Iowa. It's all kindness and really good beer.
(Plus a whole lot of other great stuff too!)
Like all Iowa adventures, ours begins with the start of Spring Break! Oh, you silly gooses- you've been heading southward for Spring Break!?!
Look- we know it's weird to head north at this time of year, but you should know by now that there's nothing this girl won't do in search of good beer.
It all started when this came across my path:
"One of the most sought after, most famous hoppy beers in America." Well, that's a bold statement, I thought. Then, within a couple days, I get a notice from Untappd that Lukas Liquor is now carrying this beer. Next stop? Obvi. So we tried this beer and after the first sip we looked at each other, laughed and said, "damn, that is a pretty good beer!" So in KC we can now get several beers from Toppling Goliath, but after realizing that Decorah, IA is really only about 6 hours away, we thought... why not go to the source!?! So, for this year's edition of "When the Mouse is Away, the Cats will Play," Jon and I decided to head north for a weekend in Decorah, a town that I now adore!
We did a little research, talked to a few friends and after jotting down a few recommendations for other places to hit up in that neck of the woods, we booked our hotel and let the countdown begin. We dropped the mouse off at the airport late in the evening on a Friday and then headed up to Des Moines, where we'd stay the night.... after a brief stop at Barn Town Brewing. We barely make it there with hardly any time left on the clock before closing. They close at midnight and it's about 11:20. 40 minutes might seem like oodles of time, but Jon and I have served plenty of people who decided that 3 minutes before closing time is when they'd like to eat a 3 course meal and we don't want to be those people. (Please, don't be those people. Yes, there are posted closing times and so technically, if you walk in at that time, you will be served. But, don't be those people.) So, even though we feel this is cutting it close, we're still more than 30 minutes out, and we’re just popping in for a beer, so we should be good. We pull up to a little strip center - not what I'm expecting with a name like Barn Town, but when we walk in, I find they've done a solid job of making it feel barn-ish. The vibe is good, but when I head towards the bar, I'm thinking, uh oh, the bartender just looked at us like we're THOSE people! Nooooooo. But, after sitting down I think we give off the impression that we can make quick decisions and won't be any trouble, so he now seems relaxed and we end up really enjoying those 40 minutes. Fun atmosphere, good beer. We even got to try a mis-poured stout. Now normally stouts aren't my thing, but this one's a maple stout and apparently the maple comes from "about a mile and half down the road" so, um, yeah, I'll try that. Stouts still aren't my thing, but that was tasty.
So, needless to say, the trip's off to a good start. Saturday morning we wake up to rain, but it's not snowing, so we're excited and we're off!
It's another 3 hours and we get to the (almost) 114 year old Hotel Winneshiek at which we have a reservation. I am EXcited. This place is beautiful! We freshen up and we are on our way.
I am almost at the end of the 422 miles I have now driven to the home of this "most sought after" beer. We pull into the parking lot and are confronted with a bright red, warehouse-looking building. This place is huge and yet feels cozy somehow.
We have just enough time before our tour for a flight and some snacks. We get the loaded chips (minus chicken) and both continue to eye the menu wondering why this Dorothy's lager beer cheese isn't poured all over EVERY menu item. Yum. Now, the flight. How do I possibly choose from a menu with 15 IPAs and Pale Ales? Seth asks, "would I like to try the Sue flight?" Yes, yes I would, Seth.
The tour was fun- it was just us and the Johnsons, so it felt very personal and we got to ask a lot of questions. When we come out of the tour, the snow is falling, but we find it beautiful with our long drive behind us. We stay for dinner (during which we eat that beer cheese poured all over whatever makes sense), drink some more tiny beers, all while enjoying kindness from every employee we encounter, then we pack up loads of 1/2 off bombers to-go and chalk one up for another excellent brewery visit.
