MashCraft Brewing! Greenwood's New Microbrew opens!

Craft beer expands on the South side of Indianapolis in Johnson County as Mashcraft is open (at noon on Friday, May 6). Mashcraft Head Brewer Andrew Castner brings his experience back to the Greenwood area from his brewing roots at Oaken Barrel after winning many awards at the Great American Beer Festival, the North American Beer Awards, Brewers Cup, and Indiana Brew Bracket for The RAM restaurant and brewery. Castner demonstrated great brewing flexibility and quality by knocking out mainstream beers like an amber, pale, blonde and more as well as specialty beers from great barrel aged versions to an Anaheim Chili enhanced IPA (multiple award winner) at The RAM.

Mashcraft, located at 1100 N. State Road 135, Greenwood, just South of County Line Road and across from Hal's Las Vegas Bar & Grill, offers 4 beers for their initial opening: a crisp MashCraft Gold blonde, a sessionable Scots Ale Scottish 70 with solid malt flavor and a nice layer of light roast at only 3.3%, a HopJam Imperial IPA at 7.6% using Centennial and Falconer's Flight hops, and MashCraft IPA citrus and herbal delivery at 6.4%. Coming soon will be an American Amber MashCraft Red. Castner tells us MashCraft will plan to feature several sessionable beers with flavor and promises that ultimately he will showcase his flair for the unusual with specialty beers in different categories. We found the Scots Ale a delightful beer that will likely satisfy many beer drinkers whether looking for a bit of roast, an easy drinking beer, or just an alternative to hops. Mashcraft offers an Italian style sandwich from local Zoey's Pizzeria and a beer infused chili to handle hunger.

Grab a pint in unique Mashcraft glassware, get a growler or "howler" (half-growler) filled, daily with hours M-W 5-7 P.M.
THURS 4-8 P.M., FRI-SAT 12-8 P.M., & SUN 12-4 P.M.

By locating in the Greenwood area, Mashcraft joins one of the original Indiana breweries, Oaken Barrel of East Main Street, Greenwood which opened in 1994, as well as Planetary Brewing also blocks off of East Main, Greenwood with local craft beer. Rounding out the area's beer places is beer bar Shallo's which serves Planetary's beer along with many other craft and imports plus the BJ's chain which does not brew locally but serves their own craft beer.

There was a bit of a reunion to celebrate the opening as Brewer Chris Knott, now at Scarlet Lane of McCordsville which plans to open in a few weeks, came by to congratulate Andrew. Knott was Assistant brewer to Castner as Head Brewer of the RAM. Andrew Groves of Planetary also showed up to celebrate the opening as did many, many other brewers and friends.

With 50,000 cars passing daily on Indiana S. Road 135 in front of the shopping area where Mashcraft is tucked-away called Country Center we expect many Southsiders will stop in to grab a local craft brew. Greet manager Sarah and step up to the bar, sit on one of the picnic tables or enjoy the old stadium seats rescued from the former Victory Field, where the Indianapolis Indians played!

Cheers to you Andrew and crew at Mashcraft! -- GregKitz

Indiana Beer News: Dec. 21

Evil Czech Brewery of Culver, IN, paid a visit and brought a sample of their new Czech Pilsner - to be introduced on New Year's Eve at the brew pub. As the brewery's Manager of Sales & Operations, Shawn Erickson, relates to us with a Master Brewer and Owner from the Czech Republic they were not about to release this beer until they felt they have it just right. This is a medium body, complex beer that starts with maltiness with a rounded bitterness and spiciness from Saaz hops. The sample we received tasted very nice!

Evil Czech continues to expand! Later this Spring they will open a new brewery in Mishawaka, IN, which adds to the presence of their Corndance Restaurant in the area which currently serves their beer. They also are expanding with a new MUG CLUB! Click on their restaurant site for details about the mug, growler, discounts, swag, and party(ies) available and the mug club is being offered at a discount with a special party this Saturday afternoon (Dec. 21) Noon - 4 at Corndance Mishawaka.

Planetary Brewing in Greenwood is expanding! The Brewery, located on Polk Place in an industrial park, is adding an expanded tasting room to be open in a couple of months.

Brewer/Owner Andy was proud to offer six beers for growler fills when we stopped by for his nine-month anniversary. One of those beers is a wonderfully balanced big hoppy and malty beer dedicated to a man we lost last year who was an acquaintance of mine and a life-long friend of Andy's. The JSS 550 is over 8% abv and 94 ibu but seems smooth and bold. The new tasting room will allow for pint sales and will allow for a lot more brew room. Planetary beer is also on tap at Shallo's in Greenwood and is slowly and selectively adding taps on the South Side. Andy says they are right on plan as he realizes his dream with this brewery.

