Coralville brewery Backpocket Brewing is moving productions to Waterloo and closing its taproom at the Iowa River Landing, located at 903 Quarry Road.
Along with PeaceTree Brewing, which it acquired in November 2024, the beer brand will be setting up at SingleSpeed Brewing Co.’s Waterloo taproom at 325 Commercial St. at the beginning of 2026.
The city of Waterloo has approved the development agreement, and the combined operation will be branded as The Brewery @ WonderBread – a nod to the taproom’s original tenant, Hostess’ Wonder Bread bakery.
“This is a win for Waterloo, for Iowa craft beer, and for every fan who has supported our breweries along the way,” Dave Morgan, founder of SingleSpeed, said in a release. “By bringing these teams together at our WonderBread facility, we’re building a destination that showcases the best of Iowa beer and sets the stage for future innovation.”
Backpocket and PeaceTree Brewing owner Aaron Vargas said with the decline of alcoholic consumption, breweries nationwide have been looking for more efficient ways to keep operating.
Last year, Backpocket joined a brewery collective representing several Iowa cities. The brewery collaboration began with joint procurement for better supplier negotiations and expanded to unified sales and distribution, eliminating duplicate sales representatives while creating efficiencies and a single point of contact for distributors, Mr. Vargas said.
CREDIT BACKPOCKET BREWING
“Ultimately, we started looking at numbers and looking at efficiencies (and realized) that consolidation was the answer,” he said, adding, “I think this is just the future of where the market’s going, and (it’s) ultimately going to allow us to focus in on things that we’re strong (in) individually, but then also make us better together. And I think for us, we’re going to be able to find lanes of expertise (as) some of our team integrate into their team and be able to thrive, which is pretty exciting.”
According to the release, SingleSpeed will acquire Backpocket Brewing’s intellectual property.
None of the products will change, Mr. Vargas said – flagship beverages such as Backpocket’s Slingshot and PeaceTree’s Blond Fatale will still be available at the markets where they’re currently sold.
“There might be additional offerings as we move into this more efficient operation,” he said.
Backpocket will begin moving equipment from its Coralville location in November and will close the taproom sometime in mid December, putting the building on the market. The brewery’s taprooms in Dubuque and Johnston will remain open.
