A few weeks ago I covered the breweries of Indiana glossing over Indianapolis because I was planning on doing a feature on the breweries of the city. When I moved to Indianapolis nearly two decades ago, I had two local breweries in the Broad Ripple Brewing Company, and the Oaken Barrel in nearby Greenwood. I often ended up going to national chains like Rock Bottom, Ram, Alcatraz, and later Granite City only to watch Covid shut all of them down. Many breweries have come and gone across two decades, and I have been fortunate enough to drink beer from most of them. Currently the city has over 30 brewing ventures that include Indianapolis breweries, and taprooms for breweries in the suburbs, and other parts of the state of Indiana. The Indianapolis beer culture is rich, and I am now excited to discuss it here!
Starting on Indianapolis’ North West side, Deviate Brewing is a fine Indianapolis brewery who will be celebrating six years in August. I have been a big fan of their very creative beers for a long time, and always have a few of their special releases in my fridge. Their recent collaboration with Centerpoint, Satan’s Seedlings, is creating quite a stir in the greater Indianapolis area. Trader’s Brewing is in a nearby plaza, and I enjoy their offerings which include a coffee stout called AM Buzz, great IPA’s, and recently, a grisette which is a type of Saison. Wabash Brewing is located in the warehouse district that encompasses much of the north west of the city. I have been enjoying their beer for over five years, and on a recent visit to their taproom, I had a very memorable banana flavored beer!
The north side of Indianapolis includes large shopping districts that feature many excellent taprooms. In one plaza just east of the Keystone at the Crossing mall, Drakes, District Tap, and Doughnuts and Dragons combined have well over 100 taps of good craft beer, much of it local. All across the 86th/82nd St. corridor, there is excellent beer to be had, and this is the part of the city where I spent nearly a decade, well before we had lots of breweries to choose from. These are the types of establishments that I drank good craft beer at. The Beer Celler may be no more, but now we have breweries on these same streets.
I used to live in Nora, and within walking distance of my old home, two excellent Breweries now are offering beer. Big Lug Brewing is just east of the Monon Trail, and has been making great beer as long as I have been writing about it. On a recent visit, I enjoyed an interestingly named IPA called Performance Enhancing Nugs. They have amazing food which includes poutine, and they are part of the Sahm’s family of restaurants who has been offering good food in Indianapolis for a very long time. Just down the street, Daredevil Hall is serving up excellent beer and food. I had a very good Helles on a recent trip, and you can never go wrong with any of their West Coast IPAs! Also, Books and Brew has many locations, but their original spot is just south of 96th Street in the north east corner of Castleton.
Moving east, a handful of breweries are anchoring this corner of town. Triton Brewing is one of the oldest breweries in Indianapolis still operating on the grounds of Fort Benjamin Harrison. I have known many people involved with the brewery, and continue to be impressed with their sours. Blind Owl is nearby offering a Marzen which is still one of my favorite beers made in Indianapolis, and it pairs up with this brewery’s excellent pizza. In the same area, Bier Brewing has been around about as long as Triton, and it was well over a decade ago that I was regularly filling growlers in their Taproom. I found their kolsch to be satisfying in the summer months, and I regularly try their Hefeweizens when I see them at beer festivals.
Moving down to the Broad Ripple area, several breweries exist in one of the most densely populated bar districts of the city. There are too many excellent beer bars in Broad Ripple, so I’m going to only talk about the breweries. The Broad Ripple Brewpub has been a favorite spot of mine for a very long time. Their unique spot right off the Monon Trail has long been an excellent place to get English style beer, as well as the best scotch eggs in Indianapolis! Twenty Below is a great brewery under Twenty Taps which is also in a neighborhood I used to live in. When it was just a tap room, I would walk there with friends to enjoy superb craft beer. Now the neighborhood also has 1/2 Liter and Barbeque serving great beer with their slow cooked meat, as well as Black Circle. I particularly have come to enjoy Loom, Black Circle’s taproom on 46th street where you can do laundry while you have a beer!
The southside of Indianapolis offers craft beer drinkers a lot of good choices including a Scarlet Lane Taproom, as well as one of Bloomington’s Upland Brewing locations. Garfield Brewing is located in an old gas station just south of Fountain Square. I’m still blown away by the pistachio beer they released around St. Patrick’s Day! Beech Bank is also nearby, and Greenwoods four breweries are not far. Fountain Square Brewing is also one of Indianapolis’ older craft breweries who make one of the cities best pilsners, and porters respectively. Brew Dog’s Indianapolis location is also in Fountain Square, and I definitely recommend visiting them if you haven’t.
East of downtown has long been a hotbed for breweries. Out in Irvington, Black Acre continues to make good craft beer. Flat 12 paved the way for so many breweries, and now Rad Brewing uses their old spot on Dorman Street. Centerpoint is nearby, as is Indiana City. I have long been a fan of Indiana City and their Shadow Boxer is an excellent Oatmeal Stout. Metazoa is also blocks away, and should you visit this brewery during busy hours, you may notice that dogs possibly outnumber people! So it shouldn’t be surprising that the Puppy Slumber Party is one of their best beers. And just south of Metazoa in Fletcher Place, Chilly Water is the spot to drink craft beer in this quaint cultural district just south of downtown.
There are a lot of breweries in downtown Indianapolis. Ellison Brewing operates in the old Tow Yard building and makes a good tiramisu stout. The Tap is just up the street as is a Taxman taproom. Sun king might be one of the most well-known breweries in Indianapolis, and their main brewery on College is a happening place. Saint Joseph operates in an old church just up the street, and has a beautiful taproom where they serve their beer. 18th Street has a taproom on 10th Street, and Brew Link has a taproom in the Old Two Deep Brewing spot. Goodwood from Louisville has also opened a taproom in the old Ram building. And I can’t talk about downtown without mentioning the Tomlinson Taproom in the city market, who like Five’s in Anderson exclusively serves Indiana Beer on draft!
The near north side features a Mashcraft Taproom, as well as A Taproom. I have talked about them previously, but I appreciate how each month they bring a new brewery to Indianapolis. The month of July feautures Streetside Brewing from Cincinnati, and their brewer will be visiting the taproom on Friday, July 23. I have already mentioned Scarlet Lane’s Gastropub which is nearby, and I am happy to add that they are an all-ages facility now. And off to the west, Guggman Haus is making strides as they continue to brew awesome beer which can be enjoyed in their brand new beer hall.
And the last part of the city is the west side where two breweries bask in the shadows of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Quaff On has a beautiful taproom in Speedway, and this hard-working Nashville brewery is a favorite spot of mine. Across the street Daredevil’s main brewery is a great place to drink as well. We will see a new brewery on the west side hopefully soon when Chalet opens in an old firehall. And last but not least, The Herrmann Brothers do not have a physical brewery yet, but they continue to make great beer that hopefully will grace Indianapolis’ west side someday.
So that’s my synopsis of the breweries of Indianapolis. A lot of people are involved in making it a very diverse place to drink craft beer. I geographically covered a very large area that is the city of Indianapolis. While I have traveled all over the state of Indiana exploring breweries, this is my home, and these are the breweries I have spent the most time at. If you are from Indianapolis I hope you found something interesting in this article. And if you’re not from Indianapolis, I hope this gives you a reason to visit. Indianapolis is just a part of a very vibrant Indiana beer culture that I am proud to write about. I’ll be out drinking the rest the summer, and if I see you, let’s toast!
So Much Beer So Little Time 