It won't be long until fans of Big Grove Brewery will see some of their favorite beers hit grocery store shelves.
Throughout April and May, the hugely popular Iowa City brewery will begin rolling out five different canned beers to be sold in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids stores like John's Grocery and Hy-Vee groceries.
If all goes well, Big Grove co-owner Matt Swift said that they could be selling cans in Des Moines, Dubuque and the Quad Cities later this year.
"It’s a nice combination of daunting and exciting," Big Grove brewer Andy Joynt said Tuesday. "I’m excited to see a package of our beer on the Hy-Vee shelf."
Jay Wilson, minister of Iowa Beer at the Iowa Brewers Guild, said that there are only about a half-dozen breweries of the roughly 80 in the state that can their own beer for sale at stores throughout the state.
“It’s not hard to put beer in a can, it’s hard to put beer in a can well," Joynt said.
In April, Big Grove will release their first canned beer for stores: the double dry-hopped First Launch, an homage to the University of Iowa's former professor Dr. James Van Allen and his contributions to the first satellites launched into space by the US.
In May, what Swift called four "core" Big Grove beers will be released in six, 12-ounce cans. Their Arms Race strong pale ale, West Main Wheat ale, West Cost-style IPA and the Boomtown Premium cream ale will make up the 880,000 printed cans they have ordered.
Chad Young, who works sales and marketing for Big Grove, said that they aimed to have "a beer for every occasion" be available in stores.
New Big Grove part of bigger vision
They'll also be able to make their own labels for 16 ounce cans that will house more specialty brews like their passion fruit-flavored Sidehill Sour Passion Project.
Since this is Big Grove's first time at selling a large volume of its product in stores, Joynt and Young had to communicate with wine and spirits managers throughout the area to help determine the amount of beer to send out into the market
This helps Big Grove join the ranks Backpocket Brewing of Coralville, Confluence Brewing and Exile Brewing Company of Des Moines, Firetrucker Brewery of Ankeny and Toppling Goliath Brewery of Decorah as Iowa breweries with major production of canned beers for sale at stores. ReUnion Brewery in Coralville also starting selling cans of its Juice Factory Pale Ale in venues across Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Dubuque last year.
Big Grove has grown in recent years to be possibly the most popular brewery in the Iowa City area, but also one of the most popular in the state. According to an article published by BusinessBroker.net, Big Grove Brewery was the most Googled brewery in the state of Iowa last year.
It's always been in the design for the Big Grove Iowa City to can their beer since they opened, Danny Standley, the brewery's manager, said. The original Big Grove opened in Solon in 2013 in a 5,257 square-foot space, but when they opened the 26,000 square-foot facility last year, they knew they had the room to expand and get their brews out to grocery stores.
Swift said that one of the brewery's “biggest holdups" right now was that they didn't have the space to put all the beer they were making in their eight giant fermentation tanks. "We don't have enough kegs, not enough serving lines to handle it all," Swift said. "With the cans, we can start running the system at the right pace."
With the canning machine able to fill 80 cans per minute, it can handle roughly 1,500 gallons of beer in four hours. That's a enough speed that Big Grove Iowa City will soon be adding two more fermentation tanks to handle the future demand for their brews.
The brewery will soon be going all out to promote the release of their canned beer. That means samplings across town and a beer release party at the Iowa City Big Grove. "Play your cards right and you may just get a six-pack of Premiums dropped off on your doorstep," Swift said.
For Young, who spends a lot of time traveling to get Big Grove beer on taps throughout the state, he knows the demand for their beer is strong outside the county.
For Standley, he sees the demand for people who are converted to Big Grove fans every day.
"There's so many instances where people at the bar will order a vodka and whatever and we'll say 'why don't you try a Passion Project," Standley said. "Then all of a sudden you see them drinking it and telling their friends about it."
