IN ROCK RAPIDS, ‘712’ IS MORE THAN AN AREA CODE

By Bob Fitch

What goes around comes around. The story of 113 South Story Street in downtown Rock Rapids begins with a saloon, most likely connected with the Sioux Falls Brewing Company of old. In its 120-year history, the distinctive building – which was built with Sioux quartzite and brick – has also been a leather shop, a dry cleaner and, for about 50 years, a barber shop. It’s come full circle and is now home to ‘712’ beer, the favorite brew at Rock River Brewing Company.

Owner Dan Vander Zee is a Rock Rapids native and a graduate of Central Lyon High School. He attended Augustana University where, in one of his classes, they used the New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado, as a case study. New Belgium developed Fat Tire and other noteworthy craft beers. The study sparked his interest in craft brewing. The Christmas after graduating from college, Dan received a home brewing kit as a gift. That was the start of a decade of experimentation, brewing different types and flavors of beer as a hobby.

During that decade-plus, he worked for Frontier Bank in Sioux Falls, primarily as a mortgage loan officer. In 2019, he decided he’d reached a turning point in his professional life and asked himself, “What’s next?” He and his wife, Jami, decided to return to live in Rock Rapids – and Dan decided to turn his hobby into a business.

“I always had it in the back of my mind to start a brewery. We started actively looking for buildings and this location became available. Things started rolling from there,” he said.

He left Frontier Bank in June 2019 and began working on the building remodel the next month. They gutted the building, creating a century-old look and feel with the exposed brick and ceiling joists.

“I had a lot of help from friends and family. Countless family members helped me clean up – removing the plaster and lathe was labor intensive.” Friends took time off from work to help hang sheetrock. His brother-in-law, Eric, built the customer tables from an old bowling alley floor.

Dan does his best to satisfy just about everyone’s taste buds. At any given time, there are up to 10 beers on tap and many of them are also available in cans in limited quantities. “I brew just about everything. I've got some lagers and I’ve got some ales. I've brewed probably 50 different beers in our first three years. I try different styles and find what people like and what they don't like,” he said.

“I try to have really everything from the lightest in body and color to darkest and heaviest, and everything in between. We have fruit in some of the beers. Our best-selling beer since day one has been ‘712’ which is a citrus wheat. I put freshly zested lemons in that. The second favorite is Rocky Latte which is an American Pilsner. That's going to be my closest to a domestic beer. It's kind of a craft beer version of a domestic beer.”

He also been selling Amber Waves since day one. It’s an amber ale he compares to Alaskan Amber or Fat Tire. “It's more on the malty side, but you get a little bit of hop character. It's got that nice deep amber color, too. It's appealing.” Scout Island IPA was his first very light beer. “It's an IPA, but it's not too hoppy. It's very light. So it's not too far off from the domestic beer. I tend to stay around 4 to 4½ percent (alcohol content) on that one.”

There are several others that have become popular staples. “You try to shuffle beers in and out, bring on some new ones. It can be tough to juggle what you have on hand based on how many kegs you have ready to fill.” At St. Patrick’s Day, he brings out his spring beer called Red Beard’s Kilt, an Irish red ale.

“I use all different types of ingredients. Barley is definitely my number one ingredient, but I'll use a little corn and a couple beers use a decent amount of wheat. I’ve always got a few wheat beers on hand,” Dan said.

“I do use some local honey in a couple of beers, my main one is The Bee's Knees. It's a honey wheat.” He gets the honey from local producer, Roach Family Farms. “We do a trade. I’ll give them some beer and they’ll give me some honey. I'm experimenting right now with a mead. I call it a barley mead because I put some barley in it, but it's mostly honey. So that'll be ready in the next couple of weeks. We’ll see if people like it. It’ll be pretty high alcohol. It's almost like a wine.”

He took advantage of a local distillery, Rock River Distillation, to age his Scotch ale in bourbon barrels.

Another local connection included brewing a beer with Haitian coffee purchased from Rosie’s Boutique. The coffee stout-type beer was used in a fundraiser for Touch of Hope Ministries, a Rock Rapids-based organization which sells products through Rosie’s to support education, entrepreneurship and Christian missions in Haiti.

For guests who are not beer drinkers, he stocks wine from Calico Skies, an Inwood-based vineyard and winery. He also keeps pop, water, coffee and non-alcoholic beer on hand. The brewery doesn’t serve food, but guests are welcome to bring in their own food or food from local restaurants. Rock River is open 4-10 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. “That keeps us busy enough, especially when I've got plenty to do brewing the beer.” He has a handful of part-time bartenders who help him out.

The brewery does host private parties on off nights. Typically there is no rental fee, just a minimum bar tab per hour for the group. Shari’s Kitchen & Catering has catered for a number of groups. It’s a popular spot for George-Little Rock and Central Lyon class reunions. Dan said, “We’ve hosted plenty of birthday parties, too. We’ve had decade parties for 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th, and 90th birthdays. We haven’t hosted an 80th or 100th birthday party yet.”

Since Rock River Brewing Co. opened in July of 2020, business has exceeded his expectations. “You’re always looking to grow and there are more things to get into. I’ve sold some cans to the golf course in town, but otherwise haven’t been distributing yet. My license allows me to self-distribute, so my next step will probably be selling some kegs to local bars.” Putting the beers in cans and labeling them is cumbersome without adding more brewing capacity and expensive canning machinery.

Dan is hoping for steady growth. “I'd like to grow naturally and not take on investors, because everyone's got their own vision of how it should be. Now the vision belongs to me and my wife.”

His wife, Jami, has worked at Citibank in Sioux Falls for 15 years. She is also native of Rock Rapids. In fact, Dan and Jami have known each other since pre-school. The couple has three children: Gwen, 7, is in second grade; Claire, 5, is in preschool; and Robert, 2, goes to daycare. Dan’s father, John, was dentist in Rock Rapids for 40 years and his mom, Chris, was a public health nurse. They’re both retired.