Probably the oldest is Millstream Brewing Company out of the Amana Colonies. They have been around for 25 years now. I remember trying their beer at their brewery in the early 1990's. The whole craft beer thing was new back then. The beers were good and still are, although I have heard that they went a little downhill for a period. Now they are winning awards for their beer.
Madhouse Brewing Company out of Newton has an awesome American pale ale and a very drinkable wheat. Wheat beers are not I style I generally like, but I can drink the Madhouse. This is run by the Jasper Winery folks. They put their brewery in the old Maytag factory. The pale ale is called Pastime which is also the name of the first washing machine by Maytag that came out in 1907.
Peace Tree Brewing Company out of Knoxville is doing some original and full-flavored beers. They also have great labels and I love the old school squat bottles.
Olde Main Brewery in Ames has a really nice India Pale Ale and a line of other beers as well.
Great River Brewery in Davenport has a very nice pale ale and a good red ale. I have not been able to try any others from them yet.
Old Man River Brewing out of McGregor, Iowa has a nice dunkel. I have not been able to try enough of their beers to say much more.
This does not even touch on the many brewpubs who are brewing some good beer on site.
There is also Hub City out of Stanley. I heard someone call this Hub Shitty. I have tried several and they were uniformly bad. However, that was quite a number of months ago, maybe they have increased their quality.
Am I missing any? Which is your favorite?
http://www.millstreambrewing.com/
http://www.madhousebeer.com/
http://www.oldemainbrewing.com/
http://www.peacetreebrewing.com/
http://www.greatriverbrewery.com/
http://www.oldemainbrewing.com/
http://www.hubcitybrewingcompany.com/
Toppling Goliath out of Decorah and Worth Brewing out of Northwood are the two best I would say.
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