First Impression: Books & Brews
Books & Brews is a new concept in the Indy area, it’s a used bookstore and nanobrewery combined. The front half of the store is a bookstore, and the brewery is in the back. I headed over there with Tamre from Tiny Table to see how the concept played out. I wasn’t expecting to be writing a post about my experience so soon, but I really enjoyed so expect a follow up with more details down the line.
The Bookstore
The bookstore is cute, but small. If you are looking for rows and rows of shelves like Half Price Books,
Books & Brews is not it. That’s not to say they have a bad selection, in my opinion the limited space has made their choices seem more curated. The prices of these books are crazy low. Paperbacks are $2-3, hardcover books are $5, and magazines are $1. A portion of the proceeds from these books goes to Indy Reads.
There are discussion questions scattered across the bookstore, which I love. It’s an interesting way to encourage people to talk and build community.
The Brewery
We spent most of the time back in the brewery. First of all, I was surprised to see there was food. I’m used to going to breweries and seeing food trucks. So having food at the bar was a nice change. The food is locally sourced where possible, and looked really good. I need to go back to have lunch.
The beers themselves were solid. What stood out most to me was the Lord Byron’s breakfast ale, which is an English mild ale. It’s a true session beer, and is a style I haven’t seen around before. I’m going to ask my husband to brew some for the summer because it’d be an excellent pool-side or lawnmower beer.
Overall
Books & Brews seems to be doing awesome for being recently open, and I’m really excited to see how they grow. The atmosphere is great, and the staff is friendly and willing to talk either books or brews with you. The northside has been needing a place like this, and I’m hoping it’ll be around for a while.
Books & Brews is located at 9402 Uptown Drive Suite 1400, Indianapolis, IN. Over by the Home Depot on 96th and I-69. They host a variety of events throughout the week, keep an eye on their Facebook page for the latest.
I was anxious to see what you had to say. The beers, for me, need a little help. They rang a little flat for me, but to be fair, I am a Belgian fan. The hubby liked them more than I did. I’ll be interested to see if they change their selection as the seasons change, or if it stays constant.
That said, I love the concept of this place, and I saw so many people say great things this weekend as they checked it out. We LOVED the people, and we’ll definitely be going back for trivia, and after I heard online that they are having a book club night, I may check that out too. I need to find out what books they are doing for that.
I’m not a hop-head, so maybe that’s why I like their beer selection. I hope they mix it up, just because it gives me an excuse to come back!
Hmm… Maybe Pure Geekery needs a trivia team.
(PS They have tabletop gaming on Thursday’s too!)
I’ve never been a tabletop gamer, but I’m always into competition…so I’m sure I’d have fun. Although, if someone were to organize a big Cards of Humanity game night, I’d be all over that.