Last month made a holiday visit out to Iowa to see the family. Which meant stopping off for beer here and there. When traveling by myself, of course, I can’t just get a sampler tray in every town. But my dad decided to hit a re-opened surf & turf place in Ankeny, which had a Double Blueberry Love Muffin fruited sour from Barn Town Brewing of West Des Moines. And I managed to make a trip to HyVee for a small selection of beers that are not available here in the Chicago market.
On my way back, I was able to meet up in the Quad Cities with my old acquaintance Marc-with-a-“c”. It was already well into Sunday evening, and his place in East Moline was a bit out of the way from any locations I knew when I lived there, um, over 30 years ago. But it turned out we were not that far from a new brewery tap room: Midwest Ale Works. And there would be food available.
Turns out, Midwest Ale Works is in a former industrial area in what’s called “The Bend,” the point at which the Mississippi River turns to flows straight west between the Iowa and Illinois sides. While the John Deere works is still just a mile away, the Bend area is being developed into a riverfront tourist and cycling area, with a hotel and concert venues. MAW, as they call themselves, is located in a brick building attached to the 100-year old former Moline Auto plant, now a concert space named “The Rust Belt.” The brewery building shares space with some offices and Jennie’s Boxcar, a Mexican restaurant.
It’s Sunday evening, December 18 when we roll in, with the temperature barely hitting 20°. Marc and his wife get a menu for Jennie’s, warning me that “it might be a bit expensive.” But no, a plate of three gourmet tacos for $10-$12 seems right in line, so we each get what we like.
There was just one person at the bar at this hour. Marc and I sat up at the bar to squint at the beer menu. Marc-With-a-C blabbed to her that “Hey, this guy’s a beer blogger!” Okay, but I usually just go into places without announcing myself. If I want to make an appointment to interview the brewer, okay. But we pushed on, trying a few samples before settling on a taster tray. The tray, I’ll note, was cut from a piece of steel, befitting, the industrial background of the building.
According to their beer page, MAW focuses on four core style: Kölsch, IPA, Porter, and Red Ale. I am a little wary of yet some other hazy IPA, but what I found was that this place worked a lot of beers with fruit or other adjuncts. And quite nicely. So let me track down the four beers I sampled from their taster tray:
Red Oak Kölsch
4.6% ABV
A light clear color, with a slightly sweet malty nose. Solid taste that strays into the light lager territory. No yeast bite or off flavors. And there is a bit a detectable oak.
The Power Stout
6.8% ABV • Brewed with five pounds of Guatemalan and El Salvador coffee
A nice dark coffee smell, and a black body, of course. The taste brings in the coffee, through and through. Some light carbonation lets a note of alcohol come through to take the edge off the coffee bitterness.
Chocolate Razzgasm Oatmeal Stout
6.2% ABV
Black body, still with a thin ring of foam after waiting its turn in the tray. Smell offers sweet chocolate and raspberry. Very muck a “milk stout taste” supplemented by the raspberry. The lactose and raspberry kind of keep the chocolate to the background, but it is there.
Naughty Or Spice Winter Warmer Winter Warmer
5.9% ABV • Amber ale with Mango puree and Jalapeño chilis
There’s a hazy brown body that’s a bit of a turn off, though one does find some murk in a chili beer. Blame the Capsaicin oils. I do find more of a light citrus nose. The taste has a pretty good “fruit cup” character. Then the burn of Chile peppers. Not a painful burn, just the light fruity burn of green Jalapeños.
So four 4-oz beers being equal to one pint, that was just enough for me to continue my journey homeward. But the taproom also had an appealing selection of 16 oz. crowlers in the cooler case behind the bar, and they were offered at $16 for a 4-pack. Yeah, $4 each for freshly canned beer? Here I go. I’ve been going through these as late as a month since I got these, and have found that these are well-sealed crowlers, and have held their pressure and freshness very well:
Beer from Crowlers:
Plum Surprised • 5.0% abv
We took our MAWktoberfest Marzen, and changed it around completely. Add in a Belgian Abbey yeast, a whole bunch of plum puree, and a whole lotta malt!
This pours dark brown with a fizzy, yet persistent head. Plum on the nose is nice, yet leaves a little room for some toasty malt sniffs. Taste is simply very enjoyable. Plum flavor, yes, but not very sweet: balanced by malt and hops, presumably the sweetness has been fermented out. Don’t think I’ve had a beer with plum before, and I’m not disappointed.
BAMF IPA • 6.4%
Four great hops in this IPA: Bravo, Amarillo, Mosaic, and First Gold.
Golden to amber beer pour, nice and clear body, with a sudsy persistent head. Resiny hop nose with a bit of tropical fruit. Taste is a solid hop bang, slightly tempered by malt. Alcohol is only slightly noticeable, making it easy to enjoy.
A Fruit Punch Brunch • 5.9%
We added blueberry, plum and cherry to a light and crisp golden ale to create a delicious session beer that you can keep on crushing, no matter the reason or the season.
Pours properly fizzy with some nice foam. There’s a pinkish body tingeing toward amber. Fruit in the initial nose dwindles away, but there’s still a nice note of it. The taste is unapologetically a fruity beer. Blueberry and sweet cherry are mostly on top. Some blonde malts detectable. And just a bit of hops to keep the fruit from overwhelming the beer.
Lime Cheesecake Blonde • 4.5%
Blonde Ale with lime zest and cheesecake.
Finishing with this one, because it seems most unusual. Pours like a blonde ale, maybe a little more amber, with a head that dwindles very quickly. I can get some lime in the nose. Maybe a bit of cream cheese sourness, like in a Whitey’s Ice Cream Cheesecake malted. That’s a local thing that I recommend.
But anyway, beyond a bit of lime in the palate, I’m trying to catch something that says “cheesecake.” I think there is a slight note of cream cheese tartness. And yeah, now there’s a note of Graham flour to represent a cheesecake crust. Finish is still somehow perfumy. But it was still worth checking out.
As always, I’m happy to have been able to check out a new brewing place and to have found some beers I really liked. This has become more important in the Quad City beer scene, what with one of their O.G.’s Blue Cat Brewing in Rock Island, closing down.
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First time reading your blog. Well written and engaging with a nod to MAW for the beers. Thanks for stopping in the QC.