Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Brick's Bar and Grill is scheduled to reopen on the 29th of October and in addition to have a change in partners they are attempting to change the clientele a little as well which should bode well for beer drinkers.

I was lucky enough to get to sample about 70 of the 100 or more beers they plan to stock and while my palate isn't as refined as others I do have a taste for a variety of good beers, especially over the traditional domestic drinkers they also had in attendance helping choose which beers to keep and which to get rid of.

If they stick with original intentions they plan to have a Century Beer Club where if anyone drinks all 100 beers (mostly bottled) they will throw a free keg party (limits on what brand of keg are still being discussed as we are encouraging them to open it up beyond the traditional choices).

I wish I could remember all the different types of beers I tried but after 70 samples I barely remembered my name but I do know they plan on carrying quite a few of the Goose Island line, Boulevard Smokestack Series, lots of midwest breweries to choose from as well. I will post more when I get more details.

Awesome! I work 2 blocks from them and I cannot wait.

I was up to around 75 beers when they did their beer club before. Hopefully the clientele changes. It was getting to be quite a dive bar.

tompb wrote:I was up to around 75 beers when they did their beer club before. Hopefully the clientele changes. It was getting to be quite a dive bar.

They are getting rid of the $5.00 cup night which will help with a lot of the problems they had and since craft beers cost a little more that should help. They added a bunch of TV's made that back area into an actual usuable patio and some other minor changes. So hopefully that will help but it is still downtown across the street from the place that attracts that type of crowd.

Just got off the phone with a friend and he is pretty excited about the selection they have on tap. Here were a few that I can remember off the top of my head - Delirium, Widmer Pitch Black and pretty sure he said a Ommegang on tap in addition to a few others. Tonight is family and friends night and my wife is unable to join me so I have room for one if anyone would like to get a sneak peak?

I'm up for more good beer. I just don't want to have to fight a drunk crackhead for it.
Hopefully the food gets back to edible as well.

Sorry didn't see your message until after I left. Brian ended up joining me and helping provide them with a lot of feedback which they were very thankful for.

Pretty sure crack heads won't be much of a problem - they don't have much of a crack head type of a selection however location might be an issue but any bar around that area including the new one will have the occasional crack head. I have eaten there three times now - twice I had the Bacon, Sausage, Mozz Cheeze with whole eggs cracked open on top of a pizza, pizza and it is awesome. Brick Oven Pizza s going to their specialty but have many of the other bar type with a spin food. Yesterday I had the King Burger which was 1/2 pound burger, bacon and a fried egg on a bun. It was pretty darn good and very filling.

Beer selection is also very good - A couple different Deliriums (Notcturnum might be my new favorite), 7 different Abita's, multiple Shlafly's, Summits, Bells, Rogues, Peace Tree and Lucky Buckets plus many more.

Biggest thing right now is they are in a soft opening so staff and owners alike are getting trained on their selection, equipment, speed, etc. They love and want feedback and encourage people to let them know or if you want to pass it on to me I can get it back to them as well. Good or bad and they are especially wanting the bad. Hopefully they are able to keep it going and keep it clean as I see myself bellying up often.

Speaking of soft openings, White Star is softly opening, too.

http://www.facebook.com/whitestaralehouse

It was a great time on Friday…thanks Greg for the invite. I think this will develop into a nice downtown beer bar that will complete or compliment White Star nicely. They are looking to bring in beers that no one else can get that will bring in beer enthusiast. The Delirium on tap was great they also had the Ommegang BPA http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ommegang-belgian-style-pale-ale-bpa/116121/
As well as some other tasty beers and bottles. They are learning how to server the beer at the proper temp and with the proper glassware so be patience but also be helpful. I only had a couple pieces of pizza but that was great. I’ll be back for some drinks and food.

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Website is up and running now:
http://www.brickscedarrapids.com/bricks ... ee_It.html

Been a couple of times in the last month. A 2 Thumbs Up on both the pizza and beer selection!

Served my Ommegang BPA in a proper glass. No puzzled looks from my server when I ordered my beers, unlike some places we won't mention. Definitely on my "go to" list of bars!

Stopped in today for a couple beers. They are upping the ante in the CR beer market. I do recommend trying them if you haven't been there in a while.