Indiana Beer love

I would guess you're talking about the Bros and their homebrew. What blows my mind is the bad breweries that think they can distribute their shit outside of their expanded home brewing operation. For fuck sakes I saw Figure Eight collecting dust on the shelf at Binny's a couple of times. The region is littered with shelf turds.

 

You would be correct. I feel like I mock them on BA enough, which is why I did not specifically names the bros. They are actually really cool guys, but their beer just happens to be really bad.
As far as Figure 8 goes, their nice facility is the only thing they have going for them.

 

Let me be more specific and say for their lagers only. I actually liked the elucidator, but I agree their ipas and stout are just meh. I could crush their helles, Vienna and India pale lagers all day everyday.

 

To add, Black Circle is going to be officially opening up here soon and they're definitely someone to be on the watch. I had their blackberry Gose on Saturday after Winterfest and it was fantastic.

Also, Big Lug, Taxman, Chilly Water, and Round Town are making some good beers and should be on the watch list too. I foresee within the next 1-2 years that we will all see a growth in better local beers on the shelves in stores and on taps at bars.

 

I really like the beers I've had from Round Town. Their lager/pils is the best I've had in some time. I also really like Taxman, but as with several other Indiana breweries, I only support them on tap. I think their retail prices are not something I reach for often. I drink mostly Two Hearted and Zwickel at home. It is hard to beat two world class beers for $7.99 or $8.99 a four pack. I'm not about to spend $15.99 for a four pack of pale ale from a South Bend brewery or $12 for some cream ale over those.

 

I'm really liking some of the stuff Four Fathers in Valpo is putting out. Just had their Samoa Delite...it's a milk stout with coconut. It was awesome. If you like ipa's...their Gadget is really good.

 

I don't think the Indiana beer scene, in terms of quality, varies much from any other area of the country. In every city, for every Deviate, there is [insert brewer of mediocre pale ale, cream ale, irish stout, brown ale] that should not be in business.

Re: pricing, we definitely have a problem in the department of unproven breweries gouging us. Indiana City is the example everyone keeps throwing out there. 18th St puts some things out that are just killer and worth the price, in my opinion. The "In the Shadows" series of IPAs have been ridiculously good and worth the cost, for instance. But they hit on the other side frequently too.

Pricing here definitely stings though. I can get Pipeworks Lizard King in Chicago for $9/4-pk. I get Natural Liberty from Black Acre for $13/4-pk. Something just doesn't add up in my mind there. Granted, I attribute a lot of the pricing issues to the entire "going local/drink local" movement. It's in Sun King's slogan for god sake...Hipsters and many younger people, for some reason, feel some pride in getting robbed of their hard earned dollars (unless they're just blowing mommy and daddy's $), in support of local products, even if they are inferior. From a craft beer perspective, there is no justification though, for brewery X charging more than brewery Y for a product of equivalent quality. Black Acre, say, should not have higher expenses than Pipeworks such that they need a 50% mark-up over the other brand.

As craft settles into becoming a stable industry rather than one of surging growth (we're already heading that way), these issues should resolve themselves. Right now, newbs continue to join the scene at high volumes and will pay anything for something new, including something not even remotely worth the cost. This perpetuates lackluster breweries abilities to keep their doors open, and further, allows breweries to charge more for their product than they should be able to. My two cents...

As far as what I'm liking from our state...lately I've been really enjoying Taxman Frozen Assets; it's a killer milk stout and a fine value at ~$9/4-pk. As mentioned before, the In The Shadows beers from 18th street I had in November/December time frame were awesome. Deviate is my shit; great people, excellent product, unbelievably fair pricing given styles and quality. I've bashed Sun King relentlessly over the years to anyone that would listen; even they are starting to win me over with some of their small batch beers, though pricing is outrageous on their side frequently too. I think we've got it pretty good here in general and it keeps improving.

 

When I moved out of IN, literally the only breweries I had heard of in the state were Sun King, Flat 12, Upland, Triton, Oaken Barrel, and FFF. Of course, I wasn't exactly in tune with the craft beer scene at the time, but still. It's amazing to see the growth in less than a few years.

I'm looking forward to trying out some new stuff next time I visit. I'll stay tuned in to this thread so I know what to hit, and what to miss.

 

Besides the obvious, I will add another +1 for Black Acre. A fun taproom with quite good beers (Natural Liberty, in the summer, just tops). Always love hitting it up when I'm in town.

 

Not associated with a particular region, but Bare Hands deserves some love. I am excited that their distribution is expanding. Thai P. A. is a great twist on a IPA. I have considered hitting their Double Thai P. A. Day in the past, but never have. ... BareHands is also pricey, by the way.

 

I like some of their beers, but really? $16-18/4pk for Thai P.A., $22/4pk for Honey Badger, $16/4pk of Westy, or $15/4pk for a goddamn Pale? I really dig Westy and Thai PA is pretty decent, but I will never buy either again unless it was some special occasion, someone else out of state really wanted some, or they lower their prices.

 

Pretty sure we agree on this.

 

I was just adding to what you said for the people that haven't seen their prices before.

 

In all honesty, they may be king of the mountain when it comes to high prices. Though I don't pretend to know every outrageous price in Indiana.

 

What's the word on Burn 'Em? I've thought about trying them but if I recall they're a little pricey.

 

I like many of their beers. Love Boomerango, but its $16/6 pack. Long Johns on is a solid winter warmer for 9.99/bomber. I feel like their coconut beers need more coconut. Creamed Korn is my favorite cream ale that is not from Carton at 11.99/6. Their Mr. T series and Cuke Nuke'em are not fit for human consumption.

 

I Had Westy for the first time a few months ago on tap at Tomlinson Tap. Really enjoyed it and was excited to see it in 4 packs at a shop recently. Saw the price and I just couldn't do it. Ended up grabbing a 4 pack of Imperial Stouts for roughly the same price. As others have said, I find myself buying more national stuff to take home and having mostly local stuff on tap around town.

 

I head down to Indianapolis every year for the 500, and last year by far my favorite was Black Acre. Natural Liberty is an awesome beer. Daredevil is another cool place that I'd likely visit again. This year Deviate is on my list, along with some of the breweries downtown. Indianapolis has a good beer scene, I enjoy my yearly visits.

My only other experience with Indiana beer is 3F (obviously huge thumbs up) and Tin Man in Evansville (meh...).

 

what do you guys think of Byway for those that have tried their stuff?

 

I have them amongst my list of shitty NWI brewers. Nice space, bad beer. In fairness, I was only there once but that was enough until I hear anything good about them (I haven't). Another thing I didn't like is they didn't do tastes when I was there. I had two styles, both bad, and may have ordered their porter but I couldn't get a taste. Why would I spend another five or six bucks on another beer if the first two sucked?