Indiana Grand Racing & Casino officials (left to right) Jim Brown, Centaur Gaming President, Indiana Grand General Manager president Chief Operating Officer, Rod Ratcliff, Centaur Gaming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and John Armentrout, Director of Food and Beverage, help tap a golden keg to commemorate the opening of Winner’s Circle BrewPub and OTB. |
By Alex Krach, staff writer for The Shelbyville News
The Indiana Grand Racing & Casino held a grand opening ceremony for its new restaurant, The Winner’s Circle BrewPub and OTB on July 3. “We’re so proud after longer than a six-month project, from the beginning of planning, to construction and putting a wonder team together, to be standing here this morning, being ready to open our doors at the Winner’s Circle Brew Pub and OTB at Indiana Grand,” Jim Brown, Centaur Gaming president and COO and Indiana Grand Racing & Casino general manager, said. The new restaurant will feature local ingredients for many of their dishes; a beer, wine and liquor menu |
“If you’re a beer enthusiast, we’ve got the beer. We’ve got 12 taps, probably over 35 to 40 bottled beers,” Trisha Lavure, an employee at the casino, said. “We did reach out to the Daredevil, which is a local brewery. We’re working with them and we’d love to name our own beer, so that would be something for the future.”
Along with working with the local brewery, Lavure described the locally-inspired dishes as dishes which featured a number of local ingredients, while maintaining a brewpub-style cuisine.
“We looked at the fact that we are a brewpub, so we wanted good food, but we also wanted quick food for our slot customers that might just want to come in and have a burger. We really tried to find the balance,” Lavure said. “I will tell you that all of the product for the fresh foods is being acquired locally….We have always and will always attempt to purchase locally…it doesn’t stop with the Daredevil beer; it goes on with food and dry goods and everything we need to purchase.”
Also featured in the restaurant are a number of smaller televisions, which broadcast the 12 to 18 horse races around the country, a big screen television, which broadcast the local races and a number of televisions put together in the front to show results and races.
During the opening ceremony, the casino welcomed four jockeys and Nice and Easy, a racing horse who has earned more than $100,000 in purses. Nice and Easy’s entrance marked the first time a horse had ever entered the casino.
Also included in the opening ceremony was the tapping of a golden keg, which was also the first beer keg tapped for the restaurant.
“We’d like to do things a little differently to commemorate the grand opening of the new Winner’s Circle Brewpub and OTB, because we like to think outside the box or, in this case, think outside the keg,” CJ Miller, the promotions manager, said.
The keg was pumped in a countdown from ten to commemorate the opening and glasses were raised for a ceremonial toast.
“Centaur has always looked at racing and gaming as integrated entertainment products and has tried to bring those forms of entertainment and sport together and I think that The Winner’s Circle is a real testament to bringing racing to the casino floor and having these two operate together. When you have a chance to see it and taste it and drink it, we have a host of Indiana craft beers, a locally-inspired menu, an Indiana team and just a great facility that we’re so excited to open,” Brown said.
Winner’s Circle Brewpub and OTB is open seven days a week and will feature a late night menu starting at 10 p.m.
