Omaha NE – Upstream Brewing Company

There’s a story behind this story.

After checking out a couple of likely candidates online, I’d decided I wanted to visit Vis Major Brewing. They had an interesting list of beers, and although the menu was tiny, I actually had lunch today so was looking forward to just a warm pretzel appetizer to go with my flight.

I arrived at Vis Major to discover that there was almost no on-street parking (and it was all full), and although there were several parking lots, they were all posted as No Parking. The place looked like a corner bar that had gone out of business, so considering that I would have had to park several blocks away and walk back, I didn’t feel bad about heading to Upstream instead.

Upstream turned out to be in an area of Omaha that was packed with people. Why, I have no idea, but there they were. Fortunately, I was able to grab a small high-top table in the bar area.

They do flights of four, and fortunately (I guess) there were only four beers on draft that I was interested in.

From left to right, these four are:

Afterglow White Stout 4.4% – I’ve never been a big fan of white stouts, but I did like this one. It’s a little like the green ketchup that Burger King used to have, though … it goes down best if I close my eyes, ignore the color, and just enjoy the taste.

Dundee Export Scotch Ale 6.6% – I usually love a good scotch ale. Or more accurately, I love a good scotch ale. This one wasn’t bad, but it was far from the best of this type I’ve enjoyed over the past years.

Capitol Premium Pale Ale 5.5% – Unlike the American Pale Ale I had recently, this was absolutely not one I’d order again. I’m sure that some would find it quite lovely, but it was hoppier than I’m used to in this style, and I’m not a lover of heavily-hopped beers.

Firehouse Red Lager 5.0% – Of the four, this was by far my favorite and I ordered a follow-up pint of it. By the end of the pint, I was done with it and wasn’t left wanting more.

So that was the beer story … not terrible, but not outstanding.

For food, I order an appetizer that was hot artichoke and Asiago cheese dip with toasted garlic bread. Hmm … the bread was thick and a wheat bread with minimal garlic. Perhaps it’s a quirk of my taste buds, but wheat bread overpowers every other flavor that’s mixed with it, and I could barely taste any of the dip. The dip itself wasn’t “dippable” — I had to dig it out with my knife and spread it on the bread. Not ideal.

But then I asked my server what the cheesecake of the day was, and she said it is her absolute favorite: a Sopapilla. It was heavenly, and made the visit worthwhile in spite of everything else.

In short, I’m looking at my visit to Upstream this way: it may end up at the bottom of my list of brewpubs from this trip, but at least it helped make Omaha a bit more bearable 🙂