The Best Breweries, Brewpubs & Taprooms in Iowa
Some rock solid breweries around the Hawkeye State.
Written by CraftJack | Updated | 5 min read
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Where do you go when you’re in the mood for some delectable Iowa beer? The answer is to one of these craft breweries across the state.
515 Brewing Company
7700 University Ave, Clive, IA 50325
Alluvial Brewing Company
3715 W 190th St, Ames, IA 50014
Big Grove Brewery Iowa City Taproom
1225 S Gilbert St., Iowa City, IA 52240
The Iowa City Taproom is the real deal, boasting of a massive courtyard, large, attached patio, and second-to-none indoor seating arrangement to satisfy all of your food ordering, beer drinking, and event attending desires.
Start off with a Boomtown Premium or Iowa City Lager to wash down the buffalo wings. From there, you can choose your Eddy IPA:
- Easy (New England/Hazy)
- Royal (Imperial)
- West (American)
They even have their own brand of hard seltzer, if that’s your jam.
Big Grove Brewery Solon Brewpub
101 W Main St. Solon, IA 52333
A 20 minute ride North of their Iowa City taproom is their original, where the magic started, brewpub. We wanted to say "Where they Make It Sparkle”, but that was a cheesy pun and we want to respect their scrumptious Make It Sparkle milk stout.
Speaking of stouts, or rather, pastry stouts, Big Grove released the Bobkat to honor their Head Baker. It’s available in 500ml bottles @ the brewery.
Kidney Donation @ Big Grove
Because this site is a forum for exposure, however small that may be, we’re including this recently posted (2022) Youtube video about how the Head Baker of Big Grove Brewery needs a kidney. Hopefully you’ll take the time to watch and pass it along.
Brightside Aleworks
480 Center Pl, Altoona, IA 50009
Brightside Aleworks is a fun taproom that was born in the hearts of a small homebrewing couple over a decade ago. Live music, food trucks and trivia night complete the small town charm. If you play your cards right, you may even score some delicious bbq.
They also serve local Iowa hard cider from Jefferson County Ciderworks.
Confluence Brewing Company
1235 Thomas Beck Rd, Des Moines, IA 50315
Show us an outdoor patio with biergarten tables and we’ll show you exactly where we’re headed after work. Such is the case for Confluence Brewing Company in Des Moines, where you can bunker down for an afternoon of board games and bring-your-own eats.
Probably the best thing we can say about this microbrewery is that they’re hosting a live music event with Grunge Unplugged, a musical throwback to the early 90s. We’d be tickled to be in attendance to hear STP, Nirvana and Pearl Jam tunes for three hours while drinking a few cold pops.
Maybe the Downtown Throwdown or the Capital Gold?
Exile Brewing Company
1514 Walnut St, Des Moines, IA 50309
Open six days a week, patrons can get their fill of traditional pilsners, hazy IPAs and creative sours at Exile Brewing, which, brews, bottles, kegs, and cans on-site. Exile also hosts fun events like four-course dinners, trail rides, and 5k & 10k road races.
Get yourself a Zoltan next time you visit the taproom and relax. Or, check out Wonder Beer, their collab with Singlespeed. Hard to go wrong with Exile beers.
Pulpit Rock Brewing Company
207 College Dr, Decorah, IA 52101
Pulpit Rock Brewing opened its doors in the summer of '15 in a former dairy plant, so you’d think they’d produce better Milkshake IPAs. Ok ok, bad dairy pun. That said, Smarshmallow, Pillow Talk, and The Muffin Man all contain no lactose.
Pulpit Rock tries to get experimental with its brews. That doesn’t mean that they skimp on the flavor of their core styles, more just that they are unafraid to adventure with hops and adjuncts.
With Toppling Goliath and Pulpit Rock in town, Decorah is quite the place to be for craft beer.
Reclaimed Rails Brewing Company
101 Main St SE, Bondurant, IA 50035
A short drive from Downtown Des Moines, Reclaimed Rails Brewing has a taproom fit for a hundred and enough taps to pour for a quarter of them at a time. Open every day of the week for pints of High Trestle Hefes, RRBC is a great place for patio drinking in Bondurant. You can even get a private rental of the space for your next event.
Come to think of it, there are a lot of breweries centered around cycling as a theme, Crank Arm in North Carolina, 3cross Coop in Mass, and also Reclaimed Rails.
