Sept. 6, 2023

A local brewer on the craft beer scene is opening his own brewery and taproom.

Mike Nussbaum is starting Altered Species Ales in the former Miner Brewing Co. and Prairie Berry Winery Taproom at the Western Mall.

“I’ve been in the industry for quite a while, a couple of different stops,” said Nussbaum, whose first job was part time at Monks House of Ale Repute five years ago while he was still a high school science teacher. “I was the head brewer previously at one of the other breweries in town, and basically, it was time to look towards the future and decided I wanted to do my own thing, and so that’s led us to this. I wanted to make a place that kind of had all of my past history of the places that I worked kind of combined.”

It will take several months to get the brewing operations going, so the taproom will open first, Nussbaum said.

“The equipment is all ordered and everything, but it takes time to build it, ship it, get it here, get it installed … but we have a beautiful taproom. We didn’t really have to do much to it as far as functionality. We just wanted to take it and turn it into something more fitting.”

Nussbaum plans to open the taproom later this month, with late afternoon and early evening hours during the week and longer hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Find updates at the Altered Species Ales website or on Facebook. 

“The brewery … it’s going to be a little while,” he said. “Optimistically, spring; realistically, probably summer. That’s how it goes.

“But we are going to be able to operate because everything here’s pretty much ready to go on the front side. We’re going to operate as a craft beer bar and wine bar. We’ll have craft beer from all over the state and the region. I love all the breweries in town, and I’d like to keep at least half the taps as a local option and then bring in some of the others. Also, some bottles and cans that I’ll bring in from Belgium and Germany.”

For wine, “I’m nowhere near as experienced in the wine world, but I do know a couple of sommeliers,” Nussbaum said. “And so my thought was maybe I would tap their knowledge into picking out some decent wines that aren’t going to be too high-priced for the customers. I’d like to have at least options, not just, you know, a single box of Chardonnay and a single box of Pinot Noir. I’d like to have bottled wine.”

Miner Brewing hadn’t removed the 16 taps, the bar or tables and chairs, so Nussbaum acquired those. He installed a large chalkboard above the cooler where customers will read what’s on tap. The walls now feature Altered Species’ colors of forest and sahara, and Nussbaum has added lots of plants with more to come.

“I want to have a living taproom. I want to have enough plants in here that it feels warm and inviting. And I want to continue that into the dead of winter when we have, you know, like last winter. We had all that snow, and you’ve haven’t seen anything green in a while. We’re hoping that this can be a place where people, instead of getting a little depressed like you can with very short hours of sun, can come in, see some plants, just get a little bit of a feel for that.”

Nussbaum hopes to re-create the feelings he had as a patron at Monks.

“I just loved how that was. It was a place where communication was the main thing, very few TV screens, trying to just really enjoy the drink in front of you and the people that you’re having it with.”

Altered Species will be family- and dog-friendly. The taproom will have board games for people to play, and Nussbaum envisions trivia nights and live music. He has ideas of teaming up with nearby businesses like Scheels for a bike ride, Lego nights with Bricks and Minifigs and miniature painting sessions with Warhammer.

The space doesn’t have a kitchen, so the taproom will serve snacks, and customers can bring in food or have it delivered.

“I’ve been gathering menus from a lot of the ones that are walking distance and even a little further and putting that all together so that hopefully people can order or pick it up on their way in or have it delivered.”

The mall is letting him use a couple of parking spaces in front of the taproom to create a small patio for May through October.

“Altered Species will be a fantastic fit in the Western Mall,” said Isaac Jorgensen, a broker with Bender Commercial Real Estate Services who worked with Nussbaum to find a location and also co-represented the mall. “Mike has a vision and drive for collaboration and is incredibly talented at brewing tasty beer. Being in the heart of town will make this an easily accessible destination for craft beer/wine fans from all parts of our city and create even more buzz in an already bustling part of Sioux Falls.”

Jorgensen saw the potential for the former Miner space to hold a brewery in the office area that Nussbaum said he had never noticed when he was in the taproom as a customer.

“This was something where I was like, well, this makes sense,” Nussbaum said of having the taproom already built out. “I like the area of town. There’s a lot of traffic, there’s food nearby. It kind of fit the bill of everything I was hoping for.”

The brewery will start as a seven-barrel system, with each batch producing more than 200 gallons at a time, “a decent amount of beer, not huge,” said Nussbaum, who was the head brewer and a minority partner at Obscure Brewing Co. until earlier this summer.

“I like that size. It allows the beer to rotate a little quicker so you’re not sitting on too much product for too long. I plan on experimenting and trying out new hops on a regular basis, new yeasts on a regular basis.”

The taproom will offer a wide range of styles of craft beer.

“Once I’m brewing, I’ll probably focus on the styles that I really enjoy making and then still just go ahead and utilize the rest of the beer that we have access to in town to supplement the other styles. That way I can focus on trying to make those styles better and better as I go.”

For Nussbaum, the name Altered Species Ales, which he and his wife, Trina, picked out, combines his interests in science, nature and brewing. She’s also a co-owner but will continue with her full-time job as a microbiologist at Sanford Health.

“I love being in the beer industry, making beer,” Nussbaum said. “Every day I’ve ever brewed, it’s the best day of work.”