Well another successful Fest of Iowa Beers is in the books. It was a very good day and I believe fun was had by all. This year the event was organized into three tents of brewers, homebrewers in one tent and craft brewers in the other two tents. The set up went well except for the ice being somewhat less than readily available, no ice no cold beer. The ice did get distributed so the beer was cold and ready to go for the event.
As I have said, this is one of my favorite events because of the size, limited to 1200 fest goers, and that it is a combination of homebrewers and craft brewers. With this being the Fest of Iowa Beers only beers from Iowa Craft brewers and Iowa homebrew clubs are able to provide beer. This year 15 craft breweries, as well as 10 homebrew clubs attended the fest. Needless to say there was enough beer for everyone.
Some of the standout beers I had included a wonderful Barrel Aged Rye Wine from Third Base in Cedar Rapids, it was smooth but slightly spicy and a wonderful whiskey note. A German Pils from Raccoon River in Des Moines, is a clean crisp beer with a nice amount of hop bitterness. Hop Sutra ( a double IPA) from Peace Tree Brewery in Knoxville, has a wonderful mixture of hops and malt, hops are present in the nose and the taste with a strong malt backbone. A whiskey barrel Russian Imperial Stout by Mark Simpson of IBU, was thick rich with a nice subtle whiskey notes. A Templeton Barrel Russian Imperial Stout from CR- Beer Nuts, again thick rich but with a stronger note of the Templeton Rye versus the previously mentioned barrel RIS. As usual there were a couple beers that I missed having an opportunity to try. Included in that was a pilsner from Granite City, yes I was as surprised as you are that this was considered to be a beer to try at the fest and a Rye weizen brewed by Shaun Ryan from MOB in Burlington.
Since I did not make a beer for the event I did not spend much time serving beer from our booth. Early on I did my tasting of the beers and then set back and chilled most of the afternoon.
This year the organizers changed up the food vendor and the band. I was less than pleased with the band, mainly due to the fact that they had their sound system cranked up so conversation was difficult and secondly that it was a Beetles cover band. The food was BBQ provided by a place out of Tiffin, Iowa, so if you are a vegetarian no food for you. Both of these changes I felt were to the detriment of the event. Bring back the acoustic music and the food vendor that did both brats and vegetarian friendly food. Just my two cents!
The event ended at 5pm and it took a while to get cleaned up and everything stored into the vehicles. Once that was accomplished we proceeded onto Shorts Burger & Shine, in Iowa City. This is a place that I wanted to try since I was made aware that they serve mainly burgers and only have Iowa craft beer on tap. So the most of the group of MUGZ people made the trip to give it a try. When I say this place is small I am not kidding, the whole place can sit maybe 50 people tops.
That aside we were there for the food and beer. Besides their list of 20 burgers they have 12 chicken sandwiches and 5 black bean burgers to chose from. All the sandwiches come with fries, a bit soggy not the crisp ones I like, and the sandwiches are served on buns that look more like popovers than buns, but they are good none the less. I had a burger and it was very tasty, my wife had a chicken sandwich and she said it was delicous as well.
The Iowa Craft beer on tap was a bit of a let down. First of all they were out of two of the beers on the beer menu. Second the Blonde Fatale, from Peace Tree Brewing, was under carbonated causing the beer to be a bit lifeless. Finally we found out when the bill arrived that a pint of beer was $6, a bit high for a pint of beer. Most of the good beer bars I go to price a pint from $3.50 to $4.50. I don't mind paying a premium for craft beer but $6 is excessive!
We were glad to try Shorts, but probably will not consider it when we make another trip to Iowa City. Too many things that were less than pleasing. The sandwiches were great, but they can not out way the negatives. So the search continues for a place in Iowa City that has both good food and good beer.
QC Beerguy
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