Where The River Takes a Turn --Lost Duck Brewing Co.

Fermenters within Brewhouse

Drive down to Fort Madison Iowa at the right time of the year and you'll find a large number of ducks chilling out the by the river. Fort Madison is one of the few places along the Mississippi where the river flows east to west, this little quirk in the river causes a number of confused and lost ducks. This is just the little local flare that owner and brewmaster of Lost Duck Brewing Co. Tim Benson wanted for his brewery. Tim Benson opened his small brewpub in 2003, with only a little homebrewing experience and an attitude to learn and make what he wanted. He hired a company out of Chicago, Applied Beverage Tech. to help in the installation of the brewery. Placing the 3.5 barrel  (108 gallon) brewhouse on the second floor of the building that once claimed the name of the Grandview Room. The Grandview Room was a stop for railroaders and riverboat men that needed a place to rest, a haircut or shave at the barber in the adjacent building, or a little stop up stairs to visit a lucky lady for a small price.The picturesque building all made of brick is perfect for a small brewpub.

Bar at Lost Duck

One of the techs that helped Tim sent him on his way with a few words saying "It's your system do what you want with it". That's just what Tim Benson has done with Lost Duck, made beer that he wanted to make.Tim got his start in brewing as a homebrewer in college and always loved the beer he made. So after a number of years of practicing as a chiropractor Tim opened his brewpub. He still practices as a chiropractor and brews in the evenings and weekends when he can get time. Tim has stayed with the advice from the ABT tech and brewed what he wanted, not always brewing within the style. Which is why Tim feels there needs to be a peoples choice awards, letting the people that just want a good drinking beer decide which beer is the best instead of someone searching for the perfect representation of a certain style. Tim is excited to have his beer at the Iowa Craft Beer Tent, to show off his unconventional brews. He is most likely going to be taking his Blonde Lager, a lighter beer that is crisp and clean. Hopefully you all will get a chance to try this or one of his other beers at the Iowa Craft Beer Tent, but if not you can always swing down to Fort Madison where the river takes a turn and have Tim pour you a nice big pint of beer. Check in Later on "My Brewing Adventure"

Reviving a Town with Great food and beer--Appanoose Rapids Brewing Co.

AB tiles dating early 1900's

Bringing old neighborhoods back to life seems to be a theme right now in our country, and even more so in our state. Every little town that you run into is trying to revive their town squares or main streets and that is exactly what I saw when I went to Ottumwa IA to check out Appanoose Rapids Brewing Co. The brewery is tucked away in an old building right off Main St. which is showing signs of a revival with the brewery, other restaurants and even a possible farmers market.  The building was refurbished and opened a mere 10 months ago. During the process the owners Tim and Liz found that the building had more of a connection to beer than they had thought. The building was originally used by Anheuser Busch in the early 1900's as a distribution point. Since the building sits right next to the river Anheuser Busch would ship the beer up the river and barrels and jugs would be filled and distributed throughout the area. This little historic connection made the spot even more ideal for a brewpub than they had originally thought. The original Anheuser Busch tiles still hang in the brewery.

Bar at Appanoose Rapids

But the connection to the beer behemoth that once used the building didn't have anything to do with the opening of Appanoose Rapids. The couple decided to open the restaurant and brewery after Tim had finished his career as a middle school teacher in Ottumwa. Tim had gotten into the restaurant industry while he was attending Drake University to become a teacher and had always had a want to open a restaurant of his own. So the timing happened to be right and the two opened the restaurant. The menu host many options from burgers to salads to pastas. Liz has recently taken over the brewing and drawing from her experience in baking has nailed down some good recipes. The brewery tries to keep at least three of their own beers on tap at all times, which is quite a feat since they brew on a 10 gal system. The small system makes it even more exciting to know that they will be at the Iowa Craft Beer Tent.  They are planning on bringing a summer wiess, which was definitely my favorite beer out of the three that were on tap at the brewery, this is not to say that their raspberry wheat  or their brown ale are not as delicious. The wiess just happens to be a nice clean crisp beer with hints of clove that make it perfect for a hot summer day. So make sure to come try the Summer Wiess at the Iowa Craft Beer Tent or if you're lucky enough stop into Ottumwa IA and have a pint and a delicious meal at Appanoose Rapids Brewing Co. Check in later on "My Brewing Adventure"

Moving On Up---Backpocket Brewing Co.

