We have to step outside of Iowa City.
Like Champaign, Iowa City is a small college town. Since we play them every year, I am running out of breweries there to review. I have already done Backpocket Brewing, ReUnion, and Big Grove. This week I have to go out of Iowa City to nearby Cedar Rapids:
Lion Bridge Brewing Company
59 16th Avenue
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
Lions Bridge is a brewery that distributes a wide variety of styles. The canned beers they have include an English mild Ale, which is a pretty unique choice for a flagship beer that sounds pretty tasty. Here is their first description:
Lion Bridge Brewing offers artisan beer produced in small batches. We are always working to develop relationships with restaurants, caterers and other artisans in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor in order to help foster a community that is constantly striving to be new and innovative. The end goal is to produce delicious, complex, and approachable beers with a focus on community and local collaboration.
Let’s get to their options:
Compensation English Mild Ale – 4.5% ABV – Notes of biscuit, toffee, and chocolate meld with a silky mouthfeel to produce this world-class session beer. Gold Medal Winner at the 2014 & 2016 Great American Beer Festivals.
Bridge Beer – 3.6 % ABV – Bridge Beer is our take on an American Golden Ale, with just a bit more panache. It doesn’t demand hours of contemplation but you just might contemplate drinking it for hours.
Octobot 3000 – 8% ABV – A fusion brew with Garman and Czech roots in the recipe as well as the name (“robot” is a word with Czech origins). Munich and Bohemian Pilsner malt are the motherboards to this amped-up version of the style, while 7 months in a Willett Rye Whiskey barrels greases the cogs and make sure it all computes.
Honey Gold – 5.2% ABV – Hard to imagine a sweetness more beautiful than a drop of honey. In this collaboration with the Indian Creek Nature Center Apiarists we’ve blended an expertly crafted golden ale with the bounty of their bees to bring to you this Honey Gold.
Zombie Awakening – 7% ABV – In collaboration with Bloomsbury Farm. Black as the inside of a buried coffin, with enough Dash dark roast coffee to put a pep i the step of even the most lumbering undead walker.