Scotty’s Brewhouse – Downtown Indianapolis
1 Virginia Avenue #100The Children’s Museum wore our butts out. After a long day of playing (over 4 hours), we headed to our hotel in downtown Indianapolis. I got lucky with a Priceline Express Deal and scored the Hyatt Regency for just $62. We checked in to the hotel and L crashed..hard. Once she was asleep, J and I were able to turn the lights on, watch TV, and have a conversation and L didn’t even move.
We finally woke her up after about an hour and a half nap. We were all pretty tired and we wanted to make sure she went to bed at a decent time since the three of us were sharing a King size bed (the downfall to the Express Deal….don’t get to pick room type).
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Indianapolis for work. My co-worker and I had planned on staying the night, but we decided to just drive home. Before that trip, I, of course, scouted out some places to eat, so when J and I went back a few weeks later, I already knew what I wanted for dinner.
Scotty’s Brewhouse is a small Indiana chain owned by the people that own Thr3e Wise Men Brewing. The downtown Indianapolis location is a little over a block from Bankers Life Fieldhouse on the bottom floor of a multi floor office building on Virginia Avenue. It was about a three block walk from our hotel room that took us right past Monument Circle.
We walked in to the hostess area a little after five on a Sunday night. The place was packed, but that had everything to do with the Pacers game that would start in an hour just down the street. We decided just to stay. We put our name on the list and they told J they would text her when our table was ready. That gave us the opportunity to go back outside to wait. It was a gorgeous night out and there is a large outdoor patio with a fire pit and pretty comfortable couches that weren’t being used for service, so we waited out there. It gave L a chance to run around and somehow, run in to one of the little boys we went to the museum with earlier. His parents had the same idea and were heading in to put their name on the list as we were playing outside.
The wait was about a half hour and we were shown to a four top near the bar. We were given food menus, but no drink menus. When the waitress came over to ask about drinks, we were still looking around trying to see what they had. She finally went to get a drink menu for us.
She only brought one, so I let J go first. She ordered the Jessie’s Kickin’ Carolina Sweet Tea. The drink was a mix of Carolina Sweet Tea Vodka and lemonade with a lemon wedge garnish. J is a sweet tea fan and really liked this one. You got a lot of the tea up front and the tartness from the lemon on the finish.
I headed straight for the Th3e Wise Men part of the menu because I noticed they were on special on Sundays. What I didn’t notice right away was that the specials were no good on game days and since the Pacers were home, it was a game day. Luckily I did notice it because I was going to order three pints in all.
I started out with the Centennial Martyr Double IPA. It’s a smooth but not overly bitter DIPA and a good start to the meal.
The menu for Scotty’s looked fantastic and we both had a hard time choosing just one thing. J tried to start out with the White Queso Dip. Unfortunately, our server forgot to put this in. I asked about it after she brought our meals and she put it in at that time. It came out a few minutes later. The bowl of white queso is topped with seasoned Cajun beef, sour cream, salsa, and jalapenos. It’s served with white corn tortilla chips. It was a really good queso, I just wish we would have had it at the beginning of our meal and not the end.
For our meals, I ordered off the build-your-own burger menu. The way it works is you pick the type of burger you want, and there are several options, and the style. I chose the locally raised ground beef prepared in the Bugle Blazin’ Blues style. The fresh burger is topped with bleu cheese crumbles, bacon, and cajun spices. They must use some pretty spicy spices because the sandwich had quite a kick to it. The fresh, local beef was juicy and very flavorful. The sandwich came with choice of side and I went with the waffle fries. There weren’t many on the plate, but they were crispy and dusted with a seasoning salt of some kind.
J’s order was the 3Wm Grilled Cheese. This delicious sandwich cheddar, mozzarella, and pepper jack cheese with pepperoni and Thr3e Wise Men marinara. J was tempted to take the pepperoni off, but took a bite first and actually really liked it. She said the sandwich was delicious and liked the addition of the pizza elements to the classic grilled cheese. Her sandwich also came with choice of side and she went with the shoe string fries which mostly went to L.
For L, we ordered the Lincoln’s Chicken Nuggets. The four nuggets came with dipping sauce and choice of side. We chose the Mac ‘n Cheese for her, but we really should have just ordered fries. She took a few bites out of the chicken then started reaching for Mama’s plate. She didn’t touch the Mac ‘n Cheese at all so I ended up eating that. I was able to con her in to taking a few more bites of chicken, but she would have just been happy with more fries.
About halfway through our meals, J and I were both ready for another round of drinks. She went with the Frozen Sangria, but ended up with a Sangria on the rocks instead.
Since the $2.50 pint deal was no good due to a basketball game I didn’t care about down the street, I had to change strategies and ordered a 6 oz. Sampler Set instead. I still stuck with the Thr3e Wise Men beers.
Choice number one was Daddy’s Juice which is a Session IPA. Big hop flavor on this one. If would have ordered another pint, it would have been this one.
Sampler beer number two was Two Lucy’s Blackberry Wheat. This one was kind of a disappointment. I was looking for a big, sweet blackberry flavor, but the berry flavor was very subdued. Still good, just more ale-y than I was expecting.
The final choice was the Hubbard & Cravens Porter. I didn’t know it at the time, but Hubbard & Cravens is a local coffee chain and their coffee is used in brewing this smooth porter. I didn’t get a really strong coffee flavor from this one, but my pallet was shot by this point. I did have a refreshing, smooth porter and it was yummy.
Our bill came out to about $65 and when I looked around, the place had cleared out. We had a really good meal in downtown Indianapolis at a great brew pub serving up great local brews. For those interested, there is actually a Scotty’s Brewhouse location in Mishawaka. Might be a nice road trip to try out some of those Indiana brews we don’t get up here in Southwest Michigan.
Centennial Martyr Double IPA
White Queso Dip
Bugle Blazin’ Blues Locally Raised Ground Beef Burger w/Waffle Fries
3Wm Grilled Cheese w/Shoestring Fries
Lincoln’s Chicken Nuggets w/Mac ‘n Cheese
Daddy’s Juice Session IPA
Two Lucy’s Blackberry Wheat Ale
Hubbard & Cravens Porter
SW Michigan Dining 