Acquisition on tap for Oaken Barrel

Abstract

Indianapolis Brewing Co.'s decision this fall to shut off its taps left a void in the city's brewing scene that a young south-side brew pub says it's ready to fill.

Indianapolis Brewing Co.'s decision this fall to shut off its taps left a void in the city's brewing scene that a young south-side brew pub says it's ready to fill.

On Jan. 1, Greenwood's Oaken Barrel Brewing Co. will set up shop at Indianapolis Brewing's east-side micro-brewery.

Bill Fulton, Oaken Barrel's director of business development, told IBJ the brew pub has agreed to purchase the brewing equipment of Indianapolis Brewing for an undisclosed sum. Operations should begin in February, once permits are obtained.

Oaken Barrel does not plan to purchase any of Indianapolis Brewing's recipes.

Indianapolis Brewing, which made the Dusseldorfer brand, shut down operations at its brewery in October, citing too much competition from big beer makers.

Indianapolis Brewing President Tom Peters declined to comment on the sale or future plans for his company.

With the purchase, Oaken Barrel will take on 10,000 barrels of annual brewing capacity and immediately become the state's largest micro-brewery.

Fulton said the brew pub, which opened in 1994, had always planned on expanding into microbrewing on a larger scale and one day "brew like the wind," though not this soon.

"We really thought this was a little early," he said, "but it makes sense to invest In a facility that's already set up to brew."

Oaken Barrel mostly sells draft beer at its Greenwood brew pub and other restaurants, but had begun experimenting with bottle sales on store shelves this fall. It has one liquor store account.

"It's better for us to position ourselves as a micro-brewery than a brew pub," Fulton said. "The vision of our company has always been the beer. Brew pubs will come and go."

Breweries have been coming and going, too.

About the same time Indianapolis Brewing was calling it quits, Evansville Brewing Co. was filing for bankruptcy.

According to Fulton, those operations failed because they cast too wide a net and ran up against the mightier marketing and distribution powers of national breweries.

Oaken Barrel won't have to butt heads with the likes of Budweiser. Instead, it will target a smaller market based on the following it has already attracted for its specialty beers, including Meridian Street Lager and Snake Pit Porter.

"Out goal isn't to compete with Budweiser and Miller. We want to position ourselves as the local, fresh, hand-crafted beer in town," Fulton said. "We can use that capacity without ever sleeping outside of central Indiana."

As part of growth, Oaken Barrel would like to double its restaurant accounts to 50 and increase beer production to 3,000 barrels by the end of 1999 Fulton said. Production this year is pegged at 1,500 to 2,000 barrels.

Oaken Barrel will continue to brew some of its seasonal beers in Greenwood.

Marketing and distribution will be handled by Hoosier Micro Distributors, a new small business on the southwest side that Fulton said will be up and running in January.

Marketing will become a new focus for Oaken Barrel. which can't continue to rely on word of mouth to "spread the gospel of good beer," Fulton said. "It forces us to be proactive from a sales standpoint," he said.