November 8, 2011
Pretty cool place about 5 miles off of highway 35... so if you find yourself driving through Southern IA it’s not a bad stop. This is a winery by trade & they just got started brewing beer. It’s a nice looking place, set in a hilly rural area so there are pretty views and a big stone patio area with a fire pit. I was told that they do some live music out there in the summertime. The tasting room is very new and clean & one of the owners was serving samples when we were there. He was a very friendly guy who seemed to really like the beer and want to talk about it. At no point did we get the vibe that they were a winery that made beer on the side, but rather the two coexisted happily. All of the beers we tried were good. They had 5 beers on tap including a wet hopped and a dry hopped treatment of their Pale Ale & both were delicious. You can try the beers from what looked like 3 or 4oz glasses and flights of 3 beers are $3. I’m not sure you could even order a pint/larger glass though. They’ve got bottles of other commercial stuff, about the most exciting one was Boulevard Pilsner though. They sell growlers in the medicine bottle style 32oz variety & they told us they would fill any growler someone brought in. We got the blonde to go.

July 17, 2011 [ Updated October 8, 2011 ]
Had a few more recently, same as before. Nothing flawed, but nothing amazing either. Just decent beer. The brewery is working with Madison County Winery and brews in one of their buildings. The location is scenic with rolling hills and a large vineyard. The tasting room is open and bright with lots of sun. The winery opened the tasting room in mid 2011 and it is inviting, very clean and modern. The wine staff pours the beers and very willing to talk beer or wine. A fun place to visit in one of the prettiest areas of Iowa. They don’t have growlers yet, mid July 2011, but are supposed to be getting some soon. However, they will fill one if you bring it. Otherwise, you can just order what is on tap. I knock them a little as they are currently serving the beer in plastic cups. The wine comes in glasses, why not the beer? The beers I tried were all decent, no major flaws, but nothing wowed me either. However, as the brewery has only been open a couple of weeks, I am sure they are still dialing in the system. Looking forward to trying more down the road.