Depot Deli Shenandoah, IA

So I found myself with my wife in far southwestern Iowa and after a day of visiting the graves of her relatives we were hungry and thirsty.  So before we made our 5 hour trek back across Iowa to home, we decided to give the Depot Deli a try http://www.depotdeli.com/.  You may say we were crazy to give a brewpub in the middle of small town Iowa a try, but we were surprised.

As you may have guessed it is located in the old train depot in downtown Shenandoah.  As we walked in we were struck by the jumbled mismatched look of the interior, but the more a person looks at it the more you realize this is done to give the place a homey feel.  The place is far from fancy and still has some reminders of its previous life as a train depot.  Such as the cash register is located at the ticket window, fitting I think.

The place was fairly busy, most tables full or needing to be bused, but we did find a booth to sit at.  After a couple minutes the only waitress on duty came over and gave us menus and to take our drink order.  We both ordered a beer from the five they had on tap.  The tap list was wheat, pale ale, IPA, Bock and Imperial Stout. 

My wife ordered the bock and I started with the IPA.  Both beers were clean and very drinkable, but not necessarily to style.  The Bock was medium brown with an off white head and had a nice malty flavor, but soon a smokiness becomes apparent.  So we surmised that they used some smoked malt in the making of the Bock.  The IPA had a definite piney hop aroma and a sweet caramel presence, but it just did not seem to be quite an IPA, probably it is more of an American pale ale than IPA.  My second beer was the Imperial Stout again good but not quite true to style.  It was black with a good firm tan head.  The aroma was of roast, alcohol, chocolate and yet again smoke.  Upon taste it was confirmed that there was smoke in this beer as well, so we again believe that they used smoke malt in the beer.  We did not try the other two beers on the list not out of fear that they were bad but because we still had that 5 hour drive across Iowa.

As far as food they had the usual you would expect for a diner in the middle of small town Iowa.  Sandwiches, entrees and some Mexican items.  All the food looked good and what we had we in fact was good, so do not be afraid of the food either.

Overall I can say we were pleasantly surprised with the Depot Deli.  As I stated above the beer is good but perhaps not quite to style, so if you are a member of the style police you may not like the beer here.  So as Charlie P has so eloquently said " Relax and have a homebrew.", that is what I am reminded of with this beer.  They make clean, good tasting beer but seemingly take some creative license with their brewing process and the resulting beers.

If you find yourself in Shenandoah, IA for some reason do not be afraid to give this place a shot.  By the time you leave the place you may be like we were and wishing this little brewpub was somewhere closer than Southwestern Iowa.  We found it to be a good diversion and would go there again if we wind up in Shenandoah again.

QC Beerguy