By Rosemary McCoy

Hydra Beer Hall opens Friday night in downtown Sioux Falls, and its mission will be removing any pretensions to drinking craft beer.

The second taproom for local brewer Hydra Beer Co. is at 125 W. 10th St. in the former Cookie Jar Eatery space that was a jazz lounge for a short time.

Owners Chad Petit and Nick Murphy are hoping to deliver a big-city vibe with the beer hall that can seat about 100. The walls are painted black, the flooring is tiled, and the lighting is industrial looking. The tables are rustic.

“There are a lot of upper-level, nice places downtown,” Petit said. “That’s great, and we need that,” but he misses the bars of his youth like the Pomp Room where people could spill their beer and not worry about it or make as much noise as they wanted.

“It’s what missing downtown,” Petit said. “Here, you can loosen your collar and raise a little hell – pardon the expression – if you want to.”

The beer hall will feature seven of Hydra’s brews.

“The vast majority is our core beers,” Petit said. “We’ll rifle through some seasonals and exclusives.” The main taproom will continue to feature all of the offerings and the more limited brews like the barrel-aged ones.

“We want to keep it so people have a reason to go out there,” Petit said.

Hydra opened its brewery and taproom in a retail center at 2425 S. Shirley Ave. near Century movie theater in 2015. Petit and Murphy are happy with that location, but Petit said they knew they were missing a lot of customers who like going downtown or live on the east side of the city. All four of the other craft breweries in town have taprooms downtown.

In order to have the product for a second taproom, Petit said Hydra is scaling back on its distribution, keeping just the local market and growing that.

In the effort to demystify craft beer, Hydra Beer Hall will serve everything in one of two glasses: a pint or a 25 ½-ounce mug.

“Usually, there’s a big beer etiquette with specific glasses for certain beers,” Petit said. “If they really want to get into the deeper aspects of the beer, they can come to the brewery.”

The beer hall won’t serve flights that allow drinkers to buy small glasses of several beers, but customers will be encouraged to sample a choice before buying a pint or mug, Petit said.

“Craft beers can be really different,” he said. “I always tell everyone, ‘Just try it.’” Hydra’s owners want customers to come in to “explore and expand their horizons.”

“Craft beers have 10 times the flavor that you are used to,” Petit said of beers like Budweiser and Coors, but they aren’t all hoppy IPAs that many associate with small brewers.

As part of the beer hall atmosphere, one half of the business features retro arcade games and a “beer ball” version of a skee ball machine with beer as a prize. Petit and Murphy are planning to add a small collapsible stage for live music and comedy shows.

For food, Hydra Beer Hall will serve Roskens pizzas. There’s a full kitchen that needs to be brought up to code, so it’s possible that the menu will expand at some point, Petit said.

Hydra has hired six new staff members and is still looking for four more. That number could grow depending on how popular the downtown location is.

Hours will start out the same as the brewery: 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 1 p.m. to midnight Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday and 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday.