Midwest Ale Works

Midwest Ale Works is situated in an old automobile plant, along with a concert venue (The Rust Belt), taqueria (Jenny's Boxcar), coffee shop where they roast there own beans (Iron & Grain), architectural company (Streamline Architects), and a hair salon. The beer is good, but nothing outstanding. Food wise, they don't offer any, but with a taqueria a few steps away and a pizzeria (Lopiez) that offers free delivery, plus occasional food truck fare, or just bring your own, I gave it a score. There's better brewpubs in the area, but this one is in my hometown. So for convenience sake, it's on my list.

Midwest Ale Works is a newer brewery located in "The Rust Belt" complex, near The Bend apartments which led to an interesting conversation about what "the bends" are. The industrial vibe inside is nothing special, but the large outdoor patio is really nice. It's sort of a by-the-numbers place, right down to the name. Out of 5 tasters, one was undrinkable, and two were indistinguishable from each other (Kölsch and an oak-aged version). The sour ale was artificial and gross, and the bartender told us proudly that it was brewed with 14 pounds of watermelon Sour Patch Kids. Woohoo.

Service at the bar was good, the bartender was friendly and helpful navigating the beer list. Unfortunately there was a loud drunken group of obnoxious bros getting wound up and dropping loud f-bombs around families with kids. Inexplicably they had an elderly lady in their group, that poor woman. Thank god for the patio option.

Overall it was kind of a forgettable experience, and it's located pretty far from most of the other breweries in town. Not sure that i'll return when in the QC area again.