Scarlet Lane Announces New Head Brewer

Some very exciting news from our friends over at Scarlet Lane! Take a look at their press release below for all the details.


McCordsville, Indiana - Scarlet Lane Brewing Company is excited to announce Simon Sothras as the new Head Brewer and business partner to Scarlet Lane. Sothras comes to Scarlet Lane from Ninkasi Brewing Company in Eugene, Oregon where he was one of the original brewers that helped launch Ninkasi into being one of the most popular breweries on the West Coast. Before starting at Ninkasi, Simon was a winemaker for Eugene Wine Cellars.


A long-time friend to Scarlet Lane, Sothras will relocate to Indiana mid-November. Eilise Lane, CEO/Brewer and Sothras have previously brewed together while Lane was in brewing school at the American Brewers Guild. Sothras brings a wealth of talent and experience to the Indiana brewing community and will immediately become a partner in the Scarlet Lane Brewing Company LLC. Sothras will be joining Eilise Lane, Doug Sheets, Nick Servies and a primarily female investment team in the management and operation of the business.


Ninkasi Brewing and Scarlet Lane continue to have a close working relationship. “We are stoked for Simon on his new role with Scarlet Lane, and look forward to opportunities to collaborate down the road!” Nikos Ridge, CEO Ninkasi Brewing Company


Simon officially began his role as Head Brewer on October 31, 2014.  Sothras has a passion for Northwest style ales and is specifically interested in barrel aging, IPA development, barley wines and imperial stouts.


Scarlet Lane distributes its kegs through Zink Distributing, Boone Beverage and a self-distribution territory to service the Central Indiana region.


About Scarlet Lane Brewing Company:
Scarlet Lane Brewing Company was launched in May 2014 in McCordsville, Indiana. Owners/Founders Eilise Lane, Doug Sheets and Nick Servies are Indiana natives. Head Brewer and Partner Simon Sothras is a Chicago native with experience in wine making and brewing. The Company operates as a female owned business with majority female interest and investment in the Company. Scarlet Lane produces three flagship beers, Dorian Stout, Vivian Red IPA and Lenore Pale Ale, as well as, a rotation of Seasonal and Specialty Beers. You can find Scarlet Lane beers throughout the Indianapolis and surrounding areas.


About Ninkasi Brewing Company:
Founded in 2006 by Jamie Floyd and Nikos Ridge, Ninkasi Brewing Company continues to grow from its first batch of Total Domination IPA, to two brewhouses, a 55-barrel and a 90-barrel brewhouse, located in Eugene, Oregon. Ninkasi’s Flagship beers—Total Domination IPA, Tricerahops Double IPA, Believer Double Red, Oatis Oatmeal Stout, and Vanilla Oatis Oatmeal Stout—are sold throughout Oregon; Alaska; California; Idaho; Montana; Washington; Nevada; and Vancouver, British Columbia. The brewery remains privately-owned and is committed to community support and giving. Ninkasi’s Beer Is Love program offers in-kind donations and support for organizations throughout its footprint.

News from Scarlet Lane

Chris Knott will be parting ways with Scarlet Lane Brewing Company. Scarlet Lane has quickly become one of our favorite breweries around and Chris has done a lot of work to make sure they got off to the right start. Chris has been a great brewer with SLB as well as with the Ram befor that. We wish him luck in whatever brewery be works for next. We are also excited for SLB's continued success. 

Official release below.

McCordsville, Indiana – Scarlet Lane Brewing Company and Head Brewer Chris Knott have decided to part ways. Chris joined Scarlet Lane Brewing Company in January as Head Brewer. During his time at Scarlet Lane Brewing, Chris oversaw production of Dorian Stout, Vivian Red IPA and developed Saison de Silas. Chris was a significant part of Scarlet Lane’s achievement of three medals at the 2014 Indiana Brewers’ Cup after only being in operation for 2-months. 

“We launched this brewery with a clear set of goals on where we what to go as a business and what our overall vision is for the market. Starting a brewery is extremely stressful and requires a high level of teamwork at every turn.” Eilise Lane, CEO & Brewer says.  “It’s extremely important that we share an overall vision of the business strategy”. 

“Chris is an amazingly talented brewer and we wish him success in his future endeavors..” said Nick Servies, Founder and CBO.