"People are really enjoying the project, so why isn't it in the fridge at home too?"
https://www.press-citizen.com/story...wa-city-cedar-rapids-stores-beyond/462300002/
Throughout April and May, the hugely popular Iowa City brewery will begin rolling out five different canned beers to be sold in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids stores like John's Grocery and Hy-Vee groceries.
If all goes well, Big Grove co-owner Matt Swift said that they could be selling cans in Des Moines, Dubuque and the Quad Cities later this year.
"It’s a nice combination of daunting and exciting," Big Grove brewer Andy Joynt said Tuesday. "I’m excited to see a package of our beer on the Hy-Vee shelf."
Jay Wilson, minister of Iowa Beer at the Iowa Brewers Guild, said that there are only about a half-dozen breweries of the roughly 80 in the state that can their own beer for sale at stores throughout the state.
“It’s not hard to put beer in a can, it’s hard to put beer in a can well," Joynt said.
In April, Big Grove will release their first canned beer for stores: the double dry-hopped First Launch, an homage to the University of Iowa's former professor Dr. James Van Allen and his contributions to the first satellites launched into space by the US.
In May, what Swift called four "core" Big Grove beers will be released in six, 12-ounce cans. Their Arms Race strong pale ale, West Main Wheat ale, West Cost-style IPA and the Boomtown Premium cream ale will make up the 880,000 printed cans they have ordered.
Chad Young, who works sales and marketing for Big Grove, said that they aimed to have "a beer for every occasion" be available in stores.
New Big Grove part of bigger vision
They'll also be able to make their own labels for 16 ounce cans that will house more specialty brews like their passion fruit-flavored Sidehill Sour Passion Project.
Since this is Big Grove's first time at selling a large volume of its product in stores, Joynt and Young had to communicate with wine and spirits managers throughout the area to help determine the amount of beer to send out into the market
This helps Big Grove join the ranks Backpocket Brewing of Coralville, Confluence Brewing and Exile Brewing Company of Des Moines, Firetrucker Brewery of Ankeny and Toppling Goliath Brewery of Decorah as Iowa breweries with major production of canned beers for sale at stores. ReUnion Brewery in Coralville also starting selling cans of its Juice Factory Pale Ale in venues across Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Dubuque last year.
Big Grove has grown in recent years to be possibly the most popular brewery in the Iowa City area, but also one of the most popular in the state. According to an article published by BusinessBroker.net, Big Grove Brewery was the most Googled brewery in the state of Iowa last year.
It's always been in the design for the Big Grove Iowa City to can their beer since they opened, Danny Standley, the brewery's manager, said. The original Big Grove opened in Solon in 2013 in a 5,257 square-foot space, but when they opened the 26,000 square-foot facility last year, they knew they had the room to expand and get their brews out to grocery stores.
Swift said that one of the brewery's “biggest holdups" right now was that they didn't have the space to put all the beer they were making in their eight giant fermentation tanks. "We don't have enough kegs, not enough serving lines to handle it all," Swift said. "With the cans, we can start running the system at the right pace."
With the canning machine able to fill 80 cans per minute, it can handle roughly 1,500 gallons of beer in four hours. That's a enough speed that Big Grove Iowa City will soon be adding two more fermentation tanks to handle the future demand for their brews.
The brewery will soon be going all out to promote the release of their canned beer. That means samplings across town and a beer release party at the Iowa City Big Grove. "Play your cards right and you may just get a six-pack of Premiums dropped off on your doorstep," Swift said.
For Young, who spends a lot of time traveling to get Big Grove beer on taps throughout the state, he knows the demand for their beer is strong outside the county.
For Standley, he sees the demand for people who are converted to Big Grove fans every day.
"There's so many instances where people at the bar will order a vodka and whatever and we'll say 'why don't you try a Passion Project," Standley said. "Then all of a sudden you see them drinking it and telling their friends about it."
"People are really enjoying the project, so why isn't it in the fridge at home too?"
https://www.press-citizen.com/story...wa-city-cedar-rapids-stores-beyond/462300002/
