When Jeff Bruning and his Full Court Press partners opened El Bait Shop, they didn’t just open a bar. They debuted a new era for downtown Des Moines.
In the mid-2000s, downtown Des Moines was still figuring out what it wanted to be after 5 p.m. Court Avenue had energy, sure — but the city’s “go out” culture wasn’t yet anchored by the kind of destination that could pull in regulars, beer nerds, industry folks and out-of-towners in the same place. Then, in spring 2006, El Bait Shop arrived — one year after its sibling, the High Life Lounge, opened next door.
Together, the pair helped shape a new rhythm for downtown: start with a cheap-and-cheerful throwback beer at High Life, then wander next door for a draft list that reads like a novel — and suddenly Des Moines felt like a city with a serious drinking corridor.
On July 29, USA TODAY named the Des Moines bastion of beer one of the 38 USA TODAY Bars of the Year for 2026. Food writers across the country nominated bars that excited them, bars they would recommend to friends and family, bars they’d return to again and again.
Bruning remembers that early era as being “ahead of the curve,” opening a big craft-beer bar in the capital city of a state that distributors often skipped entirely. He pulled out a map of locations where Bell’s Brewing out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, was sold and used that to convince brewers to sell in Iowa. They were driving through Iowa but not stopping. Bruning’s bar gave them a reason to stop.
“All the states around us were colored in, and Iowa was empty. I used that as a visual. You have to drive I‑35 or I‑80 through our state. Why don’t you drop beer here?” he said.
As craft beer culture caught up, El Bait Shop became a national-level draw. From 2006 to 2010, the number of U.S. craft breweries jumped from roughly 1,400 to more than 1,700, a nearly 25% increase in just four years, according to the Brewers Association. That growth meant more breweries looking for distribution, more experimental beer styles entering the market and more consumers seeking out places with deep tap lists. El Bait Shop became a place where all of that energy converged.
At one point, Bruning said, “Almost every one of the breweries we had on tap, we were one of the best sellers, if not the best seller, for that brewery,” sometimes blowing through 50 to 75 kegs a week.
Being a top seller for nearly every brewery on tap means the bar wasn’t just moving beer — it was moving more beer than almost any other account in the region or sometimes the entire distribution footprint. Selling 50 to 75 kegs a week is an enormous volume. For many small breweries, that kind of throughput could represent a meaningful share of their total production. El Bait Shop acted as a launchpad: breweries could put a beer on tap there and instantly reach thousands of drinkers, many of whom would then seek out the brewery itself.
El Bait Shop wasn’t just participating in the craft beer boom — the bar was driving it.
The bar rode that wave through what he calls a “golden age” of beer from about 2007 to 2019 — and helped put Des Moines on the national beer map in the process.
What makes El Bait Shop in Des Moines, Iowa, special?
The beer list is the point. El Bait Shop’s own site leans into the superpower: a huge craft selection and a reputation for being the “largest craft beer selection west of the Mississippi: with 251 drafts.” That scale matters because it’s not just volume; it’s variety, turnover and the thrill of the next surprise pour. Bruning and his partners opened with 105 tap handles and 60 to 75 cans and bottles; during the beer boom, they peaked at 262 beers on draft.
“We didn’t have enough beer to fill the wall,” Bruning said of the early days of El Bait Shop. “Fifty‑three of the original 105 handles were just three breweries. But over time, we were introducing two or three new breweries a month to Iowa. We really were chugging through beer.”
The bar’s informal philosophy is built around that constant churn. When customers ask for his favorite, Bruning’s stock response became: “The one in my hand or the one I haven’t had yet.”
He jokes that the unspoken tagline is: “You should’ve gotten here yesterday, man. We had the best beer on tap.”
The room invites patrons to stay awhile, with an industrial edge — exposed beams and ductwork, concrete and brick surfaces, metal bar taps, high ceilings and lights with a workshop feel — that keeps things relaxed. It’s the kind of place where conversation matters more than mood lighting, and where groups can settle in without feeling like they’re hogging a booth.
But El Bait Shop also leans into maximalist Americana and fishing-cabin kitsch: lure-filled bar tops sealed in epoxy that shrank and then had to be re-poured (“it ended up looking like rippling water, which kind of worked,” Bruning said). Regulars, whose spouses didn’t want taxidermy fish and woodland animals in their homes, donated trophies, vintage beer signs light the walls, while wrestling photographs bought at auction have their own corner in the bar, and a “world’s skinniest raccoon” is tucked near an Exile sign.
Bruning describes it as “a whole neighborhood of people’s attics exploded” — a place where all the oddball pieces that didn’t fit anywhere else in his life found a home. “We just kept adding ideas and weird little things that made sense to us,” he said. “Almost all the stuff we couldn’t put anywhere else ended up here.”