The Beer 30
One cool thing about Reclaimed Rails is The Beer 30, a beer & biking ride that covers 30+ miles from Uptown Garage to Reclaimed Rails and back. All the usual trappings of an awesome event apply, food, drink, games, and live music.
Toppling Goliath Brewing Company
1600 Prosperity Rd, Decorah, IA 52101
Clark and Barbara Lewey started the brewery in 2009 and quickly became known for their tasty IPAs and barrel-aged stouts. Distributing to 30 states, TG produces 40 beers each year.
Awards? They have them. Consistently ranked among the best craft brewers in the world by Beer Advocate and RateBeer, Toppling Goliath has garnered plenty of awards, most of which are centered around their world-class barrel-aged stout, Kentucky Brunch.
You know their other beer names too: Pseudo Sue, Mornin’ Delight, and King Sue, to name a few. In fact, their retired beers list could make it’s own all-star brewery just by itself.
We love TG for their outstanding beer. Plus, the inflatable dinosaur thing always gets us.
Singlespeed Brewing Company
325 Commercial Street, Waterloo, IA 50701 | 128 Main Street, Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Singlespeed Brewing Company has two taprooms, one in Cedar Rapids, and one in Waterloo. Another cycling-inspired brewery, Singlespeed has an excellent brewery logo. We’re also really, really impressed with the icon artwork for each individual beer in their lineup.
Speaking of their craft brew roster, Singlespeed has core beers, Shift into Sour Series, Nimble Series, Limited Releases, From Time to Time, and Decellarated, a Wood-Aged serial line of brews.
If you’re into Oktoberfest beers, you should really check out their Marzen, 16 Days, or, The Bourne Altimatum, a German-style Altbier.
Other breweries in Iowa
- 1717 Brewing Co
- 515 Brewing Co
- 5ive Cities Brewing
- 7 Hills Brewing Company
- Alluvial Brewing Company
- Backpocket Brewing Co
- BackRoad Brewery
- Bent River Brewing Co
- Big Grove Brewery and Taproom
- Big’s BBQ Brewpub
- Boone Valley Brewing – Production Facility
- Boone Valley Brewing Co
- Boot N Flute Brewery / Guild Wurst Tavern
- Brightside Aleworks
- Brioux City Brewery
- Carroll Brewing Co.
- Catfish Charlies / Catfish Creek Brew Pub
- Clock House Brewing
- Confluence Brewing Company
- Contrary Brewing Co
- Court Avenue Brewing Co
- Crawford Brew Works – Bettendorf Iowa
- Deb’s Brewtopia
- Depot Deli and Lounge
- Drink Me Brewing
- Exile Brewing Co.
- Farmhand Brewing Company
- Fat Hill Brewing
- Fenceline Beer Lab
- Fenders Brewing Company
- Firetrucker Brewery
- Fox Brewing
- Franklin Street Brewing Company
- Front Street Brewery – IA
- Full Fledged Brewing Company
- Gezellig Brewing Company
- Granite City Food & Brewery (#5)
- Granite City Food & Brewery (#6)
- Great Revivalist Brewery
- Iowa Brewing
- Iowa River Brewing Company
- Jubeck New World Brewing
- Kalona Brewing Company
- Keg Creek Brewing Company
- Lake Time Brewery
- Lark Brewing
- Limestone Brewers
- Lion Bridge Brewing Company
- Lost Duck Brewing Co.
- Maquoketa Brewing
- Marto Brewing Co.
- Mason City Brewing
- Millstream Brewing Co
- Mistress Brewing Company
- NoCoast Beer Co
- Okoboji Brewing Co
- Parkside Brewing Company
- Peace Tree Brewing Company
- PIVO Brewery
- Pulpit Rock Brewing Co.
- Quarter Barrel Arcade
- ReUnion Brewery
- River Ridge Brewing
- Rustic Brew
- Shiny Top Brewing
- SingleSpeed Brewing
- Textile Brewing Company
- The Iowa Project
- Thew Brewing Company
- Third Base Brewery
- Timbukbru
- Toppling Goliath Brewing Co
- Torrent Brewing Co
- Twin Span Brewing
- Twisted Vine Brewery
- West Hill Brewing Company
- West O Beer
- Wise I Brewing Company
- Worth Brewing Company