Opening Today: Thr3e Wise Men

The latest installment in the Scotty's Brewhouse restaurant empire opens today.  Since Scott Wise has developed a borderline stalker obsession with Mike, we felt obligated to check the pizzeria brewpub out.  Thr3e Wise Men is not quite your typical brewery startup.  With 6 other restaurants in his portfolio, you could say Scott Wise knows how to run a business.  Much like Scotty's Lakehouse was a burger departure from the standard Scotty's Brewhouse formula, Thr3e Wise Men fully embraces pizza.  If you've been to Piece in Chicago, you know the formula.  A simple, build your own pizza menu with a few appetizers and a selection of brewed-on-premises beers.  That's not to say Thr3e Wise Men doesn't take a few risks as well.

The first thing you'll notice when you enter the brewpub is the dominance of communal picnic tables.  Traditional Scotty's Brewhouse towel napkins line each one and an iPad-based menu system is available for an enhanced ordering experience.  If you don't feel like meeting a few new beer fans, there are also two seat tables, a large U-shaped bar and cocktail tables made from barrels.  Personally, I think the solid wood decor gives the entire place a more welcoming feel than the other Scotty's restaurants.

The pizza is thin crust and based on a recipe that includes their Golden Zoe IPA.  Cheese pizzas start at $7/11/13 and toppings are an additional $1.50 or $2.50.  Appetizers include pepperoni stuffed breadsticks, goat cheese marinara dipping sauce, hummus pizza and Brewhouse standbys such as dill chips and buffalo wings.  Perhaps most notably impressive is that the style of pizza they're offering has not already been done to death by other Indianapolis pizzerias.

But enough about the food; let's move on to the beer.  Omar Castrellon previously held a long tenure as brewmaster at Alcatraz downtown, so chances are you've had his beer before.  The late Alcatraz wasn't Omar's first brewing gig, so to say he's experienced is an understatement, and it shows in the initial offerings at Thr3e Wise Men.  The beer concepts are the product of Scott Wise's brewery dreams and Omar has produced recipes to fulfill those dreams.  Now that's an awkward statement.

On the lighter side of things are a well-balanced Blonde with a lemon twist and a Blackberry Wheat that carries a heavy wheat body and a simultaneously sweet and tart blackberry overtone.  Moving over to the hoppy side of things, the flagship beer of Thr3e Wise Men is a Double IPA that masks its 8% ABV incredibly well and is actually a great intro to hoppy beers thanks to a hefty malt sweetness.  The IPA, on the other hand, is full forward with hops and was my favorite beer of the initial lineup.  A Brown Ale, similar to an English Mild, is currently on their hand pull.  The Amber Ale combines the ubiquitous brewpub Amber with fruity Belgian yeast.  Stout and porter offerings include a Coffee Porter that is light in mouthfeel with a heavy coffee presence and an Imperial Stout, which carries all the chocolate and coffee notes but has the mouthfeel of a regular stout.  In total, all the beers are quite impressive for just opening and should be incredibly solid with a year of refinement and experimentation under Omar's direction.  Within the next 2-3 months we should be seeing these Thr3e Wise Men offerings available at all of Scotty's Brewhouse and Lakehouse locations.

I'm saving the best for last.  $20 gets you a carry-out large cheese pizza and a growler fill.  Other specials include $1 off pints on Mondays and Thursdays, $2.50 pints on Wednesdays and $6 growler fills on Tuesdays.  Behind the bar, it's hard to miss a row of coolers filled with six packs.  Thr3e Wise Men also offers carry-out beers from other craft breweries, just in case you'd like to compare notes.

Opening Today: Scotty's Lakehouse

Continuing our streak of deceiving Scott Wise into thinking we're a reputable news source, we were invited to check out his latest venture over the weekend. This event was fairly packed thanks to Scott's Twitter army receiving passes for spending $50 at one of the Brewhouse locations in the past week. That's okay, we still feel special.


Scotty's Lakehouse is a joint venture between the brains behind Scotty's Brewhouse and the Patachou restaurants. The two concepts are fused by offering Patachou breakfast items in the morning and a selection of organic burgers, a few Brewhouse favorites and a few new items for lunch and dinner. Although the Lakehouse features a lower number of taps than the Brewhouse locations, Indiana beer is the predominant theme. Located in Geist, Scotty's Lakehouse is the second Scott Wise location on the north side of town. Despite my general disappointment with things north of 86th Street, I am glad that they are seeing more good beer locations and local food options open up.


Upon arrival, the immediate impression is that the Lakehouse seems to be located in a hard to reach strip mall. Maybe someone in Geist can correct me and inform us in the comments that there was an easier way to arrive than we did. Nonetheless, if the crowd at the opening event on Saturday could be used as a reference point, the Lakehouse is already a destination worth seeking out. The interior decor matches that of other Brewhouse locations, which I would consider a positive thing. Lots of exposed brick and duct work, a prominent and well kept bar and of course those bar towel napkins.


