Our Story.
Hay Camp Brewing Company has been pioneering Rapid City's craft beer scene since 2012 — from thirty seats in an old creamery building to a full-scale downtown brewery with a 3,000 sq ft event space and the Bashful Bison Deli.
The Name
Hay Camp was the place name given to the Hay Meadows east of the Gap in the Rapid Creek floodplain before Rapid City was platted in 1876. Bull trains pulling freight wagons (like the one in the tavern) stopped to water animals and get feed before heading into the hills to the mining district with supplies.
The Beginning
Hay Camp started the way a lot of breweries start — as a hobby that got out of hand. Owner and brewmaster Karl Koth was a USGS geophysicist with a master's in geological engineering from South Dakota Mines and a homebrew setup that kept outgrowing his backyard. In 2012, he and a couple of partners opened a small brewery in an old garage at the Fairmont Creamery building downtown — a one-barrel brewhouse, about thirty seats, and not much room for anything else. It was cozy, it was local, and it filled up fast. Within a few years the 450-square-foot taproom couldn't keep up, and it was time to either get serious or get out.
The Mothership
In 2017 we moved into 601 Kansas City Street — 37,000 square feet of 1948 art-deco curves that had spent decades as an Oldsmobile and Cadillac dealership. The original concrete floors are still underfoot. The bar, the booths, and the overhead beams are framed with Kauri wood, imported from New Zealand for the Homestake Mine because of its extreme hardness and resistance to rot.
Three main spaces share the building: the Tavern (the main taproom), the Commons (home to the Bashful Bison Deli & Market), and the Showroom — 3,000 square feet that has held weddings, concerts, conferences, and grad parties for up to 250 guests. The building is also home to Heroes and Villains, a comics and retro gaming shop in Suite 6 — one more reason to make an afternoon of it.
The Beer
We brew on a seven-barrel steam-fired brewhouse and self-distribute every keg — from Rapid City out to Spearfish and Custer. Eight core beers are always on tap: a Czech pilsner, a hazy IPA, a West Coast IPA, a kettle sour, an English bitter, a dark lager, an English stout, and El Fiz hard seltzer. Beyond the core, we rotate barrel-aged sours, imperial stouts, and small-batch seasonals on a schedule that mostly follows what we're curious about. Something for every palate — always small batch, always brewed here.
Today
We're open six days a week alongside the Bashful Bison, which Chef Scott Brinker runs out of the Commons with South Dakota farmers and ranchers at the center of everything on the menu. Trivia Thursdays, Karaoke Wednesdays, Free Pinball Fridays, and the monthly STEAM Café with South Dakota Mines keep a steady rhythm through the year, along with concerts and whatever else the Showroom can hold.