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Indianapolis is a city of great craft beer. The city hosts Brugge Brasserie, Barley Island, Broad Ripple Brewpub, Alcatraz Brewing Company, a Granite City, a Ram, and two Rock Bottoms. What's been missing, though, is a production craft brewery. Enter Sun King Brewing Company. They're the new kid on the block, and are already making heads turn. They've only been putting out their great beer for just over a year, and already they've won enough awards to make a brewer twenty- times its age jealous. Right now, Sun King is selling two of its beer in cans. Both of them -- Osiris Pale Ale and Sunlight Cream Ale -- can be found readily around the Indy area. They also keg a number of other great beers which can be found at bars and restaurants in the area. Before we hear from one of the founders, let's take a look at how they got to where they are. Sun King was founded by Dave Colt and Clay Robinson, both veterans of the Indy craft brewing scene, both having had successful careers at brewpubs in the city. Their website tell us their history this way... I recently had the opportunity to ask Clay a few questions. Why did you decide to open Sun King in Indy, a city with a great craft beer scene already in place? Dave and I are both Indiana natives and have been working in and around Indy for the last 15+ years. Both of our brewing careers are rooted in Indy and the craft beer lovers we have come to know are here, so opening a brewery anywhere else wouldn't have made any sense. Indy is a great city, with a lot of great brewpubs, but until Sun King there was no full scale production brewery here... Now you can go all over the city and enjoy fresh, locally crafted beer. Does being in a place with a great craft beer scene help or hurt your ability to get noticed? Indy's craft beer scene has been steadily growing over the years and the response to Sun King has been amazing! I think a good craft beer scene helps. We are not trying to convert people to craft beer, rather give them great beers that they can be proud are brewed in their city and enjoyed all over town. How does it feel, after years of working for others, to finally be your own bosses? That is simple, GREAT! Dave and I brewed together professionally for 3 years and during that time we spent an inordinate amount of time discussing what we would do if we opened our own brewery... We have tried to take the good elements of our previous experience, avoid the bad and inject our own personal styles and views into this operation. We both spent the better part of the last decade brewing for large corporations and after all that time it is very refreshing that the only assholes we have to answer to are ourselves! What sets Sun King apart from other craft brewers? I think the collaborative nature of Dave and my long standing friendship being at the core of Sun King is a good place to start. We collaborate on pretty much everything and have built the brewery and the business from the ground up. We also have a great support system in our other partners. Omar runs the business end and takes care of concerns regarding growth and expansion. Andy takes care of our finances and just about anything else you can think of. All four of us wear many hats and have a hand in all aspects of the business, plus we are all passionate about what we are doing. We also have amassed a great team to help execute the day to day operations and keep the delicious, fresh beer flowing... Why cans--and do you see canning as a fad or something that is here to stay in the craft beer world? We can because we believe that cans are a superior vessel for the transportation of craft beer! Cans protect beer from sunlight and oxygen in a way that no bottle can. They are lighter and therefore take less energy to transport to and from the brewery. They are more frequently recycled and take less energy to do so and to top it all off, they can go places bottles aren't allowed such as pools, beaches, concert venues, race tracks, and ball parks. We like to think of cans as mini-kegs that deliver draft quality freshness to wherever you happen to be, so no I don't think that cans are a fad. Canning equipment only recently became available in a price range that is affordable to Craft Brewers, thanks to Cask Brewing Systems out of Canada, so more brewers are taking advantage of the opportunity to can their products... What's next for Sun King? Wee Mac cans will be released in late September / early October. We also just received approval for a new Specialty Can that will allow us to do small runs of our seasonal and specialty beers, so we will be canning things like Johan the Barleywine (Batch #1), Tipping Point, Golden Slumber (Batch #111) and some of our future IPAs. Judging by the quality of the two beers they currently distribute, Sun King is a company that, if you haven't heard of it yet, you will very soon. Sunlight Cream Ale ABV: 5.3% IBU: 20 Appearance - Golden in color, it pours from the 16-ounce can with a nice creamy white head which sticks around and leaves some really nice lacing. Smell - Aromas of hay, light malts, and wet hops with a nice pineapple-like sweet/sourness to it. Taste - Flavors of sweet buttered biscuits, oats, mild grassy and floral hops, and faint tastes of clove and anise with a subtle sweetness to be expected from the style. Feel - A thinner mouthfeel than many cream ales, but we liked that. Medium carbonation allowed many of the flavors time to rise up and make themselves known. Finish - As expected for the style, there was a sweetness on the finish, but it wasn't overpowering. In all, a very nice crisp, clean finish. Overall Impression - Cream Ales are not a style that we can say we've had a whole lot of experience with, but if more were like Sunlight, we'd be hooked on it. This is one of those great gateway beers for the non craft-beer afficiando; it's approachable to all and shows the drinker the subtle differences between a macro-beer and a craft-beer. We found this is to be a quaffable session beer that really hit the spot this hot summer night. Osiris Pale Ale ABV: 5.6% IBU: 50 Appearance - Pours from the 16-ounce can a beautiful light-golden amber with a light-to-medium head that dissipates quickly, but leaves some nice spider-webby lacing across the lip of the glass. Smell - The aromas of fresh hops hit first: sweet, floral, grassy, spicy and woodsy all at the same time. Underneath that are gentle aromas of sweet grains. Is that a faint smell of french-toast? Still, the hops prevail. Taste - Hop bitterness takes the first swing: spicy and sweet, flowers and earth. Behind it, though, lies a solid malt backbone which holds up the hops, keeping them from overpowering the pallate. Feel - Light bodied with good carbonation. Finish - Floral hops gently remain on the tongue, but overall, a clean finish. Overall Impression - You can tell when a brewer cares about the hops. Osiris has clearly been made by brewers who care. This dry-hopped APA is a meditation on the power of the hop. From initial smell through taste through the finish, Osiris dances on the pallate, showing the beauty of what hops can be. This is one of those beers we really wish we could get our hands on more often. Truly delightful.
