Big Grove Brewery: From Basement to Iowa Beer Empire

When Andy Joynt moved into his parents’ basement in Coralville, Iowa, in 2006, he had big dreams and a little brewing experience. Armed with a business plan he’d written in college, a supportive girlfriend (now wife), a college buddy, and his friend’s dog, he set out to brew as much beer as possible and figure out how to open a brewery.

Nearly a decade later, that dream would finally come to life—though not quite in the way he’d imagined. Today, Joynt serves as the director of brewing at Big Grove Brewery, overseeing operations at their production facility in Iowa City and coordinating with satellite tap room locations across Iowa and beyond. Big Grove has become one of Iowa’s bestselling craft beers, beating out national brands like Blue Moon and Leinenkugel’s, and earning gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival.

It’s a remarkable trajectory for a brewery that started with just the 13th license granted in Iowa and a brew master who came to the job with exactly zero professional brewing experience.

The Colorado Connection: Where It All Began

Joynt’s journey into craft beer began far from Iowa’s rolling hills. As an Iowa City kid who graduated from West High, he headed west to Colorado State University in 1999. His older brother was already hooked on New Belgium’s Fat Tire, and during his campus visit, Joynt tagged along on a tour of the brewery—even though he wasn’t old enough to drink.

Fort Collins in the late 1990s and early 2000s was a craft beer boomtown. New Belgium was growing rapidly, and Odell Brewing Company was expanding alongside it. For a curious college student, the explosion of flavorful, innovative beers was eye-opening. “It really opened my eyes to more flavorful beer,” Joynt recalls.

The next logical step was home brewing, which Joynt pursued both as a creative outlet and, admittedly, as “a workaround to get around not being old enough to drink.” But what started as a college student’s hobby became something more serious when he wrote a business plan for a class about opening a brewery back home in Iowa City.

“After I presented it to the local business people, several of them were like, ‘This is a good idea. You should do this,'” Joynt remembers. The validation was enough to plant a seed that would take years to fully germinate.

The Basement Years: Dreams Deferred but Not Abandoned

Convincing his then-girlfriend and a college buddy to move back to Iowa City and pursue the brewery dream was the easy part. Making it actually happen proved far more challenging. The trio, along with his friend’s dog, moved into Joynt’s parents’ basement and threw themselves into brewing and business planning.

“We had a lot of fun, learned a lot, but we didn’t ever quite get all the pieces put together,” Joynt says with the matter-of-fact tone of someone who’s made peace with false starts. They homebrewed, hung out, and tried to build something, but by 2015, Joynt was ready to accept that maybe this particular dream wasn’t meant to be.

“I was about ready to decide like, all right, this has been fun. Didn’t make it happen. You know, good times, whatever, but what’s next?” he recalls.

But timing, as they say, is everything. Right at that moment of contemplation, a friend called with news: Big Grove’s head brewer was moving on, and the brewery was looking for someone new. They were about to start a major tap room project in Iowa City, and they needed help.

The Hilltop Meeting: A Chance Worth Taking

The meeting that would change Joynt’s life took place at the Hilltop Lounge in Iowa City. Sitting down with CEO and founder Matt Swift and his business partner Doug Goettsch over beers, Joynt learned about Big Grove’s vision and ambitions. What he heard excited him—this was an opportunity to live out the brewery dreams he’d been nurturing for nearly a decade.

There was just one problem: Joynt had no professional brewing experience. In that crucial interview, he made this limitation crystal clear. “I made it very clear in that interview that I had no professional brewing experience,” he says. “But I was down to go for it if they were down to take a chance on me.”

They took the chance. In 2016, Joynt joined Big Grove and started brewing at the pub in Solon. From that point forward, as he puts it, they’ve “just been building breweries and adding tanks ever since.”

