Monday 6th of April 2009 01:53:33 PM

link
Despite the Iowa beer laws leaving out a lot of the bigger beers and beers of distinction, I've heard that this is a great beer store, and finally made the trek.

John's surely does score all the variety points to be had in this state, and they have many beers I didn't realize were available here. I say this as someone who gets the state's publication listing all the higher abv beers (distributed by the state and taxed higher like liquor). Turns out, John's has been around so long that if a case of this or a case of that makes it to Iowa, they get first dibs and the beers seldom make it into print. So there are some Belgian nuggets here, barley wines, RIS action. I managed the second to last bottle of Boulevard's Smokestack Series RIS after chatting with one of the workers. They've got a few things tucked away in back, so you may want to ask about hidden gems.

There are beer stores with bigger variety out there, but not in Iowa. Definitely worth the stop, though bigger beers may have a tax-related higher price point than in other markets.