Skip The Green Bud Light. Drink At These Indiana Breweries On St. Patrick's Day Instead

16 Mar Skip The Green Bud Light. Drink At These Indiana Breweries On St. Patrick’s Day Instead

Posted at 18:45h in Broad Ripple Brewpub, Danny Boy Beer Works, Grand Junction Brewing Co, Musings, Two Deep Brewing, Uncategorized by Justin Knepp 0 Comments

By Adam T. Schick for Indiana On Tap

It’s almost here, the best day of the year where we don our green garb and show out for dyed beers, colored rivers, blaring bagpipes and all-you-can-eat potatoes and corned beef.

That’s right – tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, the one day a year where “everyone’s Irish!” (Please don’t say this. Just be proud of who you are.) If you’re like me, you love drinking beers outside in the cool spring weather, listening to the Pogues and The Men They Couldn’t Hang, and stuffing your face with traditional Irish fare.

If you’re like me, you’ve also not willingly touched a Bud, Miller, or Coors in a long time. We’re craft drinkers through and through, so when handed a green-dyed Bud Light pitcher at 9:00 AM on March 17th, we’d obviously rather be elsewhere.

Thankfully, there are breweries across Indiana making amazing Irish, Scottish and British beers that would serve for much better drinking than an emerald-hued fuzzy water drink. Here’s where to get your fill on St. Patrick’s Day beers tomorrow.

TwoDEEP Brewing Co. (Indianapolis) – TwoDEEP focuses on traditionally malt-forward British, Irish, and German beers, so you know they’ll be showing out tomorrow. The downtown Indianapolis brewery will be opening their doors at 10:00 AM and will be tapping tons of favorites, including They’ve Gone To PLAID! Scottish Ale, a cask conditioned Dead Rabbits Irish Extra Stout with espresso beans, a special bourbon barrel-aged Red Sunday Red Irish Ale, and the Jolly Old Stout. They’ll be kicking the day off with kegs and eggs, with food provided by Pi Indy, so get there early and start the day right.

Grand Junction Brewing Co. (Westfield) – Westfield is the not “one stoplight” town it used to be, and Grand Junction is not just your average brewpub. Brewery owner Jon Knight was born in the UK and routinely visits his stomping groots, keeping the ties between his home and his brewery alive. Brewers Shawn Kessel and Spencer Mason echo those ties with their traditional English and Irish beers, like the Mulligan Strong Scotch Ale (which you can find in cans soon), Squirrel Stampede English Nut Brown Ale, and Hop the Atlantic, a collaboration IPA brewed between Grand Junction and Wes Martin of Great Fermentations. Come for the beer and festivities, stay for some of the best fish and chips around.

Danny Boy Beer Works/Brockway Public House (Carmel) – Danny Boy and Brockway founder and owner Kevin “KP” Paul grew up in an Irish neighborhood in Detroit, where he fell in love with beer watching his dad homebrew. In 2008, KP and his wife Lanie opened the doors to the Brockway Public House, which has one of the most traditional pub feels around. Short stools, low lights, a professionally-poured pint of Guiness – what more do you need? Danny Boy has a more industrialized feel than the Public House, but stick around for the Mac Daddy Scottish Strong Ale. You’ll be happy you did.

Broad Ripple Brewpub (Broad Ripple) – Ah, my old faithful. Opened in 1990 by (Lord) John Hill of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, Broad Ripple Brewpub is Indiana’s first brewpub. If that’s not enough to bring you in, then good thing they have fantastic beer. Head brewer Jonathon Mullens carries on the tradition established by Hill, brewing incredibly delicious and traditional Irish and British beers. Their IPA is a traditional English IPA, the Modest Englishman is a very drinkable English style ale, and their ESB on the cask is as good as any ESB you’ll find in a British pub.

Where will you be celebrating tomorrow? Let us know in the comments!