In the meantime, Eilise Lane and Doug Sheets will continue production and brewery operations and development. “Chris contributed a lot to the brewery. However, we had different mindsets on where we wanted to take the business and how we wanted to do it. I look forward to seeing Chris’s achievements as he moves to something better suited for him personally.” Doug Sheets, Owner & COO.

Indy Beer News, August 6, 2014

Happy birthday to me! This is the 50th episode and 1 year anniversary of Indy Beer News.

Lots from 18th Street Brewing, Burn 'Em Brewing, Scarlet Lane, Mass Ave Pub Flat 12 and that only takes up two days worth of events!

The Dump Buckets have a new video from the Indiana Microbrewers Festival.

Get tickets to GPO at Zink Distributing and Daredevil Brewing Hops and Flip Flops

Scarlet Lane Brewing Co. is Catching Fire!

Yes I did just make a Hunger Games reference... my bad, but it's hard to describe what Scarlet Lane Brewing Company is doing any other way. These guys hit the streets running about three months ago and have already started taking the Indy market by storm with taps in tons of bars and restaurants throughout the marketplace. They've brought innovative and delicious beers right from the start without messing around with a blond, or a cream ale just to be approachable. They are daring Indiana to try craft beers that are more outside the box than what they're use to.

It seems like the creativity and skill have paid off. In their first appearance at the Brewers Cup earlier this month, Scarlet Lane came home with a gold medal for their Vivian Red IPA. Although not traditional in color, it has a big hoppy flavor that demands it be qualified as an IPA, and now we have proof that it's one of the best IPAs in town. They also brought home medals for their Coffee Dorian Stout and Paeonia Farmhouse Ale. I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at the coffee stout before it the Brewers Cup and it was outstanding; it was like mixing beer with a mocha latte. It's exciting to see a brewery that's so new do so well early on. We were fortunate enough to talk to Eilise about their success and what has made them a standout in the Indianapolis marketplace.

For those of you who haven't gotten to get to know Scarlet Lane yet, I'd like to introduce Eilise: owner, brewer, and Indiana's very own girl on fire!

Q. How did you determine your core lineup of beers for Scarlet Lane?

A. f you’re talking about Scarlet Lane in general, it was fairly simple. A Coconut Stout in Bend, Oregon is the beer that got me excited about brewing. Tonya Cornett, at the time with Bend Brewing Company, brewed a nitro coconut stout that was amazing! This beer was critical to my beer development and HAD to be a part of our launch. The Red IPA comes from both the significance with our name, Scarlet Lane, and the influence the Northwest has had on the brewery. We wanted to bring a nicely balanced IPA to our portfolio, but also wanted it to fit our image, so the Red IPA was born. We had different plans for our third beer, but after hiring and speaking with Chris Knott our Head Brewer, he expressed his passion for Saisons. Similar to my Coconut Stout obsession, Chris was really excited to put a Saison on the map as a flagship beer….that brings us to Silas. Our newest seasonal, Humble Peach started off as a joke when our partner and other owner Doug Sheets brought back a peach beer from the East Coast. We joked with him, made fun of him… and then all of sudden we are making a peach beer AND WE ALL LOVE IT. Doug is owed an apology and a big hug for that one. Our beers we entered for Brewers’ Cup were all along the lines of what makes us excited about beers: IPAs, Stouts, and Saisons. 

Q. You've done some great specialty beers for festivals and tap takeovers. How important are these unique options to you guys?

A. We think it’s important to always have fun with it. People get “flagship fatigue” and don’t want to always see the same line-up, especially at festivals. We think it’s extremely important to keep offering fun and engaging beers…even if it's just at festivals 

Q. Could they ever make it to the standard line up?

A. Yes. Humble Peach is one of them. We did it one time for a Tomlinson Tap event and it was so popular we are now going to do it full time. We gave a little sample of it at Fat Dan’s Deli and had such a great response we went back to the brewery to prepare a large batch of it for our summer seasonal.

Q. Vivian, your gold medal IPA is actually a Red IPA. What are the differences both in the brewing process and the final product that made it stand out from a traditional IPA?