The initial beer lineup

Three Floyds Pride and Joy (soon to be Gumballhead)

Mad Anthony IPA

Peoples Pale Ale

New Albanian Beaks Best

Oaken Barrel Indiana Amber

Barley Island Dirty Helen

Sun King Wee Mac

Granite City Broad Axe Stout

Upland Bad Elmer's Porter

A decent selection of wine, spirits and Coors Light are also available for people who would prefer not to drink beer. The focus of the menu is on burgers, including not only organic beef burgers, but also turkey, elk, bison and vegetarian burgers. All of the burgers we tried were very well put together with a creative combination of well designed toppings. Fried dill chips and 7 tidals dip are carry-overs from the traditional Brewhouse menu.


Burgers all run at $8 with sides of fries, coleslaw and mac and cheese (among other things) available from $3 and up. The fries were a bit too dense for my tastes, but the blue cheese coleslaw, sweet potato fries and mac and cheese were all big hits at our table. The burgers were excellent. For reference - Boogie Burger is my favorite burger joint in town. Lakehouse didn't top Boogie Burger, but it certainly rides up near the top of the list. I would love to see the Lakehouse burgers find their way onto the Brewhouse menus in the future. Another menu highlight turned out to be the condiments, especially the Beer Mustard made with Sun King Wee Mac.


Now back to something we do actually claim some knowledge on - beer. Available serving sizes are 16oz glasses, 24oz mugs and 101oz table taps. The 16oz glasses are pub glass style (think Broad Ripple Brewpub or the country of England) and the 24oz mugs are the traditional Brewhouse mugs. The 101oz table taps are these comically large glass tubes filled with beer with a tap at the bottom to dispense into individual glasses or funnels and hoses for you to lay under the table and drink out of until your server catches you and kicks you out. If you try doing that, don't tell them you got the idea from us. 16oz glasses ride between 4.50 and 5.00. On Mondays, Indiana beer, both bottled and draft, is $1 off.


The Lakehouse is definitely a welcome addition to the north side of town and their dedication to Indiana beers is quite admirable. They open up today at 4PM. Cheers to Indiana beer and great burgers!

Fine Dining and Craft Beer: Euphoria

If you're like me, constantly disappointed by modest-to-non-existent craft beer lists at local fine dining establishments, you'll be happy to know that Indy now has at least one solid option: Euphoria. Located on the second floor of Buggs Temple at the head of the Central Canal (337 W. 11th St., (317) 955-2389), Euphoria features a menu of dishes created by Chef Brad Gates. The style is varied, but dishes have an emphasis on locally-grown ingredients.

Until recently, Euphoria and Creation Cafe (the casual dining, downstairs neighbor to Euphoria) featured different beer menus. Creation Cafe's selection was larger, while Euphoria had a smaller set of more expensive options. About a month ago, Creation Cafe's menu was tweaked and expanded. Apparently that entire pumped up menu also made its way over to Euphoria, not replacing, but added to the small set of expensive options they already served. That simple switch -- a logical one given that both restaurants are run by the same management -- instantly makes Euphoria's beer menu among the best, if not THE best, of all fine dining restaurants in Indy.

If you've been to Creation Cafe recently, the current Euphoria beer menu should look familiar. Here's a sampling (all bottles):

Warbird T-6 Red Ale
Warbird Thunderbolt Wheat
Upland Wheat
Upland Dragonfly IPA
Three Floyds Alpha King
Three Floyds Gumballhead
Bell's Two Hearted Ale
Bell's Oberon
Founders Dirty Bastard
Founders Porter
Anchor Steam
Horse Piss Golden Lager
Stone Ruination IPA
Lindemans Framboise
Delirium Nocturnum
Chimay Red

Like the food menu, you'll notice that the beer menu has an emphasis on local and regional offerings. As an added bonus (if the beer menu wasn't enough of a draw), Indianapolis is currently in the middle of Devour Downtown -- two weeks where downtown restaurants feature three-course menus for $30. If the regular menu at Euphoria is a little too pricey, now is the time to try it out (see their special menu here). Beers are not included in the $30, but they're very reasonably priced (ask for the separate cocktail and beer menu).

Euphoria is open Tuesday to Saturday, 4-10pm, and Devour Downtown ends on Sunday the 23rd, so you've still got five days left. Try a Founders Porter with the Chocolate Cake "Cappuccino" -- you won't regret it.

Coming soon: Scotty's Brewhouse Downtown

When you're a member of the elite blogging community you get all kinds of cool opportunities and free promotional stuff.  Or at least that's what other bloggers tell us.  We did, however, get to check out the Scotty's Brewhouse downtown location a few days prior to their opening on Monday, January 5.

