One Evening in Indianapolis

Black Acre is pretty great, but I would stay close to Upland instead. In that area I would hit Fat Dans Deli, Sinking Ship (across the street from Upland), but I would do dinner and beers at 20Tap just up the road, and try to head into Broadripple for Brugge, Broadripple Brew Pub, and even 3Wise Men makes good beer at a good price.

Black Acre is nice, but getting out to Irvington from Upland really cuts in on your drinking time.

Honestly, I'm not trying to be harsh here, but I would pick up your sours from Upland and not stay for beers. They turn out great seasonal and sour beer, but their core line up leaves a great deal to be desired. I hope you have a good trip.

I would probably just hit Kahns on Keystone and call it a day.

 

I'd have to second @TheodorHerzl about Black Acre... Depending on the time of day, traffic and weather, you're looking at roughly 30 minutes (or more) drive time from Broad Ripple to Irvington. I love the place, but if you're limited on time, it's gonna eat a lot of it getting there and back. Or perhaps hit up Black Acre on Sunday morning for their brunch hours, the food is always excellent.

I'd also skip drinking at Upland in favor of 20 Tap, Sinking Ship or The Aristocrat, you can't go wrong with the food and beer selection at either place. I would also recommend Brugge Brasserie or Broad Ripple Brewpub, both have a great menu and beer selection.

I also don't think you'd really find anything at Crown that you wouldn't be able to find at Kahn's Keystone, but you never know.

 

I spent a weekend in Indianapolis for a beer vacation last year...

The Upland Tasting Room is more like a "fast food coffee shop" style place with decent beer. Like the others I would agree to, maybe drink one beer there but you can find better beer elsewhere. Close by I would hit The Sinking Ship and Twenty Tap. And if you have extra time Bier Brewery is a must stop, they had the best beer in Indy when we were there. And if you have a chance get a growler of Sun King.

 

Brugge, cannot be stressed enough. Brugge.

 

Assuming you're coming up 65 into the city and staying close to downtown, I would recommend the following plan of action:

1) Crown downtown (nothing you'd find at Kahn's that you won't find here and Kahn's on Keystone is a pain in the ass to get to).
2) Time permitting, hit Flat12 for some sampling / a quick beer and a growler fill if anything is of interest. Flat12 is only a 5 min drive from Crown downtown and is right off 65, which you'll hop back onto for a couple miles to roll up to Upland in Broad Ripple.
3) Upland - Make your pickup, check the taplist. If they have an BA items on draft (Winter Warmer or Teddy Bear Kisses), it may be worth having one beer there, otherwise move on.
4) Twenty Tap - Dinner / more beers - The cheese curds are f'ing ridiculous! They have 38 beers on tap in addition to having some pretty quality bottles on occasion. On the same street as Upland, just another mile north or so. If you go here, don't park across the street in the grocery store lot, they have a guy patrolling the lot to have people who don't go in the store ticketed and/or towed. Street parking is usually pretty easy to find within 1-2 blocks on College.
5) Brugge (as noted above). If you can swing any more beers at this point, also a quality dinner spot. They have decent house beers and also have 2-3 pretty good guest taps on. Good mussels, frites, etc. Not my choice over Twenty Tap but to each his own. Still a high quality spot.

As others have said, Black Acre is good, but its really out of the way if you're by Upland, whereas Upland / Twenty Tap / Brugge are all within 5-10 min. If you do decide to go to Black Acre anyway, Jockamo's pizza is money and in the same building on Washington St, I used to always eat there before hanging at Black Acre.

An additional place to scope out is Tomlinson Taproom in the City Market. It is one block away from the Crown downtown store, they have 15 taps, all IN beers. It is not uncommon to score something there like Zombie Dust. I've been in Indy a few times for work in the past couple months and I've had Zombie Dust there more than once including last Thursday. Just look at their Twitter feed, they send out a new taplist every day. Have a good time.

