Small-batch Spotlight

Wedgewood Brewing Company

When the pandemic shut down Wedgewood Brewing Company’s tiny Middlebury, Indiana, taproom and halted 2020 expansion plans, father and son owners Chris and Cody Higgins nimbly switched to online ordering and no-contact curbside pickup. Fortunately, canning equipment ordered months earlier arrived in late March, and they wound up selling more beer in 2020 through carryout than they had sold in 2019. Founded in 2016, Wedgewood has brewed more than 100 different beers and typically taps a new beer each week. The brewery reopened in June and serves eight rotating beers on tap with more selections in cans, along with craft cocktails, wine, appetizers and sandwiches, all in a larger spot on Orpha Drive near one of the parking areas for the popular Pumpkinvine Trail. Cody describes the vibe in the new space with references to the 1980s sitcom “Cheers” and the Grateful Dead.

wedgewoodbrewing.com   
574.358.0265

Creative Cultures of Michiana

Inspired by a desire to provide her family with healthful foods, Peggy Niermeyer has been fermenting fruits and vegetables for several years. She launched Creative Cultures after taking a wrap that included her fermented carrot and ginger to her friend Lydia Scott, owner of Nourish Produce in Granger, Indiana. Scott liked it so much she encouraged Niermeyer to sell it at Scott’s farm stand. Today, Niermeyer’s products are often also available at Goshen Farmers Market and Market Wagon. Her lineup includes tart and tasty cabbage carrot garlic, turmeric, kimchi, red cabbage, blueberry and her best-seller, apple chutney… another reason to love apple season in Michiana.

facebook.com/creativeculturesofmichiana
970.980.8682

Guac N' Squat

In his line of guacamole, salsa and popsicles, the dynamic and spirited Johan Vazquez captures tastes of Mexico while also boldly riffing on flavors, with delicious results. If you are a new customer, he’ll encourage you to taste before you buy and tell you all about peppers—what makes the heat, why it varies from batch to batch, and why he’s not a fan of jalapeños.

Vazquez offers four guacamoles— traditional, pico de gallo, high-heat Nahuatl (which Vazquez says is named in honor of native Mexicans who introduced guacamole to the Spanish) and a no-heat Mediterranean recipe with cucumber and feta—plus a fifth flavor he rotates weekly. He makes red and green salsas, plus popsicles in unique flavors such as Strawberry Basil, Mango Serrano, Rosemary Lemonade and Guanabana. His products can be found, among other places, in Goshen at the farmers market and Maple City Market. He also offers catering.

facebook.com/guacnsquat
574.343.0527 

South Bend Challah Company

Sheer Brown began baking her own challah regularly when she moved from Israel to Michiana and missed the bread of her homeland. She shared it with friends, who encouraged her to offer it for sale. Today her most popular baked goods are challah, babka and rugelach.

Brown makes exquisitely cloud-like challah in loaves and rolls, with a tender crust either simply washed with egg or topped with sesame, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, “everything” spice or maple syrup.

Her wreath-shaped babka is dense yet delicate, featuring raised dough layered with delightfully sweet fillings. Her babka menu includes chocolate, cinnamon, double-stuffed chocolate Nutella, cheesecake chocolate chip, white chocolate ganache Halva pistachio and Nutella Halva pistachio. Her rugelach are made with a rolled dough spread with chocolate Nutella or cinnamon filling, then formed into many-layered crescents. Brown’s baked goods are available for order online.

instagram.com/southbendchallahcompany
facebook.com/southbendchallahcompany

Root & Revelry Craft Soda

Tony and Shannon Rogers have been brewing soda for over 10 years, first as Ublee Soda Company and now as Root & Revelry Craft Soda. Passionate about handcrafted soda, Tony brews in hybrid beer tanks made specially for Root & Revelry, scoffs at sweetening with any anything but raw cane sugar and flavors his sodas with only real ingredients, with no chemically derived flavors.

The Root & Revelry lineup includes Blueberry Lemon, Cardamom Grape, Lavender Cherry, Mint Lime, Orange Vanilla, Vanilla, Raspberry Shrub and Sparkling Joe. The Rogerses are expanding Root & Revelry production and distribution, focusing on placement in independent shops and groceries. In Northern Indiana, find them at the Rogers’s Uptown Café in Valparaiso and Coffee Creek Farmers Market in Chesterton, or order from the Root & Revelry website.

rootandrevelrycraftsoda.com
720.383.1722