Hittin' Rock Bottom

The other night my brother, sister-in-law and myself went to check out Rock Bottom Brewery here in Des Moines. It's about five minutes from my apartment and my girlfriend was going to watch the new High School Musical movie. What better to do than check out the brewery?

As I had already eaten, I skipped the menu and began to examine the beer list. The variety of beers they offer there was about what I expected. Most of the microbrewers have the same samples: brown, red, pale, lager and wheat. They all of these and a couple of more. So, I decided to get the sampler, just to give 'em all a go. My brother followed suit, but my sister-in-law ordered a hefeweizen. They ordered their food and I got a bowl of chili.

The server brought us a complimentary sample of their Pumpkin Ale. In itself, it was not a bad little ale. The only problem was, well, they treated it like a margarita. The rim was laced with cinnamon-sugar, and that completely drowned out the flavor of the beer. Luckily, another sample came with our sampler pack, this time sugar-free. The beer had a nice pumpkin and cinnamon balance. It worked well for the rainy day atmo.

The rest of the beers came out and the servers lined them up and explained them to us. Despite mispronouncing Marzen, it was a decent explanation. I usually don't project an air of wisdom when it comes to beer, mainly because I look ten years old.

The first one I tried was their brown ale, because I really like brown ales. The aroma of this beer was faint. It had almost no smell, which turns out to be a characteristic for many of the beers they serve. The liquid itself was rather watery, but the flavor was still ok. It tasted much like a watered-down version of a good brown ale, like a Goose Island or something. I enjoyed it, but not as much as most browns.

I moved onto their red next. I always like to see how a brewer perceives what a red should be. To me, it has more play to it then a lot of beers. The red followed suit with the brown in that it was watery and lacked aroma. However, it tasted pretty good. Not very hoppy or malty, it went down smooth. The rest of the beers kept up the trend. Their dark beer wasn't nearly heavy enough.

All in all, it was a very fun time. A great place to hang out and have a few brews for gameday. The lightness of the beer makes it good for sessions. The servers were friendly, and the bar was overall very pleasing. Notwithstanding the "napkin incident" of course, it was a normal night out.

Still very excited about my Slow Elk and looking forward to finding more seasonals on hand at the local grocer.