This Week On Tap: New Oberpfalz’s Toad Storm

By Adam Schick for Indiana On Tap

There’s got to be something in the water. How else would you explain it?

For the majority of my life, I was told to avoid the areas of northwestern Indiana (not so affectionately dubbed “the Region”), all the way over to the South Bend area. Probably rightly so, to an extent. At least for a little while.

“If you’re going to Chicago this weekend, stop for gas in West Lafayette and just drive straight through,” parents would warn me.

“Lock your doors in Gary, even if you’re driving on the highway,” others would say.

“Michigan City? Gross.”

Okay I made that last one up. I didn’t know a lot about Michigan City until recently. But you get the point.

But folks, I implore you: take that trip to the dunes. Road trip to Merrillville, and Hammond, on over to Valparaiso and Chesterton. Stop and smell the roses, then drink the beer. Because this is where some of the best beer in the country is being made.

I had been hearing rumors of this for sometime, some of which were reaffirmed when I tried the ThaIPA from Bare Hands back at Winterfest, as well as Hunter Orange from Gary’s 18th Street a few weeks ago. But I never had the opportunity to really put these whisperings to the test until these last two weekends when a wedding took me to Valparaiso on June 12th and Burn ‘Em’s Grand Opening party June 20th.

I first stopped at Figure Eight Brewing in Valparaiso June 13th to help sift through my post-wedding haze, where I immediately fell in love with their brewpub (it reminded me of visiting Upland with my parents growing up) and their fish tacos. Pared with those was a #Dr. Rudi, an American Pale Ale and part of their Hashtag Series, a recurring series of beers built of the same grain base but hopped differently. A great way to start my road trip.

I had to skip Ironwood and Four Fathers this time around (more on them later), so I packed up and zipped over to Michigan City where I first stopped at Shoreline Brewery. I was tentative about this visit because of a prior bad experience a few months back with a bottle of Sum Nug, their flagship IPA. My first sip of their Citra-hopped Exponential IPA proved that past instance to be an outlier. Overflowing with all of those delicious Citra hop flavors so popular these days, along with seeing so many people on a lazy Saturday drinking so many different types of their beers, spurred me to leave with another bottle of Sum Nug as well as Beltaine, their Scottish Ale. Sorry I doubted you for even an instant, Shoreline. I’ll be back soon. 

A quick dart across SR-12 brought me to the infamous Burn ‘Em Brewing, where my heart was broken, not for anything to do with their beer, but because their card machine was down and all I had was enough cash for a pack of Coconoats, their life changing oatmeal pale ale fermented with toasted coconut. I made up for it the following weekend though. 

I followed up a quick round of golf in Granger with my college pal Chris with multiple pints at Bare Hands Brewery, where I also brought home three bombers for my personal enjoyment. To sift through that fog the next morning, we brunched at Evil Czech, which would have been worth if just for the amazing small plates they serve up in their Sunday Hangover Brunch buffet. But the beer? Also phenomenal. 

The following Saturday brought Justin, Joel (also both from Indiana On Tap), and myself back up to the area for Burn ‘Em’s Grand Opening party, a gathering of friends and fans to drink good (great) beer, listen to live music, and celebrate the opening of their new To Go Shop (but not before a lunch break at Three Floyd’s, Justin’s and my first ever visit. Space Station Middle Finger and Sturm Truppen from the source? Gave me some hope for this world).