Uncle Doc’s sodas are sweet but healthy, and there’s nothing else like them in Northeast Indiana.

Tim Phelps recognized a missing market in the Fort Wayne area: handcrafted sodas. Most metropolitan areas have some sort of specialty soda scene. Because Fort Wayne is growing so rapidly, Tim saw an opportunity to get a head start in Fort Wayne’s soda market.

Uncle Doc’s Homestead Products was created as a way to fill a gap in Northeast Indiana’s urban food community.

The company will launch with four year-round soda flavors (cola, ginger beer, cream soda, and lemon-lime) plus two other seasonal flavors. Eventually, Tim hopes to move Uncle Doc’s into the food scene as well by creating bean salads, salad toppings, and rice.

Did we mention that all of Uncle Doc’s Homestead Products are fermented?

In fact, Tim’s sodas will be the first handcrafted, all natural, probiotic sodas to hit the market in Fort Wayne. The soda will be traditionally sweet, but healthier to drink than the average soda.

After the surely successful launch of his probiotic sodas, Tim will also launch fermented food.

Fermentation is an important process in creating probiotic-rich foods, which helps with digestive and gut health. In other words, Tim is working toward giving the people of Fort Wayne healthy guts using food science.

Tim is so passionate about his work in the urban food community that he received an urban agriculture certification from Purdue’s extension office.

Although Uncle Doc’s is starting small at farmers markets and other community events, Tim hopes to expand his company to local grocery stores, restaurants, and taverns. With a micro-grant from the Fortitude Fund, Tim will be able to purchase bottling and kegging equipment that will help expand Uncle Doc’s sales.

Although opportunities for national expansion are not out-of-reach, Tim wants to keep Uncle Doc’s closer to home, creating a unique, fermented food and beverage scene right here in Northeast Indiana.