Shaken, Stirred, and Secret: Naptown’s Underground Nightlife

This is the cover story for our Winter 2025 issue. Check out the full digital issue or subscribe to get our print issue delivered.

The idea of secret doors and whispered passwords to access nightspots seem as vintage as the distant roar of the 1920s. But in a highly commercialized industry fraught with competition for attention, there are still some corners of the city where curious patrons can find underground experiences. Being in the know becomes your golden ticket to the most exclusive hidden flavors in all of Indianapolis. 

Naptown is no stranger to underground experiences like pop-ups, cocktail residencies, or modern speakeasies. Prohibition ended nearly 100 years ago, but the elusive charm of secretive clubs, bars, and lounges ironically remains a tourist attraction. Take, for instance, The Commodore, an intimate speakeasy tucked away inside Fountain Square Theatre Building. No password is required, but patrons will need a keen eye to spot the entrance in absence of a glowing neon sign. 

On Mass Ave, there’s the romantically lit Wiseguy Lounge, which blends right into the backdrop of one of the city’s most storied commercial corridors. The Indy Star hinted in January of last year, “You don’t need a password for this one, you just have to figure out what business it is connected to. Hint: Think about the name Wiseguy…”

Perhaps the most dramatic, however, is The Vault in the heart of Bates-Hendricks. If patrons are clever enough to locate the -digit code hidden at the entrance, they can cross the threshold into an immersive experience punctuated by live jazz, specialty cocktails, and even a cigar selection that can be enjoyed on a private deck. 

Even more exclusive than these speakeasies are pop-up events: industry creatives installing themselves in existing establishments with cocktail residencies, sometimes operating one night only. The very nature of pop-ups invites mystique and FOMO for patrons who need a break from the one-size-fits-all sports bars. Even more poetically, there is a bottled joy imbued in these events that is resplendent yet ephemeral—like a moonflower blooming for a single night, its signature appeal wilting with its petals at sunrise. 

At the forefront of this horizon of Indy’s underground food and beverage scene is Daq & Gim, a group of industry creatives in association with Sorry We’re Closed. Led by the profusely talented Dalton Lineback and Ellie Lord, Daq & Gim blends Indy’s congenial hospitality with craft cocktails and food items curated as carefully as a gallery installation. The pair have 20 years of industry experience combined: Lineback is a devoted student of mixology who has shaken and stirred in almost every corner of the food and beverage industry while Lord sharpened her out-of-the-icebox thinking through her education at the Herron School of Art.

“It obviously helps with our business and Sorry We’re Closed, the marketing and design side of it,” Lord says of her degree, “but when it comes to creating a cocktail—the idea of the craft cocktail world appealed to me because of that match of my degree with the creative process.”

Lineback and Lord first conceived of their pop-up events during a visit to one of New Orleans’ biggest food and beverage festivals, Tales of the Cocktail—A showcase for talent from all over the world, “popping up” in closed or vacant spaces like cafés or even warehouses. Lineback and Lord wanted to apply this model to the ever-evolving landscape of Indy’s food and beverage scene. 

“I think people are ready for growth,” Lineback says. “Lots of sports bars and steak houses, but now we’re getting into this boutique style of experience with a very local focus on quality and flavor.” 

Lord attributes much of their success to recent national attention on Indianapolis, as well as patrons searching for more reasons to leave the house. “We used to have conversations all the time about how we had to start this now, before we miss it. Because Indianapolis is booming, exploding year after year. Just the Pacers alone have brought us so much attention, and people are going out and celebrating the city more.” 

One of the more recent pop-ups at Irvington’s Strange Bird, dubbed “Sorry We’re Strange” featured both live music and a DJ, yard games like cornhole and ring toss, a booth where guests could get both temporary and permanent tattoos, and an inflatable obstacle course that launched giggles into the night air. Strange Bird’s interior cabana couture provided two bartops, churning out some of Daq & Gim’s most creative crafted cocktails. Glasses flavored with pickle juice or crowned with cotton candy all caught attention, but none so much as the Olada Lote. 

The stand out cocktail of the evening, the Olada Lote, gave “pick me” energy with its head-turning garnishes: a colorful slice of corn cob paired with an ostentatious plume of husk reaching for the sky. While the garnishes may have caught patrons off guard, the flavor odyssey kept it on everyone’s lips.

At first blush, the cocktail seemed to be a Piña Colada—a creamy base of Planteray OFTD rum with the freshness of pineapple and lime to conjure a sunny sleep on the beaches of Cozumel. But as the ice began to melt, additional ingredients like cilantro, chili tincture, and cotija cheese gave the drink a savory depth of flavor that took you from the beach to a marketplace street corn stall. 

Lineback and Lord hope that the dramatic and delicious composition of their creations will have an even greater impact on Indy’s cocktail and cuisine scene that refocuses the experience of community. Creating food and drink that sparks conversation erodes the growing trend of self-isolation in bars.

“Like, there were four or five days after that people kept saying ‘Man, Monday was awesome, dude. I had so much fun. I saw so many people that I knew there, I got a tattoo,’ and I’m, like ‘Hell yeah!” Lineback says. Pop-ups like Sorry We’re Strange reinvent the idea of a third place for Naptown residents trying to break away from routine. 

“Especially with how horrible everything is right now,” Lord says, “it gives people, I think, something to look forward to. With it being, like, every three months, people can mark it on their calendars. We had someone say that it’s literally like a family reunion every time they go to our pop-ups.”

Lineback and Lord say that Daq & Gim will continue to host pop-ups throughout Indianapolis with a goal to eventually open a brick-and-mortar establishment, which would allow them to focus more on their craft and brand of hospitality—jogging in pace with The Vault and the rest of the best in Indy’s underground. One day, Hoosiers may be able to sit down at their bar, order an Olada Lote, and enjoy a story from a friendly bartender that answers the question, “Why would anyone put corn in a cocktail?”