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| - The first time I had ever heard of Rockhound Brewing Company was months before its release when founder and owner Nate Warnke gave a passionate presentation on starting up a small business to a cozy and interested crowd at the American Family Dream Bank one cold winter night. I had been meaning to try the place out and last night I finally took that opportunity to check it out.
The space is large inside but if you do not know exactly where it is at you would easily drive right past. The interior is spacious and sparsely decorated. We were seated immediately and I ordered the Greenbrush Pale Ale and for a non beer drinker like myself I can certainly say it was mildly hoppy, refreshing and delicious. I had two pints! We started by ordering the Rockhound Cheese Curds which were House-brewed beer-marinated Carr Valley cheese curds, smoked paprika ranch, horseradish sauce. They came out warm and slightly crispy as they should and they rivaled those of the Old Fashioned. For the main course I had the Confit duck, gorgonzola garlic puree, arugula, sliced apples, gorgonzola cheese, toasted french roll
. I wanted to try something different than a burger and I have never eaten duck so I was a bit concerned that I would not enjoy it but wanting to be a tad adventurous I ordered it and was happy that I did. The duck was not too gamey to throw my taste buds off and the garlic puree and apple slices offered a nice balance of sweet and savory as well as did the arugula.
The place was fairly empty as we were there around 7:30pm on a sunday night but I heard it can get pretty packed. The server was friendly and efficient and it was nice that the owner came out personally to greet us and thank us for stopping by. My only hope, and I hear it is in the works, is that as this place develops itself that they offer a more seasonal menu as right now aside from a couple nice surprises like my Duck Confit sandwhich, the rest is mostly standard pub fare. I would definitely recommend this place and I will definitely be checking it out again.
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