05 May Creatures of Habit Brewing in Anderson – Great Beers, Great Food, and a Great Bottle Shop
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
There are hundreds of places in Indiana to get great beer. If you limit it to places that make craft beer, you’re down to about 190, but that’s still a number that most states would envy. Now, what if we talk about places that have stunning beer lists, even if they don’t make their own beer. There are some great beer bars in Indiana – Gerst Haus in Evansville, The Sinkhole in Bloomington, Hop Station in Mishawaka, Deer Park Irish Pub in Fort Wayne, Harbor & Hops in Jeffersonville, The Heorot in Muncie, as well as The Pint Room and Hopcat in the Indy area come to mind.
If you want places that have their own great beer and great beer from other places, then you’re in elite company. I can count several places in Indiana that have good house made beer and a great guest list (including Elm Street, Creatures of Habit, The Tap, Twenty Tap/Twenty Below, Kopacetic Beer Factory, Viking Artisan Ales). Now let’s get even more select, a place that has great house made beer, a great guest list, AND has a bottle shop that sells hundreds of different packaged beers to go from amazing breweries (not just Covid-induced sales). How many can you think of? I’ve got only a couple in mind – and Creatures of Habit Brewing in Anderson is the one I talked to about putting in a bottle shop.
image credit: Creatures of Habit Brewing
The Tap does sells a good amount of to-go beer, but their selection is different, Modelo, Stella, Weinstephaner, Paulaner, Rodenbach – they tend to focus on European beers. Levi told me that they sell a ton of seltzers and a good amount of Ripcord, but that package sales only account for under 10% of their sales, even though it has increased in the last year.
At Creatures of Habit, owner/brewer Dan Stachowiak started bringing in more packaged beers for on-site consumption as well as package sales in November of 2020, well after Covid changed other people’s business models. Dan told me that they started expanding this list by, “Bringing in cider, seltzer, wine and gluten free beer to complement our expanding dining options.” So this was a response to food originally.
However it started, it took off fast. I asked Dan how he grew the bottle shop; he now attributes his bottle shop to more than 20% of his sales. He said, “It has grown as the budget allows but has rapidly picked up speed with the amazing response from our patrons. I have been ordering so much beer that the beer reps have even brought Amanda, my wife and COH taproom manager, fresh baked cookies and wine to stay on her good side.” Interestingly, the ability to get some cooler cheap did play into the expansion, Dan said, “I got 4 coolers at an unbelievable price. I initially only planed on using one merchandising cooler but It soon grew to two and then three. I have one more to grow into.”
Creatures of Habit has their own great beer, including the Bumbo DIPA. image credit: Creatures of Habit Brewing
When I was there a couple of weeks ago, I counted 63 beers and 24 breweries, and that was just on their discounted, sale board. Dan told me that all told, he’s got more than 50 breweries represented and a total of more than 194 beers. However, this is constantly changing, so you should look at the list carefully every time you visit. And even more impressive, this doesn’t even count the 16 Creatures beers and their guest taps.
Dan builds his bottle shop list according to what his customers like, what he likes/thinks will sell, and what goes with their food. He told me, “I look to bring in various styles of amazing beer, cider and seltzer from across the US and even overseas. I’m a huge sour beer fan so you will find many in that category. I like to bring in products that will expand peoples’ palates and make them rethink what they know about beer.” But he did build this himself, Dan told me that while the lists at The Heorot, Deer Park, and HopStation are great, he didn’t mimic anyone for his bottle shop. He said, “I personally love to try any beer from anywhere I can so I decided that along with brewing and offering COH brews I could give our patrons a taste of everywhere.”
This is just a portion of the Creatures Bottle Shop. image credit: Creatures of Habit Brewing
The choices for the COH Bottle Shop are astounding, Decadent Ales, Wild Minds, American Solera, Omnipollo, Mason Ale Works, and Twelve Percent as well as hundreds of others – LITERALLY hundreds, and so many pair well with their diverse food menus, from burgers to wings to flatbreads and wraps. So I asked Dan if there was anything he wouldn’t carry, based on ownership, distance, etc. His answer was, “We try to carry only independent craft beers. Doesn’t matter how close or how far. There are a few exceptions, like the domestics we carry. Sometimes a craft beer lover is accompanied by someone unfamiliar with craft beer. We try hard to find the perfect beer for them. We almost always do, but when we can’t – there is something they are familiar with.”
It’s a good model, and an even better execution of a model. Creatures of Habit beer is well made and tastes great, but there are those pole that like trying something new or strange – Dan’s got you covered. His bottle shop beers are well thought out and priced well. But if you want an even better reason to visit and peruse the list, consider the discount list I mentioned above. There are sale beers for sure, but there are also discounts when you build a four-pak or six-pak to go.
Get to Creatures of Habit and try out their beers. You’ll be a fan and will want to take some home. After they turn you into a regular, then you’re going to start branching out, and that’s how the COH bottle shop is going to keep you coming back forever. Great House beers, great guest beers, great food, and great packaged beers – what more could you want?
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