Iowa Entrepreneurs 'Hop' on National Trend with Nanobrewery Opening This Winter

The epiphany didn’t come to four central Iowa entrepreneurs until long after their first attempts at home brew passed the taste test with their friends and family.

That was when Bailey Forrest and Brandon Criger, both of West Des Moines, along with Ryan Rost of Clive and Dave Ropte of Des Moines, attended a craft brewers’ conference that they decided their hobby brewing might translate into a for-profit venture.

The idea has caught on across Iowa and the country in recent years; more than 300 similar ventures have launched nationally in the past 18 months.

“Every home brewer has that thought, Maybe I could do this," Forrest said. “Ryan put that out to us, and that was the spark.”

So they pooled their savings, cashing in retirement plans in a couple of cases, and formed 515 Brewing Company, a nano brewery and tasting parlor that will open early next year at 7700 University Ave. in Clive. When it does, it will be the seventh small, independently owned brewery in the Des Moines metro area.

Find a list of Iowa micro- and nano-brewers here.

The Brewers Association, the national trade group that represents small, independent brewers, estimates there are more than 2,125 mostly mom-and-pop brewers in the country, capturing more than $7 billion of the $101 billion U.S. beer industry. Among them, 350 have come online since June 2011. Their rise corresponds with an overall decline in big market beers. 

Nanobreweries are even smaller than microbreweries, and they’re the hottest thing in beer-making today since mechanical refrigeration extended the shelf life of home brews.

The definition of a nanobrewery is vague, but it’s generally accepted that its a three-barrel or smaller system. For comparison’s sake, the Des Moines metro’s oldest microbrewery, Court Avenue Brew Pub, has a seven-barrel brew house.

“As craft beers grow, it’s at the expense of larger corporations,” Forrest said.

Coffeehouse Scene for Beer Aficionados

Part of the reason for the craft beer boom in Iowa rests with legislation that allows brewers to produce beer with up to 15 percent alcohol type, more than twice the potency previously allowed and far above the 3 percent and 5 percent alcohol content in mass-produced standards.

But don’t misunderstand. Though soaring alcohol contents are now legal in Iowa beers, 515 Brewing Company won’t be a belly-up-and-get-toasted kind of place.

“It’s like a coffee shop for beer lovers,” Forrest said. “It’s about socializing, and being able to talk with other people and meet people who really enjoy good beer.”

Central Iowa’s taste has been whetted for craft brews with a half dozen truly independent breweries – a pair of patriarchs in downtown Des Moines, Court Avenue Brewing Company and Raccoon River Brewing Company – and upstarts like Number 7 Brewing Company, Exile Brewing Company and Confluence Brewing Company.

The “Four Guys and a Keg,” as their blog on the brewery’s website is called, are starting out more slowly than others in the metro area. Rather than a grueling seven-day-a-week schedule that would eat up profits in labor costs, they’re planning to ease into the business with the doors open on Thursday and Friday nights, offering longer hours on the weekend.

“We’re keeping our day jobs and doing the brewery part time,” Ryan Rost said. “We’ll see where it takes us.”

“And we’re going to be the ones working it,” Criger said.

They’re opening their venture on a shoestring, doing much of the work themselves. Criger and Rost’s wives, Ariane and Cinnamon, are both graphic designers and created the brewery’s brand, and they’re all working weekends to get the place ready for its early 2013 opening.

The smaller brewing system allows them to constantly switch it up to meet the diverse tastes of central Iowa craft beer aficionados with seasonal ales, stouts, wheats, sours and an English brown ale called numbnuts with cinnamon and other spices.

The small scale gives the four men great latitude to try different brews without incurring a huge financial risk.

“We’ll be constantly turning out fresh IPA (an American version of India Pale Ale) and draw in people who haven’t had them,” Rost said.

A Microcosm of America at its Best

The four insist they’re not in it to turn a fast profit, but for the art of brewing.

“We all love beer,” Ropte said. “We are not trying to make money – it is about money, because we are not trying to lose money, but we eventually want to have something sustainable.”

The men said their venture complements developing local foods systems and other “buy local” initiatives.

“As we got more and more serious and started reaching out, we found an incredible sense of community among craft brewers,” Forrest said. “The craft brew community is amazing. They’re our competitors, but there’s enough pie for everybody. We all want Iowa beer to be good beer.”

“If there is a community that is exemplary of what Iowa is all about, it’s about helping each other succeed,” Ropte said philosophically. “It’s a microcosm of what America should be.”