LaPorte County Indiana La Pour Brew and Wine Festival

On a November Saturday in La Porte, the city’s civic auditorium trades its usual programme of ceremonies and stage shows for rows of brewery tables, small sample glasses and people comparing one pour against the next. The occasion is a beer and wine tasting with a purpose beyond the hall: it was created to raise money for a powerboat race held across town on Stone Lake. In print the gathering appears as La Pour Brew & Wine Fest, as La Pour Brewfest, or as La Pour Brew and Wine Fest, depending on the listing, and every published version shortens the final word to Fest. What follows traces the event only through the layers that document it: a specialist beer-press review of its first edition, a La Porte area events listing, and ticket-listing layers that carry its later dates.

About La Pour

La Pour is a ticketed tasting event built around sample pours of beer and wine, staged indoors in La Porte, the city that serves as the seat of LaPorte County. The fullest account comes from a specialist beer-press review published days after the first edition, describing breweries arranged around a hall court, stage music, and a crowd moving table to table with glasses in hand. Later layers speak more briefly: a La Porte area events layer carries a November twenty twenty-three date under the name La Pour Brew & Wine Fest, and ticket-listing layers print a November twenty twenty-six edition under the name La Pour Brew and Wine Fest. None of the later layers names a permanent organising body or prints an official ticket price. The building itself carries two printed names across the record: the twenty fifteen review calls it the La Porte Civic Center, describing it as recently renovated at the time, while the twenty twenty-six listing calls the venue the La Porte Civic Auditorium.

Quick Facts

Item	Details
Published names	La Pour Brew & Wine Fest; La Pour Brewfest; La Pour Brew and Wine Fest
Host city	La Porte, the seat of LaPorte County, Indiana
Venue	Printed as La Porte Civic Center in twenty fifteen and as La Porte Civic Auditorium in twenty twenty-six
First edition	Billed as the first annual edition, held 7 November 2015
First-edition heads	Brett Binversie and Thaddeus Cutler, per the beer-press review
Later documented editions	11 November 2023 and 14 November 2026
Setting	Indoor tasting with sample pours, stage music and food in later layers
Admission	Ticketed, with no organiser-published price in the layers read
Purpose	Created to raise money for the Maple City Grand Prix boat race on Stone Lake
Origin	Generated during a La Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau meeting

History

The idea for La Pour surfaced during a meeting of the La Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau, according to the specialist beer-press review that remains the event’s most detailed early source. The review, published on 13 November 2015, looked back at a gathering held the previous Saturday, 7 November, and billed in its own time as the first annual edition. Two men headed that first running of the event: Brett Binversie and Thaddeus Cutler. Their role belongs to the first edition specifically: the later listings never print a standing organiser, and this article does not promote the pair into a permanent organising body. The reason the tasting existed at all sat across town, on the water. La Pour was created to raise money for the annual Maple City Grand Prix, a boat race on Stone Lake, so every glass poured was tied to a very different kind of La Porte event. The trail then jumps forward in the sources. A La Porte area events layer records an edition on 11 November 2023 under the ampersand spelling, La Pour Brew & Wine Fest, and ticket-listing layers record another on 14 November 2026 at the La Porte Civic Auditorium. Between the first annual billing and those later Novembers, the layers read offer no edition-by-edition chronicle, no anniversary numbering beyond the opening claim, and no account of who ran the event in between. The honest history is therefore a beginning with a clear motive, followed by documented returns in November twenty twenty-three and November twenty twenty-six.

What to Expect

A visit to La Pour begins with the format the first-edition review describes: a hall given over to tasting, where breweries poured samples for a moving crowd. In twenty fifteen the breweries lined three sides of the civic centre court, a layout that turned the floor into a loop of taps and conversation, with live music coming from the stage while people tasted. That same review names practical touches: rinse-water stations stood ready so glasses could be cleared between pours, and carts circulated with water and soda for anyone pacing themselves. The breweries the review names as pouring that year were Burn ‘Em Brewing, Shoreline Brewing and Chapman’s, and those names belong strictly to the first edition; later layers describe the event only in general terms, speaking of local breweries, live music and food without printing a lineup. A visitor at a recent edition should therefore picture the shape rather than a promised cast: an indoor November tasting with beer and wine samples, music and food, held in a civic auditorium rather than a park or street fair. Because no later layer itemises its programme, anything more specific would be guesswork.

