Sunday, August 05, 2012

Fountain Square Brewery

It has been a while since I visited this little section of the cyberworld.  Unfortunately, my attention has been captured by facebook & twitter (you can follow me on twitter here: @loofrin) the 140 characters have stymied my writing.  That's sad to say, but its the truth.  I'm not saying that facebook and twitter are necessarily bad, matter of fact, I think they are fantastic and quite enjoy being a user of both, particularly twitter.  I never realized how powerful twitter is until I tweeted a couple negative things about a particular company, they contacted me directly in very quick order.

What I want to talk about today though is a brewery.  I like beer.  I enjoy beer.  I live near the Fountain Square/Garfield Park section of Indianapolis.  I love this area.  Garfield Park is the largest public park in Indianapolis.  It is just a beautiful place to go.  The Sunken Gardens and the green house are amazing.  I visited Garfield Park for the first time about a year ago and fell in love with it and decided that I would like to live in the area.  In April, I was able to fulfill that wish.  I live less than a mile from Garfield Park and enjoy waking to it from time to time to relax.

Fountain Square is very close to my heart.  Its sort of like, maybe, if I can use the term, Indianapolis' version of SOHO, I wouldn't call it Indianapolis' version of "the Village," that probably goes to Broad Ripple, maybe.  Fountain Square, back in the day, was the terminus for the horse drawn trolleys that meandered through Indianapolis.  Supposedly, there were a variety of big water fountains that were used to water the horses.  As far as I can tell there is only one fountain left.  I have actually used that fountain to quench my thirst from time to time.  Its good water.

Fountain Square was, at one time, a vibrant commercial area on the south side of Indianapolis, but, sadly, as happens often, it fell into hard times and then some squalor, but eventually, it started to turn around and became what it is today: if I may say so: a hipster haven.

I haven't forgotten about the brewery, I"m getting to it.  Hold your horses.  This is backstory.  Backstory is important.  You need backstory.

Fountain Square Brewery is a start up business.  It has been in business for roughly seven months, it is one of my favorite places and they brew the best beer I have ever had.  Yes, I said that.  I'll say it again.  They brew the best beer I've ever had.  They have an Amber beer that is pretty much heavenly.  As I type this, I am enjoying their Backyard Porter.  I can't say enough good things about their beer.  I had an opportunity to chat with one of the owner-partners today.  We talked for almost an hour about their philosophy of beer and such.  It turns out that the three partners are, in some fashion or another, are geeks and they look at brewing beer from the microbiology aspect.  They are scientists and chemists.  I don't mean to use "geek" in a pejorative manner, in fact, I use it in a celebratory manner!

I can't say enough good things about Fountain Square Brewery's beer.  Not a one of them is bad.  I tend to lean towards "amber" beers and darker beers, but their Pilsner is top notch and refreshing.  The Pale Ale is smooth and light.  Just what you want in a pale ale.  The porter, has wonderful chocolate start and a subtle coffee finish.  Their Amber, my favorite , maybe its because its called Preacher's Daughter Amber, is refreshing and clean.  It really is probably the best beer I have ever had.

So, yeah, I'm I'll be on the ramparts waving the Fountain Square Brewery flag.