Flatty Monsters, Friday Shifts, and Fried Smush Burgers at USA Today’s Best Brewpub in the Country

To get a good idea of Lua Brewing, just go there on a Friday night.

“It’s my favorite shift of the week,” says Lua Brewing General Manager Pete Holmgren, who came to Lua during its opening night and fell in love with the beer and the place.

Just one small room with two big garage doors that seamlessly open onto an outdoor patio, Lua’s taproom has been packed every Friday for about nine weeks straight—ever since USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards named them the best brewpub in the country this year.

“Fridays are bumpin’,” says Holmgren, who admits he has a pretty good playlist going. “It’s nonstop people for five or six hours, just having the best time.”

Everyone from the staff to the customers is in a good mood.

“Families, dogs, all kinds of people, young and old,” says Co-founder Whitney Selix. “It’s a space for anyone and everyone.”

It’s also one of the reasons that we named Lua Brewing to our list of “The Best Breweries to Watch in 2025.”

The Des Moines-based brewery ranks as the highest in Iowa, with a 4.22 overall rating on Untappd.

After opening in Des Moines in November of 2019, Lua has skyrocketed up the rankings, registering over 400 beers and 139k check-ins along the way!

Helmed by founders Scott and Whitney Selix and Head Brewer/Co-Founder Zack Dunbar (formerly of Forager Brewing), Lua Brewing earned both a spot as one of the top fifty breweries in the world and another for being a top restaurant in Des Moines in just its first eighteen months.

During the Untappd Community Awards, Lua Brewing again showed its pedigree by winning thirty-three medals—including an impressive twelve golds in categories like German Pils, Berliner Weisse, Fruited Sour, Smoothie Sour, Oatmeal Stout, Stout (other), Hefeweizen, Doppelbock, Saison, DIPA, Triple Hazy IPA, and Pale Ale (other).

Celebrating its fifth anniversary last year, Lua Brewing has a lot to look forward to for the next five years.

So we sat down with Whitney and Holmgren to chat about running the best brewpub in the country, one of the best burgers in the state from a Michelin-starred chef, and why naming a brewery is one of the most impossible tasks.

Attorney by Day, Ales by Night

Photography courtesy of James Heckathorn | Lua Brewing

Scott and Whitney met because of beer.

Whitney found a love of beer while working at a craft beer-focused restaurant in North Liberty, Iowa, called Red’s Alehouse. “The most craft thing I’d drunk at that point was Blue Moon,” she shares. “Two Hearted became my gateway IPA for sure.”

While in college, Scott also worked at Red’s. It’s where he met Whitney.

While in law school, Scott, an avid bottle and beer trader, worked at Big Grove Brewery.

The pair moved to Minneapolis to follow Scott’s attorney career, but “he was completely miserable being an attorney,” says Whitney, mentioning that he would bemoan one thing: “I want to brew beer.”

To compensate, Scott started homebrewing.

Eventually, he made a big decision: to quit the attorney life…sort of.

Picking up a job again at Big Grove Brewery, Scott served as the Iowa City-based brewery’s in-house counsel…but also lead brewer.

After a couple of years, Scott and Whitney decided to open their own place.

What Is a Person’s Best Friend: Beer, Dog, Both?

Photography courtesy of James Heckathorn | Lua Brewing

Loyal, passionate, loveable.

We could have just described everyone’s best friend or Lua Brewing.

Named after one of the duo’s dogs, Lua, the brewery tries to live up to its namesake—Whitney and Scott’s Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

“Trying to come up with a brewery name is the most impossible thing on the planet,” laughs Whitney. “But our dog’s name wasn’t a brewery yet.”

Although Lua, the dog, passed away last October, she became a beacon for the brewery.

“She was a goofy dog,” shares Holmgren.

Everyone loved her, and everyone who came to Lua fell in love with the place.

Lua Brewing has always been a passion project, a series of talented individuals sharing their joys.

Whitney always dreamed of owning a restaurant. Scott loved craft beer. Lua Head Brewer and third Co-Founder Zack Dunbar came with a pedigree from Forager Brewery (one of the other “Best Breweries to Watch in 2025”). And Executive Chef James Arbaugh joined after leaving the Michelin-starred Plumed Horse in the Bay Area.

All the building blocks fell into place when Lua Brewing officially opened in November 2019.

Five years later, they’re busier than ever.

Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks

Photography courtesy of James Heckathorn | Lua Brewing

It’s hard to point to just one thing that has made Lua Brewing so successful. Instead, Whitney falls back on those very building blocks.

“Our core values are quality, positivity, candor, and creating community,” she says.

“You missed pushing boundaries,” Holmgren chimes in. “Just quality, time, and care go into a lot of the things that we do here.”

It’s doing the little things right.

When it comes to the beer, Holmgren says the hazies and sours drive the engine, but “our heart has always been with our saison program, which is wonderful.”

