Great River Brewery

 

 

Great River recently opened back up after closing because of a devastating flood in 2019. Remodeled on the inside and still work being done on the outside when I was there. It's in a great location and has an ample outdoor area. Right across the street is an indoor/outdoor movie house/bar. Great River now serves food. Appetizers, salads, and pizza's by Streets of Italy. Grand opening is June 7th, 2024. I'll update my place rating after they are fully up and running, since they only had 2 beers of theirs and 4 guest taps going now. And oddly no soda or mixed drink options yet, just beer and water.

Update: went back a month later, only 4 beers on tap and horrible service. There was only 2 people sitting at the bar drinking when we sat down at the bar. Took a good 5 minutes for the bartender to acknowledge we were there. We left.

 

In a converted gas station, just a block or two from the Mississippi River....nice out door space in front with picnic tables, bring you own food in, enjoy the sun and some better then decent beers...I enjoyed the fun and casual vibe here...I'd be back for a visit next time I'm in the area...worth a visit for a relaxing good time

 

 

 

Small establishment with the majority of its seating outside on wooden benches. It's their brews that are the showcase, but the real treat here is the great location with a beautiful view of the nearby dam and drawbridge.

 

 

My favorite local place. Great vibe with a great patio. Very nice BT's. Their Golden Keg events are a blast. They are tapping of new beers and the first keg is free. Great 1/2 price growlers on Sundays and Mondays. Not top tier beer, but they try. Fresh beer because close to home. Dog friendly with lots of bikers. Have a coupon that they print locally in which carry out even cheaper. Redband stout is their best!

 

 

 

 

 

Definitely the best of the Quad City area breweries. Patio is great during the summer -- dog friendly, lots of places to sit, extra tap island for busy days. No food service but several local places will deliver. Friendly staff and patrons.

Good variety of seasonal brews and standards. Big fan of the Golden Ale and the 312 Pale.

Tip: If the Government Bridge swing span is open tap beers are 1/2 off.

 

The others have pretty accurately described the place. I think that I visited on a night in the middle of the week, so there was not a lot of people, which is ok with me. It may have been close to closing time. The bartender was friendly and knew what she was talking about. There was also a couple of refrigerators for carry out, which is nice, especially for out-of-towners looking to sample the local brew. I don't recall any music being played. If I am ever back, I am sure that I will stop by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A diamond in the ruff!

I stumbled on this place last night. A small taproom with a bar that holds about 12 w/ a few tables. It seems to be pretty popular watering hole because it was busy with people constantly coming and going.

The bartender was able to recommend several beers through very descriptive means; I went with their american stout brewed with coffee, very balanced and enjoyable.

I also tried the barrel aged straight pipe stout - also good.

This was the second bar I have visited that allowed dogs, The Mitten bar in the state up north was other. There were three dogs on the grounds last night. this contributed positively to the atmosphere.

Stop #330 on my world brewery tour.

Visited around 8:00 - 9:00 closing time on a Monday night.

Small tap room in an old corner building. Nice character. Got to stand in the brewing room when I took a call and someone working there told me I could go into the brewery where it was more quite. Very pretty hot-side gear. Guy said more bigger equipment is on the way.

Had a very nice and fresh canned IPA and a good Abbey on draft. They do have a barrel aged program but nothing available tonight.

There was an ebb and flow of people including a group of cyclists who made it pretty crowded.

In two trips to the Quad cities I've visited all breweries and this is among the finest (just no food).

Stopped in here on the way out of town from work when I noticed the very distinctive smell of wort. Very glad I did.

Not a very beautiful setting, but I guess it is right on the river and on a major thoroughfare in/out of the Iowa side of the Quad Cities. It's a small taproom (maybe 25 people can fit in there) attached to the production brewery. You can see it through the glass inside and as you approach the place. All wood bar, tall barstools with backs and a couple small tables. Mellow local crowd inside. No music, just the sound of brewing.

Had 6 of their own brews on tap +1 special barrel aged offering, which was sadly out. Had the Straight Pipe Stout, which was an excellent slightly coffee'd milk stout. They also do growlers (sadly clear ones), sales of their cans (4x 16oz.) and have some merch like shirts and patches.

No food but there looked to be some decent places to eat right across the street.

Service is 5 because the bartender was smokin', attentive, and talkative. Made me want to stay there longer and try all their beers.

Would be here at least weekly if I was a local.

Downtown Davenport is not exactly a tourist area, with that binging said the Great River Taproom grew on me while I was there. The taproom is small, but there is an outside area as well. Everyone seemed friendly and I thought the beer was very good. The Farmer Brown Ale was tasty and both of there stout offering were very good. I like this place and is worth a stop if you are in the area.
They had 5 or 6 beers on tap at 4 bucks a pint and it looked like they run specials from time to time. I will go back every time I am in the area.

Emily and I were both very surprised when we walked in the door to find only about 12 bar stools, and a very small "tasting room". So I had to knock a few points for atmosphere, because when it's full, it's full, and uncomfortable. The quality of the beer was middle of the road. Tried the Farmer John Brown Ale, and felt it was a decent brown, nothing too extraordinary, but nothing too bad. We however did enjoy the Aged Series Farmer Johns brown ale, which was supposedly aged for 7 months on Rye Barrels. It was very tasty...the oak and rye spice did nice work to the middle of the road brown. Then we tried their Straight Pipe Stout, and it was the same. Medium cream head, medium bodied. Seemed almost the brewery was aiming not to miss, rather than shoot for bulls. We then tried to Stout aged in Oak Barrels because the Farmer John in Rye ran out. Once again, the Stout was a lot better after some age to it, and barrels did some nice creamy/spicing to the beer. Will return when in the area.

An impromptu trip to Davenport thanks to my wife's canceled flight so I took the opportunity to check this place out.

I will say, in the dark on a sunday nigth, downtown Davenport is quite eerie as there was no one around. Thought I was lost a few times but finally came upon the taproom at the end of the street. Coming from my direction its hard to even tell this place was a brewery. Walking in it's small with a nice taprrom setup with chalkboards listing brews behind a 15ft-ish bar with a few booths for extra seating. Lots of beers on tap, 6 regulars (483 pale, Roller Dam red, La Jefa light lager, Farmer Brown ale, Straight Pipe Stout, and an Espresso Stout) and 1-2 seasonals (An abbey Ale and their Big cock IPA). I ordered a sampler of all the brews. All were solid minus the Abbey, the stars being the 483 pale, which was dry-hopped with cascade, and the espresso stout that had been cold-pressed with coffee. I've yet to have a "coffee" beer come across with so much coffee aroma and flavor while still having good roasted malt character. The abbey was a mess with low body and very little ester quality apparent. Big Cock was a decent IPA but the 483 had better hop aroma.

Overall, this is a great place to check out, sit down and have a beer. Its intimate, to the point and cheap ($5 for 8 samples). I enjoyed it immensely especially on a 5 degree Iowa night.