Indiana Guide and Deals

Powered by more than 45 years of collective experience, the staff members at Great Fermentations share their technical know-how with the public through classes and an intimate knowledge of the store's merchandise. Beginner-friendly brewing courses teach the fundamentals of successful beer creation, overviewing the process, ingredients, sanitation, and how to do a proper keg stand. A huge selection of brewing supplies makes it easy for alumni to go forth and prosper with all the appropriate equipment and ingredients. Great Fermentations also stocks provisions for creating homemade sodas, wines, and a variety of cheeses.

Each day, Robby’s Pub comforts guests with diner-style breakfasts, frosty glasses of beer, and diversions such as pool, darts, karaoke, and video games. In the morning, skillets brim with cheesy hash browns and meaty omelets, which can be dusted with salt and pepper or smothered with homemade gravy. Steaks range from 8-ounce rib eyes to 12-ounce T-bones, which the kitchen cooks to order for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Instead of capping french-fry mountains with hand-cut snowflakes, the kitchen tops them with a choice of cheese, chili, or bacon. Sports fans bask in team pride during NFL games and NASCAR races as the cooks bathe chicken wings in barbecue, teriyaki, and buffalo sauces.

Situated amidst 80 acres of rolling countryside, Chateau de Pique Winery hosts live music and wine tastings inside a fully restored, 19th-century horse barn. Glasses swirl handcrafted wines such as a dry, citrusy riesling and semi-sweet Lazy 8 Blush, a crisp pink wine with notes of waning ambition. In warmer months, a 6,500-square-foot tent accommodates up to 350 guests during special events, and two satellite tasting rooms provide sips in Indianapolis and Clarksville year-round.

In an interior that blends the aura of a club with that of a good friend’s living room, the staff at Shiraz Wine Experience and Art Cafe takes advantage of a location in Carmel’s art district. Minimalist geometric paintings reminiscent of Rothko’s work hang alongside classical portraiture on the walls. Beneath the swaths of color, patrons direct their own tasting experiences with self-serve Enomatic machines, which draw from dozens of bottles to dispense servings of 1–6 ounces of red or white wines. More than 30 domestic and international wines star on the wine list, from sweet rieslings to cabernet sauvignons to the deep red of a rebellious bull’s Camaro. Sharable plates, including baked brie with apricot compote and flatbreads topped with steak and Stilton blue cheese, fuel conversation.

Umbrellas stretch wide circles over a front patio, and both the downstairs and upstairs spaces encourage lounging with sprawling white couches and cushy chairs. Wide windows drench the interior in sunlight during the day, which gradually gives way to dusk and brings violet neon lights beneath the bar to life.

Indian Creek Winery came to be as the result of a 15-day road trip embarked upon by Mark Kendall and his wife. As the couple drove across the Southeast, they visited every winery they found between Alabama and Gatlinburg. At the trip's end, they'd acquired the inspiration to plant their own grapevines on Georgetown soil. Since then, they've developed wines that range from a three-wine blend called Dry Creek Red to a riesling sweet enough to make honey glow the envious green of a lovelorn alien. Visitors to the winery can take a seat indoors, or outdoors amid scenic views and live music, to pair red and white sips with platters of cheeses, summer sausage, and dried fruit.

The artists at Wine and Canvas awaken their students’ inner Rembrandts and Van Goghs with classes that pair a featured painting with specialty cocktails and wines. The mobile studio’s monthly calendar includes themed classes in which instructors expound on the nuances of painting Parisian street lamps, Japanese flowers, or Venetian cityscapes. The master painters—many of them local artists—provide step-by-step instructions while students mimic each stroke and periodically dip their brushes into glasses filled with crimson cabernet. Each of the studio’s various drink-friendly venues boasts a specialty libation selected to incite creativity or conversations with fellow painters. When the artistic frenzy concludes, students return home with a finished masterpiece large enough to conceal any wall safe or mirror portal.