Pulpit Rock Brewing Company has moved its brewing equipment

Pulpit Rock Brewing Co. began brewing craft beers in the fall of 2015 in a former garage on 5th Avenue near College Drive. The company has just completed the first phase of an expansion which will allow it to increase the amount of beer it can sell.

Pulpit Rock Chairman Pete Espinosa says the purchase of a 10,000 square foot building next to the brewery--a building which formerly housed a furniture store--will allow the brewer of "small batch, specialty beers" to be able to keep up with the demand for its beers.

"We sell out our beers all the time," he told members of the Decorah Rotary Club this week, adding, "it's been a good problem to have."  But it's still a problem, which is why the company has been working to transform the back half of the former furniture store into a new brewing area.  The equipment from the existing building has now been moved into the second building and the brewer is ramping up the amount of beer it produces.

Espinosa gives all the credit for the popularity of Pulpit Rock beers to his brewers, saying having good people makes all the difference in the craft beer world now that "there's a brewery everywhere."

The other part of the expansion involves the front half of the former furniture store, which Espinosa is transforming into a food hall, with offices and a conference center also being built.

"The Landing" is coming about because of Espinosa's conversations with Luther students and their parents.  While both groups have told Espinosa that they love Decorah, they have also noticed that Decorah is short on places that are open late at night or on Sundays.

The Landing will fill that void, says Espinosa.  There will be six vendor sites inside the building, with a coffee shop operated by Impact Coffee and a "grab and go" food store operated by The Spectrum Network.  He says there might be beer and wine for sale, but no hard alcohol.  He also notes that there will be 14 parking spots in front of the store and a new passageway from Pulpit Rock Brewing which will allow people to get to The Landing.

All this work is being done to continue to make Decorah a vital community, says Espinosa.  He and his wife, Kari, plan to retire in Decorah (they already own a couple of homes) and they want to make sure Decorah has everything it needs to keep attracting visitors.  He says when you make good craft beers--even in a small town like Decorah--people will come to visit.