Rock & Run Brewery: Worth the hike!

With window garage doors facing the street and a U shaped bar defending the tap handles crowding all of the wall space behind the bartenders; it is easy to see that Rock & Run Brewery and Pub has a lot of potential.

C and I found out about this new brew pub opening up in Liberty, MO through social media, and a local beer fest. Rock & Run opened its doors for business in mid December. This bar is just off the square of downtown Liberty.

We met a good friend there for dinner on a Saturday night. The restaurant was full and even had a 45 minute wait. This is to be expected for a new restaurant at 7 PM on a Saturday night. However, I was okay with the wait because the 'waiting area' is literally a couple of benches that are just a few steps from the bar, which will serve you even if you aren't seated. After perusing the really nice electronic beer menu above the bar, I pick Boulevard's Foeder Projekt #1. For those of you who don't know, that beer was a limited release sour ale, released last fall. I thought it was all gone citywide but I guess this place was able to get a keg for their opening. That beer is a indicator of the norm for the beer menu. They have 30+ beers on tap! Other restaurants will have Miller Lite, Coors Light, Blue Moon, Bud light, and Boulevard Wheat as their four taps. None of these beers could be seen on the wall, not even the Boulevard Wheat! They have a huge selection of beer. This also means there were no tap options that would be a light beer equivalent. They also had a wide variety from Boulevard to Lagunita to Ska and even quite a few some breweries I hadn't heard of, but would like to get to know. If you are worried about some of your friends who have not ventured down the craft beer path, there have been sightings of Bud light bottles and glasses of red wine, most likely just a house red.

Oh I forgot to mention, that doesn't even include the beer they MAKE on their own! Rock and Run got their start as home brewers and have grown and honed their craft to make quite a few solid craft beers. While I was there they had 5 beers ready for everyone to drink, with at least another five coming soon. They had a blonde (the beer style, although it could potentially be served by a blonde waitress), a wheat, farmhouse ale, a porter, and a stout. I had a flight of the Rock and Run brewed beer. The five beers were pretty good; I really enjoyed the darker side of the flight. I really liked their porter, farmhouse ale, and their stout. An interesting fact, that was pointed out to me, is that all of their beers are unfiltered or hazy but not in a bad way.

The food was really good. The staff was really good and attentive, despite being really busy. Our server was playful and knowledgeable. She tried her hardest to make our visit a pleasant one. C ordered the pretzels as that is one of her favorite things to get anywhere. The pretzels are light and fluffy as you pulled the hot bread apart. We then had a salad and sandwich that were both good. Next time I will try the pasta. I spied another table that had a nice size portion of creamy pasta. We drank our dessert via a pint of beer. I opted for the farmhouse ale they had.

A friend of mine that has also been to the brew pub suggest a good improvement for their menu would be to have beer styles paired with menu options, so that you could easily pick out a good beer for what you are eating. I would also like to see flights of the other beers on tap, but that's just me wanting to try them all.

Growlers are becoming increasing popular these days, and Rock & Run has one for you! The growler is $7, and then you can fill it with most any beer they have on tap. Unfortunately, this doesn't include their own brew for now, due to needing more on hand while they increase production. The rest of the beers on tap range anywhere from $15 to $22+ for 64 ounces of beer. They even seal the beer so there is no worry of an open container violation. When you bring the growler back, you can reuse it and only pay for the beer. This might not sound like a great deal (64 ounces is less than a normal six pack) there are a few perks for this option. One it is draft beer that you get to take home, which in my opinion is better than bottled beer. Furthermore, if you were to look at the list of beers available for the growler, you would see that you would be paying more for that much of those beers in the store.

Overall, Rock & Run Brewery and Pub is a great place to go, especially if you are in the area or looking for a new place to go. I would make the trip just for the beer selection. We will definitely be going back! Let me know if you want to go and we will go grab a pint or 12.