WEST OKOBOJI, Ia. — When handed a drink at West O Beer, you see a label on one side of the glass that reads “100 percent Iowa brewed.”
And that’s something brewery owner Matt Matthiesen, 43, takes pride in.
“We’re excited about Iowa craft beer,” he said. “It’s becoming such a big deal in this state.”
West O Beer’s CocO Stout, a chocolate stout beer, brought home victory in the Des Moines Register’s all-Iowa Beer Brackets on Tuesday, defeating 515 Brewing Company’s American pale ale, Passe?, by a count of 59 to 41 percent.
A total 11,184 people voted in the six round, March Madness-style tournament, which launched on March 9 with 64 Iowa beers. Full results of the tournament can be viewed at desmoinesregister.com/beerbrackets.
Matthiesen used words like ‘excited’ and ‘amazing’ to describe the Beer Brackets victory.
“The first thing we did was congratulate the brewers in the back,” he said. “They do a lot of work for us. It’s not easy doing what they do, consistently, day after day and week after week.”
The Register’s Beer Brackets isn’t the first time CocO Stout’s brought home top prize. The beer earned back-to-back gold medals in the sweet or cream stout category at the Great American Beer Festival in 2014 and 2015.
A “gold medal” winning beer is defined by the Great American Beer Festival as “a world-class beer that accurately exemplifies the specified style, displaying the proper balance of taste, aroma and appearance."
Jeff Bruning, part-owner of the all-Iowa craft beer bar the Iowa Taproom, called winning two gold medals for the same beer ‘amazing.’
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“To win two gold medals is cool,” Bruning said. “But to two win two gold medals for the same beer is amazing. They pull it off and they do it well”
Professional judge panels determine which beers earn gold, silver or bronze for each beer style. Matthiesen said CocO Stout won out 64 beers that were included into the category in 2014 and out of 75 beers in 2015.
“(There) was a lot of excitement .. a lot of personal validation,” Matthiesen said. “It’s probably one of the best things that can happen to us. You are going up against some of the best stouts in the country. I see it as winning the best of the best, which is unbelievable to me.”
After five years of planning with his wife, Michaela, Matthiesen opened West O Beer in May 2013 in a brand new facility. The brewery’s tasting room is open six days a week. It offers seasonal and year-round beers, including CocO Stout, from the brewery.
Matthiesen said West O, which includes two full-time brewers, brewed 1,600 barrels of beer in 2015. About 570 barrels of that was dedicated to the award-winning chocolate stout that Matthiesen first created when home brewing. He said a batch of CocO Stout gets sent out in bottles and kegs about every two weeks.
The beer can be found in central, west, northwestern and parts of eastern Iowa, as well South Dakota.
“Our goal when we opened was to get the local community to accept us as the local brewery,” Matthiesen said. “We hoped, by default, that would spread throughout the state and that’s happened.”
Bruning explained when introducing someone to craft beer it’s easier to have that person try a sweet beer, like CocO Stout.
“Sweetness is something people want,” Bruning said.
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Conor Fahy, 25, head brewer at West O, also said he thinks it's easier to convert someone who doesn’t like craft beer to CocO Stout
“It’s got all the right flavors (and) it’s not bitter or overly alcoholic,” Fahy said.
Wade Daggett, a local who was visiting the West O tasting room on March 30, said he comes with a group of friends to West O about once a week.
Daggett, who owns a bar that serves West O, said he’s been visiting the tasting room since it opened.
“We started liking CocO Stout before it was even going to (the Great American Beer Festival) to win awards,” Daggett said. “When it did, it was just justification that you did like it.”
West O Beer is expanding its production this spring, adding two 30-barrel brewing tanks to the existing location. Matthiesen said West O plans to bottle seasonal beers this year, as well as the year-round offerings.
The expansion reflects the growth of the craft beer industry in Iowa. According to a 2015 study published by the Iowa wine and beer promotion board at Travel Iowa, the craft beer industry in Iowa is estimated to increase production from 40,786 barrels in 2014 to more than 146,000 barrels by 2019.
“There’s a lot of really good beer in Iowa,” Matthiesen said. “We were fortunate (enough) to get the most votes but I think what the beer brackets do for Iowa beer in general is even more exciting. It’s a lot of exposure to the state.”
West O Beer tasting room: 503 Terrace Park Blvd., West Okoboji