In case you missed the excited announcement a few weeks back, we finally signed a lease for our production space and tasting room on the near-Eastside of Indy. Nothing could make us happier than being in this area of town, and here is why:
1. We live here. Aaron has lived on the near Eastside since 2008, and I moved into the neighborhood in 2011. We know and love our neighborhood and have fierce near-Eastside pride. We go to the Legacy Center for our gym. We shop at Pogue’s Run Grocer. Aaron preceded both Flat 12 and Smoking Goose, and we were thrilled when they came to our neighborhood. We considered a place on Michigan Street at one point during our location hunt, and also looked at the Circle City Industrial Complex on E. 10th street. All in all, our ideal location was anywhere on the near-Eastside, even though we were willing to take anything that would work. When we finally found the site that’s less than a mile from our house and checks every other box on our list, we were thrilled.
2. It's perfect for what we need. We are actually leasing two separate addresses, both owned by the same landlord, Joel. One of the buildings, 2112 E. Washington St., is the former location of Bob’s ‘Your Favorite’ Thrift Store. It had an overhead door, a floor drain, tall ceilings, concrete floors, and a huge, open floorplan when we found it, which is everything we need to both start and grow our production facility. It was also stuffed to the gills with hoarder's-level junk, but that's beside the point. We plan to follow a business model that focuses on production, which means we won't just produce cider for our tasting room, we'll focus on getting our cider to bars, restaurants, and, eventually, liquor stores. The production facility is about 7,500 sq. ft. and based off our initial equipment orders, we have ROOM TO GROW if you love our cider. The second space is a beautiful historic building that will be perfect for our tasting room.
3. It has history. East Washington Street is part of historic US 40, which used to cross the entire United States and still reaches from Colorado to New Jersey. In fact, it used to be called the National Road, and was the first federally funded highway project created by a Congressional Act in 1806. In addition to being on an historic road, the building where our tasting room will be is also full of history.
Our trusty cidery can withstand a tornado!
It survived a tornado and a freak thunderstorm and has housed dozens of businesses, many of them taverns. And now it’s ready to be a … tavern again, kinda. A cider tavern! Given the American Cider Tradition, having a cider tasting room only seems fitting. Check out this awesome post on Historic Indianapolis to find out more about the history of our tasting room.
4. It can be a catalyst for development. Aaron and I believe in investing in our communities. East Washington Street is targeted to be one of the Great Places 2020. We love the idea of bringing a business to a neighborhood that is primed for redevelopment. Given that our business in Willard Park is right next door to our home in Holy Cross means that we’ll get to improve our own neighborhood through our business and show off our corner of Indianapolis to Ash & Elm’s visitors. We can’t wait to share our space and our cider (of course) with you in the next few months.
