So, I am planning a beer vacation and would appreciate any input/advice the Great Lakes Board can provide. As of now I am definitely hitting the Knoxville Brewers Jam. The next day I am stopping at Country Boy Brewing on my way to Louisville where I will plan on going to Against The Grain. From there I am off to Three Floyds and hope to find some Small Town Brewing "Not Your Fathers Root Beer" in the area (suggestions on convenient places to find NYFRB would be very helpful). After a couple days in the Munster area, I am heading to Jackie O's. This trip will be bookended with nights in Asheville (I am very familiar with the Asheville area). So, where I would appreciate help is, suggestions on the best beer stores and breweries (not mentioned) along that route which looks like, Interstate 40>75>64>65 to Munster.....back down 65>70>33 to Athens (Jackie O's). The major cities I will be passing through are Knoxville, Lexington, Louisville, Indy, (trying to avoid center city Chicago unless there is a must stop), Columbus.
Hit West 6th while in Lexington. You've also got Greenbush (Sawyer, MI) and Bare Hands (Granger, IN) along the route between FFF and Jackie O's. There's another website with a "first rate" map feature. You can find great Places on that map to help with a trip like this.
Sun King and Flat 12 are both right off of I65 in Indianapolis at essentially the same exit. The problem is, that depending on where you are coming there is major construction going on there. Fountain Square is also easy to get to from 65, but on the other side of town from SK and F12. All of these guys are making good beers right now though.
I can't help u with much in your trip but what I can tell you is you only need a few hours in Munster and they should all be spent at FFF. There's nothing there. Go to FFF and go spend your xtra time elsewhere.
though I haven't been there and have only tried the offshoot transient brewing from their brewmaster, One Trick Pony in Lansing looks pretty promising and is like 2 miles from three floyds.
One Trick Pony is fantastic! Been there a couple times and have yet to be disappointed. Two of my favs from them that I've had are the Kentucky Mountain and Warlander. So, to the OP, if you can check out One Trick Pony in Lansing,IL it's only about a 10 min drive west from FFF. Good call burica.
Cool place, I stopped in there and had a few beers. They had a belgian strong ale which was quite good and a very good black IPA. Real laid back, talked with the owner for a bit. To OP if you want to spend a few days in the area, there is also Crown Brewing in Crown Point and of course you could head into Chicago where there are tons of options.
For Columbus: Hit Weiland's or Anderson's for bottles - for breweries, Columbus Brewing Company makes the best beer in Columbus so I would highly recommend a stop there if you are into pale ales and IPAs (you have to try Bodhi while you're here - it's fantastic). If you're interested in counter pressure filled growlers I recommend hitting up the Ohio Taproom - they only have Ohio breweries so you can get a good cross section of what Ohio's all about!
The Beer Trappe in Lexington is a great bottle shop/bar. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22548/view=beerfly Columbus Brewing Co. stop and get some growlers of Bodhi. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/341
In Indy, I've been impressed with Black Acre and Brugge Brasserie. They are my favorite two breweries in town.
Thank you all for the great advice!!! If anyone wants to get up for an IP trade along the route let me know. I can bring some of the Carolinas best with me (Pisgah, Westbrook, Foothills, Old Hickory, Noda, and can even get get growler fills from Wicked Weed). Cheers!!
Go to Penrose Brewing Comapny's twitter account.. follow what they did for the last 3 days. https://twitter.com/PenroseBrewing
I will be in Knoxville area Oct 11 and 12. Louisville Oct 13. Lunch in Indy on Oct 14. Gary Indiana area evening of 14th through the morning of 16th. Passing through Ft. Wayne lunch-ish on the 16th on the way to Athens Ohio.
Is there a reason why you want to spend 2 days in muenster? go to floyds for a couple of hours, buy some beer and go to Chicago. for the night of the 14th and the 15th. TONS of great beer spots in the city.
After doing some more research, I am gonna head into the city to hit the south loop Binny's, Half Acre and Pipeworks. With that in mind, can you drink at Pipeworks and Half Acre? Pipeworks website is a little hard to get info off of and Half Acre has this to say about their tasting room, "The Half Acre Tap Room is a traditional tap room that offers only the beers we brew here at our brewery. It's not a bar, it's not a restaurant, it's an opportunity for us to host and pour you the beers flowing through our brewery." I know some states have weird alcohol laws. Thanks for all the info!!
Half Acres tap room is worth visiting on architecture and decor alone. It's gorgeous. Wicker Park also has some great bars. Bangers and Lace is awesome and the surrounding area has a million craft bars. I don't know about pipeworks.
Iirc, Pipeworks does not have a tasting room at this point. You'll just need to buy some bottles and enjoy them with friends.
