Michael Pearson, left, and Bill Ballenger, right.
Daredevil Brewing looks at brewing craft beer like they look at art. They look for inspiration; they look for the bold and daring. Their year-round beer, Lift Off, and their limited release beer, Rip Cord, both depict different iterations of Leonardo Da Vinci’s illustration, “Flying Man,” on the bottle’s label. On the Lift Off label, a man flies with the aid of a helicopter-type invention; on the Rip Cord label a man leaps using a invented parachute system.
“We try to do unique things with our beers,” said Shane Pearson, who co-founded Daredevil Brewing with his twin brother, Michael Pearson, and their friend, Bill Ballenger. “It’s really just a way for us to combine both some inspiration behind the names of the beers and way to kind of pay homage to someone in history that was a true innovator. Again, its connecting ways we think of Daredevil. A lot of times we think of people that have done things in their lives that kind of fit that inspiration that we are trying to do with our brewery.”
The implication of risk-taking in the brewery’s name is echoed again in the Daredevil logo: a helmet that uses the letter D as a face mask.
“The face mask is definitely a D, so that’s incorporated into the logo. Some people see it and see a football helmet; some people see a motorcycle helmet. Our view is that it is whatever you think it is. It’s a Daredevil helmet,” Sean Pearson said. “When we talk about Daredevil, our thought is that everybody kind of has a daredevil inside. Whatever you do in your life, we’re trying to match aggressively fun beers to the right moments that everybody has.”
Built in 2013, the three founders opened Daredevil Brewing just outside of Shelbyville.
“Really the thought behind opening Daredevil (Brewery) was we’re all entrepreneurs in spirit and this was something that, looking at it, we thought it would be both a good business venture and it’s something we all really enjoy,” Shane Pearson said.
“Michael (Pearson) and Bill (Ballenger) had become very well-known in the home-brewing industry. They’d won, between them, pretty much every award you could win at the state level and national level and so it (opening a brewery) just looked like a really good venture and kind of the next step in their brewing but then also a way that we could build a business that we could run together.”
Both Michael Pearson and Ballenger began brewing 12 years ago while working at Eli Lilly, both had backgrounds in engineering and both had an involvement in the pharmaceutical industry.
In approximately 2007, they began brewing with one another.
“They got to know each other through the home-brewing kind of scene in Indiana and started brewing together about seven years ago,” Shane Pearson said. “It’s really they just enjoy doing it and… it gave them the chance to spend more time with other people who loved brewing.”
By spending time with other brewers, they began noticing how many different styles of beer and how many different breweries existed.
“When we sat down and talked about why we should do a brewery and what would make it different, the thing we ended up writing in our business plan and kind of talking about was we wanted to make flavorful and aggressively fun craft beer,” Shane Pearson said. “The reason for that was there’s obviously lots of other breweries in the world and lots of different beers in the world and what we were looking to do was our interpretation of different styles of beer. That’s when we started asking, “What is that?” We started talking about aggressively fun beers; ones that pair really well with food and they’re fun to drink, whether you’re at home or you’re out.”
After Aug. 22, when Daredevil Brewing breaks ground for their new brewery in Speedway, the three founders will show what they mean by pairing foods and their beers together. Part of the new 10,000 square-foot production brewery’s design will include the addition of a taproom, a kitchen with a full menu and indoor and outdoor seating.
“We tend to make a beer that we really enjoy and that’s really how we come up with the different beers that are in our portfolio. That’s one reason we make fewer beers than a lot of breweries; we prefer to make a smaller set of higher quality beers instead of constantly rotating. It really is that simple: What are the beers we enjoy? We make beers we like and hope that people tend to enjoy them, also,” Shane Pearson said. “We also probably tend to make styles that will also pair well with food. All the styles we make really pair well with food and that’s part of the other reason we chose the lineup we have.”
This year, the Indiana State Fair permitted craft beers to be served at the fairgrounds, marking it the first time beer has been served at the fair since 1946. Daredevil Brewing was one of the breweries involved with the fair and was the feature brewery on Friday.
Shane Pearson believes that the focus on craft beers has become more prevalent because people want to know what’s in their beers and enjoy local breweries because of that willingness to share what comprises their beer.
“I think it’s part of the whole local movement, where people are concerned with where there food and beverage are coming from. People are looking for more flavorful beers and that’s what craft brewers do,” Shane Pearson said. “We make beers that are more flavorful than some of the more traditional (beers) that macrobrewers make. People are interested in not having to drink the same old beer they may have grown up on.”
Shane Pearson went onto say that it also gives the people of a community to get to know the source of their product.
“I think (being local) is a really important part of any business when you think about who your customers are and who the people are in your community,” Shane Pearson said. “Even when we first started the company, we always thought ourselves as a company that’s operating, not just in Shelby County, but in the broader Indianapolis metro area, as well as being from Indiana. We look at all of those things as being local, as being a good partner with our community in the broader metro area.”
According to Shane Pearson, another important feature of being considered a local brewery is giving back to the community.
“We all grew up in Indiana, in the local area and we just see this as a way to be involved and give back,” Shane Pearson said. “What we want to do is obviously be able to provide a product people appreciate, but also be a good partner in the community. That’s why we do different kinds of philanthropy across the state actually. We just think that it’s important to be involved.”
Currently, Daredevil Brewing is selling Lift Off IPA, Rip Cord IPA and Vacation Kölsch ale. Once moved out of their current location, Daredevil Brewing plans on using their Shelbyville location for secondary purposes. For more information about their beers and where they are sold, visit www.daredevilbeer.com.
“We’re a family-owned business…and we just enjoy making beers that people enjoy. That’s what really makes this business worthwhile,” Shane Pearson said. “We wouldn’t have a business if people weren’t out there buying our beers and enjoying them. It’s why we get up in the morning. It’s great.”
