Dana Hunsinger Benbow

dana.benbow@indystar.com

The doughnuts are infused with craft beer. They are flavored with maple and topped with bacon. They are filled with fresh raspberries and lemon tart.

These aren't your run-of-the-mill holed confections; they're craft doughnuts.

When General American Donut Co. opens this summer at 827 S. East St., Indianapolis will get its first taste of this sweet craze popping up in places such as Chicago and New York.

"A craft doughnut is a more gourmet, made-from-scratch doughnut," said Adam Perry, who owns the shop with his wife, Kari Nickander. "They're bigger, they're better and they have more interesting flavor combinations."

For example, GADCO, which is what the couple will call the shop, is partnering with Sun King Brewing Co. to create Pale Ale, Cream Ale and Osiris doughnuts. It is buying bacon from Smoking Goose to sprinkle atop its maple-flavored variety.

You can opt for an ice cream doughnut sandwich, creme brulee with crackled brown sugar on top or you can order a doughnut shish kebab, a skewer loaded with doughnut holes.

But what Perry likes to call the "Holy Grail" is a raised honey glazed yeast doughnut.

"It's as big as your outstretched hand," he said. "When you bite into it and pull it apart, it has a lot more in common with a pastry or really fine bread."

It's sweet but not as sweet as your typcial glazed yeast.

The idea for craft doughnuts came after Perry and Nickander visited Chicago, scouting shops there. Perry isn't new to the food business as owner of food truck Taco Lassi, which he is taking a break from for this venture.

One that stood out was the Doughnut Vault that serves up flavors like dreamsicle, red velvet and pistachio doughnuts.

Most doughnuts at GADCO will cost from $1.25 to $3. Specialty items like ice cream sandwiches and Bennies (the shop's version of the Cronut) will be more.

To go with the doughnuts, GADCO is bringing a new coffee to Indy, too: Stumptown Coffee Roasters, based in Portland, Ore. Among the offferings will be intense espressos as well as a cold brew that is on tap or served in "stubbies" that look like mini beer bottles.

GADCO will also operate a food truck at events and be inside the Eli Lilly and Co. cafeteria. It plans to be open mornings starting June 6 and, if the interest is there, stay open in the evenings.

And this may not be the only craft doughnut shop Indy gets this year. Rocket 88 Doughnuts recently launched a campaign on Kickstarter to raise money for a craft doughnut shop. Its Facebook page, however, says it has yet to determine a location.

Call Star reporter Dana Hunsinger Benbow at (317) 444-6012. Follow her on Twitter: @danabenbow.