Front Street Pub & Eatery, Davenport IA
16 September 2025
Front Street was the first brewpub in the entire state of Iowa! And it’s been flooded out – literally – twice. I arrived at 2pm on a Tuesday and although the service wasn’t the best — friendly, but MIA most of the time — I would come back here again in a heartbeat. The beers are fantastic and the food menu is varied and interesting.
I started with a flight that I’ll describe left to right:
Mahalo Pineapple Radler – Shandy, 4.6% – Shandy’s are good when you want one and I don’t often want one, but I decided to give this a try today because I have never seen a pineapple shandy before. Wow, but does it work! This was just superb, extremely refreshing with just the right level of pineapple in it.
Cherry Bomb Blonde – Fruit Beer, 5.4% – I believe this is their Blonde Ale with cherries added. As you can see, there’s a maraschino cherry in the glass and I still haven’t decided if that works or not — the maraschino is definitely the cherry taste you’re left with, but I think the extra sweetness does enhance the flavor just enough to make this a successful brew.
Goldlilocks Golden Ale – American Ale, 5.4% – I should have had this one first, I think! It was mild and pleasant, neutral, and would probably have been fantastic if I hadn’t already had the other flavors floating around my mouth.
Raging River – IPA, 7% – This brew was created after the most recent flood and has become one of their flagship brews. (They only had two IPAs on draft, this and a collaboration brew that you’ll hear about in a bit.) It was very well balanced with just a mild bitterness to remind you it’s an IPA at heart, but very refined and not at all “in your face.”
The Fish and Chips came with hushpuppies, an interesting surprise. There are three pieces of fish there, more than enough for a meal, and the breading on them was thin, light, and crispy. Being in the middle of the country, the fish wasn’t quite as fresh as you’d find nearer a coast, but it was certainly tasty.
I ended my visit with two half pints:
Coffee Kölsch (on the left) – Kölsch, 5.4% – They have a Honey Kölsch on tap regularly and you can taste a hint of the honey flavor in this version as well. The brewer did an excellent job blending in the coffee, creating a tasty beer that has just enough coffee flavor to be noticeable but not so much as to take over the show.
Iron Sharpens Iron – Cold IPA, 6% – This is a collaboration with Reserve Artisan Ales and it’s a bit hoppier than the Raging River, but still a nice, clean taste. Between the two, I’d take the Raging River for sure even though this was good.
It was difficult to get photos of the interior as it’s not a big place, but this will give you a sense of what there is. Front Street will definitely be on my list of places to visit again!
