A new brewery has opened on the north side of town, with a grand opening event scheduled next week.
Heartwork Brewing had its soft opening on Nov. 17 and plans to host a grand opening celebration on Nov. 30 , featuring food trucks, a raffle, and, as the owners put it, a great line up of beers on tap.
“We want to highlight how grateful we are to the community here in Bloomington,” said Aubrey Williams, co-founder of Heartwork Brewing. “Dan and I are both military veterans, and coming home and running a local family-owned brewery was really important to us.”
Aubrey and her husband Dan Dutcher, a brewer with 10 years of experience, are starting the brewery with another family. After an opportunity came up to move from Nashville, Tenn., to Bloomington, where Aubrey’s family lives, things started to fall into place for them, along with their friend Jeff Browne.
“It was sort of this sort of a pipe dream at first, you know,” Williams said. “At the time, Jeff was living in Seattle, we were in Nashville. And the timing worked out, we all came together and really were able to make this a reality.”
Originally the team planned to open in the late summer of 2022, but the renovation and licensing process took longer than anticipated.
“I feel like we probably hit every roadblock possible,” said Dutcher.
Customers can expect some staple brews as well as a rotating selection of more experimental flavors. Dutcher said lagers, single and double IPAs, stouts, and even seltzers will always be available.
“I want to get to the point where we're doing about one new beer a week,” he said. “We’re on a smaller system, so it's easier to do that.”
At the moment, Heartwork is for the 21-and-over crowd only. They plan to become family friendly in the future after acquiring their retail permit.
Similarly, they are exploring the addition of house-made food offerings in the future. For now, outside food, food trucks, and pre-packaged snacks will fill that gap.
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