The Dakota Beverage Story

Over 70 Years of brand building success.

Dakota Beverage got its start in 1953, when a young entrepreneur named Jack Gores II was brazen enough to break into beer wholesaling, humble enough to make service his focus and sharp enough to go after premium products.

With just one brand in his warehouse, Blatz Beer, Jack established DB as a partner his customers could count on. It didn’t take long before he grew his product line to include brands like Schlitz, Schmidt’s and Heineken. Over the next 40 years, he continued to grow by adding premium brands and acquiring four different distributors in the region around Sioux Falls.

And we’ll tell you what, we love this guy.

As the years have gone by, Dakota Beverage has established itself as a leader in the import and specialty beer markets, as well as being a formidable adversary in the local domestic market. With over 300 brands representing 12 countries, Dakota Beverage has grown to become one of the most influential and successful distributors in the area.

THE NEXT 60 YEARS

When Jack passed away in 2005, he left a 52-year legacy of relationships, service and passion for the obsessives who brew great beer and the people who drink it. With the company in the capable hands of his son John, who’d been working with his dad for over 30 years, the Dakota Beverage family kept chasing Jack’s dream. Just a few years later, John led the company’s fifth acquisition and the start of a new era of growth making Dakota Beverage South Dakotas largest beer distributor with the most diverse beer portfolio in the area.