Raise a glass to Old Tavern’s revival

An early Old Tavern can and bottle, on the left, inspired the new can and mug on the right. (Photos: Jane Burns)

By Jane Burns
Staff writer and copy editor

Beer-making in Des Moines has gone old school — or more precisely, old tavern.

This summer, Confluence Brewing revived the Old Tavern brand, a pre-Prohibition light lager first brewed downtown from 1908 to 1917. With 4.2% ABV, 125 calories and Iowa corn in the recipe, it’s designed to compete with mass-market light beers, only this one’s made in Des Moines.

“It’s not craft beer but I’d say it’s craft light,” said John Martin, head brewer at Confluence. “It’s more about this being part of our history, and it’s a light beer at a great price. It’s the kind of thing that might still be around if Prohibition hadn’t happened.”

The beer is priced and marketed to rival the popular major-brand light beers, as opposed to the higher-priced craft beers in the market.

“Another beer that does pretty well in Iowa, Busch Light, buys all their corn from Iowa so it’s very comparable,” said Jeff Bruning, who owns Full Court Press restaurant group and worked with Martin to bring back Old Tavern. “The difference is you’re truly supporting Iowa when you buy Old Tavern, not some foreign national company.”

The original Old Tavern beer was the signature product of the Des Moines Brewing Company, a massive downtown building now known as 300mlk, at the corner of Third Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. It was originally owned by Frank Mattes, a member of the first family of Des Moines brewing that had been making beer since emigrating from Germany in the 1860s.

Since various spots in Iowa frowned on drinking, the brewing and tavern-keeping Mattes family played a lifelong game of Whac-A-Mole with temperance laws, and their fortunes moved with the laws. Frank Mattes’ brewery introduced Old Tavern as a refreshing beer like those made by other German beermakers that survived Prohibition, guys with names like Pabst, Miller, Schlitz or Blatz.

“It was Des Moines’ hometown beer,” said local historian Ryan Ellsworth, an architect with Invision Architecture.

The 18th Amendment prompted Prohibition nationwide in 1920, but a local law shut down drinking four years earlier and ended Old Tavern’s business in Des Moines. After Prohibition ended, in 1933, the brand was sold a few times in the following decades. It was brewed in Warsaw, Illinois, until 1972.

Bruning and Martin had talked as early as 2017 about reviving the brand. Then last year, Bruning learned the trademark was available, so he and Martin secured it.

Eventually, Martin realized Old Tavern would be a good fit for Confluence. He said Bruning had told him that when groups of friends come to Full Court Press establishments, at least a few in every group just wanted a Busch Light or Coors Light instead of a craft brew. Bruning figured there was a place in the market for a local light lager that could compete with the big brands on taste and price, and Martin realized it could be an opportunity for Confluence at a time when craft beer industry sales are flat.

“We just went all in,” Martin said. “We said, ‘If we’re gonna do this, we can’t half-heartedly do it. We gotta do it all the way.’ So that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Old Tavern is a separate brand within Confluence, with its own marketing. There’s no shortage of Old Tavern swag, including shirts, playing cards, hats, retro pitchers and mugs. “Wooden nickels” are also available; they’re redeemable for a free beer and they have a QR code that lists all the places that sell it.

The recipe was styled to beers of its era. The new packaging resembles the original version, with one significant change: The original label featured people drinking beer while driving a car and riding horses. “You really can’t put a car on a beer label anymore,” Ellsworth said.