Text and Photos
By Shari Benyousky
Guest Columnist

Column Note: This is the 34th column in the Diners and Dives series in which a small group of Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club members and their guests road trip to explore the restaurants of Kosciusko and the surrounding area.

WARSAW — Lore is the body of traditions or stories passed on by mouth. A hop is a flower used to brew flavorful beer. Both stories and beer are the specialties of Stefan King, co-owner and brewer at HopLore Brewing Company.

Last week, we visited HopLore Ghost Spot Warsaw located on the fringe of downtown Warsaw at 307 W. Market St. From its long row of front windows, you can see the courthouse dome. Brewer Stefan wears a beard and a top knot. His brown eyes light up when he discusses brewing beer.

The Food Story

The story of the food at HopLore is tasty but complicated. After a few renovations which begin this coming week, HopLore will soon welcome Mi Lindo Acapulco from its former location. The well-known Acapulco menu will pair with craft brews. Keep an ear out for the grand opening announcement.

Today though, Chef Cory Sidel made our lunch of assorted quesadillas including shrimp elote, tortilla-crusted chicken, and shaved ribeye steak with pico. We also ordered cheesy tater tots.

Just as we passed around the plates to share, our waiter and bartender Corey (yep, there are two – Chef Cory and Bartender Corey) brought out a huge platter of ahi tuna tacos with mango pearls and pickled red cabbage.

What’s a pearl? It’s a glamorous golden sphere filled with flavor. The pearls glowed on the top of the tacos and then melted in the mouth.

The Story Of The Wildcards

We also had invited wildcard guests from Black Pine Animal Sanctuary because every September, Black Pine runs an event called Lions, Tigers, and Beer to raise money for the animals. While she managed cheesy tater tots with one hand, Executive Director Letricia Nicols pulled up pictures of her favorite large cats to show us on her phone.

“This is Petronas. He’s one of our Tiger King rescue cats, and my favorite.” Black Pine also rescues numerous other animals like snakes, birds, bears, and even alligators (the infamous alligator rescued from a fraternity bathtub, for example).

“I even make a beer called Florida Whip,” injected Brewer Stefan. “There’s an alligator on the label.” This brought some discussion of how Stefan chose brew names and descriptions before returning to the logistics of keeping wild animals in captivity.

“What advice do you give people who visit?” I asked Letricia.

Letricia brushed back her white-blonde hair and laughed. “First and most important thing. Don’t go into the animal cages! Everybody, everybody, wants to feed the animals. Bad idea!”

“Especially if you have steak,” laughs Tom Tearney as he holds a steak quesadilla. Tom is a local banker and member of the Black Pine Board of Directors. We are also lucky enough to claim both Tom and Letricia as members of the Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club.

After some excellent brainstorming involving the names of possible beers connected with animals. REMAX Jeff asked Stefan if he could create a beer called “Tiger Bait Beer.” On the label would be a banker with a steak tied around their neck.

“I’d buy a case.” I chuckled. “Sorry bankers.”

The beer brewers didn’t dismiss any of the brainstorming. “You never know what might come out of discussions,” Bartender Corey shrugged.

The Story Of Brewing

“Who starts earlier in the morning?” REMAX Realtor Jeff Owens asked Brewer Stefan. “A bread guy or a brew guy?”

“Oh, I like to start by 5 or 6 a.m.,” Stefan folded his arms on the back of this chair and grinned. Both beer and bread people use yeast, and Stefan clearly loves to discuss how. Bartender Corey is Stefan’s Apprentice Brew-hand.

“Tell me about your most interesting craft beer.” 1st Source Banker Paul asked.

“Easily Imperial Amish Krack. Known as Donut Beer,” Stefan and Corey nodded simultaneously “It’s A STORY TOO! Somewhere there’s a video that like 20k people watched when we started. Now, every year we brew a donut beer for Christmas, and it sells out. I take 15 dozen Rise and Roll crack doughnuts and brew them in an imperial stout.

You know stout?” He educated us. “Stout has tastes of chocolate and coffee. The donuts add cinnamon and sugar in there.” Rise and Roll Donuts recently won best donut in the country. “It’s in some donut magazine. Look it up,” Stefan grins.

Stefan’s Amish Krack Donut beer is brewing now, but it will be ready for the HopLore Leesburg Dec.16  Christmas Party. “But I don’t make beer,” Stefan ruminated. “I like to say that I make the conditions right for beer. The yeast does all the heavy lifting.”

The Downtown Story

Brewer Stefan runs a restaurant and brews the beer, but he doesn’t miss an opportunity to promote his local small business colleagues. He reminded us about the Go Rogue Downtown Business group which has the goal of figuring out how to bring more people down to local businesses.

“Look,” he told us. “HopLore did an economic impact report. Since we’ve opened, we’ve spent more than $200k on local businesses ourselves. And more than a million in payroll! We impact the local business economy A LOT. We wish more people understood that and kept their dollars local.”

So, just in time for Black Friday, consider spending your Christmas dollars locally. Check out HopLore in Leesburg while you’re waiting for the Warsaw location to reopen. Check out Tacos and Talent on Tuesday nights with Bartender Corey too. Both locations have plenty of parking.

And be sure to check out Black Pine Animal Sanctuary when they reopen to the public in May or send some love their way on Giving Tuesday.

Another Cat Story

HopLore is also the current recording location for the local podcast The Freedom Cats. Stefan King is one of the three main hosts, which also includes Chris Plack and Jody Claypool. The guys specialize in long rambles about movies, media, local politics, and conspiracy theories with cat-itude. They record on Saturday mornings if you want to hear them meow live.

Do you know of an interesting place, restaurant, nonprofit, or person that you’d like to see featured in Dives and Diners or in Profiles behind the scenes someday? Send SB Communications LLC an email at [email protected].