Zach Rutledge: Hey there everyone, Zach Rutledge here with another episode of Doing Indy. Let me post a question to you. Do you like a good beer? Well, if you do. You are in luck because Indianapolis has enough beer around to keep your mug full. They have just have tons of microbreweries all around town. And we’re going to travel all around town and sample some of these local Indy favorites.
Well, we travel down 65 just 20 minutes south of downtown to Greenwood and found a great local Brewer, Oaken Barrel.
Mark Haven: Oaken Barrel has been around locally owned and operated for 15 years. We’re an Indy original, very unique, a lot of people come here from the south side obviously. Actually, come from all over the place. We’ve had people come from other states and stuff like that that are always, you know, they always stop in just because they’re looking for some place new to go that they’ve never been to. They are not looking for the same light tasting beers all the time. They want something fruity, they want something malty, they want something happy and that’s the reason that they come to Oaken Barrel.
I come up with the recipes myself, ask my assistant brewer a lot of times. We kind of put our heads together and try and feel out what the south side would like. I make it a point on my own to make sure to get know the people here. I try to talk with the people, find out what they like, and I think that’s one thing that separates Oaken Barrel from other microbrewers.
Zach Rutledge: Well, we say we have sampled great local flavors here in the South side. But now we’re going to head North of downtown right of West 86 Street and go meet another great local brewer at Rock Bottom.
Liz Laughlin: This location Rock Bottom is unique, I think number one, because I'm a woman. I am the head brewer that’s not very common in the industry. Literally, do everything from green to glass. And then I get to put my passion into the brewing process and in the beer, I think it really show us too.
All the beers here at this location, are brewed specifically at and for this location. They're very fresh beers and yes, we are a chain but where just as local and as an individual, independent, microbrewery as far as, you know, Barley Island or Broad Ripple Brewpub. We still show that the same craft up here, from red, to brown, to stouts. Literally, we go all the way from A to Z and in flavors and colors.
Zach Rutledge: Alright, gang; this is our last stop on our great Indianapolis beer tour that we've been taking. We are here at Sun King Brewery which is a very unique local brewer, with a very unique twist.
Clay: How we came about the name Sun King is kind of an interesting story. We were looking for name that kind of lend toward seasonality and focus on what we do which is seasonal and specialty beers.
Dave: We were kicking around this concept for the past two and a half years and it started off as may be a brewpub and then we kind of stream lined it. We knew that we needed to be and we had to be downtown. We just felt that Indianapolis is screaming out for its own microbrewery. Every major metropolitan city in the US has one, so why not us, why not now but six blocks off the circle it could be better.
Clay: We actually don’t sell beer to be consumed on premise. As a brewery with out tasting room, you come in, you can try all of our available beers and then you can take carry out beer home.
Dave: People can find our beer out at currently 32 different bars and restaurants. In Mass Avenue, we’re heavily populated there. Broad Ripple, we’re starting to expand out to the north side and to the south. It’s one of those amenities that a world class city needs to have in other to survive.
We want to track the world class talents to the city. We need to have a world class amenities like Indianapolis here, great restaurants, local scene where people can hang out, feel comfortable and a microbrewery are just part of that.
We want to offer the best crafted beer that we can possibly make for folks with the wide selections. So, there's something for everybody out there.
Zach Rutledge: Well, this is one episode, I really hate to see to come to an end but if you have to end it, there's no better place to do that then where it all began at the Broad Ripple Brewpub which is the oldest microbrewery still operating in the state.
Now, we've had a chance to sample some great food, try some fantastic beer but the best part it is, these are all Indy originals. Local flavors, you cannot find anywhere else. That’s all we have time for on this episode at Doing Indy. I'm your host Zach Rutledge. We’ll see you next time.
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