Audrey J Kirby

akirby@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE, Ind. — Chris Piche strolled into Elm Street Brewing Co. at its Friday night opening , surveyed the city of Muncie's newest brewery and softly muttered to himself, "The game is changing."

The owner of the downtown Muncie bar the Fickle Peach, Piche admired the artsy atmosphere. He saw a line of people wrapped around the building. Inside, standing among more than 100 beer-loving patrons, Piche witnessed the development of a new culture in Muncie, one for locally made craft beer.

It’s a culture that has boomed recently, proven by an evening total of nearly 400 people who attended Elm Street's opening. Within the last three years, two other breweries have popped up within five miles of one another: New Corner Brewing Co. and Guardian Brewing Co. The difference between these three breweries and downtown bars — like Fickle Peach — is breweries have equipment to make their own beer to serve, while bars get the drinks they serve from outside sources.

New Corner, Guardian and Elm Street owners have joined in on Muncie’s long-standing downtown bar scene when they could have settled anywhere — Elm Street in an old Muncie warehouse nonetheless. Fickle Peach has sold a variety of craft brews for more than 11 years alongside the 22-year-old Heorot and 7-year-old Savage’s Ale House. Thr3e Wise Men and Twin Archer Brew Pub joined the club within the last year. (Muncie’s Thr3e Wise Men sells its own handcrafted beer, but it’s brewed from its Broad Ripple location.)

Muncie even held its first-ever "Beer Fest" in September, gathering more than 200 patrons to taste state-brewed beers. New Corner, Guardian and Elm Street all provided samples.

Muncie Beer Fest: Local pals and pours

Elm Street co-owner Tyler Hutchison said it was the success of the bars and events before them that revealed an opportunity for his brewery to thrive.

"We’re building this little community," Hutchison said. "We are in a little desolate area that was right for something like this, and like New Corner and Guardian. Muncie was lucky enough to be in this little pocket."

With three new breweries added to the mix of sturdy bars and beer-related events in this pocket, Muncie quickly is developing a craft beer scene it hasn't had before. Local brewers, bar owners and beer experts say the scene has potential to grow even more and, maybe, help solidify Muncie as Indiana’s newest "beer destination."

History of Muncie beer

Though this brewery outbreak is recent, Muncie’s three newest breweries are not the first to station themselves in the area. Muncie Brewing Co. was the city’s most recent pre-prohibition brewery, which opened in 1904 and closed in 1912. It wasn’t until more than 100 years later that Wolves’ Head — a brewery located inside the Heorot — would become the first in Muncie following the anti-drinking legislation. Now, it’s the city’s oldest currently operating brewery.

But because of its small size, Heorot owners sell only their handcrafted beer in-house. Stan Stephens, co-owner, and his staff noticed an increased demand once they began running out of beer midway through the day. It seemed Muncie customers wanted more locally made craft brew.

"We’d put a beer out on Sunday, and it would be gone that Sunday afternoon," he said.

Thus, three breweries took advantage. Stephens said the trend is part of a nationwide movement. Muncie is just seeing the effects later than other big cities. According to brewersassociation.org , annual volume growth for these smaller breweries increased from 35 percent in 1991 to 58 percent in 1995, the year the Heorot opened.

The nearby Indianapolis area has seen a spike with its recent addition of Round Town Brewery, Centerpoint Brewing and Four Day Ray gastropub , joining the more than 40 breweries in the city and surrounding areas. As of 2015, Indiana was one of 15 states to have more than 100 total independent breweries.

Today, nationally, there are more than 4,000 craft breweries .

Little did Stephens know, he would kickstart a miniature craft beer movement of his own within Muncie. Many local bar owners got their starts working at the Heorot, like Piche. Joel Savage went on to open Savage's Ale House, while Matt Burns helped open Twin Archer Brew Pub in September.

Guardian co-owner Bill Kerr and New Corner owner Sean Brady didn’t work for Stephens, but they do remember when the Heorot opened. They both grew up in the Muncie area and credit the bar for being where Muncie’s craft beer culture started. Kerr said the Heorot served craft beer "before it was cool, before a lot of people knew about it."

