ST. LOUIS — A new brewery plans to launch in St. Louis.
Iron Hops Brewery, owned and operated by Chad Thompson, will look to begin rolling out products in the spring from a 5,000-square-foot space in Produce Row, the Near North Riverfront produce destination owned by St. Louis Produce Market Inc., whose president is Bruce Rubin.
Thompson said he plans to launch with six beers, focusing on seasonal brews and "one-offs, with a strong barrel age program," a reference to beer that is aged in a wooden barrel. In addition to Thompson, Iron Hops employs a salesman and cellar worker, he said.
Thompson said he first plans to sell kegs to bars and restaurants. After two or three months, Thompson said, he'll look to sell packaged beer to groceries and other retail locations.
Thompson said he's utilized business and equipment loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. And though Thompson declined to name his investors or detail startup costs, he said his 25 years working in St. Louis restaurants, including 13 years at Robust Wine Bar in Webster Groves, helped him land investments.
"There's a lot of amazing people (in the restaurant industry) in St. Louis," said Thompson, a Rock Hill native. "St. Louis is a great food and beer scene. They liked the concept, they liked the background and it was a good fit."
And Thompson cited trips to Chicago and Germany, where he "learned to brew beer from the barbarians themselves." He returned in 2017.
Read the full story on the St. Louis Business Journal website.
