The Taxman (Beer Fest) Cometh

The  folks at Taxman Brewing Company (13 S. Baldwin St., Bargersville, 317-458-0210, taxmanbrewing.com) will be helping to take the sting off of your annual correspondence with Uncle Sam during Saturday’s Death & Taxes Day, a one-day festival from noon to 4 p.m. celebrating the release of the brewery’s first hand-bottled beer. The far-southside hit of last summer and one of IM’s top new breweries of 2014, Taxman has been packing festive crowds into the former Tri-State Bolt building for samples and pints of a wide selection of some of Indiana’s best Belgian-style beers. Ranging from the refreshing La Maison with a slightly sweet, citrusy finish to the dark-and-malty Qualified quadrupel with raisin and plum overtones that help to balance the 10.2 percent alcohol content, Taxman’s brews are some of the most food-friendly beers to hit the Hoosier microbrewery scene in the last few years. And the gastropub burgers and frites served with one of nine sauces, including a basil aioli and a curry ketchup, have helped make this place a great destination even if beer isn’t your thing. A recently added brunch menu features such trumped-up comfort-food classics as a steak Benedict, chicken and biscuits, and an excellent cornmeal-crusted catfish and grits.

For the Death & Taxes Day celebration, Taxman is inviting a host of Central Indiana breweries to help commemorate the introduction of a new imperial stout—a beer the brewery says is aged for two weeks over Indonesian vanilla beans. On hand for the day will be such landmark producers as Sun King Brewing Company and Oaken Barrel Brewing Co., plus relative newcomers TwoDEEP Brewing Co. and Danny Boy Beer Works in Carmel. Also participating are Mallow Run Winery and Oliver Winery, as well as Mile Square Coffee and Freebird Farm & Homestead from Walton, Indiana. Providing the eats for the day will be Brozinni Pizzeria, Johnson’s BBQ Shack, and The Vintage Daisy Cupcake and Sweet Shop. A $25 ticket, which includes a commemorative glass, samples of the new imperial stout, and more than a dozen other beers, can be purchased at deathandtaxesday.brownpapertickets.com.