Many of the stickers high on the walls date to the space’s earlier incarnation as legendary punk rock club Hairy Mary’s; a fragment of a “Where the Wild Things Are” mural was literally discovered inside the wall and incorporated into the current design.
The site has housed multiple businesses since the late 19th century. Over time, it included: James Dorsey’s flour and feed store beginning in 1875; The Emmet, a boarding house or small hotel, by 1880; The Musgrave Fencing Co. by 1891; and a variety of other commercial tenants through the early 20th century.
The current building was constructed in 1965, purpose-built for the Towers Transfer Co. as an office and warehouse. In the decades that followed, it was used by a wholesale furniture and carpet company and later a toothbrush manufacturer — far from glamorous, but very on-brand for a working downtown corridor. Hairy Mary’s, the iconic punk rock bar, occupied the bar from 1992 to 1994, followed by 2nd Ave Foundry, a live music venue and nightclub that closed in 1995.
El Bait Shop is also quietly a biker bar, but not necessarily attracting the Harley-Davidson crowd. Early on, Bruning, who often bikes to work, installed 26 bike racks outside, a move that raised eyebrows internally until they realized how many riders and RAGBRAI-style “mini rides” would make the bar a stop. The bar sits near the John Pat Dorrian Trail and the Principal Riverwalk path along the Des Moines River. The Meredith Trail and Kruidenier Trail at Gray’s Lake are easily accessible via a short ride south along the river trails from the downtown area. That bike-and-beer culture helped cement the bar’s reputation as a locals’ hangout as much as a destination for visiting beer fans.
Bruning is especially known for his deep knowledge of beer and for championing craft beer long before it was commonplace in Iowa. From lobbying to change Iowa’s beer laws to hosting early “Jimmy Carter Happy Hour” events for homebrewers — informal showcases that helped launch future breweries like Confluence and Twisted Vine — Bruning has spent decades using El Bait Shop as a stage for Iowa beer.
The bar’s influence stretches beyond its own walls. Bruning’s “Little Giant Beer Summit,” an annual event celebrating small Iowa breweries, drew such crowds that it helped inspire sister concept Iowa Taproom, dedicated exclusively to Iowa beer.
He also pushed for Iowa’s “Lift the Limit” campaign, which raised the legal alcohol cap for beer and allowed higher-ABV craft styles into the state — another shift that made El Bait Shop’s wall of taps possible.
What to order at El Bait Shop
Let’s be honest: you come for the taps. But you should stay for the comfort-food-meets-bar-snacks lineup — essentially classic pub food with a side of “this will taste even better with another pint.”
A flight if you’re indecisive (or ambitious). The selection is designed for sampling, and the rotating draft lineup rewards curiosity. Bruning’s advice for first-timers is simple: “Tell the bartenders what you like, and they’ll give you what you need. If you come in and say, ‘I like dark beers,’ they’ll work you down that way. Ask for a sample, do a flight.”
Order an Iowa beer: Ask the bartender for a local Iowa pour if you want the “why this place matters” experience in one glass. The bar’s draft culture helped make educated beer ordering feel normal in Des Moines. For Bruning, those Iowa beers act as “liquid calling cards.” He suggests trying a beer at El Bait Shop, then visiting the taproom if you love it.
Nachos, $13.99 for a full order, $10.99 for a half: This is the kind of table-starter that disappears faster than you think. Add shrimp, ground beef, chicken or steak to make it into a meal.
Wings, $14.99 for traditional, $13.99 for boneless: When you want something classic that can stand up to hops, order the wings slathered in Thai peanut or sriracha bourbon sauce, among others.
Fish tacos, $13.49: Probably the most iconic dish on the menu with a pineapple salsa and cilantro crema as garnishes.
Pot roast poutine, $12.99: A little comfort food with cheese curds and gravy atop fries or tator tots is big enough to share.
Italian grinder, $13.49: Of course, El Bait Shop uses Graziano sausage, made locally and based on the flavors the brothers of Graziano Bros. remember from Italy, for this sandwich with red sauce, banana peppers and mozzarella on a toasted hoagie roll.
Did you know?
In case you need some trivia to drop in the middle of a pint, these factoids will lubricate your conversation.
There is a shower in the dining room. Bruning and his crew used it to clean up after working on the renovations to the space so they could go off to work at the other bars in the Full Court Press family.
Details: 200 S.W. Second St., Des Moines, Iowa, 515-284-1970, elbaitshop.com
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Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: This bastion of beer bar in Des Moines is named one of the best in US
Reporting by Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
