11 Feb BrewDog USA To Open Taproom in Fountain Square Neighborhood of Indianapolis
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
A Scottish brewery now brewing in the US, and which already has many fans in the Hoosier state is now announcing plans to open a taproom in the Fountain Square neighborhood of Indianapolis. The new home for BrewDog USA is in the Prospect St., Virginia Ave., Shelby St. corridor, which is turning into a craft beverage hub with Fountain Square Brewery, New Day Craft, Tappers Arcade, Chilly Water Brewing, Hotel Tango Distillery, and Garfield Brewing already open and Upland Brewing and BrewDog preparing new establishments there.
BrewDog Brewing was started in 2007 in Scotland by James Watt and Martin Dickle. In 2010 they opened their first BrewDog bar in Aberdeen, and this was followed quickly by additional bars across the UK and Europe. By May, 2017 BrewDog opened BrewDog USA, a large brewery just outside Columbus, OH and they had more than 50 bars open worldwide (with all four in the US being in and around Columbus, OH).
image credit: @burroughs_mcgill
Not about to slow down, BrewDog opened a brewery hotel at their Winchester, OH in August of 2018. You can read about this hotel nearly every week on Facebook or on other sources nowadays. However, even prior to opening the hotel BrewDog made news in 2018 by expanding distribution to a second state in the US, that state being Indiana. And now that movement is augmented with the announcement of the Fountain Square taproom.
Watt and Dickle have always run things their own way with BrewDog. Their Equity for Punks program allows people to buy shares via crowd funding in BrewDog and receive special perks. They give discounts on beer for people who get qualifying BrewDog tattoos. They did three seasons of Brew Dogs on the Esquire Network and then formed their own “BrewDog Network.” They sold 22% of their company to a private equity firm in 2017 which also owns Pabst and has a stake in Sweetwater Brewing, and they have courted controversy with their beer names, packaging and ABVs.
All of this and more will be available in Indianapolis by September, 2019. Under discussion for nearly a year, the Fountain Square location will be in the Forte Building, a mixed use property that opened at 1140 S. Shelby St. in late 2018. The Indianapolis Business Journal, in an article of 02/11/19, stated that up to 4000 sq. ft. of retail space at the location will be used for the taproom, with 24 taps, an outdoor patio, and a food menu.
Welcome to the neighborhood BrewDog, Indiana craft beer is anxious to punk out.
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