North High Brewing Taps Into Zionsville

May 2022

It is with great pleasure that we feature North High Brewing on our cover this month. North High Brewing officially opened the doors to its first Indiana location in the space that once housed Nancy Noel’s Colours Restaurant in the Sanctuary at 75 North Main Street, Zionsville, Indiana, on May 20, 2022.

Expanding Into a Brand-New Market

North High Brewing was founded in 2011 and has nine locations throughout Ohio. We spoke with North High Brewing Director of Hospitality Grant Marsh about the brewery’s first location in the Indiana market and its relationship with COhatch—a coworking and social space company that originated in Ohio and is sharing the historic, former church structure as a result of an intentional partnership formed between the two businesses.

Olivia Ortmann, the community manager of COhatch, shared, “Our Indianapolis market is growing so we added a third [COhatch] location in this market. We are founded out of Columbus, Ohio, and this location is our 17th overall.”

Marsh added, “Prior to the pandemic in 2019, COhatch reached out to one of our founders, Gavin Meyers, about an opportunity. COhatch is a community of small businesses and incubator for startups, and they wanted to expand with the partnership of a brewery/brewpub to develop into a restaurant group. We’ve done two already in Cleveland, two in Cincinnati, and this [Zionsville] is the first of three in the Indianapolis market.”

Marsh and Ortmann explained that the Zionsville location is being used as a benchmark for what is to come with their other locations.

“Zionsville is our brewpub concept,” Marsh elaborated. “We’ll be opening our pizza concept at Circle Center downtown later this summer, and next spring, we’ll be opening our Broad Ripple location that will be a more polished, upscale version of the brewpub. So, we’ll have three different concepts in the Indianapolis market attached to the North High Brewing Brand.”

The North High Brewing Experience

For Marsh and his team, NHB prioritizes the overall guest experience above anything else.

“We want to welcome everybody and want them to meet the faces of North High,” Marsh expressed. “Obviously, we were founded on beer, but what really makes the experience whole is the combination of the food and hospitality. Hospitality is an emotion—not a definition. We’re not just beer, and we’re not just food, but we’re about the way we make the guests feel.”

We met with the NHB Zionsville staff, and they were inspired by Zionsville’s sense of community and walkability. They are eager to create new experiences for their guests and write a new chapter for the historic space in which they now reside.

“This is our second location that has been a repurposed building, and, in our opinion, this is the most beautiful location that we’ve opened collaboratively,” Marsh stated. “We’re looking to repurpose and keep the history of each market that we go into because we’re not a cookie-cutter, copy-and-paste organization. We like to consider what is native to that market that we’re going into and grasp on to that rich history and the culture of what is provided in that neighborhood, put our spin on it and be the best version of ourselves for that particular market.”

Patrons of NHB Zionsville can expect a remarkable menu consisting of a variety of options offering both traditional “pub” fare as well as health-conscious and vegan offerings. All of NHB’s sauces and dressings are made in-house.

We sampled and previewed some of the dishes during our visit as well as one of NHB’s seasonal brews, Beware of the Friendly Dragon, a Hazy Double IPA. A complete list of NHB’s beers, cocktails and menu items is published on the website, but the highlights we sampled included blistered balsamic Brussel sprouts with candied bacon, roasted grape tomato and balsamic dressing—made in-house.

Other notable menu items are the sweet potato waffle fries, fried pickle chips that are brined in-house, hand breaded and served with avocado ranch. The pickle brine is used in other menu items as well as in NHB’s Bloody Mary mix.

NHB’s house burger boasts a delectable “North High Sauce,” and the Hot Nash flatbread features Nashville hot grilled chicken, jalapeño relish—that is made in-house—red onions, house pickles, cheddar cheese, ranch and hot honey drizzle.

This was taste tested by members of our team and was given an excellent rating for flavor! And for those with a hankering for peanut butter and other sweets, NHB makes its own pies and cookies. The peanut butter pie features house peanut butter filling, whipped cream topping, chopped peanut butter cups and a chocolate stout reduction in a chocolate graham cracker crust.

NHB’s wings sauces are made from beer that is boiled down to a certain consistency with added spices and/or honey. The Honey Wheat Lager is used in NHB’s barbecue sauce, and the Pale Ale is used in its Buffalo garlic sauce.

It’s the consistency of its brews and quality of the ingredients that gives NHB a solid reputation as a brewery and restaurant.

In addition to a unique and cool vibe within its interior, NHB offers additional seating space on its exceptional west-face patio that looks onto the historic brick street. There is also an event space for private events that is located in the lower level of the building.

Marsh added, “The event space downstairs can accommodate up to about 50 people. We hope to bring North High Brewing to you to celebrate all of your special events.”

For more information about North High Brewing, its complete menu and hours of operation, please visit northhighbrewing.com/locations/zionsville. And be sure to follow North High Brewing on Instagram at northhighzionsville and on Facebook at North High Brewing-Zionsville.