But all that may be changing and Heartland Brewing will be one of the players. The roots of Heartland reach to Madison Avenue where Jon Bloostein worked as an advisor in the financial world of mergers and acquisitions. Trade shows in the business were routinely located on the west coast and Jon's position led him there several times a year. During one of those trips he first set foot in a brewpub. The impact of that visit was tremendous and during future trips he made the rounds of Gordon Biersch , Twenty Tank , San Francisco Brewing and any other brewpub he could locate.
Brewpubs are the same way, but it's beer.
It was that kind of magic which drew him ever closer to brewing and thoughts of building his own. Instead of looking upon his unfamiliarity with the beer business as a detriment, Bloostein considered his work in the financial world a plus. He was trained to research various industries and that training directed him to New Orleans for his first microbrewery conference. After additional trips to Portland, and other brewing centers, he began to picture what his brewpub would be. He likes to call it the antithesis of a trendy bar.