It’s hard to go a week at the College without hearing about local foods—whether in the Dining Hall, at McNally’s or even in the Academic arena. We at the S&B even talk about it in a large chunk of our issues, and very rightfully so. The benefits of buying local—qualitatively, economically and environmentally—are countless.
So that’s why we should think beyond just our food when buying local—we should think of our booze.
Iowa is not Colorado—we don’t have countless microbrews swilled across the country. Iowa is not Portland—we don’t rule the country in beer-hipness. Iowa, in general, is relatively lacking in locally brewed beverages.
There are just barely a dozen microbreweries in Iowa, but one local brewer, Mason Groben of Madhouse Brewery in Newton, IA, represents a new and exciting potential trend (see our story on page 5). Groben, who runs a two-man business out of an old Maytag warehouse, has plans to brew and bottle beer to distribute throughout Iowa.
Brewing began just last month, and while Groben does not get all of his ingredients from Iowa, he brews, bottles and transports his beer from 20 miles away. An investor is also growing Iowa hops to be used in later beers. This budding brewery has the chance to give Central Iowa a little something more to root for.
At Grinnell, we love our PBR and whatever McNally’s has on fire-sale. It’s usually relatively tasty stuff—and cheap. But when offered with a choice between the massive factories that pump out macro-brew by the tons, and a 6-tanked room run by a guy in Newton who happens to have a dream, maybe every once in a while, we can reach for something a little closer to home.
