Stubborn German Brewing Company - Waterloo, IL

Stubborn German Brewing Company is located in historic downtown Waterloo, Illinois. We are a craft brewery that is independently owned and operated by Chris and Tammy Rahn of Waterloo.

Chris Rahn, owner and head brewer, has 10 years of homebrewing experience and has been brewing professionally since 2015. He is very passionate about bringing delicious beer to Waterloo and the surrounding areas. Chris is a BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) National Beer Judge (one of the highest ranked in Illinois), and a longtime member of the St. Louis Brews and The Ferm homebrew clubs.

On to the beer! We definitely lean towards brewing German style beers, with some American varieties as well. Some of the styles we brew year-round include: Stubbornfest (our Oktoberfest), Fountain Creek Kolsch, Blitzkrieg IPA, Altbier, Old Ledger Lager (Pre-Prohibition Lager) Waterloo Wheat (Hefeweizen), and Schitzengiggles (Munich Dunkel). We have 4 seasonal beers, then brew "one-off" batches of other styles of beers. We also have 2 tap handles dedicated to "On Til It's Gone" which is a small 5 gallon batch of beer that usually features different/odd ingredients or different methods to brew it. We also have a tap handle dedicated to "From the Barrel Cellar". This is a rotating tap handle of one our bourbon barrel aged beers that have spent some time in a Stumpy's Spirits bourbon barrel. We typically have 16 beers on tap at all times. We also offer one of the biggest bourbon and whiskey selections in Illinois, as well as Excel sodas and a fun mixed drink menu to choose from.

We don't serve food, but you're welcome to order from the local restaurants or bring food from home. We do have outdoor seating on our patio in front of our building.

The name “Stubborn German” comes from a phrase heard pretty often around the Waterloo area. It describes the old Germans that came to this area long ago and seemed to be set in their old ways. We like this description for our brewery for a few reasons:
1. We think those old Stubborn Germans made, and still make, some of the best beer in the world, and we want to mirror that.
2. We are stubborn ourselves, in that when we brew a great beer, we repeat it the same way. Over and over and over again.
3. We are also so stubborn that we will not let one style of beer define us! There is plenty of German beer at our brewery, but also plenty of other styles, especially American beers, along with some British, Belgian, and Irish beers as well.
4. We are, ourselves, Stubborn Germans!