Raccoon River Brewing Company

The weather in Iowa has been brutally hot for more than a week.  Our downstairs air conditioner, which cools the living room, dining room, and kitchen, stopped working.  So, instead of cooking in Hell's own kitchen, we opted to eat out.

We decided to go to Raccoon River Brewing Company in downtown Des Moines, since it's more or less on the way home from work.  Jeffrey was in the mood for a burger, and for once we were in such complete agreement that we both ordered the same entree, the BBQ Bacon Ranch Burger with applewood smoked bacon and Cheddar cheese. 

As it was such a hot day, I also had a Tallgrass light beer. I sampled the Vanilla Cream Ale, which tastes a lot like cream soda and beer combined, but found it too sweet for my taste.  I was very pleased with the Tallgrass.

The burgers came cooked perfectly and just as we'd ordered- a beautiful pink-centered medium rare.  The hand-cut fries were ok, but I'll probably be more adventurous with my side selection next time.  We were so caught up with how good the burgers looked and smelled, that I almost forgot to take a picture!

Yep, I'd already started to chow down!

We were very pleased with the food, and since we ate at an unfashionably early dinner time, the restaurant was fairly quiet.  I don't think I'd find the restaurant very relaxing later in the evening, however.  But then, we're not really in the place's target demographic age group, so that's to be expected.  All in all, Raccoon River Brewing Company is a really great place to grab a burger and brew.

Peace Tree Brewing

I'm not sure if word's spread very far yet, but thoughout Iowa, a local brewing company has become quite popular in a very short period of time.

The company in question is Peace Tree Brewing Co., located in Knoxville, Iowa.  They produce a variety of original ales, including a corn ale and a rye porter, as well as really good root beer.  In the recent past, their products have been showing up in grocery stores and pubs around Iowa.  Peace Tree handles its own distribution. As they say on their website, "Since we are a native brewery in Iowa, we have taken advantage of the ability to stay close to our customers by distributing our products ourselves."

We recently dropped by The Peace Tree Tap Room in Knoxville to pick up some samples.  The place itself is quite nice, and we found the proprietors quite friendly and willing to offer samples of their wares, which are available on tap and bottled.

Pictured here are bottles of their Red Rambler ale (which Juli likes quite a bit) and their Root Beer (which I enjoy). 



Two of Peace Tree Brewing's products

We aren't big drinkers (I don't drink alcohol at all, in fact), but we are always glad to see small businesses succeed, and we like to do our part to support and promote local businesses.  As such, we wish the folk at Peace Tree continued success, and we encourage our readers to give their brews a try should they have the opportunity.

You can find out more about Peace Tree at their website, http://www.peacetreebrewing.com/ .  The site includes a listing of their current product line, as well as a listing of the various places one can purchase their products.