Indianapolis - Where and What to Drink

My thoughts...

Brugge Brassiere in Broad Ripple is my favorite brewery in town. The beers have always been top notch, and their food is great too. Its always my first and strongest recommendation.

Black Acre is also a solid brewery that also has decent food. Their beers also never seem to let me down, though I don't feel they are on par with Brugge.

Upland's common offerings are ok but passable. Their lambics are their best beers. The tasting room on College still has bottles of Raspberry and Strawberry, though they are a little spendy.

Beir does good stuff, but they have no food. Still worth a stop.

Outliers just opened up a location downtown. They are only open on Fridays and Sundays, but worth checking out as its the same brewers as Brugge, just more traditional styles.

Tow Yard also just opened. I found their initial offerings to be decent, and they have some good guest taps right now too. I have not tried their food, but it sounds good from the descriptions on their website.

Twenty Tap needs a mention here too. Not a brewery, but a very good tap room. Check their site as they post their tap list every day.



For something not exactly beer-centric, consider these:

New Day Meadery. Despite the hate mead sometimes gets on BA, New Day is doing some good stuff. They just bottled two of their best ciders and one of their best meads. And across the street is the Smokehouse on Shelby, and I'm always down for some good smoked meats.

Ball & Biscuit and/or The Libertine. Both are phenomenal cocktail bars. Beer choices are limited, but their cocktails are beyond reproach. Both have stellar settings, and are very, very good options for taking a bit of a break from the hops and malts.

For food w/o specific beer considerations, you have a TON of choices, so I won't dig deep there. Downtown Indy as well as Broad Ripple have many, many options depending on what you're after.

 

I recommend Brugge (mussels and fries with one of their sour beers), twenty tap (best tap list in town), and flat 12 (brewing some interesting and tasty beers) for the top places to go.

 

Don't miss twenty tap in Broad Ripple and the Fountain Square Brewery which is close to the downtown area.

Sun King - yes
Flat 12 - I don't care for their beers and I would skip
Black Acre - yes, great place to drink beer, a bit far from downtown
Upland - worth a quick visit, they have a pub in Carmel
Broad Ripple - brewpub, yes. Good bar food and and british style beers.
Bier Brewery - yes

 

I'll echo most of the other recommendations above including the mention of New Day Meadery. Just had my first mead from them last night and it was outstanding.

 

They kill it.

 

If you are staying downtown, you can pretty much walk to the Tomlinson Tap Room. 20 taps of all Indiana beers. Located in the City Market, tucked upstairs overlooking the market below. Cool place; good selection.

http://www.indycm.com/index.php/tomlinsontaproom

 

Forgot to mention in my first reply (largely because I was half asleep, but that's the kind of dedication I have for BA)...


As for shopping, Kahn's on Keystone should be your first stop. Crown downtown has a decent selection too. Kahn's downtown isn't quite as expansive as their Keystone location, but the wine vault downstairs is very cool. I have a soft spot for Parti Pak on the south side too, but I'd avoid any IPA without a bottle date as they don't turn inventory over as fast as the other places.

 

Food options in City Market are very good too.

I want a tamale now... :/

 

Brugge does not bottle or do growler fills. They will have a number of other beers from Outliers (same brewmaster) as well as guest taps, plus they'll have a few wines as well. Everyone who goes should be able to find something.

And despite where you are staying, all my suggestions (save maybe Parti Pak) remain. Fishers is on the north side, but all of the suggestions shouldn't be too much of a drive.

 

For the record, I'm deeply saddened that Brugge does not do growler fills. I'd LOVE to keep some of their sours on hand.

 

their website only lists house beers.

They have guest taps and bottles also, and they'll vary. I was there a few weeks ago and there were... 8 maybe? other taps, mostly Outliers stuff, but it's still good. You should be safe, but may want to call before driving over.

 

If you're staying in Fishers, then Barley Island in Noblesville is pretty close.

Caveat....I've not been there for years, and can't really vouch for their current offerings, but they used to make a decent beer. Dirty Helen is a good brown ale.....but that's about where my current knowledge about them ends.

Maybe one of the more local BAs might be able to fill in the blanks as to whether this is worthy of your time or not.

 

Where in Fishers? Feel free to send me a PM. I live off of 141st.

 

I'd say if anyone is going to Noblesville that they should check out Copper Still. They try really hard to have interesting craft options at all times and have an extensive bottle list. The food is decent but the service tends to be a little lackluster due to short staffing.

 

By the way, there is a new brewery up in the Noblesville area called Books and Brews. Its a second hand book store with a nano-brewery in back. Cool atmosphere, but the beers were just ok (at best). They have guest taps though, and given these are their first beers, I'm willing to give them a (short term) pass for now until they get their feet under themselves.

https://www.facebook.com/booksnbrews

 

Noblesville area? 94th St is Indy.

 

Outliers does growlers of Brugge beers, if they've got em on draft.