Deviate Brewing Bringing “Outside Of The Norm” Beers To Indianapolis 

At 96th and Michigan Road in Indianapolis there is a small commercial complex where stainless steel can now be seen shining through the windows of a corner space. This is the future home of Deviate Brewing. 

Deviate is the creation of two long time and award winning home brewers that have garnered much respect in recent years for their creative and high quality offerings. Mike Orkey and Greg Ortwein, formerly known by their home brewing name Balls Brewing, have finally decided to go pro. Many of us know Balls Brewing from time spent at the Tailgate for Nothing events. The big white (now red) custom van sitting in the parking lot with up to twelve offerings from their home brew system has become as well known as their beer. From their award winning Strudel Cake Coffee Scottish Strong to their series of pales, Orkey and Ortwein have shown us that they can flat out brew good beer.

Q. How and when did you become interested in Craft Beer?
A. It all started when we were introduced to classic Belgian beers such and Chimay, La Chouffe, and Piraat in the late 1990’s. From there it progressed to a love for IPSs, Russian Imperial Stouts, and most recently Sours.

Q. When did you begin home brewing? Can you describe your first homebrew system?
A. Over fifteen years ago, a friend passed down a beginner homebrew kit. It was a five gallon bucket and a glass carboy system with allowed us to brew with malt extract. After several upgrades including a three cooler system to a gravity fed brew tree, we decided to build our own single tier, three kettle, half barrel system to our own specifications.

Q. Over the years what were some of the beers and breweries that influenced the styles of beer that you brewed on your homebrew system?   
A. We have historically migrated to fun beers and those that are different than standard offerings. Some of our favorite events are the Rare Beer event in Denver, Festival of Barrel Aged Beer (FOBAB) in Chicago, and Gravity Head in New Albany. Some of our favorite craft beers are Founders‐KBS, Goose Island‐Bourbon County Stout, New Glarus‐all offerings, Upland‐Sours, Stone‐Enjoy By, Alchemist‐Heady Topper, and Victory‐Dirt Wolf.

Q. As you have progressed to the point where you are at today, what was the biggest factor that made you want to get into professional brewing?     
A. This has been a goal five years in the making. We loved sharing our products with beer lovers as home brewers and discovered we had a talent to make fun beers that people enjoyed. This is merely our means to professionally share our offerings to the growing advanced craft beer market in Indianapolis area.

Q. Most people will remember you by your previous name as “Balls Brewing”. You garnered a positive reputation for creating high quality beers as home brewers. You have also gained a fairly large following including some of the more respected brewers in the Indianapolis area. As you open the doors of Deviate Brewing, what are some of the similarities and differences that those same people will see in your future lineup?  
A. The change in name will not alter our passion for creating the fun beers we love to brew, in fact we believe the name Deviate Brewing truly reflects our products. The only major difference is not in the name but rather the ability to brew in quantity enough to meet the demand of our followers, oh and hopefully make a meager living doing it.

Q. What will be the initial Tap plan for Deviate?  Constantly rotating new beers?  Rotating through several favorites? 
A. Initially it will be a constant rotation of variations to our styles of favorite beers, like Russian Imperial Stouts, Scottish Strongs, IPAs, and Sours.

Q. Do you plan to have any beers that will be on tap constantly?  If so, what are they?  And do you have distribution plans at this time?
A. If we have a high demand for any offering we will definitely do our best to keep it on tap as often as possible. We will simply let the market dictate our approach. Our primary initial focus will be pint, growler and limited bottle sales through our tasting room. Our current goal is to be small, local, and intimate.

Q. What is your Marketing Plan?
A. The Beer Connoisseur is our target customer. Being small, local and intimate, the majority of our marketing will be done by word of mouth. We will also use social media to reach our customers. We plan to participate in the local major craft beer event tastings to introduce our offerings to the market. Full list TBD, but probably Indiana Craft Beer Festival and Winterfest to start.

Q. Do you have a plan to barrel-age beer?   
A. Yes, we are big fans of barrel-aged beers. We plan to have space under our tasting room tables to allow us to barrel age onsite. We like the idea that our customers will enjoy the beers currently on tap while sitting next to the beer they will be enjoying in the future.

Q. What is your target date to begin brewing, as well as your grand opening?  
A. Targeting early June of 2015 for brewing, early August 2015 for our grand opening.

A. Any surprises that you care to talk about or tease us with?
Q. Wouldn’t that ruin the surprise?

As you walk into their space the hands on work going into creating the brewery is obvious. From the rustic tables to the hand built bar Orkey, Ortwein, and their friends have added blood, sweat, and heart into everything. When you talk to them about their brewery, or brewing in general, you can really see the passion that lies behind their decision to enter the craft beer scene. Some claim that this market is becoming saturated, specifically in central Indiana, but that does not scare Deviate Brewing. They are certain that their offerings will make them stand apart from what is currently in the market and will draw the beer connoisseur in. 

Keep up with Deviate Brewing through social media and their website:

@DeviateBrewing
www.DeviateBrewing.com