Johnson County’s breweries are on the move.
The local craft beer scene has grown tremendously in the past six years, with six brewers now established throughout the county.
Now, some of those establishments are looking to expand their footprint at new locations, either within the county or elsewhere in central Indiana. The moves will allow more people in different parts of Indianapolis and beyond to discover what local residents already know — that Johnson County makes some of the best beer in the state.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryHere is a breakdown of what’s going where:
Planetary Brewing Co.
What: Nanobrewery brings its galactic-themed brews to new Old Town Greenwood taproom
Address: 188 S. Madison Ave., Greenwood
Timetable: Opened Nov. 26
An intergalactic portal into the craft beer scene has opened in downtown Greenwood.
Among space-themed decor and science-fiction memorabilia, beer lovers can enjoy a Chemtrails Cream Ale, a Nitro Parallax Vanilla Porter or am InterPlanetary Ale.
Planetary Brewing, which opened as a brewing facility and small taproom on Polk Street in 2012, has moved to a new location on Madison Avenue in a newly refurbished space. With a highly visible spot near one of the city’s busiest intersections, founder Andrew Groves hopes the move will help strengthen his brand.
“We needed more space, and we needed to be a little bit more up-front and center, easier to find,” he said. “It’s a continuation and expansion of the brewery itself, an extension of what we were already doing.”
The location on Polk Street was a good place to start his business, offering space for his brewing equipment as well as an area for people to try the beers, Groves said. But as the brewery has gained momentum, he was looking for something more visible.
“We’ve been tucked away in that little industrial complex for a while, and we had a lot of people who said they couldn’t find us,” he said.
The move also provided additional space for the brewery. Groves plans to upgrade the current two-barrel brewing system, which can make up to 62 gallons per batch, for a seven barrel system capable of making 217 gallons at a time.
The brewing operation will remain on Polk Street, and people looking to discover more about Planetary’s beers can try them in the new taproom, Groves said.
Groves and his partners worked for more than a year on the new taproom, tearing out walls, redoing all of the drywall and essentially creating a new beer hall. They turned what had a former office space in the more than 100-year-old building into a haven for craft beer enthusiasts that balances sleek and modern with comfortable and cozy.
The sleek stainless steel bar wraps around the serving area, where eight taps of Planetary Brewing beers wait. A floor-to-ceiling mural is painted as if a massive hole has been punched in the wall, revealing 3-D models of Jupiter, Saturn and other planets.
Flat-screen TVs adorn the walls, where customers can enjoy a football game or classic sci-fi flick. Innovative lighting appears out of a space shuttle — lighted concentric loops, glowing orbs and strategic track lighting.
A loft area overlooks the taproom, offering additional seating.
As Groves and his staff gets settled in, they are still finalizing all that the taproom will offer. Right now, the focus is on Planetary’s own lineup of brews, but the goal is to feature a rotating lineup of guest taps from other Indiana microbreweries, Groves said. They also can sell local and other wines from the location.
“The whole approach we’ve taken is to crawl before we walk. It’s been a process,” Groves said.
Taxman Brewing Co.
What: Bargersville-based brewery plans to open a taproom and restaurant on the northeast side of Indianapolis
Address: 35 S. Main St., Fortville
Timetable: Opening late spring 2017
“For us, it’s really important for us to be able to interact with our guests. We already do that on the southside, and this will really allow us to do that on the northside,” said Leah Huelsebusch, who co-owns Taxman with her husband Nathan.
Taxman has grown considerably since it opened in fall 2014. The brewery has added a full-scale restaurant to its Bargersville taproom, and bought the former fire station on the adjacent property to have more storage space.
“We’re pretty far south. We know there’s a lot of people on the northside who want to come to Taxman but can’t get there as easily as they’d like,” Leah Huelsebusch said.
The idea of having a location in Fortville started when the Huelsebusches were approached by a seller who had some property in Fortville. The seller had sought them out knowing what they had done refurbishing a historic building in Bargersville, and was looking for someone who could do something similar.
The town of Fortville in some ways mirrors what Taxman has already found in Bargersville. It’s a small community with a developing downtown area, close to a rapidly expanding population nearby in the Geist, Fishers and Noblesville areas.
“It ended up being a really great fit and a great location,” Leah Huelsebusch said. “It reminds us a lot of Bargersville — underdeveloped, but growing already.”
The small-batch brewery and restaurant will be housed in adjoining properties on Fortville’s Main Street, offering about 10,000 square feet. The location will feature family-friendly dining, a separate space for private dinners and two bar areas.
A pilot brewery will allow them to do one-off experimental batches of beer that they can then put on their bigger system if its successful, Nathan Huelsebusch said.
A major focus will be an expanded focus on food.
“One of the biggest issues we have in Bargersville is the size of our kitchen. It doesn’t accommodate the kind of dining that our chefs would like to do,” Nathan Huelsebusch said. “We’ll have a menu that changes more frequently. It’ll be farm-to-table, seasonally focused.”
MashCraft Brewing Co.
What: Center Grove area brewery prepares for its new taproom on Delaware Street in downtown Indianapolis
Address: 2205 N. Delaware St., Indianapolis
Timetable: Opening in 2017
When MashCraft was founded in 2014, the plan was to establish the brand in the Greenwood area before bringing its beers elsewhere.
The brewery has become a popular hangout for beer-lovers in the northern part of the county, hosting special themed events and larger festivals devoted to their stouts and hop-forward brews.
Now is the time to expand, said Andrew Castner, owner of MashCraft.
“When we started this, we built the business plan with a second location mind,” he said. “We put extra space in our brewhouse so we could drop in extra tanks in our brewhouse, and oversized our fermenters and kettle to be prepared for bigger brews.”
The key for them was to find the right neighborhood to do so. Extensive demographic research and simply hanging out in different parts of the city both revealed that the Delaware Street corridor just north of downtown Indianapolis was a place to watch.
With developers creating a multi-use apartment complex and retail space called The Delaware, the MashCraft crew had found their ideal situation.
“The future and growth of craft beer is in the neighborhood that you’re going to move into. One of the strengths here in the northwest end of Greenwood also applies there — putting yourself in an environment where the people around you will support you,” Castner said.
Even as the space is being finished, MashCraft has tried to introduce themselves to their new neighbors. They have been present at neighborhood events and community festivals, and have received a warm welcome from beer fans in the area.
The taproom will feature 1,800 square feet, with interior seating along with some limited tables outside. They will be serving the full lineup available in Greenwood, while also putting a small brew system behind the bar to make some unique offerings, Castner said.
“The goal right now is to brew kettle sours, to put some beers on tap in downtown Indy and to bring back here to Greenwood. That will give us some more diversity and wider ranges in our tap selection,” he said. “Overall, we’re making the experience here even better.”
Work is ongoing to finish the space, though no solid opening date has been set. In the meantime, MashCraft representatives have been fielding questions about the new taproom, either from existing customers in Greenwood and those in Indianapolis who know their beer and want to try more of it.
That’s an encouraging sign, Castner said.
“I love to hear about people who know about our beer. We didn’t put a lot of money into advertising, so that means that people have had positive experiences either our taproom or around town. That’s causing them to tell other people,” he said.
