11 Mar Jasper Brewery Mixes Puns & Craft Beer For Big Results
Do you have the time, to listen to me whine?
Did you expect anything else as an opening? I mean honestly, we knew it was coming.
In reality though I’m not really whining, more like praising one of my favorite Indiana breweries and one of Southern Indiana’s best kept secrets.
Welcome to Paradise.
Well sort of. Selfishly speaking, Jasper, Indiana is one of my favorite places in this great state. Some of the stories I have about the county seat of charming Dubois County are favorites among my circle of friends and nearby eavesdroppers, while others are, uh, probably best kept close to the vest. I don’t need to go into the hazy details of the streaking incident around the grounds of Saint Benedict’s.
You need not worry, I’m not writing this to fill you in on my (mis)adventures. Instead, I want you to take notice of a great brewery in Southern Indiana that is producing some exceptional beer.
Basket Case Brewing Company (now you hopefully understand the Green Day references) is a nanobrewery (1.5 BBL) located within The Mill House Restaurant at 1340 Mill Street, in celebrated downtown Jasper.
If you haven’t been to Jasper, a trip is long overdue. Baseball fan? The Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame is located here. And speaking of baseball, since the season is upon us, in nearby Huntingburg this summer you can catch a Dubois County Bombers game, a collegiate summer league team in the Ohio Valley League (they serve craft beer at the same stadium that saw Tom Hanks stalking the baselines and Madonna catching fly balls…insert clever joke if you must).
And who can ignore the infamous Schnitzelbank Resaturant?
I recommend visiting during Jaspers Strassenfest (July 30th-August 2nd 2015), where you can eat your way through fantastic German fare (good lord those apple strudels are great) and grab a pint of beer. At the 2014 Strassenfest Basket Case was present in the biergarten, showcasing a German Hefeweizen – Stairway to Hefen – which went over really well. I was in attendance and can certainly attest to it being pretty darn good.
Basking (sorry) in the musical realm of themes, Basket Case currently has 4 Greatest Hits beers – Maneater Blonde Ale, Revolution Ale (EPA), Busta (Nut Brown Ale), and my favorite, Hoppy by Nature (IPA). They are as good as they are clever and if you were in attendance at Winterfest, hopefully you were able to stop by the BCB booth and sample. As they continue to grow, BCB is experimenting with seasonal and anniversary beers. One of the beers they are currently trying out and excited about uses coffee from a local shop.
When asked about potentially moving into their own facility, Nowotarski indicated that they would ultimately like to move into their own facility in hopes it would draw craft beer fans to the area, but that is down the road.
Until then, don’t be a Nimrod (different album I know, but the pun still sticks), make time to visit Jasper and swing in to The Mill House to try some of Basket Case’s beer. You just might see me there and, depending on how many crazy good beers I’ve had, get the whole story about that streaking incident.
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