🦉Lafayette, ever been to this local winery before?

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Happy Friday, Lafayette.

It was great seeing some of you on Wednesday for Dinner Club! The goal of this newsletter is not only to share what’s going on around town, but also to bring locals together. Dinner Club is just Lafayette Lookout’s first attempt at that. If you ever want to check it out, you can click the button below to learn more.

Dinner Club

Anyway, back to your normal newsletter stuff.

Here’s what’s in Friday’s edition:

A winery to check out
An old local beer
Purdue baseball is still alive
The events section

Wildcat Creek Winery

Go check out the winery this Saturday from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Just bring your chairs and settle in! Bruno’s Pizza Truck will be serving from 4:30 pm-7:30 pm, and live music from Bel & the Bad Wolf kicks off at 6 pm. Grab a glass, enjoy some great food, and unwind with friends as the music sets the tone for a perfect night out. It’s a great way to support local artists and savor everything you’ll love about the winery, all in one place.

Event Info

Photo Credit: taverntrove.com

Ye Tavern Beer

In 1863, German immigrants Frederick Thieme and John Wagner founded a brewery at 4th and Union Streets. Thieme & Wagner grew into one of Indiana's largest breweries, and its flagship beer carried an old-fashioned name: Ye Tavern Beer.

Then, just over a half century later, Indiana decided to go dry. On April 2, 1918 (nearly two years before national Prohibition) the state banned alcohol. Most Indiana breweries closed for good. Thieme & Wagner did not. The company pivoted to fruit juice and other legal, low-alcohol drinks, which would keep the lights on through fifteen dry years.

When Prohibition ended in 1933, brewing returned to the old Thieme & Wagner building under a new name: Lafayette Brewery, Inc. It revived Ye Tavern Brew, which had been marketed as "The Beer DeLuxe." Lafayette Brewery Inc. served the area for nearly two more decades before it closed in 1952. The brewery complex itself came down in 1963 to make room for the Harrison Bridge.

Anyone ever seen a beer can like the one pictured? I certainly have not.

Sources: Tippecanoe County Historical Association; Tavern Trove; Indiana Album / Indiana Memory; Indiana Historical Society.

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