I Love the QC for our Unique Craft Brewing Culture
The Quad Cities has a rich brewing history dating back to 1847 when the first regional brewery opened in Rock Island. Today the Quad Cities region is home to over a dozen breweries producing their own handcrafted beverages. Even during a global pandemic, we saw the opening of three new breweries, Twin Span Brewing in Bettendorf, Stompbox Brewing and Adventurous Brewing both in Davenport.
Our region is engrained (no pun intended) in the culture of independent craft brewing that we have things even large metropolitan areas don’t have, like our own beer TV show (BrewedTV), radio show (What’s Tappening on 97X), and we’re home to two beer podcasts (What’s Tappening and Quad City Beer). With another new brewery under construction in Bettendorf, it’s safe to say this industry thrives in our area even as pandemic restrictions drive other small businesses to closure.
So what makes the Quad Cities such a hub for breweries?
The Quad Cities fully embraced independent craft beer even before the “craze” of the 2000’s. It is home to some of the oldest operating independent craft breweries in both Iowa and Illinois as well as some of the best craft beer centered tap houses you’ll find anywhere in the country. As in any industry, the consumer drives the market and we owe the success of the ever-growing local market to the taprooms that provide the experience and education of these handcrafted products to new consumers.
One of the “Godfathers” you might say, is RIBCO (Rock Island Brewing Company), which isn’t actually a brewery at all. What they lack in beer production, they make up in education and experience. For 40 years they have provided craft and imported beer from all over the world with a knowledgeable staff as well as unique promotions and events to make craft beer more than just a drink, they helped make it a “hobby”. Today they are joined by several craft beer centered establishments like:
- Armored Gardens which features up to 100 different beers on tap,
- Endless Brews which features a finely curated tap list and packaged beer from the region's first Advanced Cicerone (beer sommelier),
- Old Chicago which has a club to promote trying as many different beers as possible which earn you rewards.
- There's now even a Quad City Beer Club you can join to drink exclusive local brewed beers with other enthusiasts.
QC HOMEBREWING ENTHUSIAM
Having so many educated local beer enthusiasts breeds the next vital part of the beer community: homebrewers. Making your own beer is the natural progression for the most engrossed enthusiasts and having a community of others with the same hobby only fuels that drive. We definitely wouldn't have the same brewing culture in the Quad Cities today without the homebrewers.
The vast majority of professional brewers in our region are a product of years of their own homebrewing experience, and they were often heavily involved in the two local homebrew clubs: MUGZ and REFS. This is a very unique aspect to our region.
Having personally moved here from St. Louis, their brewers were often “homegrown products” meaning they started from an introductory position and worked their way up to learn how to produce beer on a commercial scale or received a professional education often without ever homebrewing. In the QC, most of the brewers brewed batches in each other’s garages before either opening their own brewery or getting an opportunity to “go pro” from their reputation as a homebrewer. This humble roots background is very important to what makes our brewing culture so unique. The professional brewing community here is less competition based and much more collaborative-based. It is common to see two different breweries creating a new product together either for a good cause or just for fun. With professional brewing education being less common, it is extremely valuable to get together (just as they did as homebrewers) and share tips and tricks. It’s uncommon to see that in other industries and it’s not guaranteed you’ll find that in other craft beer communities. It is something everyone in our region can take pride in.
CRAFTING DIVERSE BEERS
Being that the Quad Cities is within four hours of several large market brewing regions, it’s worth noting how diverse the products and people who make them are here. Having tasted around four thousand beers from all over the world, I have never found another Garlic Stout (which is brewed seasonally at Radicle Effect Brewerks) and that's only one example of the unique innovation found right here. Every week up to a dozen or more new products are released representing almost every brewery.
We also have female brewers, which believe it or not, is not common in other regions. Of the dozen local breweries, five employ a female in a production role either as apprentice brewers, assistant brewers, and even a head brewer.
I often hear rumblings that people feel there are too many breweries or ask at what point we will have too many. I realize that while we are not the biggest region, we are very far from being over-saturated. Even at the point of writing this, Nerdspeak Brewery in Bettendorf is under construction and will open later this year. There are more than 7,000 breweries in the United States with craft breweries making up 4,000 of them. Even with that many breweries, craft breweries only make up 11% of the total beer sold. It’s not about quantity with craft beer.
It’s about the love of the craft and connecting that with your community to be “their beer”.
Areas like Asheville, NC, which is home to 38 breweries are proving that beer creates culture and a destination for enthusiasts. Our region has created the QC Ale Trail to also highlight our local beer as a visitor experience. You can digitally “check in” at the breweries in our region to earn free rewards just for visiting them. Login to get started. Join the QC Ale Trail Facebook group to share what local craft beer you’re trying.
For weekly updates of beer releases and events in the Quad Cities, go to CraftQC.com and follow Craft Quad Cities on Facebook and Instagram.
About the Author:
Glenn Cole is a professional brewer and multimedia beer promoter. He is a graduate of St. Louis University in Brewing Science and Operations, a previous brewer at three different Quad Cities breweries, a certified beer server through the cicerone program, and hosts the What’s Tappening podcast and weekly local beer segment on 97X FM.