Indianapolis Recommendations March 9-11th

In for this, as I'll be moving to the NE corner of Greenwood around that time.

 

Go to Broad Ripple and hit Brugge: http://www.bruggebrasserie.com/ Get some food and some beers and then move on from there.

 

If you are staying downtown, then I would definitely hit the Tomlinson Tap Room. Go there during the day, eat lunch at the Market Place shops below, and drink a few nice Indiana brews while there. It's not a late night kind of place, though, so I would go there early.

I do like the SE Fountain Square area, but the hours at the breweries down there are limited, so check ahead.

 

http://www.indybrewbus.com/home

not sure if anyone has done this but it seems like it could be fun.

this is also a great resource for planning your trip: http://www.hoosierbeergeek.blogspot.com/p/where-to-drink-in-indianapolis.html

personally, I would spend my time exploring Flat 12, Black Acre, Triton, Bier, and Brugge for breweries. Twenty Tap is a little further north but definitely the best craft beer bar in the area and they have great food. Many of the local bars/restaurants have Sun King products available so I personally would skip the brewery since there isn't really much to do there and try some of their beers on tap around the city.

I would also look into Broadripple Brewpub. They have great fish and chips and solid beers.

I'm probably forgetting stuff so I'm sure others will chime in....

 

Flat12 bierwerks. Great brews , food too.

Cheers

 

I would honestly avoid the brewbus. It puts you on a time limit, and finds a lot of people just chugging beer for the hell of it. Go to each brewery and take your time.

I second Brugge. While you're in the Broad Ripple area, hit up 20 Tap. They've got something like 38 taps (they started with 20, hence the name). Great fries, too, and other food.

If you go to Tom Tap Room for lunch beers (which you should), grab a Po Boy from Papa Roux downstairs. You won't regret it. Downtown, there's also MacNiven's and Mass Ave Pub. They've both got a good set of taps.

Flat 12 will almost definitely be offering tours, but book in advance. I don't know if the other breweries offer tours.

 

Twenty tap has easily the best spicy Cuban sandwich i have had. An their cheese curds are awesome too. I would be there every day if I lived in that hood.

 

Being in said hood, I'd be there every day if I could afford it.

 

Haha. I understand completely. It's a great area with Aristocrat, Sinking Ship, upland just down the street and Binkleys just up the road. One of my favorite little pockets of awesome in this city.

 

I second the Cuban at Twenty Tap. Definitely make it there and Brugge. If you want to take some back with you, Kahn's is also relatively close to there and the best bottle shop in town.

As far as downtown, a lot of other posters have already given good advice. If you are looking for food in the area, hit up Mass Ave. Many good restaurants there and most of them have a good craft beer selection. My favorite is Chatham Tap, but usually hard to go wrong there.

 

As per the Indy Star yesterday, said Roux location is done for so he can focus his attention on the E. 10th location.

I don't think anyone has really mentioned Fountain Square yet. Fountain Square Brewing just turned a year old and is making some really solid beers. The rest of the area features some good bars and food as well, including La Margarita, End of the Line/Imbibe, Red Lion Grog House, and there's often some good live music happening at White Rabbit Cabaret or Radio Radio. If you're into mead, New Day Meadery makes some very nice meads and ciders and has a tasting room there. Cool little part of Indy that's on the rise.

I'll second the recommendations of 20 Tap, Brugge, Broad Ripple Brewpub, and Flat12. Indy's got a lot of great stuff going on beer-wise these days.

 

That's kind of a bummer. That was my go-to when I walked to the market for lunch. Oh well.

 

I need to get back to Fountain Square....wasn't really impressed the first time I went but that was a couple times after they opened.....need to give them another shot. I do like their Pilsner...

 

I just got back from a weekend Indy Beer Trip this past weekend. We did the Brew Bus and it was awesome! You are pressed for time at each brewery, so take that into consideration but it was a lot of fun and we wouldnt have been able to hit all the brewpubs had we not gotten tickets on the Brew Bus.

Twenty Tap has a great local/Indy tap list. Mass Ave Pub had a smaller variety but they had some FFF and Sixpoint I was excited about. Great atmosphere at both and not too crowded at night on the weekends.

Brugge was fantastic! Go there! IMO you can skip Ram Restuarant and Thr3e Wisemen. Their beer didnt impress me too much. Flat 12 and Sunk King kicked arse. The Brandy Barrel-aged 1/2 Cycle from Flat 12 was awesome and I took home a growler of it. The atmosphere at Sun King was the best on a Friday night, drinking in the brewery/warehouse, and a fun crowd with lots of (small) samples.

Don't forget about Black Acre, they are small and have a good house selection. I tried their Rye Stout and Nit Wit in addition to their Porter and Holy Mole Brown. They have a Sunday Brunch with omlettes that go great with the beer.

The most chill was the Upland Tasting Room on Saturday night. No Lambics/sours on tap but one flight allowed you to taste everything. Their Wheat Ale was top notch! Fountain Square was the last stop on the Brew Bus, but I was a bit tipsy by this point and dont really remember how the beer was. Nice and relaxed too.

 

My top 5 places in the city are Flat 12, New Day, Brugge, Broad Ripple Brew Pub, and Sinking Ship. Therefore, that makes these the correct choices. But some of the other suggestions are cool, too. I guess.

 

I hit twenty tap every time I'm in Indy. Excellent food and a killer tap list.

 

Great food? In Indy? I don't understand the question.

Seriously, what kind of food are you looking for?

 

St Elmos shrimp cocktails and tomahawk rib eye steaks....perfection