The leap from home brewing to professional brewing is often perceived as dramatic, but Joynt sees more continuity than difference. “Professional brewing is a lot different certainly, but fundamentally it’s the same if you’re doing all grain brewing as a home brewer,” he explains. The joke he always makes on brewery tours captures this perfectly: “It takes the same amount of time to brew 5 gallons of beer as it does to brew 500 or 5,000 or 50,000. You’re going through that same mash time, that same boil.”

The Early Days: West Coast Dreams and Can’t-Keep-Up Demand

When Joynt joined Big Grove in 2016, the Iowa craft beer scene was still in its formative years. Big Grove was among the pioneers, holding one of the earliest licenses granted in the state. Other now-familiar names like Exile, Confluence, and Barntown were all getting started around the same time, each carving out their own identity in a market that was just beginning to appreciate craft beer’s possibilities.

For Big Grove, the identity was clear: West Coast-style IPAs. Their Arms Race Pale Ale and West Coast IPA were the flagship beers, and they faced what Joynt calls “a great problem”—they simply couldn’t brew enough to meet demand.

“We’d be brewing Arms Race and IPA like once a week or every other week and we’d put it on tap and it’d be gone in a few days,” Joynt recalls. The energy around those releases was electric. “People are coming in like, ‘Do you have Arms Race?’ And we’re like, ‘Nope, check back Friday.'”

Customers were filling up growlers and taking the precious beer home, creating a sense of scarcity and excitement that many craft breweries would envy. But it also highlighted a fundamental constraint: the brewpub was small, and if Big Grove wanted to grow, they’d need to think bigger.

The Vision for Expansion: From Brewpub to Production Powerhouse

CEO and founder Matt Swift saw an opportunity that others in the Midwest hadn’t fully seized. Coming from a restaurant background and having done important work in Iowa craft beer through Red’s Ale House, Swift recognized that while there were plenty of small brewpubs popping up, there wasn’t a significant presence of larger-scale packaging breweries in the region.

Big Grove’s strategy became clear: they would build a substantial production facility that could supply not just their own tap rooms but also distribute across Iowa and beyond. This wasn’t just about brewing more beer; it was about building infrastructure that could support sustainable growth.

The expansion brought new challenges and opportunities. As Joynt’s role evolved from brewer to director of brewing, he found himself coordinating operations across multiple locations, each with its own brewery. “We do have a brewery in all of our tap room restaurants and we’re brewing at all of them,” he explains, describing a distributed model that allows for both consistency and local experimentation.

The Easy Eddi Revolution: A Beer That Changed Everything

If Arms Race was the beer that built Big Grove’s early reputation, Easy Eddi is the beer that catapulted them to new heights. The creation story of this now-award-winning Midwest IPA is a testament to both intentionality and serendipity.

When Big Grove built their production facility and Gilbert Street location in Iowa City, they wanted to mark the occasion with something special. “We really wanted to brew a beer for that space that was kind of unique to it,” Joynt explains. The team set out to create a Midwest-style IPA that would stand apart from the West Coast IPAs they were known for.

The Midwest IPA style was relatively new at the time, and Big Grove saw an opportunity to define what that meant for Iowa. Working with a hop blend that was gaining popularity—Citra, Simcoe, and Mosaic—the team crafted a beer that emphasized tropical fruit flavors while maintaining the smooth, approachable character that defines the Midwest style.

When they put the first batch on tap, something magical happened. “Everyone fell in love with it,” Joynt remembers. The response was so overwhelming that Easy Eddi quickly became not just a location-specific beer but a flagship for the entire brewery.

The beer’s name carries special significance, honoring Ed Ludens, Matt Swift’s right-hand man who tragically passed away in a farming accident. “He was in the middle of all of those conversations, and everyone just loved Ed,” Joynt says. Naming the beer Easy Eddi was a way to memorialize someone who had been instrumental in Big Grove’s growth and had touched everyone on the team.

