Today it’s a visit to Des Moines, Iowa for a lively conversation with two of the state’s leading brewers, the guild director, and historian Maureen Ogle.

Last week I was in Iowa to speak and spend time at the state’s guild annual conference. It had been several years since I was there and I wanted to get a better handle on what is happening in the state – and it’s a lot. 

What is happening there is important to the industry as a whole, and worth a listen. 

My guests are:

Dave Morgan is a small town Iowa native, that attended and graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a degree in Business Administration in 1998. After graduation, he jumped into the hospitality industry, opening and operating multiple food and beverage locations before transitioning into the craft brewery scene in 2012. He leads the team at SingleSpeed Brewing Co, operating 3 locations (Brewery+TapRoom), all located within the state of Iowa and has been a member of Iowa Brewers Guild Board since 2020, currently holding down the incredibly important / do the least position of Vice President. 

Noreen Otto is a Wisconsin native who relocated to Iowa to attend college and law school. After graduation, she worked in a number of political roles. She then spent 7 years focused on state and federal policy for Hy-Vee, Inc. as Vice President Government Relations. Her work focused on retail business issues. Noreen also served at the Chief Administrative Officer for specialty cheese maker, Maytag Dairy Farms before joining the Iowa Brewers Guild as the Executive Director in fall of 2021. She lives with her husband and two sons in Newton, where she sits on the Jasper Community Foundation and library board. Noreen can be found making cheeseboards when she isn’t trying to understand Minecraft.

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a Finance degree in 2009, R.J. Tursi spent time with relatives in southern Italy, working at their winery and learning what it means to be passionate about your work and craft.  In 2012, R.J. and his parents, Bob & Amy Tursi

opened Exile Brewing.  Over the past 11 years R.J. has guided Exile through the relatively easy growth of the 2010s, earned his Advanced Cicerone Certification, and is currently helping Exile navigate the more tumultuous waters of the 2020s.

and 

Maureen Ogle is an historian and the author of Ambitious Brew: A History of American Beer.

This Episode is Sponsored By:

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For more Drink Beer, Think Beer check out All About Beer.

• Host: John Holl
• Guests: Dave Morgan, RJ Tursi, Noreen Otto, Maureen Ogle
• Sponsors: Shopify, All About Beer
• Tags: Iowa, Craft, History, IPA, Lager, Flavor