To make it in the craft beer industry, you have to innovate. In 2025, innovation looks very different from the initial craft beer boom of the 2010s. It is not about the next fruited sour or an IPA that awakens the senses; it is about longevity.
In October, Waterloo-based SingleSpeed Brewing, Coralville-based Backpocket Brewing, and Peace Tree Brewing announced The Brewery @ WonderBread, combining operations under one roof to create one of the “largest and most award-winning brewery locations in the state.”
For Aaron Vargas of Backpocket Brewing and Dave Morgan of SingleSpeed Brewing, innovation in Iowa’s craft beer scene isn’t about the next beer or the coolest taproom space. It’s about creating space for growth and navigating a changing industry.
“The way you operate your business is the new innovation in craft beer,” said Morgan, founder of SingleSpeed. “It’s how you are going to operate, who are you going to work with, what partnerships you are going to have at every single level, whether they’re other breweries, retailers, consumers, or suppliers. That’s the innovation right now that’s going to allow you to thrive in the future.”
Two unique players in Iowa’s craft beer scene
The official move on Jan. 1, 2026, means that Backpocket Brewing will leave Coralville, where it opened in 2012 at Iowa River Landing as an offshoot of The Old Man River Restaurant & Brewery in McGregor, in northeast Iowa. Back then, Iowa had fewer than 50 breweries; today, there are 150, according to the Iowa Brewers Guild. Backpocket’s last day in Coralville was Friday, Dec. 20. Its locations in Johnston and Dubuque will remain open.
Backpocket has always been a family-run operation. Vargas entered the family business in 2017, when his wife, an Iowa native, suggested the move from Houston, Texas, back to her home state.
Vargas learned everything about brewing and the industry on the job to get Backpocket performing to its highest potential. Since Vargas took over, Backpocket distribution has grown throughout the state and into neighboring markets in Illinois and Nebraska.
That growth was made possible by mentors, including Megan McKay of Peace Tree Brewing, whose intellectual property Backpocket bought in 2024 after Peace Tree Brewing ceased operations.
Morgan was also one of those mentors.
Morgan started SingleSpeed Brewing in 2012 in Cedar Falls, where it still has its original taproom and a three-barrel research and development center. It started as a hobby for Morgan in the first couple of years.
In a similar fashion to Backpocket, people wanted more. They wanted to buy kegs and see SingleSpeed at craft beer festivals across the state and in grocery stores, and Morgan wanted that, too. So the hobby became a full operation, and SingleSpeed moved from Cedar Falls to downtown Waterloo in 2017.
SingleSpeed moved from a 1,700-square-foot facility in Cedar Falls to the roughly 30,000-square-foot former Wonder Bread building. Morgan purchased the building slated for demolition and gave it new life.
Purchasing the building from the city of Waterloo for $1 in 2015, the project ended up costing roughly $6.5 million to transform the then-distraught facility into what it is today and secure its place on the National Register of Historic Places.
“The community rallied around it, not just having a brewery in town and seeing a local brewery grow, but also on the historical front,” Morgan said. “They were super excited to not see the Wonder Bread factory go away and for it to be given a new life by a new concept.”
Now, once again, a new concept is moving in.
Targeting growth amid shifting trends
The Brewery @ WonderBread, in part, is due to a 4-2 Waterloo City Council vote to give the brewery a grant and additional tax rebates to make necessary improvements and purchases to the facility, such as fermentation vessels.
The measure provides SingleSpeed, listed under the name Bread to Beer, LLC, with $750,000 in funding and an additional five years of 70% tax rebates, totaling 20 years of rebates, and a minimum assessment value of $4 million.
The collaboration will increase brewing production from 5,500 barrels to 12,000 to 14,000 barrels and bring 15 new jobs, according to council documents.
The goal is ultimately for consumers not to “notice any change whatsoever” in their favorite beers, whether it be Backpocket, SingleSpeed, or Peace Tree. The beers won’t be co-branded, and there might be a few signage changes.
“Backpocket has always been our family brand; there has been all this time and energy into what we’ve crafted. None of that changes,” Vargas said. “The only thing that is going to change is now I’m going to care just as much about SingleSpeed.”
Vargas brought the same mentality to Peace Tree, keeping the values that built the brand in his “back pocket.”
The partnership between Vargas and Morgan is years in the making. The two seek each other out to talk shop at brewers’ events and even at their daughters’ soccer games. Going into business with each other was never necessarily on the table, but it also wasn’t ever off the table either.
The ultimate goal of the partnership? Encourage more people to buy Iowa beer in the same ways they purchase other craft beer brands.
“There are concerns about the craft beer market shrinking, but it doesn’t matter because Iowa craft beer is growing. That’s all that matters to us,” Morgan said. “Over time, we realized there’s a potential partnership… We’re unlocking all the synergies of the brands.”
At the Iowa Brewers Guild, the push for consumers to buy Iowa beer is at the forefront in 2026. Brewers are facing ingredient prices rising in 2020 and never falling back down, changes in consumer habits, and legislation hurdles that hinder craft breweries’ ability to break into other markets.
At the Iowa Brewers Guild, every brewery is a small business, even as the most rapidly growing breweries expand their reach. Not a single Iowa brewery is among the top 50 producers in the nation, according to Iowa Brewers Guild executive director Noreen Otto.
“Iowa breweries are critical manufacturers in the state of Iowa that are doing something unique. They are offering a product that consumers want and add a level of manufacturing diversity that is important to the Iowa economy,” Otto said.
The Brewery @ WonderBread strikes a new era
Guests may not get a pint of Slingshot in Coralville, but they’ll find it in a historic facility that happens to be a brewery, slated to become perhaps even more iconic than the factory that once was.
“Craft beer is not going away. This partnership that we’ve created is here for the long haul, and we’re going to be here (when the trends change once again),” Vargas said. “I heard somebody say, ‘The word craft is gone. Local is in.’ (The Brewery @ WonderBread) is local beer, not just craft beer.”
The local craft brewery is especially important for the Cedar Valley, as the city of Waterloo continues to invest in its community. But The Brewery @ WonderBread not only brings Iowans and tourists alike to Waterloo, it also attracts new concepts to come in.
“The Wonder Bread factory is a big part of Waterloo’s identity, and we’re set up to continue going forward for a very long time, and be a successful entity on this city block,” Morgan said. “We’re also excited to see the growth, reinvestment, and city projects happening in Waterloo; we’re happy to be a part of it.”
The merger of the three brands will be official Jan. 1, 2026, and guests will be able to find all their favorite beers from the brand on tap and in retail stores. A beer collaboration between Backpocket, SingleSpeed and Peace Tree called Wonderstruck marks the new era.
“Wonderstruck” is a triple IPA that celebrates “collaboration and craft,” with bold hop aromatics and a silky malt backbone.
The Brewery @ WonderBread is located at 325 Commercial St., Waterloo and will be open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and education reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: The Brewery @ WonderBread marks a new era for Iowa’s craft beer scene
Reporting by Jessica Rish, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
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