$1 Abandoned Gym Becomes Indiana’s Most Unique Brewery

the biggest event that craft beer has ever had in Indiana. Indiana Brewers Guild made that happen.

When you find a brewery that you just vibe with, you're drinking more than just the beer.

Be the venue that treats these people so well and they want to come back.

How do you land on a vacant gymnasium in Whit?

From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get In, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. I want to take a minute to tell you about my friends at JC Hart and the opportunity that they are giving to Get In listeners. They are offering summer savings and up to 2 months off of rent at these brand new communities, East Bank and Noblesville, The Edge on the north side of Indie, and Wheelhouse in Westfield. If you're looking for an awesome place to live, you need to hit up my friends at JCheart.

Go to homeisjart. com/nate and check out all their cool properties. Or if you know someone that's looking for an apartment here in central Indiana, send that link to them and JCR can take them on a personalized tour. You know me, I'm all about Indiana and JCR is as hoosier as it gets and they do some amazing things in our community. They also wanted me to let you know that they are always looking for awesome people to join their team. They just made the list of best places to work in Indiana for the 13th time.

Check out their open positions at homejcart. com. Now, let's get back into the episode. Today I'm joined by Bobby Mattingley, the general manager and co-owner of Moontown Brewing Company. Now Bobby and his co-owners restored the gymnasium of historic Whitestown High School into a lively space that combines live music, public and private events, a locally sourced kitchen, and locally crafted beer to celebrate Indiana's rich brewing culture. Moontown also has two other locations, a tap room in Caramel, and a pub in Nashville, Indiana.

Today we're going to be talking about building Moontown from the ground up, crafting the destination and building these spaces that people all across Indiana and beyond want to come visit and what's next and and the cool things you guys are working on with uh the Brewers Guild and some different stuff like that. Bobby, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me, Nate. I've been really excited to come on. So, this is cool.

This is uh I mean a year and a half maybe in the making or so. Our first intro was before uh Indy500 last year,

I I think so.

I think that's where we first and I went up and and one thing that like we're going to get out the jump is

you need to go see the flagship location in dive into like the start and and all there like it's an experience. There's really cool stuff going on. So like you were hey come up and see check it out. Come up and check it out. Yeah.

So, I popped up there and I was my mind was blown. Like as apecially as a guy who loves history, like the history that's built into that and the fabric of Whitestown, which like I mean a decade ago, no one was No.

No one was fired up to go to Whittown.

No. 10 15 years ago, no. Uh, and our space in Whitestown, it's really comprehensive. And that's kind of what you're getting at. It's a great spot. The other thing that was cool is right when you kind of started coming out with your uh Indiana focused uh social media stuff, immediately I was like, "This is what our state needs." And that's why I was I immediately was kind of drawn to what you were doing and reached out and said, "Hey, if you're if you're looking for uh this is Indiana, uh you got to see Moontown, you know." So,

yeah. Well, I guess before we get into the build, the reconstruction, the growth, the two new locations, let's start from the beginning. What got you into brewing beer? And uh how how old is Moontown?

Uh 208.

28. So like

grand opening St. Patty's Day weekend of 2018, which anybody that's starting a restaurant,

uh it was absolutely insane. Maybe don't open uh grand open your restaurant on St. Patty's Day weekend. You will uh you will get slammed.

Hey, there you go. Not

a great way to get thrown right into it.

Trial by fire, right? So, how long before 2018 had you been brewing beer?

Our story is is similar to a lot. Um started with home brewing, a lot of brewing stories, but uh my dad was very into beer. So, when I was like junior, senior in high school, this is 2003,

you high school?

Zansville. Z Oh, so you're like northwest side. There we go. Grew up in Zansville. And growing up like Whitestown, if people told me about Whitestown, it was 10, 15 minutes away.

You hardly even knew it existed. There was nothing there. Absolutely nothing.

You're a hillbilly. Got it.

You kind of thought that. Yeah, cuz we had some people that lived in Whitestown and they went went to Zensville and we'd be like, "Where what? What are you talking about? Where's Whitestown?" And they'd be like, "It's 10 minutes away." Uh, but my dad was uh was into beer.

Uh he was one of those those guys that was pretty early on into craft beer. Uh, and he just he's an engineer. He started home brewing. He just got our family really into it. So, even in high school, I tell people, uh, I was helping him on a Sunday, taking grain out into the into the backyard, dumping dumping grain and helping him out. So, he was really, again, he's got that engineering mind.

He was really good at it right off the bat. And the first beer he ever made was King of Troy, uh, which is our house logger still. It's the first beer that Cody and I, Cody's our head brewer, that we brewed at our Whitestown location. So, this beer has been brewed since 2003 and still top two selling beer. So,

no way. Uh, where did the name King of Troy come from?

So, King of Troy is based in Troy, Indiana. My family, a lot are a lot of them are from southern Indiana, Troy, Tel City, uh, Evansville area. and his my dad's relative settled in Troy, Indiana. So, he just called it King of Troy uh as the his patriarch of his family settling there as the King of Troy. And on the label, too, you can see like a dude rolling in on the Ohio River into Troy, Indiana. So, a lot of details on that label.

Yeah, this beer has been brewed since 2003. Yes.

But I mean, a lot of people like homebrew, you know, it's like a good hobby. It's fun. um taking a hobby and turning it into a business and then growing that is is significantly harder. Where was the moment that you guys felt like, okay, we should make a business out of this?

Well, it was a it was a family thing. Uh and I would say I helped the most, number one being the youngest in our family. I was around the most, you know, to help. So, I just had an affinity for craft beer, you know, and co I went to college and I was the one bringing uh Three Floyd's Alpha King and and Bell's Two-Hearted to parties and people are like, "What are you what is this? It's not Natty Light. What's going on?" I was like, "Well, try this, dude. Drink three of these instead of seven Natty Lights. You'll be feeling pretty good." Um, so I was doing that and then just helping him a lot. And in my 20s after school, I was kind of just a lost soul in my 20s, honestly. Just trying my hand at different things. I started working in the restaurant industry. I've been in the industry for going on 15 years now.

Where was Where was the first gig at?

First place was a dishwasher at NYX in Bloomington. Hey,

a summer job. Yep.

That

and to this day, I've worked a lot of uh kind of shitty jobs. And Nicks may have been the hardest as a single dishwasher at lunchtime at NYX is one of the harder jobs I've ever worked since.

Really?

Yes.

Cuz I mean they just turnurning people out.

Oh my gosh. It was the their lunch service was just crazy busy. So yeah, it was it was hard to keep up, but it was a great intro and again helping with uh home brewing all through my 20s just being really into it. I was always you ask my f my friend group. I was always the guy in the craft beer guy, right? The guy who was really into it who was bringing our home brewed beer to parties. That's just what I did and that's what we did. We we have a family reunion every year. We served our beer. Moontown beer even beer at that point. Wait, so you called it Moontown Beer before?

It's been called Moontown since like 2005.

Wait, why?

Uh, so my brother-in-law also help was helping out here and there. Uh, he grew up in Noblesville, uh, Hamilton County off of Moontown Road. He's in his early 50s now. So even then, you know, in the early 90s when he was in high school, uh, there was nothing out there. He would tell us stories about the parties in the cornfields uh off of Moontown Road where they wouldn't get caught in high school and college parties where they wouldn't get caught and they'd just throw keggers and and ragers out there off of Moontown Road. Yeah. Uh and just it just kind of stuck for us.

Does anyone ever come into the spot like I went to a few of those Moontown Road parties?

Not that I know of, but I'm sure Todd's friend that's my brother-in-law. I'm sure his friends for sure have

It's a good It's a good nod to

some memories of it. So, it's been called Moontown Beer since Yeah. or 2005.

Around there, probably.

Wow. Before you even knew, it's kind of like a fun. Yeah. We were just calling it that. We didn't have an idea for actually starting a brewery, but classically, as many home brewers, it happens with um

hey, your beer is so good, you should start a brewery. You know, this and that. And my dad was doing it as a hobby, you know, but he was really, really good at it. And he was teaching me a lot of things. And I did try my hand. And my family is mostly like my dad, two uncles, my cousin all own or run construction companies. So we have a construction background. And so I tried it right out of right out of school. Again, I was kind of wandering kind of lost and had been bartending and was just like my cousin gave me an opportunity in management and construction and just kind of threw me into the fire. Uh moved me to Miami managing electricians. It was crazy crazy work. Miami, like Miami, Florida. So, you're

right out of college. Yeah.

