstairs, but houses all of their glass wear that they sell a very good selection of glasses.

Sadly Iowa City/ Coralville no longer has a brewpub/ microbrewery any longer.  Old Capitol Brew Works relocated to Davenport as Great River Brewery, I believe they still maintain a connect between each other. I'm not saying there is not good beer that is made in the area though. Millstream,http://www.millstreambrewing.com/, is located in Amana a short drive from Iowa City.  Besides good award winning beer they have various fest through out the year, included Festival of Iowa Beers and Oktoberfest.

Also in Cedar Rapids there is 3rd Base Brewery http://www.3rdbasebrewery.com/ and Granite City Brewing http://www.gcfb.net/.  They both make respectable beers and have good food.  If I have a opportunity I will talk more about them later.

Well that's it for tonight I will blog more later.


QCbeerguy