For one resident of David City, Nebraska, C.W. McCall significantly influenced the naming of the town’s brewery. Marty Roper said that the song “Round the World With the Rubber Duck,” which is a follow-up to Convoy, mentions salt mine city that he always remembered. It was only natural for him to name the brewery Salt Mine City Brewing Co.

Marty was born in California. He lived in Oregon before moving to the midwest as he attended high school in Hastings, Nebraska. Marty got a taste of what it was like working in a restaurant as he worked at the Garden Cafe in Omaha. He met his wife, who was from David City. The couple would spend some time in Arizona before coming back to live in David City.

A little over a year and a half ago, Marty opened Ropers Bar & Grill in David City. He wanted it to be that place where you could enjoy some sports, good food, and craft beer. Marty is a big supporter of local Nebraska beer and wanted the community to get the chance to experience it for themselves.

In little to no time, the people of David City and surrounding areas were transitioning to craft beer. Ever since back in Arizona, Marty wanted to start a brewery. Maybe now was the right time!

Marty was ready to start the brewery, but he needed a brewer. It happened that his wife hired two local brothers, Tom and Dennis, to help with the remodeling of the interior of their home. Marty had returned from a trip to Arizona and had brought back an excellent selection of craft beer. It was the icebreaker to get Tom to talk about his enjoyment of brewing beer!

Tom Polacek, a homebrewer for over 12 years and part of the local Brick Street Brews homebrew club, would become the brewer for Salt Mine City Brewing Co! The brewery's goal is to produce the best beer for the community of David City. They had a pretty good idea of some of the first beers they would make, but now it was finding space and ordering the brewing equipment.

Marty secured some space in a strip mall on the north side of town that had enough room to get the brewery up and going. Some work would need to be done, but the two didn’t take long to figure out the desired setup, and construction would begin.

In November of 2021, Marty ordered the 1-barrel brewing system from Blichmann Engineering out of Lafayette, Indiana. The fermenters are from Ss brewtech. Marty was so excited to see the brewing system come in that he quickly purchased some grain for the first batch of beer. To Tom’s dismay, he was trying to figure out what he could brew and came up with an Amber Wheat Ale! The brewery debuted its beers at Ropers Bar & Grill on July 1, 2022.

It has been a wonderful summer for Salt Mine City Brewing Co beer! Marty said he is seeing a substantial drop in domestic beers like Busch Light. Seeing your beers gaining popularity over macro brewery beers has to be a great feeling! The other thing that has Marty energized is doing some beer festivals to introduce more people to the types of beer they are making. On October 8th, at the Butler County Fairgrounds, the next event they will be hosting is The Gates of Munich Oktoberfest.

It was now time to sample the brews Tom has been working on this year.

• B.O.B - The Blood Orange Blonde uses the base of their blonde ale with blood orange. The orange is a nice note in this smooth blonde ale that comes in at 5.2% ABV.

• Cruzin Cream Ale - light and crisp with just a bit of hop finish. Another nice session beer coming in at 4.8% ABV.

• Brick Street Amber Wheat - beautiful copper color with light caramel notes in a soft body. Easy drinking at 5.3% ABV.

• Mudd Flap Girl - this Pale Ale has those earthy notes from the hops that stand up well in the body of this 6.0% ABV ale.

• Big Rig Porter - lots of nutty roastiness upfront that mixes in some chocolate notes. Very enjoyable Porter that I could drink all year around. The ABV on this one comes in at 6.2%.

It was another great brewery visit! Always more fun to have my friend Paul with me. One fun fact about David City is downtown by Ropers Bar & Grill; you actually park in the middle of the street!

Fall is a great time to check out breweries. Plan a trip to David City to enjoy Salt Mine City Brewing Co beers at Ropers Bar & Grill.

Cheers!