The four folks behind Flat 12 Bierwerks met on Thursday with almost 50 of their twitterites and other supporters. Indiana Beer was, of course, there.
So who's behind this new brewery startup?
Three of them are Indy natives who decided that beer is cool and a brewery would be cooler. The forth is an experienced brewer who is looking forward to a chance to add very interesting beers to our taps and shelves.
Bob Weaver is the Community Manager (we think that means marketing and the web), Steve Hershberger is the CMO, Sean O'Conner is the President, and Bob Caputo is the brewer. He's a 15-year homebrewer who
- is a Porter guy
- isn't a high-gravity guy
- is leaving a former life in quality and process control
- does IPAs
- has just made a Tangerine Porter
- likes his Glazed Ham Porter recipe
- isn't afraid to toss anything into a beer.
New DME equipment is ready to be delivered to the large facility on Dorman St, just east of downtown Indianapolis and they hope to have kegged beer "out this fall and bottles this winter". Their blog has pictures of the current state of the building, cleaned but empty.
The Flat 12 name is from an engine (no, not from the 1911 Indy 500 – all those engines were 4 or 6-cylinders).
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1 comment:
Hi Bob-
A quick point of clarification. When we settled on Flat12 as a name it was in large part based on the history of innovation that began at the turn of the century here in Indianapolis. The 1909-1910 races and the 1911 500 introduced the world to Indianapolis.
We were inspired in part by craftsmen, entrepreneurs and engineers here in the Indiana (at a time when nobody outside of the Midwest knew where Indiana was) who believed in themselves and built some of the finest automobiles in the world. They pushed the engineering and design envelope. Some of this work, including the the V-12 was something that for us evoked power and thoughtful design and was something we wanted to emulate. The Flat12, then as well as now was/is something everybody else did but was very, very different (everyone does engines, only a few do a Flat12. Our goal at Flat12 Bierwerks is to do beer the same way.
An early inspiration was the 1919 Packard 'Speed Rekord' aka Packard DePalma. http://www.motoringpicturelibrary.com/preview_image.asp?lcID=20&fleID=8564
it wasn't until about 12 years later that Cadillac caught up with Packard. We identify with all the people who turned conventional wisdom on its head. Then and now. So for us, Flat12 has a very special meaning....on many levels.
All of that said, we want your readers come to their own opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. Try the beer. Hang out with Hopstars. It either works for them or it doesn't. All we are trying to do is our best. Like we say, "we believe in ourselves and we believe in you". If they love one, great. If they don't that's ok too. We know none of this means much until we open and our beer stands up to scrutiny.
Thanks for coming to our first event by the way. Glad to have you!
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