Moving (Probably) to Des Moines

You definitely need to familiarize yourself with Toppling Goliath. Small brewery out of Decorah that is definitely doing things right. psuedoSue is ten kinds of awesome. I'm a huge fan of Light Speed as well. I've heard good things about Rover Truck, but haven't tasted it myself.

 

The El Bait shop will be your kind of place. You will definitely not find some pretty great brands in Iowa that you can in Ohio (I checked seekabrew.com) but you will be very pleased with Toppling Goliath, Peace Tree, 515 Brewing, and many other local offerings. Welcome to Iowa.

 

El Bait Shop is the biggie for craft beer on premise. 515 and Confluence are great local breweries. Hy Vees are usually where you go get great craft in a store. It's a solid area. There's definitely groups that have bottles shares fairly. You'll find a lot to like here.

 

I like Exile, they started doing German styles but have branched out since then but it's still the core of what they do. (Their cores are a dunkel, hefe and a Munich lager, they are in the process of brewing several different Pils trying to settle on one after which I hope they can add one to their year round bottle lineup, the two pilsners they've made so far are among their best beers). The draft only offerings at the brewery and around town lately from them have been mostly IPAs. Took them a few times to get the style right but I like the last few of them (Giving Tree Redux, Gorilla Press). The food is really good and they have a very cheap brunch menu and half off beer on Sundays.

 

I can only think of one: new guy buys the first round.

 

As of 2010, we're pretty much blue law free in Iowa. Any and all alcohol can be sold between 6AM-2AM 7 days a week, and it can be sold in any location that obtains the full license. Grocery stores and gas stations are able to obtain full liquor licenses as well, so it's not hard to find booze. Hy-Vee grocery stores have Wine & Spirit sections that are a consistent bet as some of your liquor stores from a selection standpoint. Of course, there are some great independent liquor stores, but you can almost always bet on a good selection at Hy-Vee. Alcohol laws are mostly consistent statewide, but there may be a couple of cities with strict religious history (I'm thinking Pella and Orange City) that restrict alcohol sales, but I could be wrong on that.

515 and Confluence are two great breweries right in Des Moines, and most of the breweries in Iowa have at least 1 or 2 good to great beers. If you like bourbon, make sure to try Cedar Ridge and Cody Road right off the bat. Both make excellent corn whiskey.

I would imagine that the beer/alcohol culture in Iowa will exceed your expectations. Per capita, we're doing quite well on this front.

 

another place not mentioned here that is great is the KegStand in Des Moines. Personally I prefer it to El Bait, they get alot of cool stuff on tap and pricing tends to be a little better than El Bait. Also a lot of us BA'ers are on twitter and host or attend regular shares where your Ohio beers would be more than welcome if that is your thing as well to try some of the Toppling Goliath stuff or other things that tend to move quickly both in and out of our market. Good Luck Moving!!

 

I think the guys have mostly covered it. Hy-vee's (specifically Pleasant Hill, Fleur, Prairie Trail and to a lesser extent, Urbandale, Mills Civic and 42nd and Uni) will have your best bottle selections. Keg Stand, Library, El Bait Shop, Hessen Haus, Red Monk and Royal Mile do a good job getting tasty things on tap. And it sounds like Flix Brewhouse may be doing that as well. For local brews, check out 515, Confluence, Exile for sure. Our brewer at the local Rock Bottom does great stuff, and the guy at Court Avenue Brewing seems to be doing well too. Beer's come a LONG way in Des Moines over the last few years. Welcome and enjoy!

 

Welcome to Des Moines (in advance). Besides the growing craft beer scene and expanding distribution Iowa is getting, Des Moines is a fantastic and relatively over-looked metropolitan city if you ask me. The city really has a LOT to offer and the beer is just a plus.

Everyone prior seems to have the basics covered, but once you get to town, you should try and attend a share or have a meetup at a local brewery or craft beer bar and meet some of the fellow DSM BAs.

 

Also your Ames and Ankey BAs. If you find yourself in Ames for any reason (ISU sports, concert, etc.) then check out Cyclone Liquor for bottle sales (and Bourbon, Wine, etc.) and Dublin Bay or Cafe Beaudelaire for craft taps.

Cheers.

 

Not to derail the thread, but I've heard one of the few CBS kegs arriving to central Iowa is headed to Ames. Dublin Bay seems like the obvious spot to me.

We do get some quality bourbon, and there's some quality local and regional distillers in the area, but because we are one of just a few remaining control states, we don't get a lot of special stuff from the distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail except in the off months. The state has recently begun doing a lottery system for allocated product like Pappy and the Buffalo Trace Antique Series whereby they don't go to top accounts (which were/are Cyclone Liquors and Central City Liquors and both still great spots to shop for whiskey) but instead everyone gets a fair chance to be able to sell it and they break up the cases. It kinda sucks but we still get good stuff and if you go to the quality Hy Vees in the metro you'll find that the managers really care about their bourbon, too.

 

One thing I forgot to mention. Give Beer Crazy in Clive a shot as well. Nice little bottle shop if you just want to try something without committing to a sixer. They are also a homebrew supply shop.

 

If you're not a vegetarian go check out Zombie Burger. Unbelievably good burgers and a good craft beer selection.

 

I think DSM is one of the better cities to live with respect to beer availability and local brewers.

Sorry to hear that she's a Hawkeye though. Everyone has their faults I guess . . .

 

I heard from Justin at Dublin Bay that CBS is indeed going to be on tap there at some point. He is doing a great job keeping really excellent things on tap.

https://www.beermenus.com/places/7865-dublin-bay-irish-pub-grill