Though brewing beer is not offered as a major at IU, two former undergrads have gone on to make it their careers.\nBecause of the competition with large manufacturers and their cheaper alternatives, microbreweries might have a disadvantage in such a well-established market. But two Bloomington-based brewpubs have been operating successfully during the last decade. The owners of both the Bloomington Brewing Company and the Upland Brewing Company rely on students, alumni and city residents for business.
The brewers\nDoug Dayhoff graduated from IU in 1992 with a philosophy degree. After attending a business school on the East Coast, Dayhoff moved back to Bloomington, where he worked for a greeting-card company. \nIn 1997, Marc Sattinger opened the Upland Brewing Company, 350 W. 11th St., and since then the company has become one of the largest microbreweries in the Midwest, with distributors in every county of Indiana. Dayhoff purchased the company from the founder in 2006. \n"The neatest thing about the craft brewery business is that the people in the field are part engineers and part artists," Dayhoff said. "They are truly craftsmen."\nThe owner of the Bloomington Brewing Company is Jeff Mease. He was a business school student at IU for 2 1/2 years before dropping out to start his own business in 1982. His first business has become a staple for some students, much like beer.\nHe called it Pizza Express.\nMease was a delivery driver for the local Domino's Pizza, which at the time had the market cornered.\n"They were the only place in town that could get you a pizza from in under an hour," Mease said. "But they had bad customer service."\nHe thought he could do better, so he took the knowledge gained from Domino's, primarily processing orders, and combined it with his idea of customer service. Pizza Express was born, and is now a major pizza-delivery chain in Bloomington with five locations.\nAfter his initial success, Mease opened a restaurant, Lennie's, 1795 E. 10th St., in 1989. In 1993, after getting into the brewing business, Mease combined the Bloomington Brewery Company with Lennie's to create Lennie's Restaurant, Pub and Brewery.
The market\nThe two breweries are not competitors: Upland is primarily a wholesale distributor, whereas the brewery at Lennie's is only in-house for now. But both breweries rely on the same patrons for business.\n"Being near IU is so valuable," Dayhoff said. "Alumni come to visit and are exposed to our beer through other restaurants in town, and then they take the demand back to where they are from. They have helped us build our brand on a statewide level."\nMease attributes most of his business to his devoted regulars and word-of-mouth.\n"I think the biggest advantage is that Bloomington is home to a large number of open-minded folks who appreciate variety," Mease said. "Primarily, we target people who walk in our front door, and as a local independent restaurant, we very much rely on word-of-mouth and the goodwill of our returning customers."\nJeff Castor, 44, an IU employee and patron of both Upland and Lennie's, said he is just now getting into the craft breweries in town.\n"I simply like the atmosphere of the places, and I have come to realize quality is more important than quantity," he said.
The community\nBoth Lennie's and Upland recognize they can play a role in Bloomington.\nLennie's is expanding and creating a bottling facility just outside of Bloomington that will be environmentally friendly, fitting into a "think global, act local" philosophy that Dayhoff said both companies follow.\nCaleb Staton, the head brewer at Upland, said the company is trying to give back to Bloomington.\n"We just acquired some land across the street, and if you look at it, it has almost a natural amphitheater feel to it," Staton said. "We are tossing around the idea of maybe a Bloomington beer festival."\nDayhoff also said he wants to support the city through music.\n"It used to be that any college band could come through and easily find venues to play in Bloomington, whether at a bar or a frat, but not anymore," Dayhoff said. "I would like to try and develop the local music scene and make Bloomington into the Austin of the Midwest"
