21 May Indiana On Tap Brewery Map Shows That Beer Deserts Are Shrinking
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
I wrote a piece in mid-2016 about the existence of some rather large craft beer deserts in Indiana. Where there was beer, there was a lot of beer, but there existed several swathes of the state that had no craft beer at all. The Brewers Association keeps track of what percentage of the population that lives with 10 miles, and at the end of 2017 this percentage stood at more than 83%. In 2016, it was just over 75% nationally, but I don’t think fit for Indiana, as some decent sized cities (Terre Haute, Logansport, Wabash, Madison, Crawfordsville) had no breweries at all.
Still, the increase in how close people live to craft beer is large for such a short period of time, for which I can think of a couple of possible explanations. One, people abandoned rural areas and moved to the cities in vast numbers, like they did in the early 20th century. Or two, the large number of brewery openings we’ve seen recently include a decent number of establishments being placed in rural areas that were beer deserts.
This second possibility fits the model that we have been talking about for the past year or so, that ultra-local, neighborhood or small town brewpubs are a way to increase the likelihood of long term success in craft beer. In Indiana, we have seen a huge jump in the number of small to middle size town brewery openings in the last couple of years, and this has dramatically reduced the size of Indiana beer deserts.
Early 2016 era brewery map showing extensive beer deserts. image credit: Indiana On Tap
The years of 2016, 2017, 2018 have been good for Indiana craft beer. We’ve had lots of medals in competition, lots of great festivals, and a lot of new breweries entering the market while only a few fell by the wayside. People in small towns have benefited greatly from Indiana craft beer’s growth, but it does make it harder on a guy who drives around drinking beer, talking to brewers, and finding free wifi for a living. Yes, my life is so hard.
In 2016, I noted three major beer deserts in Indiana. The image to the right and above shows the breweries open prior to early/mid 2016, with beer deserts I noted in the earlier article boxed in red. You can see that the Indiana polis area and the region in northwest and northern Indiana were well represented, almost dense with craft beer, but there were large areas that had no good breweries at all.
In contrast, the map below and to the right shows the state of Indiana craft beer in mid-2108. Some of the beer mugs represent breweries that are set to open in the next few months, but the vast majority are serving beer right now. You can easily see the difference, but let’s talk about the specifics.
Great Western Indiana Beer Desert. In 2016, I referred to that wide swath of the state by Illinois without any breweries as the Great Western Indiana Beer Desert. The 10,000 sq. mile vertical portion of that desert also had a couple of connections to other deserts, like the mid-central desolate patch and the south-central arid zone. The north/south portion has been so decimated in the ensuing 2+ years that one could hardly call it a desert anymore, and certainly not a Great Western desert.
2018 Indiana brewery map with small beer deserts marked. image credit: Indiana On Tap
More opening in Lafayette (Brokerage and Teays River) have pushed out into what we called the desert, and the opening of Fenwick Farms in Rensselaer has gotten rid of the northern portion. Down south, no fewer than five breweries in the Terre Haute area (Old 41, Terre Haute Brewing, Shaggy Ass, Big Leaf, and WaterTower Estates coming soon) have watered that locale well. Further south, the openings of Vincennes Brewing and Raintree (New Harmony) have finished off the Great Western Desert all the way down to Evansville.
Do you see the portion of the 2016 desert south of Lafayette an west of Indianapolis – yes, that’s gone too. Kopacetic Beer Factory in Monticello, Craisan in Brookston and Backstep Brewing in Crawfordsville have blanketed that area with good beer. If you look at the west side of the state in the 2018 map, there’s really only two small portions that still needs beer, one around Attica and Veedersburg to the north, and that near Sullivan and Linton down south. Good job brewery owners finding a way to spread the beer out in Indiana.
South-Central Desert. Here is a dry region that we haven’t done as well at closing down. The 2016 map shows this desert as stretching completely across the state east to west, while the 2018 map indicates that we just nibbled away at the edges of this desert. Vincennes Brewing took care of the west side, and two breweries coming to Madison in the later parts of this year (New Madison and Mad Paddle) have chipped away at the eastern border. It’s nice to see Madison getting beer, this is a tourist haven for the state, and we should offer our guests something nice to drink, it’s a Hoosier Hospitality sort of thing.
