Hot Air Brewing in Creston 'won the lottery with our brewer'

Paula Reece
·8 min read
Hot Air Brewing owners Katie and Andy Davidson found an old building in uptown Creston in an area that needed to be revitalized and decided that was the route they wanted to go rather than build new.
Hot Air Brewing owners Katie and Andy Davidson found an old building in uptown Creston in an area that needed to be revitalized and decided that was the route they wanted to go rather than build new.

If you’re looking for something easy and stress-free to give a whirl, you might want to take “starting a brewery in rural Iowa” off that list. And “starting a brewery in rural Iowa during a global pandemic” might just need to be crossed off that list too.

However, if you’re looking for a way to make a difference, help revitalize a community and learn a heck of a lot, it just might be your cup of tea (or pint of ale).

Take it from Katie Davidson of Hot Air Brewing in Creston. Davidson moved back to her hometown with her husband, Andy, and daughter to be closer to family. Katie initially took a job at the local college, but when that didn’t work out she found herself in a bit of a predicament.

Katie and Andy Davidson, owners of Hot Air Brewing in Creston.
Katie and Andy Davidson, owners of Hot Air Brewing in Creston.

“In the past (Andy and I had) discussed that we really liked to go to breweries in Ames and North Dakota, where we’d moved from," Katie Davidson said. "They’re kid-friendly spaces, they’re bright, you have a couple beers and you don’t feel any pressure to take shots or drink too much. It’s just about enjoying the company and enjoying the beer and enjoying the space. So we had talked about opening a brewery maybe a few years down the line once we had some debt paid down — fast forward five months and I was unemployed and trying to figure out how to make that work. So I just started kind of doing my research.”

Fortunately, Davidson has a PhD in Higher Education and an MBA.

“So I just started kind of cramming my brain with all kinds of information about breweries ... looking at breweries in the area and seeing where the closest brewery is,” she said. “So we’re kind of in a brewery 'black hole.' As of right now in a 60-mile radius of Creston it’s either us, First Down and Big Rack in Winterset, or you go to Des Moines.”

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They found an old building in uptown Creston in an area that needed to be revitalized and decided that was the route they wanted to go rather than build new.

“So we could’ve done this project at a fraction of the cost if we had found a piece of land on the outskirts of town, built a Morton building, kind of made it very industrial and just built new,” Davidson said.

But they knew the uptown wasn’t flourishing like it could be and decided to build an apartment behind the brewery so they could live there as well.

“There are people here who don’t think that they deserve nice things or don’t think that they deserve a place like this in a town where it’s traditionally very blue-collar. I mean, I grew up surrounded by really amazing blue-collar people who like to remind me to this day that they changed my diapers at the bowling alley that my dad owned,” Davidson said. “They deserve good beer, too.”

And good beer is something they have thanks to their brewer, who is known by anyone who has anything to do with craft brew in Iowa.

“We won the lottery with our brewer,” Davidson said.

Jay Wilson is the brewer at Hot Air Brewing in Creston.
Jay Wilson is the brewer at Hot Air Brewing in Creston.

Jay Wilson lives 15 miles outside of Creston and worked for the Iowa Brewers Guild until COVID forced furloughs.

“He’s the guy who set up the Iowa Craft Beer Festival and spoke in Congress about craft beer taxes and things like that, just trying to advocate for craft brewers in Iowa,” Davidson said.

He began following the Davidsons’ journey and when he saw they were serious about opening a brewery, he came to them with a proposition.

“He said, 'I really want you guys to succeed and I really want there to be good craft beer in Creston,'" Davidson said. “He said, ‘My job is kind of changing and I really want to give this a shot. Is there any way you’d be able to hire me as your brewer?’

"And I didn’t crunch any numbers, I was just like, ‘Yes please, we need to have good beer if we’re going to be successful in any way, shape or form.’ And it is really good. Jay is an excellent brewer. He has a great palate, he’s a certified beer judge, he has the experience of all the stylistic information in his head and just kind of soaks up beer information like a sponge.”

The most popular beer in the summer is Sticks of Stubblefield, a Berliner Weisse that’s light and refreshing.

