Sunday 22nd of January 2012 07:22:52 PM

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This person needs 3 or more reviews on the site for their scores to start counting.

Best Brewery in the Quad Cities by far. Really clean beers for not being pasturized and filtered. At the time there were 10 house beers on tap (2 seasonals) and 2 others from other breweries. They also had a fantastic selection of bottled beer as well. The service behind the bar was better overall than the beer hall and the food was pretty decent too. All in all it's well worth the stop if your going through the area.

Tuesday 24th of August 2010 10:00:32 AM

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Fairly typical brewpub setup, occupying two storefronts in downtown Moline. Large fermenters loomed large behind the long bar. Tile floors in the bar room, wood in the dining room. Nice patio in the back, lights strung overhead, and a large outdoor storage vessel. Satellite radio was tuned to a Greatful Dead station. Seemed to be a steady stream of growler traffic in and out on a Saturday afternoon.

Beer selection was pretty good, including a dry hopped pale ale, hefeweizen, jalapeno ale, oatmeal stout, strawberry ale, and others.

Service was pretty much just the bartender, no servers on the patio. Samples were offered when asked. Quality of the 3 beers I tried was good. Nothing mindblowing for beer geeks, but solidly executed beers. Crowd seemed to be older, but an eclectic mix of people, friendly overall.

Saturday 17th of January 2009 12:30:13 PM

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this place makes really good beer. there most popular is the uncommon stout which i don't really enjoy but people who like it are fanatics about it. i really realy like the jerry bear's honey porter and the dry hopped pale ale. the mississippi blonde is a nice light selection. the staff were always cool with us unless it was tuesday night when it's $2 pints and $2.00 burger baskets. the food is cheap bar food so don't go looking for gourmet. they occassionally have some pretty good bands, mostly jam rock acts. and i say park across the street in the bank parking lot. i've done it a thousand times and never been ticketed.

Friday 4th of July 2008 11:23:27 AM

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This is a down to earth place with great beer. The selection of microbrews was enough to keep me satisfied for hours. The food was typical bar fare. To be honest, I only had some smothered fries and a bowl of chili. Both were good, but not great.

The beer is the reason to come to Bent River Brewery. The chocolate coffee stout was incredible and I enjoyed the black lager as well. I tried a jalepeno beer because it was a new concept for me. It went OK with the food, but I would be unlikely to get it again. Spicy beer is not for me.

The staff seemed a little cold. I have been to a lot of small bars, and frankly I was surprised at how the waitress treated us. She wasn't rude, but she wasn't friendly either. Maybe it was a bad night for her.

On the down side... Since this is a downtown location, the parking situation is terrible. I discovered after I walked in, that I should not have parked in the lot across the street, which is apparently a bank lot. Despite the fact that no one is banking on a Saturday night, we are still not allowed to park there. I eventually found space in a parking garage down the block.

There was live music on the Saturday night that we went. After we had been there for several hours and several beers, the band came in to set up. They started playing a little after 9PM. It was SO LOUD that it hurt my ears. The BRB is a cozy little joint. I guess I am too old, because it was TOO LOUD.

The beer is great, so I have to recommend it because it is so hard to find good beer. I just wish the overall experience had been better.

I would go back and give them another chance to impress me and get me drunk on good beer.