The Ground Floor: Iowa City wine and cheese shop allows customers to sample its wares

Ever wish you could taste before you buy? Or that you could take home an entire bottle of the Merlot you just ordered?

“I think it's something Iowa City has needed for a while - a true craft shop and wine bar,” Nick Craig said. “There are great places to go and get wine with dinner, but no one who really focuses on that.

"And there are great stores that have great selections, but with most of them, you can't really pop anything open and give it a try.”

Brix Cheese Shop and Wine Bar, on the other hand, lets its customers “take a test drive before taking it home,” co-owner Craig said.

The craft shop held its grand opening Thursday after first testing its concept on friends and family. The idea, which is still developing, is to “dance the line between a retail store that we can also hang out in and sit down in and try some of the stuff that we sell,” Craig said.

The shop's focus in on artisanal craft cheeses, beer and wine. The shop has some 50 cheeses for purchase, with the goal of expanding, and about 100 different wines. It also has craft beers on tap, with 50 to 60 bottle selections, Craig said.

The shop selects several cheeses and 10 to 15 wines to highlight every day. Workers cut the cheese to order, keeping it fresh and free from being tainted by plastic, and they keep their selections at room temperature for tasting purposes, Craig said.

There is a seating area for about 40 people in the lower level of the shop, including about a half-dozen bar seats. There also is an event room on the upper level for classes and group wine-tasting sessions that also can be rented for private events.

“If you need a space but don't want a full-blown restaurant, we can work with you,” he said.

Although the bar-shop doesn't have a hot kitchen, Craig said, Brix offers cured meats, olives, nuts, dried fruit and crackers on its tasting menu.

Craig took some businesses courses at the University of Iowa until falling in love with the food industry.

“I figured out I was having way more fun at work than at school,” he said, adding that he developed his first real taste for wine when working with chef Eric McDowell at Takanami.

He opened his own restaurant in Coralville caled Vesta, which he turned over to a business partner, and he spent the last couple years working as a wine representative for a Ruby Fine Wines in Iowa City.

“Now I'm their customer,” he said. “Those were the easy wines to pick out, so I have a good representation of their portfolio.”

Craig co-owns Brix with Brian Flynn, who also owns Joe's Place and Donnelly's Irish Pub in Iowa City and is a partner in Black Stone and Vesta. Craig said he does the wine ordering, and his right-hand man, Ken Price, is “my cheese specialist and beer guy.”

“I've always been into food,” Craig said. “It just seems like you grow up with the food and your tastes change and evolve and sometimes they get a little fancier. That's what happened here.”

Co-owner: Nick Craig

Company: Brix Cheese Shop and Wine Bar

Address: 209 N. Linn St., No. 1, Iowa City

Phone: (319) 359-1999

Website: http://www.facebook.com/BrixCheeseShop

Hours: The hours are in flux. Right now 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The shop will stay open later on Friday and Saturday. Sundays, co-owner Nick Craig said,  is up in the air.

Favorite cheese or wine? “Cheese is like wine. You can't pick a favorite because the next one you have is your next favorite.”