Hoosier Beer Geek Indiana Brewing Guide: Bier Brewery

We are continuing to add breweries to our Hoosier Beer Geek Indiana Brewing Guide. This time, it is Bier Brewery. Parts of this article previously appeared in the December 16th issue of Metromix.

Darren Connor started home brewing while attending college at Indiana University. “I made beer because I couldn’t buy it.”

While in college, he would spend some time at the Bloomington Brewing Company helping Floyd Rosenbaum brew. After graduation, he returned to his hometown of Indianapolis where he found a job working at homebrewing supply store Great Fermentations. That was almost ten years ago.

He had become a fixture at Great Fermentations, helping new homebrewers learn how to brew beer. But the time had come for Connor to move on. “I had more fun making (beer),” he said, “than teaching other.,” But he hasn’t moved that far; he’s just a few doors east. This is where he opened Bier Brewery and Taproom on November 24th.

Bier is different from most breweries in Indianapolis. They are operating a small 1.5 barrel system, which means he’s brewing more often to meet demands, but he is also brewing a greater variety. The opening week lineup of beers included kolsch, German wheat, Belgian blonde, pale ale, brown, porter, and oatmeal stout.

But don’t expect to see the same beers every week. “Each beer has a place or time. As the seasons change, the beers are going to keep changing.” A pumpkin beer, a dunkelweiss, a chocolate mint stout, and a Belgian dubbel were recently on tap.

Another difference with his brewery is that it is neither a brewpub, serving food and pints to patrons, nor a production brewery, selling their beer to a store or restaurant to then sell to the consumer. To purchase a Bier brew, you have to visit the brewery. At the taproom, visitors can sample the beers before purchasing them in 64 ounce refillable glass containers called growlers. Refills for most beers will cost $12; a new growler is $4. How has the drinking public responded to this setup? “On the first day, we had a line out the door for two hours,” says Connor.

The demand for Bier’s beer continues to ride high. Some beer styles have sold out within a day of release. The chocolate mint stout was a highly sought after beer (I personally arrived a day too late to sample and purchase; based on tweeted reviews, I’m missing out).

While the beers are small and varied, there is a common element that can be found among them: quality. “We’re going to brew clean, balanced, easy drinking beers. Each batch has its own unique water profile. Each style has its own yeast strain.”

Quality is of such importance to Connor that he has page on the Bier Brewery website dedicated to his promise to produce quality beers. And he says he will not sell an inferior product. To prove his point, he tweeted yesterday that he had dumped batch #40 down the drain for not meeting quality expectations.

Connor believes that if he sticks to his high standards, he will be successful. Not just in the amount of beer sold, but also the number of awards won: “We’re going to be gunning for the (Indiana State Fair Brewer’s Cup) beer competition this year.”

If you haven’t made it yet to Bier Brewery, they will be at the upcoming Winterfest on Jan. 29th. Connor plans on bring a wide variety of beers, so be sure to visit early and often.

Bier Brewery and Taproom
5133 East 65th Street, Indianapolis
317-253-BIER
www.bierbrewery.com
Hours: Thursday & Friday 3-7p; Saturday 1-7p; Sunday Noon-4p

Hoosier Beer Geek Indiana Brewing Guide: Upland Brewing Company, Bloomington, IN

We had so much fun putting together our Metromix brewing guide that we thought we should extend the idea throughout the whole state. This article is the first in that continuing Hoosier Beer Geek series.

Upland Brewing Company | Established 1998
350 West 11th Street, Bloomington, IN
Website: www.uplandbeer.com
Phone: (812) 336-2337


For many of Upland Brewing Company's 13 years, Bloomington has played a vital role in the brewery's success. "With the university being in Bloomington, knowing the type of town it is - they support things, they really give back," said Upland head brewer Caleb Staton. "Sustainability is part of that - knowing that it was produced less than ten feet away from where you're sitting in the restaurant. For many years we could see the biggest part of our market from our rooftop. Now Indianapolis is rapidly growing as well."

Like many professional brewers, Staton's pursuit of a professional career started in homebrewing, but it was in the University of California Davis' five-month five-day-a-week masters brewing program where he honed his skills. "That gave me the knowledge I needed, and then I come here and put boots on and get soakin' wet everyday - that's the hard work aspect to it," he said.


A thirteen year history meant that many of the recipes that Staton brews today are close to those established before he became head brewer but continued growth has meant room for new styles. "Our black IPA - Komodo - was a collaboration of small pilots between all the brewers," he said, "Rad Red was totally my recipe off the fly. Teddy Bear Kisses, Nut Hugger - we just do so many beers now."

Upland has recently made waves in the beer community outside of Indiana for their sour beer project. "Our sour ale project is kind of completely separate from everything else we do," said Staton, "They involve other microorganisms that we really try to keep away - they can't be involved in our other fermentation. We kinda got bored - not with our beers but with the regular routine that was going on - so we decided to try something that we felt was more challenging. They sort of opened this new niche for us. All of a sudden we added this segment of beer followers that we've never really had before."

Currently the brewery is focusing on brewing more beer, supporting growing from sales of 5,600 barrels in 2009 to somewhere near 8,200 barrels in 2010. A new tank was recently added to support growth to 11,000 barrels, and a building addition in 2011 means that the brewery will have even more room to grow. "We're very committed to staying right here in downtown Bloomington," said Staton, "and growing this brewery here on site."