DareDevil Brewing’s Hops & Flip Flops Event:  Plenty of Hops, Anything But A Flop

About a month ago I started hearing about the Hops & Flip Flops festival that was to be hosted by Daredevil Brewing in Speedway, IN. I was very interested in the diverse list of brewers and the premise of having each bring a prized hoppy beer along with something decidedly ‘not hoppy.’ So I volunteered for the tough assignment of attending this festival and writing something to let those who couldn’t attend know what they missed. I did the polite thing and invited my wife, who much to my surprise, decided to come. Since she’s not a beer fan, I’m pretty sure the only reason she decided to come was because it had “flip flops” in the title.

We traversed our way across Indy rush hour traffic to Speedway and the Dallara IndyCar Factory. The craft beer part of the festival was inside while the music and food trucks were part of the larger street fair going on outside. Also outside was the signage showing the future home of Daredevil Brewing Company, but more on that later.

After filling our bellies at the food trucks, we headed in for the AC and the beer. After checking in and grabbing our tulip shaped tasting glasses we headed straight for the Daredevil booth and some Lift Off IPA. Despite my best efforts, I’ve yet to have the opportunity to try any Lift Off, so I was excited to finally give it a taste. It didn’t disappoint. Rip Cord Double IPA was also worth the wait and I am looking forward to Daredevil’s expansion so that they can keep up with the demand for both of these tasty beverages.

We headed on down the line wanting to try some other beers I either hadn’t had before (or ones I thought my wife might actually like). Highest on the “I’ve never had that before” list was a jalapeno smoked porter from Country Boy Brewing based in Lexington, KY. It had the pepper flavor of a jalapeno, without much of the spice and was uniquely tasty.  We dabbled with some Rhinegeist Truth IPA and Franz Oktoberfest, Bell’s Hopsolution, Hop City’s Barking Squirrel Lager, and Against the Grain’s Cutty Can’t Hang. I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried two sours from Jolly Pumpkin – Madruga Obscura and Weizen Bam, and loved them both.

We then decided to exclusively hit up the beers with Indiana connections other than Daredevil. We headed over to Flat 12 to try Flat Jack Pumpkin Ale, which I believe was the one my wife liked the most (she almost drank half of a tasting glass) and their Half Cycle IPA.  I had just been to Triton two weeks ago and had all of their delicious offerings in a seasonal flight there.  So we dodged the long line they had and tried some of the Indiana collaboration beers.  New Belgium was there serving Gratzer, a delicious smoked dark wheat beer, and giving out New Belgium chapstick (it didn’t taste like beer, unfortunately). Against the Grain’s collaboration with 18th Street Brewery KillaWette was a lighter but smokier wheat beer that was also fantastic.

We spied festival organizer and Daredevil co-owner, Shane Pearson, and got to talk to him for a few minutes about the festival’s success and his plans for the new location. The festival sold out early in the evening and everyone was having a great time. We asked him about his plans for a 2nd annual Hops and Flip Flops event and while he said he’d be hopeful to do it, he understandably noted that he has a lot of things to get figured out between now and then. The new brewery will greatly expand their capacity and allow for future expansion beyond that. The focus won’t be on being a brewpub, but a brewery that offers a very small menu.  We were excited to hear that there is going to be a large outdoor patio that will be family friendly (and possibly some family friendly space on the inside as well), but he really wanted to focus on this first being a destination place during race season for racing fans. He’s hoping to open sometime in the next few months (January), with the first priority getting the brewery up and running and trying to keep up with demand in stores for their beer. Once he gets there they will try and open up for the public (March ?).

Overall we had a great experience, got to talk to some people who were familiar with Indiana On Tap from both in and out of state, tried some amazing beers, and had a nice evening with my wife. 

Thanks to Daredevil Brewing and Indiana On Tap for letting us have such a great time and yes–there were a lot of people wearing flip flops–including yours truly.