Yeah. Um,

how'd that go?

It went well. Honestly, I still talk about, you know, this is, you know, 10 plus years ago. I still talk about I'm like I I'm the manager I am. Uh, because of that, I got thrown into it. Had to learn how to hire, vet, train, um, just manage people and work with people. So, that was really, really valuable experience. Uh, but I got moved back to Indiana after our work was finished in the middle of winter. Uh, that was pretty terrible. Uh, after living in Miami for two years, Fort Lauderdale, actually. And pretty soon I was like, I I don't want to do this anymore. I'm not into construction. I've

I have to ask what part of Fort Lauderdale.

Well, I first lived in Hollywood, Florida, which is right between

This is where my girlfriend lives currently

in Hollywood.

Uh, she lives in Dana Beach. Like

technically I lived in Dana Beach which has now now has a excellent brewery there. Um it's called

Three Sons.

Three Sons.

Three Sons like S O Ns like Three Sons that started the brewery.

Uh like I mean

in Dana like Dana Beach is a small little town. Yeah.

Yeah. Not very big. She lives like kind of close to the an wildlife preserve. That's right there. Like right by the

That's kind of on the north side of Dana Beach. Yeah. Uh beautiful. I loved it there. Um I really did. I didn't necessarily love what I was doing. Um,

electricians. Yeah. You know,

yeah. Oh my gosh, it was crazy. And it's such a melting pot down there. So, I I worked with all different types of people, right? And it

at the time I didn't realize how valuable that experience was. And I'm so thankful uh to my cousin still to this day because

it just helped me realize, hey, I can I can manage people.

Was uh was Lasas in Fort Lauderdale like a thing at that point?

Yeah, it was. It was still, you know, it was a big time spot.

That's sweet.

Uh, and my place in Fort Lauderdale was really cool. So, it was kind of a bummer when I got moved back

uh to Indiana. And so, I stuck with it for a little bit, but I just again kind of a wandering soul. Um, still had this love for for beer. And when I moved back, I said, "Dad, I I'm I'm probably going to quit my job and I think I'm going to get into into the craft beer business. I I think this is kind of my calling and this is what I want to do." So, of course, he was supportive.

My parents were supportive and I I quit my job, did some traveling, went out west to some of my um my favorite breweries out there, traveled to Vermont, got inspiration for what is now Cecil, our hazy IPA. Vermont is where East Coast Hazy IPA started. Um still, in my opinion, have have the best IPAs in the country. But that was when kind of the light bulb moment where I just said, "Hey, I want to learn everything about uh technically about beer. But I also am going to start working in the industry." So I continued bartending.

I got a job at the tap downtown uh as a bartender and then became lead bartender and managed there for a little bit, but opened up the tap downtown. So that was really cool to see a brew pub opening and just gained a ton of experience. And that was one of the things my dad said. He said, "If if we're going to open a brewery, we're going to need somebody who knows how to run a restaurant."

Yeah.

And he said, "Obviously, I would like for you to be that guy, and that's what you want. So, you get you need to get some experience." So, as we figured out our business plan, and we're looking for spaces. I was just working in in bars, restaurants.

So, you worked at the tap downtown, were there other spots that were really cool that that kind of helped you gain some experience? You know what's funny is I right before the tap, another another summer job, I washed kegs at Sun King. So I got into very quickly I got into a brewery, met Dave there and he it's funny cuz he doesn't remember me then but uh

classic.

Now we're good friends.

That's funny because somebody else the head brewer at Rygeist started by washing kegs at Sun King.

Yeah. It's again it's like when you get into the restaurant industry and for me I started as a dishwasher. That's kind of what you start at at that size of a brewery. They're like, "Okay, we'll we'll gauge how serious you are about this. Watch go wash some kegs." Right? So, uh I did that and um then I got an opportunity at the tap and I was really just trying to immerse myself in the industry and just learn mostly front of house stuff because that's that's where my now my expertise is in, but just kind of see all of it, you know. So,

yeah. Uh long long way of telling you that's that's the story.

So you get to the time where you guys are serious about opening up this brewery. What spots are you looking at and how do you land on a vacant gymnasium in Whitestown?

We were looking mostly in Zensville. That's where we're from and we were just we were striking out big time. We couldn't find We looked at some cool properties. They were too expensive or they weren't the right size. It was just it just wasn't working out. We weren't we looked in Brownsburg.

Um, we' just been looking on the northwest side. That's where we're from, right? And we we saw an opening there. We never looked in Whitestown. We never again just didn't think about Whitestown as a as a destination or a location. Uh, the first Whitestown beerfest was in 2015, first ever.

And now, unfortunately, it's gone. They're not doing anymore. But they had a home brewer competition, and I had entered some other stuff and won some medals at the state fair and stuff like that. My dad had two. and we went there and just won the whole thing by landslide. Won the first ever.

We they said whoever wins gets this gets this obnoxiously huge trophy and we're like we're in. We're going to go out and win this thing. We I believe we dominated the competition and we hit and we were already looking and we we won that and a guy by the name of Dax Norton who's now a dear friend of mine he was the town manager of Whitestown and said hey I've heard about you guys and I love beer and we are trying to uh

heck yeah

for sure.

I was like okay you're cool already

Dax my man. Uh, and he's like, "We're we're revitalizing Whitestown and we're one of the things is we'd like a centerpiece of our old downtown to be a brewery." And he said, "You guys have we like your vibe, blah blah blah. We love your beer. You got to check out this old historic gym. Uh, if if somebody doesn't take it, it's gone. We're demolishing it and we're we're redoing everything." So, we weren't necessarily looking to restore a historic building in a way. It kind of fell into our laps. So, basically the deal was, and people joke with this all the time, they sold it to us for $1. The building, $1, but there was a a deal that we had to put a substantial amount of money into it to restore the space.

You get the real estate, but you have to spend what you would have spent on real estate on on fixing the building.

And we were we came we were in construction. So, my dad's mostly uh and brother, they run the company together. uh com in commercial construction. Got our uncles involved and we this about took about you know some some planning and a couple years of planning. But

at what point did you get the building?

2015. So we got in 2015 and we and we opened in March of 2018. We were soft open by December of 2017. Actually we did our first event and sold our first beers December 2017. And that was a month after Cody and I brewed like 10 beers in a row. We were brewing every day. It wasn't that's a whole another wild story of just getting everything together. But the restoration was from maybe early spring of 2017 and we had the building done by December of 2017. Wow.

So we we really planning like

planning working with the town of Whitestown. I mean they're small town really growing a lot. They had no idea what it would take to put a brewery in especially with one that we the way we wanted to do it.

Yeah. So it took a lot of

like what were some of like the the early like two years of planning and like

for sure I mean even even just how we're going to dispose of waste water right for example they were like well we don't know how much you're going to

how much is going to come out of your brewery how much our wastewater treatment is going to be able to handle you know just things like that.

Oh yeah because I mean those kind that kind of stuff and then just

you know classic government red tape of just trying to

Yeah. But like alto together though, it's like it seems like a pretty cool public private partnership to help put bring this to life.

Yep. One of our parking is a huge thing right in all these Indiana towns. But uh one of our lots is a shared lot with the town of Whitestown. So very quickly it was um it was a partnership with with the town, you know, and I have to thank Dax. Uh he's now the town manager of Barkersville.

Oh. So he's kind of trying to do which they already have tax man there but he's kind of trying to do a similar thing they did in

Whitestown. Is it interesting that like some of these small communities around central Indiana like yeah first thing we need is a brewery and then from there you coffee shops and all the other stuff

and at that time uh that was when a real boom was happening 2015 to 2017. It had been booming since probably 2010, the craft beer industry. But that was, you know, that's when towns were like, hey, we can build around a local brewery. The business model, which that we were going for was brew pub, local spot, not distributing, you know, again, people coming to us being a community spot.

Yeah.

And we had the space to do that.

Yeah. That's so cool. You open up in March of 2018. Mhm.

Well, I guess actually before we even get into that, when you say renovation, like talk to us about what you get the keys to this building, what's it look like and what do you get it?

The outside was like a mustard yellow. So, it was a real real gnarly looking uh color, you know, painting the outside. The concrete floor was completely it was probably half concrete and the rest like sand and dirt. The locker rooms were down down below. In those days, they would build locker rooms below the floor and the bleachers would go above them. Y

um so there's like block windows on the base of our building that you can't see through and those were the windows to the locker room. So the biggest restorations were the floor. We had to redo all of the concrete throughout a little over 10,000 foot space. And then the roof, the ceiling inside and out we had to redo. So, exterior roof, inside, we put acoustic paneling all throughout the inside, you know. And it's funny we did that cuz now we do big, loud, awesome concerts and that acoustic paneling is huge for for sound there.

