Four Horsemen Brewing Company Opens to the Public

3:00pm Thursday, August 18th - Let there once again be local, handcrafted beer in the Michiana area.

In my relatively short time as an of-age drinker, we haven't had many local choices for beer around these parts. In fact, for 16 years betwen 1992 and 2008, Mishawaka Brewing Company's Brew Pub on Main St. in Mishawaka was the only establishment of its type in my time that this area has been able to call "ours." Whatever actually lead to their demise, I like to think of it as simply: right place, wrong time. Michiana has been somewhat behind many other areas of the country in the desire for craft beer.

But now we're ready. Hungry. Clamoring!

Enter Four Horsemen Brewing Company. (FHBC for the sake of brevity here.)

I won't spend too much time on their background as Andy has already done an excellent job of previewing FHBC for this blog here, with additional pictures here. Suffice to say, the Roule brothers, Sam and Ben, and master brewer Stephen Foster have a passion to bring their brand of craft beer to South Bend. Yesterday, they collectively welcomed the public to their new tasting room. Here is the account of my wife and I's visit.

Unfortunately, real life interferes with beer drinking from time to time, so we didn't arrive at FHBC until about 6:00pm, well after the 3:00pm opening. As previously noted, the parking lot is small and at the time was full, but you can park on the street which ended up resulting in just a short walk to the building. Once inside, we were able to claim an empty bar table and a couple of bar stools. During the 90 or so minutes we were there, even with people coming and going, the average amount of people in the room was around 35. This in a room that seats about 50, so pretty good numbers.

The appearance of the tasting room is beautiful. It has both modern and rustic touches that make for a great combination. Music could be heard playing over the loudspeakers, but not too loud, which is appreciated, and you can never go wrong with ESPN on the flat screen. FHBC t-shirt samples adorned one wall/fence and additional merchandise - more t-shirts ($15), growlers ($6 empty, $15 filled on demand, or $10 for a refill), pint glasses ($3 empty, $4 filled), decals ($1), and snacks ($1) - filled the previously bare cabinets of the bar.

Sam, Ben, Stephen, and the other FHBC staff on hand were all very pleasant when interacting with patrons. The staff were equally friendly to strike up a random conversation with someone as they were knowledgeable about beer and helpful to those who weren't really sure of themselves and what they wanted to imbibe. Stephen could occasionally be seen checking his works in progress in the brewery and the guys gave tours every half hour or so to interested parties.

Within minutes, however, we did notice one drawback of the tasting room - It was hot. I'm not sure if their cooling system was inadequate or the temperature was directly related to the fact that the tasting room and brewery are separated in an open air fashion, but it could have been a little cooler for my wife.

On to the beer! As you can see in the picture above, FHBC ended up launching with a 4.8% Pale Ale, 4.2% Irish Stout, 4.2% Blonde Ale, 4.2% Brown Ale, 4.2% Black Lager, and a 4.8% IPA, as well as a 6.1% Pumpkin Ale from Evil Genius. Despite what the sign says, stating that the Black Lager, IPA, and Pumpkin Ale were samples only, we were given both samples and pints upon request. I believe this might have been only for the launch, but I could be wrong.

Speaking of the 2oz samples - they're free! This we took advantage of, trying out the Pale, Amber, Brown, and Pumpkin Ales. Of note, the Pale Ale is interesting in that it seemed to be an English Pale Ale; malty, yet almost cidery in nature towards the end. This would be no surprise given master brewer Stephen's background in German study. I also had pints of the IPA and Irish Stout. First up, the IPA, and it smelled wonderful. It tasted similar to the floral, hoppy smell up front and finished with a slight pungent flavor that I was unable to identify. The Irish Stout was next and again had a fantastic nose to it with roasty aromas, hints of chocolate and tobacco.

And the appearance! (Left.) Mostly very dark, a little light passing through around the edges and highly carbonated. Once it sat a bit, this subsided enough that I was able to sip. Again, as with the IPA, the taste throughout was very similar to the smell. This is not your granddad's stout though. Very mild and thin. For those shy of big stouts, you will not have any trouble choking down a rich, thick beer shake with this one.

Overall, Four Horsemen Brewing Company's initial offerings are all pretty mild brews. From our previous talks with Ben, we know their primary intention at launch was to make sessionable beers that are accessible to all types of people, whether it be the seasoned craft veteran or the craft newbie. In this aspect, they've certainly succeeded. You could find yourself very surprised at how many pints you've had given a little time spent at the tasting room. Their other aim was to not crush drinkers over the head with hops. We all know that is still currently trending in the craft beer arena, and I do think this is admirable of FHBC to not give into, however, I wouldn't be opposed to them hopping some of their beers a little more.

We here at TheBeerIsGood and many others we've spoke with in the Michiana area are excited to see what the future holds for Four Horsemen Brewing Company; if/how their initial brands mature or change, yet-to-be-announced specialty releases, and the introduction of their Horsepower Series, just to name some. Go down and check them out for yourself at 710 Fellows St., South Bend, IN, just southeast of downtown.

With that, we congratulate them and hope they become a staple of South Bend, so we say "Cheers!" and wish them the best of luck!