Marking milestones at MashCraft

On Saturday, MashCraft Brewing in Greenwood marked its second anniversary with splash of live music and a food truck, and the party went off despite an afternoon of showers (and at one point, a very heavy downpour).

MashCraft also happened to be where relatives of mine decided to celebrate a birthday in the family; they picked it because MashCraft promotes itself as a family-friendly establishment, and we had several school-age children in our party.

Also, a daughter of mine and her husband had recommended the place to us, having been there very recently for a large gathering of friends and acquaintances. They said there were a good amount of children in that group. MashCraft has a room that it avails to customers with children -- it gets them away from the adult customers, and it satisfies legal requirements to create some kind of physical separation for minors who enter an establishments where alcoholic beverages are sold and consumed.

MashCraft has a corner spot in a strip shopping center on Ind. 135, just south of County Line Road directly across the street from Hal's Fabulous Las Vegas restaurant. I took a photo of the exterior (left) as we left for the day, which is when the first food truck, BoxBurger (partially visible at right in that photo) had arrived and was getting set up. The view you see in the photo at right is what you see when you walked into the brewery. You can see the production room in the far background, and just in front of that in the left of the photo is the main bar. The room where we gathered with the kids is not in this photo; it's off to the right.

OK ... let's get down to the important stuff: the beer. For my flight of five samples, I went with what I was pretty certain I'd be "safe" (for me) with. In the photo below, they are (left to right) the MashCraft Gold American blonde (5.0% Alcohol by volume, 25 International Bitterness Units); MashCraft Red amber ale (5.5 ABV, 35 IBUs); Ruze smoked amber lager (5.6% ABV, 31 IBUs); MashCraft American IPA, 6.5% ABV, 70 IBUs); and Kitty's Got Claws Imperial IPA (8.7% ABV, 110 IBUs).

I finished all of mine, and can say I would probably imbibe again at least three of them -- the Gold and the two IPAs. These three were exactly what I expected and what I enjoy in a blonde brew and IPAs. In fact, after trying the flight, I consumed a full pint of the Gold, which is easy on the palate but still manages a texture that lets you know you are enjoying a brew (hence, the relatively low bitterness rating) My regret is that I didn't get to the IPAs until last during the flight, so they weren't as cold as the first couple I tried in my sampling.

The amber ale had a rich, porter-like taste to it but not nearly as strong or bitter as a porter. So it was OK, but probably not something I'd try again. I thought I was going to be pleasantly surprised by the Ruze, but the smokiness and caramel/toast notes were more prevalent and distracting than I care for, so I'm sure I wouldn't return to it.

Joining me in sampling slights were my sons Joey and Ben. Ben's tastes are not too far off from mine, but he felt in an adventuresome mood Saturday, and added a variety of porters and other dark brews to his seven-sample flight mix. Turns out, he didn't care for a lot of the darks you see in his flight in the photo below. I know he didn't finish several of them, much less consumer more than a sip or two.

Ben included the Gold, Ruze and Kitty's Claws in his flight, and had the same reaction as me to the first two. He didn't care for the degree of bitterness in Kitty's Claws. Unfortunately, his server did not line up his flight in an particular order, so I'm not sure which ones are which. I do know the second from the left in the bottom row was the Last Light, an American IPA (6.4% ABV nd 70 IBUs) infused with blood oranges. When ordering his flight, Ben was intrigued by the IPA with a fruit infusion, even though -- like me -- he ordinarily eschews fruit-tinged brews. Unfortunately, he did not like it.


Joining Ben and me in a flight sampling was my other son, Joey. He favors porters and stouts, and he limited his flight to four darker brews. Far and away his favorite was Any Port in the Storm (5.0% ABV, 31 IBUs), which he said, in fact, that he liked a lot. He also liked the Ruze amber ale. He was not enamored, however, with the two James brews, Sir James (10.4% ABV, 10 IBUs), an English barleywine, and Mr. James (10.7% ABV, 80 IBUs), an American barleywine. Joey didn't finish either, and Ben and I both tried it ... and we concurred with Joey's dislike.

Interested in exploring craft brews?

Welcome to "Hoosier Craft Brews," a new blog I'm undertaking.

After four years of retirement from full-time employment, I've been finding new, fun things to keep me preoccupied. Photography usually consumes a lot of that free time, and on a recent visit to a newly opened craft brewery in Indianapolis, I found myself enjoying photography along with a growing new interest -- exploring craft breweries. While I was there, a light bulb clicked on.

I've already devoted full and partial posts at my seven-year-old brother photography blog, Photo Potpourri, to some of my craft brewery visits. In one of those posts, I mentioned how I've taken such a liking to craft brews today that I haven't drunk much (if any) mainstream/traditional beer in a long time ... possibly even three or four years. I've consumed a few imports in that period -- Stella Artois and Heinekin jump to mind -- but that's about it.

The picture you see at the top of the blog is one I took during a visit earlier this year to Central State Brewing, at 25th and Delaware streets in Indianapolis. If you clicked on the link in the previous paragraph, you discovered that it takes to you a post at my photography blog, Photo Potpourri, where you'll see that photo and an article about craft breweries in Indianapolis.

The article provides a suggestion for a very doable walking trail of downtown Indy craft breweries that are very close to each other. They are situated along a relatively straight, north-south geographic line. The walking part of the trail is beneficial for conscientious folks (and hopefully that involves everybody!) who don't want to drive motor vehicles after drinking alcoholic beverages. As the post notes, the real challenge in tackling the walking tour is to figure out a way to get home when you're done (i.e., bring along a designated drive).

Getting back to the light bulb mentioned above ... the idea came to me to devote my craft brewery interest into a new blog post and see where it goes. An important but honest caveat: I don't profess to be an expert in beer or beer-making. I've never attempted to brew my own and really don't have any desire to. If I have an experience in this field, it's simply imbibing good craft beers.

Also, I have a discriminating palate. I favor kolsches, pilsners, cream ales and IPAs (India pale ales), although I have found favor with a few dark and red brews that are not bitter. But in general, I am not (yet) a fan of porters or stouts, and I tend not to like seasonal brews flavored with fruits, pumpkins and spices.

The list of Indianapolis area breweries that you see with the links on the right of this page is, by no means, complete and comprehensive. It's developing. But I hope you find it useful if you need to check out information about one or more of your favorite breweries along the way. I've visited a good number of these breweries already; a few more I still need to check out, and I plan to do that.

And oh ... if you view this post before another one appears, you can say you are among the storied few who will have seen the first and only post. Feel special? Hey, go ahead and drink to that!