May 11, 2012
This place reminds me a lot of a Rock Bottom, kind of an upscale sports bar/brewpub. The beers were below average for a brewpub. If I’m in Des Moines in the future, I would definitely go to Court Avenue over Raccoon River.

March 27, 2012
Nice little place in downtown Des Moines. About 5 of their own regular beers plus 2-3 seasonals. Had the Homstead Red - nothing speical. Ate lunch here and it was OK, again nothing special but not bad.

August 26, 2011
It’s an OK place. Big warehouse, kind of fern-bar. Pleasant enough at the bar. Decent servers. Their beers are quite up and down and the food is standard so-so.

April 8, 2011
I sat in the bar which has a sportsbar like atmosphere. The service was good but the beers were not very good. There wasn’t a whole lot of people there either which was strange for a Saturday night at 5pm.

December 29, 2010
Fun place - free pool, good food, a good number of house taps available, and a couple "guest" bottles. The beer is just okay - nothing spectacular. Fun place if you want to have a couple and shoot some pool, but not really a beer destination.

February 4, 2009
The building looks nice, and the atmosphere is ok if you stay downstairs. I don’t find myself going here very often even though I live about a half a mile away. I don’t usually like the scene here and the beer isn’t worth me going. They make a good IPA sometimes, and a few others are worth trying, but those are usually on tap at other places in Des Moines. meh

August 27, 2008
Large building in downtown, a lot of dark wood paneling, resembles a Rock Bottom. Beer quality is below average, selection is decent: 5 standards + 3 seasonals (wit, pils, wheat). Service was fine. Family dining with a lot of Miller Lite drinkers. I think I should have hit the other brewpub in downtown.

May 2, 2007
Nice enough food and okay beer. A slightly upscale business crowd.

December 3, 2006 [ Updated July 1, 2010 ]
I’d recommend that you visit this place if you find yourself in Downtown Des Moines. It’s as good as Court Avenue Brewing and usually has a large number of beer on tap. I think the best time to be had is at the Hessen Haus, but I have always enjoyed the experience here.

November 12, 2006
Big place located in downtown Des Moines in the same general area as Court Ave Brewing Company. They had 7 of their own beers on tap and offered a sampler. No cask conditioned ales unfortunately. Service was good. The place was not overly crowded at 8 PM on a Saturday night, but there was a pretty good crowd. Service was decent. I did not eat. I’ll try the food next time.