Schweber Nate - Indiana Breweries

STACKPOLE
BOOKS

Copyright 2011 by Stackpole Books

Published by

STACKPOLE BOOKS

5067 Ritter Road

Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

www.stackpolebooks.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books.

The authors and the publisher encourage readers to visit the breweries and sample their beers, and recommend that those who consume alcoholic beverages travel with a designated nondrinking driver.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-8117-4425-6

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION

Cover design by Tessa J. Sweigert

Labels and logos are used with permission from the breweries

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Holl, John.

Indiana breweries / John Holl & Nate Schweber. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8117-0661-2 (pbk.)

ISBN-10: 0-8117-0661-3 (pbk.)

1. Bars (Drinking establishments)IndianaGuidebooks. 2. MicrobreweriesIndianaGuidebooks. 3. BreweriesIndianaGuidebooks.

I. Schweber, Nate. II. Title.

TX950.57.I6H65 2011

663.309772dc22

2010050872

To my wife, April Darcy

Because the best part of all my beer-related travel is coming home to you
JH

To my Grandad Norman Schweber

Who always wanted me to write a book

And to my Grandpa Robert A. Vinci

Who surely would have approved of the subject matter
NS

In a world driven by cutting-edge technologies, Ive managed to retain certain Luddite proclivities even while conceding ground to my iPhone and laptop.

When I get home after a long day of professional beer drinking, I empty my pockets of small change, a smudged Sharpie, and my trusty cigar cutter. Customarily there are various scrawlings on little paper scraps, magazine subscription cards, package store sales receipts, and crusty, beer-soaked coasters.

On a groggy, grumpy weekday morning some months back, a cursory examination of one of these reminders revealed this unintelligibility: Jahnenollbeerbk.

After two espressos and some appropriate reflection, the translation finally took shape amid the haze: Yes, of course, it was that pleasant fellow at the pub from New Jersey, asking me questions about the brewery as the empty pints snaked down the bars surface like so many glass dominoes waiting to fall and break my liver.

John Holl, right, and the book he was writing with some guy named Nate. Check.

Wait: a book about Indiana beer. Imagine that!

Hailing from Indiana, otherwise known as the Hoosier State, means living as a stereotype. Were supposed to be basketball-loving, soybean-growing, corn-shucking devotees of the Indianapolis 500, inhabiting flat ground somewhere in the vicinity of Illinois, drinking oceans of ice-cold, low-calorie, light golden lager after putting up hay, or downing boilermakers before shifts at doomed rust belt factories, all of which are both true and false, just like all stereotypes.

Hoosiers may not fully understand the meaning of the word Hoosier, but one element of our Indiana experience appears to be stealth, at least as it pertains to beer and brewing. Almost unnoticed, three dozen breweries (and more on the way) have settled into their joyous daily routines in Indiana communities large and small, from Indianapolis to Nashville, and from Fort Wayne to Aurora.

It didnt seem possible two decades ago, when wed lash steamer trunks to our hand-cranked, Indiana-made Studebaker and make the long muddy drive from New Albany, through waist-deep potholes and past extensive herds of free-range bison, all the way to Indianapolis, the state capital, eager to experience real beer at Broad Ripple Brewing Company.

It was the states very first brewpub, and members of the Brewers of Indiana Guild annually honor founder John Hills birthday by thanking him for his admirable prescience, not to mention patience.

We didnt call it craft beer in those ancient times. We simply called it good beer, and I believe I knew the name, rank, and serial number of every person in the state who shared my preference for it.

At times it was a lonely existence, just me and a few of my closest friends, like Fidel and Che camped in the Sierra Maestra mountains, sifting through the flotsam and jetsam of mass-produced, carbonated alco-pop in search of the stray hop, all the while watching the yokels flee in terror at the mere sight of the dark stuff.

Twenty years later, were still a minority, but good beercraft beeris accepted and available in Indiana as never before. In this book, John and Nate tell you where to find the Hoosier breweries and drink the beer they brew, and also other prime locations for craft and just plain good beer from America and all over the world. Never again will you be obliged to grudgingly accept the paltry selections at that familiar chain restaurants bar.

Instead, like the authors themselves, youll be meeting the regulars at the Heorot in Muncie, or drinking world-renowned ale at the 3 Floyds taproom in Munster, or while in Evansville, choosing the perfect beer to accompany pizza at Turonis. John and Nate cannot magically render you into the most interesting man (or woman) in the world. They do, however, provide complete instructions on how to drink the most interesting beer in Indiana, thus lessening Americas dependence on foreign Dos Equis and immeasurably enhancing the pleasure when the Colts once again defeat the Patriots.

This Hoosier journey in pursuit of better beer is noteworthy because it simultaneously validates Indianas historic and cultural nineteenth-century virtuesthink of John Wooden, the late iconic basketball legend who grew up in Martinsvillewhile pointing the way forward to twenty-first-century goals like artisanal integrity, local sourcing, and environmental sustainability. Most small brewers were going back to the future, green and local, before the buzzwords started trending.

Just ask Clay Robinson, Sun Kings advocate of recyclable cans; or Jeff Mease, organic farmer, water buffalo rancher, and owner of Bloomington Brewing Company; or the pioneering Abstons, who are building trellises and growing hops in the hilly knobs that rise above the Ohio River in Floyd County.

My favorite single aspect of being in the brewing business in Indiana, and by extension, the reason why the brewing business is the best business in America, is that all of us are like family.

Greg Emig brewed for John Hill at Broad Ripple Brewing and then moved on to found Lafayette Brewing Company. Chris Johnson brewed for Greg and now is the owner-brewer at Peoples Brewing. Ted Miller also brewed for John before leaving to sell and install brewing systems worldwide. Ted returned to Indianapolis to open Brugge Brasserie, and today Kevin Matalucci, Teds high school classmate, is two blocks away from Brugge up the Monon Trail, brewing beer for John at Broad Ripple Brewing, as he has done since Ted left.