Covert Artisan Ales & Cellars, a prominent craft brewery specializing in spontaneous style and wild ales, is consolidating its west-side and downtown locations into one space, right back to where it all started on 605 S. Watson Ave. near 12th Street and Marion Avenue in western Sioux Falls.
Owners Dan and Stacey Berry announced the decision Friday, and said they will not be renewing their lease at the East Bank Depot downtown. Instead, the pair will move all operations to their west-side warehouse location, where the beer is produced.
The plan is to expand the newly consolidated space to include a tasting room by renovating their current barrel house that contains their many oak-aged beers. Construction will begin as soon as next month and is anticipated to be completed this spring.
The press release stated the downtown location will continue to host events and beer releases until its closure about Nov. 17. The new space on the west side will not be serving food, but customers can bring food in. This means the Berrys will discontinue selling Sunny’s Pizzas but still plan to release new beers on tap in the restaurant.
“Over the last five years, Downtown Sioux Falls has changed at lightning speed, and while that’s great for the city, we kind of miss the old days,” Stacey Berry stated in the press release.
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Covert staff were the first to be informed of the news that the two locations were merging last week. The Berrys also said since they distribute to many different places in Sioux Falls, as well as other locations in South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska, if any employees need assistance finding employment, they would help find the right job for them.
With the business mostly run solely by Dan and Stacey Berry, moving to one location would allow them to focus on what truly matters: brewing beer and connecting with customers, they said.
“This allows Stacy and I more of an educational program of talking to people and making it more of an intimate thing with customers,” Dan Berry said. “When we had our little pop-up space on the west side, we got to focus on our customers and getting to know people.”
The Berrys said since day one, they have always wanted to be involved with running the business as well as brewing the beer.
“This wasn’t something that we just wanted to manage,” Dan Berry said. “I wanted to make beer. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, is just make beer and I get to do that.”
Dan and Stacey Berry first opened Covert Artisan Ales in 2019, after moving to Sioux Falls from Austin, Texas, to be closer to family, according to previous Argus Leader reporting. One of the things they took with them was their passion for Belgian-style beer, along with the techniques they picked up while traveling abroad in the U.S. Army.
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“Dan’s always been interested in brewing beer, and he kind of got me interested in it as well,” Stacey Berry said. “Living overseas, we were able to learn a little bit about how the Belgians brew their beers.”
When they opened their first location in April 2019, many customers said they should have a presence downtown.
“They said, ‘That’s where you’ll be most successful.’ And at the time, that was absolutely the right decision for us,” Stacey Berry said.
In June 2020, Covert was one of the first businesses to sign on for East Bank Depot, a redevelopment of an old railroad freight warehouse on East 8th Street, according to Dan Berry and previous Argus Leader reporting.
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Expanding their footprint to the heart of Sioux Falls quickly grew their customer base over the years, winning the Downtown Sioux Falls’ Mash Madness competition three years in a row. Now with a large following, the Berrys said they “feel comfortable moving to just one location.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple was concerned about being able to pull it off. They said it was their loyal customer base, especially those with an Attache membership, from their west-side location who helped the downtown location succeed.
“The first thing we’re going to be doing is for our members,” Dan Berry said. “They are going to be the priority and focus at the new place.”
Friday’s press release also stated that Covert will “continue to evolve with the craft market,” which includes stepping up their game with lagers and their new line of THC seltzers released Friday.
But still, at the heart of the craft brewery, are the connections made with others in the community, the couple said.
“These aren’t just customers,” Dan Berry said. “They’re people that when we see them, bring a smile to our faces, and that’s one of the main reasons why we’re moving, basically consolidating the taproom back as the brewery to have more of those moments.”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Covert Artisan Ales consolidating brewery and downtown taproom
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