Author: timandjohnna

Best craft beer in Indy! Althought we visited a lot of neat places and drank some good beers, this place is all-around the best brewery/tap room we visited. Small and classy, the tasting room wasn’t too crowded like the others and provided some classic tunes ina friendly environment. Althought we were turned away yesterday due to a private event, we were undetered to return for one or TWO of their delicious brews such as the Red Sunday red ale and the KnightStick cream ale. Comfy sofas, group seating and table games all added up to the best brewery in Indy for us!

Not only does this brewery have great beer but also great food. The beer cheese is to die for! We drank the Built To Last Germand pilsner and the Maggies Farmhouse ale while snacking on the spicy house beer cheese pretzel and the The Bruno sandwich consisting of Italian beef smothered in the beer cheese. Yous can never have too much cheese and cheese makes everything better!

Very interesting place!  A large brewery operation and tasting room, this place seems to be ever expanding as the demand for craft beer increases in the area. Pouring large volumes of beer for the lively crowd, people young and old are enjoying the wide variety of beers. We shared in their experence with the Sunlight cream ale and the Just Be Clause blonde ale. Both beers were freshing but balanced with great flavor. It doesn’t get any better than drinking what was born just feet from where you are sitting!

Technically, you could say this brewery has been around since 1891 when it was The Home Brewing Co and before it shut down during Prohibition. The former bottling room is now the tasting room and provides a rustic atmosphere to sample nearly a dozen different brews. This brewery also has a large music venue with a stage for live performances. We tried both of their Kolsch’s, Sister City and Twisted City – both very good for the start of a Saturday “day drinking” tour.

Who doesn’t like to enjoy a beer while watching Indy cars drive by on the public streets? This brewery is nestled in between the AJ Foyt complex and the Dallara factory on the historic downtown Main street. We sat outside in the beer garten sipping our German Pils & Vacation Kolsch and whatched the street-legal Indy cars take visitors for “hot laps” around the block. How cool!

Named after the 12 cyclinder flat-head Indy Car engines, the tasting room took us back in time when the open-wheeled race cars were assembled and repaired in old barns. Decorated with rough-sawn lumber and post & beam construction, this brewery also has a kichen named Hoagies & Hops serving up authentic Pennsylvania-style sandwiches and sides. We sampled the Cheesesteak “wit” and the cucumber dill salad then washed them down with the Upside Down Blonde & Dan Patch Wit, all of which were very delicious! On top of it all, the brewery is famous for its relationship with Indy driver James Hintchcliff offering a seasonal brew and retail apparel hats & shirts in his honor.

This unique brewery is located in a “transitional” part of town where older homes and vacant industrual buildings are being convert to modern uses. The brewery itself is housed in an old factory next to an operating train track lending itself to that old industrial charm. This is the first brewery we have been to that has vintage pinball machines and a huge projection screen TV to keep customers entertained and also has a converted Airstream RV (called Cosmic Chrome Cafe) serving up food truck style Mexican snacks. We cooled-down on their Gold Kolsch & Hefeweizen on this humid afternoon.

Located just south of downtown, this hip brewery offers 10 beers on tap ranging from a very low IBU of 7 for the Willyweiss up to an 80 IBU for their Impound IPA. This is the first brewery that I recall that provides so much information on each of their beers. Other than the normal ABV and sometimes IBU’s, the brewmaster here keeps his customers well informed with malts, hops and even yeast used on each beer. We drank the Goldie ale and the ShortShorts IPA – both very good brews!

A railroad themed brewery based on the South Shore rail line, this brewery has been serving up a delicious varity of beers since 2005. We had the LY-CO-KI-WE kolsch and the Don’t Panic! English pale ale both of which were delightfully smooth and simple. Brewing nearly a dozen beers onsite, this place not only has a great history of good beers but also serves up some unique dishes from their kitchen. We had the Old World pierogi and their twist on the BLT but substituting the bacon for smoked salmon calling it a SSLT. Both were very tasty!

Beer in church – you bet! The pastor, I mean the server said it was OK. Opened only 5 months and still undergoing some renovations, the tasting room is small and personable with a bit of a modern theme. Offering only five beers to start with and brewed offsite until the renovations are complete, we enjoyed the Crooked Cross cream ale which was refreshing on this warm summer afternoon.