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Local breweries are gaining popularity across the country. Iowa is no exception.

The Foundry is one of many breweries located in Iowa. However, it has its own unique spin. Instead of simply existing as a brewery on its own, The Foundry holds two separate entities in one building. The first one is The Hall, which is a kitchen and dining area that distributes beer. The second one is The Distillery, where the brewing takes place.

The Foundry is a fairly new operation, with The Hall first opening on October 28, 2017, and The Distillery opening almost a year later in June 2018. It used to be a railcar barn and iron foundry from the 1890s, which has since been transformed into what it is today.

Upon entering The Distillery, the aroma of liquor can be smelled throughout that section of the building. All of the machines used to distill and craft whiskey are located behind the front counter.

The Distillery makes its whiskey by converting the grains into starches, which then gets converted to sugars and yeast. The yeast interacts with the sugars, which creates alcohol, heat and carbon dioxide. After about a week, there is a 10% alcohol substance, which then gets distilled and makes the alcohol content around 80%. It then is placed in a barrel for up to 10 years.

According to Scott Bush, owner of The Distillery, some of the employees brew their whiskey with ingredients that they grow on their own farms.

“We call that an ‘estate bourbon,’” Bush said. “We’d love more people in Iowa to do it. I think it’s incredibly unique and it’s one thing to make your own whiskey, it’s another thing to make your own whiskey from grain that you worked to produce.”

The difference between The Distillery’s whiskey and store-bought is that The Distillery is more experimental while the store-bought is more suited for a mass audience. The taste is stronger, sweeter and spicier than a typical store-bought whiskey because of the grains used.

When entering the Hall, there is plenty of seating and tables that are made out of wood, more like logs rather than a typical picnic table. The bottom half of the walls 

are mostly made out of glass, one of which customers can see The Distillery through. Customers can experience the various food trucks that come in from around the Des Moines area. These food trucks vary from chicken wings to Mexican food to burgers.

 Food is prepared in the kitchen, which opened in May 2019. It is a “food court for adults,” as Nick Kuhn, managing partner of the Hall and chairman of the Justice League of Food, puts it. They serve anything from Belgian waffles to pizza pies.

“We feed the hungry and teach the homeless how to cook,” Kuhn said. 

The Hall itself is a for-profit business, but the kitchen is a non-profit business that gives its employees full-time pay so they can recieve an education and stand on their own. The kitchen was also started to support a government program called Hunger-Free Polk County, whose mission is to ensure that everyone has access to meals. It also allows its members to get creative with their meals. Aspiring restaurant owners, caterers, food truck operators and guest chefs all work there as well. A schedule of which food trucks will be serving each day can be found on their website.

There is no typical day at The Hall. Some of the events at The Hall include live music, bingo, trivia games and even eclectic events, one of which is called “Beer and Hymns.”

“This place will literally be standing-room only on a Thursday night with people singing church hymns and drinking beer like there’s no tomorrow,” Kuhn said.

For The Distillery, the crowds are smaller, as it is a bar. They only bring in around 10 to 20 people per day. The only time when it’s busier than the average day is when a new drink is launched. They get a few hundred customers over the course of the launch. In the near future they are launching three new whiskeys: a five-grain, a one-malt and a bourbon.

“You get a more unique whiskey experience on your palette,” said Dustin Eubanks, a manager at The Distillery.

According to their website, the mission of The Distillery is to be the most innovative distillery in the world, preserve meaningful history, promote Iowa and make people happy.