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This week marks the beginning of a three-week swing through Omaha. As brewing has grown in Nebraska, Omaha has been home to a majority of the state’s new breweries. We start this series with Brickway Brewery in the Old Market.
If you’ve missed any of the previous installments in this series, check here. That page includes updates to last summer’s profiles, including Blue Blood Brewing, where my wife and I are investors.
Background
Brickway was founded by Zac Triemert. Zac started his brewing career with Upstream Brewing (who we’ll be profiling in July) where he was head brewer. After that, Zac moved to Scotland where he earned a Master’s in brewing. Upon returning to Nebraska, Zac helped write the bill that opened the door for craft distilling in Nebraska.
After the bill passed the legislature, Triemert helped found Lucky Bucket Brewing and Distillery. He sold his part of Lucky Bucket in 2012 and then took a year off, "drank a lot of beer," and then started Brickway in 2013.
Brickway started brewing and distilling at the same time in the same location. The decision made sense to Triemert, as whiskey is essentially distilled beer.
The name Brickway comes from the brewery and taproom’s location in Omaha’s Old Market. One of the brewery’s early tag lines was "Born on the bricks of the Old Market" as bricks and streets are synonymous with downtown Omaha. Most of Brickway’s revenue comes from distribution, so "out the back door" rather than the taproom. They call the brick alley out the back door the brickway.
Location
Brickway is located at 1116 Jackson Street in Omaha. It’s right off of 12th and Jackson. In the taproom, you can get a great selection of Brickway beer as well as cocktails and their spirits.
The taproom is open Monday - Thursday from 2:00 pm - midnight, Friday and Saturday from 11:00 am - 2:00 am, and Sunday from 11:00 am - midnight. Tours are Thursday at 6:00 pm, Friday and Saturday at 2:00 and 6:00 pm, and Sunday at 2:00 pm.
Availability
Brickway’s beer and spirits are available just about any place you can find craft beer in the Omaha (including Council Bluffs) and Lincoln areas. You can also find Brickway on a limited basis in the Kearney, Grand Island, Hastings area.
Outside of Nebraska, you can find Brickway’s products in a good part of South Dakota. They are working on expanding into Kansas and Missouri and hope to be in the Kansas City area by the end of summer 2016.
Many bars in the same area will have Brickway available on draft.
Beer (and Liquor)
The Session Series beers are Brickway’s everyday, inline beers. Very drinkable and approachable beer.
- Pils Pilsner
- Hef Hefeweizen
- IPL India Pale Lager
- Coffee Vanilla Stout
- Raspberry Hef
The Bison Series Beers are bolder, with more flavor, more malt, more hops, and a higher alcohol content.
- Imperial IPA
- Imperial Stout
- 10th Sanctum Barleywine
Brickway also regularly makes small batch beers that are available only in the taproom.
Thoughts on the Beer
Brickway makes a lot of unique and flavorful beers in small batches. Many of the beers that I sampled were small batch, thus not on their website.
Their Whiskey-aged Blackout Stout (17% ABV!) has a strong whiskey note with a sour finish and great malty tones. The IPA is well-balanced between sweet and bitter with floral notes. The yeast sweetness of the Wit complements the floral and citrus notes nicely. The Red Ale has subtle maltiness on the finish with a nice sweetness throughout. Dubbels are usually overwhelming malty (yes, it’s a word that comes up a lot in these beers), but this one tastes really good and sweet throughout. Brickway’s barleywine has a strong wine character, though it is definitely a beer.
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