Published October 11, 2024 | Updated July 23, 2026

Brewing was big business in Omaha and the rest of Nebraska for its first several decades. That came to an end when the state enacted prohibition in 1917. The last of Omaha’s four big breweries, Krug Brewing Company, later sold to Falstaff. After Falstaff Brewing closed its Omaha plant in 1985, Nebraska had to wait six years before it would see a resurgence in in-state brewing.

It wasn’t until 1988 when the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill allowing for the existence of brewpubs. In those days, you had to serve food in order to brew and sell your own beer to the public. Due, in part, to the large cost of equipment, it took another three years for the first brewpub to open.

In 1991, brothers Scott and Brian Boles along with friend Jay Jarvis took a gamble and opened Lazlo’s Brewery & Grill in Lincoln’s Haymarket District. While they had experience working in the restaurant industry, they knew that the addition of an on-site brewery would set it apart from the competition. That marked the beginning of Nebraska’s first brewpub, located in Lincoln’s Haymarket District at 710 P Street.

When choosing a name, they opted to go with Lazlo’s, a nickname given to Jarvis years earlier. With Jarvis working as the chef, I suspect it was to put an emphasis on the quality of the food. With both the brewpub concept and the name established, they began looking for a brewer. Nearly everyone they talked to recommended one person: Rich Chapin. Chapin, despite being 36 years old, had 15 years of experience as a home brewer and won multiple national awards for the beer he produced. He agreed to join the team and began adjusting his recipes for a large-scale operation.

The craft beers were brewed on-site, and a glass wall provided a line of sight to diners. Among the first offerings were Lougales Gold, Captain Donovan’s Special Amber, Creamator Stout, Black & Tan, and Brewmaster’s Special. Those beers were designed to complement the food coming out of Jarvis’ kitchen, which offered a distinct taste from being grilled over a hickory wood fire.

Lazlo’s was an instant hit in a state largely absent of fresh, quality craft beer. It didn’t take long for the owners to realize they should have made room for a larger brewing system. By the time Omaha’s first brewpub, Jaipur Indian Restaurant & Brewery, opened in 1992, Lazlo’s was already considering a second location in the larger market. Instead, they opted for a second Lincoln location.

While brewpubs that prepared food were allowed to sell their beer on premises, it wasn’t until 1996 that the state passed a bill allowing them to sell it through wholesalers. At that point, Lazlo’s went about scaling up its beer operations and created a separate entity from the restaurant. They named it “Empyrean,” a fiery sphere at the highest point in the universe where paradise existed according to ancient civilizations.

Distributing its beer outside the restaurant required a larger brewery, so they moved it to the historic Coffee & Spice building around the corner at 729 Q Street in Lincoln. Just one year later, Empyrean was bottling and distributing its Third Stone Brown, LunaSea ESB, and Chaco Canyon Gold beers.

After it began distributing its beers statewide in 2001, it became the largest brewery in the state. The next step was distributing outside of Nebraska, accomplished in 2009 when its beers became available in Iowa and the Dakotas. By 2022, its distribution had expanded all the way to Chicago. The restaurant side of the business expanded as well, first to Fremont and then to Omaha in 2006. While the Omaha location remains open, the Fremont location closed in 2007.

While Empyrean may no longer be the largest brewery in the state, it remains a significant player in a state that has seen craft breweries open not only in its largest markets in Omaha and Lincoln but in small towns such as Broken Bow, Ord, and many others. Empyrean remains the pioneer that kicked off the craft beer movement in Nebraska.

This is part of a series in which we explore the history of Omaha’s breweries past and present.

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Sources

• Omaha World-Herald archives
• Lincoln Journal-Star archives
• https://lazlosbreweryandgrill.com/about/
• https://www.roperandsons.com/obit/scott-a-boles/