New local brewer getting closer to opening doors

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Craft beer enthusiasts, cleanse your palates.

If all goes as planned, you’re less than a month away from the opportunity to enjoy some new local varieties of cold brew.

Charles City’s own St. Charles Brewing Co. has some attractive new signage on display, and inside, there’s an impressive hand-crafted bar and tables.

And as you read this, beer is brewing in the vats.

For the last several months, proprietors Cort and Lanie Sanvig have been working hard on the necessary renovations to the building and the property, located at 100 S. Main St., right next to Subway and across the street from the courthouse.

“We plan to be open in some capacity before Thanksgiving,” Cort said. “It wouldn’t be an actual grand opening. We wouldn’t have every beer that we want on tap, but we’ll have a few things to offer.”

“It will be just a soft opening,” Lanie added, and said the grand opening will come later. “It’s hard to pick dates in December, with the holidays. We’re thinking maybe just after the first of the year.”

The micro-brewery will produce seasonal flavors and add varieties of stouts and porters as it continues to grow.

In the meantime, curious local beverage connoisseurs can get a sampling this weekend of what St. Charles Brewing will have to offer.

“We’re brewing right now — we’ve got our license to brew and distribute,” said Cort. “We will have a beer at the Pub this weekend.”

The Sanvigs will drop off a keg of Cort’s own “Chuck Town Brown” at The Pub on the Cedar on Thursday, to be tapped on Friday and available for customers to order as long as it lasts.

Cort said he is looking to have some varieties sampled at some other establishments in the area as well, until their site is open for business. He said Chuck Town Brown is one of his favorite concoctions.

“It’s an easy-drinking fall style brown ale,” he said. “It’s a good in-between of light porter and stout.”

For journalistic purposes, one reporter sampled the Chuck Town Brown on Wednesday, and said he was impressed.

“We were thinking of calling it Home Town Brown, since Charles City is called ‘America’s Home Town,’ but then we thought that if we were to bring it anywhere else, it would be kind of weird to call it that,” Cort said.

“Charles City’s nickname has always kind of been known as ‘Chuck Town,’ so we just figured it kind of fits,” added Lanie.

The local connection is important to the Sanvigs.

The walls of St. Charles Brewery are decorated with maps of the state and the area. One promotes Charles City-area attractions and the other contains “Iowa Beer Trails,” which lists micro-breweries throughout the state. St. Charles Brewing Co. is already among the establishments listed.

“It’s important to us to be a part of the community, and promote attractions in the area,” Lanie said.

Cort said that they’ve talked to some of the restaurants in town, to see if they’ll bring in food.

“Cedar River Pizza is one that’s been willing to work with us,” Lanie said. “We don’t know exactly how we’re going to do it, but we’re trying to arrange for them to bring pizzas in so people can have some food while they enjoy their beer. We want to encourage people to bring food in.”

Cort said he is hoping to have a “steady flow of entertainment” at the establishment as well.

“We want to have some local musicians, hopefully some comedy nights, and eventually we’ll do some trivia nights,” he said. “That will be later on, after we get better established.”

Other long-term plans include a patio out front for an outdoor beer garden — which Lanie insists will be dog-friendly.