Heorot

Bartender knew almost nothing about the beers I was asking about. Said, «I only drink IPAs.» So you aren’t a bartender, you just pour beer.

20 years going and it remains my favorite beer spot in Indiana. Knowledgeable, friendly staff. Simply phenomenal.

Nestled in the heart of downtown Muncie, IN is this gem of a beer joint. It is a contender in even the most elite of battles when it comes to variety and amount of beers available. I don’t know the statistics, but I’ll be damned if you leave there not finding a beer you love.
My most recent adventure included Jenga, uno, and chess because they have board games available to use.
It does get relatively busy at peak hours so I recommend being aggressive in getting a table/​spot at the bar.
I love you, Heorot.

Best Ale house I have ever been to! The atmosphere is great, and the beer selection is exhaustive! Every time friends come into town, I always take them here!

So many things to look at! The bartender was friendly, with great suggestions from the very extensive drink menu. This is a solid choice if you are looking for a fun environment and wanting to try a new beer or two.

The Heorot is my favorite place in Muncie to go and I know it would stand up against any beer bar in the state. The bartenders are FANTASTIC. The first time I walked in there, I was overwhelmed by the idea of knowing nothing about beer. They are happy to explain anything to you and will help you find what you like! You can get some awesome beer and food and still cash out for 20 bucks.
I always leave with a smile on my face.

Having lived in Muncie at one time (and thankfully escaped), The Heorot was always one of the few bright spots for beer drinking. They have a huge number of draft beers and a bottle selection that borders on ridiculous. They have more competition now than when I lived there (the Peach and Savages, to mention a couple) but they still have a beer list that can’t be beat and really cheap pizza. If you want to drink an obscure beer in a dark bar that tries to look like a dungeon, this is your place. And, on Sunday, $ 3 Guinness!

I hesitate to call this a bar, because it seems so much more than that. It’s a medieval hole in the wall with an amazing beer selection! How’s that? Oh, and the first time we went, there was a battle in the street between knights. So cool.

Rarely have I found a bar that has such a great selection at such an excellent price. If you want hard liquor and mixed drinks, this is not the place for you. If you want an amazing selection of beers and knowledgeable bartenders, then this place is perfect.

This is the sort of bar that Brooklyn Hipsters go bonkers over. It’s dark, gloomy, the decoration is bizarre, there are no TVs, no free wi-​fi, the food is as simple as it gets, and best of all the beer is cheap, fresh and delicious. Exactly what you want when you go to a beer bar. If you’re going to knock this place for its food be my guest, but would you go to McDonalds at 3AM on a Saturday, lit like a Christmas tree, and complain that the potatoes used in this batch of fries were not up to your standards? If you answered maybe, you should be reviewing Eleven Madison Park and not Heorot.
This place can be matched against any beer bar I have ever been to. Period. The beer list is, to not exaggerate, 8 pages long. You want some 3 Floyds? You got it. Bell’s? It’s on there. A rare beer that you probably can’t find within 300 miles? Boom, there it is.
I cannot comment on the service aspect as I was there at 2pm on a Thursday and was the only person at the bar. The bar tenders were middle-​aged men who knew their beers, and doubled as the chefs in making my meatball sandwich.

Best craft beer and mead selection in Muncie! Definitely a place to visit if you like craft beer. Also great Viking-​themed décor.

I’ve probably been to the Heorot 2 dozen times over the last couple years and it’s my go-​to bar when I go out (which isn’t much anymore).
What keeps me coming back? Cheap, GOOD beer and a massive variety of it. This is the type of place to rub shoulders with all kinds of people… old Muncie folk, metal heads, aspiring hipsters, bro-​ish BSU dudes… everyone. It’s the place to drink a ton of beers for the sake of trying them, eat a couple cheap pizzas, cash out at under $ 20 bucks and be glad you did it.
Service has kind of gone down recently, but if you go often you’ll pick up who are the better bartenders. No matter who’s pulling the taps, everyone will help you seek what you’re looking for if you’re kind and seem to know what you’re talking about.

One of the best beer lists I have ever seen. Wide selection and some really neat stuff. Dark in there but good parking options which is not the norm in muncie.

Respect. If there is a heaven, the Heorot is the gateway.

My boyfriend and I came in for lunch and couldn’t believe the horrible service. Not only was it 1:00 on a Sunday with absolutely no one there besides maybe two elderly muncie folk, but there was no sense of environment. No music, nothing. Which is whatever. My boyfriend went to school here a while back and loved this place! Even his name is on the bar.
After trying to order 7 beers they finally had what we wanted. The bartender said nothing to us and left us to sit at the end of the bar in complete silence. We ordered some microwaved meatballs subs which were actually pretty good! After sitting there with empty pints for a few minutes, I finally had to wave him down to get our checks. The place hardly looked open and it seemed as if we were more of an inconvenience.
Maybe he was having a bad day.

