B-SIDES: Terre Haute’s long brewing history is about to enter a new era

By Mark Bennett
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE Tue, May 13 2008

— I have no authority to do this, but I feel it’s my civic duty to invite the King of Belgium, Albert II, to come to Terre Haute and drink beers — made here, but inspired by monks from his homeland — with us, Hautean commoners.
I know. It sounds ridiculous, but hear me out.
Terre Haute’s long brewing history — dating back 170 years — is about to enter a new era, and Belgium has everything to do with it. Now, the folks driving this intercontinental link are Midwesterners, but they have a spiritual connection to that tiny European country.
It starts with Ted Miller, a 36-year-old IUPUI grad and a globetrotting beer maker. He’s been crafting a variety of Belgian beers at his microbrewery and restaurant, Brugge Brasserie, in Indianapolis’ eclectic Broad Ripple district for the past two and a half years.
But Miller has also longed to share that sweet, rich tasting beer — created hundreds of years ago by Belgian monks — with the rest of Indiana. The problem was, Miller’s Broad Ripple facility had a limited production capacity.
The answer to that dilemma awaited on South Ninth Street in Terre Haute.
That’s where Mike Rowe had resurrected the Terre Haute Brewing Co. and its signature beer, Champagne Velvet, in 2000. That area around Ninth and Poplar streets, once known as Terre Haute’s brewing district, hadn’t produced a drop since the Terre Haute Brewing Co. closed in 1958. Rowe and his wife Teri uncovered the long-lost Champagne Velvet recipe and made that beer until late last year, when he contemplated a sale. That plant, historic but high-tech, could produce 3,000 cases of beer a month, so Miller and some business partners bought the building and its equipment. In the deal with Miller, Rowe retained ownership of the Terre Haute Brewing Co. name and the rights to Champagne Velvet, and he’s hinted the beer could reappear in the form of a downtown microbrewery.
In the meantime, the new Vigo Brewing Group has the former Terre Haute Brewing Co. building hopping again.
Next week, draft versions of five of Brugge’s Belgian beers will be available in restaurants and bars around Terre Haute and Indianapolis, Miller said. In about two months, those brews — Brugge White, Brugge Black, Dubbel, Triple de Ripple and Sacre Fleur Saison — will show up in bottles on liquor, grocery store shelves and ritzy restaurants around Indiana.
Why would swank restaurants serve beer in bottles? Well, Belgian beer isn’t Pabst Blue Ribbon.
“It’s more in-depth. It’s more complex,” Mike Conroy, a Vigo Brewing Group investor from Carmel, said Wednesday as he watched head brewer Micah Weichert check a vat of Triple de Ripple. “You’re going to taste a lot of different flavors that you’re not going to taste in a Miller Lite. A lot of our beers are going to be more comparable to a wine. They pair well with food.”
So, at a high-end restaurant, a good steak goes with a bottle of Brugge just as well as a glass of Merlot.
The Brugge White hints of Curacao orange peels and coriander, while Sacre Fleur Saison features rose petal flavors.
“It’s more of a sipping beer,” Conroy explained. “It’s not a beer you’re going to pound.”
But Belgian beers can do their own pounding. Take Triple de Ripple, which packs a 10-percent alcohol content. “Very easy drinking, but with a velvet hammer,” Conroy said.
Weichert grinned at that. The 29-year-old has been making beer for eight years, and moved with his wife and their 18-month-old son to Terre Haute from Lawrence, Kan., when Miller offered him the job as head brewer. Though he’ll miss his beloved Kansas Jayhawks basketball team, Weichert sees himself adding to a rich tradition here. “We’d like to turn this area into a revived historic brewing district,” Weichert said.
The Brugge Belgian beers will have some help doing that. The Vigo Brewing Group is also brewing an American-style of beers for a new Indianapolis-based group called the Wabash Valley Beer Co.
Yes, in addition to making those unique Belgian drinks, this Terre Haute plant will also produce five kinds of beer bearing the name “Wabash Valley” on the label. And those brews could help “BMC” customers — folks who favor Budweiser, Miller or Coors — gradually acquire a more sophisticated palate. The Wabash Valley Beer will be a craft brew more common in America, including amber, porter, pale ale, wheat and pilsner versions.
Weichert calls those “entry-level” beers, a step up from BMC, and a step closer to the Belgians. Weichert developed the recipes for the Wabash Valley Beers, using elements of similar brews he made in Kansas and Hawaii. “We’re trying to make them really user-friendly,” Weichert said.
Those Wabash Valley Beer brands should also be ready for draft taps in restaurants and beers next week, along with the Brugge Belgians, Weichert said.
The goal is to make Brugge available throughout the state. The draft brewing industry, soaring around the country, has a much smaller penetration into the Indiana market, said Vigo Brewing Group marketing adviser and investor Charlie Midgley. But the unique taste, and the strength of distribution partner World Class Beverage, gives Brugge a prime opportunity, Midgley explained, and Terre Haute’s brewing background sweetens the possibilities.
“We look at it as history in the middle of transition,” Midgley said, “and we don’t want to do anything to eradicate that part of history. We want to embellish it, add to it and do whatever we can to develop that part of downtown Terre Haute.”
So, what do you say, King Albert? You probably know a good Triple de Ripple when you taste it. Why not fly in to Hulman International Airport, sip a Brugge or two and catch an ISU basketball game this December? You won’t feel lost. Our city’s name comes from your neighbors, the French, after all. And the brewery even has a Belgian flag hanging from the rafters. We’ll even throw in a plate of Belgian waffles from IHOP.
Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.

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