Sampler at Hard Truth Hills
There’ s an economic anomaly occurring up at Hard Truth Hills that should make everyone in a tourist town sit up and take notice.
The distillery / brewery / restaurant, a wooded retreat into the world of Indiana-made craft beer and spirits, has been regularly packing their huge dining room with droves of visitors from afar.
The Sampler is intrigued. What sort of magic are they working up there on what used to be known around these parts as“ Firecracker Hill”?
Accordingly, I gathered up my beautiful and talented wife, along with another couple who are old friends, for a mid-week foray up to learn the“ Hard Truth” about this restaurant.
The beautiful 325-acre campus is rustic yet modern. The huge dining room is flanked by a wall of glass on one side offering gorgeous views of the surrounding trees and a long industrialstrength bar along the opposite side.
Although we came to sample the menu, it seemed wrong to pass on the primary institutional offerings of locally brewed beer and hard spirits.
Mrs. Sampler ordered her usual gin martini on the rocks( two olives) and my old high school friend had his usual, vodka and cranberry juice. His wife wanted a“ lemontini” with Limoncello which involved some negotiation between her, the waitress, and the barkeep, as they typically concoct all cocktails from their own booze. However, the bartender relented and produced what she called,“ The best lemontini I’ ve ever had, and I’ ve had them all over the country.” Both the gin and the vodka were said to be
“ smooth”. For my part, I stuck with two trusted favorites: a glass of“ Busted Knuckle” porter with a shot of Henry Sipes’ Straight Bourbon Whiskey to the side.
I went up to Hard Truth Restaurant expecting your basic pub grub— what one reviewer described as an American gastropub menu— but we discovered plenty of tasty and satisfying items on offer, enough that it will require several more visits to fully explore.
58 Our Brown County Nov./ Dec. 2022