This post is sponsored by Travel Iowa . However, as always – all thoughts and opinions are my own!

On Saturday, Kyle and I had the opportunity to go on a Mini Iowa Brewery Tour! We were lucky enough to partner with Travel Iowa + the new Iowa Beer Passport and had a chance to spend the entire day in the Des Moines area. If you know me well, you know that I’m a huge craft beer fan. And while Kyle can usually be found with a Busch Light, he’s always down for a local brown or red ale. So saying YES to a day of new breweries & beverages was a no brainer. When our alarm went off on Saturday, we both had zero problem hopping out of bed to get ready for our day date. We hit the road mid-morning & were on our way to our first stop of the day…

Mini Iowa Brewery Tour

Firetrucker Brewery

Located in the cutest part of Ankeny – that we didn’t even know existed – is Firetrucker Brewery where we kicked things off. I did an IPA flight that included the Iowa IPA, Tropical Burn, Uptown IPA and Cloud City and I liked each one more than the next. Seriously I would recommend all 4 if you’re an IPA fan. Kyle did Burnout Brown, Psycle, Day Dream and 2 Alarm Red. He thought Burnout and 2 Alarm were great, but wasn’t a fan of the other two. A bit sweet for him! After our flights, I went with a 10oz Day at the Peach because my heart was set on the description: juicy, citrus + hints of peach. Uhmmm SOLD.

The atmosphere here was EXACTLY our vibe. It was laid back and casual with a great outdoor space. The tasting room manager was absolutely wonderful! Actually all 3 employees we interacted with were great. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. It’s a bummer that we don’t live closer, because Firetrucker is without a doubt somewhere we’d be regulars at. The variety in their beers {+ options for non-beer people, too} was awesome and the atmosphere was equally as good.

Mini Iowa Brewery Tour

Lua Brewing

Our next stop on our Mini Iowa Brewery Tour took us to Lua Brewing downtown. And lets just say the design/aesthetic of the entire place and the painted murals were right up my alley. From the layout to the décor, you immediately felt like you were somewhere cool. We got there around 2pm and it was packed. Which is so good to see! Because of that, we ended up sitting at the bar. I’m actually so glad we did because we got to chat with a few different bartenders! And I know most people don’t care, but Lua had the most fabulous wallpaper in the women’s restroom. So good that yes, I indeed took a picture 🙂

Ok, so for our drinks… Lua doesn’t offer typical flights per se, but they have 5oz. pours that you can order. So basically we could create our own. Once again, I went for 4 IPAs: Joy As An Act of Resistance, Druid, Loud as Pack & Snake Charmer. I really liked them all, but Snake Charmer stood out ahead of the pack. Kyle went out of his comfort zone with 2 sours – Babygirl + Spookygirl – and also did the Instigator and Call It Dreaming. The Instigator was definitely his favorite, though I’ll say I thought the hints of coconut in Call It Dreaming made that one my pick of his! We also split the Chicken Tinga Tostadas that Kyle said were awesome…they had lots of onions in them, so I had to pass.

Mini Iowa Brewery Tour

Barntown Brewing

Last, but not least, on our tour was Barntown Brewing. It definitely had more of a restaurant feel as it was on the corner of a number of other businesses but that didn’t detract from the drinks or food whatsoever. For those of y’all with kids, Barntown had a very family-friendly atmosphere + a nice sized patio that we sat on. While there was no ‘flight menu’ exactly, they did offer 5oz. options so we were able to, once again create, our own. Of course I stuck with the IPA theme but did mix it up a bit choosing Neon Hazy, Cake Batter Drive In, Land of Silence and The Real Slim Shandy. Besides the Cake Batter, I’d order all of them again in a heartbeat. Neon Hazy may just slightly be my winner – likely because of the name.

Kyle went with Uncrispy Boi, Enamored Amber, Wagon Wheel and Broken Branch. All of which he said were good. He ended up going with a Real Slim Shandy full pour afterwards because he liked that one off my flight so much. I chose the Ruby Sunrise as my nightcap and 100/10 I would get that again. We also tried the fried pickles and the cheese curds and were not disappointed in either of them.

Mini Iowa Brewery Tour Recap

If you enjoy trying new beers, supporting local small businesses and want to switch up your typical weekend routines, we cannot recommend the Iowa Beer Pass enough! There are so many great spots on it and it gives you a chance to see the great state of Iowa. Of the 3 stops over the weekend, we genuinely cannot pick a ‘favorite.’ They all had things we loved that will definitely be bringing us back. And we can’t wait to start crossing more breweries off our passport here soon!

Iowa Beer Pass

The Iowa Beer Passport is a fun way to support Iowa-owned breweries, while receiving a curated collection of deals and discounts. Every check-in counts towards an entry in the grand prize drawing of a $100 gift card to the brewery of your choice. It’s free to sign up and the more breweries you visit, the more chances for prizes. Learn more here and see a few more details below!