Episode 17: Ashley Althoff and Joel Null (Brewer) at Textile Brewing Co.

In this episode of Midwest Microbrew, we’re in Dyersville, IA, at Textile Brewing Company. We sit down with Ashley Althoff and Head Brewer Joel Null to talk about the incredible journey of this historic taproom and their commitment to sustainable, high-quality craft beer.

Textile is a "time machine" of a brewery, where the industrial past meets a high-tech, eco-friendly future. As the first small brewery in Iowa to hit Platinum Green Brewery Certification, they are proof that great beer and a small footprint go hand-in-hand.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Hey everybody, welcome back to Midwest Microbrew. Uh today we are an audio-only podcast because the camera was facing some technical difficulties. That doesn't make it any less worth of a listen, and we're sitting down in Dyersville, Iowa today, which is a town made famous for the field of dreams. Um but we're here today for a different kind of magic. I'm sitting down with Amanda and Joel from Textile Brewing Company. This isn't just a brewery, it's actually a masterclass in historical preservation. It's housed in a 1906 factory that spent a century as a sewing plant. Every corner of this tap room tells a story from the salvaged lamps to the original shiplap walls. If you love history as much as you love a cold pint, you're in the right place. Let's get into the interview. So hello, Ashley and Joel. Thank you so much for joining us today on Midwest Microbrew. Uh to start things off, I thought it would be helpful for the audience if uh you could just introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about what you're doing over there.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Yeah, my name is Ashley, and I am the tap room and marketing manager, I guess you would say. Um, I've been here for the full maybe seven years that we've been open, and Joel actually has been too. And he'll tell you more about himself. But it's kind of cool because a little fun fact is we actually started here at Textile on the same exact day, and it was a super busy day. We were both cooking, and um, we ended up uh like we've just kind of worked our way up, and now Joel's the head brewer and I'm the manager, so it's kind of a cool little thing that happened there.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Oh, that's awesome. Did you guys never saw know each other before then?

SPEAKER_00 1:53

No, not at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

No, that was the first time we actually met. Um, but yeah, I was just um kind of like Ashley said to build off that kind of a Cinderella story of you know, both starting bartending and I was a cleaning lady too, and yeah, working our way up kind of from within the company. Um just, you know, the owners at the time kind of saw our passion, kind of saw our business drive that we had and how much we cared about our roles even as beer tenders, and it kind of grew from there. Um and that's kind of how I got started too uh bartending and then moved to assistant brewer kind of through the um headache of the pandemic that we went through. Did that for oh I want to say about a year, year and a half, and then um the brewer that they had at the time uh was going off on his own um side project um back down in Georgia where he's from, and they offered me a full-time position. So uh just kind of left, took a leap of faith and uh jumped into it, and it was the best decision I ever had in my life.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Yeah. Well, that's great. You guys have I mean, that's a great way to start for both of you, is you get to start from the bottom up and just experience um the whole brewery. So that's really cool. Um, so tell me a little bit more about the uh the origin of textile brewing. When did uh when did the company start? How long has uh that been going on?

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah, so it opened in 2019, and um it was really cool because the building was actually built in, I believe, 1906 or 1908, and uh it was a it was originally a gasoline engine factory, and they ended up not making it, and then the the building was for sale, and there was a sewing factory right up the street, and they needed more space, so they moved into here, and it was owned by HB Glover until I think like the that was from 1911 until like the 80s, and then it was bought by another company and another sewing company and or another family who kept it a sewing factory, and it basically was open as a sewing factory all the way until 2017, and then the owners got it in 2018, renovated it very quickly, thanks to a lot of help with the community, and they the I believe it was the Iowa or not the Iowa, Iowa had something to do with it, the state of Iowa, and also our Dyersville Economic Development Group helped get them some funding to head the project, and then they were able to restore the historic sewing factory to a brewery, and they opened in July of 2019, so it was a very quick turnaround for how big of a project it was, and a lot of it is kept very much the same, and it definitely has that old feel when you come in, so it's super cool.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Yeah, no, I love that historical aspect when when breweries can kind of show the building going way back um back when it started. Do you guys offer brewery tours?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Um, we don't. Um we we don't have like necessarily like a sign up. Um, we have I give a lot of like informal tours, I'll call them. Uh my brew space is in the basement, but they cut out, I want to say like a 20 by 20 section uh in the back part of the building, but you can actually view me and view more importantly the uh brewing system, the fermenters, the bright tanks. So we do get a lot of people from out of state or passing through that they'll call down. I'll kind of talk to them for a little bit, and other people that pass through. And it's a lot of uh just hey, do you want me to come up and bring you down and uh kind of show you around the brew space? And we do a lot of like I guess small informal tours like that, but not um we have a few, we don't have signups.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

