Visiting Indianapolis

If you are downtown it would likely be best just to hit Tomlinson Tap Room as they purely offer Indiana Breweries on tap daily with specials. It's the best way to sample many Indiana breweries in one setting.

 

Hi all. I'll be heading to IN with my girlfriend for her family reunion in Shelbyville. Any good bottle shops between the airport and Shelbyville?

 

If you guys like bourbon, I highly recommend going to Crown Liquors and purchasing a few bottles of their Four Roses Private Selection bourbons. Four Roses has 10 different bourbon recipes and Crown started selling bottles of all 10 recipes about two or three months ago. These bourbons are bottled at barrel strength and sell for $50 per bottle at Crown - THIS IS A STEAL!!!

In addition, Crown Liquors staff really know their bourbon. They personally selected the barrels of bourbon through the Four Roses Private Selection program that was bottled and then sold in their stores. They entered one of these selections at a major spirits competition in San Francisco and their bottle was awarded best overall bourbon. In short, Crown's private selection bottle beat all the bourbon distiller's entries. That particular recipe has long been sold out but I don't think you can go wrong with purchasing the other bottles.

 

Crown on Southport and Parti Pak on Stop 11 aren't TOO far out of the way. I don't know any others along that route as I don't normally drive that route.

 

Thanks. I'll have to check those out.

 

You might find a Crown or Big Red Liquor location closer to your route. Both stores have multiple locations. Crown usually has a better selection than BRL from what I've seen. I know the Southport location Parti Pak well though, as both are just a few miles from where I live. Fair warning on Parti Pak: don't buy anything freshness-sensitive if there isn't a bottle date on their bottles. Their inventory doesn't turn over the fastest, and I can usually find some IPA's that are months old.

 

Anyone have any updates to this thread? My wife and I are driving from Cincy to Indy tomorrow morning for the weekend. We're staying one mile outside of the city center and are looking for suggestions on both beer and general Indianapolis city things to do on foot. Any new suggestions since this thread was last touched last year would be appreciated, thanks.

 

Deviate. Go to Deviate. Sun King had GFJ for sale last weekend too.

 

This, multiple times.

 

I didn't get to Deviate, but I got to Sun King and Fountain Square in town. I thought the beers from those two joints were rather pedestrian though. I ended up much preferring and enjoying Black Acre and Taxman outside of town instead.

 

Figured I would revive this thread instead of starting a new one. Any new info than what I have read above? I'll be heading to Indianapolis soon. Flying in on a Saturday and have pretty much all day to explore. Mainly interested in breweries but a man's got to eat so I'll need a lunch & dinner spot with a good taplist. Also a decent shop to pick up bottles/cans to enjoy during my stay. One where I can grab singles since I want to have a variety of stuff I cannot get here in VA. What's everyone seeking out this time of year? Don't want to venture too far outside Indy. Staying on the east side near 70 & 465. So far I have this


- Deviate (multiple times)
- Black Acre

- Bier Brewery & Taproom
- The Koelschip

- Crown Liquors
- Stony's
- Big Red

Am I on the right path of good spots? Thanks in advance!

 

You named my 2 favorite local breweries. Black Acre is very short drive from where you're staying. On the food side, I like Jackamo Pizza which is located right next door to Black Acre. They always have some Indiana brews on tap, and the pizza is terrific.

The Fountain Square neighborhood of downtown has some nice food/beer options. Kuma's Corner is a heavy metal themed burger bar. They've had some quality Three Floyd's stuff on tap each time I've been there. La Margarita is a solid Mexican restaurant with a great (but pricey) beer list. They always get some good stuff from a couple of the other big Northern Indiana breweries, 18th Street Brewing and Bare Hands Brewing.

 

I can't mention Deviate enough. Those guys are brewing winners left and right.

The Koelschip are doing some really special things with brett, as well. And they're next door to Goose The Market which makes some delicious sandwiches.

La Margarita in Fountain Square is my go-to for a great tap list. Top notch Mexican food and they get rare kegs all the time. They have Cascade - Blackcap Raspberry on tap at the moment.

Outside of Deviate, Black Acre and The Koelschip (Central State Brewing's home base) - not a lot of great things going on in Indy. Broad Ripple Brewpub is one of my favorite places but that's because their ESB on cask is my favorite beer on the planet. ESB isn't a sexy style so I don't steer people towards there but I love it. Brugge make a great tripel and their Pooka boysenberry sour is good but they have a relatively stagnant tap list. Great mussels if you're in the mood.

Upland in Broad Ripple doesn't offer much tap list-wise but you can usually get their sours to go ($25 a pop before tax). I don't find them worth it but that's a personal preference.

Bottle shops - Kahn's seems to be the go-to for out of towners but I feel like they've fallen off a bit since Mr. Asher departed. And they don't offer singles. Payless on 96th St is my weekly stop. Kevin has stuff on the floor that other stores sell out of in hours. And he puts his Friday 3 Floyds allotment on the floor as soon as it arrives just to get rid of it. So Zombie Dust and Gumballhead are usually there around noon and gone not long after.

 

Do you mean Parti-Pak?

 

Did the Sun King route last year on my way to Louisville and from an out of towner perspective, it was ok but not great. Wish I would have hit up Black Acre or the Koelschip.

I could be bias though as I am a bigger Central State fan.

 

The new Parti-Pak on 96th is a good bottle shop but I have an allegiance to Payless. It helps that PP finally put pricetags on their shelves. Cool owner too.

 

Sun King are Indy's training wheels for people looking to get into craft. They don't make anything bad and actually make basic styles pretty decently. But they aren't a brewery to wow the geeks out there. Their King's Reserve series occasionally will hit a homerun but the price point for some of them can be horrific (2 pint cans for $20).

 

Preach

 

Great info. Thanks! I see two Payless shops on/near 96th. One to the ease of PP next to a Home Depot and another on the west side next to a Chinese restaurant. Which one are you referring to?