On the market: Salt Creek Brewery owner hopes to sell craft beer business by Sept. 30

An old auto service garage located off a main highway may have seemed an unlikely place to start a craft brewery but Brad Hawkins saw possibilities in the Needmore garage. You might say he saw untapped potential.

In 2011, Hawkins, owner of his own construction company, was already pretty far into the hobby of brewing craft beers and he was pretty good at it. Lawrence County had nothing in the way of craft brews and Hawkins was eager to introduce people to new flavors and styles.

After scouting locations in Bedford, he settled on the old Cotton Evans garage on Trogden Lane in Needmore. It had the character he was looking for and ample parking. He and co-founder Darby Jordan went to work renovating the station into a brewery, incorporating lots of automotive parts and pieces into the decor.

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Salt Creek Brewery opened in 2012 with eight varieties of craft beer. To make the leap from home brewer to commercial craft brewer, Hawkins worked with professional brewers and knew he had a good product but it would take some time before locals came to appreciate what was brewing at the old automotive garage.

"The locals were uneducated about craft beer and didn't know what it was," Hawkins said of those first years. "Our crowd was always outside of Lawrence County until people got educated. We had more people from outside of our community than inside visit us … people from Ohio and Illinois came to the opening."

Over time, the business would grow to become exactly what Hawkins envisioned — introducing others to the unique flavors and styles of craft beer and serving customers who can appreciate what goes into making a lager, stout, blond, porter, wheat, cream ale and IPA.

But running a brewery and bar is labor intensive and after a decade in the business, Hawkins made the decision to put Salt Creek Brewery on the market. He said it's been a great experience with some fantastic memories, but he's ready for a change of pace. He said the long hours and challenge of finding dependable staff were factors in the decision.

He said he has been approached by prospective buyers and he hopes to be out of the business by Sept. 30.

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He and Jordan are meticulous about their product and held themselves to high standards. Depending on the variety, brewing beer is, at minimum, a three-week process with some styles taking four to eight weeks.

"Anybody can do craft beer in a college town or tourist town and it doesn't have to be good for people to come. Our slogan was 'Located where we are, the beer has to be good.'"

While the craft beers were front and center at the brewery, Hawkins added a weekly trivia night and live music to draw in a range of customers. La Cala Cocina served up fresh Mexican fare.

"I never wanted to just have a bar where you just serve people drinking beer to 2 a.m. When we started, the beer was always the reason we wanted people to come," he said.

As the brewery, the first of its kind in Lawrence County, gained a following with the Damn Blond Ale, the porter and the popular Switchback Sally IPA, Hawkins explored product distribution. Brown County Inn was among the first to carry his brews; Paoli Peaks, 33 Brick Street in French Lick followed as did the French Lick Resort. For the last five years, Pappa's in Bedford has carried varieties from SCB.

Another customer favorite — the Bradweiser — was created just for fun.

"We did the Bradweiser beer as a joke because we had people come in and say, 'What do you have that tastes like Budweiser," he recalled. "We figured it was a one and done and that was one of our bestsellers."

Hawkins also rolled out the Brad Ultra for a limited time to show that the brewery could produce an ultra light beer worthy of the brand.

When Salt Creek Brewery opened a little more than 10 years ago, Hawkins said the business was about the 32nd brewery in the state. "Now there are about a couple hundred in Indiana," he said.

In a business that's become crowded, Hawkins takes great satisfaction in knowing Salt Creek Brewery stood out.

"A lot of people who make it a point to travel to craft breweries, they keep a log of where they've been. We had one guy who had been to 200 craft breweries and we were in his top five, hearing that was pretty great."

According to the Brewers of Indiana Guild, Indiana has more than 170 craft breweries and there are nearly 8,000 people working full time in Indiana’s craft brewing industry. The economic impact of breweries like Salt Creek Brewery, according to the Brewers of Indiana Guild, is more than $1 billion.

Hawkins said he enjoyed getting to be part of the community, donating to local schools and starting the Salt Creek Brewery racing and biking teams.

He also credited much of the brewery's success to co-founder Darby Jordan.

"She's been my right hand on everything," he said.

Hawkins said he and Jordan had been working to reduce their involvement for the past year and preparing employees to take on more responsibility.

"Lots of people have worked in a restaurant, but not many have worked in a brewery, so it's a small percentage of people who have much knowledge of craft brewery," he said. "Sales are fine, the business is fine, we just wore ourselves out physically and mentally."

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The amount of work that went into starting the business, from investing in equipment, licensing, creating a brand and label designs are nearly impossible to quantify. None of that diminishes the satisfaction Hawkins felt bringing his dream to fruition.

"How many people can say they did the first thing ever in their county. Before Salt Creek Brewery, there had never been a brewery in Lawrence County," he said. "You live your life to do something."