The Great American Ale Trail - Christian DeBenedetti [99]
PHILOSOPHY
Well, what is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
KEY BEER
Order up a Dogfish Head Midas Touch (based on a 2,700-year-old Turkish recipe found in the tomb of King Midas; 9% ABV) and call your Round Table to order.
Munster
THREE FLOYDS BREWING CO.
9750 Indiana Pkwy. • Munster, IN 46321 • (219) 922-3565 3floyds.com • Established: 1996
SCENE & STORY
Home-brewing brothers Nick and Simon and their father Mike Floyd started their brewery the old-fashioned way: with a kettle fired by a wok burner and some old, open Swiss-cheese tanks for fermenting the beers five barrels at a time (155 gallons). That was back in Hammond, Indiana. Four years later they were ready to move up to a larger facility, which is located behind an office park near a hospital. As far as their cultishly devoted fans are concerned, the Floyd brothers could have built that brewery three levels below the hospital in a moldy mop closet: in 2010, for the annual release party of Dark Lord, a buck-strong stout of 15% ABV topped in colored wax, eight thousand people showed up. Call it beer-geek Brigadoon.
Inside, the brewpub and taproom is equal parts stoner man cave and chef’s pantry. Just when you expect to see corn dogs and tater tots come out of the kitchen, plates of cassoulet, duck-fat frites and whole roasted Wisconsin lake trout appear. Amid the psychedelic murals and flags, metal on the hi-fi, and projectors showing 80s movies like The Karate Kid, there are eleven excellent taps and twenty-one bottles to sample across the entire brewable spectrum.
PHILOSOPHY
Officially, the modus operandi is, “It’s Not Normal.” Three Floyds has unleashed dozens of intense beers pushing the envelope of hops, malt, and other flavor components. If they were to brew too many beers on the lighter side, their fans would be confused, even irritated. But refreshingly, they’re not expanding at the maximum possible rate. Despite the wacky image and all the comic-book-inspired label art, etc., these brothers are obviously thinking straight.
KEY BEER
Gumballhead is an American pale wheat ale, and on the low end for FFF (5.5% ABV). But its lemony gold flavors and hemp-like aroma is no less desirable for the restraint.
BEST of the REST: INDIANA
SHALLO’S
8811 Hardegan St. • Country Line Shoppes • Indianapolis, IN 46227 • (317) 882-7997 • shallos.com
A cluttered, dimly lit and very old place on the south side of Indianapolis that’s connected to the Old Time Pottery store in a desolated strip mall, Shallo’s is the craft-beer bar as imagined by David Lynch, with smoke-darkened, wood-paneled walls, pressed tin ceilings, deep padded booths and a beer cooler with a neon sign reading insurance. With three hundred bottled beers and forty drafts (presented on a perpetually outdated list) including the likes of Indiana’s own Three Floyds, Mikkeller of Denmark, and San Francisco’s He’brew (“The Chosen Beer”), it’s a holy land for beer lovers if there ever was one.
UPLAND BREWING CO.
350 West 11th St. • Bloomington, IN 47404 • (812) 336-2337 • uplandbeer.com
Bloomington is a college town for Indiana University, and this sunny brick-sided brewpub draws them in with great burgers and an outdoor patio, where locals sip on cloudy gold glasses of Upland Wheat Ale, a 4.5% ABV Belgian wit (white beer), made with organic coriander, chamomile, and orange peel. Lately, the brewery has delved into more exotic Belgian and other brewing styles with strong results. Indiana still doesn’t allow beer or alcohol sales on Sunday except from breweries or wineries, so during the summer, it’s common practice for locals to buy a growler of the slightly tart and quenching Wheat and head to a local lake, sit in the sun, and sip beer straight out of the bottle—Indiana summer at its best.
Iowa
Des Moines
EL BAIT SHOP
200 SW 2nd St. • Des Moines, IA 50309 (515) 284-1970 • elbaitshop.com • Established: 2006
SCENE & STORY
For a