Official Indiana Beer Thread (2022)

I grabbed a howler of an ipa around Christmas from Fuzzyline. It was a well done west coaster. That being said, a 32oz howler for $19 bucks, plus add another $4 or 5 on for the howler cost, and a few bucks for tip makes that a really absurdly priced 32oz for a traditional IPA. Maybe in person, but the to-go game just isn't in the stratosphere for a bang for your buck.

 

Alrighty then.

 

Didn't even know they had changed the name.

Looks like I liked their pale / amber ales and did NOT like their stouts.

If I hadn't reviewed them on here, I wouldn't remember drinking them at all, honestly.

 

Half Cycle (?) IPA, as I recall, was doable. And the Kolsch was fine too. You'd see them next to Triton stuff.

 

Sad to hear from a nostalgic standpoint, but not a surprise. It's hard to benchmark against what is available today, but living in Indy in 2010 - 2012 during Flat 12's early years, it was awesome. Their porter, Pogue's Run, was the flagship, and was honestly VERY good, and they routinely did variants of it that were AMAZING. The space was really cool and they were doing a lot of one offs and special releases that were excellent, when back then in the Indy beer market (at minimum), that just wasn't a thing (nothing like what we get from a lot of breweries today in terms of variety). At the same time, Sun King solely offered their core line-up (which was horrible), and otherwise had limited instances of anything different (Java Mac, GFJ, pretty much it for awhile; though I did always LOVE Java Mac).

Flat 12's space was really cool as well, and they developed a pretty solid following. I was there at least a couple times a week with family and friends, many of which were routine customers and swore by F12 as the top craft offering in the area.

My wife and I moved away for 3 years before returning to the area in 2015. We were excited to get back to F12; it had gone down the tubes. We were there on a really nice sunny Sunday in Spring, mid-afternoon, and were the only people there... Our beers were horrible. We dumped them in the trash 1/2 drank and left. Gave it one more shot a month or so later and had a similar experience. Never to return.

They had a ton of issues with bottling QC that were widespread and went on for years (and were well documented here on BA). It killed their business, in my view, but it was self inflicted. After that went on for 2 - 3 years, towards the tale end their beers just started to suck as a matter of practice, founding owner/brewer left the Company, etc. etc. I haven't been there in 7 years, and haven't enjoyed a beer from them in ~10 or so, but I still sometimes use my Flat 12 tulip (they had an awesome logo), and the old Flat 12 t-shirt is still in the "workout/pajama" rotation. Not a let down beer-wise that they're gone, certainly, but they played a really cool/huge part for a couple years in developing the Indy beer scene, and deserve some props for that.

 

I’d feel better drinking it if it wasn’t 18th Street.

 

Yes, do tell. Miller is one of the very few Indiana places I still spend a coupla bucks at.

 

No dirt, I just think the beer is below the average these days. The barrel aged stuff has been a continually disappointing waste of money for years. They used to be one of the best up and coming breweries and the beer backed that up, but now in the beer desert that is NWI, I wouldn't pull up my camel to drink there.

 

Unfortunately your camel can do a lot worse than 18th Street in NWI. Agreed, early on 18th was rivaling 3F in my opinion and seemed heavily Pipeworks influenced. Absolutely fell way off as Drew got less involved in the brewing. Still, when they make an IPA flavored IPA or a stout flavored stout (etc.) they're pretty good.

In Chesterton, the new owners of Hunter's have done a great job of making it a much more inviting place to have a couple of beers. They typically have a first class guest list.

I also visit Burn 'Em, generally on my way back from places in Michigan. I just like the place in general, maybe more than the beer.

I wish Bare Hands was closer.

 

Burn 'Em is hit or miss with me, but they are generally pretty solid. Biggest negative for me was the size of their tap room, especially over the past couple of years. Fortunately their moving to a new space closer to Michigan City on 12, so that should no longer be an issue.

As for 18th, I've pretty much stopped going to the brewpub, and rarely buy off the shelf anymore. I don't trust it anymore for freshness or flavor when I see it in cans. I think you nailed it with your Pipeworks comment. Sad, as I helped build that place.

 

I'm not saying it is undeserved, but can we change the thread yet to 'Official Indiana Beer Hate Thread (2022)'?

(For what it's worth, I live in Ohio now, but lived in Indiana for the better part of a decade (although split). I'm not just an 'out of towner'. I don't know if I ever really buy anything from an Indiana brewery other than occasionally 3Floyds. So, I'm on the train, not off.)

 

Does this mean Pastry Stout?