it , somewhat reminiscent of the bar in the Blues Brothers movie that was protecting the guys on stage and a lot of distressed painted wood . Well , I walked in and right away I noticed they do have some old beer signs . A prerequisite of a good dive bar . They had some actual vintage beer signs including a Grain Belt diamond shaped sign from the 60s . There was a large late 40s Storz sign which I ’ ll get back to and a nice mix of some other actual old beer signs . We sat down and the bartender right away says “ hey cool Grain Belt shirt ”. I said thanks , you got any Grain Belt ? “ No ”, he says “ we had some when we first got going and it sold out just like that , but we haven ’ t got any more since then ”. I said , Well , that ’ s too bad ! He says “ yeah , this is the west side and these West Side hipsters they just won ’ t drink it ”. I said “ I had some at the Angry Goldfish ”. He said , “ Yeah , East Village . They ’ ll drink it over on that side of town ”. He says “ I love Grain Belt , though ”. I had to settle for a Coors Banquet . We took some pictures and a little video and really enjoyed the place as far as a strip mall bar . When you look out the window it looked like typical Valley west or Jordan Creek area . And inside though it had an authentic field , the beer selection wasn ’ t fabulous , but hey , it was a nice day in a bar with old beer signs . There was a graduation party that was ending and they had a taco bar . They invited us to eat something and they had a big giant pan full of queso . I had one chip with some queso and let me say it was some of the best queso I think I ’ ve ever had . There was a guy that was part of that party and he was a little bit drunk . He was claiming that the Storz sign was off of his grandfather ’ s barn somewhere near Clear Lake Iowa which later changed to Clarinda . Anyway , he was trying to tell us that the sign was from the the 70s and he knew all about Storz . I would give this one three mugs out of four , for a dive bar rating . And I would definitely go back if I was in the vicinity . The rest of the weekend was spent back at the hotel room getting some sleep and then an Iowa Cubs game on Mother ’ s Day . It was cold and rainy , and we sat through about six innings . Kyle Hendricks was on a rehab assignment so we got to watch the professor pitch .
Then we went to the car and headed back up the road picked , up the mother in law and drove on home . It was a very fun weekend , and the Angry Goldfish was the favorite . Des Moines is a place where the beer scene has been evolving for years ., There are a lot of local brews there . Grain Belt , what was tried out there in the 1950s by the Faust family and the distributorship didn ’ t make it , so they were relocated to Brainerd , Minnesota by the brewery . But it ’ s good to see Grain Belt has a presence in Des Moines and especially in certain neighborhoods . Sunday before the game we ate lunch at the Highlife Lounge down in the Court Avenue district . The Highlife has great dive bar food and lots of old beer signs . goulash and macaroni and cheese period . The Highlife has Grain Belt on tap and in bottles . They also have some other old school beers such as Schlitz and hams period , and highly recommended bar . They did rearrange some of their beer signs but it still has that cool . They ’ re describe of the vibe of the place is your grandpa ’ s 50s or 60s basement period . And I like and it just to being an old school bar that ’ s from that era and still anyway , a great weekend . And some definitely good dive bars were discovered t ’ s somewhat between the dive bar and home cooking including liver and onions period . other goodies on the menu they have a spam , egg cheese sandwich which I had it was excellent period , and many other similar themed foods and home cooking foods like
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