Unfortunately, the central portion of this desert remains…. and I can’t understand why. This is one of the most picturesque areas in Indiana. The Hoosier National Forest runs through here, and there are hills for gosh sakes – you can’t get that in many parts of this state. Hindostan Falls, French Lick, Washington, Salem, Paoli…. These are nice towns that swell in different seasons with tourist traffic for skiing or viewing fall colors or losing money at a casino. How can there not be a brewery or three in this area? One or two strategically placed breweries could end this desert completely.
Berne, IN – a great place for a European style brewery. image credit: city-data
North-Central Desert. Looking back at the 2016 map, you can see a gap in beer north from a line through Lafayette/Kokomo/Muncie that extended up to around US30 (with a couple of exceptions). Residents of large towns like Logansport, Wabash, Peru, and Huntington were forced to drive north or south to find a craft brewery. On our way to Michigan City or South Bend, Walter and I would have to stop before the desert and then try to hold out until we got north of US30. But no longer do we have to carry an emergency beer in case we get stuck around Marion.
Since 2016, we have closed this desert completely. We’ve added (moving east to west) Birdboy’s taproom in Roanoke, HopLore in Leesburg, Chapman’s taproom in Wabash, Tip-A-Canoe Brews (coming in Rochester), Logansport Brewing (coming in early 2019), and 10-56 Brewing in Knox. Look at the 2018 map and the only small area that might work to cover more acreage would be a brewery in Demotte or Hebron. Hey, don’t laugh, it could happen.
The Eastern Indiana Gobi Beer Desert. The final desert we talked about in 2016 was a region that stretched along the eastern border of the state. A couple of breweries in Richmond (New Boswell and Noble Order) and a couple in Muncie (New Corner and The Guardian) kept this desert from being much larger, but it’s nice to see that craft beer has become more dense along the eastern half of the state.
Bad Dad in Fairmount, CT Doxey in Anderson, 5 Arch Brewing coming to Centerville, as well as Elm St. in Muncie and Pax Verum in Lapel have both reduced the size of the desert and made it easier to find choices in this region. But we still have some work to do. The region south of Fort Wayne has Bluffton, Marion, Portland, Decatur and Winchester that could all host a brewery. My choice might be Berne; its Swiss history and the festivals it hosts would be a good place to put a beer hall that makes lagers and other beers.
Click to get a larger image of the Vincennes Brewing link on the Indiana On Tap maps page. image credit: Indiana On Tap
Indiana On Tap Brewery Map. I’m going to toot IOT’s horn a little bit here. I don’t do it often, so I don’t really feel bad about it. The new Indiana On Tap website has a link at the top of the page labeled “Breweries.” Click on this and it will show you a map of Indiana with all the breweries marked. The 2018 map above with the beer mugs is a screenshot of that map.
When you do click on a mug of beer, the information pop-up to the left will show you a Google link to their information. From there you can get basic information, directions, and go to their website. There is an example image above and to the right. Breweries that aren’t open you will be indicated by a lack of information on their pop-up. Or you can hit the icon at the upper left of the map window and then hit the down arrow and it will give you a clickable list of every brewery and many craft beer bars and restaurants in the state.
This is by far the most exhaustive, easy to use, and up to date brewery map for Indiana. When I hear about a new brewery coming or that already exists, we add it to the map in short order. It’s your one stop shop for traveling around to find good beer in Indiana. I do this for a living and still find myself looking at it for information. Even if you don’t have the Indiana On Tap homepage book marked on your computer and phone (which you should), at least get the map page bookmarked.
Just this week I had two people n the industry contact me for a list of breweries in a certain area or in the whole state. With pleasure I referred them to the Indiana On Tap breweries map, but it pointed out a sad fact – not enough people know about this fantastic website feature.
Other maps showing Indiana breweries are woefully incomplete, a trip along our highways and back roads could have you passing numerous possible watering holes. And the IOT map shows many offsite sites for beer, like Redemption, Scotty’s, Three Wise Men, Books & Brews, and Twin Archer in Muncie. This is a more complete map than you’ll find anywhere. Take advantage of it.
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