 

If I could only visit one brewery in town, it would hands down be Brugge 10 times out of 10. They don't distribute their kegs very much, they don't bottle and they don't do growlers, so in person is about your only chance to get your hands on some.

Here's how I would handle things if I were in your shoes...

Take 65 north to 70 east and take the Keystone exit. Head up Keystone to Kahn's. Do your shopping, then cut over to Broad Ripple and go to Brugge for drinks and a bite to eat (personal suggestion is the duck confit sandwich and a flight of three beers, making sure one is Peony if they still have it on tap). Then take College Ave south and swing past TwentyTap for another pint or two. Continue down College to Upland to grab your bottlles. Then maybe hit up Crown downtown, but start working your way over to Black Acre if that's where you want to finish up.

 

Since I normally shit on my home town Upland I do have to give them big props for making Coast Buster (DIPA). It's tap only and I highly recommend it. Also get the barrel aged Teddy Bear Kisses if available. They were both on tap in Bloomington last weekend.

Check out what Sun King is offering if you've never had any of their beers.

 

Definitely agree with coast busters. I tried it side by side with the new Stone grapefruit collab, and I felt dirty saying that Upland was better...

 

Bier is also worth a visit and is not far from Kahn's on Keystone if you're over that way. Check their hours.

 

Yeah they normally close at 7pm I believe.

 

Which day is this going down? Yesterday or Saturday?

 

I was not a fan of this beer. I've never had the regular just the BA version. Too sweet for me. It wasn't horrible... just nothing special.

For sunday I'd check to see what's playing at the IMAX... they do real movies there sometimes. It's a REAL IMAX screen - there are not many of them left. Maybe 100 in the USA and 30-40 are in So. CA I saw the last batman movie there... it was epic. If I recall correctly they sold beer outside the theater. Can't remember if you could bring it in.

 

I stand by my earlier suggestions, but I want to throw this in here as an aside:


Saturday is Black Acre's 2nd Anniversary party. No growlers, no flights. Here's the tap list...


Noon
-The Anniversary Ale (Quickening Scotch Ale aged in rye whiskey barrels)
-Cask tapping of Blended barrel Beard Tax RI Stout infused with Mexican coffee from Bee Coffee Roasters

1:00
-Trulock's Revenge Tripel
-Blood orange infused Space Car

2:00
-Coffee Whiskey Whiskers (The 2012 replicale strong ale aged in a Buffalo Trace barrel, infused with Bee Coffee Roasters' Ethiopan coffee that had been aged in Washington's Folly mead from New Day Meadery with cherries)
-Earl Grey tea infused Vertical Sun witbier

3:00
-Holy Fuckin' Moly (brown ale infused with Mexican chocolate, habanero, jalepno, poblano, and serrano peppers)
-Trulock's Revenge Tripel randalled over fresh pineapple

4:00
-Blackbeard (Blended barrel Beard Tax RI Stout infused with blackberries)
-Cucumber and basil infused Streetlight blonde ale

5:00
-Apricot infused Vertical Sun witbier
-Busty Mermaid (The first preview of our collaboration with Flat12, a Kentucky Common brewed with chocolate rye malt, Citra hops, and English ale yeast)

6:00
-Bourbon barrel Beard Tax RI Stout
-Rye whiskey barrel Beard Tax RI Stout

7:00
-Saucy Intruder RyeIPA randalled over Citra hops
-Hazlenut Maple infused Reliance brown ale

8:00
-Whiskey Whiskers, 2012 replicale strong ale aged in a Buffalo Trace barrel
-Juniper infused Vertical Sun witbier

 

Awesome, you hit a bunch of great spots. Don't feel bad about the Zombie Dust, really rare find through distro.

 

Sounds like a successful day! And like mayorQuimby said, don't sweat the ZD. It's a rare commodity around town. I'm happy you were able to find some Gumballhead at least, which is also hard to come by here.