Contrary to Muncie's three other breweries, New Corner is the only one so far to supply drafts regularly in local bars and restaurants. Over two years, Brady said about 15 locations have served his beer including Muncie's downtown bars, as well as restaurants like Amazing Joe's, Brothers Bar and Grill and Olive Garden. New Corner beer has reached as far as Richmond, Ind.; Pendleton, Ind., and Broad Ripple.

Guardian, like the Heorot and Elm Street, have not distributed their beers to other places. Kerr said his brewery runs a two-barrel system, which only produces about four kegs worth of beer. The company has, however, created 45 different kinds of beer within just one year of being open.

A downtown brewery circle

Kerr and Brady plan to move closer to where it all started and bring their breweries downtown, where Elm Street and Wolves’ Head breweries already reside. Those moves would put all three of the newer breweries within a two-mile radius, surrounding a cluster of downtown bars. Guardian currently sits at White River Plaza and will move to Madjax on Madison Street. The brewery will distribute its beer to other locations once that move happens, thanks to a new 15-barrel brewing system owners have ordered. Meanwhile, Brady wants to bring New Corner from its 1900 West Mount Pleasant Blvd. location to 808 S. Liberty St.

Guardian Brewing Co. progresses in Madjax move

One might think this would create intense competition, but owners of the Muncie breweries prefer to call this new circle "collaborative" rather than competitive. Though they compete at the end of the day, they each possess signature styles of brew. Sometimes, the owners even loan ingredients to each other.

As for what this collaboration means for beer consumers, local beer enthusiasts say their desire for diversity and quality in beer will be filled to the brim.

David Bilger's beer expertise shines in his column, titled "Talking Pints," with Darrick Ayers. The two provided reviews on local brews, including those from New Corner and Guardian. (Bilger enjoys Guardian's pineapple-flavored IPA.) He also has spent 10 years brewing beer from home.

Bilger said Muncie already was a "go-out-and-socialize" kind of place when he started going to the Heorot in the mid-90s. Now, with the breweries, patrons can get more variety of the good beer they crave. This new culture partly is why he wants to write his column again.

"If you go to a new town, you probably haven’t seen the beer before, and the quality is excellent at most of these places," Bilger said. "Muncie has a really smart beer drinking crowd. You can’t just pawn something off. They know if it’s good or not."

"The Muncie beer scene is unique in that it’s much bigger than people realize," he added. "Any city this size would not really have this type of beer scene that Muncie has now."

Joining a 'haven for the arts'

Bilger calls brewers the best of both worlds, part manufacturing engineer and part artist.

In fact, Muncie's newest brewing artists join an expanding arts community that many say has both contributed to and benefited from the craft beer culture. It might just be what helps attract more tourists.

Jenny Gordy, 44-year Muncie resident and co-founder of Gordy Fine Art and Framing, sees a blossoming downtown arts scene resulting from "a movement 30 years in the making." It’s one she said started when she, her husband Bryan and three other art enthusiasts cumulatively pushed for "a freakin' art scene" in their city, so much that they began cleaning up and refurbishing old downtown buildings on their own time.

Today, watercolor turtle paintings from Bryan Gordy's private collection hang inside Elm Street. Gordy's family also helped Piche put up a hanging system to display local artwork at his bar. That artwork goes on display during downtown Muncie's First Thursday event, which is held the first Thursday evening of each month, bringing art galleries inside downtown businesses and restaurants. All the downtown bars have participated.

Cheryl Crowder, event director with Downtown Development, said there has been an increased variety of businesses participating in First Thursday since it started being held monthly around 2003. She said the bars help provide that variety, and she expects "there will be a boost" in the event's popularity, both within and outside of Muncie, if the three breweries jump into the mix.

Especially, once they move downtown.

Elm Street co-owner Eric Jones said it’s likely Muncie's newest brewery will take part in First Thursday, as well as other art-related downtown events. That probably will be in the springtime so attendees can walk from the center of downtown to their 519 N. Elm St. location, according to the owners.

"It’s just proven that Muncie supports craftsmanship and the arts," Jones said. "And make no mistake about it. The type of beer that’s being produced in town, it’s a form of art for the people who are doing it. I think we have a population that is very supportive of that."

The future of the craft beer culture

So, with an increasing local art scene and expectations for a "downtown brewery circuit," what does the future hold for Muncie’s craft beer culture?

Brady has discussed with the city about creating a pub crawl-style brewery tour to attract more outsiders to Muncie. Kerr said there has been talk about getting a "brew bus" like those in Indianapolis, which would take consumers on a tour of Muncie’s breweries and bars.

