A quest for great beer.

515’s story is a cautionary tale of how two cunning women hatched one small, not-so-innocent plot, changing the course of our lives forever. We’ll take you back to the late aughts. Two of our wives (aka the cunning women) wanted to spend more time together. Their thinking was to foster friendship amongst their husbands by using homebrewing as the common denominator. It worked a little too well and in their opinion the “fabulous plan went horribly wrong”. What our wives hadn’t envisioned was bringing us together, and then adding a couple more brewing friends, would snowball our little homebrewing hobby into an actual brewing business.

First and foremost, we, that is founders Brandon, Bailey, Dave and Ryan, were simply on a quest for great beer. It wasn’t all that long ago when the Iowa beer scene had limited choices at best, forcing craft beer lovers to brew their own or cross state borders for great brews (not that we know anything about that). While on our homebrewing journey, we discovered a love for the creative process, science and engineering behind brewing great beer, as well as, the companionable community surrounding craft beer enthusiasts. When the Iowa beer laws changed in 2010, we saw an opportunity to share our craft beer with the local community and elevate the Iowa beer scene.

Getting 515 Brewing off the ground was a true DIY effort. We self-funded, destructed and constructed almost all of the taproom/brewery ourselves with the help of family, friends and YouTube (don’t hang on the trim). We also configured and learned how to professionally brew on a three-barrel system. 515 was built and continues to grow with the blood, sweat and tears of our staff and founders. We’re proud of 515’s MacGyver-like qualities, always doing more with less (sans the mullet).

515 Brewing Company fully opened its doors in March of 2013. We were whole-heartedly embraced by the local community and couldn’t brew fast enough. And it didn’t take long to realize, brewing beer on evenings and weekends while going to our full-time day jobs wasn’t going to work long-term. Only a few years in, we expanded by adding a brand new seven-barrel brew system, hiring a taproom manager and brewer (Barb) to take our beer to the next level.

With a reputation for brewing delicious, flavorful and award-winning beer, we continue to evolve to meet the insatiable needs of our customers and it is reflected in our ever-changing brew menu and over 150 (and growing) recipes. While 515 may not have a dog sanctuary, a 72-acre beer garden, or ridiculous over-hyped/priced beer, we took our time, money and effort and focused on what’s most important for a brewery, the beer. We raise our glass and welcome you to the 515 neighborhood. Cheers!