When I started thinking about my idea to try 365 Iowa beers in one year, I initially decided to limit myself to no more than two beers a day. It seemed like a good way differentiate between “challenge” and “drinking problem.”

But the Des Moines Beer Week just presented too many good opportunities to try one-off beers, as well as products from breweries that aren’t within a short driving distance of Des Moines. This post covers beers I tried at the Iowa Craft Beer Festival, I’ll have a second post from other Des Moines Beer Week events in the near future.

It doesn’t seem practical to break these up into five beer posts, to post photos of each beer, or to try to write a few sentences about each one. When something stood out (good or bad), I jotted down some notes. I’ll try to break a few of those out.

Beer 58: DSM Beer Week High Tide Australian Pale Ale: Bottled by Exile, this beer is a collaboration between 515 Brewing, Confluence Brewing, Court Avenue Brewing, Firetrucker Brewing, Exile Brewing, Flix Brewing, Fox Brewing, Granite City Brewing, Madhouse Brewing, New American Brewing, Reclaimed Rails Brewery, Rock Bottom Brewery, Twisted Vine Brewing, and Wing Nutt Brewing. That’s a lot of breweries. It’s a good beer, but it’s a more interesting experiment. I’m curious how the beer was decided on. It feels safe, which I suppose is better than every brewery throwing in one ingredient and hoping it all works out.

Beer 59: Broad City Brewing Co. Sticky Wicket Pale Ale

Beer 60: Court Ave. Brewing Co. Iowa Oaks farmhouse ale

Beer 61: Deb’s Brewtopia Apricot Wheat: I liked this combination. The apricot worked well with the wheat flavor. Neither overpowered the other.

Beer 62: Exile Gose Shore: On the other hand, I think this was the first of Exile’s sours I haven’t cared for. It’s also an apricot beer, but it seemed too sweet.

Beer 63: Granite City The Northern Lager

Beer 64: Lion Briege Centaurus Centennial-Hoped Session IPA

Beer 65: Twisted Vine Diablo Red

Beer 66: Toppling Goliath Dorothy’s New World Lager: A fine beer, but I was a little disappointed in the TG selection. Only two beers, both of which are pretty easy to find. I was hoping for something more unique. I hear they had a great one last year.

Beer 67: Turner Alley Czech Village Lager

Beer 68: Tornadic IPA with grapefruit

Beer 69: Tornadic Golden Strong

Beer 70: Quarter Barrell Recon

Beer 71: Quarter Barrell Goldrushed: This is a arcade/brewery in Cedar Rapids. That combo makes me want to visit Cedar Rapids to stop in here, at Turner Alley and Lion Bridge.

Beer 72: Shiny Top Brewing Nut Brown Ale

Beer 73: Granite City The Duke Pale Ale

Beer 74: Peace Tree Sound Check session IPA

Beer 75: Singlespeed Brewing Equatorial American pale wheat ale

Beer 76: Kalona Brewing Co. Tango Lemon Weizen

Beer 77: 515 Brewing Co. Mexican Summer Firkin: I wanted to bring my festival-going friends back to try this, but the firkin had been drained by the time we go back. It’s flavored with jalapeño and cilantro and if it’s ever back on tap at 515, try it.

Beer 78: Sutliff Cider: We stopped in for lunch at the Iowa Tap Room to cool down for a bit. Of course I needed to have a drink with my meal.

Beer 79: Alluvial Mosacious Pale Ale

Beer 80: Albia Brewing Co. Summer Shandy

Beer 81: 515 Brewing Co. Belgian Mistress

I’ll post my second Beer Week entry later this week, likely after a post about an event I’m checking out in Minneapolis on Tuesday.