Monday 24th of September 2007 09:10:32 AM

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This is a small Belgian bar located upstairs from The Royal Mile, in downtown Des Moines. They have about 6 taps, all Belgian styles, and around 75 bottles, mostly Belgian. Of the taps, one was the only Iowa Belgian offering, Millstream's John's Generations White Ale. I'm always glad to see a little local love.

The atmosphere here is great. Dark and churchy, with great stained glass and sorta gothic sconces, etc. Small, intimate, it was very quiet the night we stopped in, as there was a festival happening downtown.

I've heard it gets awfully smokey; that wasn't the case on our visit, but there were only about 3 parties in the place. The staff was friendly, but not what I'd call intensely knowledgible, based on our conversation and the advice I heard him give others. However, he was helpful to a new fellow just getting started with these beers.

I really liked the atmosphere of this joint, and look forward to many return visits.

My only gripe is the hours. They don't open until 8pm, and not at all on Sundays, as I recall from a previous attempt at stopping in. This is the kind of place that I'd spend a lot of time, if they were open for me to do it.

Didn't eat, so I can't comment on that.