Iowa has been blessed with great brewmasters and beer enthusiasts. We have some fantastic breweries. Some, known nationwide. Toppling Goliath and Pulpit Rock in Decorah, Millstream Brewing Company in Amana, Exile Brewing Company in Des Moines, SingleSpeed in both Waterloo and Cedar Falls...

But there's one brewery that I cannot get enough of, and now they can call themselves an award winning brewery.

PIVO Brewing in Calmar.

PIVO just scored a gold and bronze medals during the Great American Beer Festival, which is considered by many to be the world’s largest commercial beer competition.

Craig Neuzil, the breweries owner, said the awards help put the 2-year-old brewery on the map.

Since we opened, we’ve been operating in the shadows of two great breweries, Toppling Goliath and Pulpit Rock. They’ve established beer tourism in Winneshiek County, which has helped people discover PIVO beers.

PIVO was awarded a gold medal in the chocolate beer category for its Old Balltown Dark Chocolate Milk Stout, and picked up a bronze medal in the historic beer category for its Decorah Nordic Gruit.

Sporting beers named after northeast Iowa towns like, Waucoma Weissenbock, Fredericksburg Hefeweizen and Spillville Prohibition Ale, it's hard not to feel at home when you visit their taproom. Only about an hour and some change from Waterloo, it's worth the trip. Trust me.

(Info via Courier)

More From Q98.5