McGregor IA

I recently took a trip to McGregor, Iowa to talk to Jacob Simmons , the brewer for Backpocket Brewing Co. , never heard of it, there's a reason ,it's not built yet. Jacob is currently the brewer at Old Man River Restaraunt and Brewery, a brewpub nestled in the bluffs of Northeast Iowa right along the Mississippi river. This little brewpub was started in 2008 by two McGregor natives, Dave Strutt, a retired lawyer, and his wife Marcy. The 120+ year old building was originally an office space used for the Diamond Jo Casinos and went through many evolutions until it became Old Man River in 2008. Jacob did his undergrad at the University of Iowa and followed that with a short stint as a microbiology grad student in Washington, before falling into the brewing industry where he eventually landed the job with Old Man River.  Jacob Wanted to make Old Man River stick out from the rest of the breweries and he did that in a few ways. First he decided to use decoction mashing, a traditional way of brewing often used in Germany. He also decided to make German inspired beers , mainly lagers, using the German purity law. The German purity law requires you to make beer with only grains, water, hops, and yeast. So sorry you won't be seeing a shandy or any other fruit beer in their line-up anytime soon.

Brewhouse at Old Man River

Drawing of BackPocket brewing Coralville

Jacob has fine tuned his recipes and the brewery has become quite successful so what else to do but to distribute. Old Man River, however isn't distributing under Old Man River; they're distributing under Backpocket- Coralvill, Iowa's first brewery. Yep the crew at Old Man River, with Jacob at the helm, is moving on up and building a state of the art ,energy-efficient brewery in the Iowa City-Coralville area. The brewery will be a 33 barrel system that will quickly become one of the largest breweries in Iowa. They will be producing the same German Lagers that they do now at Old Man River but will be contracting out their excess space to other breweries until it is needed for their own production. But, it's still going to be awhile till you see Backpocket on the shelves of your local Hy-Vee because they haven't even struck ground yet on the brewery and don't plan on having bottles for sale until the spring of 2012 So if you're curious about this German inspired brewery and it's amazing beer take a trip up to McGregor and check out Old Man River (who has an amazing menu by the way), or you can catch them at the Iowa Craft Beer Tent. Backpocket will bringing five of their beers- the Slingshot Dunkel, my personal favorite the Jacknife GPA, Gold Coin German Blonde, Pennywhistle  Bavarian Whear, and their summer seasonal. Come out to the Iowa Craft Beer tent  and try them all and check in later on "My Brewing Adventure."