Oh my gosh, dude. I'm like looking through some of these older pictures.

Yeah, we restored all the windows. Um, so big, beautiful windows there. Uh, we just restored all of them. We kept everything original. Some of the windows and some of the walls were bricked in. We took those bricks out, restored the windows that were there uh and made like uh the foot rails for our bar, for example, are bricks from that we took from the walls of the building.

Oh, that's sick.

Cuz most of it is the high school. The the grade school was built in 1895. There's some of the walls there from it,

but it's it's gone. Just one exterior wall. And then the high school, parts of it were still there, but now that's our um office. Our kitchen area is all like old classrooms. That's why bathroom. Well, because the school closed in 1963.

So, and then got consolidated for this is the history lesson for everyone. Whitestown High School, closes in ' 63, gets consolidated to Lebanon and consolidated to Zansville.

Correct.

So, like was the building just sitting empty for

Well, it it had a lot of uh

Yeah, a lot of lot of people in there. There was like it was an auction house. It was an electrical storage warehouse for a while. A tarp company. a guy made tarps was in there for a while. It had apartments in it that were uh and I have had a guy come in and he said his buddy lived in one of the apartments and they used to have all kinds of crazy parties there. Uh cuz one it was like six apartments is what he told me. Uh but one of the apartments was just basically like 80% of the entire building. So he had like his bedroom was in where our event space is. Yes. like a huge huge space, just wide open. And he was like, "Dude, the party I can't I can't even repeat the things that happened in here for the parties."

That's wild.

But it was vacant for years um up until we got it. So it was very dilapidated. Most of the windows were broken out, you know, the kids throwing rocks through them or whatever. So it was

it was in rough shape.

So then 2018, you guys take this historic gym

and you open Moontown.

Yes.

Obviously on St. Patrick's Day, you said it was crazy, but at the time, like what was traffic to Whitestown like?

It was a growing area, a few years running uh the fastest growing suburb in Indiana. Um, and still was for a while until, you know, like Westfield, Noblesville, Fisers kind of took that. But it's still a really fast growing suburb. Early on, I do have a lot of memories of when somebody would come from the north, they'd be like, I never thought I was going to find this place. I was driving through the middle of nowhere. And I'd be like, well, it's funny because we're we're 15 minutes from the Indianapolis line, you know, we're really really close to Indie and a huge population of people, but if you go just on the north side, which is now getting

huge development,

it was like still very barren, you know. So,

uh, it was a destination. We knew it would be a destination.

Well, okay. So, first weekend you open, obviously people go to grand openings. St. Patrick's Day's ripping.

Insane. But like, you know, lunch on Monday,

right?

We're closed on Mondays, but

Okay. Let's say like 300 p.m. on Tuesday, you open back up. Like, is there people still coming?

Yeah, there was still buzz. Yeah, it was it was still still busy.

Uh, and it's it's it's stayed that way. You know, it's it's crazy. We're going on our eighth year, but it's stayed that way. It's been very steady. Um, I think it's it's the combination of a lot of people moving into Whitestown and Zansville and even Brownsburg get a lot of Lebanon just that area. It's that combination plus it's the destination. So people coming from Lafayette, uh, Chicago on their way down to Indie, they see our, you know, sign off the road and they stop in and

no way

are are pleasantly surprised. Yeah, we still get that. Yeah. Well, a and one of the big pieces of the original Moontown location is the event space.

Yes.

How quickly did you realize like, hey, we gotta host events to give people a reason more than just like drinking a beer to come into here?

Well, it was more it's evolved. It I'm firm believer in evolving as a business uh owner and just as a business, but it was mostly uh private events. So, we did a lot of we leaned into the to the weddings and the uh rehearsal dinners and company parties and that stuff and we still do it. So, it was a lot of that just kind of putting ourselves out there and saying, "Hey, we got this amazing space. It's very unique and it can be used in a ton of different ways." You know, we leaned into that.

We did we also did a lot of parties. We did uh we do a huge October Fest celebration. It's a great time. Um you should come and compete in the Steinholding competition. We'll see what you can we'll see what you can do there, man. uh it it gets crazy.

Um so just the combination of mostly private events and public stuff. Uh and then postcoid is when I kind of had a another light bulb moment of hey I think what people are looking for is a full immersive experience. So we already have the locally sourced from scratch kitchen. We already have excellent beer that's starting to win a bunch of awards. We have this event space and I feel like we're kind of closing off people by doing mostly private events. So, and we have this incredible acoustically sound room.

Let's do some concerts and and let's take a risk. And I that's what I did. I started looking for bigger bands trying to fill the room. And now we're uh the first one the first kind of big one was guy by the name of Tab Benwis. He's a blues musician from uh New Orleans area, home of Louisiana. I was a big fan of his and I just straight up reached out and was like, "Hey, we got this awesome space.

I've seen you before. We'd love for you to kind of be the guy that puts us on the map as a music venue." And it's we can talk about that the music venue more, but that was a big moment for us to to fill the room and bring in a well-known

How many how many people came to that?

And even at the time, I was like, "Oh, I think we can only do 250 300 people." So, it was probably that it sold out really fast. Now we do 425 people standing standing room only. So I started out I was like ah that's all we can handle. And now I'm like dude we can pack this place and bring in the other big one was Yonder Mountain String Band. So a big bluegrass fan. Uh we've had them four times now. They sell they've sold out every single time. Just that kind of thing. And we wanted to be the music venue that has the food, the beer, the full experience. There not many if any music venues especially in Indiana where you can go to the place get a excellent meal drink excellent beers and then literally walk through a door and be in the in the music venue all in the same night. So again it's a full immersive experience.

Yeah

that people are just they're dying to get something like that.

Well it a lot of today isn't just like I want to go drink somewhere. It's like I want to go do a thing and I want to drink.

Yes. But it's it's like, you know, whether it's golf simulators or axe throwing or whatever it is,

activities,

it's an activity that you also drink at, not and and drinking is less of just like the focal activity.

Um, so I think that's really cool. And you're doing some big events coming up, right? Like you have, I think in October is Clayton Anderson.

Uh, yes.

Previous guest on the pod.

Yep. So, I I did lean into more like regional uh acts that were from out of state, but it then became important to still support local bands like Indianapolis. I have some that I, you know, that I that are my favorites, but even just just Indiana musicians. So, uh I'm not the biggest country music fan. I do love uh well, I do love like outlaw country, old classic stuff. I'm a big Tyler Childers type music fan.

If you're I mean, if you're like a bluegrass like that type, it's going to be like outlaw.

So, there is some, you know, there's there's of course some overlap there. But, we talked about Clayton Anderson and we're like,

I I selfishly was like, I just don't want to do country. It's just not what we do. And then I just was like, you know what? First off, he's an awesome dude. Second off, he's got an excellent fan base and let's let's do music for everybody. Let's, you know, let's open it up to

I think that is uh you about evolving, right? It's

for sure. At first you're like, I just like this guy and I want to play.

I want jam bands and bluegrass, you know,

right? Because that's what you like. And then it's like, well, you know, uh, and I think the other piece is when you meet people in Indiana in whatever industry, you like, oh man, that's I want to support that guy cuz that's just a good dude.

Absolutely. Yeah. And he's from he's from Bedford.

He's a Bloomington guy. I got Bloomington ties. You know, it it

it was almost like why didn't I why didn't this make sense to me earlier?

When uh Do you know when that show is? That is October 4th. So that's a Saturday in October. Hopefully, you know, that time of year is just like perfect weather, perfect kind of flannel and bonfire weather. So I just thought

this would be perfect. Um that's a twoight uh weekend. So that Friday night, we have Brendan Bis from Umpre McGee and Andy Frasco. Andy Frasco in the UN. They're from the jam band sector. We've had them before, sold out last year. We're bringing them back. They're bringing some friends in. But Brendan Bis for me is like whoever your favorite musician is, that's my guy. And so having him was a was a huge moment. And to for them to want to come back

because of that's the thing is we try to be the venue that treats these people so well. They want to tell other bands and people about it and they want to come back. That's so important to me and to into town.

I mean that's pretty cool to be able to host like your favorite musician.