It's something that would be kind of cool in the future to possibly do if we had specific dates, but we do take large groups from um travel Dubuque is a organization out of Dubuque, just like 20 minutes from us, and they uh because the field of dreams is so close to us, we are kind of like a desk, Dyersville has become more and more of a destination, and they get large groups that travel out of state, and we end up being one of their stops. So, like they stop different places in Dubuque, they stop at the field of dreams, and they stop here for beer samples. And I give them kind of a rundown of the history when they're here. So that would be the other thing that we do regarding the tours.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

That's really cool. Yeah, that sounds like a great time. Um, this is a little bit of a trickier question. How would you describe your brewery if you had to pare it down to just one sentence uh to someone who's never been there before?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

I think I've had to figure this out with like our social media bios and stuff because there are only so many characters, but I would say I think my favorite is a century-old sewing factory, turned brewery in the heart of downtown Dyersville. That is the best way to describe it.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Awesome. Yeah, that's perfect. Sometimes it's hard to you know get it down to just one sentence, but it's always fun to ask.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Yeah, I like that the century-old sewing factory turned brewery because it tells you both worlds and tells you how vintage it is it actually is.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Yeah, absolutely. So you guys have been around for uh seven years now, or the brewery's been around for seven years. Um you guys have familiar faces that come in, some regulars, uh stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Yeah, we do. Um, you know, when when they first started, uh I guess you'd call it uh a mug club member membership, that's lifetime. We call it a founders. They uh originally were starting to build uh capital to renovate the building, get you know, get hit the ground running. So we those are a lot of our regulars that come in um that we see, you know, week by week, month to month. Some we see more frequent than others, but it it's it's it's growing as far as the regulars go from surrounding communities, not just Dyersville. We have a lot of little um unincorporated and incorporated uh townships in Debut County. So we see a lot of those people that come in and you know you get to know them on a first name basis, and it really makes it makes makes it worthwhile. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

That was another thing that helped them get started to the owners when they first opened, is they opened that founders membership, and it was it's a$1,000 membership per member, but it's for a lifetime, and you get to pick who it passes down to afterwards. So that was an amazing way to raise a hundred thousand dollars for the business from the get-go. But a lot of those people are still part of the story, and I would say that a lot of them are our main locals, so it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah, no, that's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Our main regulars, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Yeah, I love when a brewery has a good program like that.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah, a good loyalty program for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Absolutely. Uh, so kind of getting into some of the family slash community type of questions. Um, is your space pretty family friendly during the day or uh do you make different accommodations for age groups?

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Yeah, we definitely advertise as family friendly. We have like a game cabinet here. Um, we did have sometimes we have arts and crafts stuff too for the kids to even draw with, but it just depends if it's been destroyed yet or not, if we've restocked it because that happens. But we always advertise as family friendly, like we never have anything hosted that we wouldn't, you know, we would say that kids aren't allowed to. And we tell, you know, we make sure that we seem like a space that you can bring your kids in, it's no problem. That's always been a thing from the beginning is like just accepting everyone and accepting all ages. Um, and yeah, I forgot what else I was gonna say with that, but yeah, definitely family friendly for sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Yep. Awesome. Yeah, that makes sense. I know what I was okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

