Beer and Loafing on the Bloomington Ale Trail

It is an undisputed fact that I am one of the laziest people in Bloomington, and perhaps in all of Monroe County. Of course, a lazier person couldn’t be bothered to dispute my claim, so I’ve got that going for me…which is nice. I do play racquetball twice a week (often followed by a pint or two at Bloomington Brewing Company), so clearly I’m not completely opposed to exercise; I just require a proper reward to motivate me. My wife knows this about me, so I was naturally wary when she suggested that we take a midweek day off and make the rounds on the Bloomington Ale Trail.

“Oooooookaaaaay,” I agreed. When I have more than two pints, my wife takes the wheel. So why was she volunteering to drive my sorry ass to four local breweries in an afternoon?

“Are you kidding? We’re not driving; we’re walking!” I balked at first, my natural reaction whenever she proposes a hike of any kind. Then I remembered that Salt Creek Brewery’s tasting room, way over on the west side of town, was no longer part of the Ale Trail. I immediately pulled up Google Maps and started plotting the trip.

It’s just over two miles from our house to BBC, the easternmost point on the Ale Trail. But a bus would get us within half a mile. From there, Big Woods is 1.3 miles—a long way to go without a beer in my estimation—but if you stay on E 10th Street you can extend the Ale Trail with a stop at Yogi’s Grill and Bar, just under a mile from BBC. From Big Woods to Function Brewing is only three blocks. Logistically, the Ale Trail explorer must bear in mind that Function is closed on Monday and Tuesday and opens at 3:00 Wednesday through Friday. I decided that The Tap is so close (just two blocks from Function) that it would be ridiculous not to extend our Ale Trail tour to include it as well. From The Tap, we could stroll one block to the B-Line Trail and then another half mile to Upland’s 11th Street brewpub for dinner and a taxi home. Total walking distance from BBC to Upland: 2.3 miles. Total craft beer establishments: 6.

“We highly recommended [sic] that you don’t try to complete the trail in one day, in fact, we encourage you to take several weeks or months to complete the passport, this way you can fully immerse yourself at each location, tasting several brews and other offerings at each of our local breweries.”

If several weeks passed between my visits to any one of our local breweries, I’m pretty sure they would contact me to see if I’d left the country or become terminally ill. American Express has a special alert just for me: “We see you haven’t purchased any beer with your card in the last week, so we wanted to make sure it hasn’t been stolen.” Anyway, having lunch at BBC was part of our plan, so I got the salad-and-slice combo, today’s slice being the Woodsman, with pesto, portabella and button mushrooms, goat cheese, and mozzarella. Thus fortified, we ventured out on the Ale Trail toward Yogi’s. “Westward, ho!” I commanded my wife. Sometimes I don’t know how she keeps a straight face.

As I mentioned, Yogi’s Grill and Bar isn’t officially part of the Ale Trail, but it is conveniently located between BBC and Big Woods, and it does offer numerous Indiana craft beers. Yogi’s has more of a college bar vibe than the other places on our tour, but it was nice and quiet on this Wednesday afternoon. Perhaps Yogi’s greatest contribution to the Btown craft beer scene is Beer School on Tuesday nights featuring tastings and presentations by beer cognoscenti. My wife and I both ordered the Tin Man Damascene, an apricot sour that we both loved when it first came out. I don’t know if it was due to a problem at the brewery or here at the restaurant, but it was a bit flat and lacked the lactic tartness and apricot sweetness we’ve come to expect. So we packed up our gear and hit the trail toward Big Woods.