Press photo of Scotty's, currently way under construction outdoors.
If you've been to a Scotty's before, you probably know the drill.  Plentiful beer selection, polished sports bar feel and slightly upscale bar food.  The plaza out front is currently under construction to allow for outdoor seating and a stage area with weekly live music during the summer.  Everyone agreed that this place is going to do great business later this year as the only downtown nightlife venue with a large outdoor seating capacity besides the Rathskeller. Downtown needs more restaurants and bars that make you actually feel like things are going on late at night.  Plus I'm crossing my fingers that this provokes the Dunkin' Donuts to be open 24-hours.




The decor was welcoming, with a classy sports bar feel.  TVs in each of the booths were a nice touch in case you want to watch professional curling, dancing with the stars or something else that everyone at the bar is going to yell at you for changing the channel to.  We also hear there are TVs in the restrooms.  Nice.  By far my favorite piece of decor was the antler chandelier. 

Nice.
So now that I've covered the general restaurant info, let's get to the beer.  The tap list sits at 30 beers with a few Guinness combinations rounding out the draft menu.  The bottle list has about the same number of options, but unlike the draft list, is mostly dominated with yellow fizzy beers.  We were happy to see crowd favorites like Brugge Tripel, Rogue Dead Guy, Barley Island Barfly, Three Floyds Gumballhead, Dogfish Head 60 Minute and Bell's Two Hearted on the menu.  The words "bud" "miller" and "coors" only occur once each on the draft list and that's a pretty big step forward by itself.





Neat hats.
I'm going to go ahead and broach the subject of beer prices as well.  I don't like that it is common bar practice to hide the prices of beer and liquor.  When a waiter hands you a wine list, it has prices.  Why do I have to guess at how much beer is?  I rant about this here only because Scotty's is doing exactly what I like to see.  They have prices clearly printed for 16oz, 23oz and pitchers.  The prices are fairly average, even a touch cheaper than many other downtown locations. If you're curious what that means, here's the draft list and here's the bottle list.

They have a mug club program available for an entry fee of $10 which allows you to drink out of a 24oz clay stein. I can't remember what all the perks are, but I do remember they fill it with any micro for $5 on Thursdays.  They also have a Wednesday pitcher special for $7 which I believe is unrelated to the mug club.  This place is going to sell more Tripel de Ripple than the Brasserie.


Scotty's opens on Monday with 50 cent wings. We recommend the mini corndogs and Kelly would kill me if I didn't push the school tray lunch thing. She has a weird obsession with elementary school lunches.

Introducing Zing!

In just a few short weeks, downtown Indianapolis' newest independent restaurant, Zing, will be opening. The two-floor restaurant is housed in a classic old building at the corner of West St. and Indiana Ave. that was most recently home to a restaurant called Payton's Place. In the process of a complete rehabilitation of the building, a wrap around outdoor seating deck was added to the second floor.

Other photos of the exterior work are available here.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take a look at the inside of the not-quite-finished restaurant and have a chat with the owners about their beer menu. They were good enough to allow me to snap a couple pictures at the same time.

The second level bar.

The beer selection at Zing will be eight beers on draft and an assortment of 25 bottles. That's not going to blow away the menus at the biggest beer bars around town, but that's a solid number. Taps are located on both the upper and lower levels of the restaurant and they plan to have the following beers on draft at their opening:

Bell's Oberon
Oaken Barrel Amber
Guinness
Blue Moon
Stella
Sam Adams
Bass
Bud Light

A very respectable selection. Would we like to see more beers from microbreweries? Sure, but this is a very good middle-of-the-road assortment that hits on many different beer styles and avoids having a tap stand completely full of macro light lagers. And if enough people show up and start asking for more craft beers, I'm sure they'd be willing to adjust their menu!

Another seating space on the south end of the second floor.

As for bottled beer, they're planning to have 25 bottled beers on hand. A sampling of the beers to be available includes:

Bell's Two Hearted Ale
Barley Island Barfly
Affligem Blond
Goose Island Honkers Ale
Brooklyn Lager
Delirium Tremens

To find out about the rest of their selection, you'll just have to stop in after they've opened.

The outdoor seating area, looking southeast along Indiana Ave.

Zing will have seating for 150 inside and an additional 120 outside when weather permits. Alternatives to beer include a wide array of 50 wines as well as a martini menu, all of which will be collected with the beer options in a separate drinks menu. As for the food menu, word is that it will feature small-plate dining with "American, French, Mexican, Portuguese and Italian cuisine." Plates will be about $7-11. The owners are shooting for a Grand Opening around Labor Day weekend, so stop on by and welcome Zing to town!

(More photos of the inside of Zing are available here.)