I know what I was gonna say. So we have like we have uh little league baseball tournaments that come through here in the summertime, and it is absolutely insane every single weekend of the summer. It's awesome. That's awesome automatic business and traffic and tourism happening, but we have so many young kids that come through for that. And we I think when parents first come in, they're like, Oh, you know, it are you family friendly, and we say yes, and then everybody kind of finds out about that, and then after a while, some of the same families will be back again year after year, and they make sure that they make it here again because they know that it's just a good place, a good open space for their kids to be.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Well, and I think also that helps is a lot of our tables are original sewing tables that seat anywhere from you know 12 people upwards of um, I think the large table holds like 24 people. Wow. So when we get do get those big groups in, they can still sit all together, be together, um, talk, play games, play cards while they kill time between uh their matches. So I think that does help when large groups like that do come in, and it is a lot of kids, just to you know have them be close together and be able to talk to one another and see one another.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

Yeah. Oh, that's great. The larger tables is I mean, that's so awesome for community or communal spaces and just keeping a conversation going.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

And we have the outdoor beer garden area too, where and we have like the bags game, the cornhole or whatever you call it. So they and Jenga, like a large size of Jenga and things like that. So it's nice because you see all the kids actually just being active and socializing and not just you know doing nothing.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Yeah, face and a phone or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

And the parents enjoy it just as much because they're relaxing and enjoying some good food and some good beers.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

Yep. Well, that's great news for the uh for the parents in the area. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

So you guys mentioned uh the travel debut kind of event where people are coming through on tours and uh checking out like the area. Do you guys participate in any other kinds of events or uh stuff in the within the community, I guess?

SPEAKER_00 12:06

We have, I feel like we've just been automatically busy in the summertime because of all the field of dreams traffic. So um we we yes, we be, we're like we try to be a part of that in whatever way we can, but also just being here and being a consistent good place is like our priority. So um it's great because we get all the traffic from them. And then we we host some of our own larger events throughout the year. Um, I would say our biggest one, we've hosted an Oktoberfest since the first year we've opened. And so this will be our eighth annual, actually coming in up in September, and we do a big three-day weekend Oktoberfest. Um and then we also do a Wart Rally, which is an event that Joel started, and that's in October of every year.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

What's uh tell me more about the uh the wart rally? Uh wart rally. So that when I first started home brewing years and years ago, there was uh several breweries that did it in the uh Cedar Rapids area. And basically, they start with a starter wort, they uh boil it, pasteurize it, they sell it off in five-gallon increments to homebrewers, and from there it is their beer, they make anything they want. So you uh you know, you have you have a wide swath of uh freedom that they can do to express themselves. We wait about seven weeks. Uh they bring that beer that they made back. We have a huge event out in the beer garden, and we have uh public taste testing. It's a free event. Um, and it is growing. This year would be our third year doing it. But you have anything from light beer to dark beer to lagers, IPAs, sours, uh, Belgian beers. I mean, anything is possible. And we have an award ceremony. Uh and what's really cool is we judge the beers uh and I uh uh uh essentially take my pick of what beer out of those uh to scale up. So we'll scale it up on our system. It's kind of uh celebratory uh brew day for the winner. Uh scaling up the recipe, they come back for the uh tapping event later when we uh finally put it on draft upstairs.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Well, sounds like a ton of fun.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

It it is growing to be great, and we have people, you know, the first year we did it was great. Uh last year when we did it, we had people already marking their calendars for this coming year. Uh, just looking forward to it so much again.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Yeah, it's amazing because I I mean Joel's been part of the home brewer world, but it's like really cool because all these people are super proud of what they make. And the fact that they get to like feature it at a brewery feels very special to them. But then the person that actually gets to scale up their recipe is just like elated because we have a special release day for them and they get to be here and meet all the customers that are trying it and hear all the compliments. So it was this year was a fine a brown ale that was called fine brown ale that was amazing. And the year before, what was it? We heavy a wee heavy. So, and yeah, the people have just and then the people have become loyal customers because they're just so proud that they had a beer here and stuff, and it's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

It's just it like I said, it was something that I always had fun with. It reminds me of my roots and reminds me of you know that that passion of why you get into brewing in the first place, of making something new, uh conversing with other like-minded individuals and just enjoying what you do and have that passion and that drive for it.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Yeah, I I can see why that would be such a great draw. That's that's a great idea. It's cool that breweries are putting stuff like that together. Um, so kind of getting into the uh the practical information of the brewery. Um, so if someone's coming and visiting from out of town, uh, what should they know before they arrive? Is there good parking spaces? Do you guys do reservations?

