Number 7 Brewing Company is a unique fit in
one of Ankeny’s old haunts
Matt and Jessie Sims transformed the
old bar Bears into Ankeny’s only brew
pub, Number 7 Brewing Company, offering
more than 100 beers, unique craft brews
and a full food menu.
By Amber Williams
After celebrating craft beers at el Bait Shop’s
Jimmy Carter Happy Hour last week, it seemed
natural to visit a brew pub next, and there’s
a new one in Ankeny that proves to be worth
the drive. Last I knew it was a 40-year-old,
root-bound bar called Bears in what locals consider
“old Ankeny,” hidden from the main drag. But
the latest challenges of the economy, and with
retirement years approaching, the seasoned owners
decided late last year to lift their hats from
the rack at the door and leave the business
behind.
Meanwhile, economic plights were hitting hard
at the corporate level, too, and Matt Sims lost
his position after years at the grind for Principal
Financial. Losing your job will drive many of
us to drink, and it did for Sims, too — but
in a more productive way.
“I’ve been brewing my own beer at home for a
long time,” he said. “Then I became the assistant
brewer at Court Avenue Brewing Co. My wife and
I also had this catering business at home (Bonz-n-Brew
BBQ), so we were trying to figure out what to
do with that. The idea for a brew pub kept coming
back up, and it was number seven on the list.”
Hence the name, “Number 7” Brewing Company.
“We could have done a restaurant or a bar by
itself, but we felt like Ankeny needed a brew
pub,” Sims added.
Indeed, as there is no other established brewery
in town. Currently, Number 7 offers in excess
of 100 beers — more than any bar in Ankeny,
Sims said — and of those, he has two house flavors
on tap: Number 7 American Amber is a soft, malty,
caramel delight without being too sweet; and
KB Kolsch is a light pilsner-style German beer,
crisp, clean and succulent.
“It’s a great gateway beer into the craft beer
world,” Sims said.
Wildcard Wednesdays and Suds Surprise Thursdays
are also great ways to evolve your palate and
learn new flavors. On Thursdays, they fill the
ice chest with an array of bottled beers. The
bartender will blindly pull out a $2 bottle,
and “you get what you get.”
“We have more beers coming in the next couple
of weeks — a milk stout and an IPA,” Sims said.
“Eventually we will have several beers on tap,
including our four standards Kolsch, Amber,
IPA, Milk Stout, as well as, a seasonal and
a reserve ale.”
Number 7 will eventually have a total of seven
flavors on tap. Sims and his wife, Jessie, have
plans in the works to not only promote their
own beers but also to support those of fellow
brewers by rotating the winner of a “People’s
Choice” competition on the “Wildcard” tapper.
“We just want to try something different, and
we want our customers to try something different,
too, instead of coming in here and getting the
same beer they always get all the time,” Sims
said. CV