Look for beer in cans to explode in 2014. From Tin Man Evansville, to Daredevil Shelbyville, now even Flat12 is adding select products in cans. Cans are portable and can be taken to sporting events and outdoor venues where glass is not allowed. For a brewery the issue is carrying the inventory of printed cans which take much more room than beer labels.

Winter Beers are here as we've profiled in a couple of blogs. Bloomington Brewing just released their Winter Ale with Saigon cinnamon, vanilla, orange peel, and chocolate coming in at about 6%, and only 10 IBU. BBC Winter Ale will be available at Lennie's in Bloomington and at select tap handles in central Indiana.

While we anticipate Winterfest on Feb 1, mark your calendars for the Bloomington Craft Beer Festival on April 12! Bloomington Craft Beer Week will run April 5-12.

Planetary Brewing orbits onto the Greenwood, IN, beer scene: big name, nano-brewery

There's a new brew in town!


The first flow of beer from the Planet... ah, er, Planetary Brewing flowed at 4:00 PM, Friday, March 8, 2013, in a small almost off-the-beaten-path space (like a galaxy far, far away!) but actually just minutes from Oaken Barrel Brewery in Greenwood, IN. This new nano-brewery (yep, very small) rises from the dreams of a home brewer with previous business experience (sound familiar). Andrew Groves was a home brewer who had friends really enjoy his beers! So what does a brewer do when friends want more of your beer? You dream of better equipment, bigger production, and growlers of beer. Andrew, who had already worked with his father to grow a small business, had such a dream. Planetary Brewing with new stainless steal brewing equipment, a tap room, and opening for growler fills is the result! Open Fridays 4-8, Saturdays 12-6

The first brews available are a Creme Ale ($10 growler/$6 bullet), a Stout* ($12 growler/$7 bullet), and Dunkelweizen ($12 growler/$7 bullet). Growler fills only! No Pints, no food, just beer to go. Note how these three likely complement a Greenwood beer run.... Oaken Barrel can fill you up with their famous wit, or SuperFly IPA while you get over to Planetary for one of these different styles.

UPDATE We visited on Saturday for samples of the actual commercial beer. The Stout is a deep chocolate oatmeal stout with a lot of body and deep, dark flavor. The cream ale is deeper and richer than most of those in this style.

As these rotate off tap the next three will be (not necessarily coming in this order) a pale, a brown ale, and a honey wheat. Eventually, Andrew plans to add a porter, an amber, an IPA, even a triple, dubbel, and Belgian dark strong based on home brew recipes. By the way your first empty growler will cost $6
but he is prepared if you bring your own he can paste a sticker on it. Empty 32 oz bullets cost you $4.

My first introduction to this venture was through Planetary's Admiral of Planetary Explorations (um...I'd call this a beer ambassador) Doug Goins, who is a fixture in the Greenwood beer world as long-time bartender at Shallo's, home of hundreds of beers.
I had some of Andrew's beers from homebrew batches and the ones I tried were very solid beers, the ones his friends like drinking. For those who like more technical information brew batches are about 62 gallons but fermenation and holding capacity is much more. Rough calculations are that at the start customers can expect about 700 pints per week.

To find Planetary (my GPS takes me to the wrong place) use Greenwood's Main street. If exiting off I-65, head West, 1.2 miles to Polk Street. From Central Greenwood head East, over the railroad tracks to Polk Street. Turn South. Look for the sign that says 500 South Polk Street! Turn East and the third door on the right has the Planetary sign above it. Limited parking either on the street or across from the brewery in a small lot of a neighboring building. (see photos)

The street sign where you turn, the stainless,
and the growlers

Cheers.... see you there! Greg Kitz

Beers, Cheers, and Sneers – October 4

Your first chance to try beer from Planetary Brewing Company comes this Monday at Shallo’s Antique Restaurant & Bar (8811 Hardegan St. in Indianapolis) from 7:30 – 10pm. Admission for the tasting is $25 and features four Planetary brews:

APES#!T (Rye IPA/Roggenbier): 7.5% ABV, 83 IBU, 13 SRM

HOVERCRAFT (Belgian Tripel): 9% ABV, 36 IBU, 4 SRM

PARALLAX (Porter): 6% ABV, 44 IBU, 28 SRM

PULSAR (Pale Ale): 6% ABV, 42 IBU, 10 SRM

Also opening soon is Function Brewing at 108 E Sixth Street in Bloomington. You can get a preview of Function’s beers tonight and Friday at the Big Red Liquors Beerfest in Bloomington. Function will be pouring Black IPA, Blonde Ale, IPA, Milk Stout, Roggenbier………and maybe something special if you know to ask for it!

