Crow Peak Brewing Co.

Crow Peak Brewing Co.

Crow Peak Brewing Company is located in Spearfish, South Dakota at the foot of the beautiful Black Hills. Owners Jeff Drumm and Carolyn Ferrell decided that life in the big city of San Diego was too hectic and transplanted themselves and their two daughters to Spearfish. The one drawback to living in Western South Dakota was the paucity of craft breweries and a relatively narrow selection of bottled microbrew beers. Jeff and Carolyn felt that this was a niche they could fill and so Jeff, who was a homebrewer for many years enrolled in the American Brewer’s Guild Craftbrewers Apprenticeship Program. Having completed the theoretical portion of the program, Jeff went to work at Wild River Brewing in Grants Pass, Oregon for some practical work experience. Upon returning to Spearfish, Jeff and Carolyn set about looking for an appropriate site for a brewery. After much looking they settled upon a piece of property that was one of the oldest farmers markets in the area. They felt that this would be a perfect site for the brewery while keeping the farmers market running during the growing season. What a perfect combination…fresh, locally grown veggies and fresh, locally brewed beer! While plans were being drawn up for the brewery, Jeff and Carolyn ran the market with the help of their green-thumbed sister-in-law Keren as well as other family members and friends. Finally, by early 2007 the brewery building was finished and all of the brewing equipment was installed. Jeff could finally start brewing! The tap room opened it’s doors on March 9, 2007 and a grand opening celebration occurred on March 17th, St. Patricks Day. So far the beer has been flowing out the door faster than Jeff can make it. He is brewing on a 5-barrel system and dreams of the day when he can upgrade to a larger brewhouse.