Living near to a beer brewing school in Chicago, it's not surprising that Bill Patterson would brew up his own beer-related plans.

Turner Alley Brewing Company, which Patterson owns, tapped its ceremonial first keg on May 18 at Brick's Bar & Grill in Cedar Rapids and again on May 19 at Short's Burger & Shine in Iowa City. On May 28, all three of the beers will debut on tap at NewBo Alehouse.

The brewery, which will only be a production facility rather than a restaurant, currently offers three types of beers and hopes to serve Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and the surrounding areas.

"Everything was well attended, the beer came out great, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves so yeah we couldn't be happier," Patterson said. "We really want to just be the go-to beer in our backyard."

This week's celebrations are the culmination of an eight-year journey for Patterson. He studied brewing at the Siebel Institute of Technology before moving to Cedar Rapids three years ago. He then met Turner Alley's current brewmaster and only full-time employee Travis Scheidecker.

"I shared my ideas with (Scheidecker) and we came to the conclusion that there were some beers that maybe weren't being manufactured in this market or produced in this market and we wanted to produce those beers," Patterson said.

Patterson said Turner Alley's first three beers include a mix of "Old World" ideas and styles from Europe with ingredients and influences from the United States. The selection includes May's Island IPA, a rye pale ale called Rising Rapids and a Czech Village Pilsner. Patterson and Scheidecker have plans to develop others.

Although the beer's influences may be from around the world, the inspiration for the name of Patterson's brewery came from right here in Cedar Rapids. Turner Alley was named after Iowa artist Grant Wood's studio t 5 Turner Alley in downtown Cedar Rapids.

"We feel like art and beer go hand-in-hand together. Beer is art. The parallels are very close between the two," Patterson said.

Turner Alley doesn't have a tasting taproom. Instead, they'll offer tours beginning at the end of June by reservation. Tours of the facility will include a tasting and company merchandise.

Turner Alley currently produces kegs for local bars and restaurants, but Patterson said there is a possibility of bottling and packaging in the future.

"I guess I'm taking focus on what the end goal is. And that is that we want to be producing the best beers possible in the state of Iowa. and we want to be the best brewery in the state of Iowa," Patterson said.

CHEERS FOR BEER

If you love beer, you're glass should always be half full these days in Eastern Iowa.

On May 21, Backpocket in Coralville - will introduce the release of their NewBo pilsner beer with a pub crawl through the NewBo district. Each bar - NewBo Market, Brewhemia, Bata's, NewBo Ale House and Parlor City - will have NewBo on tap along with another Backpocket special release. The event is free.

Millstream will tap its Back Beat Pils on Saturday. The beer is a collaboration between Millstream brewer Chris Priebe and Trevor Schellhorn, the head brewer at Broad Street Brewery in Reinbeck. Both musicians, they decided to brew up a band as well, which will perform at the event at 4 p.m.

There's a Beer 101 class at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library on May 30 as part of their Year of Beer programming.

Also on May 30 is Backpocket Brewing's Border Hop from 1 to 4 p.m. The beer tasting series features craft beers from around the bordering Midwest states.

Cheers!