A. We use a different malt bill to create the caramel backbone and color difference that sets it apart from a traditional IPA color. The difference of the final product is more of a balance between the malt and the hop that creates a little bit of a malty and toasty background to the IPA. However, it’s still an IPA so there is a big robust hop presence in the nose and bitterness. 

Q. As the craft beer scene in Indiana continues to evolve, what do you hope to see more of?

A. That’s a two fold answer. 1. We hope to see confidence from local establishments that they don’t always have to keep rotating tap handles. That in itself is not only exhausting at some point, but it detracts from the brand loyalty a local craft beer market can create. Quality is getting better throughout Indiana and there should be no reason why bars and restaurants should be scared to always offer high quality local beers instead of offering it for a week only to remove it for something else. 2. We hope to see a lot more of collaboration and camaraderie among local breweries. 

You have seen their beers at bars and restaurants, now their beers are available for growler fills at their brewery in McCordsville, IN. They just opened the tap room last weekend (on the 20th). If you haven't checked out this exciting new brewery, do so as soon as possible. May the beers be ever in your favor... last one I promise.

Scarlet Lane is getting ready to do a Winning Beers Tap Takeover at Chatham Tap on August 7 where you will be able to try all the awesome beers.

Indy Beer News- July 2

I've got lots of events this week including a bunch for Beer Week. Find details from Scarlet Lane, Triton Brewing, Flat 12 Bierwerks, Indiana City, Four Father's, Burn 'Em Brewing and many more!

Scarlet Lane Brewing Launch and Dorian Review

Scarlet Lane Brewing  located in McCordsville is one of many breweries opening this Summer around Indiana. Deticated to brewing high quality, yet humble beer, SLB got a jump on things this past Wednesday and with their official launch party at Fire by the Monon (ahead of their brewery opening sometime soon). The event featured 3 of SLB's beers: Saison de Silas (Saison), Dorian (coconut stout), and making it's debut was Vivian (Red IPA). All 3 beers are solid and indicate a promising future for SLB; my personal favorite was Dorian, which you can read about in detail below.

The event itself was fantastic despite a couple soaking rain showers (ironic considering the event was rescheduled to avoid rain). The SLB crew was making the rounds and it's always exciting to talk to the people behind the beer. There was also free SLB glassware, snifters in fact, which is always an intelligent choice. Despite the rain, Fire by the Monon was packed with people enjoying all things SLB and overall it's a good sign of things to come. 

Dorian Review

As mentioned above, my favorite SLB beer was Dorian, so much so that I made a point to go to Tomlinson Taproom for a 32oz bullet fill of it. 

From the growler into a snifter, the beer pours a deep reddish brown with a very thin khaki colored head. The pour off draft that I got had a more appropriate 1-2 finger head, so this is a growler thing more than a beer thing. 

The beer gives off aromas of cola, roast grain, and light coconut; the latter gets stronger as the beer warms. The taste is similar, but the coconut picks up and a note of semi-sweet chocolate shows up; cola note is still present, but there isn't a real sharp roast grain note. The body is on the lighter side, with some prickly carbonation, but there's a sense of creaminess in the mouthfeel; the finish is really hear nor there. 

The best way to describe this beer is a mounds candy bar in liquid form. Usually "coconut beers" don't have enough coconut, but this does and it still strikes a nice balance with the malt character. A very approachable stout and the strong coconut note makes this an appropriate summer stout. SLB is a fan of stouts as am I and if they keep making them like this I'll be a big fan of SLB. 4.5/5

The Big Guy: Scarlet Lane have been great friends to the blog for most of this year, and my worst nightmare was that I would like them as people but hate their beers. Thank God that this beer is outstanding! I was lucky enough to try a sneak peak before they ramped everything up to production scale. I was nervous that the small scale beer would be better than the full scale version, but the full scale brew was even better than the home brew version. The beer is dark and roasty with a nice chocolate malty sweetness. The coconuts are perfectly balanced to give you great aroma and a really nice light flavor on the back end. I couldn't stop thinking about my favorite Girl Scout cookies, Samoas. The beer is basically a liquid dessert, without all the heaviness that you get form a typical dessert beer. You can have as many as you want without getting the gut rot that some sweeter beers give you if you drink too much. At their Launch Humdinger I tested that theory and had as many as I could drink. I also give it an enthusiastic 4.5. This could easily become a new local favorite.