We decide to stay close to home with the snow, so we head down to the Tap Room at our hotel, meet a nice bartender, who is also a maestro de español, and a couple from another town in Iowa, who just got married 2 days ago! They also went to Toppling Goliath today, and our bartender is friends with the folks over at Pulpit Rock Brewing Co. (one of our stops for tomorrow), so the 5 of us share some really fun beer talk. Through the course of the night, I ask our local maestro approximately... 97 questions, so I'm sure he remembers me... fondly? I also shared my bubbling personality with a few creative peeps that were in town for a film festival at Luther College. So, needless to say, it was a fun, funny little crowd that night.
Ok, so you know by now that Jon and I are restaurant nerds. We love bars, grills, breweries, diners, taprooms, pizzerias, joints, dives, cafés, chophouses, drive-ins, eateries, saloons, cantinas... you get the point. We love everything from fine dining, to fast-casual, sprinkled with the occasional special fast-food joint. What you may or may not know, we also really love to cook - - aaand, we love to cook food that Jon grows in our backyard. So, for him, a highlight of this trip is a stop at Seed Savers Exchange. I mostly hang out while he nerds out. There's something really, really beautiful about visiting a place that is known for growth and beauty and seeing it covered with snow while it rests for the winter... really special. We also saw a bald eagle!! How cool!
So, one of the great things about vacation is having no agenda. After the seed company, and a "breakfast" stop at Mabe's Pizza, I am... ready for a nap. So, I take one! Glorious, right!?! I NEVER take naps. In fact, I usually feel weirded out and disoriented when I wake up. This time? Is NO exception. What was I thinking!?! I get myself up and ready and we head out to our next stop, Pulpit Rock. We check online and they are open until 8pm. We decide to have a drink (flight) and then find a dinner spot. We pull into the parking lot just before 6 and as soon as we open the door the bartender says, "sorry, guys, we're closed at 6." Uh, but... the internet said... uuhhh. She says that NEXT week on Sunday they stay open until 8, but today, dunzo. We are bummed, to say the least. Damn you nap!! We pop over a block to Dixie's Biergarten to drown our sorrows. (Side note- we learned the night before that Dixie's is the original location of Toppling Goliath.) It mostly does the trick, we get to try two other Iowa beers (what's with all the IPAs here! 💗), but we're still bummed. Ironically, part of the reason I needed to take a nap in the first place, was because we were able to partake in a delicious Pulpit Rock beer the night before- Saftig. While we are bummed that that is the only beer from Pulpit Rock that we would try during our Decorah weekend, we are grateful that we got to try at least one. And, now we have a reason to make sure that we stop back through Decorah again another time.
After experiencing an excellent tap list at Dixie's Biergarten, we hit up T-Bocks Sports Bar & Grill, where we get to have another Saftig and some really pretty great bar food. I had a veggie melt sandwich and was blown away. So good!! Plus, excellent customer service from literally every person that was working. What a great way to finish off the night.
The next morning before we head out of town, we stop at one more Decorah spot- Magpie Coffeehouse. We have 2 of the best breakfast pastries we've ever had and a great cup of coffee, plus- more smiling faces and excellent customer service! A super great way to wrap up Decorah.
I'm a little sad as we drive out of town. I really, really enjoyed our visit and wish I could stay a bit longer. (At least until 3pm when Pulpit Rock opens back up...) However, I perk up a little when I remember that we still have one more stop on this little adventure of ours.
We make our way to Amana and "Iowa's Oldest Brewery," Millstream Brewing Co. We ate lunch at the Brau Haus. Like many other places that serve beer, Brau Haus has a pretzel. Now, some might think that the pretzel is an obvious or overdone choice for an appetizer, and perhaps it is, but I happen to love me a good pretzel... and this one? is THE best I've ever had! Wow. So good.
We had a delicious lunch, then grabbed some beer AND some super good sodas to take home. We drive around a bit, enjoying the charm of Amana (with its own amazing history you can read here). With a final stop at the Amana General Store to grab some gifts and taffy, we head back to Kansas City.
So, Iowa has won me over with its charm, beautiful snow-covered landscape and excellent customer service at every turn... and of course, really good beer! Thanks Iowa- Florida's got nuthin' on you! ;)
Like all Iowa adventures, ours begins with the start of Spring Break! Oh, you silly gooses- you've been heading southward for Spring Break!?!