Absolutely. At your

It's a pinch me moment. It's super cool. I've seen that band on Freeze McGee probably 45 times. I'm a huge huge fan. I'm actually seeing them next week uh in Fort Wayne. But uh so yeah to bring them but

and for them to want to come back too. It's one thing to be like okay you know they come once they paid us. Yeah. But no this is more like no this is an experience and we actually

these musicians even on that level they they get treated

pretty shitty sometimes by a lot of venues and venues all they want is just to make money off of them. And I'm like, "No, man. I'm a fan." I first

Yeah, I love it.

But I also have a great venue for you to play. And that weekend, too, is like, "Okay, we're doing jam band Friday night and then we're doing country Saturday night." So, we got a little bit of it for everybody.

I also love your guys' announcement about Clayton. Says Clayton Anderson is a hardworking salt of the earth country singer from from the Heartland who grew up fishing, boating, and playing his guitar in the man. If that doesn't resonate with people,

there's no truer words that have ever been spoken about Mr. Clayton Anderson

for sure. And I listened to that podcast and I thought it was great.

Yeah. And and I think that that's an interesting piece kind of what he's building down here with his barley he's putting in in Broadripple and then what he's putting downtown,

you know, the live music every night or like the event and the really good food and like just this whole you called it an immersive experience. It like that's where I think uh these things are going towards. I'd love to talk about you go from having this

massive space in Whitestown, you know, you got a whole gymnasium to host events, right?

To then you open up a spot in Nashville.

Yes.

One, why Nashville? And two, like how do you continue to make that a spot that people want to go and visit?

Well, Nashville is a cool is a cool spot. U first it is Nashville is de near and dear to my heart. My parents have had a a property and cabin there since 2003 2004. They bought a property down there and I've been going since I was a young teenager. So, I love Nashville. I love Brown County. I love Bloomington. And the space we're in is the original uh Big Woods Brewery. It's their original spot.

So, we bought it off forward.

They like moved up the

Mhm. Well, they moved across like our spot is right behind their Big Woods Pizza.

Yeah. Right. So they moved out of that, did a few different iterations of that space, and then after co they basically left it empty and moved on from it. But yeah, we're right behind Big Woods Pizza and of course they have the huge hard truth which is a such a sick property. So cool.

So you saw that space come open. You're like, "This is where we need to put another location."

Yeah. So that I have memories there, you know, and it it resonates with me and to me there's so many towns that are Indiana, but Nashville is so Indiana, man. It's it's beautiful. It's got local. Local is so important there. They don't have any chains. They don't have any of that stuff. It's all local artists, businesses, breweries, distilleries.

Super unique.

It is.

Um and I think that

the feedback that you you'll get is like, oh, it's like tourist trappy, whatever. But it's like I would I would probe people to go and spend time there and just like

probe a little bit below the surface. like talk to some people that like have that experience that like yes there are the like you know the shops you go into like catch your eye right off the strip but there's so much more to it. It's so much deeper than that

and it just takes a little bit like at first glance I was like okay like I don't know what the and then as I met the people and learned about this like and ventured out into like the countryside a little bit to like hike the park and stuff

there. It's something about Brown County State Park. Yeah, it's it's a special place. Um, and I I went the first weekend I came back from school hanging and I I went to my parents' cabin with them. Me and both my parents. That was it. And they were like, "There's this new brewery in Nashville that just opened. It's called Big Woods." And we went the first weekend they were open. I've seen that place in so many different ways. And uh again, to to expand for us, it has to be something manageable, number one, something unique and in a cool area. And so it Nashville kind of checked all the boxes for us aside from no parking, but whatever. It checked enough boxes where we were

I won't lie. I won't lie. Parking stinks.

It's crazy. But I got some secret spots for you. I'll tell you about we'll we can talk about off the record so nobody steals from Well, I mean, if they've listened this far in the podcast, then shoot me a DM and I might share the secret with you, right? Um, okay. So, you opened Nashville.

Yes.

You know, you the reason you opened in Whitestown because it was close to home. Mhm. Yeah.

Like now you're an hour and 15, hour and five away.

It's like an hour 10 minutes. Yeah.

I was like on both sides.

I'm down there once a week. Uh but I love it. It's it's just it's it's now part of me. It's part of our business. It's part of Moontown. So, uh when it's a labor of love, which it certainly is. It's not that hard for me, man. I I love I love being down there and, you know, keeping tabs on the place. I think it's really important. You know

how Well, we're going to take a a brief time out because I think it's time we pop into some beers.

I agree.

All right. Let's I'm going to do a King of Troy.

Okay, cool. Let's do it together.

All right. Amen.

We can just share each one, right? So happy.

Then you can take these obviously.

Oh, now we're cooking.

There we go. All right. We got to give a Hold on.

Yes.

There you go.

That's what you want.

So, that's King of Troy. That's the first uh beer ever brew home brewed by Moontown and also ever professionally brewed by Moontown, which is really cool. So, the first time ever brewed by my dad and then the first beer Cody and I ever made after literally three monthsish of putting our brewery together and getting it all ready. I mean, it was a that was a really wild process. Um,

look at that guy.

This is the house logger.

It's a nice beer. That's a German logger. It's a Dortmund style. Uh, Dortmund is like it's kind of in between a German Heelis, which is the lightest of the German loggers, and a German Pzner, which is a little bit hoppier. So, it's this is just your classic,

guys. When Bobby said that he went out to learn everything there was to know about craft beer, like that's what you just got a taste of right there.

All right. Well, hey, cheers.

Cheers.

I love uh love being able to to drink at any time of the day. It's pretty nice.

Oh.

So, this is the beer if somebody comes in and asks us for a Budweiser, something like that.

Yep.

This is what we steer them towards. Bestselling beer year round. IPAs are the top selling

style of beer in the country.

The Cecil is

Yes. Uh which is one of my original home brew recipes formulated with my dad but developed and and brewed by me and us I guess but re just kind of refined by by town.

You guys have won tons of awards for your beer. Talk to me about like the first award that you won that kind of gave you the confidence to continue brewing and talk to me about what award means the most. We enter beers and competitions every year and from 2018 through 2020 we were striking out and we're like what is going on? We believe we have some of the best beer. We focus on traditional styles which never go away by the way. They they transcend fads and any of that stuff like German logger has been around for so so so long. Things got cancelled in 2020. Great American Beerfest uh came back in 2021. So Cody and I were like, "All right, let's let's enter beers. Let's go out there and let's see what happens, you know." And so we go out there. We' never won any awards. Nothing. I don't think we even won any at the Indiana Brewers

besides the Whitestown home brewers.

That trophy is sitting is still at Moontown. It's beautiful. It's great. Um

and maybe some like state fair stuff or No,

we had never No, professionally, we had won some home brewing state fair stuff. So these are these are professional

brewery

from 2018 when we started Moontown as a business. Uh we had not won anything and we're like man what is what is happening like are we like are we not making good beer hobbyists we were crushing.

Oh yeah. So uh we sent it out there and you know low expectations.

Where's it at?

Great American Beerfest is in Denver every year. Okay.

So biggest beerfest in the US. It may be the biggest in the world. It's easily one of the you know top two or three. Um, I guess you could argue like Oktoberfest in Germany is probably the biggest one, but with probably no question.

Yeah, I was just like,

but it's it's also a uh brewing competition. So, aside from World Beer Cup, which is the biggest brewing competition in the world, Great American Beerfest is probably the second biggest and the second most prestigious. We send a bunch of beers out there. 2020, I believe, we won a gold for Moonlight, our cre.

Oh, we did win. Yeah. So, it was it was actually that's what happened now I'm remembering correctly. 2020 Great American Beerfest competition still happened, but it was not in person.

It was a virtual kind of

So, we send that out there and we win a couple awards. We win gold for Moonlight Cre. We won a br uh believe a bronze for our schoolhouse box.

Moonlight Cre. That's like a fun little nod.

I've joked Dave and I have joked um because he's got sunlight. We got moonlight.

Exactly. I was like, "If you ever send us a cease and desist, man, my first my first uh question to you would be, so you mean to tell me the sun and the moon are the same thing?" He was like, "Man, when you guys first came out with that, I was a little and I didn't know you, so I was like, who is this here?" And it wasn't even meant for that. We'd had Moonlight for a long time. But

anyway, but we went a gold. And and it's funny because Sunlight, which has won a ton of medals and uh rightfully so, it didn't win anything for Creel that year and we won gold. So that was fun. Uh but anyway, so 2021 it's back in person. We go out there, we we're coming off some some medals, our first ones ever. We get a medal and we're there and we're like, "Okay, cool."

