Ottumwa, IA Appanoose Rapids Brewing Company

So this evening I am in Ottumwa, IA.  Yep that is what I'm thinking too.  What is exciting about Ottumwa, IA?  The only thing I could come up with today as I was making my eventually way down here was there are two "famous people" from Ottumwa.  Can you name them?  Anyone, Anyone? Radar O'Reilly and Tom Arnold.  The more I thought about these two the more I decided that the people of Ottumwa probably would want the fictional character to be real and the real person to be a fictional character.

Through research on The Beer Mapping Project http://beermapping.com/ I did find a brewpub in Ottumwa.  So needless to say I found my spot to have dinner.  Before I went to Appanoose Rapids Brewing Company http://www.appanooserapidsbrewingcompany.com/ I checked them out at there website.  The menu had some interesting items on it and anyplace that makes their own beer is worth a try.   So I arrive at the brewpub and parked in the back parking lot where there is plenty of room.  I walked into a well light brewpub.  As usual I proceeded to the bar and grabbed a seat.  It took a moment to get a beer, which they only had 2 of their own beers on tap.  In total they had 14 taps mainly craft and import beers, as well as a couple macro brews.  Also they had a around 10 or so different bottles to choose from.

The two beers they had on tap where a Brown Ale and a West Coast Pale Ale, which the bartender said was actually an IPA.  The Brown Ale was tart and had a definite yeast taste.  Also it was cloudy, perhaps that is where some of the yeasty flavor came from.  The off flavors made it impossible to taste what the Brown Ale actually did taste like.  Next I ordered the West Coast Pale Ale and it was a more pleasant experience.  I'm not saying it was a great beer but it was a definite improvement over the Brown Ale.  The Pale Ale was coming out over carbonated, more on that later.  It was a golden hue with a white head and cloudy as well.  The aroma was that of hops but not west coast hops these hops where of the English kind, grassy and earthy.  The beer had some malt backbone as well.  The hops gave the beer a distinctive tea like flavor and aroma.  As far as it being an IPA, I beg to differ.

As I said the menu had quite a few interesting items on it.  I decided on the Mac and Cheese with Bacon.  I liked it quite a bit and would be interested in trying some of the other dishes as well.  So far the food is out pacing the beer at this brewpub.

I was able to find out some background information on the brewpub from the bartender.  They opened about 5 1/2 months ago and the brewer started out as a homebrewer.  The brew system is mobile and stationed in between the restrooms and went I went to the restroom I found a SABCO brew magic system sitting there.  The same system that Sam Calagone used when he first started as well as the home system of my friend 1T.  So I believe that the brewer is learning on the fly with the system and hopefully perfect brewing on it soon.  Once he perfects the system his beers will become more consistent.  I also hope that they start using some type of clarifier in the beer to make it clear and more eye appealing.

Also the bartender said that they are still learning the proper usage of their draft system.  Hence the over-carbonated Pale Ale.  Also they are serving their beer way too cold.  They are greatly harming the enjoyment of their beers.  Serve them a bit warmer and the beer's aroma will blossom.  The overly cold beer is probably another byproduct of the learning of the draft system.  Again hopefully they get this figured out soon.

This place has great promise.  Hopefully they can continue on as they are going through their growing pains of establishing their brewpub.  I would like to come back in a few months and see what they have figured out. 

QC Beerguy