by Mark Lasbury
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
How do you hold an anniversary event for a business that has no location of its own? The BrewsLine is a craft beer tour bus that’s “located” on the north side of Marion County or the southern part of Hamilton County. For four years now, Darryl and Kevin Sopoci have been picking up and dropping off craft beer fans at more than twenty different craft breweries all around town. Now its time to celebrate where BrewsLine has come from and where it’s going. Let me tell you, the future looks bright.
The answer to the question above is that the party for a brew bus anniversary needs to be somewhere that is fun, has spectacular craft beer and food, and offers the space for the band and the tables of raffle prizes. Darryl has found just a spot, Alley’s Alehouse, located inside Pinheads Bowling and Arcade (13825 Britton Park Rd., Fishers).
The anniversary party (May 12th, 6pm – 10pm) at Alley’s is a perfect match for the values and attributes that it shares with The BrewsLine. Both are Fishers-based businesses that value their community, and both are family owned. The BrewsLine is a respected member of the craft beer community in Indianapolis and Alley’s Alehouse has a solid reputation for providing top-notch local craft beer. Finally, both businesses know that to be successful, all interested parties must have great experiences, from the providers to the customers.
This has been a guiding inspiration for the BrewsLine since they started providing both safe transportation and craft beer knowledge and entertainment for their passengers in 2014. After a father/son brewery crawl in downtown Indianapolis, Darryl and Kevin lamented that the Ubers to and from the north side of Indianapolis added greatly to the expense of their evening, yet this expense was nothing more than a simple ride.
They realized that the north side had ample breweries, ample craft beer fans, and yet no way to pick up and deliver those patrons to the breweries and back home. So The BrewsLine was born, with the unique attribute that the patrons can direct where the bus will come to pick them up before the tour and where it will drop them off after the tour is over. Over a short time, the Sopocis developed good relationships with a number of breweries in Indianapolis, mainly because they are aware of the needs of their brewery partners.
The BrewsLine offers many custom tours and takes suggestions from guests as to what breweries to visit. This means that they constantly are in contact with the breweries to make sure that brewery staff know they are coming and can warn them when visits are difficult because of other events. Darryl told me that they can accommodate guest requests for specific visits about 75% of the time (brewery availability, geography concerns, making sure all partners are patronized over time), and in the end this works out well for everyone.
Darryl knows that to have longevity, The BrewsLine must provide good times for the guests, the breweries, and the drivers/guides. Only then will the patron experience ensure that both the BrewsLine and their partner breweries will see recurring visits from those guests.
Over the past four years, The BrewsLine has transported over 4200 craft beer fans to more than two-dozen different breweries in Central Indiana, as well as provided transportation for private events. Darryl was surprised at first with some of the demographics of their guest population, but no longer. It seems that nearly 70% of the tours are booked by women, and that the age of the patrons is anywhere from 21 years and about 6 hours to over 95 years old. With this many patrons having a good time, it isn’t surprising that they’ve had some interesting stories.
One gentleman early in the tenure of the bus voluntarily ended his own evening. He was way too happy after three stops and he knew it. He voluntarily withdrew and caught a taxi home (only three people have every failed to finish the tour). Two years later, Darryl is telling this story as another group heads to brewery #1, and a hand shyly goes up at the back of the bus, “That was me.” This time, the young man had no problem finishing the evening with his party.
Over the years, they’ve had bachelor and bachelorette parties, each with their fair share of inflatable dolls, but perhaps the strangest party was the all-male diaper soiree. No, it’s not what you think. One guy was about to be a father for the first time, and the rest of the party brought cases and cases of diapers as gifts. Of course, they did all drink from baby bottles during the tour.
Sounds like a party – and speaking of parties, the anniversary for The BrewsLine will offer everyone quite an evening. The admission is free, and five breweries (Bier, Centerpoint, Four Day Ray, Redemption, and Wooden Bear) will be on hand pouring samples. Tickets for beer samples will be $5 for 10 tickets, and when you turn a ticket in for a beer, it becomes a raffle ticket for the giveaways. Last year there was over $1800 worth of prizes, including a family bowling night, and free brew tour for a party of twelve, and of course lots of brewery swag.
There will be live music from Sam King, and the entire Alley’s Alehouse menu will be available. Better yet, the first 50 guests to the party will get their first pint free, and employees of all the breweries will have their first beer on the BrewsLine. This would seem to be enough, but there are the amenities of Pinheads as well.
Alley’s Alehouse is in its third year at Pinheads. Rebranded in 2015 as a craft beer centric bar and restaurant, it has 30 taps of local craft, and many cans of great beer as well. And the food….how does a poached pear, steak and feta salad sound. Yes I take all my salads with meat. There are also four different types of nachos, a BLT with garlic aoli and avocado, and a scorpion burger that might actually require you to sign a waiver.
Alley’s does beer school each Thursday, with a different brewery talking about how they perfect their beers and offering samples, and they are strong supporters of local craft beer. Yet there’s more, Pinheads has entertainment in spades. There is an arcade, duck pin and regular bowling lanes, and outdoor beer garden and beach volleyball courts. Add in the Brewsline activities, and this is quite the event and is just one way that Darryl and company connects to the community.
BrewsLine builds bridges from breweries to people and from both of these to the neighborhoods. They donated money to local causes to the tune of over $6000 last year, and are involved in many local events. BrewsLine is a sponsor of the summer music series at Urban Vines and is the shuttle sponsor for Rock The Junction this month. More importantly, the charity partner for the anniversary party is an important partner.
It can be said that this is a serious party for a serious cause; this year’s charity partner is Ascent 121. This local organization works to prevent and help survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation. They work in long-term recovery, including residential and aftercare counseling, and they do many awareness presentation. It may seem that Indianapolis, and Fishers especially, would be immune to such tragedies, but this is a hidden, horrific problem.
The proceeds of the event on May 12th will go directly to Ascent 121 and will be used in the local community. Make sure to visit the Ascent 121 website to learn more, and then come support their work at the party. Going forward, The BrewsLine will continue to work in the community where it sees need, and on the business front will continue to expand its connections with the craft beer drinkers and the craft breweries.
Darryl is an idea machine, and many things are on the table for the next year at The BrewsLine. Look for an expansion of the tours and private events for their South Bend/Michiana bus, and the world will also expand in Central Indiana as they will start to do “Better Together” tours of wineries and breweries on the same tour. Starting May 8th, BrewsLine will be sponsoring Indiana Beer Nights at Primanti Bros. in Noblesville. And just as teasers, look for expansion of the company to Naples FL in the near future, and perhaps even a charity brew bus race (no, you can’t drive the bus).
Come on over to Alley’s Alehouse and Pinheads on May 12th and celebrate four years of building connections with BrewsLine. The past has been amazing, but the future looks even brighter.
