Prairie Street Brewing Co.
Rockford, IL
Founded: 2013
Website
Last visited: November 2018
Used to be known as Rockford Brewing Co., but a brewery in Michigan had the same name, so they changed it. Impressive, historic building on the Rock River, with a brewpub, office space, loft apartments, and a marina. They host meetings, weddings and special events.
The brewpub’s expansive interior glass windows give visitors a front-row seat into the brewing process. It features exposed brick walls and big, arched exterior windows, and hand-crafted furniture made of reclaimed timbers from Jonathan Peacock's original 1800's brewery.
Open daily at 11am. Live music Monday nights from 6-9pm on the riverside patio, June-September. They have 15 beers on draft, as well as a full bar.
BEER:
Krystal River Roll Kolsch - 3.50
- Light, refreshing kolsch; medium body, no noticeable hop bitterness
Hefeweizen - 3.75
- Solid example of style; banana and clove aspects dominate flavor profile
Rocktown Brown - 3.75
- Roasted, nutty flavor is classic; more malt would make for a more robust final product
Midnight Rooster Dunkel - 4.50
- Profound roasted character; tremendous example of a Munich dark lager
Chocolate Owl Porter - 2.00
- Alcohol level (7.2%) unfortunately overshadows chocolate and roasted character
English Pub Ale (cask) - 4.25
- Beautifully smooth, cask-conditioned ale; excellent balance between malt sweetness and hop bitterness
Oatmeal Stout (cask) - 4.00
- Beautiful dry stout; serving from the cask is the way to go with this beer; reminiscent of having a drink in an English pub
Screw City Light - 2.50
- Super light, almost zero hop character; essential lawnmower beer; suffers from blandness
FOOD:
Delicious array of seasonal menu items, made from scratch. Snacks, Soup, Salad, Burgers, Sandwiches, Big Plates, Sides, Kid’s Menu, desserts.
A few examples of unique choices: Korean Tacos (crispy pork belly, house kimchi, purple cabbage, spicy Korean bbq sauce); Scoville Burger (habanero & ghost chile jack cheese, habanero chile jam, spicy crispy onions, lettuce, tomato, mayo); Poke Salad (nori rubbed & house-cured salmon, edamame, avocado, sesame seeds, fried shallot, house fermented sriracha, sushi rice).
