When you get right down to it, this blog is about my adventures to find wonderful beer, wines and spirits. When you take on a mission like this, sometimes you find yourself in exactly the same place that you started from. Sometimes it's because you come to a point when you realize that the thing you were searching for was always nearby, waiting. Sometimes it's because you find a greater appreciation for the people and the places that create a home. Sometimes it's because your boss doesn't need you to travel at the moment so you find yourself at home and slightly bored. I will leave it to you to figure out which applies today Anyway, our travels take us back across the Great Plains and into Omaha, Nebraska and Nebraska Brewing Company.
Something about this place is quintessentially Midwest. The staff is welcoming and friendly and there is a feeling of simplicity in the atmosphere and the beer selection itself. This thing that makes this place special is the fact that it is located in Nebraska and serves craft beer. The Midwest is slightly behind on the learning curve when it comes to craft beer; and by that I mean that the region drank a lot of Budweiser the night before and was too drunk to show up for the test at all.
One of the things that I dearly love about this place is the fact that, when you sit down, they bring you a bowl of homemade potato chips. These are awesome and almost worth the visit for these alone, salty with a hint of garlic and herbs.
I stopped in and had a taster platter to start. Their selection includes two wheat beers, two IPAs a pale, nut brown, blonde and seasonal selection that was a rye beer for the summer months. All of the above were very good, the pale and the IPA's were my favorite; hoppy but not so much that they were undrinkable. They have two wheat beers on tap, a Belgian wit ale and a German Hefeweizen which was an interesting opportunity to compare and contrast the two styles.
Their seasonal fell a bit short of my expectations. Since I moved out to the Midwest I have acquired a taste for rye ales. This particular rye tasted more like an IPA. I was assured that they did use rye malt, but it was overpowered by the hops. It was still good, but redundant given that they already have two IPA's on tap.
The clear standout here was a rare example of a Belgian IPA. Nebraska Brewing Company's Hop God IPA is like a traditional Belgian Abby ale loaded with Pacific Northwest hops. It started with lots of malt, tropical fruit, dark fruit and nut flavors, but slowly gives way to the hop profile of an American IPA. At nearly 10% alcohol, it will surprise you, but it is an extremely drinkable beer.
So I'm stuck in town for the next few weeks, so posting will probably be a less than weekly for a while. I'm going to try and hit all the local breweries and wineries while I wait, but posting may still be a little slow.
Jones out-----
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