Exercising the 21st Amendment in Des Moines, Iowa.

When we last spoke, I was schlepping through the high deserts outside of Flagstaff looking for a bit of wine.  Today we are going 1,447 miles to the North and to the East, through the deserts, up over the mountains, and into the great plains of North America.  We cross the Missouri River (a little tricky at this point since the river is up over the freeway in some places) and drive through the endless expanses of corn fields and pig farms... yeah, that's what that smell is.   Today we are in Des Moines, Iowa.

I found myself on Court Ave., the local downtown pub and restaurant district.   As the name suggests, the area sits in the shadow of the old courthouse.  It's like a reminder to the drunken miscreants, who would undoubtedly use the warm summer night air as an excuse to come out to vomit and break things, of just what was waiting for them.  And the drunken miscreants largely paid little to no attention.  There was live music blaring from a couple of bars and a nearby park, a horde of bikers had descended on a local dive bar and all around there was the sound of a lot of people working hard to escape sobriety.

Court Ave. Brewing Company proved to be a sanctuary from all of this.  The bar built into an old stone building off of Court Ave.   Right inside the front door is a nice restaurant section.  The bar is dimly lit and is set off to the side.  The first thing I noticed was the massive collection of membership beer mugs in the joint.  The bar had very dim lighting which made it difficult to snap a picture of them.  So you're just going to have to take my word that there were about 300 to 500 of them hanging from the celing.    

I started by ordering a taster's rack here.  I promptly realized that I would probably be ending with it as well.  Their sample pours were very generous at probably one-third to one-half a pint each and they give you a little bit of pretty much everything they have on tap.   It will set you back $15, but they give you a sample of their seasonal and premium brews as well. 

Their core beers were a light lager, a Belgian white ale, an IPA, a brown ale and a stout.  Out of those, I liked the Belgian White the best.  It was a bit surprising given that I don't normally like the Belgian yeasts that the use in this beer.  It was well balanced, though, with a lot of citrus and fruit flavors that made for a refreshing summer beer.  Their seasonal offering, the La Fou, was similar.   It was a little lighter on the color and had more citrus to it, but it was still really good.

The clear standout for this bar, however, was their 21st Amendment APA (American Pale Ale).   It's label as an American pale ale is a bit of a misnomer given that the beer is a deep copper, almost rust colored and it doesn't have the strong hops profile of a American pale.  It's more of an Amber ale or a Rye beer, given the addition of rye malt.  However you want to classify it, though,  it is really good.  It has an aroma of light fruits combined with slight caramel.   The taste has a lot of sweet fruit off the top, followed by a rich caramel flavor that melts away for a nice bitter hop back.  A wonderful beer and, best of all, it has a big brother.  The bartender was kind enough to slip a taste of the Boersma's Best Rye Barley Wine.  This is the 21st amendment with twice the alcohol and aged in bourbon barrels.  The aroma is very similar to the 21st Amendment, but the taste has a distinct bourbon flavor in the middle.

I'm in Denver next week.  Until then, cheers!