Beer, People Watching, and Taylor Swift – An Evening Thinking About Indiana Breweries

19 Oct Beer, People Watching, and Taylor Swift – An Evening Thinking About Indiana Breweries

by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap

Walter and I wandered into Flix Brewhouse last Friday evening, completely unaware of what we had gotten ourselves into. We were looking to find our friend and colleague Tim behind the bar, talk some beer, drink some beer, eat some food, and generally have a congenial evening’s entertainment. It sort of worked out that way.

You know thatI like talking about beer – I don’t talk much in general, but about beer, I’ll talk your ear off. I also like to ask questions about beer – to people I know, to people I don’t know at all – it kind of annoys Walter.

However, it might surprise some of you to know that I am really kind of an introvert. I try to think more than I talk, and I try unsuccessfully not to obsess about things. In most cases, I’d rather watch than talk. In this, Walter and I are sympatico; she’s much more social than I am, but we both like to watch our surroundings.

image credit: Amazon.com

In particular, people watching is a prime hobby of ours. Walter does it because she likes to see people interacting, for me it’s more about trying to figure out how people socialize – I just suck at it so badly. So far, I’ve observed a lot and learned little, but it’s still fun.

We spend so much time in breweries/beer bars/distilleries that we can’t help but do a good bit of people watching from the bar top. Unfortunately, I have to say that most craft beverage places aren’t great for people watching. Sure, if you want to close a place every night you’re likely to see some interesting behaviors, but for people that aren’t completely ripped, the great opportunities for people watching are limited.

This brings me back to Flix on Friday night – it happened to be the weekend that Taylor Swift’s ERAs movie was coming out. Oh my, there are some serious Swifties out there. We saw families, singles, costumes, and a few couples. Without exception, the “he“ of each couple was completely roped into this, you could tell by the facial expression.  Old and young, small and tall, most everyone was VERY happy to be there.

There was so much pink, so many frilly cowboy hats, so much singing along to the Taylor Swift music in the bar area. Flix had stations set-up to make friendship bracelets, a Taylor Swift selfie station; it was amazing people watching (although I guess the movie fell short of its $100 million weekend goal). Flix had a Taylor Swift beer – a farmhouse with lemon and lavender and butterfly pea flower – and no fewer than three Swift cocktails, all available in collectible TS cups. People arrived early for their showing, which kept them in the lobby for a while and gave us a chance to observe. All in all, the scene was great for people watching. However, Tim told us, “I would honestly say more people went all out for Barbie compared to Taylor Swift. Sure the outfits for Taylor Swift were unique and went along with her songs, but with Barbie – I have never seen that much pink in one place.” Sorry we missed that one.

Here’s some of the Swifties at Flix Brewhouse. There were times it was MUCH more crowded. image credit: Walter

The experience made me wonder, what makes a for a good people watching brewery, and how many of them have we experienced? By looking through my list of Indiana breweries and distilleries (we tend not to visit wineries because Walter can’t drink wine), I came up with a very short list of places where we have had good people-watching visits. It seems that Flix has a leg up on the competition in terms of people watching because it brings a different crowd to the brewery and the crowd changes every half hour or so.

I like craft beer fans and can talk to them all day long, but as far as people watching, they tend to be a bit mundane, unless it’s close to closing time and someone has over-indulged. And beerslinger watching is OK (especially their interactions with each other), but you can come off kind of stalker-like since there are normally only a few of them, and you really shouldn’t be paying too much attention to any single person.

In general, I think people watching at a bar or brewery is helped by having that different crowd available, an ever-changing crowd as well, or animals. Metazoa Brewing in Indy is often great people watching based on the pets, and how people interact with their pets and other peoples’ pets. There’s a brewery in Ohio called Yellow Springs Brewery that is on a trail that is sometimes used by horse riders and that makes for good watching. Another example is E Brewing in South Whitley – they are a true farmhouse brewery with chickens, goats, rabbits, etc., so it is always entertaining to watch people try to interact with them and thereby interact with each other.

Music shows are another good people watching opportunity, but you need a good venue to make it worthwhile. In terms of Indiana breweries, the best music venue for people watching is The Enchanted Forest at Floyd County Brewing in New Albany. The outdoor stage and very large seating/standing area is overlooked by a couple of patios and a walkway where you can enjoy a beer – excellent people watching.

image credit: Metazoa Brewing

In terms of providing a place to watch changing groups of people, a trail does help. Broad Ripple Brewpub in Indy and Cardinal Spirits in Bloomington offer patios that give views of walking trails, The Monon Trail in Indy and the B-Line Trail in Bloomington. Likewise, a changing crowd can be found at the airport, so any of the craft beer bars at Indianapolis International, and a public square/park is just as good, like the Midtown Plaza in Carmel that is bounded by Sun King Brewing Carmel and Fork+Ale House Brewery on two sides.

Finally, crowds doing things outside the everyday experience is good for people watching. That makes the people throwing footballs at bowling pins at Fowling Warehouse in Indy a prime people watching destination, as will be Hi & Mighty Distillery’s tasting room at the Indiana State Fairgrounds when it opens in the next year or so. Can you imagine how much fun it will be to observe the follies of fairgoers while enjoying a nice cocktail?

Unless I’ve made an oversight, those are the places that Walter and I feel have the best people watching. Unfortunately, breweries are often located in industrial areas or other spots that allow for more reasonable rents while still giving room and infrastructure for brewing. Most times, that means that those locations are also less appealing as people watching destinations. It’s not the breweries’ fault, nor does it reduce their appeal as places that make craft beverages, it’s just a fact of producing craft on a small profit margin. We’ll take the people watching opportunities as we find them, but I’m always just as happy to just jaw about beer all day long with brewers, patrons, and beer slingers – every brewery is great for that.