For instance, Sander, an iterative series of wild fermented saisons that have been through different variations and brewed with different seasonal ingredients such as peaches.

“Brewing that beer showed what we are capable of and our range,” says Whitney.

Lua’s flagship hefeweizen and pilsner show what Whitney calls the brewery’s “deep appreciation for tradition.”

Photography courtesy of James Heckathorn | Lua Brewing

The latter, Gil’s Pils, is a German-style pilsner with Weyermann Heidelberg malt, Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops, and German lager yeast.

“Like all our German-inspired beers, Gil’s Pils is brewed in reverence to traditional brewing techniques,” explains Holmgren. “A complex step mash schedule and decoction provides a base wort that is fermented and lagered for almost three months.”

Bearing the name of Dunbar’s dog Gil, this European lager helms Lua’s lagers.

But one of Whitney and Holmgren’s favorites is a version of their flagship hefe with fresh toasted coconut named Call It Dreaming.

“The first time I tried it,” says Holmgren, “I remember thinking it was the best beer I ever had in my life.”

Only available on draft, Call It Dreaming has developed a bit of a cult following.

Of course, when it comes to best-sellers, Holmgren says Lua’s flagship hazy Sun For Miles stands on top. Utilizing Pilsner malt in the base, Dunbar adds a generous amount of wheat and malted oat, as well as a bit of Carafoam for that ultimate haze factor and head retention.

A heavy charge of hops in the whirlpool cools down a bit to preserve those sought-after oils and reduce bitterness.

Dry-hopped with Citra, Amarillo, and Idaho 7, Sun for Miles hits those tropical and citrus notes consumers expect from a hazy IPA.

Holmgren thinks Sun For Miles is pretty emblematic of Lua’s beers. “Consistent,” he says. “It’s the highest-rated flagship IPA in a state full of great hazies; it holds its own.”

Whitney adds, “It keeps the lights on.”

Overall, Holmgren feels Lua’s commitment to consistency and ability to produce high-quality ales and lagers has helped them earn a place as one of the state’s top-rated breweries.

“I’m just really proud of the beer we make,” he gushes. “We’re a pretty small place, but the quality stands out.”

And not just with the beer.

Chef With Michelin-Star Pedigree Making Smush Burgers and Caviar

Photography courtesy of James Heckathorn | Lua Brewing

Whitney, who always wanted to open a restaurant, initially imagined that Lua’s food would be simple.

Low-key tacos and a small menu of finger food.

“But then we got a candidate from California for head chef, coming from a Michelin Star restaurant,” she says wistfully. “That changed everything.”

What does a chef who worked at a Michelin Star restaurant do at a brewery?

Elevated bar food.

That’s how Whitney describes Lua’s menu.

“It has such a chill, cosy neighborhood vibe,” she says, “but then there is caviar on the menu!”

In a juxtaposition that perhaps best illustrates Lua’s menu, you’ll find a more traditional option with toast points, crème fraîche, marinated onion, cucumber, and parsley as accoutrements.

And then, an absolute cracker out of left field called a Caviar Cutie, a cornbread waffle with marinated red onion, radish sprouts, and a walloping dollop of caviar.

Next to the caviar are comfort foods like a “smush burger,” which is “one of the best burgers in the state,” Whitney ventures to say.

Two house-ground patties smushed next to fried onion, American cheese, pickles, and something called Lua sauce. (There’s also an Impossible version for vegetarians and vegans.)

The menu jumps around the globe too, from a spaetzle mac and cheese to an aguachile to a Korean-inspired Italian beef.

This isn’t just pub food. It’s pub food a level above.

Climbing Higher, Going Farther

Photography courtesy of James Heckathorn | Lua Brewing

In the last couple of years, Lua became the first brewery in the state to branch out into a THC-derived beverage brand called Climbing Kites.

With four flavors of sparkling waters and two “Kitetails,” including Iced Tea + Lemonade and Transfusion, Climbing Kites has rocketed to the number-one selling THC brand in Iowa.

“It’s bringing in people who have never been here before and giving them a way to check out the space,” says Holmgren.

That’s even more folks to pack the tiny taproom on a Friday night.

“If we keep up at this pace, this place is so small that people will beg for a bigger space,” Holmgren says excitedly.

Looking ahead, Whitney says asking about Lua’s future is a good question.

“We’ve kicked around a lot of things,” she says. And while they’ve talked about expansion, Whitney says they’re pretty happy where they are. “I think there is something to scarcity and destination,” she says. “We’re just walking that line.”

For now, it’ll be packed Friday nights at Lua’s tiny taproom, caviar on waffles, and some of the best lagers, hazies, sours, and saisons in the state.

Which is perfect for now, but as Holmgren says, “I’m open to anything for Lua in the future.”