Our Fort Wayne reporter Cindy Modesitt was featured this week in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette for her beer reviewing prowess. You can find the online article here and get Cindy’s recommendations on where to find the best selection of beer in the Fort Wayne area.

Craft beer drinkers of America, it’s time to update this logo as we are now the 5.5%! The latest BeerTAB (Trends in Adult Beverage) report shows that the craft beer segment continues to defy an overall volume decline with an 11.2% increase that brings total market share to 5.5%. Other interesting notes: the cider category posted the largest gain at 31.3%, Yuengling surpassed Boston Beer Company as the largest craft brewer, and imported beer is now the largest category for market share.

My personal nightmare dream vacation may become reality now that Disney’s Magic Kingdom will serve beer for the first time in its history. The catch? It will only be available during dinner at Be Our Guest restaurant in the New Fantasyland. So enjoy your beer……while Mickey runs his grubby little paws through your wallet.

If you’re heading out to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver next week, be careful what you order from Wynkoop Brewing. Following the popularity of their joke video for April Fool’s Day, the brewery decided to actually brew a beer with Rocky Mountain Oysters (aka fried bull testicles). According to the description, Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout was made with 25 pounds of the featured ingredient and has a savory umami-like note. Yummy!

I’ve become familiar with the Jezebel blog thanks to some of their refreshingly honest commentary on toddler behavior (they’re not always as cute as Johnson and Johnson would like you to believe), but it’s not something I tend to look at in the context of IndianaBeer. That changed after Madeleine Davies was inspired by John Maier’s infamous beard yeast and decided to research if women could make beer with, uh, yeast from other parts of the body. If you’re curious, it turns out that Candida albicans yeast would be completely ineffective in making beer. Fearing expulsion from the Michigan House of Representatives, I won’t print the name of the article but you can find it here.

Cheers, Nathan

Beers, Cheers, and Sneers – September 27

Can’t find anything to do Saturday? Then you must not like beer! We have the return of Brew Bracket with a special showdown of local bourbon barrel aged beers and additional events in Bloomington, Indianapolis, Nashville, Noblesville, Terre Haute, and Valparaiso that you can find on our calendar. I’m throwing in the towel the minute word comes out about a beer festival in Flora. But on a serious note, there is so much going on these days that we do welcome and appreciate any tips from our readers. So here we go……

Federal and State permits have been approved and equipment is starting to roll in at the new Planetary Brewing Company located near Old Town Greenwood. Check them out at the linked Facebook page to monitor their progress. Thanks to William Breuninger for the tip.

Congrats to the Hopcat in Grand Rapids, MI for being named the second best beer bar in the country by readers of CraftBeer.com. For good measure Founders’ Taproom (within walking distance) was second place in the North Central region. The HopCat was previously named the #3 Beer Bar in the world by Beer Advocate magazine. OK, so it’s not Indiana news but you’re not really living without an annual trip to Grand Rapids……or maybe I just have a problem.

We hope to avoid making stories like this a trend, but the weather of 2012 has claimed its first victim. Bell’s seasonal Cherry Stout will not be brewed this year after early warmth followed by multiple frosts damaged Michigan’s tart cherry crop this spring. Some kegs from last year’s batch are still in storage and will be released in limited numbers.

Attention “beer collectors” – your days on eBay are numbered. The site will begin removing listings for beer and liquor after 20/20 decided to save modern society by hiring a teen to buy vodka from their marketplace. Bloodsuckers dreaming of $250 for a bottle of Dark Lord are not stoked.

According to The Economist, the average U.S. worker has to work five minutes to afford 500ml of beer. Things look pretty good for Americans compared to the other countries in the study with Indian workers facing nearly an hour of toil for their brew. It also doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the rational few who threaten relocation to Canada or Mexico if the election doesn’t go their way.

Indiana is well represented on a recent top 10 list of the best beer website underage redirects. Earning prestigious spots on the list were Black Acre (He-Man singing 4 Non Blondes), Sun King (the Muppets take on Rick Astley), and Upland (redirect to Justin Bieber’s site). But my vote goes to Trumer Pils for subjecting youngsters to dancing men in painfully short lederhosen.

The blog STL Hops hosted a contest for readers to apply their Microsoft Paint talents to a Three Floyds Dark Lord theme. The winner is below and all finalists can be viewed here. The winning entry was submitted by Tyler Dumey and depicts Dark Lord Day with (as described by the blogger) “beers attacking bunnies and flowers, lava, brimstone, and sperm falling from the sky”. It’s unclear what events at Dark Lord Day inspired visions of electrocuted flowers and sperm in the sky, but next year you might want to make sure the guy standing next to you in line doesn’t answer to “Tyler”.

Cheers, Nathan