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Uh yeah, so yeah, we um are very much first come, first serve. We have a big space and we have a lot of space, but like in the summertime it really does fill up. But like there, I feel like there's always a spot in the beer garden to find. Um, we are self-serve, so you order at the bar, but and everything is just set up pretty simple. So you order at the bar, you are able to sample anything that you'd like. That's always a great thing. Our staff are very knowledgeable and will help you find something that you like. And then our food is our food menu is pretty simple, but it's tasty. And you get a pager, and when your food's ready, you go pick it up. And I would say the parking is like very readily available. There's we have parking behind us, on the sides of us, in front of us, and then we have a whole downtown of parking, which is really nice. And uh walking a block or two, you know, it's not really a big deal. I don't think that even happens super often because we have so much parking around us. Um, but even if it is really busy, you might have to walk a block, and that's it. So it's set up pretty well.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Even in the summer, I mean, we're on the uh tail end of the uh heritage biking trail from Dubuque. So we do do a lot of um bicyclists and uh bike enthusiasts that stop by the brewery, and there's plenty of spots um for even uh bikes to be parked. Uh we have a couple cages around the brewery for uh bark biking just too or bike parking as well.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

That heritage trail is really pretty. I'm sure that we get some traffic coming from there.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Yeah. But yes, just an open big space with lots of seats, lots of good beer, lots of good food, and free parking. So there's always there's basically always availability unless it just happens to be one of those crazy, crazy, crazy days. But I feel like there's always a spot to there's always a spot to find a stand in.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

So absolutely. That's good to hear. Um, do you guys have a policy on like large groups or private events?

SPEAKER_00 18:01

We don't, we're not a good space to host a private event because we're literally open every single day. That's another thing that's just a general thing for everybody to know. We're open every single day at 11 a.m., except for major, major holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. That's literally it. Otherwise, we're open every single day at 11 a.m. So we don't, and we we're one big space and we don't have a private room. So unless you book the space before 11 a.m. on any day, then it just doesn't work out super well. And we don't take reservations just because that would be hard to do. We just like to keep it open for everyone. But we do recommend, like if somebody has a large group, you know, just call ahead, let us know that you're coming so we can give our staff a warning or maybe like Christmas parties that do that.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

They'll call up and say, Hey, we got like 20, 30 people showing up this day around this time. And that's totally acceptable.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

But yeah, and we'll just be like, maybe just come like half an hour early. You're welcome to claim a table. We just don't take reservations. So we're pretty relaxed about it. We just don't ever reserve the space for anything. And because I think it's a very cool, unique thing that we are open every day at 11 a.m. So it's just kind of like we're always in event space, we're always a gathering space, and we're basically open all the time except for breakfast.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

So yeah, it makes you a very consistent presence too. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yeah, I think that's been a big part of the brewery success, is that started during COVID actually, because we started opening at 11 a.m. to we started doing takeout food and takeout beer during that time to pivot a little bit. And uh when we we realized that people liked us open at 11 a.m. for lunch. So we just stayed with that ever since 2020. It's been that's been the thing.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Awesome. Uh you mentioned uh food too. What what kind of food do you offer?

SPEAKER_00 19:53

We have massive pretzels with like different toppings. We have a classic, we have a pizza pretzel, a German pretzel with sauerkraut, German with sauerkraut, um, bacon pretzel, and then we have some of them are served with marinara, some of them have our homemade. It's it's a beer cheese with our snuggy beer in it, which is our Irish red ale. So it's our own beer cheese, and then we have flatbreads that are a lot like like smaller pizzas, and we have pretzel bites and nachos, so very simple bites, but very good and easy.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Yeah, simple but great pairings for beer. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

And that was another thing too. In the beginning, the owners didn't even know if they were gonna do food, and they're like, Well, we should probably have a little bit because it keeps people here longer, and then it just blew up.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

They had no idea the food was gonna became its own kind of business within the brewery of having a kitchen. Yeah, so it was a good call for them to to make that leap and actually, you know, go with it.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Yeah, the kitchen was just a small little space behind the bar, and then now we've it's still upstairs, but we've moved it over to its own little corner because we needed to expand it because it was just like otherwise it was too crammed behind the bar all the time.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Yeah. Oh well, that's great that you have it. Yeah, it's tasty. Yeah. Um, so getting into some questions for uh probably your wheelhouse here, Jill. Uh beer and brewing questions. So uh walk me through your your core lineup that you have, uh, kind of what styles you always have available and why do you always keep them available?