“It’s basically a wheat beer soured with fresh limes, fresh lime juice zest and some sea salt,” Davidson said. It also has a lower alcohol content per volume and since it doesn’t contain any hops, it isn’t bitter at all. “It’s a perfect beer for people who think they don’t like beer,” she added.

The other favorite is the Trailbird Lager. “That’s actually a fest beer that Jay brewed for Oktoberfest, and it was so delicious and we loved it, so then we kind of turned it into a winter lager,” Davidson said. “We just renamed it, and people just love it. Is just a really good, smooth, easy-drinking lager.” In the winter, don’t miss the array of dark beers that will be on tap, from an imperial stout to a smoked porter.

The name Hot Air Brewing was chosen for a couple of reasons. One is for the hot air festival that was started in Creston in the 1980s.

“Growing up here, that was one of the highlights, kind of something special,” Davidson said. “There was a parade and a flea market and a pet show at the airport. We wanted something that had a connection to local history, and also we wanted to be a place where people feel lifted up. We are really trying to get people to live by the ‘rise by lifting others’ mentality.”

"The space is exactly what I wanted it to be or even better than what I wanted,” Davidson said. “It’s such a cool combination of people who live here who are regulars and have been in Creston forever, people who grew up in Creston, left and then moved back to Creston, and people who are in Creston for whatever reason and just need a place to have a good beer and a good conversation.”

"The space is exactly what I wanted it to be or even better than what I wanted,” Hot Air Brewing owner Katie Davidson said. “It’s such a cool combination of people who live here who are regulars and have been in Creston forever, people who grew up in Creston, left and then moved back to Creston and people who are in Creston for whatever reason and just need a place to have a good beer and a good conversation.”

Address: 212 N. Maple St., Creston

Phone: (641) 782-8981

Website: hotairbrewing.com

Distance from downtown Des Moines: 71 miles

Hours: 4-9 p.m. Tuesday, 4-8 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 4-9 p.m. Friday, 1-9 p.m. Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Sunday.

Food: The Davidsons encourage people to bring in their own food. “For the first six months we were serving our Cuban sandwich, which is really good, and then ham and cheese and grilled cheese, trying to keep it simple,” Katie Davidson said. “But with food prices and for a while pork availability through the supplier that we were using, we kind of had it off the menu over winter.” However, she encourages people to order from other restaurants. “We have a list of local establishments that are within walking distance and then pizza delivery.” She added, “We have no issues with people bringing in food. Even if they don’t want to eat our Cubans and we are serving them, we don’t care.”

Hot Air Brewing's Trailbird Lager is “a fest beer that Jay brewed for Oktoberfest, and it was so delicious and we loved it, so then we kind of turned it into a winter lager,” owner Katie Davidson said.
Hot Air Brewing's Trailbird Lager is “a fest beer that Jay brewed for Oktoberfest, and it was so delicious and we loved it, so then we kind of turned it into a winter lager,” owner Katie Davidson said.

Events: Hot Air Brewing hosts a wide variety of events, from trivia nights to live music to even Impact Pro Wrestling. “We will try anything once because you never know what somebody’s going to be into,” Davidson said. Hence, the sword tournament the brewery hosted featuring a group called the Band of Iron Lions on June 18. “We can get the street blocked off and can get our alcohol permit extended out into the street to host events as long as we do it in advance,” Davidson said. Check their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/hotairbrewing/ for a list of upcoming events.

While You’re There: Davidson suggests coming for a glass of beer and then checking out what else uptown Creston has to offer, like the new greenhouse Greens ‘N Things next door. ”She has really great plants that she grows in her greenhouse and cool pots,” Davidson said. “We also have an amazing art store down the street that’s kind of like a hidden gem.”

And don’t miss the murals.

"We have the art center, and some of the people involved with that have brought in artists to do murals over the past few summers. so we have over two dozen murals over a four-block radius of our uptown,” Davidson said. “Just coming to Creston and walking through all the alleyways to find the next hidden mural is a really cool thing to do with your kids.”

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Hot Air Brewing in Creston 'won the lottery with our brewer'