Iowa Brewing Company

Visited on a Friday night when there was some sort of event going on and it was noisy as hell. When the event was over, much of the crowd cleared out and it was pretty pleasant. Excellent tap list with several styles represented. I went with a flight of an Altbier, an English Pale Ale, and a Czech Pilsner. All excellent, with the brewer's craft on display in these traditional styles. The server was knowledgeable and helpful. No kitchen, but they do offer an assortment of snack items (popcorn, pretzels, etc.). Recommended for a visit, but bring your ear plugs just in case.

Downtown location. Street parking. Lots of windows on the street side. Fenced in outdoor patio. High black ceiling, pastel colored walls, and a concrete floor. U-shaped bar, with other high top table seating, along high community table, and a couple of areas with stuffed chairs and sofas. Brewing equipment in plain view on one side. Twenty taps with year-round, specialty, and limited brews. Spread of standard styles. Laid-back and competent staff. Space has a pleasing aura.

 

Pretty wide choice of beers. There is food but it's really about beer. There are board games, that is a nice touch and incentive to hangout a bit longer. Was there for a work party.

Not a huge place, cool family vibe. 12 oz drafts $3! Good beer and service! 20 beers on tap. Good locale. Canned crowlers. great brewery for the money.

 

 

 

I found this brewery to be lacking in about every category of experience, other than that they have cool marketing and design. I just tried their IPAs, but they were all mediocre. The bartender was nice and very attentive, he just didn't know a dang thing about beer. I asked him why there was an ABV difference between the two versions of their Hop Eagle, a beer in which they supposedly rotate the hops. He told me the hops caused the difference in ABV. He clearly had no clue what impacts ABV and couldn't speak whether or not the grain bills were different. I hate to be a jerk, but in the modern day of craft beer you better be able to talk about basic things with beer geeks or at the very least your beer better be damn good. I found neither to be true at this brewery.
I hope this brewery will improve over time. It's in a really cool neighborhood in Cedar Rapids and with a name like the "Iowa Brewing Company" and good marketing, I really would like for them to be successful.