Chumley's Pub, Lafayette

January 31, 2007

Chumley’s of Lafayette is one of the best beer bars in Indiana. Huddled beneath the imposing yet dignified courthouse building in downtown Lafayette, Chumley's occupies an historic 1850’s building and is a regular stop for professionals and graduate students seeking unique brews. Directions? Go to the courhouse, you can't miss it.

Please come into the beer house...

 

Dan Schreiber (below) has owned Chumley’s from the beginning when the “50 beers on draught” model was adopted. If that sounds familiar, the Chumley's in Broad Ripple is under the same multi-ownership umbrella and 50-tap model. But Dan's home is here in Lafayette. Like any beer enthusiast, he chomps at the bit to get quality craft beers on tap. And with a trailer-sized cooler, he’s got room for them to boot. With his permission we took a peek under the hood...

 

Dave Shockey (at the end of the taps in the photo below) is a manager at Chumley’s and a Beer Advocate. In fact we're here tonight on his invitation. He doesn’t push the food as much as regional beers. He suggests alternatives for the timid. One can imagine him taking an order from a customer and saying “New Castle? We have that but may I suggest a local beer with similar flavor?” Of course, he’s successful at it because he knows that the future of Chumley’s rests in getting new beers, and without new beers Dave’s future would be bleak.

 

The detailed, colorful beer menu is a venerable “Who’s Who” of regional craft beers. The list of 50 draft and 100 bottled beers is broken down by style: Two pages of ales and one page of lagers. It’s educational- with an explanation of each style, pronunciations, and a discussion of ale vs. lager. Given the sheer magnitude of interesting choices it took us well over 15 minutes to decide on our first beer to counter the winter chill, a Back Road No. 9 Barleywine.

Backroad’s beers are often on tap. Owner and head brewer Charles Krcilek (Chuck) is a high school classmate of Dan’s and makes the trip to Chumley’s monthly with a keg or 3 of his freshest creations in the back of his pickup truck. In fact, Backroad’s blueberry ale is brewed exclusively for Chumley’s.

Chumley’s takes pride in their offering of Indiana beer. Not only is their selection of local brews one of the best, they promote local creations. On Saturday they offer a special on all their Indiana beers.

 

Atmosphere. It’s a warm and comfortable “sports” bar, with a high ceiling and wood accents. A brightly lit neon wall hanging anchors the main seating area. The unmistakable outline of planet Earth hangs above... continents in green, oceans in blue, and beer taps wrapped around the waistline. The idea is that Chumley’s delivers on draft a constantly rotating selection of the best beers from around the world.

Four plasma TV’s located above the taps draw customers to the bar like flies to a buglight. In the background are the comfortable sounds of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steely Dan, and Pink Floyd.

 

But fumes of change are in the air. West Lafayette’s smoking ban goes into effect in July. We speculate that owner Dan and Dave are loosing a little sleep contemplating the new smoking policy. Business, especially from the college crowd, is likely to increase. Good for them. But will this alter the beer selection?  We speculate not.  After all, Chumley’s serves what people want, and the macro and mega brews simply don’t sell like the smaller craft brews.

 

 

We ordered another barleywine. Mishawaka’s Seven Mules was tempting, but we opted for the Upland Winter Warmer. At 9% it was noticeably sweeter and very smooth. With that we checked out the noticeably smaller food menu. Bar food is a clearly secondary consideration. We ordered- and can subsequently recommend- the fish taco’s, one of their best sellers.

 

Stop in at Chumley’s any and everytime you are in Lafayette... for the beer selection, if nothing else. It’s only a stones-throw from the Lafayette Brewing Company and the Knickerbocker, so you should book your room at the Holiday Inn Select before heading out on one of the best bar crawls in Indiana!

Thanks to Dan, Dave, and staff for a great evening.

 

The end of our visit.

The beginning of our next.