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Okay. Uh core beers. Uh, we always have an Irish red, an oatmeal stout, a hazy pale ale, light American lager, a Vienna lager, and uh a light, lighter ale, I guess I would call it. Um, and we always keep those around. Oh, I forgot one. Uh, we have a blueberry kettle sour as well that's always on tap. But it's you know, it it's diverse. There's something for everybody. You know, you got your your medium, your light, your dark, your heavy, um, a hazy. It's just something. No matter what, they're all you know solid beers to keep around, and people have grown to really, really enjoy them. Uh, they do branch off and try uh our special releases as well, but it's just it's a it's a good solid lineup, and I would say 90% of the time if somebody gets a flight, it always includes at least one or two of those, just because they're they're solid beer choices.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Yeah, that sounds great. The blueberry sour sounds really good. It's yeah, it's it's pretty popular. Blue suede is what we call that one. So it's got your your blueberry, and I mean it tastes like a nice liquefied blueberry cobbler. Yeah. Tasty. Um so what's your uh most popular beer, would you say? Popular, I almost want to say it's our new Vienna, our Vienna Lager. Um, you know, it it's kind of your off-copper in color. It's not heavy. Um, it's it sits at like 5.4%. You know, it's got enough flavor and enough mouthfeel and body to it that you you know it's a craft beer, but it still remains that light crispness that even middle of summer, it's something that you want to be drinking.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Cool. Yeah, I can see why that would be popular. Um, what's the most unique, or you know, I don't like to say experimental, but what's like the most unique beer you say you uh I'll I'll come right out and say it.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

The the weirdest beer I ever made. Uh I paired with um uh Evan Brem. Uh we work with him a lot. He does um a lot with um is it Debut County watershed?

SPEAKER_00 23:41

He's with uh I can't think of the county right now. Bremer County.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Bremer County, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Yeah, central more central Iowa, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

I was uh just talking to him. He lives on a century farm, and we got talking about you know vegetables he's growing and this and that. And he made mention he had a ton of sweet corn. And I said it'd be kind of cool to make a sweet corn beer, being we're right in the heartland of uh sweet corn uh central. So I made a sweet corn ale. Um, I want to say it was like 20 or 30 dozen years of sweet corn, and it was all I processed it all myself. It was pick peak of season, and it was it was pretty funny making it. I'm glad there's no cameras downstairs, but I had to first uh pre-cook the corn, which was easy enough. I just filled the boil kettle up with water, heated it up to like 180 degrees, threw all the corn in, and I was so proud of myself, like, God, this is gonna turn out so good. I'm sitting there staring at it. My timer goes off saying the corn's done, and it just it uh panic ensued because it's like, how am I gonna get a hundred and however many ears of corn out of this boil kettle? Because there's no trapdoor, there's no nothing, and it was just the this after afterthought. So I'm I'm inverted inside the kettle, getting them all out, and then you know, cutting them off. And it the beer turned out fantastic. We had it last summer, it was super popular. You could really taste the sweet corn in it. Yeah, um, but that I would say would be like the weirdest experimental uh one-off beer I've ever done.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Yeah, oh, that sounds great. Yeah, you gotta try some crazy stuff like that every once in a while. That sounds really fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Yes, yes, indeed. And that's kind of the you know what's fun. We have a five-barrel system here, so it's really for doing specialty beers and like one-offs, it it's really the perfect size because we net about nine kegs after it's all said and done with loss, transfers, and everything. So that's really like the perfect amount for us if we want to do something experimental or want to get out of our comfort zone. If it you know sells great, great. If it sells slower than what we thought, it's still you know a manageable size and not like we have to commit to like a large scale system, yeah. You know, where they got like 30, 40 kegs of something that they can't they can't be adventurous with.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Yeah, yeah, definitely limits your uh creativity if it gets too big like that. That's yeah, that's really good. Um, do you have a a brewing philosophy or something that drives your beer making decisions?

