Beer Diary - Jim | Down on the FARM in Bloomington

Back in January, Jason urged readers to visit FARM Bloomington to enjoy their superlative beer offerings. The Lovely Redhead and I did just that yesterday while we were on a long-awaited weekend retreat to Brown and Monroe Counties.

First, however, a brief word about the food: it was phenomenal. We chose to park at the bar and order from the tapas menu. We shared the Minty Green Pea Guacamole with tortilla chips and "The Big Red" FARMpie (that's a tomato, garlic, pesto, and mozzarella cheese pizza in case you're wondering). The guacamole was light and crisp and worked perfectly with the razor-thin torilla chips. The pizza, topped with garden-fresh ingredients, was head-and-shoulders above many "gourmet" pies we've had here in Naptown.

As for the beer offerings, FARM has seven taps in the main bar and two downstairs in their Root Cellar bar. We didn't venture to the Root Cellar, but we did see that the draft selections in the main bar were well-chosen in their diversity and quality. I'm kicking myself for not writing down these selections (FARM's online menu is now out-of-date), but here are the selections I can recall from the main bar:

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Brugge Black
BBC Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout
BBC Nitro Pale Ale (I might have been hallucinating, but I think this is what the menu said)
Upland Wheat
Rogue Dead Guy
Stella Artois

Brugge is getting their word out at FARM because all beers are served with a Brugge Beer coaster, complete with the eye-catching graphics that Brugge has become known for. I had a 90 Minute, which was superb as always. Even the Redhead, who is a malty beer girl when she partakes and is quite hop-shy, found the 90 Minute pleasing. The bottled beer selection appeared to be just as wonderful as the draft beer selection, with craft brews such as Alpha King, Ommegang, and Brooklyner Weisse for sale. And the pint prices were reasonable: $5.00 at the most expensive, with $2.50 pints one night a week (Tuesday nights, I believe).

It's heartening to see another fine dining establishment which recognizes that craft beer is a key element of the menu. Pay FARM a visit the next time you visit the land of Cream and Crimson.

Bloomington's new better beer (and food) option

It wasn't that long ago that we were talking about better beers at finer dining establishments. And we ended up with a great discussion that included those from Indy's cream-of-the-crop restaurants like L'explorateur, H2o Sushi Bar, and Meridian. We know that Neal at L'explorateur is going to do a food and beer dinner on February 27th and Eli at H2o Sushi Bar will be offering one on March 10th. Prices and menus for both have not been set yet.

I should also point out that Badaboomz Downtown, as part of the Devour Downtown event, is offering a $30 dinner that is paired with beers. It runs through Saturday, February 2nd.

Elsewhere in the state, much has been made of celebrity chef Daniel Orr's return home to Indiana. He has just opened a restaurant and market called FARM Bloomington and I want to point out that he has a stellar beer menu. Just another chef who really appreciates craft beer.

On draft they have: Upland Wheat, Rogue Dead Guy, Bloomington Brewing's Quarryman Pale, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Bluegrass Brewing's Jefferson Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout, Stella Artois, and Guinness. Their bottle list is very nice as well. Looks like another place for beer geeks to try out.