New Day Meadery

I've lived in Fountain Square for the last year and always ignored New Day.  I saw the people that went there and the aesthetics of the place and my response was always, "Booshie fucks." Unbeknownst to me, my punk rock disdain was keeping me from one of Indy's more interesting places to grab a drink.

I realize that this is a beer blog and meads, another fermentable drink, are not really beer. What got me thinking was that one of Professor Beer's favorite drinks was New Day's Imperial Breakfast Magpie. A wonderful brew with a short run, it made me question what New Day had to offer to the already saturated Indy beer scene.


What they brought was a refreshing, unique way of presenting brews that blur the line of beer, braggot, and mead into a taproom that offers a spectrum of fermentables.


New Day offers ciders, honey wines and still meads, as well as their product in mixed cocktails. The taproom is small and modern.  Clean, minimal design with the "bar" being waist high with no chairs to encourage a more engaged customer, as well as little lounge areas finished with plump couches.  It's comfortable and high brow, which is a contrast to the typical blue collar aesthetic of breweries.


Their ciders are crisp and clean and they offer varieties that perfectly run the gambit from a dry palate smacked to a sweet, sugary drunk apple juice.  The two brews of special importance to the BEER barons would be the ReThinker and the Snap Dragon.


The ReThinker is my favorite offering at New Day.  It's a sparkling blueberry mead that has been dry hopped with Cascade hops. I'm not a fruit beer guy, but damn, this is good.  Fruit sweet complemented with the bright, but bitter hops that lend some floral notes just makes for a surprisingly complex brew.  It's weird to say this, but definitely 4.5 heads on this one.


The Snap Dragon is what I think Blue Moon would taste like if it actually tasted good.  It's a mix of apricot and honey wine as well as orange peel, corriander, Hallertau hops, and Belgian Wit yeast.  Yeah, exactly.  It is as awesome as it sounds. I'm personally not a big fan of Belgian Wits or corriander, but I could drink this all summer.  4 happily surprised heads.


New Day Meadery is another feather in Indianapolis' brewers cap.  Despite its high brow aesthetic, the brews are all incredibly approachable and you could take a date, your mom, and even have a bro date with a fellow beer blogger and not be ashamed that two giant men are quaffing honey brews and are surprisingly drunk.  Like Vikings!

The Big Guy: We were totally like vikings. New Day Meadery is like one part winery, one part brewery and one part swanky coffee house. The atmosphere is trendy and upscale, but the people behind the bar are knowledgeable and easy to talk to. This is definitely one of the classier places I have been while doing "research" for this blog. The Little Lady is already mad at me for going with El Duque instead of her. Unlike El Duque I AM a big fan of wits and coriander especially on a hot Indiana summer day, so Snap Dragon was my favorite mead they had on tap. I couldn't believe how light, refreshing and close in flavor to a solid summer beer this was. What New Day is doing really is their own sort of craft creations blending mead, ciders and some really cool elements from beer. I can't wait to make this place part of my regular growler fill Friday rotation.