August 9, 2009
Good ambience and service. The food is pretty decent however highly priced. I will often frequent this place if i am in downtown des moines.

June 20, 2009
Been here twice and will return anytime I am in Des Moines. The much better of the w brewpubs in downtown. Average but large brewpub by looks. It is in the downtown area of Des Moines, so there are other nightlife things but it is just Des Moines. Service was average but the brewer is willing to talk to anyone, he is really nice. Food: was average restaurant stuff. The beer: well the selection is large, love that. I think I had like 13 different beers once, with the seasonal, a brewer’s reserve and a cask. No flaws in the beers except the barrel stuff can be a bit underwhelming. All the regular stuff is solid, the brewer experiments all the time. Unfortunately, there is a 6.2 cap in Iowa. I will be back for sure. Seems to always have a barrel beer going and a cask.

February 9, 2009 [ Updated May 15, 2009 ]
Visited for lunch on February 7, 2009. I was a large group of 11 which included 5 kids. The building itself is in a restored / renovated building in a nice part of downtown Des Moines. Very comfortable space with large tables in the dining area, and a big bar area. The two areas were nicely separated. I only had time for one beer, though they had about 6 regulars and a seasonal (Porter) on when I was there. Service was great, very attentive. Handled the kids very well, with fun games for them to play. Menu has nice diversity, and everyone was happy with the food they ordered. I had the Jambalaya on the recommendation of the waiter, and it was goodish. The Portabello sandwich looked great, I would likely get that next time. Overall, a nice place to grab lunch, particularly for a larger group.

February 4, 2009
This place is all right, and they do a good job with their cask conditioned beers. I rarley have something here that I don’t like in the way of beer and they make a fairly broad range of styles. You can always sample the beers, and I always do. This is the best brewpub in Des Moines, but that isn’t saying too awful much. The ambiance is great, they have plenty of old Brewerina all over the place. I enjoy it. The food is always very good too.

August 19, 2008
Nice little patio out front, dark inside at the bar with a relaxed atmosphere. Music in the background. Beer label signs on the walls and brewing equipment on display. The proper dining area looked a little sterile and generic. 8 taps one seasonal, all basic styles and one cask offering. Also offered a Brewers reserve which was a slightly higher alc beer. Numbered mugs hang over the lacqured wood bar. Service was good on a slow Monday night. Mennu ranges over some varied options with local pork and beef products featured. Having binged on steak the past weekend I went with the fish and chips and brisket and barley soup, both were above average to quite good pub grub. Unfortunately the unambitious beer was the lowlight here. Still a nice stop.

June 27, 2007
Dropped by Sunday afternoon for some appetizers and the eight-beer sampler. All of the beers were good to excellent. Their Blackhawk Stout was their best beer, and I’m not even a stout fan. The place was in a cool-looking part of Des Moines that looks like was part of a downtown renovation project or something. Older-looking building, but looked new and nice on the inside. The service was excellent. Definitely worth the trip if in Des Moines or traveling through.

June 13, 2007
I was in Des Moines for a convention this past weekend and wanted to hit a brewpub while there, I did some searching on ratebeer and desided to give this pub a try, thanks alot ratebeer. Ok, this was a very nice place, the food was good, I ordered a steak, and it was a little tough, (tougher than it should be for being medium rare.) The beer was good too, my first one was there Belgian White, and I was very impressed with it, I then ordered a Burbon Barrel amber. That was very good too. That is the extent of the beer I had. The service was awsome, the waiter we had was a fellow homebrewer, so we talked homebrewing and beer for a while, he then took me to the brewery to show it to me. My wife wanted to go to the Granite City brewpub, but I talked her into this place, she was happy she listened to me, and she is a hard one to please.

May 5, 2007
It’s hard for me to give this place a fair rating, because it’s like a home away from home. I think it’s fair to say their standard lineup of beers is very strong. However, I always find myself gravitating towards the seasonals, which are usually outstanding. The Brewmaster does very well with Belgian styles, even though Iowa’s archaic laws hamper brewing these to their proper strength. The Octoberfest is always wonderful and runs out fast. Ask about brewer’s special beers as well. These are typically small batch, well-aged beers. They are somewhat more expensive but definitely worth it. The food is excellent, day in/day out. Try the jambalaya (spice it up) or the ragin cajun pizza, or whatever fish is on special. This place also really welcomes families, with a good kid’s menu and great draft rootbeer. If you happen to be around for a brewer’s dinner, don’t hesitate to pull the trigger. It will be one of the best meals you ever had, and a tremendously fun time. Unfortunately, of course, you’ll probably end up drinking a lot of good beer.

May 2, 2007
Nice atmosphere, I stopped in for lunch and the food was quite good if slightly overpriced. The beers had a lot of flavor for being exclusively session styles. Probably the most consistently decent beers of the Iowa brewpubs I’ve visited and also the only one that doesn’t seem to try to combine family/large group dining with slightly upscale food + sports (a combination that really irks me).

December 3, 2006
When this place first opened, I thought that it was the bomb. The waitstaff totally loved ber and the styles of beer made here were very daring and exotic. They must have changed management because these things no longer exist here. The food is good, but pricey. The beer is good, but safe and common. The staff is beer stupid now. There’s so many great beer sites in and around Court Avenue that you will definitely want to drop in here if you are out of town, but this is no longer the must-see brewpub that it once was.