This place is terrible. Really. You wouldn’t like it. But, it is a place that I absolutely love to visit, and that is why I don’t want you coming here. It is mine… all mine.
The food is inexpensive, simple, good, and just enough to accompany the wide array of beers. Oh yes… the beers… so many awesome beers…
See? If I tell you how good this place is, I am afraid this place will become so popular I won’t be able to enjoy it as my own little place of respite.

The Heorot, aside from being Beowulf’s mead hall is probably the best beer bar in the Midwest, and almost certainly the best beer bar in Indiana. They have hundreds of different bottles — from all over the world and craft brews from all over the USA. If you want a trappist beer or a gueuze or a micro brew from the West Coast, this is your go-​to place.
Moreover, they make their own beer and their own mead, which they sell by the growler. (though they always seem to be out of beer)
The ambience is medieval mead hall — actually it’s 90’s nerd interpretation of medieval mead hall. (including a huge wormlike dragone slithering in and out of the walls) The owner once owned the local game shop. But with its long wooden benches and dark corners, this is good place to go to shoot the breeze with old friends.
The prices of the beer are also very reasonable.
This is a place worth driving to muncie to visit if you really like beer.

Ah, the Heorot. It’s everything you’d expect from the name: dim, dusty, and rough — in the best ways possible. Oh, and the best beer selection in — dare I say — the Midwest.
The bartenders reflect the person ordering. Ask them honest to goodness questions about the beer, they’ll treat you with every bit of beer geeky respect you would want. If you call them «bro» and order a Bud Light, you might just get kicked out.
Regarding the beer list, it is, indeed, extensive — ludicrous, even. Yet at the same time, this is Heorot’s main crutch. An endless selection means endless options, but it’s also frankly overwhelming. With so many rare and unheard-​of bottles, it’s great fun to gawk at the menu, but unfortunately with rarity comes expense. And whereas the draught list is also very impressive, it means that the draught beers can sometimes sit around for a while. 90% of the time, the beer tastes fine — if it’s one of the regular taps like Old Rasputin or something special and/​or popular, it’s almost definitely fine. Just watch out for more obscure beers that may not be moving especially fast. Ultimately, the good significantly outweighs the bad though, so don’t be afraid to branch out and take advantage of this land of plenty!
I can’t say much for the food. The pizza’s okay; as far as I’m concerned it’s there more for the convenience of having something on-​hand to soak up your drink. Haven’t tried anything else; the other food items change each day and are sold within limited hours.
Where Heorot really shines to me is the mead. I have yet to visit any bar-​like establishment or liquor store with the mead selection these guys get — and near as I can tell, they’ve ALWAYS got Viking Blod (often on draught!). Mead really is one of those hidden gems in the drinking scene, and this is one damn good place to find it.
Heorot has so much to offer, and a too-​appropriate atmosphere to match. Come for the beer (or mead), stay for more of it. Truly a unique and worthwhile stop.

I have such mixed feelings about the Heorot. Yes, their beer list is riduculous but I was really turned off by the customer service I experienced in my last visit. I went to the Heorot on Monday night before Christmas with 5 friends. The bartenders weren’t particularly helpful or friendly but I was advised by a regular that it wasn’t their «A team» on staff that night. Obviously, being from San Francisco, the prices were unbelievably cheap which was great.
However, I’ve been to the Heorot before on a few occasions while in town visiting home and had a decent experience. It’s good for large groups and super casual so it’s a good place to get together with old home friends without running into every single person I know. Once, a bartender told me I was beautiful. I later learned that he is legally blind –_​_​_​_​_​–
Here are some other things about the Heorot that may be of interest:
— Beer list is riduclous as you’ll read in the other reviews. Shocking that it’s tucked away in little old Muncie, IN
— They sell gift certificates $ 10 at a time (so if you buy $ 100, you have to get 10 separate ones)
— They have «homemade» cookies
— Animals are allowed in the bar
— They have games (uno, scrabble, monopoly) to play at your tables
— They sell cigars and cigarettes but don’t have lighters or matches (weird…)
— Indoor fireplace
— Sell a decent sized pizza for $ 5 (this is the kind of pizza they sell 5 for $ 5 at Walmart, so don’t expect much)
— Décor is super kitschy
— Extremely casual
— They have a trivia night
— Beer and mead only, no liquor

Best Bar in Muncie Also!!! (ref clyde v’s review…)
–actually it was the only bar in Muncie that I went to but I believe it to be the best…
–excellent craft brew selection here! They have Golden Draak. Also, I had the «Twelve Dogs of Christmas, Christmas Ale», I mean you gotta love that name.
–its kind of a dive too, which I like.
–great personable service /​great recommendations
–they were playing Pantera, which I don’t mind either
Go here.