Big Grove Brewery poised for substantial growth

Big things are happening for Big Grove Brewery, a popular brewery with locations in Solon, Iowa City and Des Moines. Big Grove is opening a new taproom in Cedar Rapids in December and a production facility in Iowa City to accommodate its explosive growth, a success COO Mike Wehr attributes to the standard of quality […]

Big things are happening for Big Grove Brewery, a popular brewery with locations in Solon, Iowa City and Des Moines. Big Grove is opening a new taproom in Cedar Rapids in December and a production facility in Iowa City to accommodate its explosive growth, a success COO Mike Wehr attributes to the standard of quality Big Grove champions. “Quality attracts quality, and I think that we provide a quality experience,” he said. “We provide very high quality beers, and I think our food here is phenomenal…our spaces are different than most places. There's not a lot of restaurants that do a 10,000 square foot patio. It becomes a place you'd like to hang out at.”

The Hop Lot

In June, Big Grove started construction on a production facility in Iowa City to keep pace with the high demand for its beers. “The Hop Lot,”  a former Goodwill distribution center at 3825 Liberty Drive, boasts 41,250 square feet of existing and additional space, and the 38-foot high ceilings will accommodate its 60,000 barrel tanks. The Hop Lot will produce Big Grove core varieties, such as Easy Eddy, Citrus Surfer, West Eddy, Royal Eddy, Arms Race, Double Blackberry, Summer Jam and Boomtown Premium, freeing up the Iowa City taproom for smaller batches of beer. The facility is estimated to be fully operational by Feb. 2024. "Having our beer delivered across Iowa requires regular, daily visits from trucks and trailers to our brewery. Our parking lot at the Iowa City Brewery & Taproom isn’t ideal for this type of traffic and this new location is better suited to keep the beer moving,” said Andy Joynt, Big Grove’s director of brewing, in a press release on the company’s website.

“And most importantly, this expansion allows us a much-needed increase in brewery production space to help avoid out-of-stock shelves." Right now, Big Grove is shipping out 100,000 cans and 500 kegs of beer a week to Iowa stores, bars and restaurants.

Changing tastes

Big Grove Brewery’s success coincides with the craft beer boom that has swept the United States in the past decade. Iowa saw a 27% increase in breweries in the past 10 years, going from 34 in 2012 to 126 in 2022.  Noreen Otto, executive director of the Iowa Brewers Guild, attributes the growth to Iowa’s regulatory changes surrounding the beer industry, consequently making it easier for entrepreneurs to profitably operate within a craft beer market.

“That was a response to consumers,” she said, crediting the demand of craft beer to “sophisticated palates” that are looking for different and interesting food and beverage experiences. “We've seen the explosion of food tourism, and we've seen the expansion of just the interest in buy(ing) local, we've seen the expansion of food experiences and farmers markets, and beverages are not any different,” she said, “the consumer is looking for a wider variety of tastes and experiences.” As the industry matures, communities are being revitalized. “Cities are really seeing the importance of having places where people can gather and build community,” said Ms. Otto.

Secret to Success

Big Grove celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, marking a significant milestone for a brewery that went from selling 400 barrels a year to 28,000 – an accomplishment that was a long time coming. “Somebody might see this as overnight success, but (Big Grove’s)  ‘overnight success’ has taken 10 years,” said Mr. Wehr, “it's been a lot of hard work, from a lot of people, for a long period of time to get to where it's at.”

When asked what he attributes Big Grove’s success to, Mr. Joynt has a short answer: people. “I heard it said one time that ‘equipment doesn’t make beer, people make beer,’” he said.