Planning Your Visit

The documented editions share a consistent calendar shape: each one fell on a Saturday in November, from the seventh in twenty fifteen to the eleventh in twenty twenty-three and the fourteenth in twenty twenty-six, so a November Saturday at the La Porte Civic Auditorium is the pattern to plan around. Entry is by ticket, yet none of the layers read prints an official price set by the organisers, and asking prices on resale marketplaces are those marketplaces’ own figures rather than admission facts, so they are not repeated here. Anyone budgeting should confirm the current ticket price through the event’s own channels before setting out, and check which name the current listing uses, since the event circulates as La Pour Brew & Wine Fest, La Pour Brewfest and La Pour Brew and Wine Fest. The venue name varies in print as well, appearing as the La Porte Civic Center in the earliest review and as the La Porte Civic Auditorium in the twenty twenty-six listing, though both refer to the city’s civic building. Arriving with the twenty fifteen layout in mind is reasonable preparation: a room arranged for circulation, glass rinsing between pours, and non-alcoholic options in the mix, though later editions are documented only in outline.

For a useful comparison, see the LaPorte County Indiana Trail Creek Fall Festival for another county festival.

A Sample Itinerary From the First Edition

Because the first edition is the only one described in detail, this itinerary follows its documented shape and is framed openly as a picture of that twenty fifteen running rather than a promise about any later year. Begin at the doors of the civic centre, ticket in hand, and take a first slow lap of the court without pouring anything, noting which breweries line the three sides and where the stage sits. On the second lap, start tasting, working from the styles you know toward the ones you do not, and make use of the rinse-water stations between pours so each sample starts with a clean glass. Pause midway for water or soda from the circulating carts, and let the music from the stage set the tempo for a pause. Return for a final round of favourites, and keep in mind throughout that the money behind the afternoon is bound for Stone Lake and the Maple City Grand Prix. End the day knowing you have seen the event in its original form: an organised, good-humoured room built around small glasses and a shared purpose.

How La Pour Differs From Red, Wine and Brew

La Porte hosts another drink-themed gathering with a similar ring to its name, easy to confuse on a calendar page, so the distinction is worth stating plainly. Red, Wine and Brew, also printed as Red Wine and Brew, Local Heroes Benefit, is a benefit concert mounted in honour of first responders. Its centre of gravity is a stage and a cause expressed through a concert, whereas La Pour is a tasting, built around sample pours of beer and wine in a civic auditorium and created to raise money for a boat race. The beneficiaries differ, the formats differ, and the documented origins differ: La Pour grew out of a visitors bureau meeting and was headed at its first running by Brett Binversie and Thaddeus Cutler, while the benefit concert belongs to a separate tradition of honouring local heroes. Nothing from one event should be carried into an account of the other, and readers checking dates should make sure the listing in front of them is the tasting, not the concert.

Checklist

• Confirm the current edition’s date, which has always fallen on a November Saturday in the documented years
• Buy tickets through the event’s own channels, since no organiser price is printed in the layers read
• Check which published name the current listing uses before searching for details
• Note the venue name as printed for that year, Civic Center in the earliest account and Civic Auditorium in the latest
• Plan to rinse your glass between pours, following the rinse-water stations documented at the first edition
• Pace the afternoon with water or soda, which circulated on carts in twenty fifteen
• Treat any brewery lineup from twenty fifteen as history rather than a promise for a later year
• Keep the boat race in mind, since proceeds were the reason the event was created

