After meeting with one of my accounts in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis, I ended going to have a late lunch at a place I had spotted along N. College Ave. at Broad Ripple Ave./E. Westfield Blvd. a few times. I knew it was a beer-centric restaurant with the logo of a cat holding a pint of beer on the sign out front. Here's what I encountered when I went to HopCat.
Well, little did I know that HopCat was actually a regional chain with 16 locations (the St. Louis location opened on July 28) that got its start in the great beer city of Grand Rapids, MI. Former hedge-fund manager Mark Sellers started the first HopCat in 2008 and today his BarFly Ventures oversees locations in large Midwestern cities such as Detroit, Louisville, Chicago and Minneapolis, as well as in college towns such as Lincoln, NE, Madison, WI, E. Lansing, MI, and Lexington, KY. The Broad Ripple location in Indianapolis was the first HopCat location outside of the state of Michigan when it opened in August of 2014. After recently receiving a $30 million dollar equity stake in the company, Sellers' BarFly Ventures is planning on opening up to 20 more HopCat locations - mainly in college towns - over the next couple three years.
HopCat's beer philosophy is that they only support craft breweries, so don't expect to see Anheuser-Busch or MillerCoors products - or their subsidiaries such as Goose Island or Revolver - on the spigots at their restaurants. Each HopCat location across the Midwest focuses on serving local craft brews as well as beers from such well-known craft breweries as Dogfish Head, New Belgium and Stone.
I was able to find parking in a public parking garage next to HopCat just south of the corner of N. College Ave. and E. Westfield Blvd. (see map). Entering Hopcat, I found a contemporary industrial space with an expansive dining and bar area. An eclectic mix of music by artists such as Nazareth, Bob Dylan, The Cure and Grizzly Bear was playing in the background at Hopcat.
There are a number of prints of rock stars on the walls throughout the place. Prints of Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards and Frank Zappa flanked flat-screen televisions on the hanging back wall in the middle of the bar area. They feature nearly 150 different types of beer on tap at the Indianapolis HopCat including over four dozen local beers.
There was a back bar area that is evidently used for overflow during more busy hours at HopCat. It didn't have nearly the number of beers on tap as they had at the front bar, but there were still a couple dozen on tap. They had a large keg room off to the side with a large window to the sidewalk outside to show the kegs of beer on tap. The keg room runs at a constant temperature of 41 degrees.
The men's restroom was wall-papered with covers of old Rolling Stone magazines. After using the facilities, I lingered in the men's room to take a look at some of the vintage covers I remember receiving in the mail over 30 years ago.
I ended sitting at the bar and was given a food menu and a beer menu to look over. The bartender explained to me that the various beers they have on tap are paired with specific glasses in which the beer is served. The beer list was almost too extensive as I found myself sitting there for a couple minutes looking over all the beers they had to offer. I finally saw that they had a Stone IPA and I told the bartender that I'd have one of those while I looked over the menu. It was served in a contoured pint glass that allowed for the foam head to settle majestically on top of the golden ale.
The food menu didn't seem to be any different from most brewpubs/beer bars that I've encountered in my travels. They had a number of appetizers on the menu, as well as soups, salads, burgers - including three or four cheese-stuffed burgers - sandwiches, and other items such as fish and chips, blackened fish tacos, and their "killer" mac & cheese where you could add items such as grilled chicken, pulled pork, peppers, marinated tomatoes, fresh spinach or basil.
I almost went with the blackened tilapia fish tacos, but I ended up getting the reuben sandwich. For a side, I got HopCat's French fries that they categorized as "crack fries". They played the fries up so much in the menu that I had to give them a try. Food Network Magazine called the fries at HopCat as among the Top 10 in America, but I didn't really think they were all that special. They were beer battered and sprinkled with a cracked black pepper seasoning. Quite actually, I thought the fries were rather basic in taste.
But the reuben was good - very good, in fact. It featured a thick layer of corned beef topped with melted Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing. The sandwich was encased in swirled marble rye bread and lightly grilled. The corned beef was tender and had a wonderful flavor. I concentrated on the sandwich much more than the crack fries they ginned up in the menu.
Even though I found out that HopCat was a Michigan-based chain after the fact, it's tough for me to denigrate a place that features well over 100 beers while focusing on a number of locally-brewed beers. In a time where shelf space in stores is getting critical for a number of fledgling microbreweries, places like HopCat showcase a number of local brews that some people may not have the chance to try. And although I thought they oversold their signature "crack fries", I thought the reuben sandwich I had was very good. The food menu isn't all that exciting relying upon the standby burgers, sandwiches, and appetizers to go along with the extensive beer menu HopCat has to offer. If you're looking for good standard brewpub/bar food to go along with a long list of beers, you'll find just that at any HopCat location across the Midwest.
Comments