Look- we know it's weird to head north at this time of year, but you should know by now that there's nothing this girl won't do in search of good beer.
It all started when this came across my path:
"One of the most sought after, most famous hoppy beers in America." Well, that's a bold statement, I thought. Then, within a couple days, I get a notice from Untappd that Lukas Liquor is now carrying this beer. Next stop? Obvi. So we tried this beer and after the first sip we looked at each other, laughed and said, "damn, that is a pretty good beer!" So in KC we can now get several beers from Toppling Goliath, but after realizing that Decorah, IA is really only about 6 hours away, we thought... why not go to the source!?! So, for this year's edition of "When the Mouse is Away, the Cats will Play," Jon and I decided to head north for a weekend in Decorah, a town that I now adore!
We did a little research, talked to a few friends and after jotting down a few recommendations for other places to hit up in that neck of the woods, we booked our hotel and let the countdown begin. We dropped the mouse off at the airport late in the evening on a Friday and then headed up to Des Moines, where we'd stay the night.... after a brief stop at Barn Town Brewing. We barely make it there with hardly any time left on the clock before closing. They close at midnight and it's about 11:20. 40 minutes might seem like oodles of time, but Jon and I have served plenty of people who decided that 3 minutes before closing time is when they'd like to eat a 3 course meal and we don't want to be those people. (Please, don't be those people. Yes, there are posted closing times and so technically, if you walk in at that time, you will be served. But, don't be those people.) So, even though we feel this is cutting it close, we're still more than 30 minutes out, and we’re just popping in for a beer, so we should be good. We pull up to a little strip center - not what I'm expecting with a name like Barn Town, but when we walk in, I find they've done a solid job of making it feel barn-ish. The vibe is good, but when I head towards the bar, I'm thinking, uh oh, the bartender just looked at us like we're THOSE people! Nooooooo. But, after sitting down I think we give off the impression that we can make quick decisions and won't be any trouble, so he now seems relaxed and we end up really enjoying those 40 minutes. Fun atmosphere, good beer. We even got to try a mis-poured stout. Now normally stouts aren't my thing, but this one's a maple stout and apparently the maple comes from "about a mile and half down the road" so, um, yeah, I'll try that. Stouts still aren't my thing, but that was tasty.
So, needless to say, the trip's off to a good start. Saturday morning we wake up to rain, but it's not snowing, so we're excited and we're off!
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| Greetings from Iowa! Wish you were here! |
It's another 3 hours and we get to the (almost) 114 year old Hotel Winneshiek at which we have a reservation. I am EXcited. This place is beautiful! We freshen up and we are on our way.
I am almost at the end of the 422 miles I have now driven to the home of this "most sought after" beer. We pull into the parking lot and are confronted with a bright red, warehouse-looking building. This place is huge and yet feels cozy somehow.
We have just enough time before our tour for a flight and some snacks. We get the loaded chips (minus chicken) and both continue to eye the menu wondering why this Dorothy's lager beer cheese isn't poured all over EVERY menu item. Yum. Now, the flight. How do I possibly choose from a menu with 15 IPAs and Pale Ales? Seth asks, "would I like to try the Sue flight?" Yes, yes I would, Seth.
The tour was fun- it was just us and the Johnsons, so it felt very personal and we got to ask a lot of questions. When we come out of the tour, the snow is falling, but we find it beautiful with our long drive behind us. We stay for dinner (during which we eat that beer cheese poured all over whatever makes sense), drink some more tiny beers, all while enjoying kindness from every employee we encounter, then we pack up loads of 1/2 off bombers to-go and chalk one up for another excellent brewery visit.
