Expansionpalooza!

Innovative! Fun! Exciting! Dynamic!

Are all words that in no way describe the current coaching staff at Iowa.

In fact, there’s really nothing new to say. They’ll run the outside zone to the boundary on 3rd and short to medium. Every time. They’ll play zone defense that will frustrate everyone but Purdue.

So instead, we’re gonna talk about beer. In the immortal words of Psychostick, Beer is good and stuff.

Iowa has a surprisingly robust craft beer scene for those not in the know and we’re gonna go through some of my favorites and whether you could expect to get them on a trip to an Iowa game.

Toppling Goliath

Flagship: Pseudo Sue

Popular styles: New England Hazy IPAs and incredibly hard to get stouts

Arguably the best brewery in the entire country resides in Decorah Iowa. Toppling Goliath has become a giant in the industry. It boasts 4 of the top 20, 3 of the top 10, and the overall top rated beer on Beer Advocate. TG stouts require winning a lottery to have the privilege to buy a ticket. I’ve got a few Assassins and Morning Delights in my cellar and will be making a trek to get more in a couple of weeks.

While the stouts are damn near impossible to get, the brewery has expanded quite a bit in the last few years, and acquiring their incredibly tasty NEIPAs throughout Iowa is easy. Most of the B1G footprint has distribution at this point.

While Pseudo Sue is excellent, I think Pompeii is my go to of their universally available beer. They’re a must try.

Pulpit Rock

Flagship: Saftig

Popular Style: Sours and Stouts

Decorah, a town of less than 10,000 people, and home to my Alma Mater, boasts two world class breweries. However, unlike Toppling, the only real way to get anything from Pulpit Rock is to make the trek to Decorah. I couldn’t write about Iowa beer and miss Pulpit Rock, but don’t get your hopes too high for finding any.

Big Grove

Flagship: Arms Race

Popular Styles: They run the gamut on styles

Big Grove is based out of Solon, a small town about 20 miles from Iowa City, but also has a brew pub in Iowa City, and I highly, highly recommend going here if in town. Big Grove has something for any beer lover. Arms Race is a malty pale ale. Boomtown is a premium cream ale (and better than a certain other popular cream ale from known shitty state). Easy Eddy is a great hazy IPA. Polecat Porter is a solid selection named for a certain play from a certain game that many people may have forgotten about. And 1939 is a quality amber from named for the Iowa Hawkeye team featuring one Nile Kinnick. They also are always producing rotating big IPAs and fruited sours. Definitely pick some up.

Backpocket

Flagship: Hawktoberfest

Popular Styles: They run the gamut on styles

ReUnion

Flagship: Tank Puncher

Popular Styles: They run the gamut on styles

Backpocket and ReUnion are both located in Coralville (basically Iowa City), and are both perfectly cromulent breweries featuring all sorts of styles, from light lagers to hazy IPAs, to fruited sours. Backpocket has a Saturday Morning sour series that that are pretty good, including the first grape sour I’ve had. Hawktoberfest is one of the more popular local brews at the tailgating scene. ReUnion’s Tank Puncher is really good, and they’ve done a few different variants and one offs that are high quality. Neither brewery go for as big of flavors, but are also quite popular and have good brew pubs.

Lion Bridge

Flagship: Compensation

Styles: Mild medium bodied ales

Clock House

Flagship: Witch Slap

Styles: Fruited sours

30 minutes north of Iowa City in the odorous city of Cedar Rapids are Lion Bridge and Clock House breweries. You should be able to find Lion Bridge cans in most HyVees across the state, but they always have really good stuff on tap, and it’s worth the trip. Their flagship is Compensation, a mild English ale. Clock House doesn’t really distribute, so you’ll have to visit their taproom, but again, it’s worth the detour. Their flagship hazy IPA, Witch Slap is very good, but their fruited sours are some of the best out there.