I took a mini-vacation two weekends ago to head down to Indianapolis to see my friends Janice and Jessi.  Since Jessi has lived there most of her life, and Janice went to school there, I was in good hands to get a good feel for the city.

I started off my time with Janice by going to Kilroy’s downtown Thursday when I got into town.  The place boasts long island iced teas, and as expected, they were delicious.  With 32 different flavors to choose from, I had to think a while before deciding on the peachy tea.  I loved the sweet flavor, but it was not overbearing, as I heard some are.  We got some of their famed stuffed breadsticks before leaving, and those were very tasty.

Friday, I spent the morning catching up on sleep, but then headed over to the nearest Starbucks to get some tea, but also to look at job applications and the like.  When she was done with work, we headed to Broad Ripple, the area of the city where Butler is close to.  We went to dinner at Twenty Tap, which as now thirty-ish different local beers on tap.  Plus, they had an amazing selection of food.  I loved the deep-fried cheese curds they serve, and think that they may be better than any I have had in Wisconsin…

Saturday brought the real fun.  Jessi met up with the two of us early on.  We started off with brunch at Patachou, which is right across from the Indiana State House.  After going to the mall, we decided we needed to see some of the great sites of Indy, which included one of the best breweries known to man, not that I am biased at all.  We headed over to Sun King, a new brewery that opened just about two-and-a-half years ago in 2009.  We had samples of all six beers on tap, and did the tour.  Yes, they have incredible beer (that I brought home in growlers), but everything there was completely FREE!  How can you pass that deal up?

Janice, me, and Jess at Sun King.

Not even a block away from Sun King is Easley Winery.  We had a mini tour of the facilities (seriously, it lasted about five minutes) and went straight in for the tasting.  We had seven different tastes and got to catch up on our lives.

Janice, me, and Jess at Easley.

After we went to the winery, we hopped back to Janice’s place to get ready for the main event: Tastings.  It is a wine bar in downtown Indy where you get a card loaded with money, and then you determine what 2 ounce samples you want to taste.  Tons of wine was sampled yes, but we also had an amazing cheese plate, goat cheese bruschetta,  filets with bleu cheese sauce, and homemade potato crisps with bleu cheese.  It was all fantastic and filled us up.

New favorite wine.

Sunday, I got to see the Butler campus with Janice.  The biggest thrill was to go to Hinkle Fieldhouse to see where the Butler team plays.  Unfortunately, they didn’t make it into the tournament this year, but I’ll still root for the dawgs.

I will never be a basketball player.  Never.

Before departing, we also saw the Indiana Museum of Art.  The gardens are gorgeous, and I cannot believe how incredible the Eli Lilly house looks.

At the LOVE statue at the IMA.

The last thing I did before heading out was grabbing a beer at Scotty’s.  While I now feel like I could hold my own in Naptown, I really do appreciate how much Madison feels like home.