BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: "Upscale microbrew pub franchise" comes to Jeffersonville.

Courtesy of Franchise Gator.

Long live the indies!

Whenever I hear the words "upscale microbrew pub franchise," I reach for Franchise Gator to learn how much it costs to buy into someone else's ideas.

It's not my preference in beer or life, and the older I get, the more often I shrug and yawn, BUT to each his or her own.

As an aside, when Growler USA's corporate HQ speaks of "certified brew specialists," are we to imagine they mean Cicerones? I googled the term, and the only hits I got were from Growler USA.

Growler USA opened in Jeffersonville on Dec. 6.

Craft beer bar and restaurant Growler USA officially opened Thursday, Dec. 6, at 3010 Gottbrath Parkway in Jeffersonville.

The restaurant features more than 100 beers on tap and menu items, including a fried chicken sandwich, skillet mac and cheese with bacon and the Bromance Burger, a burger topped with carnitas, barbecue sauce, bacon and crispy onion.

The Jeffersonville location of the Colorado-based franchise is owned and operated by couple Greg and Laura Brown.

Greg Brown told Insider previously that, despite being a franchise, the design of Growler USA will be customized to fit the region in look. It also will serve about a dozen specialty menu items not found at other stores.

The 4,000-square-foot restaurant seats 150 inside and another 60 on the patio around two fire pits. -- Caitlin Bowling

THE BEER BEAT: There's one small problem with the Growler USA franchise coming to Jeffersonville, Indiana.

So far this week, I've learned that Louisville City FC's new stadium might include a brewpub (but why wouldn't it be Falls City?); Goodwood has decided not to feature Colin Kaepernick on its cans; and Dave Bailey of the Hardknott Brewery in West Cumbria gets it:

With apologies to all beer historians. I am not a beer historian. I am not sure if I understand where beer history truth ends and myth begins. I do care, but just haven't got the time to keep myself properly informed on such matters.

Exactly. Let's get back to storytelling, shall we?

Meanwhile, the News and Tribune informs us there'll be a new beer business down the road in Jeffersonville. The header says it's a brewpub, but I think not.

Brew pub, senior living facility planned for Jeffersonville's Bridgepointe Commons, by Danielle Grady (News and Tribune)

JEFFERSONVILLE — A chain microbrew pub new to Indiana and a 103-unit assisted living facility are the first confirmed tenants of Denton Floyd Real Estate’s 70-acre Bridgepointe Commons project along Ind. 62, north of the roundabouts.

Growler USA, which specializes in beer-infused food and craft beverages, including beer, kombucha tea, draft wine, hard cider and mead, plans to open a 19th location at Bridgepointe Commons. The location is the restaurant’s first in Indiana, Kentucky or Illinois. The chain was started in Eugene, Oregon and has 11 other locations “coming soon” to different states, according to the company’s website.

Brandon Denton, co-owner of Denton Floyd, said the restaurant will have a large patio and fire pits for gatherings.

“It’s going to be really nice,” he said. “A great place, like I said, for the community to go and have a beer or have a nice meal or sit down and watch the game.”

Construction has already started on the restaurant, and Denton expects for it to open this summer.

Recall that a brew pub brews its own beer on the premises, but Growler USA isn't one of these. Rather, the reporter Grady gets it right, because Growler USA is a "chain microbrew pub" with a profusion of taps.

Growler USA: America's Microbrew Pub

PRIME TERRITORIES AVAILABLE

Craft beer is the fastest growing retail product in America. Growler USA is a craft beer franchise poised to lead the nation. Good food. Simple operations

The ever helpful Franchise Gator explains that you can have one for yourself for less than $700,000 up front (an amount that all but precludes a brewing system), so what exactly is Growler USA?

What happens when you take the basic concept of a growler refill station and decide to take it national? Well, what happens is, you get something like Growler USA.

But let's hope the Jeffersonville franchisee isn't planning on pouring beer into actual growlers for off-premise sales, because doing so currently remains illegal in Indiana unless the beers are brewed in-house.

In short, if a Growler USA franchise eventually arrives in Jeffersonville, the beers on tap will be for in-house consumption only.

Of course, a fire pit -- now there's a game-changer.