Gold Medal Glory: Validation on the National Stage

In 2023, Easy Eddi achieved what every craft brewer dreams of: a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the Juicy or Hazy IPA category. For Big Grove, the win was particularly sweet because of how it happened.

“We literally walked back to the canning line and grabbed some cans off of the run and that’s what we sent in,” Joynt recalls. There was no special batch, no extra tweaking or fine-tuning for competition. The beer that won the gold medal was exactly the same beer that customers were buying off store shelves.

“There was a lot of satisfaction just to share with the whole team that everybody was executing to get us to that point and also knowing that the beer that got the medal is the same beer that customers are buying at the store,” he says. “It’s the exact same thing.”

This consistency speaks to Big Grove’s operational excellence and quality control—something that becomes increasingly difficult as a brewery scales. The gold medal wasn’t just a trophy; it was validation that they had figured out how to maintain quality while growing production.

What makes Easy Eddi’s success particularly noteworthy is its broad appeal. While many award-winning beers are niche products appreciated primarily by beer geeks, Easy Eddi has managed to be both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The approachable, tropical flavor profile with notes of pineapple, mango, and citrus makes it accessible to craft beer newcomers while still satisfying experienced palates.

“I think it made it appealing to a really wide base,” Joynt notes. “It was a beer that people could have multiple of and just keep enjoying.”

The Reality of Craft Brewing: Manufacturing with a Creative Soul

One of Joynt’s most refreshing perspectives challenges the romantic narrative that often surrounds craft beer. While acknowledging the artistry involved in brewing, he’s quick to point out the industrial reality of the work.

“I think craft brewing in a lot of settings is manufacturing,” he says plainly. “I think it’s to be celebrated. The people on this team work hard. They’re out there in work boots, throwing bags of grain around and cleaning tanks and working with chemicals. It is a manufacturing environment.”

This honest assessment doesn’t diminish the craft or creativity involved—it simply acknowledges the physical labor and systematic processes that make great beer possible. “There’s a lot of art involved in what we do and it’s a fun manufacturing environment where the end product is beer, but it is manufacturing and it’s hard work,” Joynt emphasizes.

For anyone considering a career in brewing, this reality check is crucial. The job involves early mornings, heavy lifting, constant cleaning, and precise attention to detail. It’s “a hurry up and wait kind of exercise with a lot of cleaning mixed in,” as Joynt describes it.

Building an Empire: The Big Grove Footprint Today

From that single brewpub in Solon where Joynt started in 2016, Big Grove has expanded into a multi-location operation that maintains individual character while building a cohesive brand. Each location serves a different purpose and offers a unique experience.

Solon, the original location, holds a special place in Big Grove’s story. Nestled in a small Iowa town that most people wouldn’t visit otherwise, it offers something rare: a complete dining experience in a beautiful setting. “It’s a beautiful drive. It’s like the part of Iowa where Grant Wood and Marvin Cone used to live in the area and that inspired a lot of their paintings,” Joynt describes.

The restaurant features the culinary work of Executive Chef Ben Smart and his team, creating what Joynt calls “world class” food. “Some of the food that they make is just like world class, and I think it’s best displayed in Solon there,” he says. Combined with the scenic drive and the original brewpub atmosphere, Solon represents Big Grove at its most intimate and authentic.

The Gilbert Street location in Iowa City represents the other end of the spectrum—a modern tap room with a massive outdoor space that has become a community gathering place. “We got this really cool piece of property with a massive backyard and even beyond our backyard, the city of Iowa City had developed a park all the way up to the river,” Joynt explains.

On warm afternoons, despite being located right by Highway 1 in the middle of the city, “it feels like you’re out in the country a little bit or out in the wilderness.” This outdoor oasis has become one of Iowa City’s favorite beer destinations, perfectly suited to Easy Eddi and the tap room experience Big Grove has refined.

Beyond Iowa, Big Grove has expanded into other markets, including Omaha, each location maintaining its own identity while staying connected to the broader brand. The strategy of having breweries in each tap room location allows for both consistency in flagship beers and local experimentation with small-batch offerings.