And local bar owners aren’t threatened by the new breweries. Stephens said he thinks there could be a brewery "oversaturation" if too many breweries follow the trend too quickly, but that Muncie hasn’t reached that point yet. For now, there is no beer war, just a beer culture. Until changes need to be made, Stephens is holding off on business expansion. He said he likes the competition because market creates demand, and that competition will push for local breweries to make better beer.

Piche said he is excited he can serve more local drafts in some of the Fickle Peach’s 26 draft lines. He believes "a rising tide raises all ships." For now, Piche already has served beer from New Corner. As the owner of the 11-year-old local bar that hadn’t served Muncie beer before then, he looks forward to possibly expanding his local options by selling beer from Guardian, Elm Street or another brewery later on.

And after seeing the near-400 attendees at Elm Street's opening, Piche foreshadows that Muncie could become the state's newest place to travel for a good brew.

"I’d rather pour Muncie beer than pour anybody else’s beer, as long as it measures up," Piche said. "My clientele are pretty spoiled. We get a lot of great beer in Muncie from those local breweries."

“I think (this movement) is nothing but positive. I think it helps make our city a beer destination."

Contact reporter Audrey Kirby at 765-213-5816 or akirby@muncie.gannett.com, and follow on Twitter @ajanekirby.

Timeline of Muncie breweries and bars

1904: Muncie Brewing Company opens, becoming the final brewery within the city before prohibition. It would later close in 1912.

Muncie Brewing Company opens, becoming the final brewery within the city before prohibition. It would later close in 1912. 1995: The Heorot Pub opens Jan. 5 at 219 South Walnut St.

The Heorot Pub opens Jan. 5 at 219 South Walnut St. 2005: The Fickle Peach opens Oct. 7 at 117 East Charles St.

The Fickle Peach opens Oct. 7 at 117 East Charles St. 2009: Savage's Ale House opens Sept. 1 at 127 North High St.

Savage's Ale House opens Sept. 1 at 127 North High St. 2012: Owners of the Heorot receive a brewing license and open production at the pub's Wolves' Head Brewery in November. The brewery keeps its beer in-house. The Heorot has nearly 70 draft lines and serves nearly 350 kinds of bottled beer. It's been listed multiple years as one of Draft Magazine's top 100 bars in America.

Owners of the Heorot receive a brewing license and open production at the pub's Wolves' Head Brewery in November. The brewery keeps its beer in-house. The Heorot has nearly 70 draft lines and serves nearly 350 kinds of bottled beer. It's been listed multiple years as one of Draft Magazine's top 100 bars in America. 2014: Sean Brady opens New Corner Brewing Company, which later becomes Muncie's first brewery in more than 100 years to distribute its brews to other bars and restaurants.

Sean Brady opens New Corner Brewing Company, which later becomes Muncie's first brewery in more than 100 years to distribute its brews to other bars and restaurants. 2015: Guardian Brewing Company follows New Corner's footsteps and opens at 2100 West White River Blvd in White River Plaza. Exactly one month later, Thr3e Wise Men expands downtown Muncie's bar scene and fills a vacancy on the first floor of the Courtyard Marriott.

Guardian Brewing Company follows New Corner's footsteps and opens at 2100 West White River Blvd in White River Plaza. Exactly one month later, Thr3e Wise Men expands downtown Muncie's bar scene and fills a vacancy on the first floor of the Courtyard Marriott. 2016: Barn Brasserie, a restaurant and bar that opened in 2013, rebrands and becomes Twin Archer Brew Pub in September. Just two months later, Elm Street Brewing Company founders revamp an old warehouse at 519 North Elm St. into Muncie's latest brewery.

Barn Brasserie, a restaurant and bar that opened in 2013, rebrands and becomes Twin Archer Brew Pub in September. Just two months later, Elm Street Brewing Company founders revamp an old warehouse at 519 North Elm St. into Muncie's latest brewery. In the future: Twin Archer still has plans to open brewery with its restaurant. New Corner intends to move to 800 South Liberty St., while Guardian Brewing Company will move to Madjax on the corner of Jackson and Madison street. When Guardian moves, owners plan to open a small kitchen to serve food. Elm Street also is preparing to open a kitchen in 2017.

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