Friday 14th of October 2016 10:08:37 PM

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From small to large.

Taking a year off to drive the good ol’ US of A, wife Persimmon and I have had the opportunity to find and experience several different breweries and brewpubs from famous to unknown.

A few have stood out and they were not necessarily the ones you would expect.

One afternoon leaving Missouri into Iowa (Des Moines…a 1 night stop-over) we had a leisurely, inexpensive dinner and were heading back to the motel for a beer when we noticed, in big neon letters, “Flix Brewhouse.”

The name had not appeared in any of our searches and we were too tired to back-track 15 miles on the interstate to the 3 located in the downtown area. So we stopped.

And what did we find?

A brewery, yes…housed in the back of an indoor shopping center; the kind populated by Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and Sears and Victoria’s Secret and children’s plastic playgrounds.

But not just any brewery. This was America’s ONLY craft brewery and movie house!

There are 4 of them; in Texas, Indiana, New Mexico and Iowa (Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines.)

Here, you can order 1 of 12 beers on tap as well as another 12 from local and not so local brewers; Confluence, Stone, Oskar Blues, Surly, etc.

And then. And then!! You take your lovely beer (and partner IF you have one) and wander into the theatre to see 1 of 5 first run movies. That night, the fare included “Magnificent 7” and “Girl On a Train.”

Why this has not become a national trend escapes me! A brilliant idea….and the beer ain’t beer either.

What’s more….the pours are very generous. However, don’t ask for a flight…they don’t do ‘em…BUT you can taste everything on the beer list with not so much as a raised eyebrow.

We enjoyed the Umbra Cocostout, the 10-Day Scottish, Raven’s Call, Beer of the Dead (all brewed there in mash tuns above the bar) along with Oskar Blues Old Juicy Bastard Barleywine and Surley’s Coffee Bender (nothing but cold, delicious coffee….don’t care what the bartender says…this was not a beer!)

We got there too late to see a movie but did watch a bit of the American League Championship Game between the BlueJays and Indians (Sound down, thank you very much!) and marveled again at how innovative the idea was and why it had not been done before

Neither of us were looking forward to our stay in Iowa. Could not find much to interest us in the pre-planning stages.

Which taught us an important lesson; don’t plan. Keep yourself open to new possibilities….

….and always, always pay attention to your surroundings…especially if they’re announced by big, blue neon signs