Hey Fam! I'm looking for one awesome stop along I-80 in either Iowa or Nebraska. ONE. Looking for an excellent brewery that has lagers as part of their game and some good food. Ideally? It'd be BBQ. This diabetic a-hole just wants some smoked meat and a salad to save carbs for a beer or two. Family is booking it from central NY to Boulder in 2 days... maybe we time for this one brewery stop if I play my cards right?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…neither Iowa nor Nebraska are known for having great barbecue in general. While I can’t speak with much confidence to the Iowa breweries (with the Des Moines area being your only reasonable stop with both those requirements being at least close to each other), I can speak a bit more to the Omaha and Lincoln areas. Barring a food truck setup that I’m not aware of, none of the breweries are going to tick both boxes. If I was going to stop anywhere in Nebraska for barbecue, I’d recommend Parker’s Smokehouse (just off I-80 outside of Ashland, which is halfway between Omaha and Lincoln). If nothing else, they will have some local beers on tap. With the caveat that driving from Chicago to Boulder in a single day via I-80/I-76 is already long enough as it is, you’d have *much* better barbecue options if you tacked on another hour-plus of driving by making that trip via Kansas City.
Disclaimer: I haven't ever lived in Omaha. I did live in Kansas City for a while, so I will vouch for the BBQ there. However, some good friends of mine do live in Omaha, and I have visited there many times over the last 15-ish years. We did carryout from Porky Butts BBQ recently, which is way up in northwest Omaha, and it was quite good. If I had the choice, I'd go down to KC and hit up Joe's KC or Q39 or Gates or something, but if that isn't an option, it isn't as though you can't find anything in Omaha. Just keep your expectations in check.
An alternate route with about the same travel time (and possibly fewer construction zones) is I70. Kansas City is on I70 and is great BBQ territory. St Louis is also on I70 at about the halfway point and might be a good BBQ destination, too A GoogleMaps travel time of 24 hours in two days is pretty ambitious for a family trip. You'll need perseverence and some good luck!
We’ve done Chicago to Ithaca (and vice versa) many times. That’s almost the same pace. And have the drivers, so tiredness won’t be a factor. But luck—yeah, I wonder which route is less likely to throw traffic our way. I’m guessing Iowa/Nebraska. BBQ isn’t really the goal… it’s a meal that can be mostly veg and protein. I’m sure we can find something along the way.