We win a second medal. We're like, "Okay, this is sweet." And when you win uh awards, you go up on it's in their um convention center. So, it's like a 5,000 person, you know, venue. And you walk up on stage and you shake hands with the who's who of craft beer, the president of the brewers association, stuff like that. And after our second one, they go, "You guys need to stay stay up here.

You guys need to stay up here and wait." We're like, you know, we've been drinking all freaking morning. And we're like, "What's going on? This is crazy. We're in Denver, so we're, you know, we're up in the clouds a little bit, too. And we're like,

"Okay, this is cool."

Yeah, take that how you want. We're uh But we're like, "Oh, man. This is cool."

And we're like, "Why are they having us stand up here?" And we win a third medal. And we're like, "This is sick." And and they're like, "Okay, now we're going to announce brewery of the year for um they have small brewer, midsize, large, and so on, right? Based on your barrelage, how much beer you make. at the time making very little um comparatively to other breweries. And um they announce us brewery of the year, Moontown Brewing in Little Quaint Whitestown, Indiana. So we go up there

for the

small division.

For the small division. Yeah. So we win brewery of the year. And not only that, Cody, our head brewer, wins brewer of the year. So we win three three medals for beers, brewery of the year, and brewer of the year in 2021. And we're like, man, we're on cloud nine and people are shaking our hands and all of a sudden people just they're like, these guys are legit, you know. Um, we went to beer stat, which is logger house, and like people are buying us beers. We're like, this is it's all brewers hanging out, you know? We've made it.

We've Yeah, we've done something.

How many like out of how many breweries are entered in this?

A couple thousand enter and

and like depending on the category

based on judges, taste like

professional judges. Yeah. So there's there's all kinds of certifications for judging.

What do you think the difference? Uh what is that called? A sone.

Why am I drinking water? I have beer.

Uh a ciserone.

I am a certified ciserone. Um that is and they can judge beer.

Uh that's like your somalier for wine or your whiskey steward for whiskey. So it's your highest level of knowledge of um general knowledge about beer styles,

uh technical brewing stuff, um

food and beer pairing, service, all that stuff. So those all those kinds of people are the ones judging it, right? So and then you have professional brewers, brewery owners, all these people are the just the highest people in our um industry. They're the ones judging the beer, which is insane how they get it all done cuz there's so many beers.

Got that sounds like a fun job.

Yeah. And you're talking sips that are smaller than this.

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Winning those awards, how much did that change your guys' business and your confidence and just everything for the brewery?

It certainly helped our confidence with the amount of breweries there are. You have a bit of a imposttor syndrome. You you kind of have that until you get something that confirms you're you're doing something right. So, definitely helped the confidence, definitely helped um you know, our our brewing team's confidence and mine. You know, just talking about our beer. I could now say, "Look, I have something to back it up."

Well, and it's like you had known like you're these these are good beers.

Yeah. But to the, you know, to the lay person, they're like, "Okay, well, that's what everybody says. We have the best beers and our beer is awesome, but now it's it's it's proven, right?"

Yeah. What do you say to the people that like, you know, are maybe trying to get into craft beer or like don't necessarily I feel like a lot of people like hate on, you know, oh, it tastes like dirt or it tastes like hops or whatever,

right? Well, there's a craft beer for everyone. Uh, there really is. And there's a way to, it's just about asking questions and hearing, you know, people's stories and what they like to drink and what their flavor uh, preferences are. And then we can kind of go from there and we can find something for you. Uh, it's funny, too.

We have employees that come in and at first they're like, I'm just here for a serving job. I just want to make cash. And I'm not really into beer. And I love when an a new employee says that to me because I say, and I'm joking, but I say, "Oh, well, you will be you will be into beer." Um, and man, 99% of the time I'm I'm right. They they're like, "Man, I never drank Cecil.

I hated IPAs." And now they're like, "I can't drink anything but, you know, it's just your your pallet isn't pretty incredible." And it's it's moldable, you know, and it evolves. So, it's fun. It's fun to get people into into beer, you know.

Well, we have one more expansion to talk about, which is your caramel tap room.

Yes.

So, where is that at and what led you cuz I remember you were like, "Hey, there's got to be this attraction. You're bringing people in. Why Caramel? Why this tap room? Where's it at?"

Well, it's it's on Old Meridian and Main Street. So, it's uh West Main Street, just west of like downtown Carmel. And it is a uh area that's getting developed. So, we're in the Signature Apartments, which is, I believe, about 350 units. We're one of four retail spaces. And the the cool thing about that is it's a really small space. And it's just a tap room. It's a place to gather and drink beer and other beverages. We don't have a kitchen. You can bring food in from outside. So, uh less less work for us and overhead in that sense. And there's tons of great restaurants right around there.

Um but Caramel was cool. It was just a It was just an opportunity and it was small and manageable. Uh let's just be honest, Carmel's the most and Zensville are the most affluent areas in arguably in the Midwest. Um so

I mean Hamilton County for sure.

Hamilton County absolutely. So

and we can we can peep into Boone County with with Zville.

Zansville helps for sure. Uh

but it that was that was a big part of it. Plus, we're on the north side of Indie, but we're on the far northwest side. And we get a lot of people from Westfield, from Carmel, from Noblesville, uh even Fisers that come all the way to Moontown down 146 to, you know, to drink our beer. And we're like, well, let's let's get it a little closer and let's go to Caramel. Let's, you know, and and huge population

there and growth there. So, it all just kind of made sense.

Absolutely. Uh the final thing that we need to talk about is the role you've taken within the Brewers Guild.

Yeah.

Uh you're the vice president.

Yes.

Right. And talk to us about what the Brewers Guild is. Yeah.

Why it needs to be on people's radar? Like what's going on there?

Well, the Brewers Guild was a uh it was a little down on its on itself and with uh people's p perceptions of it from I don't know 2018 through 2020. of course that 2020 that's the time when a lot of people just kind of changed right and changed their perspectives on a lot of things people

well one like 2020 drinking was never like cooler like drinking was hot

at home and then like coming out of that it feels like alcohol craft beer like a lot of things are down

sure yeah well it's because you know um craft breweries they were just like hey we make beer and people are going to come in and drink it and that's what they relied on

like throw on a beanie like serve some hand cut fries And like you have a brewery now.

Yeah, it doesn't. Which we have beanies and hand cut fries, but

you got to have that,

but there's a little bit more like every, you know,

and so people were like, okay, the ones that were especially afraid to go out and do things, they're like, if I'm going to go out, I

I want an experience. I want the full immersive experience. So, it is down. Craft beer is down. But the places like Moontown, uh, Gooman House, for example, in Indie, they're ripping, they give you a an awesome experience. There's something for everyone. Really cool, well thoughtout designs and just just things like that. That's whether people say it or not, maybe subconscious, that's what they're looking for.

Yeah. Like you're buying into more than just like the sports bar with beer on top,

which there's a place for that, too. But in craft beer, it's like you got to have

your vibe.

We're not just we're not just relying on beer, unfortunately.

It's almost like What was the first craft brewery that got you like turned?

Three Floyds.

Three Floyds. Three Floyd which is a

which is of like a whole culture.

Absolutely.

Like and they're the uh don't get it twisted. Central Indiana sometimes forgets and thinks, oh, Sun King is great. Like Dave Clay, love those guys. They've been guests of the pod. But like

uh Three Floyds is significantly bigger. Yes. And it's like almost to the margin of double.

Uh it's probably triple over it's over triple what Sun King size is. Sun Kingings hovers around like 30,000 barrels a year.

Freeze does like 110 115,000 barrels. And even in the regional scheme they're not there's I mean Sierra Nevada for example the biggest regional craft the biggest craft brewer actually Yingling I think is but they're doing a million barrels of beer right. So Three Floyd is only doing a tenth of that. But um but for Indiana, yeah, they're huge. They're the big boys. Um but man, they had a pub that was and they closed it. Um early CO they closed it, but it was

Where was it at?

At in Monster. It was at

They don't have a location anymore.

Uh it you can still they have like package store and they've been talking about reopening their pub. I don't know. I don't think that they have, but man, it was so unique to them. Like if it if there was a space where we are us and that's that's the experience you're going to get.

They are unapologetically them.

Absolutely. So you're going to you're getting heavy metal. You're getting all kinds of wild art on the walls. You're getting all kinds of memorabilia, but you're getting the freshest dankst beer you can imagine. And it's just for me there's a lot of people who are like, "Oh, I don't like it. It's it's too intense for me." And I was like, "Dude, this is these guys are so ahead of their time." And it shows, man.

