This past weekend was a great one. Last Wednesday John and I went out to the Midwest - Iowa and Minnesota. I mentioned in a post last year that John is from Iowa. His parents recently moved back to the East coast, and we knew we wouldn't have many reasons to go back to Iowa, at least not on a regular basis. A friend's wedding in Minneapolis provided us just the opportunity we needed.
We flew in to Minneapolis, and drove down to Ames, where John went to college at The Iowa State University (as I was told more than once is the proper name). An incredible downpour forced us to hole up in Cafe Beaudlaire for hours - just like John used to do when he was in school. He got to show me around campus the next day, under a beautiful fall sky. It was so much fun walking around with him, having him point out to me all the places that helped him become the man I love today.
We spent the night in Des Moines, where I was able to find more than one place that served up some great craft beers. El Bait Shop, was a great place to spend a few hours - they have 105 taps! And I think their bottle/can list is even larger. One of the revelations I came across was Peace Tree Brewing, out of Knoxville, IA. I had a couple different beers - the Hop Wrangler, Hop Sutra, and Red Rambler. All were delicious. Right now it's only distributed in Iowa, but I'm going to start lobbying the guys to distribute here in PA. Try the beer, and you'll be lobbying with me.
The Hop Sutra is a fabulous double IPA. You have to try this beer! I wanted to drink it all day long, but it's a big beer and we had many things to do that afternoon. I had the Hop Wrangler at The Gas Lamp, where we went to see one of guys from the band The Nadas, performing solo.
Thursday had us heading back to Minneapolis. While there I had the Surly Furious. Talk about delicious! Extremely easy to drink. Another one that needs to be here in Philly.
I won't lie, though. One of the best parts of the trip was the awesome ride we got. John was able to upgrade us to a premium car for free. You can see our sweet ride at the top of the screen. That's right - we got to tool around the Midwest in a baby blue Crown Vic. Life doesn't get much better than that.
