What makes you go to to a local craft brewery?

I've been rattling these thoughts in my brain for a while now, more so with the recent addition of more and more craft breweries filtrating and saturating Indianapolis and surrounding area.  First off, it is great that craft beer has taken on a success that so many people want to be apart of and share that passion. It is also great that there is still the market for craft beer, otherwise why would so many banks approve business loans for the making.

However, as a drinker, I'm beginning to wonder if all these breweries really are great news after all, especially if they are going to bring around the same styles, done up with different names and try to draw in a crowd to their brewery over pale ale or that stout.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good solid made stout. Nothing makes me linger and enjoy ever sip as a smooth, well malted and balanced stout goes down my throat on a cold day. The thing is, these days my time is short, so unless these  new breweries have created the best stout ever known to Indianapolis, chances are I probably won't visit. Unless I'm in the mood for a brewery tour or to network with new brewers or take my friends out around town.

My decision these days to go out to breweries for visits rests more on finding beers that aren't normally produced in Indianapolis. They are generally not the "norm". Flat 12 Bierwerks is famous for pushing the edge and going to different levels with their beers. Now, they have their house beers, but they also have their beers that draw the eye and pique the curiosity.

An example of me searching out the different beers, is going all the way down to Columbus simply for the chance to get a pint of Zwanzigz Ghost Pepper Infused Imperial Stout.  Or I'd travel all the way to Great Crescent to try their Coconut Porter on tap. Those are what drives me to breweries. Those are the bottles I buy at Kahns or Payless or Crown Liquors.

It may be hypocritical to say I'd still travel to New Holland, or Founders or to Dogfish Head to try their beers and yet maybe never try all the Indianapolis breweries beers, due to those breweries being more established. I may even be short changing myself by not making  it a point to go out to the new breweries more and more often.

I'm not saying I'll never get out to visit, take pictures and sample, but new breweries - What are you going to do to get people in the door? And fellow readers - What makes you go to a local craft brewery?

- Kathleen