Yeah. Well, and it's like believing that that you have the thing, right? Like believing that this is because like Zombie Dust is probably for like it's Indiana's version of um the Wisconsin one.

Uh Spotted Cow or like Bell's TwoHearted in Michigan, right? And Zombie Dust. Uh man, what a iconic It's an iconic beer.

And it used to be so uh screv, but it's like people had zombie dust. When I lived in Bloomington, there was a bar, one of my favorite bars, Crazy Horse in Bloomington, and they would I knew some of the bartenders. They'd get a keg of, you know, zombie dust, and they'd send out a a text. This before social media, and they'd send out a text, hey, we got a keg of zombie dust. That's it. That's all we got. And they'd they'd blow it in couple hours, be gone. Yeah. You know, and you had to know.

It's kind of like to There's also a rise of bourbon where there's like who gets um not there's like a word for allocations from bourbon.

Yeah. We can't even get allocations, man. At Moontown, we slang tons of booze and we, you know, it's just

Well, like I will say, uh, I don't know how we got on the topic of Three Floyds, but they crush it.

Well, back to it that you're talking about what kind of hooked me.

Well, yes, back to the Brewers Guild, but Three Floyds, the first time I went there, I was hooked immediately. I mean, I was like this, that was another thing. There's a lot of things that shaped me as a, you know, craft beer person and now professional, but

uh that was one of definitely one of the places I Bell's brewery as well in Michigan.

Yeah.

You go in there and you just see you're like, man, this is this is it, you know?

It's a vibe for sure. Like I think uh

so unique.

My um my my good buddy Andy, he got me on to Oberon in the summers. Like Oberon on a boat like you're just chilling. Yeah, it's like a lifestyle, you know,

which just sounds if if you're not if you don't know what we're talking about, like it sounds kind of like uh philosophical in the clouds, but like when you find a brewery that you just vibe with.

Yeah.

Like you're drinking more than just the beer.

Totally. It's a full these were these were the places that had cuz

um Bells had a a live music venue, you know, and nobody had that in 20 or 2008 or 2009 like some did, but you know, you just didn't get that in the Midwest even. So, yes, it is, man. It's a culture. And it's like you think of these different breweries from around the country too where it's like up in what is it or like dashes up in Oregon and it's like it's a vibe that people buy into. You think

for me it was Vermont too. Like I went to the Alchemist man like these are the people that started Hazy IPA and it it look at how big it is now.

Well, speaking of that, I think we got to break into that one as we finish out the show here.

Yeah. And then we can talk about the the uh the guild.

Okay. So, tell me about this one. I know this one is very important. So, King of Troy is like my dad's baby and it's Moontown's baby, but Cecil was mine. It was 2015 16 Hazy IPAs became a a big thing. Actually, like 2012 is when they really popped in Vermont. But I was home brewing a lot. I was learning um that side of things. And I was like,

look at that. That is hazy.

It's pure haze right there, man. And and still a ton of flavor. There's still bitterness. It's a It's a great beer. And it's our bestselling beer year round. But

wait, this is the best slim beer year round.

Year round, no matter what, at all three locations. Wow.

It doesn't matter what time of year.

Cecil is it, man. Uh, but it's all inspired from two trips to Vermont. I wanted to see what Hazy IPA was all about. And I figured the only at the time it was called New England IPA. It's called East Coast IPA. New England, Hazy. They're all the same. People argue with me. They're all the same thing. What was like the first one that was like big like

the Alchemist Headyi Topper?

Heady Topper.

I I should have I have some cans at my house. I should have brought you some. But it was uh it was a hazy double IPA, 8% alcohol. It was huge. And you could only get in Vermont. They didn't distribute it.

You had to go to them to get the beer. And at, you know, for years in a row, it was the top rated beer in the world on like beer advocate and rate beer, all these, you know, untap the early untapped. That's what those were. But um so I was like I got to go see I can't get it here and I'm interested and about to start a brewery so I want to see what this is all about. So I went to Vermont twice. Drove to the Alchemist in Stow Vermont.

Drank their beer. Hill Farmstead is another one. Just this inc Vermont beer is insane. I mean again another culture of beer. It's unbelievable. Same with like Denver and California and stuff like that.

But I went there went to the Alchemist. They had another beer called Focalbanger, which is a 7% uh hazy IPA. It had Citra and Mosaic, which are two bigname hops.

Feel like Citra hops. There's like

Citra is the biggest one. It still is. And and these are the beers that put it on the map. So, I was like, I'm going to make something. I brought a ton of beer back with me. I'm going to make something similar to that. And um but Hill Farmstead, they were a familyowned family farm brewery. and they named a lot of their beers after family members. So, Cecil is kind of an homage to my respect and love for Vermont beer. Number one, it's inspired by a beer there. And then the name is inspired by another brewery in Vermont because Hill Farmstead was naming like uh they have a pale called Edward. So, he's naming beers after family members, even dead family members from Cecil is too, but from years and years past. and just an homage to to your family and who who you came from. So

I was like, I want to do two things. I want to make a hazy and I want to name it after a family member just like these guys did.

So we came on Cecil. That's my grandpa on my mom's side. He's on the can there too. That's him.

Yeah.

Was a Navy man. Uh my son's name is Cecil as well.

So wait, is is your son is your son named after the beer or the man?

My son is named after my grandpa, my mom, and my beer

in that order.

There you go. That's good. That's good.

It's named after three Cecils.

Three Cecils. That's amazing, man.

Yeah. So, anyway, I I just mimicked. So, Cecil is Citra, Amarillo, and Mosaic. So, I took two of their hops, added another one, and I made a bunch of different versions of it. Yeah, that was it, man. That was where it came from. And so, we I had to get Cody into it because he was like, "Man, I only like, you know," he liked a lot of beers, too, but he was like, "I'm trained in traditional stuff. That's what I want to make." And I was like, "Dude, we got to make a fire hazy beer." Um, so pretty quickly convinced him. I had him try some of the homebrews and he was pretty skeptical, but

I think I blew his mind pretty early early with it. So it's been a staple ever since. Um,

I love that. And I love I love um

when they have a deeper meaning, you know, like it's a beer that and at first I thought, okay, it's it's, you know, tribute to your grandfather. Amazing. But then also like you got the idea to name a beer after your grandfather from the beer that like got you into super cool. I love it, man.

Um the final thing we need to talk about, we kind of touched on it a bit though, but was the brewer skill and how important one thing I've learned about craft beer across Indiana. So my first ever like real like big kid internship was at Triton Brewery.

Oh, cool. Nice. So I was like know John Lang, he's a great dude.

Yeah, I was a salesman.

RP to them

unfortunately. Yeah. So over here in Broadbull though at the the tap.

Yes. Yeah.

I would like I would beer tend that at night and I would like go out and Oh, it was the greatest job for I was going to be a senior so it was before my senior year. I had just turned 21 and I would make the uh I would like do like we got new samples in like all right I'll go make the rounds and I would start at the tap room

and I would come down and I'd hit oh my gosh Kilroy OPT BRT uh Hopcat when it was still open go across the street I would hit every bar it's a Tuesday 4 p.m. comes around. I've sampled at like 12 different like bars. I am tossed. I'm going to call my roommate. Yo buddy, you're going to have to come pick me up.

That's part of selling beer, too, man. Like it's it's in so many ways it's not for the faint of heart, but you got to drink it. You know, you got to know what you're doing and what you're selling.

That all to say, one thing I learned was that like though it is competition, Yes. there's also this aspect of like um coopetition, right? Where it's like a community.

Yeah. a community and the Brewers Guild is a huge part of that.

Yes. So, the Brewers Guild is a nonprofit organization and essentially gets their funding from uh Beerfests which bring breweries together uh three to four times a year. So, you got Winterfest, Summerfest, Spring, Fall, that kind of thing. Um it also uh through breweries, brewery memberships gets funding there. So, you buy in and a lot of people ask, well, what does the what does the guild do for them? The Craft Brewers Conference, the biggest beer conference in the world, was just in Indianapolis and it was essentially brought in by the Indiana Brewers Guild. The biggest event that craft beer has ever had in Indiana. Indiana Brewers Guild made that happen. Happy hour that just started last year. The Indiana Brewers Guild lobbies for a lot of change in archaic beer laws.

Is Clay Clay has been like a huge

Clay was Yes. for a long time. And now Dave is has kind of cuz Clay now runs their uh Florida spot. Yeah.

