USA, NE: Steeple Brewing Company officially open for business in Hastings

It has been a couple years in the making but now, a new Hastings brewery is officially open for business, NTV reported on November 1.

Steeple Brewing Company is a small batch brewery with a unique theme, historic touches and its heart rooted in small–town relationships.

"We always wanted to make it and serve it to people here," said so-founder, Anthony May. "Just to bring a place to downtown Hastings where people can gather and they can laugh and share and drink together."

The man in charge of brewing those drinks prefers to keep busy behind the scenes.

"We make five barrel batches so that's a little over 150 gallons of beer at a time," said brewer Damen Heitmann. "We use a variety of malt, a variety of different hops to create some more unique flavor profiles."

This Hastings College chaplain is the inspiration behind the church theme in this historic building on 1st Street.

"Historically, this building was the Pioneer Market so it was a meat market, butcher shop here in Hastings," said May.

During the renovation, the brewery's owners kept some of the building's original features.

"One of the first things people notice when they come in is we have black and white marble tile floors and those are actually original to the building we believe," said May. "They found them when they started doing the renovation. They were underneath the existing floor."

They kept the original brick, used old pews as booths and have other accents as well.

"We found this communion rail, somebody had in a storage unit down in Fall City," said May. "It came out of a church in Auburn. So, it's a 15 foot long just beautiful communion rail and a lot of the woodwork and stuff in here is based on the design of this. This was one of the first pieces we found."

Guests will also want to notice the bar top, which features an antique tread plate.

"But that was in the doorway of the original building so it was 1874 and labeled The Pioneer. I think what's really interesting about this piece is that this building had burned down once or twice in its history but this piece had stuck around since the original building."

While they say they have been busy these past couple months, they have more plans for the future.

"We're also expanding our liquor license so we'll be able to offer more than beer," said May. "So, we'll be able to do some mixed drinks and wine and stuff starting later this week, I think. And then ultimately when Wave Pizza opens there'll be food available, there'll be a wait staff waiting on the tables and it'll turn from a tap room into a restaurant."

Soon, the brewing Company plans to extend their hours, but for now, you can visit them Fridays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .