3rd Base Brewery - 7/11/13

WELCOME BACK loyal reader to the best damned blog about burgers this side of the Mississippi. I don't know who you are, but I'm glad you showed up. We've been out of the burger game for awhile due to things like "work" and "family" and "court ordered community service", but that's now all behind us, and we are free to patronize businesses that serve both food AND alcohol, even if societal mores dictate that we not imbibe due to the hour of the day.

Mental note Einstein, next time you go to the brewpub to review the burger, perhaps you should do it at a time of day when it would be feasible to actually drink one of the many beers that are brewed on site. 

It should be pointed out that this week marks the 1st anniversary of the Burger Tour. It was one year ago this week that my friends, co-workers, well-wishers and various hangers on and lickspittles chose to join me in the quest for Cedar Rapids best burger at Al's Red Frog. In that year, we've managed to review 15 different burgers, and I have high hopes for the 2nd year as well. 

3rd Base brewery

3rd Base Brewery, located on Blairs Ferry Road, is the first and only brewery to be located in Cedar Rapids since the madness of Prohibition was struck from our nations laws. That other place on 1st Avenue has their wort delivered by truck, and finished on site, so it doesn't count as an actually brewery, in this blogger's opinion. I have enjoyed many of the beers that they offer, but as stated, I was not able to enjoy one today, nor are we here to discuss beer, tasty tasty beer. 

3rd Base offers a number of beers on tap, both their own and other breweries, and has a very good menu to choose from. As our review numbers indicate, it's a place worth checking out. 

The Burger

I chose to relax the draconian rules of the burger tour, and allowed people to order as they wished. I'm getting soft in my old age. I counted 16 total reviewers today, and I truly want to thank everyone for  coming out to keep this enterprise of ours moving forward. I could not do it without all of your input. 

OK...so...3rd Base Brewery, with 10 of 16 surveys submitted, has earned themselves 7/10, which earns them a spot in our current Top 5. Bravo! 

The Pub Burger, as presented. Note the careful alignment of the pickle slices , that there is QUAL-I-TEE!

Comments on the burgers themselves included:

• Bbq bacon burger. Hot fresh juicy, crisp bacon. Just awesome.
• Swiss and mushroom!!!!! Big thanks to the dictator for relaxing the rules. It was good! (The Dictator acknowledges your thanks, then subtly gestures to his guards to seize the traitor who dared to speak up!)
• Pub Burger. I neglected to get cheese, a decision I'll regret the rest of my days.
• Burger with pepper jack and bacon, ketchup, mustard. Burger was pretty good, was juicy without being greasy (unlike Starlite burger where i kept tasting the grease hours later).
• I had the mushroom and swiss burger with lettuce, tomato, pickle onion and BBQ sauce. The bun made the burger huge so i decided to take the top part off and that left me with a soggy bottom... ;)
• Had the cheese head burger. The meat was very tender and good flavor with lots of cheese but the bun killed it. The bun was to big and dry. If it were not for the bun it would have been a very good burger.

Some assembly required.

Fries & Sides

Fries were given a 7.18/10. Again, pretty respectable. The fries were shoestring, which are not my favorite, but they were hot, fresh, lightly seasoned, and quite good. Based on comments, it sounds like enjoyed a wide variety of sides, and pretty much everyone was satisfied. Comments:

• Seasoned fries were hot and very good.
• Onion Rings, done just right, very good
• Love the homemade chips! Salty, crunchy and delicious.
• Potato wedge. Crisp and hot, didn't taste like they've been sitting for hours
• Green beans-fresh and cooked just right-good flavor. (Hippie)
• I had the brew city fries, the waitress described them as Arby's curly fries but straight which was pretty accurate. The weren't bad but nothing to write home about.
• Crinkle fries, they were meh.

Service

Despite the waitress being a little slow to get our orders taken, I thought she did a good job. 16 orders, all brought to the table in a reasonable length of time once the orders were actually taken. She kept my soda full, which is sometimes all I need to be made happy. Cheap date that I am. Service was given a 6.64/10. Comments:

• It took some time to get our food but I think mostly for the large group.
• Server was very nice but i did have to sit with an empty glass for about 5 minutes
• Big crowd so took longer than I liked but expected for as many people we had.
• Decent service. Liked that she brought the checks out right away after delivering the food so we didn't have to wait. (Ben's idea. Good show old man!)

Conclusion

All told, a pretty successful stop on the tour following the hiatus. I need to make a point of getting back to 3rd Base sooner, rather than later, and try one of the tasty tasty beers I mentioned. 

Would you eat here again, or recommend it to others? We rated 3rd Base a 4/5. 

Final Comments:

• Nickelodeon on in a bar? 4 TVs tuned to static - epic fail
• If it was not lunch I would have sampled some micro brew.
• Typically good beerz for after work.
• Fix your satellite or turn the TV's off that were scrambled
• Good atmosphere, could have had better selection of TV stations or TVs that actually worked and possibility of a bigger table. Took quite awhile to get our food, but was a large group. I liked the large selections of sides and actually had a healthy option. Would be nice if they offered whole wheat buns. All in all very good. (I need to figure out who the hippie is.....)