Well, I just remember the two of them together.

There's like a more barrelage and and beer. So, there was a limit and

Sun King and Three Floyds lobbyed uh with the help of the Indiana Brewers Guild to increase that because Sun King or um Sun King did need to expand, but Three Floyds especially was like, "Look,

we're hitting our limit legally. We've got to be able to expand this." So, and I think

growers on Sundays, man, like all the a lot of these things that have happened the last 10 years

um that were just insanely stupid laws

uh in Indiana. Like the Brewers Guild was a huge part of of of making those changes, right? Like we didn't even have happy hour till last year. Well, the reason is is because the Indiana Brewers Guild lobbyed hard

uh with the state to make that happen, you know, and it's

we are very appreciative of that.

Yeah. I mean, we we we embraced it. And why wouldn't you? Every almost every state has it.

Yes, I get the like I mean we're just slow moving when it comes to like

alcohol, gambling, things like that, but like uh 4 to 6 like the pre-dinner rut is like where you need to get like things moving, get the wheels.

That's where a lot of restaurants um across the country even though you're selling things at a discounted price, I mean they they live and die by happy hour, you know, that's where they get a ton of business. So, it can only help breweries and restaurants.

There is a uh Summerfest, there's an event with the Indiana Brewers Guild coming together.

Uh what? July 19th, Saturday.

Uh yes,

Victory Field.

That's right. At Victory Field. So, we've changed the venue there. We wanted to kind of freshen up. Um that was a big uh Dave Colt push there to change the change the venue. Um hey, let's let's be let's be real with ourselves. craft beerfests are a little boring uh anymore. It's a lot of the same thing. It's a lot of the same breweries coming and just serving you the same stuff, right? So, uh again, back to what we've been talking about. People want a full immersive experience. And yeah, a park is cool outside, but there's only so much you can do with it. Now, we can go to uh a very well-known, very beautiful building, I guess you could say, give people a a fresher, newer experience. How's it going to be set up? Do you know?

So, it's going to be mostly in the concourses. So, in like the, you know, the big halls. There is a VIP experience with a little bit of onfield exposure, but yeah, most so you can do it rain or shine. You're covered. You have better facilities. Um, people don't want to go in portaotties that much um for the most part. So, why not have a nice bathroom facility? Yeah.

Um, just have it be a little more a little nicer, right, at a really really cool venue. How many breweries are we going to be able to check out?

So, this year they'll be 50 plus, which is pretty good. I think, you know, when when Summerfest and Winterfest are at their peak, you're talking 90 plus breweries, but that was that was a different time, right? And uh now we're going to bring in some other vendors, right? So, you're going to have some spirits, some cider,

I think hard going to be there, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So, again, people people love beer, but they also love options and they love other things. So,

well, and like even if let's like like you're a diehard craft beer, but let's say you have a friend that's like I my girlfriend is uh allergic to brewer yeast or

my wife actually has a little bit like a sensitivity.

So, it's like she doesn't enjoy like cers or beers. So, having that option to have like some and also sticking with local like I know are you guys is it um Shakeup? Are you guys high and mighty was what it was called? I feel like Shakeup's going to be there and like someone else too that's like and hard truth obviously doing bourbon. So you're going to be

outside of the beer space. Um again we're we're in a place now especially younger people. Sure there there are people that are into beer but there's just so many options and they're taking advantage of that. So why would we continue to just

We believe Indiana's got an an excellent uh beer culture and it does and we're only as strong as our collective group can be. So, uh, any any brewers listening and you're not part of the guild, join up, man. And if you

are not and have questions, please reach out to me. I'd love to talk about it. I think it's totally worth it. I know it's totally worth it. But anyway, that's a quick plug.

Amen. Well, Summerfest 2025, uh, July 19th from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Victory Field. Yes.

Be there. Uh, it's going to be a great time. It will be 50 plus some baseball themed stuff. Of course, we're at Victory Field, so

Yeah, it's awesome.

I love it. Uh rounding out the show, we have come to we have some lightning round questions and then the same triedand-true questions that we ask everybody. So first off, does Moontown still have a beer club?

Uh yes, we have a beer club.

How many How many

We started it in Caramel.

The beer club?

Yes. And we're actually about to open it up to uh the other three locations. We started it in Caramel because again that's that's like our beer drinking spot. It's it's the community beer spot. We started it there. We wanted to see how it would go and it's gone really well. I think all of our VIP spots. Um the ones we started with sold out in the first weekend we did it. Um but we it's it's open to everyone. It's great perks. Um and it's about to open up I think in August to Whitestown and Nashville.

Heck yeah.

And it'll apply at all three locations. So if you're a member, you can take it anywhere.

That's sick. I love that. And and it's cool to like reward and like know your um your like biggest fans.

One thing I've seen that's cool is Crafters here at the pizza spot up on 146 in like Caramel/Westville area.

They have a VIP card,

but you can you can't buy it.

You can only get it from like a bartender or a server if you've like been in a few times and they're like, "Hey, this is it." And it gets you like a free dip. Like you get like beer cheese when you come in and it's like it's like so simple but you come in, you get like a free app and then you get to drink beer and hang.

That's basically what it is. Like mug clubs um kind of got again it's just like beerfest. They got a little old, a little archaic and people are like ah this is but they're coming back because people want it's all part of that experience. They want to be part of a club. They want to be feel like they're part of something and a membership club instead of a mug club but basically the same thing is a great way to do that. Man, let's reward the people that

that keep our lights on, man. You know,

absolutely. All right, here we go. Rapid fire questions. What's your dream band to perform at Moontown?

Realistic or unrealistic?

Uh, unrealistic. Like, dream as big as you want.

Fish.

Fish.

Yes,

we can make we can make that happen.

Huge Trey Anastasio fan. Uh, my son's middle name is Ernest. That's Trey's real name. Um, huge Fish fan. Uh, I think something a little closer is McGee. They're my favorite jam band. And they're like, man, they play at the Bluebird in Bloomington. It's just a tad bigger than our venue.

How big is your venue?

Uh 425. The Bluebird's like 550 or something.

Wow. Come on. I'm free.

And Bayis, he's the lead guy for their band. He's playing with us for the second time. You know,

this is this is your favorite band.

Mhm. Yeah. Yeah.

Guys, come on.

We got to make this happen.

Where are they from?

They're from South Bend. They're Indiana band.

Stop.

Yes.

They're from South Bend.

Dude, you need to talk to these guys. They're awesome.

McGee.

Um McGee.

Uh McGee. They met at They met at Notre Dame.

No way. You're eating from Moontown. What's your final meal?

I'm eating at

You're eating a meal at Moontown.

You're eating Well, it's Let's say I mean, you have to order off the menu at Moontown for your final meal ever. What would you order?

I'm getting that Bama chicken sandwich.

The Bama chicken sandwich.

Two fried chicken thighs. Uh house-made Bama white sauce. So, it's like a horseradishy ranch sauce that it's just slathered in. Lettuce, tomato, pickle on a brios bun. Give me that all day, man. Juicy dark chicken meat. Let's go.

Yeah. Come on now.

Yep. My mom's from Alabama, too. So,

yeah. That's awesome. So, that's the number one thing. Like, if you had to to build out the order, it's like you get the Bama chicken.

Yep. And

house cut fries, which are excellent.

Come on.

Uh, that's probably what I'm getting.

People that might not be into craft beer, like don't know, they're still trying it out. What would you recommend? How do they dip their toe in if they come to Moontown?

Just look at the space. Look what we're doing here. Um, we have an offering for everybody. We have indoor and outdoor.

Actually though, like what what I show up there and like I don't know what I like. I don't know what to get. Like what's a beer that's going to be an easy

on? I'm going to throw you a king of like tell me. You're going to tell me what kind of flavors you like. But

honestly, if you like something really fruity, I might throw Cecil at you. It's got a really nice citrus fruity character.

I think that the like hazy might like turn people off at the beginning.

So, I'm going to throw you King of Troy. the German logger and then our hecowski which is a German hephis. So two trai very traditional styles very light not not high on the hoppy scale.

Um again something like

I love this. Cecil is great. King of Troy is great. Like I like

but it's something you probably have to build up to. Some people though it's pretty amazing when they're like I like stuff that's fruity and like juicy. And I'm like well this is it. And it does have bitterness. It's not as perceivable as you would think. Absolutely. We've come to the end of the show where I ask the same three questions to everyone that sits in the chair. What's something the world needs to know about Indiana?

