Wunderkind Brewer Helps Tow Yard Brewing Co. Break Onto Craft Beer Scene

21 Jan Wunderkind Brewer Helps Tow Yard Brewing Co. Break Onto Craft Beer Scene

Posted at 18:50h in Musings, Tow Yard Brewing Co., Uncategorized by Justin Knepp 0 Comments

Remember when you were young and your teacher asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up? No doubt some of the answers included a doctor, a veterinarian or scientist, an astronaut, or a brewer.

Wait. A brewer?!

For Tony Fleming, Tow Yard Brewing Company’s 24 year old head brewer, the journey didn’t start out that way.

“The brewing bug bit me back when I was in college. I was going to Purdue to get my degree in biology so I naturally loved being in the lab and working on projects with my hands. Science had always fascinated me, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it in life.”

See, there’s that scientist thing! And hats off to Fleming for discovering and immersing himself in a passion. The only thing in college I found myself immersed in was academic probation.

So how did Fleming wind up at Tow Yard?

“My senior year at Purdue I got a volunteering position at Union Brewing Company in Carmel, IN so I drove down there every Saturday at 6 AM to help brew and do any work necessary (cleaning mash tun, fermenters, EVERYTHING). Graduation (May 2013) was coming up soon and as I started going to job fairs I found out that a desk or lab job wasn’t going to be for me. I took the cellar man job at Union and ended up brewing a lot of the beer myself due to being the only full time guy in the brewery. I left Union in January 2014 to pursue a job in a brewery that had more of a production feel so I could experience that side of the industry as well. I interviewed with a few local breweries and ended up starting as the assistant brewer at Tow Yard on January 13, 2014.”

In other words, persistence, hard work, and passion. And now, a year later, Fleming is the go-to guy at Tow Yard.

Officially opened in March of 2014 at 501 Madison Avenue, Tow Yard Brewing Company has quickly become a craft beer haven in downtown Indianapolis. Upon entering you’re greeted with an impressive wall collection of vintage beer cans, a slick atmosphere, and friendly service. Just a stone’s throw from Lucas Oil Stadium and Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Tow Yard includes a tasting room and restaurant (The Larder) to compliment the brewery where Fleming gets to go all ‘Bill Nye’ with his recipes.

“Brewing is as much art as it is science. The art has to do with recipe formulation and flavors. The science makes it possible to implement those flavors and keep things consistent. With my science background I will bring that consistency of flavors so the pint of Horsepower you enjoyed three months ago will be the same tasting pint you have today. Consistency is key to keeping a craft beer drinker happy with a product of yours.”

Ok, so maybe Fleming did grow up and become a scientist in a whimsical sense.

Fleming hoisting a glass of hop sludge, a product of the dry hops added to the fermenter post-fermentation. Tow Yard has increased their dry hopping rate to up their beers’ aromas.

For the fans of craft beer and for the brewers that concoct the delicious elixir of barley, malt, hops, and water, there ferments an interwoven common denominator: the passion for great beer. When asked what fueled his fire for wanting to brew, Fleming said he pulls from a lot of sources.

“The people, the community, and the passion from both are easily what makes me love to do what I do. The craft beer enthusiasts are amazing and they expect so much from breweries to produce amazing beer. They will tell you what they think of a beer no matter their opinion. Good reviews are awesome, but the critical ones are what makes me think about what I can do to improve the beer and change the beer drinkers’ minds. Beer is ever evolving in terms of flavors and styles, but in the end it comes down to whether or not people like the beer.”

When visiting Tow Yard, it’s pretty easy to like the beer. They have a wide range of styles to choose from, according to Fleming.

“We have four house beers that are available year round, along with a handful of seasonals at any given time. Goldie Hops: this is our American Golden Ale. It is lightly hopped and meant to be approachable for any type of craft beer drinker. The Hook Up- this is our ‘Shandler’. We call it so because it is a nice marriage of a shandy and a german radler. It is our Goldie Hops blended with a locally made citrus-forward soda. It is low in alcohol (4% ABV), effervescent, and super easy to drink. It is a great one for a hot day and makes a killer beer cocktail when mixed with gin, tequila, rum, bourbon etc.”

And for the Pale Ale fans:

“Horsepower: this is our Double Pale Ale (Not a double IPA). It is an extremely well balanced hop-forward beer. It has more alcohol than our IPA, but roughly the same IBU. The hops used in it are more floral and earthy as opposed to the citrus and pine you find in American IPAs. And our IPA: this is potentially going to be renamed (known as the Emerald CIrcle IPA right now). We have changed this recipe up a bit to make it a little more balanced. More late additions of hops have been used to really make the flavor and aroma of the hops pop. It will have a pleasant pine and citrus quality associated with most American IPAs.”

You can see that Fleming has been busy and that because of his hard work and inspired ideas, Tow Yard Brewing Company is worth your visit. Next time you’re in Indianapolis or if you’re a local, haul (a synonym for tow) your back-end down there and try some of Tony’s beers! If you’re already a fan of Tow Yard get this: according to Fleming, they plan on canning their beer in the near future!

“I’m looking forward to getting our beers into cans. This should be happening in the next few months. This is really exciting for me because I never imagined walking into a liquor or grocery store and being able to buy a beer that I brewed. Cans allow us to share the products that I’m so passionate about with a wider audience and that is truly an exciting thought. Overall, I’m just excited to see this company grow. I’ve been at Tow Yard from the start and it’s been great to see how far we have come in less than a year of being open.”

Growing is a part of life. So it’s ok if a kid wants to grow up and become a scientist. Because Tony Fleming is proving that beer is science in a glass.