Possible visit to Decorah

Driven 5 hours from Omaha plenty of times and had a blast every time. Head to Courtyard and Cellar after TG closes.

 

Hotel Winnishiek or a BnB for a stay within walking distance. Otherwise, there might be a taxi service, but there's no other public transport. Courtyard and Cellar is a winner after dark, but the TG taproom stays open pretty late, too.

 

There is a taxi in Decorah (actually, there now are two), but they are difficult to track down. Sometimes they won't show up for an hour after you called, or not at all. If you plan on drinking more than 1-2 beers, stay downtown. Downtown Decorah haa very idyllic, quaint main street. The TG taproom is about a 15 minute walk across the river from Downtown. Be forewarned that the TG taproom is, itself, nothing to see. It's a tiny little room with about six bar stools, two tvs, seating for maybe 30-40. The patio is very nice, though, if it's a warm day.

If you're looking for daytime activities, try floating down the river. Each person rents an inner-tube for like $5 (plus an extra tube for the cooler), they drive you upstream where you hop in the river, and you lazily float down a 1-3 foot river that runs right up to the TG taproom. One of my favorite summer activities, especially with a fresh growler. We usually get in the river about 11am or noon, and make it to the taproom by 2pm after a nice day floating out in the sun drinking beer. Waterproof speakers are plus.

Iowa retail stores can sell alcohol until 2am. The only liquor store in Decorah closed down about a year ago. Liquor is sold only at grocery stores/wal-mart. Beer can be bought (both for in-house consumption and for takeaway) at TG, the Cellar, Rubaiyat, the Co-Op, and other restaurants. Certain bars (Corner bar, T-Bocks) will stay open until 2am for service. The taproom closes about 11pm, but will stay open late if it's packed. I've been in there until 12:30 before.

For food, our favorites are Rubaiyat and La Rana. Decorah is wild about Mabe's pizza, and it's good, but the atmosphere is dreadful. They don't even play music. It's like a morgue in there. Pro tip: the TG taproom doesn't serve food, so they allow you to bring your own. Getting a Mabe's pizza delivered to the TG patio is a great way to do dinner for a night. La Rana seats about 25 people (including the bar) and has a smaller selection of well-made dishes. Rubaiyat is owned by one of Clark's best friends. They have the best selection of TG beers besides TG (and quite often it's actually better than TG). T-Bock's has great bar-type food, but service there is slow and they usually only have 1-2 TG beers on tap.

Avoid the last weekend in July, unless you love large crowds. That's the weekend of NordicFest, which is the largest summer festival in the area. Decorah has a very proud Norwegian heritage. In fact, the base of Assassin/KBBS is a beer Mike brewed called Norseman's Wrath. Everyone goes home for NordicFest. TG will be packed full that weekend, as will all restaurants. A really fun weekend if you're into it, but not the best weekend to get a true feel for Decorah.

Any other questions, feel free to PM me. Just don't tell too many people about Decorah after you leave. It's a well kept secret, and we like it that way.

 

If you're into either mountain biking or road biking, Decorah has great trails for both.

I second the "ordering Mabe's into TG" suggestion. It's very common on a weekend night. Good Times right next door to TG has some solid food as well, and a strong tap selection

 

I'll second La Rana for food, imho, it's the better value over Rubaiyat.

 

It's been awhile since I've heard much on it, but does TG sell Crowlers at the tap room yet?

 

Yup. 8AM (6AM the rest of the week) I think. Iowa has very lax alcohol laws.

 

You from Decorah? Let's grab a beer/open bottles sometime!

 

As @Bobandy said, Iowa has as relaxed of liquor laws as there are. Sales on Sunday are no problem.

That said, be sure to buy all of your bottles as soon as you get there on Friday. Maybe bring a cooler to keep them cool over the weekend while you're in town, or perhaps ask TG if they'll store them in their fridge while you're visiting. TG, and Clark especially, recognize the value in keeping bottles cold. The reason to buy them early is they almost always run out. It might be changing with the Florida operation (and with what seems to be increased production in Decorah), but whatever bottles are there on Friday are usually gone by Sunday with all of the visitors. No matter how much they have, don't assume you'll be able to buy the next day. I've seen one group of guys come in, buy the max of everything, and walk out with forty cases of TG beers in a twenty minute period.

 

Taproom opens at 12 it looks like....any other good bottle shops/stores in the area that sell TG! (esp. King Sue) if I will be out of town before 12?

 

Co-Op should be open before 12.

Are you talking Sunday? The liquor store in Cresco had a bunch of Florida Sue when I was in there on Saturday, but they're closed (by choice) on Sunday. Otherwise the Co-Op is the closest thing to a bottle shop in Decorah.