RIBCO (Rock Island Brewing Company)

This past Wednesday night RIBCO held a special tapping of local craft beers.  The beers featured were Bent River's Jingle Java Stout, Blue Cat's Count Magnus Belgian Dark Strong and Great River's 7 Reverends Abbey Ale.  As usual with the special tappings, the beer is featured in logo glass ware that the customer gets to keep.  These tappings are a good time to try some beers that are normally not available or are available in such small quantities that most craft beer drinkers do not get to try them.  In the past such beers as Canadian Breakfast Stout, Kentucky Breakfast Stout and the lineup of Stone Brewing on the release night in Illinois.  Keep an eye out for the next special tapping; they usually post the tappings on their website http://ribco.com/ or on facebook.

 This is the Quad Cities premier beer bar that is not is not a brewery!  The name is a bit of a misnomer since they do not brew any beer.  What they do have though is a really nice selection of craft beer both on tap in cans and bottles.  They have at least 10 tap beers and well as over a 100 beers in the cooler.  Some of the beers they have are not available anywhere else in the Quad City area, so if you are looking for a specific beer there is a chance that it is at RIBCO.
 RIBCO is more than just a craft beer bar, they also have serve food and are known for their concerts.  The food is along the lines of typical bar food but for some reason it not your typical bar food in taste.  So a person can go enjoy some good craft beer as well as some good food.  The highlight for many people is the concerts held at RIBCO.  Half of the building is built to show off the bands, with an ample stage and multi-level seating to watch the action.  Also during the warmer months of the year they move the concerts outside to the plaza in front of RIBCO, allowing more people to enjoy the music.

I really like RIBCO and enjoy their efforts to be the premier craft beer bar in the Quad Cities.  If you are looking for good beer, good food and good music this is your place.  The only drawback for me is that they do not open until 5pm, which means I cannot enjoy a favorite craft beer and a burger for lunch or watch a football game and have a craft beer.  If they opened up say at noon in that would make them the perfect craft beer bar in my opinion.  I am sure that they know better than I do though so I will defer to their experience as far as their hours.

QC Beerguy