By Sara Baldwin
The Indianapolis Museum of Art will debut its Beer Garden on March 31 starting at 11 a.m. The Beer Garden is a project that is tied into Spring Blooms, the IMA’s spring season outdoor exhibition, which will also open on March 31.
The Spring Blooms exhibit consists of 250,000 bulbs that were previously planted by the IMA and will all be in bloom.
“One part of Spring Blooms is engaging people in the Beer Garden on campus,” said IMA director of hospitality, Joshua Ratliff. “The Beer Garden is small in scope, with only 30 seats, but you can take your drinks out onto the grounds and have an outdoor walking experience with your beverage, which is extraordinary and fun.”
The Beer Garden will offer two beers on tap – Warsteiner Premium German Pilsener and Among the Leaves, a Sun King beer that is brewed specifically for the IMA and will not be offered anywhere else. Among the Leaves is part of Sun King’s native yeast project and is made using Liberty Hops, which are a species of hops that are sourced locally. The beer is now in fermentation.
The IMA will begin staying open on Friday and Saturday evenings, March 31- May 31. The gardens and the first floor of the museum will be open until 9 p.m. The Beer Garden will be open during the day as well, serving appetizers, pots of tea and Hubbard & Cravens coffee brewed using a pour-over method. Beer will be available during the day as well.
With four taps in total, beer is not the only thing that the Beer Garden will serve on tap.
“There is a Riesling on tap from the Gotham Project in upstate New York,” Ratliff said. “They are pioneering the industry of keg wine, putting high-quality wines in kegs to be served on tap. It’s a great way to help Hoosiers connect to wine.”
The Beer Garden will be open to all ages and is family friendly. An artisan non-alcoholic spiced root beer from Triton Brewing will be available on tap as well.
Ratliff said re-using salvaged materials from the IMA campus was a large part of his vision for the Beer Garden.
“All of the wood that is being used for the table is re-used from the greenhouse structure. All of the plates for service will be early 1900s blue slate roof tiles from the original Oldfields Estate,” Ratliff said. “The countertop is a big milled board from a tree that fell down here.”
Spring Blooms and the Beer Garden are included in the museum membership, or by paying the museum’s regular daily admission fee. The Beer Garden will be open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday noon – 5 p.m.
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