Granite City--Minnesota Born Iowa Raised

Every city  you go in the country there are brewpubs big ones and small ones and everyone of them has a story. Here in Iowa we house a different kind of brewpub, Granite City Food & Brewery. Granite City opened up its first brewpub in St Cloud Minnesota. Since then they have opened 25 other Granite City locations. After they opened their third brewpub they developed a special pattented brewing process , fermentus interuptus. With this process they now do the majority of the brewing in our very own Ellsworth, Iowa , making it a true Iowa beer. So even though Granite City has its roots in Minnesota it has grown as a company from its wort hub in Ellsworth. Before fermenting Granite City will send the sugar rich wort across the midwest where it is pumped into the brewpubs fermenters and allowed to start fermenting.
I had only been to a Granite City once before to enjoy their Sunday brunch and didnt have the pleasure to enjoy their amazing beers. So I thought it only neccessary to make a trip up to Clive to take a look around and try a glass or two of what Granite City has to offer. I met with Brent the brewery manager at the Clive location and he showed me how the wort was pumped into the brewery where it started fermenting and then eventually was pumped into brite tanks to be served. Brent who has been at the brewery for awhile started out homebrewing as so many that get into brewing do. He was in sales for awhile and eventually landed a job working for Granite City, where he worked his way up to become the brewery manager. Granite City educates all of their brewery managers to be able to monitor the whole fermenting and briting process. Even though Brent isn't the owner nor developed the recipes for Granite City, I could tell as he poured me samples of each of the beers that he takes pride in what he and Granite City does. Granite city has amazing food a great atmosphere and awesome beer, and if you haven't had a chance Go!!! If you can't make it to one of the three Iowa locations in Cedar Rapids Davenport or Clive then check out their website and find where you can purchase their beer on the shelves. Granite City has recently started bottling their Northern Light Lager, Brothers Benedicts Bock and the Duke of Wellington Pale Ale throughout Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota.
After you have done one of the two things or both you will have to come out to the Iowa Craft Beer Tent and meet some of the people actually involved with Granite City which will be bringing their Northern Light Lager, Brother Benedict's Bock, Duke of Wellington Pale Ale and possibly their seasonal. Check in next time on "My Brewing Adventure"

Quality was key--Millstream Brewing Co.

Head on down on  I-80 take a jaunt north on highway 151 and you arive in the Amana Colonies which boasts being Iowa's Handcrafted Escape, and what better place than this historic German community to house Iowa's oldest and largest microbrewery Millstream Brewing Co. So of course I had to take a trip over to the Amanas to check out Millstream and its amazing beer myself. I was greeted by one of the three owners Teresa Albert who owns and operates the brewery with her husband Tom and master brewer Chris Priebe. The trio bought the brewery,which was already fifteen years old at the time, in 2000 and began brewing shortly thereafter.  Teresa started my trip at the brewery at the top of the three levels at the brewery where they stay true to the handcrafted experience the Amanas have to offer by hoisting up and then dumping bag after bag of grain, each weighing in at 50 lbs or more. As most of you Iowans know 50 lbs bags of grain can get heavy real quick and I began to realize that this was no automated operation. We ventured back downstairs where Master brewer Chris was finishing up brewing in the brewhouse, took a quick trip to the basement where they house the majority of their fermenters and ended up on the second floor where they have their bottling line a referbished Coca-Cola filler.

Three of Millstreams Fermenters

After the quick tour we sat down in the small tasting room overlooking the brewhouse and I found a little bit more about how Teresa a 7-12 grade teacher her husband Tom and master brewer Chris have turned the failing Millstream Brewery into the success that it has become. At the time Teresa and the rest of her crew bought the brewery it was in bad shape, the brand was flawed the brewery was infection ridden and they had some work to do. They knew they had to be extremely cautious about the quality of beer that was going out to the stores. The brewery had a bad reputation that they had to change, so even though they produced 1,200 barrels of beer about 37,000 gallons in their first year, they had to throw out about 1/3 of the beer that first year. Quality was key and Teresa and her crew knew that they couldn't afford to send out any bad beer, they had to be dillegent about making and selling only high-quality beer. But after they worked out the infections and restored the brand Millstream Brewing Co. became an award winning brewery.

Award Winning Schild Brau

They now have five year round beers their Iowa Pale Ale, Windmill Wheat,Johns Generations White Ale,Back Road Stout , and the Schild Brau Amber a Vienna Style Lager that won a Gold at the World Beer Cup. For you non beer geeks out there, the world beer cup is a BIG DEAL, and an awesome accomplishment for Millstream. They also have four seasonals and most recently with the change in Iowa law they started producing their Brewmasters Extreme series where brew master Chris gets to flex his muscles and make high alcohol and full flavored beers. One of these beers the Big Honey a 9.5% hefeweizen with 120 lbs of honey is one of my new favorite high alcohol beers.
Teresa hopes to keep growing Millstream into a regional brewery and get into every state  surounding Iowa, three of which South Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan they are already in. If Mllstream keeps on producing award winning beers like they have the past decade they will be right on track to that goal. So swing up off I-80 into the little handcrafted escape, and go get a tour at Iowas oldest brewery Millstream, and you probably should drink a few pints while your there too. Check in later on "My Brewing Adventure" with the Iowa Craft beer Tent.

