Five Reasons To Visit Indianapolis This Fall

By Amy Cavanaugh in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 28, 2012 3:00PM

We paid a visit to Indianapolis this summer and had a great time exploring the city's culinary and artistic scenes. But we think fall is the perfect time for a road trip—the city is just three hours away by car (or 30 minutes by plane), and you'll have no trouble warming up indoors over a beer or cocktail or spicy sandwich. Here are five can't-miss picks.

• Goose the Market



The little market has a beautiful selection of meats, cheeses, beers, and other delicious things, but you're going to want to try the sandwiches. The Batali is a hell of a sandwich, with layers of coppa, soppressata, and capocolla accented with marinated red onions, tomato preserves, and giardiniera. It's spicy and salty and perfect with a bottle of Cheerwine.

• The Libertine

We sipped our favorite cocktail of 2012 at The Libertine, a dark and cozy liquor bar that boasts an amazing drink list and some the best bites we've had at a cocktail-focused establishment. The drink in question, Kickin' it with Chemists, is a deep, bitter mix of Cynar, Cocchi Americano, IXA Tequila Blanco, Campari, and Fernet. The food menu includes a trio of deviled eggs that were the perfect companion for a few cocktails.

• Sun King Brewery

The first day of our trip to Indy, we tried 23 different beers made in Indiana. The majority were from Sun King Brewery, where we drank every beer on tap and then some. There's a seasonal offering that changes each month, along with house beers, like the super hoppy Osiris. Each time an Indianapolis resident explained where something was located, they used Sun King as a point of reference, which tells you something about the brewery's role in the city.

• New Day Meadery

New Day Meadery's tasting room is a lovely spot to while away an afternoon. For $5, you can taste six different hard ciders, honey wines, or still wines. Offerings change with the seasons, and a standout is the live currant honey wine, which is a sweet-tart bubbly.

• Indianapolis Museum of Art



The IMA has an impressive collection of art inside the museum, but you'll also want to make time to walk through 100 Acres, which is a large park that includes a 35-acre lake. It's quiet and bucolic and scattered throughout the woods and meadows are 13 different large-scale sculptures, like Los Carpinteros' Free Basket, pictured here. Walking through 100 Acres is like falling down a rabbit hole, where strange, thought-provoking things meet you at every turn.