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Uh I want to say yes, but not really. I just I I tr yeah, traditional styles. I just I like beer that tastes like beer. I I don't personally I don't really get into like the flavored stuff. I do appreciate that other people do, but I I really enjoy light, flavorful beers that you know it's just something that you you can have a couple of them or a few of them and talk to people, enjoy enjoy your time. It's you know, I just I like making something for everybody. I like making everything across the board, I guess I would say simply.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

Yeah, that's a good way to put it. Um, do you have any seasonal or limited releases coming up that people should be looking out for?

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Yeah, um, we got a few coming up. Um Summer Sonata, that's a MyBach, Alice Bach that we make that comes out um April 1st every year. Um, that's uh been currently sleeping for about three months as of now in the conditioning tank. So it'll be nice and crisp and ready. It's a little heavier than most. That it tops out like around eight percent for a logger, I think. But it it goes down pretty smooth for the summertime in the warmer weather, surprisingly.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Um, we always do a rhubarb beer every spring as well, so we kind of put a watch out for everybody in the community. Um, and I do a rhubarb sour every spring. And that is that's another fun one to do because it's a pound of rhubarb per gallon of beer. And after I process it, um, squeeze the juice out of the rhubarb and and uh inoculate the beer with it. It I mean, it tastes like like true rhubarb. Wow. Uh with the quantity that we put in. Yeah, so that one's that one's real fun to do. And in the fall, um, I partner with a uh pumpkin patch over in Monticello, um Hall Heritage Farms. Um, they donate all the squash, all the pumpkins we need. They they grow um so many different varieties. So I always make a um Java lantern, is what it's called. It's so it's got cold brew coffee, uh pumpkin spices, and then um uh I can't remember off the top of my head, but it has a ton of um squash and pumpkin that I utilize in the mash. So it's kind of this nice, well-rounded, fall flavored uh beer of everything that uh you want for flannel and colder season.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

Yeah. Sounds like you got something to look forward to for, you know, no matter what the weather is. That's great. Exactly. Um if uh someone's new to the world of craft beer, uh, which one of your beers would you recommend as a good starter?

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Oh, that would be I'd almost have to say our our light ale core beer, uh trailblazer. I mean, it's it's it's a good intro to craft because it is it's light in color, it does have a lot of flavor, but it's still crisp and clean, and it it tastes like a lager, but it has a little bit more character than you know your average you know Budweiser or you know Bushlight. And that is one of our better sellers as well, I think just because it is kind of that intro beer um that's more than just a basic, you know, light American lager.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

Yeah, that makes sense. All right. Um, kind of moving into the competitive or industry type questions for the area. Um, how would you describe like the Dyersville craft beer scene? Is there a few breweries there, or is it uh just you guys? Uh, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Well, we're the only brewery. Um, there are several bars downtown. Um, kind of something for everybody. Uh the fuse is down the street, English pub, the palace.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

And then there's one other tap room in uh Dyersville, but we are the only actual brewery. And then in Dubuque, there's three or four breweries, I think four. So, and that's about 25, 30 minutes from us. So I would say that's probably like if we had to say, you know, like a local competitor, those would be it. But we also, I don't, I don't know, we try not to think about it like that because I feel like having all of those in the area just brings a draw to the area. And it's like if you have some people will like do a vacation, like a staycation or a vacation to Dubuque, and they'll make sure they make a stop out to Dyer's Will here and see the field of dreams, and they'll stop here because they know not only because like the beer's really good, not being biased. I just I really do we get a lot of compliments about that, but it's also the space is just really cool, and it almost feels like you're in a museum or something because it's so historic and beautifully done that it's just yeah, it kind of all compliments each other, and it's nice that there's more options in Dubuque too, and people can make a whole trip out of it.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Yeah, yeah, and that's kind of what I was getting at is if uh people are trying to do like a tour of the breweries in the area.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Um there's yeah, there's us, and then in Dubuque, there's Jubek New World Brewing, who also likes to keep it kind of traditional. Then there is uh Seven Hills, who also has the tap room here in Dyersville. There's Dimensional Brewing, and then is that it?