Well, I've listened to a lot of your podcasts and I'm so impressed with a lot of the things that people have said about Indiana and I don't want to repeat them. So, I agree with a lot of them. Uh Clayton, you took my state park thing, dude. Sorry about that.

Well, because you guys have a parks a beer for the parks.

Pines for parks. Yeah, we do we do a beer for every state. We're doing a beer for every state park. We're tapping Shades State Park, which is an American logger. Very approachable. Um, but it's it's just a series of beers we do. We give back a portion of proceeds to the state park system. That's been a really cool

Have you done Potato Creek yet?

No. That's a newer that's a newer park. So, we started chronologically.

Oh.

So, the very first one was McCormix Creek.

Yeah.

I don't know exactly when Potato Creek was, but we're not

That's down the list a little bit.

Yeah. We're not at that one.

In 1916, uh, we actually just hit the anniversary. Uh it was like in July sometime McCormack Creek was number one. How far down on the list are you guys?

Uh we're at 13 now which is Shades.

That's sick.

Yeah. So we do it's a cool way for us to get creative.

What's been the quickest one to sell out?

Uh some of the hazies probably.

Well, like for what part do you have any idea?

Uh McCormix Creek flew. It was a hazy IPA. So it was like Cecil. It absolutely flew. It was the first one we ever did. So that was probably the fastest. Pokeagen was a cool one. That was another hazy. A lot of these IPAs.

Oh, I might have made that one a stout, like a little like winter beer because of the tobogen.

For sure. Absolutely. We've done some darker ones, too. Uh Brown County, we did a India brown nail ale. So, we did a hoppy brown nail and that one actually won a medal at the state fair. Okay, another side tangent.

Back to Yeah, back to

what's something the world needs to know about Indiana.

Indiana is I'm an avid golfer. Indiana is a underrated uh golf state. First off, we have an unbelievable amount of golf courses, amazing golf courses in the Indianapolis area and uh we're known for Pete Dye being from here and designing some incredible courses including like Crooked Stick, French Lick, but there is a Pete Dye Trail in Indiana a lot of people don't know about. It starts up in Lafayette area and goes all the way down to French Lick and there's like seven or eight courses you can play all public. Um and you can a lot of people do it. They'll play the Pete Die Trail in Indiana. So

that's awesome.

Underrated for that and for disc golf. Man, I'm a golfer and disc golfer. I'm telling you,

he's a double double dip.

Double golfer. Yeah. Uh and he's got some excellent disc golf courses, too.

So Pete Dy originally from Ohio,

correct? Yes.

Uh but then like Caramel became like his home base was his baby. Yeah. Um cuz he has so many C actually. The first one

TPC Srass, Kioa Island.

What was the first Pete diet course? I believe in Indiana was Maple Creek, which is on the um

on the trail.

It's on the trail. Yeah, I believe it's on the east side. Maple Creek Golf Course.

Yeah, Maple Creek. It used to be called Heather Hills. Pete D. What? I got He's If you haven't played, I will say it's expensive.

It can be. Yeah.

You know, like like if you haven't played Pete Dy's course in French Lake, it's very expensive,

but it's incredible.

It changed my I'm not a golfer, but it going to that course changed my perspective even further on the state of Indiana for sure. cuz you get to the top right by the mansion and you look around

absolutely beautiful.

You're like where the heck am I?

You won't find something like that in Indiana honestly.

But except for you will

and you go there. Yeah. And if you really want to go down the the Pete Die uh rabbit hole, he had a protege who's still alive named Tim Litty. Tim Litty his um portfolio of golf courses in Indiana is huge. So you can play Pete Dye and Tim Litty courses all over the state of Indiana, man. He's got them everywhere. trophy clubs in Lebanon. Uh the fort was actually it's Pete Dye, but it was very Tim Litty influenced. Um Sultan's Run down in Jasper is a Tim course

like so basically all the other courses that it's like it's either Pete D. And there's some others thrown in there, but

where's he live now?

I'm not sure where he lives actually. That's a good question.

I currently am working on an 18 in Okay.

He's done some stuff out out of Indiana, too.

Yeah. Next question. You get to shed some light on something that needs to get a little bit more love. What is a hidden gem in Indiana?

I've got to give a shout out to another Whitestown spot, which is Hadtie's Coffee Shop. Hadtis is a really cool local communal spot. So, like Moontown is is definitely like the community spot, but Hadties is is another one.

How they're a little bit younger, right?

Yeah. They started uh two or three years ago.

Yeah. Which is good. Like having a having a good brewery that to be a community spot and a good coffee shop is like it's like

we're like a block away from each other. We're we're serving beers at their block party this weekend. So,

I I will say you probably you got to get there a little bit early.

They're packed every every morning.

Every Saturday y

we went up to go and like we were not in a super big hurry, but the line was like 12 people long.

Oh my gosh.

Like cuz it's like it's so good. It's such a staple.

It's a it's just a cool unique spot. They took an old house, made it really

it's got a great atmosphere and vibe.

So get there early, hang out at Hatties. That's a great hidden gem.

Check it out, man. Whitestown's a hidden gem. So,

you got to go check it out.

There we go. Finally, this is where we learn about new guests or just other people that are doing really inspiring things. Who's the Hoosier that we need to keep on our radar, someone who's doing big things,

Eddie Som, if you I don't know if you know Eddie or know what he does, but um he's behind S's Tavern and Restaurants, him and his dad. He's an inspirational dude to me. He started Big Lug Brewing. The guy just, man, he's a he's just restaurant industry and he keeps his head down and absolutely crushes it. I think he's got 17 or 18 restaurants right now.

No way.

Um, he's a wealth of information. I love talking to him about anything and everything, brewery, restaurant, whatever it is. Um, incredible dude, incredible well, incredibly wellspoken and just uh he he inspires me. He really does. He's impressive. I didn't know they were up to that many restaurants, but because they have I mean yeah Big Lug, Half Liter,

Half Liter,

what they they have obviously S's place

several PS are like all over central Indiana and they've done they

he's a guy who's willing to try new things. He's willing to evolve. He's willing to take a risk. And those kind of people really resonate with me. I think uh you don't find success by not doing anything, right? So from a restaurant perspective, they have 10.

So they got

S Tavern in Irvington, Big Lug Canteen,

that's up in Nora, Half Liter,

The Roost up in Fischers, The Roost in Nora, S's Ale House in Carmel, S's Haven in Coatsville.

Uh that must be out by Raccoon Lake maybe. Or it is. Or is it Heritage Lake?

It's Heritage Lake. My uncle's got a place there. Yeah,

that's sick. I didn't That's awesome.

They've done like they've done some barbecue spots. They've tried to put some stuff on golf courses. Like the dudes willing to take a chance to find places that hit and the ones that hit are, man, they're killing.

I love it. That's a great one. Uh Bobby, I appreciate you coming on. I appreciate you sharing the Moontown story. Thanks, Nate. Uh it's awesome. It's been great to become friends over the past uh year and a half, 18 months.

Absolutely.

Um I'm excited. I love it. We're going to be up there in October, October 4th for Clayton Anderson one. Dude, we didn't even mention it, but I'm just going to give the the spiel. We're going to be down at Moontown on July 25th doing our bar takeover. Yes. So, Nashville, the one in Nashville.

Uh Nashville won best small town in Indiana show. Absolutely. Right. So, Friday night we're spending $1,000. We're shooting a video like how much can $1,000 get you at a small town bar in Indiana. Uh I'm I think we went there like two weeks ago. It's like $6 pints or something like that. Like it's going to be a lot of beer.

Oh, yeah.

A lot of beer will be served. beer, liquor, cider, we got tacos, we got all kinds of stuff. It's going to be fun. I'll be there. We're going to run up the tab.

Amen. So, show up July 25th at Moontown day two. We're doing the Hard Truth Bourbon and Barbecue Fest,

which is going to be awesome, too.

It's going to be sick. Like, be in Nashville the last weekend in July. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for sharing your story. Uh, it's I just I love everything. Like, I think

Same here, man. I love what you're doing. I think I think this everything you're doing is so cool, man. And Indiana needed it. Every state needs somebody like Nate Spangle, man. And you're killing it. So, I'm so happy to be a part of it for

Amen. All right. Well, hey, we'll see you soon. July 25th, 26th down in Nashville and then October 4th at Clayton Anderson.

Clayton Anderson. Cool. All right. Talk to you soon, buddy.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Get In. If you like what you heard, make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at sweetwater.com. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok @ Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the Who's Your State great. We'll see you next time here on Get