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Sun King Brewing Company Brew Reviews |
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Sun King Brewing Company 135 North College Avenue Indianapolis, IN 46202 Phone: (317) 602-3702 |
The idea for Sun King was born during their years brewing together at a large, corporate brew pub in Downtown Indianapolis, but the roots of Sun King go back even further through friendships formed and the close-knit nature of the Indiana Brewing Community. Both brewers began their careers over a decade ago by happenstance, while working in the restaurant side of things at two local brew pubs. From the moment each of them was given the opportunity to craft beer, they both knew they had stumbled upon something very unique and special. Dave spent several years as the Bar Manager/Assistant Brewer at Circle V on the North Side of Indy, which is actually where Dave and Clay first met when Dave helped Clay load kegs into his car on several occasions. They wouldn't cross paths again until a few years later when Clay was brewing for Rock Bottom in Downtown Indianapolis. By that time Dave had begun his career brewing for the Ram as the assistant to John (Johan) Hanley and Clay had taken over brewing operations at The Rock. They would often get together at the end of the week to enjoy beers and talk about life and the art of brewing... Through a series of circumstances that would take more time to explain than you care to read: Clay passed up a transfer to Denver with Rock Bottom and pointed them in the direction of John Hanley. John took the job and moved to Denver, which allowed Dave the opportunity to become the Head Brewer at the Ram in the summer of 2002. By the close of that year, Clay had ended his career at Rock Bottom and began a three year sabbatical that was filled with travel, fun and booze which eventually lead to the creation of BeerJuggs, the home-brewing instructional DVD. In the fall of 2005, Dave was in need of an assistant brewer to Replace Jerry Sutherlin, who was leaving to become the Head Brewer down the Street at the afore mentioned Rock Bottom, so he called Clay to get the phone number of a friend and fellow brewer... To which Clay inquired, “Why?” When Dave said, “I need someone who could operated a brewery.” Clay expressed his interest and made plans to drop by and discuss the details. Within a few days, Clay was hired and the two began brewing together. Over the next three years, Dave and Clay spent an average of 50 hours a week together, locked in a small brewery cranking out as many seasonal beers as possible while keeping up with the expansive line up of house beers. During their time together, Dave and Clay managed to create a reputation for themselves in the Beer Community and rack up a nice collection of accolades that includes 3 GABF Medals, 2 Festival of Barrel Aged Beer Medals, Dozens of Indiana Brewer’s Cup Medals and the award for 2007 Indiana Brewery of the Year. It was during this time that Sun King began to take shape. The two spent long hours brewing, scrubbing and polishing copper while discussing what they would do if they had the opportunity to open their own brewery. The first of which was that they would have no copper on any of their tanks, an idea they stuck with when sourcing equipment for Sun King. The rest of which have made their way into the overall concept of Sun King. Clay left the Ram in July of 2008 with the intention of dedicating himself to making Sun King a reality. After a two month hiatus in Alaska, Clay returned to Indianapolis where he holed up in his home for a month and drafted the Sun King business plan. He enlisted the help and consultation of his father, Omar, a highly motivated, self starting individual who has started and run more than his fair share of businesses over the last 50 years. The two of them got to work revising the business plan and pouring over budgets while consulting with their new attorney and soon to be business partner, Steve, who Dave and Clay had become friends with over the past several years because of his love of good beer. Upon Completion, Omar and Clay took the plan to one of Dave’s long time friends, Andy, who used to frequently have lunch at Circle V all those years ago. Dave had been discussing the idea with Andy occasionally and Andy had always expressed interest in helping make those dreams a reality. Needless to say, Andy loved the plan and agreed to take up the cause of coordinating investors for the project. In the Fall of 2008 Sun King was officially born! It has taken a lot of time, effort and perseverance to get the job done, but most of all it has taken the help and support of a lot of good people who believed in what we were trying to do. After nearly 6 months of searching by our realtor, Richard King, we finally found a home downtown at 135 N. College Ave. With the help of our project planner, John Bennet and a host of talented contractors and friends, our industrial warehouse space has been transformed into the first full scale production brewery since Indianapolis Brewing Company closed it’s doors in 1948. On July 1, 2009 Dave and Clay brewed their first batch of beer at Sun King, an English-style Barley Wine aptly named Johan. Sun King began distributing Craft Beer to the Indianapolis Metropolitan area at the end of July and have been gaining momentum ever since. In 2010, Sun King Brewing Company won two awards at the World Beer Cup: A Silver for Sunlight Cream Ale in the Blonde or Golden Ale category and a Bronze for Dominator Dopplebock in the German- Style Doppelbock or eisbock category. |