Big Grove Brewery readies new taproom, distribution locations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City

IOWA CITY — New brewery developments pouring into the Corridor are foaming up after years of planning, positioning one of Iowa’s largest craft breweries for substantial growth after an explosion of craft brewing across the state.

With one new taproom and one new distribution facility, Big Grove Brewery is getting bigger with an aim to increase production by more than 50 percent in 2024.

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“The Hop Lot” in Iowa City, with plans to come online by February, converts a former Goodwill distribution center on Liberty Drive into a nearly 42,000-square-foot facility with a 68,000-barrel capacity. There, Big Grove will can its core varieties like Easy Eddy, Citrus Surfer and Boomtown, freeing up its Iowa City taproom location to produce and serve other varieties on site.

“It’s a heck of a lot more beer. It will save us a lot of time and really utilize our resources in a better way,” said Andrew Roers, logistics manager for Big Grove.

But first, they’ll enter a new city with the opening of a Cedar Rapids taproom in Kingston Village’s First and First West, an $81.5 million mixed-use development. The opening, planned for December, is Big Grove’s fourth taproom in the state after expanding to Iowa City in 2017 and Des Moines in 2022.

The substantial growth with upcoming developments follows two years of peak production at Big Grove’s Iowa City brewery, where a capacity of more than 31,000 barrels has been working hard to supply a steady increase in demand.

“Iowa loves Big Grove, in terms of beer,” said Mike Wehr, COO of Big Grove Brewery. “I imagine there will be a time in which we’ll be using both facilities at full capacity if we don’t stay ahead of it.”

This year, they became Iowa’s biggest craft beer brand by sales, edging out big national brands like Blue Moon, Samuel Adams and Sierra Nevada. For every $100 spent on craft beer in Iowa, about $10 is spent on Big Grove products — the highest share in the craft category.

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That’s a big leap from five years ago, when Big Grove ranked 24th — making it the fastest growing craft beer brand in Iowa, too.

The steady growth in taprooms since the brand started in Solon 10 years ago has helped bolster can sales at retailers, too. Last year, the brewery produced about 22,000 barrels. This year, their production will be closer to 30,000 before the new facility opens.

That’s mirrored by varieties that even non-loyalists recognize. Citrus Surfer, for example, went from producing a stretch goal of 32,000 cases last year to 50,000 cases this year.

Soon, they’ll be poised to crack the top 100 craft breweries in the country.

Through consistent but unique experiences in each city’s taproom, Big Grove is hoping to tap into a greater thirst from Iowans with expansions that won’t turn the craft brand into a chain.

“All the different pieces of how Big Grove has gone to market have really helped them create more than just a beer brand, but an experiential brand,” Wehr said. “Our taprooms create a restaurant and bar experience together that a lot of taprooms traditionally have missed.”

What caused an ‘explosive growth’ of breweries in Iowa?

But Big Grove isn’t the only one growing. Their latest expansions come on the heels of a craft brewing and cider renaissance in Iowa, where breweries have tripled in the last decade.

From 2012 to 2022, Iowa breweries went from 34 locations to 126. In that time, it’s evolved into a place-making industry with a $1.1 billion economic impact.

“I get contacted once a month from communities in Iowa that would love to have a brewery in their town square or new development area, because communities and developers know breweries are these multigenerational gathering places,” said Noreen Otto, executive director of the Iowa Brewers Guild. “We serve a unique purpose in that way — we play a role not just in manufacturing or redevelopment of spaces, but in tourism.”

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She credits the “explosive growth” to a series of law changes starting in 2014 that simplified the structures for licensing, made direct sales more accessible for breweries and undid laws on the books since Prohibition. The demarcation is clear: from Iowa’s first craft brewery in 1985 to 2011, the state grew to just 27 breweries.

Now, with 5.4 breweries per 100,000 drinking-age adults, Iowa ranks 15th per capita. As the industry starts to mature, Iowa brewers hope to compete against Iowa’s neighbors like Wisconsin and Minnesota, who rank higher in per capita production and economic impact with a more established craft brewing presence and a more entrenched culture for craft drinking.

“The Guild is focused not just on growth of locations and number of breweries. The story we want to tell is showing Iowans how good the beer being made in their backyards really is,” Otto said. “If you like beer that tastes like fruit or bourbon or a Popsicle, or creamy ales or lagers, there’s a brewery in Iowa making a delicious version of whatever drink you like best.”

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An industry coming into its own has translated into big wins from national beer competitions, improved products, more stable businesses and higher quality drinks for Iowans. The challenge, for some businesses, is getting them to try it.

Those with a taste for mass-produced beers — in hops or price — can be hard to move into the craft beer market, said Kris Kass, COO of ReUnion Brewery in Iowa City. But after a big expansion out of Coralville and setting eyes on distribution to Chicago, she says the demand has continued to grow.

An expanding presence from brewers like Backpocket, Exile and Toppling Goliath around Iowa prove it.

“It’s fascinating, it shows how Iowans are backing Iowa products,” Kass said.

More competitors driving breweries to find their niche has sparked a rise in educated consumers, too. That leads to more opportunities like exclusive dinner events pairing beer with food and new opportunities in technology that reduce environmental impact and help ease shortages of carbon dioxide.

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Even for smaller producers with a single location, a bigger market produces new opportunities. Lion Bridge Brewing Company founder Quinton McClain said he has no plans for another taproom, but a proliferation of breweries has potential to help single establishments with distinct styles, too.

“People do gravitate to breweries that feel authentic to them or have the styles they like,” McClain said. “We have some gaps and depths we want to grow into, making sure we make connections with people who know our beer, know our story and that we stay authentic to who we opened as 10 years ago.”

Honing their craft is something Lion Bridge has in common with Iowa’s fastest growing brewery. As Big Grove lifts its biggest tanks yet into a new facility, it’s focusing on quality — not just quantity.

“There’s a lot of breweries that cast a wide net and have not done well. If we make the decision to leave the state … we’ll focus in on a market and make it as special as we made Iowa,” Wehr said. “We’re going to be very targeted in our growth to make super fans of Big Grove.”

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