Peace Tree Brewing Company - My Home away from home.

Peace Tree Brewing 107 Main Knoxville

Joe Patiently watching his boil

 So the first brewery that I will be writing about on this grand adventure for the Iowa Craft Beer Tent is my home away from home Peace Tree Brewing Co. I landed an internship at Peace Tree after doing an interview for a class project, and I havent left since.  Megan and Scott Ziller a husband and wife duo bought the run down  building that now houses the brewery because it was right across the street from their already established insurance agency, McKay Insurance.  After tossing around ideas of what to do with the building they ,along with Megans father Dan, decided what better thing than a microbrewery. So in the spring of '09 the Megan and Scott began developing the business plan that would become Peace Tree Brewing Co.,a name which the acquired from a local indian meeting spot.  Scott who was a homebrewer and had at first thought he would be the one doing the brewing, but the crew soon decided that they needed a professional. They hired Joe Kesteloot an ISU grad, who had been brewing with Cold Spring brewing in Cold Spring Minnesota. Joe started developing recipes and after fixing up the building and implementing their 20 barrel system Peace Tree Brewing Co. was underway in the spring of '10.

The award winning Blonde Fatale

 Since opening the brewery has expanded with more fermenters, more employees and continues to grow expanding their brand to four year round beers and many seasonals, one of which the Blonde Fatale just won a bronze medal at the North American Brewers Association. The brewery houses a tap-room open Thursdays Fridays and Saturdays where the fine people of Knoxville can come in and enjoy a pint or two of beer or even soda, but beware when drinking the 8.5% Blonde Fatale she'll sneak up on you.
Believe me when I say that Peace Tree is excited for the Iowa Craft Beer Tent and the opportunity to share their passion and their beer with the rest of the state. Peace Tree plans on bringing their Hop Wrangler IPA, My personal favorite and one of their seasonals the Hefeweizen. Come check out Peace Tree if your lucky  I'll even give you a tour if not make sure to stop by the Iowa Craft Beer Tent during the State fair and give em a whirl.

Road tripping through Iowa for the IOWA CRAFT BEER TENT

So Everybody its been awhile I know since I've been on here posting anything about anything, but guess what I'm back and in full swing. You'll be getting a blog post from me regularly now for the next month or two about an awesome event coming up at the IOWA STATE FAIR. The good people at Court Avenue Brewing downtown are helping put on the first ever Iowa Craft Beer Tent, from August 11th -21st (Fair time) there will be thirteen different breweries serving up awesome Iowa Craft beer to the many fair goers. I am one person lucky enough to know all thirteen that are going to be there, and because of just that luck I will be road tripping throughout Iowa and writing blogs on every brewery as they are announced to the rest of you lovely Iowans. Already announced Court Avenue, Rock Bottom, Back Pocket, Mad House , and Millstream all of which I will still be visiting and writing a blog about.  The rest of the breweries you will have to wait till they are announced on the Facebook page http://facebook.com/iowacraftbeertent, website www.iowacraftbeertent.com  or Twitter @IAcraftbeertent. Then you will be able to get a first hand account of the breweries, the people at the breweries, maybe a few snapshots and most importantly the BEER . Follow me on twitter @kaleblivingston or follow the Iowa Craft beer tent on Facebook and Twitter to catch more of "My Brewing Adventure" and learn a little bit more about the amazing beer Iowa has to offer.