515 Brewing Company

The 515 Brewing Company is in Clive, Iowa (in the 515 area code). I was able to visit their large and bright (at least during daylight hours) taproom. They are located just off a bike and walking path. I had really liked what I had sampled at the 2013 Iowa Craft Brew Festival and wanted to try more. They had six of their own beers and one guest beer and one guest cider.  I tried a sampler of all the beers.

Lil' Tart - This is a 4.4% ABV Berliner weisse style beer. It is golden in color with a touch of haze. There is a pure white head. The aromas are strong toasted wheat and lemony tartness. The taste is a fencing match between the strong toasty and nutty wheat, and the lemony sour notes. It does feel a touch watery, but the sourness makes it hard to tell. This was very nice.

Mexican Spring - This 6.4% ABV beer is brewed with agave and lime. It is golden and orange in color. There is a white head that leaves lacing down the glass. The aroma is lime, light agave, a bit of wheat. The taste follows the aromas, with wheat hitting first, followed by the lime, then some light agave. It is smooth and light to medium bodied. This is a very refreshing beer.

Belgian Paradise - Brewed with coriander, ginger and grains of paradise, this beer is 6.8% ABV and uses an Abbey yeast. It pours amber and copper in color. The head is white to off-white. The aroma is of spices, nutty malt, and fruity tartness. The taste follows the aromas, it is highly spiced. The mix of coriander and ginger really pops. The Abbey yeast adds appropriate to the style fruity notes. This is medium bodied and has a nice meld of flavors.

Spicy Brit - This 5.2% ABV beer pours a dark copper and amber in color. It has an off-white to light brown head that leaves thick lacing on the glass. It has a very nutty malty aroma. The taste is malt forward with a dry, grassy and moderately bitter sting of hops on the finish to balance out. It is medium bodied.

Dubbel B - This 6.9% ABV beer pours pure copper in color with an off-white head. The aroma is sweet, dark fruits, malt, and tobacco. There is a lot of fruity yeast esters. The flavors follow the aromas. It is medium bodied and true to the style.

Numb Nut - This spiced brown ale is 5.7 ABV that uses cinnamon and allspice. It is a dark chestnut brown with an off-white head. The aroma is highly spiced. It smells like Christmas spices. The taste is also highly spiced, adding a hint of moist tobacco. It is moderately bitter and quite dry. There is some dark roasted malt in the aftertaste, but the aroma and taste are overwhelmed by the spice.  I found this unbalanced.

The guest beer was the Thomas Beck black IPA from Confluence Brewing of Des Moines, Iowa. This 6.8% beer pours dark brown to black in color with hints of garnet. It has a light brown head. The aroma is hop forward, fruity, citrus tang, lots of orange. The dark roasted malt notes are present, but below the hoppiness. The taste follows the aromas, with light coffee from the roasted malt. The hops turn grassy on the aftertaste, but with light bitterness. This is a really excellent hop forward black IPA.

I also stopped at the Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery in West Des Moines, Iowa. I know Rock Bottom gets some grief because they are a chain. However, each location gets to brew what they want outside of a small regular lineup. Eric Sorenson is the head brewer at the West Des Moines location and he always has a big lineup going with lots of tasty specials. My favorites on my visit were the O Stout O, a dry and flavorful stout; the Promised Pale, a very nice American pale ale; the Belgo IPA, a very good to style Belgian beer with an American twist; and the Thai Me Down Wheat, which made me wonder why more beers aren't brewed with lemongrass, it was refreshing and really worked.