Automobile Alley Welcomes OKC's First Native American Brewery

A local business owner is inviting others to learn more about his Native American culture. He opened a brewery in Automobile Alley.

Skydance Brewery is the first Native American craft brewing company in OKC. Jacob Keyes is the founder and CEO.

“For too long, people have gotten the story wrong about the culture and the heritage and it's because we haven't really told our own story enough, other people have told it for us,” Keyes said.

Wherever you look in Skydance Brewery, you'll find a piece of Keyes' heritage.

“For us, it's all about storytelling that's how we pass on our culture and our heritage right, so we use that in our beer names, we'll create names that will create conversation,” Keyes said.

Keyes said this project was seven years in the making. It started as just something fun he picked up from his father, but it later became a father-son dream to have their own business.

“When he passed away I thought about how we use to always talk about opening a brewery together and I thought I just need to make it happen,” Keyes said.

Keyes said the opening day went better than he expected. Customers flooded the taproom to try their different beers

“One of my biggest takeaways is that we better get back there and make some more beers. It made me really confident in our location. I think we picked a great spot,” Keyes said.

Keyes describes Automobile Alley as a new up-and-coming district. As the community continues to grow, he sees it as an opportunity for others to learn native stories from native voices.

“People are intrigued by it they're interested in it, nonnatives came in all day yesterday and asked about it and they were in awe of it,” Keyes said.

As traffic picks up, Keyes plans to open up more beers on tap.