Alex Hage, graduated from ISU in 2016 with a Bachelors in Agricultural Business. Alex has the entrepreneurial mindset and skillset he started to develop while at ISU. Alex talked to the 2022 Rural Entrepreneurship Academy students at ISU about his success. Alex purchased Digital Community Holdings, from his father, Rob Hage in 2018.
Alex was able to steer the business through the COVID pandemic, but it surprisingly led to other opportunities. “Dad and I bought some equipment and started to process our own cattle and hogs because all the meat lockers were tied up,” Alex commented. “And Dad started to brew some really good beer.”
Alex's father, Rob, was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disorder that involves a breakdown and loss of cells in the retina. It’s like a form of tunnel vision that's slowly diminishing his sight. That is where the name for the brewery, Blind Butcher , got its name.