Food & Dining Magazine has learned that Flat12 Bierwerks Jeffersonville (130 W. Riverside Dr.) is closed for good after a final day of business on Friday, December 20. This news seems simple enough, although the lifespan of the business in question was anything but.
Flat12 Bierwerks opened in Indianapolis in 2010 with a production facility and taproom located a mile and a half east of Monument Circle. In 2014, Flat12 announced plans to open a second brewery and taproom in Jeffersonville, which at the time was explained as necessary to meet growing demand, but moreover as a means of more efficiently expanding the company’s barrel-aging program in conjunction with distilling partners in Kentucky.
The Flat12 Bierwerks taproom in Jeffersonville opened in late 2014, with the brewery supposedly set to follow. However by mid-2015 there were signs of internal ownership fissures, with co-owner and head brewer Rob Caputo departing Flat12. Caputo became the interim executive director of the Brewers of Indiana Guild in 2015 and later accepted the position permanently.
There were further ownership shuffles, and the brewery never materialized in Jeffersonville despite municipal economic incentives predicated on its establishment. The taproom would have been able to continue selling Flat12 beers by purchasing them through normal wholesale channels or straight from the brewery in Indianapolis, as direct sales by small breweries are legal in Indiana.
(In 2017, the Urban Bread Company opened a location inside Flat12 Bierwerks Jeffersonville. Internet evidence is unclear as to whether this eatery was still in business at the time of the latter’s closing.)
But the most recent change was the biggest, and presumably insurmountable for the already orphaned (i.e., separately owned) Flat12 taproom in Jeffersonville. As it was revealed on November 4, Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis was itself purchased, to be quickly relaunched as Rad Brewing Company.
The Indiana on Tap website had the story.
Flat12 Bierwerks Relaunches as Rad Brewing Co. to Support Youth Athletics
Indianapolis, IN – Flat12 Bierwerks is excited to announce it will be relaunching as Rad Brewing Co with the mission to support and promote alternative ways of getting active with a portion of the profits going to youth sports in Indianapolis.
Every purchase at Rad will directly impact the local community through a donation of sports equipment to local youth organizations. The launch party is scheduled for November 29th at 414 Dorman Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46202. Changes to the branding and brewpub will begin starting today, Monday, November 4th, and will include a new kitchen concept, “Rad Burger.” Both brewpub guests and online shoppers looking to support Rad’s mission can expect expanded options of merchandise including apparel for dogs as well as outdoor gear and athletic accessories.
This reboot seemed to pose an existential question: How could a satellite taproom survive without the mothership? Indiana on Tap’s coverage continued.
Each beer will be themed after a sport or athletic activity and each label will highlight on a rotating basis different local, national, and international businesses, teams, and individual athletes. The initial line-up will include, among others:
Beer Name (Style) – Initial Label Feature – Location
Gaelic (Dry Irish Stout) – Indianapolis Gaelic Athletic Association – Indianapolis, IN
Power Jam (Sweet Red Ale) – Chloe Bouffard (Roller Skating) -Ottawa, Ontario
Freestyle (Rad IPA) – Aguska Mnich (Freestyle Soccer World Champion) – London, England
Naptown Fit (Light Cream Ale) – Naptown Fitness – Indianapolis, IN
Endurance (Session IPA) – The Road Sodas (Running Group) – Indianapolis, IN
Breakin’ (Electric Pale Ale) – 31svn Street Dance Academy – Fishers, IN
Belay (Honey Brown Ale) – Climb Time (Rock Climbing Gym) – Indianapolis, INFlat12 favorites such as Half Cycle IPA, Pogue’s Run Porter, Tinker Brown, and Cucumber Kolsch will be kept under Rad as the “Indiana Classics Series.” Many other recipes will remain but will be relaunched with new names. Relationships with drivers Jarett Andretti and James Hinchcliffe will continue under the Rad moniker with their products Jarett Andretti 18 (Orange Wheat Ale) and Hinchtown Hammerdown (Pilsner).
It is unclear what will be coming next for the vacant building. We’ll be back with an update as the situation evolves.
