Dec. 11, 2024

One year after opening, Altered Species Ales is now brewing its own beer.

Today marks the release of owner and brewer Mike Nussbaum’s first three brews: Synchronized Fireflies, a Wallonian-style farmhouse saison; Cracked Canopy, a hazy IPA; and Alien Shapeshifter, a peach raspberry kettle sour.

Still in one of the four fermenters in the back of the taproom on the south side of the Western Mall is a brown ale, which will follow “shortly behind,” Nussbaum said.

The goal for Altered Species Ales always has been to become a brewery, but Nussbaum decided to open as just a craft beer bar in September 2023, knowing that it would take some time for the brewing equipment to be built, shipped here, installed and commissioned.

In the meantime, he filled the 16 tap lines with local, state and regional craft beers.

He envisions having about 10 Altered Species brews on tap and filling that out with the beers “that other people are doing really well.”

The new 7-barrel system from North Carolina-based Deutsche “isn’t big by any means, but it still makes a decent amount of beer so that I can provide the taproom, make sure we always have what we want on tap and have plenty in cans,” Nussbaum said. “And then when we get to the point where things are settling a little bit as far as the taproom, when we know how much we go through, we’ll look into just small amounts of distribution, a handful of places, with kegs going out.”

He used a Deutsche system earlier in his brewing career, so that has shortened the learning curve a bit. “There’s still going to be some tweaking to all the recipes, but so far, it’s been great.”

The first few releases will be the styles that take about three weeks from start to finish. “Some styles, like lagers, take longer. Those are six to eight weeks for a minimum, sometimes longer,” Nussbaum said. “So I didn’t want to start up with that and tie up one of the tanks for too long. Once we have 10 or so of our own, then we can start diving into some of those that take a little bit longer.”

In the past year, Altered Species Ales has grown into a staff of seven and Nussbaum.

“Now I have a great group of people; they’re just a lot of fun to be around. They know what they’re doing, and they’re just good people.”

Most of them are part time. “A lot of them, they have full-time jobs. They’re doing this because it’s fun for them, picking up a day a week, something like that.”

The taproom has drawn a crowd of regulars, along with visitors like the woman from Virginia who stopped in last week because she seeks out breweries when she’s traveling and the couple who brought their large bag of popcorn from the nearby movie theater to enjoy with a beer. Altered Species Ales sells snacks and pizza, but people can bring in food or have it delivered.

Customers can sit along the bar or at tables scattered around the high-ceilinged room, which is filled with houseplants. It’s family- and dog-friendly.

There are board games to play, and Altered Species Ales offers trivia nights the third Tuesday of the month. It’s hosting the Sioux Falls Beer Choir on Dec. 19, and there’s an ugly Christmas sweater party Dec. 21. Next month, the popular chili competition from last year will return. Weekly winners will advance to the finals.

Synchronized Fireflies, Cracked Canopy and Alien Shapeshifter will be available when Altered Species Ales opens at 2 p.m. today.

Hours are 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday, 2 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.