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Catfish Charlie's? I think yeah, they might they're more chained, but they they still make beer and have have different actual brewery there too.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

Cool, yeah. No, that's great. I mean, I know there's a lot of people out there looking to you know try out a few different stops, so that'd be great.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Yeah, um and it's nice with the heritage trail being right in between us because they can start there and head here, or start here and head there.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Yep. How far of uh how far is it from Dubuque to you guys?

SPEAKER_00 32:09

26 miles. I I know it's 26 miles on the heritage trail.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

So you you've actually done that one before. Yeah, I made that trip.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Yeah, last summer I went I rode to Dubuque and back, and I went all the way like into downtown Dubuque. So it was about a 62-mile ride there and back. I left at like three and got back at nine and back without just with one stop for some snacks, but no, like out. I next time I'd like to like actually go ride all the way there or ride all the way here from there and enjoy some breweries and then make probably have somebody come pick me up. Yeah, that makes sense instead of riding back.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

That's quite an adventure. I got uh I have some runner friends from Dubuque that would always take that trail, and I know it just goes on forever and ever.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

So that's yeah, and it's it's very flat, which is nice, but also yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Yeah, well, that's pretty cool for any of the uh the biker people looking to travel between the breweries. That's the way to do it. Um getting into the uh kind of uh let's see. Oh, I guess kind of like the trends. Are you guys seeing any trends in craft beer lately? And then how do you guys respond to that?

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Uh I I I don't know. Like I'm I'm guesstimating, but uh lighter ABV beers seem to be kind of getting a foothold. Not necessarily like a light lager, but um like you know, your four to five percent flavorful beers, if if that could be classified as anything from you know, brown ale or uh uh you know uh lighter red ale, uh yes to pale ales and hazies, those will I think always have a a place in the scene. But I think from you know talking to people and kind of what we're seeing with stuff that I've been coming up with is you know your your your days of your seven, eight, nine percent, you know, double, triple IPAs or regular beers like that, they're they're always great, but we you'll always sell more and people will always hang around more for lighter beers and enjoying it and having a few versus I'm gonna go to the brewery and just have one and then I gotta leave because I'm kind of maxed out.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Yeah, yeah. So that's almost a positive trend, is you can probably take more drinks.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Yeah, absolutely. Um, getting into kind of the future uh of the brewery, what's uh what's your long-term vision? And where do you guys see the brewery in five years?

SPEAKER_00 34:48

That's a good question. I mean, I think personally for me, I just want to see where it keeps highlighting, where we keep highlighting the history really well and keeping that place in the community of like, you know, we we restored in an intentional way and we want to keep up the building in an intentional way, and also just continuing to market the traditional beers, keeping our beer styles really clean, and hopefully Joel wins the whatever the one, what the was it the Great American Beer Festival or the what do you submit to?

SPEAKER_01 35:24

We've been submitting to a few competitions, and you know, like like anybody that sends stuff, you you want the feedback, you want criticism, you want to get better. Um, we've sent quite a few things to that, and it's been great just tweaking different recipes. You know, sometimes my my palate is is very well um well off. Um, but a lot of times, like I don't know what stuff's called, or uh I'll I'll taste something and no one else will taste it. Oh, you're crazy, whatnot. We'll send it to the competition, judges pick on up on it. It's this and da-da-da-da-da. And that's always helpful for me of that confidence of okay, I'm not crazy, I can make it better. I'm you know, just always striving for you know that perfection. So hopefully uh sooner than later we'll be submitting on the map with that.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

And also, um another thing I want to do is like as far we incorporate as many local ingredients as we can in the beers. We're pretty good with that, but I want to continue sourcing more local ingredients for our food. So, like we have farm tech near us who sells these buildings called Clear Span, and it's basically like they can build these greenhouses out of this material that they create that they patent. And they have to show what they do, they have a greenhouse right here in town and show an example, and they grow like basil and greens and tomatoes year-round, so it's consistent. And I want to incorporate more of that into our food too, and get more local ingredients into our food, but also keep it simple so it um just keeps it easy for staff and everything, but just including some more options in that way and continuing to get like limited ingredient food and keep that going well.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

Yeah, it's always great when you can include the uh the local brewery, or not local breweries, local businesses in the area and local ingredients. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 37:18

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Um, so kind of moving into some of the closing questions here. Uh, if someone could only try three things at your brewery, uh, whether it's the food or the beer or um anything that you have to offer, what would you recommend?

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Oh, I would say a beer flight for sure. Um, definitely uh one of our large pretzels. That's kind of a claim to fame with us.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

With beer cheese, with snuggy, with snuggy beer cheese.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

But um, I don't other than that, just and you get it right when you walk in the door, is the atmosphere. Um, there is so much character, character, and repurposed, you know, everything's repurposed, everything but the chairs, all the tables are old uh sewing machine tables, uh the lamps, the light fixtures, they're all repurposed.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Um made by local artists.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Yeah, yeah. So everything, I would I would say the atmosphere. It's not like your run-of-the-mill, like an industrial brewery where everything's metal, everything's steel, it's steel hollowed out building. It just it feels so warm and inviting in here. Yeah, I would say that would be like a like a big thing is just enjoying that that tranquility of it. That sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

Yeah, that's uh I mean that's huge as far as um how a brewery is, is just the atmosphere. So I'm glad you guys have a good spot there. Um, what's the best way for people to stay connected with what you're doing?

unknown 38:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Um I would say one unique thing that we do is I send out a newsletter every single week on Wednesdays, and that gives an update about what beer will be released or what beers may be released that week, or what are upcoming, and just any events coming up and any extra special little shares. So if you missed it on social media, it's all gonna be in there, uh updated. So that's called our textile brews news, and that email just goes obviously directly to your email on Wednesdays, and you can sign up for that on our website, which is textilebrews.com. Otherwise, we are active on Facebook and uh Instagram and our website, so that's those are always great too. But I think the unique thing is for if you really want to get exclusive exclusive updates is that Bruise news newsletter.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Great. Yeah, I'll make sure to link that in the uh description for the viewers.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

Yeah, awesome.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Um, and then do you guys have any final thoughts or messages for people who would be considering a visit?

SPEAKER_00 39:47

I think mine would just be come and enjoy it anytime, enjoy it during the day, enjoy it at night. The building's beautiful in both atmospheres. Um, like Joel said, get a pretzel, get a flight, and try several different options, then maybe get a full pour in a while. But there's also there's a lot of there's two smaller hotels, but there's also a lot of cool BBs in Dyersville. So I think it'd be cool to like you could do a whole stay of it. And there's a cool, there's a great coffee shop, there's a pub, there's several bars, restaurants, museums. Um there's lots of stuff, and it's just a walkable town. And it's a lot of people explain it as like a Hallmark movie. So I feel like if you like that small town kind of feel, but want a lot of options of what to do, it's just a good place to like spend a weekend trip or a week trip if you're able to and make the most of it.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

Yep. Yeah, absolutely. And it's a beautiful area too, on top of that.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

So yeah, and yeah, we're kind of we're in northeast Iowa, which is of course less flat, and we're like on the edge of the driftless region, which means we start to get those hills and stuff here. And yeah, it's a very us.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Yes, now I can. Okay, okay. Yeah, you guys froze for a second there. I'm not sure if that was on my end or or what was going on there. All right. Oh, gotcha. All right. Well, yeah, we were wrapping up anyway. I was like, I don't want you guys to think that I just hung up on you. So I'll make sure to edit that and it'll all look good. Um but yeah, no, I mean, for those considering a nice vacation in the area, that's uh great way to do it. But thank you, thank you, Joel and Ashley, so much for uh for joining us today on Midwest Microbrew. I appreciate you guys taking the time, and it was great learning more about your brewery.

SPEAKER_00 41:36

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

Thanks for having us on. Alrighty, guys, that's gonna do it for today. Be sure to check out some of our other exclusive interviews with the people from the best breweries in the Midwest. Bye now.