Beyond the Tasting Room

The facts gathered for this article reach only a short distance beyond the auditorium doors, and this section stays inside that limit. Across town lies Stone Lake, home of the annual Maple City Grand Prix boat race, the event La Pour was created to support financially. That connection gives the tasting an unusual geography for a festival: the glasses are poured indoors in the county seat, while the beneficiary races outdoors on the water, and the two events belong to the same local calendar. A visitor whose trip is built around the November tasting is therefore standing at one end of a story that finishes on the lake during the racing season, and a return trip for the Grand Prix would complete the picture the first-edition organisers had in mind. The visitors bureau meeting where the idea was generated hints at the same joined-up thinking, a city treating its events as parts of one whole rather than as rivals for the same audience.

Why La Pour Matters

Plenty of tastings exist to promote the drinks on the table, but La Pour was documented from the start as a fundraiser, and that founding purpose is its significance. A specialist review of the very first edition records that the event was created to raise money for the Maple City Grand Prix, which means the crowd sipping samples in the civic auditorium was, in effect, underwriting a powerboat race on Stone Lake. The arrangement shows a small city pooling its pleasures: beer and wine enthusiasts get an organised November afternoon of pours and music, and a separate summer fixture gets help with its costs. That the event returned in twenty twenty-three and again in twenty twenty-six, each time in November at the civic building, suggests the idea found its footing, though the layers read never explain who carried it forward. Its story, as documented, is a reminder that a festival’s importance can rest on what it funds as much as on what it serves.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was La Pour originally created to support?

The first-edition review states that the tasting was created to raise money for the annual Maple City Grand Prix, the boat race held on Stone Lake in La Porte. The drinks were the attraction, but the race was the reason, and every documented account of its origin returns to that purpose.

Which breweries were named as pouring at the first edition?

The specialist beer-press review of the twenty fifteen debut names Burn ‘Em Brewing, Shoreline Brewing and Chapman’s among the breweries that poured samples around the civic centre court. Those names are documented for that first running only, and later layers print no lineup at all.

Who ran the event in its first year?

According to the same review, Brett Binversie and Thaddeus Cutler headed the first edition, which had been generated during a La Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau meeting. Later listings name no standing organiser, so their documented role belongs to the debut alone.

Is La Pour the same event as Red, Wine and Brew?

No. Red, Wine and Brew, also printed as Red Wine and Brew, Local Heroes Benefit, is a separate first-responders benefit concert. La Pour is the November tasting at the civic auditorium, created to support the Stone Lake boat race, and the two events share nothing beyond a city and a theme.

What to Expect From the Next LaPorte County Indiana La Pour Brew and Wine Festival

How often is LaPorte County Indiana La Pour Brew and Wine Festival held?

The documented record shows the tasting billed as a first annual edition in twenty fifteen, with further editions documented in November twenty twenty-three and November twenty twenty-six. That pattern points to a November event that returns across the years, though the layers read do not document an unbroken run of editions in between.

When is the next LaPorte County Indiana La Pour Brew and Wine Festival?

The latest edition documented in the layers read is the one listed for 14 November 2026 at the La Porte Civic Auditorium. Anything beyond that date sits outside the sources gathered for this article, so readers should watch for a fresh listing under any of the event’s published names.

Will the dates change?

The day has already moved within November across the documented editions, falling on the seventh in twenty fifteen, the eleventh in twenty twenty-three and the fourteenth in twenty twenty-six, while the month and the Saturday placement stayed constant. A future edition could shift its day in the same way, so the exact date deserves checking each year.

Closing Thoughts

La Pour survives in the record as a modest, purposeful event: a November Saturday of sample pours in La Porte’s civic auditorium, launched from a visitors bureau meeting, headed at its debut by two named organisers, and aimed from the beginning at keeping a powerboat race running on Stone Lake. Its documentation is uneven, detailed at the first edition and sparse afterwards, and this article has kept that unevenness visible rather than smoothing it over. What is certain is the shape of the thing: a ticketed tasting, a civic room, music, and a reason to raise a glass that had nothing to do with the glass itself.