I spent a few days in the Quad Cities last week. Straddling the Mississippi between Iowa and Illinois, the Quad Cities are full of history. In the city of Davenport, Iowa, that history includes the Bucktown area. Once known as “the wickedest city in America”, it was home to a documented forty-two brothels in a two block area. These days Bucktown is Davenport’s downtown arts district. It’s also home to the Great River Brewery, the Quad Cities’ and Iowa’s newest production brewery. Great River brewers and founders Paul Krutzfeldt and Scott Lehnert started producing beer at the brewery in January of this year. They come to Davenport from Iowa City where they were the brewers at Old Capitol Brew Works and Public House. In fact, the actual brewery came with them from Old Capitol and beer for the brewpub is now brewed in Davenport. They are brewing a full line-up of seven beers plus an old fashioned root beer. Looking through the windows into the brewery I saw some oak barrels being cleaned suggesting that a barrel aging project is in the works. Currently their beers are only available on tap, but the website says 16 ounce cans are coming soon. I had the opportunity to stop by their Brewer’s Lounge and sample the wares. Here’s my thoughts.

La Jefa Mexican Lager – I would have sworn this was an American Wheat. Light gold and hazy, it was lacking the clean crispness of a lager. Citrusy fruitiness and a grainy/wheaty malt profile furthered my confusion. It was a tasty beer, but I was surprised to read on the sampler sheet that it was supposed to be a Mexican Lager.

Mexicana Dark Mexican Lager – A pretty straight forward Vienna style lager. Some light toasty caramel malt notes balanced by spicy continental hops. Solid enough, but didn’t really stand out.

483 Pale Ale – This was a fairly decent American Pale Ale. Aggressively bitter with nice, bright citrus hops and balancing grainy malt. I detected some biscuit notes in there as well. It was a favorite of some in my group.

Roller Dam Red Ale – This was the star of the show, a really nice Irish red ale displaying big caramel malt with just the right hint of roast in the finish. Moderately assertive bitterness and light floral hop flavors finish it off. This was the unanimous favorite of my group and we all ordered a pint after finishing the sampler.

Farmer Brown Ale – This one was tasty as well, my second favorite from the line-up. It is appropriately more toasty caramel than the red with a bigger hit of roast. Resinous American hop varieties provide a solid bitterness and flavor without overwhelming the malt. Nicely balanced.

Straight Pipe Stout – This big, rich oatmeal stout was my third pick from the sampler. It was medium-full bodied with a nice sweetness. The roast seemed a bit high to me and had an odd grainy character to it like chewing on grains of black malt. But you know what, oddly I found that pleasant. This might have been my next pint had we been able to stay longer.

Far Out Espresso Stout – My group liked this one. To me it had a strong green pepper flavor, something I find in a lot of coffee stouts. No one else could taste it. I couldn’t taste anything else. Maybe it’s just me.

I wish the folks at Great River success and will certainly stop in again the next time I am in the Quad Cities.