New local beer options coming to St. Joseph

May 7—St. Joseph residents will soon have more local beer options to choose from as 1st Barrel Brewing is gearing up to open its doors Downtown this week.

The business, located at 510 Edmond St., is set to open to the public on Friday, May 12.

"It's going to have 12 taps," said Eric Harkleroad, owner of 1st Barrel Brewing. "I'm going to focus more on variety than anything else. I make a lot of interesting and different beers. I have a dandelion beer. I'm eventually going to make a cherry crisp beer that I've done in the past. I like things like smoked beers, peated beers and things with juniper."

What was once just a hobby for Harkleroad is now his latest business endeavor.

"I've been brewing at home for close to 10 years at this point," Harkleroad said. "I started off as what they call an 'extract batch brewer' and then as soon as I could, moved up to doing all grain."

Harkleroad was in the process of finishing his Ph.D. when he decided to start his own business to keep his family from moving.

"It was one of those things where we weren't even going to have it as good as we currently did if I continued that path," Harkleroad said. "I thought, 'If I could do anything else, what would I do?' and I really love brewing, so the answer was brewing."

1st Barrel Brewing is located in the former Open Door Food Kitchen space. Harkleroad signed a lease in February of 2022 and has spent the past year renovating.

"When I signed the lease, the landlords had done an amazing job with a lot of the basic work," Harkleroad said. "There were obviously new floors and they had done a lot of work in the bathrooms. But there were still a lot of things I needed to do to make it my space."

Harkleroad is now finishing the last touches with the opening date right around the corner. He said his biggest goal for his business is to provide the community with good, classic beers.

"I love classic styles of beer, but what I really want to do is give people the option to explore beers that they've never had before, ideas they've never thought of," Harkleroad said. "Some of this I pull from old traditional recipes. Some of it I literally just make up on the spot."

In addition to offering 12 original beers, Harkleroad said he also plans to serve local wines.

Harkleroad said he's been overwhelmed with community support since announcing 1st Barrel Brewing on social media.

"I announced it officially on Facebook and the amount of responses I've gotten, the likes, the followers, everything has been more than I imagined," Harkleroad said. "The community involvement has been amazing."

Hours of operation are still in the works, however, the grand opening will be at 5 p.m. on May 12.

Sara Rooney can be reached at sara.rooney@newspressnow.com.