Visiting from Portland, I hit South Bend Brew Werks, Evil Czech, and Bare Hands this week, and I was really impressed with what is going on up here. Pretty soon Indiana is going to be known for much more than 3F. Best beer was the barrel aged imp stout at Evil Czech, best hoppy beer on tap was J's IPA from SBBW, best bottle was 574 DIPA from BH. Bonus is City Wide Liquor back room, which is a legit dusty shelf experience.
You mention a few, but there a quite few other breweries in Northwest Indiana that are awesome. 18th Street is already building a niche, but Four Fathers, Devil's Trumpet, and Burn'em do really solid stuff. Even Crown has some hits. Btw, thanks for noticing our beer community. Cheers!
Midwest beer is off the hook. I moved out to Chicago from Seattle three years ago and was apprehensive about what I would find in terms of beer. Turns out the quality of the beer in Chicagoland is at least as good if not better than the PNW, and the past three years have been a really exciting time to be there in terms of growth.
I live in IL and travel to FFF and 18th street pretty often, but none of the breweries were even on my radar. I may have to change that soon. Thanks for the tip!
Yeah, you need to get out of your rut and visit some others. You might even want to drive on up to Michigan and enjoy some of our breweries.
We're pretty proud of three of them within 35 miles of the border: Tapistry, Greenbush and The Livery. Have you heard of them? I can keep going.
Yes indeed, thanks for noticing the NW Indiana beer scene! Lots going on with more in the works. Iechyd Da Brewing and New Paradigm Brewing open in Elkhart, Goshen Breiwng Co. open in Goshen. Opening soon - Wedgewood Brewing in Middlebury and Thomas Stieglitz Brewing in Goshen. Sorry if you missed Crooked Ewe Brewery and Ale House when you were in South Bend. They have excellent food as well as great beer. Come back soon.
New Oberpfalz brewery in Griffith is worth the side trip for anyone visiting FFF's or 18th St. It's maybe 3-4 miles off the highway right in between the afore mentioned spots and they do flights, growler fills and have a bottles to take with on occasion. Craft Beer Bonus: Wild Rose brewery is 3 blocks down the street while Pokro brewery is 2 blocks in the other direction. Throw in Beer Geeks bar 2 miles away in neighboring Highland Ind. and Griffith has quietly turned into a destination for craft drinkers in the last year or so.