We decide to stay close to home with the snow, so we head down to the Tap Room at our hotel, meet a nice bartender, who is also a maestro de español, and a couple from another town in Iowa, who just got married 2 days ago! They also went to Toppling Goliath today, and our bartender is friends with the folks over at Pulpit Rock Brewing Co. (one of our stops for tomorrow), so the 5 of us share some really fun beer talk. Through the course of the night, I ask our local maestro approximately... 97 questions, so I'm sure he remembers me... fondly? I also shared my bubbling personality with a few creative peeps that were in town for a film festival at Luther College. So, needless to say, it was a fun, funny little crowd that night.
Ok, so you know by now that Jon and I are restaurant nerds. We love bars, grills, breweries, diners, taprooms, pizzerias, joints, dives, cafés, chophouses, drive-ins, eateries, saloons, cantinas... you get the point. We love everything from fine dining, to fast-casual, sprinkled with the occasional special fast-food joint. What you may or may not know, we also really love to cook - - aaand, we love to cook food that Jon grows in our backyard. So, for him, a highlight of this trip is a stop at Seed Savers Exchange. I mostly hang out while he nerds out. There's something really, really beautiful about visiting a place that is known for growth and beauty and seeing it covered with snow while it rests for the winter... really special. We also saw a bald eagle!! How cool!
So, one of the great things about vacation is having no agenda. After the seed company, and a "breakfast" stop at Mabe's Pizza, I am... ready for a nap. So, I take one! Glorious, right!?! I NEVER take naps. In fact, I usually feel weirded out and disoriented when I wake up. This time? Is NO exception. What was I thinking!?! I get myself up and ready and we head out to our next stop, Pulpit Rock. We check online and they are open until 8pm. We decide to have a drink (flight) and then find a dinner spot. We pull into the parking lot just before 6 and as soon as we open the door the bartender says, "sorry, guys, we're closed at 6." Uh, but... the internet said... uuhhh. She says that NEXT week on Sunday they stay open until 8, but today, dunzo. We are bummed, to say the least. Damn you nap!! We pop over a block to Dixie's Biergarten to drown our sorrows. (Side note- we learned the night before that Dixie's is the original location of Toppling Goliath.) It mostly does the trick, we get to try two other Iowa beers (what's with all the IPAs here! 💗), but we're still bummed. Ironically, part of the reason I needed to take a nap in the first place, was because we were able to partake in a delicious Pulpit Rock beer the night before- Saftig. While we are bummed that that is the only beer from Pulpit Rock that we would try during our Decorah weekend, we are grateful that we got to try at least one. And, now we have a reason to make sure that we stop back through Decorah again another time.
After experiencing an excellent tap list at Dixie's Biergarten, we hit up T-Bocks Sports Bar & Grill, where we get to have another Saftig and some really pretty great bar food. I had a veggie melt sandwich and was blown away. So good!! Plus, excellent customer service from literally every person that was working. What a great way to finish off the night.
The next morning before we head out of town, we stop at one more Decorah spot- Magpie Coffeehouse. We have 2 of the best breakfast pastries we've ever had and a great cup of coffee, plus- more smiling faces and excellent customer service! A super great way to wrap up Decorah.
I'm a little sad as we drive out of town. I really, really enjoyed our visit and wish I could stay a bit longer. (At least until 3pm when Pulpit Rock opens back up...) However, I perk up a little when I remember that we still have one more stop on this little adventure of ours.
We make our way to Amana and "Iowa's Oldest Brewery," Millstream Brewing Co. We ate lunch at the Brau Haus. Like many other places that serve beer, Brau Haus has a pretzel. Now, some might think that the pretzel is an obvious or overdone choice for an appetizer, and perhaps it is, but I happen to love me a good pretzel... and this one? is THE best I've ever had! Wow. So good.
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| Pretzels as big as your head... or bigger! |
We had a delicious lunch, then grabbed some beer AND some super good sodas to take home. We drive around a bit, enjoying the charm of Amana (with its own amazing history you can read here). With a final stop at the Amana General Store to grab some gifts and taffy, we head back to Kansas City.
So, Iowa has won me over with its charm, beautiful snow-covered landscape and excellent customer service at every turn... and of course, really good beer! Thanks Iowa- Florida's got nuthin' on you! ;)
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