(Bottom photo) The Moorhead Malt Plant is hard to miss as it takes up 150 acres, is 345,000 sq. feet. (Right photo) Alan Slater, Judd Carlson and Doug Restemayer (left to right) show off the barley at the Moorhead Malt Plant.
to overconsumption, a lot of corruption and little selection. At the end of Prohibition in 1933 with the passing of the 21st Amendment, a three-tier system was established to prevent future issues. “We’re the buffer between the brewery and retail,” Restemayer said. “Our function is to get the product from the brewery into the hands of retail.” Fast-forward several years to 1968 when Restemayer’s father-in-law, Don Setter Sr., founded the company. Restemayer eventually purchased the company from his father-in-law in 2000 and continued to grow the business.
T
he distribution industry was a product of necessity. According to Doug Restemayer, president of DS Beverages, the distribution industry came about because prior to prohibition in 1920, brewers not only made and distributed their product but also could own the retail joints. This arrangement led
MOORHEAD PLANT
From the silos, the barley is shipped to the plant in Moorhead. They ship out around eight millions bushels of malt every year.
DS Beverages’ job has gotten trickier in the last few years with the resurgence of craft beers and the expansion of different package sizes. According to Restemayer, they are distributing over 1,200 skews, when three years ago they did less than half that. Even with this rise in craft beers, the most popular beer remains Bud Light, with it being almost one out of every five beers consumed, Restemayer said. “If you take Budweiser and Bud Light together, it’s one out of every four beers. If you throw in Busch Light and Golden Light, you’d have almost one out of every three beers,” he said.
MAKING BEER
The malt is shipped down to one of four breweries, the primary one is in St. Louis. After roughly 30 days it is shipped back up back to Moorhead.
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