When he started brewing, Sun King co-founder Clay Robinson never dreamed he’d be taking days off from bottling to suit up and lobby the Statehouse. But these days, he’s dusting off his bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and fighting to raise the production cap for Indiana’s breweries.
Although there were a small handful of microbreweries, like the Oaken Barrel, during Indianapolis’ darker days, it wasn’t until Sun King tapped its first kegs in 2009 that craft beer exploded in the city.
Even in the midst of the craft beer boom, it’s still easy to separate the suits from the brewers. The guys behind Indianapolis’ Bier Brewery are brewers—a little rough around the edges and fiercely independent—and, surprise: They don’t care who knows it.
Indiana’s beer scene is rightly dominated by Chicagoland and Michiana, but that shouldn’t preclude a trip a bit further south to the state’s capital, the Crossroads of America.
