Taproom: Metal Works Brewing Company (Bloomington, IN) - UPDATED

I’ve been on the fence about this place ever since Function Brewing announced that they were selling their business to the Bloomington-based Endeavor Hospitality Group. Function’s posts on the social-media-website-that-shall-not-be-named are lost to history, but my recollection is that they sold to Endeavor because Endevaor said they would keep to the spirit of what Function had been doing. If Endeavor did make that claim, they have not stuck to it; they acquired a space that was already built out as a brewery and a restaurant, they slapped their own theme on it, and they bid the former tenants adieu.

You may have noticed that something similar seems to have happened with the Scarlet Lane Irvington location, which has yet to tap a single keg of their versions of either Natural Liberty or Saucy Intruder. They ran through the Natural Liberty that was left when Black Acre closed (which was a lot); and the Drinks menu on the Irvington page [accessed 7/16/23] claims that Saucy Intruder is “Coming Soon”—but that page has been making that claim for some time. (And yet, they’ve still managed to tap a number of kegs of their own stuff, despite what they claim to be grain supply shortages—which no other brewer that I am aware of has been complaining about—and a general amount of falling behind on production that they blame on “unplanned construction.”)

561. Metal Works Brewing Company (Bloomington, IN) - The Welder
“Crisp American-style IPA with Simcoe, Cascade, Centennial, and Amarillo hops.”
But I digress. I finally decided to give Metal Works Brewing Company, which is what assimilated Function Brewing, a try while we were in Bloomington this weekend. And I went into it with an open mind…I swear to Darwin that I did…but it just didn’t work for me. We got into town late Thursday afternoon, checked in at the hotel, and then headed downtown. Amy had a glass of wine from their meager selection, and I had this American-style IPA, which was lightly carbonated and had some kind of vague fruit flavor that eventually sort of resolved into something that might have been a shadow of amaretto. This was followed by a slightly bitter finish that smoothed out as the beer warmed. Not impressive.

562. Metal Works Brewing Company (Bloomington, IN) - Scrapyard
“The mosaic [sic] hops shine hazely [sic] in this light take on a NEIPA. Light, easy drinking, with a low bitterness profile. Hops contribute to the flavor and appearance, but not to the bitterness.”
Um. This one was also lightly carbonated, but had very nice peach notes that lingered quite awhile on the back end. It also has a smooth finish that is, oddly, both sweet and dry. Not bad…but I hope this low carbonation thing doesn’t become a theme here.

563. Metal Works Brewing Company (Bloomington, IN) - Journeyman Session IPA
“Rotating single hopped session IPA.”
Sessions tend to be light on both flavor and alcohol, but the former is not the case here. The 4.5% ABV fits the session profile, but the prominent tropical fruit flavor and the pleasantly bitter finish are both unusually strong for the style. Easily the best of the three beers I tried at Metal Works this past weekend.