Trip to Old Man River

After we discovered that cruising north up the Mississippi River wasn't a good idea we decided to cruise south to one of our favorite cruise stops and went to McGregor IA, and stopped at the Old Man River Restaraunt and Brewery. They are famous for their micro brews and we needed to fill our growlers. The food is great and well worth the trip.  We had our gowlers filled with our favorites, Dunkel and Weizen, and this time we were able to sample the Helles brand which is a light wheat beer, it was very good. We ordered a growler of Helles also and we discovered the brewery had changed it's logo. It is now known as BackPocket Brewery instead of the original name Einfach.

Einfach Beer was originally created by Old Man River and titled APPRECIATE SIMPLICITY. The story they had printed on their growlers told about the Brewery stived to provide Iowa with a simple, yet incedibly enjoyable world-class beer. They focus on German  lagers, they brew a beer you would need to fly to Munich to equal. Einfach was brewed locally on the Iowa shore of the Mississippi River so you are ensured the freshest German beer possible.

We discovered that Old Man River had to change it's brand name from it's famous Einfach Bier to Backpocket Bier because of some copyright issues from someone else already using that brand name. The best and most important part of it all is that their beer is still very high quality and great tasting.

The story behind Backpocket Bier goes; The truth is, you can tell a lot about a man by what he keeps in his back pocket; a useful pocketknife, a lucky coin, a worn out photo from an old love that has never died. Whatever it is, even if it wound up there by accident, there's a story behind it. A story that probably won't come out until you're in the right place, talking to the right people, with the right beer in hand. German-inspired and hand-crafted right here in Iowa, there's a Backpocket Beer perfect for every person, every occasion and most importantly, every story.
The next time you are cruising on the Mississippi River be sure to stop at McGregor,IA and visit the Old Man River Restaraunt and Brewery, you won't be disappointed.

High Water Blues

Here in the Upper Mississippi River Valley we are experiencing some unusual high water levels. Normally this time of the year the water in our area is around the 5ft. level and this year it is in the 9.5ft. range making our travel plans this year difficult. The sandbars to hang out on are very few and are now more like sand cliffs. We took a short cruise in our ski boat to pre-scout some areas out and were disappointed with the results we found, as we went north to Trempealeau we were pleased to see our favorite hangout, Hungry Point, still had their docks in and were open for business. As we went further north to Winona we noticed the city's docks were out of the water and the first tier of their levy was under water making it too risky to park and venture to town, we cruised to Fountain City,WI and were disappointed there also to see that the Wngdam Bar and Saloon didn't have their dock in either. The high water creates a very strong current and strong undertow making it difficult to keep docks anchored in place. However, we did get to enjoy a great sandwich and sweet potatoe fries at Hungry Point, also access to Sunset Bay Marina is open if you want to go to town and visit the historic Trempealeau Hotel. If you visit Port of La Crosse all the marinas are open for business and if you come during the week stop at Pettibone Boat Club, on Tuesdays they feature live music with outdoor seating. Caution: this week of July 18 - 22 the weather here is horrible the temperatures are in the mid to upper 90s and extremely humid with heat indicies as high as 115 degrees, IT'S HOT. Thanks for air conditioning, we sit inside the houseboat and watch movies and enjoy some adult beverages and the fishing pole sits outside in view by the door as we try to catch some catfish, they are fun to catch.
We plan to take on the heat and head south to see what it's like down that way we will let you know.