Advice for Aspiring Brewers: Home Brewing and Hard Truths

For those inspired by Big Grove’s success and considering their own journey into brewing, Joynt offers practical advice rooted in his own experience. First and foremost: start with all-grain home brewing and take brewery tours.

“I think home brewing, all grain home brewing, you see a lot of what brewing looks like and what it has to be,” he explains. The process teaches you the fundamental steps, the patience required, and the attention to detail that professional brewing demands. More importantly, with the wealth of information available today, “you can start out and hopefully make some pretty decent beers just with all the information available.”

But brewery tours are equally important, particularly tours of regional production breweries rather than just small brewpubs. “Seeing what that looks like from a brewery tour of a kind of regional brewery might be helpful to people,” Joynt suggests, because it reveals the manufacturing reality behind the romantic idea of craft brewing.

His path—from home brewer to professional without formal training—is possible but shouldn’t be mistaken for easy. It required a decade of patience, countless batches of beer, a failed business attempt, and ultimately, being in the right place at the right time when opportunity knocked. Most importantly, it required people who were willing to take a chance on someone with passion and knowledge but no professional track record.

Looking Forward: What’s Next for Big Grove

As Big Grove continues to grow and evolve, the brewery faces the challenge that all successful craft breweries eventually encounter: how to scale while maintaining the quality and character that made you successful in the first place.

The Easy Eddi gold medal demonstrates that Big Grove has cracked this code, at least so far. Their ability to produce award-winning beer on their regular canning line—no special batches, no competition tweaks—shows operational maturity that many breweries never achieve.

With multiple locations now established and distribution expanding, the next chapter seems focused on refinement rather than radical expansion. The brewery continues to experiment with new styles and seasonal offerings while staying true to the flagship beers that built their reputation. Arms Race remains beloved, a connection to the early days and the beer that, as Joynt says, “built Gilbert Street Brewery for us.”

For visitors looking to experience Big Grove for the first time, Joynt’s recommendations capture the brewery’s dual identity. Head to Solon for the complete experience—the beautiful drive, the world-class food, and an Arms Race beer in the place where it all started. Or visit Gilbert Street on a warm afternoon, grab an Easy Eddi, and settle into that remarkable outdoor space where the city feels like wilderness.

Both experiences are authentic Big Grove. Both tell part of the story.

A Story of Patience and Persistence

Andy Joynt’s journey from his parents’ basement to director of brewing at one of Iowa’s most successful craft breweries is neither a fairy tale nor a simple rags-to-riches story. It’s something more valuable: a realistic example of how passion, persistence, and being ready when opportunity appears can lead to remarkable outcomes.

The failed brewery attempt in his 20s wasn’t wasted time—it was a decade-long education in brewing, business, and the craft beer industry. When Big Grove came calling in 2015, Joynt had the knowledge and skills to contribute, even without professional experience. He also had something equally important: the humility to acknowledge what he didn’t know and the commitment to learn on the job.

Today, Big Grove Brewery stands as a testament to what’s possible when vision meets execution, when quality controls meet creative innovation, and when a team commits to excellence batch after batch. From a small brewpub that couldn’t keep Arms Race on tap to a gold-medal-winning production brewery distributing across multiple states, Big Grove has become more than a successful business—it’s become a defining part of Iowa’s craft beer story.

And at the heart of it all is a kid from Iowa City who toured New Belgium before he was old enough to drink, who spent years brewing in a basement with his friends, and who wasn’t afraid to admit he had no professional experience when the right opportunity finally arrived. Sometimes, that’s exactly the recipe you need.

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To learn more about Big Grove Brewery, visit their taproom locations in Solon, Iowa City, and Des Moines, or follow them on Instagram for updates on new beers and events. Brewery tours are available Friday evenings at 5:30 PM at the Gilbert Street location in Iowa City.