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Wednesday, October 17, 2018

A fall beer run

Last Saturday, I got to enjoy three of my favorite things -- time with my bestie, beautiful fall foliage, and craft beer.

My friend and I first did this three years ago and intended for it to become an annual tradition. But then things happened and we couldn't go the last two years. I'm really happy our schedules aligned this year and we were able to do it -- make the drive to Eastern Iowa to look at pretty leaves and also stop at a few breweries that are beyond our metro.

For whatever reason, leaves are the prettiest along or near the river. Fortunately, Iowa's east and west borders are rivers, so we just had to choose a direction. We went east again, mostly because we just love it out there.

Our day started at a local coffee shop for caffeine. I ordered the breve and it was the perfect companion for our drive. My bestie was pretty good company too. We have both been very busy lately, so it was nice to have a few hours to talk about life and world happenings.

After about two hours on the road, we arrived in Cedar Rapids and went into the Black Sheep Social Club for lunch. I ordered a cherry wood smoked brisket sandwich with cottage cheese.



The food was delicious and the service was great. Bonus -- it was attached to our first brewery stop of the day -- Clock House Brewing. I loved their flight trays and they had some really tasty beers as well.


My beers (clockwise from the bottom left): Midnight Misfit (oatmeal stout), Witch Slap (New England IPA), Clocktoberfest (Marzen), and Mango P.I. (mango pale ale).

They were all really good. I think I liked the stout the best, but I brought home a growler of the Mango P.I. for my husband.

We headed north from there and found our way to Dubuque and 7 Hills Brewing. Even with construction surrounding the building, the tap room was bustling and busy. We had a small wait -- even at 2:30 in the afternoon. We took that as a good sign. And we were correct. Their beers were very good, and we devoured an order of soft pretzels with white cheddar beer sauce and sweet mustard sauce. There were other things on their menu that caught my eye too. I would definitely go back.


My beers from left to right: Muddy Tugger (a brown ale made with oats and honey), 3 Men and a Beerby (session IPA), Run 4 the Hills (blueberry wheat pale ale), and Bernie's Red Ale (obviously, a red). That Muddy Tugger was the best brown ale I think I've ever had. It was perfectly sweet and malty.

I was the driver, so I didn't get any photos of the red and yellow leaves we saw, but they did exist. They'll probably be even more vibrant next week or even the week after, but they were pretty regardless. My friend and I also failed to take a selfie.Sigh. Oh well.

It was a wonderful day, and I really hope we can repeat it again in the future.




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