The Beer Run (Part 4): Fountain Square and Feeling Cool

The Beer Run (Part 4): Fountain Square and Feeling Cool

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An Indiana On Tap Original by Donovan Wheeler

This is the fourth of a multi-part entry detailing my journey around Indianapolis with my son, a few weeks after his 21st birthday.  See below for a list/links to all stops on our two day craft beer odyssey.

The greatest thing about the craft beer explosion in this country is the personal touch which comes with it. Last week, the evening before the Bloomington, Indiana Craft Brew Festival, my son Jim bumped into two employees from Fountain Square Brewery, enjoying a night on the town before the big brew fest. The short version of the story: Jim noticed one of them wearing FSB t-shirt, told them he loved their beer, told them he and had visited their brewery a couple weeks prior, and they all hit it off. They got along so well that, when Jim and I were at the Brew Festival the next day, he went to the Fountain Square booth and received a warm and friendly welcome from the same two guys. This is the beauty of the craft beer culture: total strangers becoming good friends in less than a day.


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Fountain Square was our last stop on day-one of our self-designed Indy brew tour, and it couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. First of all, when you need to slow down and put some food in your stomach, the Fountain Square district is great for eats. In our case we stopped at The Smokehouse in the corner of the historic Fountain Square Theatre Building on Shelby Street. The retro-fitted diner exuded the charm and played up to its mid-twentieth century roots with great flair. From the wrap-around counter and chrome seating, harkening us back to the days when my parents were kids sitting in front of the soda-fountain, to the enormous Pepsi sign suspended above us, the joint provided exactly the urban mood we needed on a drizzly, cold Thursday afternoon. Furthermore, because it was the aforementioned deadest time of the week in miserable weather, we had the place virtually to ourselves, allowing for a few moments to share what we liked versus what we loved from our early round of samples. Then, after a couple cups of coffee (as my good friend, Nikki, always says: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint”) and a delicious club sandwich, Jim and I were ready to go.

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Jim and I are ready to go and enjoy Fountain Square.
Much as  Indiana City accomplished dozens of blocks to the north, Fountain Square found a stylistic way to reclaim an old blue-collar section of town and inject it with a little vitality. In Fountain Square’s case, the focus was less on historical underpinnings and more on appealing to the burgeoning youth movement swelling in the district. That’s certainly the aura the place conveys once you step inside, first and foremost when I looked to my left and saw a small gathering of twenty-somethings comfortably lounging around their beers…with their dogs laying at their feet. From the stylistic use of old corrugated steel roof panels on the ceilings to the eye-catching bottle-label artwork running along the right-hand wall to the living room style futon-and-coffee-table set up: Fountain Square creates an atmosphere that feels part basement man-cave, part dormitory commons area. All of it works magnificently, creating a place that not only celebrates good beer, but appreciates life that is well-lived.

PictureThe interior creates a relaxed mood.

I’ve enjoyed a few pints of Fountain Square’s stuff in other places around Indiana. As I mentioned when I wrote about Cutters, Bagger Dave’s Terre Haute franchise carries several craft beers, including two from Fountain Square. Chief between them: Preacher’s Daughter. Preachers is an amber ale with a small bite at the start leading to a smooth, clean finish. It’s tasty and consistently holds that taste through the last drop of the pint. In similar fashion, the brewery’s signature brand, Workingman’s Pilsner is also a mellow beer with a full taste. Of all the beers, this one best suggests to me what the good pilsner-lagers of the pre-light beer days had to have tasted like for my dad’s generation, and on a very hot summer day it’s a great entry-beer for someone getting used to the craft drinking experience. While I didn’t have one myself (marathon…not a sprint), Jim enjoyed a pint of one of the best-named beers throughout the entire journey: Hop for Teacher. Although other IPAs will come in registered with a higher number than Teacher’s 45 IBU, you certainly feel every unit of this one. It’s strong and distinct, but it’s also robust and very delicious. Just as Workingman’s is a great hot-day beer for the newbie, Teacher is the hot-day beer for a seasoned craft-beer aficionado.

Unlike the other stops during the day, Fountain Square came with a pleasant surprise. One of my former students from Greencastle, a still-young man named Joe who only lived a couple blocks from the brewery saw my pics on Instagram, tracked me down, and joined us for a second round. Catching up with former students is always the best experience in the world for a guy like me, but to do that in a brewery taproom? Enjoying perfectly created beer? That’s sort of the best of both proverbial worlds. What was probably most fitting about the visit with Joe was seeing him, now almost 30 and enjoying a peaceful transition from youth to adulthood on his own terms. It reminded me that Jim, at 21, is only getting ready to start that trip himself. When I was my son’s age, I was almost married and only a couple of years away from fatherhood. Seeing Jim enjoying the newfound freedom that turning 21 gives us, and sharing the many common bonds he had with Joe, made me realize that the new trend among twenty-somethings, that growing tendency to avoid settling down right away and to enjoy life without tethers, is a very beautiful experience—even if mine is mostly vicarious.


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Two of Fountain Square’s best beers…and some of the coolest bottle artwork around.
The funny thing about taprooms and brew pubs is that, unlike most bars, they shut down early. So, when I heard “last call” at about 8:45 PM, I was startled. The last time I heard that was at a bar in Greencastle a few of my students once ran, and I only heard it that time because it was a dead night and they decided to close early…at about 10:30 I think.

Before leaving the neighborhood, we enjoyed an extended visit with Joe at his house, and when we headed back to the hotel, Jim and I both considered ourselves lucky that we were able to sit down in as cool an atmosphere as Fountain Square and share memories and common connections with old and new friends.

All photographs were taken by Donovan Wheeler.

Previous Stop: Sun King
Next Stop: Barley Island
3 Comments
  • Richard the Greek
    Posted at 08:01h, 06 May Reply

    I love this Beer Run series. Just awesome!

  • Brian C.
    Posted at 08:03h, 06 May Reply

    Richard the Greek, I agree. I’m actually heading to Fountain Square’s brewery tonight.

  • Donovan Wheeler
    Posted at 12:08h, 06 May Reply

    Thanks! I’m glad you’re enjoying them. They have been fun to write.

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