Before Union Brewing Company belonged to her, Jessica Hayden worked in a dental office in the Village of WestClay. A few doors down, Derek Herring was brewing at Danny Boy Beer Works. In Current in Carmel's account, she walked over one day before the brewery opened and looked through the windows. Herring and his best friend saw her and let her in, and she began tasting beers with them. Today the couple run Union Brewing together, and this month they are packing up the taproom on Gradle Drive.
From Chateux de Moulin at 116th and Spring Mill, the drive east into downtown Carmel leads to a dinner map that looks different this season. The biggest changes come from three operators who have been in the area for years, and each is reshaping its room around the table. A Broad Ripple family has brought its own name back to Main Street. A brewery is doubling its space to make room for families and food. A pub group known for 21-and-older taverns is giving half its new Carmel room to family dining.
On Main Street, a Family Name Replaces a Brand
The first change has already happened. Josephine, at 110 W. Main St., served its last day on Aug. 23. Current reported that the space would become Ambrosia Carmel, and Josephine's owners described the switch as a return to their family roots.
Those roots go back further than most of downtown Carmel's restaurant rows. Ambrosia's own site traces the family business to Broad Ripple in 1979. It says the restaurant is now run by Gino Pizzi's daughter Anna and her husband Dan, and the Carmel location carries the "NOW OPEN" label. The menu is Italian, and the address is 110 W. Main St., Unit 100.
The hours set the pattern. Ambrosia Carmel serves dinner only, from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The owners took a concept that already had a following on Main Street and replaced it with the name their family has served under for more than four decades. Of the three changes, this one has already happened, so this Thursday it is the one you can book.
On the Monon, a Taproom Learns to Feed People
Union Brewing's move is the clearest sign of the same shift, because its owners have explained why they are making it.
Herring describes Union Brewing to Current as "the garage bar you went to with your dad, where he knew everybody in there." Many of its regulars arrive on foot or by bike along the Monon Greenway. The taproom has moved before. It came to 202 Gradle Dr. from Monon Square in 2022, and for a while it stopped brewing its own beer. Herring bought the business in 2023 and began writing recipes again. In Current's telling, he described his biggest change as turning a taproom back into a brewery. Hayden bought the brewery in 2025. Current, citing a 2021 Brewers Association survey, places Union Brewing among the 3 percent of U.S. breweries owned solely by women.
The brewery's lease on Gradle Drive ends Nov. 28. The plan is to reopen about a week later at 513 Industrial Dr., roughly a mile north. The new space is twice the size, and the owners have explained how they want to fill it:
- A family-friendly dining area
- Bigger live-music acts, with an upstairs mezzanine looking down on the stage
- Food for the first time, from a chef subleasing space to serve barbecue and homemade flatbreads
Herring tied the plan to how people are drinking. He told Current that national studies and sales show many Americans drinking less than they used to, or not at all, and that the brewery is expanding beyond beer in response. "We have to change up the game plan in order to make it work," he said. A taproom built for regulars and pints is becoming a room where a family can sit down for barbecue and a band.
The Last Weeks on Gradle Drive
For now, Union Brewing is still at 202 Gradle Dr. Its weekly schedule there looks like this:
| Night | At 202 Gradle Dr. |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Trivia at 7 p.m. |
| Friday and Saturday | Live music at 7 p.m. |
| Sunday | Bingo, 3 to 5 p.m. |
Herring told Current the brewery plans a "big, awesome party" to close out its time on Gradle Drive, followed by a second celebration for the new space in the spring. The brewery posts updates on its Facebook page.
The building is changing too. Union Brewing is one of dozens of tenants in two buildings at the northwest corner of Gradle Drive and the Monon Greenway whose leases are not being renewed while the site is prepared for redevelopment. Owner Keystone Group earlier proposed The Valentina for the area around 3rd Avenue SW and Gradle Drive, a $150 million plan with 380 multifamily units, 17 for-sale townhomes, 50,000 square feet of office and retail space, and a 600-space garage. The City Council put that proposal on hold at its first meeting of 2024. A Keystone spokesperson told Current the company remains "fully committed" to redeveloping the site and called recent talks with the city "productive."
In City Center, a Pub Group Splits the Room in Half
The third change is the most direct version of the same move. Taylor's Restaurant Group opened its first Taylor's Pub & Grill in 1995 at 86th and Ditch roads in Indianapolis and its second at 86th Street and Westfield Boulevard in 1997. Both pubs are 21 and older. The company tried a different format in 2022, when it opened its first Taylor's Bar & Table in Ingalls.
Carmel is next. Taylor's Bar & Table is aiming for early December in the former Aroma Experience space at 885 Monon Green Blvd., Suite 108, in Carmel City Center. Half the restaurant will be family dining, and the other half will be bar seating for guests 21 and older who want to watch a game or have a date night. Company president Clinton Hiatt told Current in Carmel that the aim is food of a quality close to some of Carmel's upscale restaurants, at a different price point.
"This is the next evolution of what Taylor's is," Hiatt said.
Taylor's expects to hire 30 to 40 people for the Carmel location and is targeting the first part of December, possibly in time for visitors heading to the nearby Carmel Christkindlmarkt. The Christkindlmarkt runs Nov. 21 through Dec. 24 at Carter Green. Menu details and updates will appear at taylorsbarandtable.com.
Where Each Change Stands This Week
Put the three side by side and the shared direction shows up in how each room is laid out:
| Operator | Where it came from | What it's becoming | Status as of mid-November |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ambrosia Carmel | Josephine, same owners, 110 W. Main St. | The family's own Italian name, dating to Broad Ripple in 1979 | Open, dinner nightly from 5 p.m. |
| Union Brewing Company | Taproom at 202 Gradle Dr. on the Monon | A space twice the size at 513 Industrial Dr., with family dining, food and a stage | At Gradle Dr. through Nov. 28, reopening planned about a week later |
| Taylor's Bar & Table | 21-and-older pubs on 86th Street | Half family dining, half 21-and-older bar at 885 Monon Green Blvd. | Targeting early December |
For a household west of Meridian, the timing works out simply. Ambrosia is open now. The Gradle Drive taproom has a little more than two weeks of Tuesday trivia, weekend music and Sunday bingo left. In December, Taylor's plans to open and Union Brewing plans to reopen on Industrial Drive, and both new rooms are being built so the whole family can come along.
If knowing which dinner rooms sit a short drive east is part of how you weigh a home in west Carmel, Jennil Salazar and the Private Client Group are glad to help. Book a Consultation.
