When you think “beer,” you might not immediately think “Indiana Breweries.”
Microbreweries in Indiana are on the rise, and more than 170 craft breweries call Indiana home. If you’re looking for a new local brew to sell in your restaurant or something to inspire your brewmaster, check out these featured Indiana breweries and some of their award-winning brews that made the list for the best beer in Indiana.
These days, the Hoosier state is home to some heavy hitters in the world of craft beer. For example, three beers from Taxman Brewing Co. won best-in-class at the 2021 World Beer Awards. Indiana breweries have won prestigious awards at the Best of Craft Beer Awards and the Great American Beer Festival.
Indiana breweries are holding their own in the Midwest craft beer market. An impressive amount of Indiana breweries made the 2021 Best Craft Beer Awards list:
- Moontown Brewing Co. – Whitestown, IN
- Sun King Brewery – Indianapolis, IN
- Four Day Ray Brewing – Fishers, IN
- Sun King Small Batch Brewery – Fishers, IN
- Grand Junction Brewing Co. – Westfield, IN
What about these brews make them so wildly popular and worthy of a “Best Beer” title? Let’s look at what craft breweries in Indiana have to offer and what makes their craft beer so irresistibly good!
Craft Competition: Pale Ales vs. Stouts & Porters
A quick glance at Beer Advocate’s best-rated beers in the U.S. will show you a drinking public split between two types of beer: Pale Ales and Stouts. The list of highest-rated beers from Indiana breweries reflects this trend as well.
Pale ales have long been at the heart of the modern craft beer movement, so their place on the list makes perfect sense. These beers get their name from the pale malt that gives them their light color and bitter taste and includes beers like amber ale, blonde ale, Irish red ale, scotch ale, and of course, the IPA, or India Pale Ale. The American Pale Ale, sometimes called the American Indian Pale Ale, and the contemporary IPA are considered very similar beers.
Perhaps due to the craft beer drinker’s insatiable thirst for all things pale ale, craft brewers are coming up with new styles all the time—adding more hops, making them stronger, or adding fruit. Beer Advocate recently stated that a new type of pale ale that’s been gaining in popularity—New England India Pale Ale – is officially a style of beer.
However, in the post-pandemic world, imperial stouts and porters have overtaken Pale Ales to capture most of the top awards. These high gravity beers get their name from their original purpose: to serve the Imperial Court with a stout brew that wouldn’t lose potency over a long trip across the European continent.
These heavier beers are perfect for cold, wintery nights that require a little bit of chemical warmth to see through to the next day. They also pair well with soups and chili to ease some warmth back into your bones.
Let’s take a look at some Indiana breweries making some of these popular beers and find out which craft beers and brewpubs are winning fans and awards.
Favorite Indiana Craft Beer: The Heavy Hitting Stouts
Brewery trends have changed. Where pale ales once ruled, stouts are now dominating the top of Indiana’s favorites list, in line with the nation’s favorite type of craft beer.
Very near the border with Illinois in Hammond, IN, sits Three Floyds Brewing Company. At the time this post was written, Three Floyds claimed the top six beers on Beer Advocate’s rating list for Indiana craft beer and also claimed 16 out of the first 25 spots. Consistent with the lists on Beer Advocate, four of those first five beers are stouts:
- #1 Marshmallow Handjee
- #2 Chemtrailmix – Rye
- #3 Chemtrailmix – Bourbon
- #5 Hellaboozie
All of these beers are Russian Imperial Stouts; a beer originally brewed to impress the Russian Czar. Traditionally these types of beers have a high alcohol content, and these two are no exception—both boasting a very big 15% ABV.
Clearly, beer drinkers in Indiana and beyond are fans of Three Floyds, and their proximity to Chicago likely gives them a solid customer base to draw from. But does this make them the best brewery in Indiana?
Let’s look at some other Indiana brewpubs making well-received beers. Breweries in Indianapolis, Bloomington, Gary, and Bargersville (just south of Indianapolis) also have spots in the top half of the list.
18th Street Brewery started with a taproom in Gary, IN, and has since opened a second location—a brewpub in Hammond. Their stout, called Tsarina Valentina, lands at number 9.
Four Fathers Brewing LLC, located in Valparaiso, IN, takes the #15 spot with Wheelhouse, an imperial coffee stout w/ vanilla bean and locally roasted coffee.
Returning to our list of Stouts from Beer Advocate, let’s look at some more award-winning stouts and the breweries that make them.
Number 23, Hunter Vanilla, is a variant of their original Hunter Milk Stout, made with the addition of whole vanilla bean made by 18th Street Brewery.
Indiana breweries took the stout and ran with it, creating a devoted tribe of craft beer lovers in the process.
Best Beer in Indiana: Pale Ales
Once again, we’ll turn to Three Floyds Brewing Company for the two IPAs coming in at number 4, 6, & 8.
- An American Pale Ale made with hops from Washington State, Zombie Dust sits at number four.
- Numbers 6 & 8, Permanent Funeral & Dreadnaught IPA, are both American Double/Imperial IPAs boasting an ABV (alcohol by volume) of 10.5% and 9.5%, respectively.
Upland Brewing in Bloomington, IN, slides in at number seven with PawPaw, a so-called American Wild Ale, and number ten, Sour Reserve, and IPA. Wild ales use “wild” yeast (yeasts that are not commercially purchased and carefully controlled) to create flavors that are often distinct and can be unpleasant to some. Uplands must have hit on something good to get two Pale Ales on the top ten list!
On another popular list, we find Moontown Brewing Company winning for their Golden/Blonde Pale Ale, Moonlite. Moontown Brewery is a brewhouse, restaurant, and evet venue located in Circle City.
Those are just a smattering of the best beers coming out of Indiana today. A list like this is almost always controversial. With nearly 150 craft breweries, taprooms, gastropubs, and other businesses pumping out beer on a daily basis, it’s impossible to touch on all the great craft beer Indiana has to offer.
Microbreweries in Indiana are increasing their distribution. The next time you step into a bar that serves craft beer, look for a pale ale, stout, or simply your favorite style that’s brewed in Indiana. You never know what hidden gem you might find. You might even find a non-alcoholic beer to your liking.
Liked this list of Indiana breweries and want to know more about Midwest craft beer? Check out our post on the best Wisconsin craft beer and discover more of what the great Midwest has to offer!
Featured image “Three Floyds Draft Beer” courtesy of Flickr user Bernt Rostad. All images licensed under CC by 2.0.
