Get your butt over to the new site DrinkingClass.org right now and check out the awesomeness and take heart in knowing that all the old posts from here now live over there.

And while I’m stealing titles from Jim here’s this :

Anyway, that website again is drinkingclass.org. Follow us there, follow us on teh Twitterz (@drinkyclass), and if you really want to keep up to date, Like our Facebook page where, if opportunities present themselves, we may offer contests and whatnot.

On a side note. I really have no idea what to do with this domain and am thinking I’ll point it to DrinkingClass.org. I’m keeping the BrewIndy identity for my posts over there and my tweets but if someone has an awesome idea they want to pitch to me for this domain then I am all ears!

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@Jason266 Woah. Maybe you should slow down. Its a school night after all. #

@beeraday I recall it being a good brew. Enjoy #

LOL! Everyone thought that name was lame RT @JamesPavlik: @BrewIndy all out of Hop's Lamb? #

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Then I will make it so RT @jeffposs: @BrewIndy yes because they are delicious #

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@beckyrichey 5 gallons of a hop slam clone keeps me near the big screen at my house #

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@gr8fermentation and Thanks for the Chocoholic Porter! I have a feeling this ones going to be a hit with some of my favorite people #

Brewing. The way New Years should be spent Thanks brew buddy @jasonmryan! http://plixi.com/p/67044991 #

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This seems like a good night to brew some beer. Hop Truck from @gr8fermentation is in the brew pot as we speak #

@indybeer Awesome! Good to know when the usual folks are being Saturday night hermits #

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Busy week. Thinking about grabbing some of my tasty homebrew #

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It's Tuesday. What better night is there to brew beer? Starting an Oatmeal Stout! #

There we are. Early Follow Friday Follow these people now! @gr8fermentation @thebierbrewery #

@Beer_at_Kahns You're supposed to say, "You got beer in my politics!" #

@Jason266 I forgot to not check twitter when I'm 3 minutes behind on the game #

@uplandindy It was a typo but I'd prefer if we just call it intentional #

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I stopped in and tried several of their beers including an Oatmeal Stout, Porter, Brown, and a Pale Ale. All of which were awesome but one stood out. The Oatmeal Stout! It is amazingly delicious. One word comes to mind… Smooth! The coffee, chocolate and roasted malt shines through.  Basically every thing you would expect plus that extra bit of awesomeness that makes this oatmeal stout one of the best I’ve had.  Not a full review on purpose but I will say it’s sweeter rather than dryer and not too bitter but certainly balanced.  They’ve only got a few of these kegs and you owe it to yourself to go get some tomorrow or this weekend before they run out.

The folks there were equally awesome, even though I couldn’t talk them into a free shirt Ben and Darren answered all my questions and filled me in on how they expect to be out of the 7 beers on tap by the end of the weekend. However, they have a bunch of other styles lined up and ready to go on tap.

Bier Brewery is officially open Wednesday before Thanksgiving from 3 to 7 pm.  Until then enjoy this picture of Darren and Ben as well as the growler of Oatmeal Stout that I scored!

The first episode, entitled “Bitches Brew”, follows Sam as he comes up with an idea for a beer of the same name to coincide with the 40th anniversary release of Miles Davis’ album of the same name. It follows, in a chronological time line, his meeting with Sony into pitching his ideas with his team, and finally making and packaging the beer. Did I mention the timeline involved in this episode? They want Bitches Brew ready and out to the public in about 9 weeks which puts a big strain on the team.

Half way into the show they break it up and give us a little perspective of what it’s like on the bottling line. I hope for their sake this isn’t what it’s like everyday because a piece from their line comes up missing and they have to inspect each bottle twice before deciding they need to quarantine off those cases of beer and continue bottling. To make matters worse the beer it is stuck in is a 90 Minute, arguably one of their best beers.

My favorite part of the episode is the little tidbits of information that Sam drops throughout the episode. He covered so many basic aspects of brewing that I can’t imagine there will be much more basic stuff to go over in the next episode. Which is exciting to see what knowledge bombs he’s going to drop on us in the coming episodes.

Bottom line: I’m extremely happy to see this show on television. I really hope it reaches out to some new people getting into brewing and I certainly see it providing entertainment for those that like to brew and drink beer. Maybe I can even refer my family to this show when they ask me why I like to brew my own beer. I’ll certainly be coming back to this. I can’t wait to see what Sam and Dogfish Head have in store for us!

Looks like I'll be missing the @Flat12Bierwerks event today. Next time! #hopstar #

When your entire "Craft Beer" section is Sam Adams and Blue Moon don't tell me you have a large selection of beers O'Charleys bartender! #

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Jay Brooks of the Brookston Beer Bulletin mentions today that Rock Bottom Breweries and Gordon Biersch are merging (along with Old Chicago) to form CraftWorks Restaurants and Breweries (He also reprints the full press release so I won’t. Click through to read it.)

I like Rock Bottom, so put me, along with Beernomics blogger Patrick Emerson, as going on record as thinking this is a “good thing.”

As a consumer and a fan of local foods, I generally consider restaurant consolidation a “bad thing” but here I feel divided. Like Emerson, I think Rock Bottom is a gateway brewer. Their ambiance, plate price, and Applebee’s+ menu fare make the place a desirable dining destination for a lot of people who would not head anywhere specifically for craft beer. And then, when they arrive, there’s a decent selection of well-crafted beers, most of which are accessible and (presumably) tuned to local palates. If they acquire a taste for craft beer, or at least temper their sense of risk, they may become someone who seeks craft beer in the future.

I talked with the Dave Chichura at Oskar Blues when I was in Boulder for the Beer Bloggers Conference. He had spent some time as a brewer at Rock Bottom and spoke well of his time there (along with local beerman Clay Robinson). Both Chichura and the guys at Sun King (Robinson and Dave Colt) are brewing magnificent beer. They’re innovative brewers and solid brewery managers. I’m not saying that Rock Bottom taught them those things. How could I know? But Rock Bottom at this point seems to be serving as the farm league for tomorrow’s future in beer.

Of course, if this merger triggers a change in policy that encourages more mediocrity and less integrity batches, I reserve the right to change my mind about this.

Hopefully the Rock Bottom part of the merger will continue to acknowledge that their future success in the craft beer world will, in part, rely on their ability to compete against truly local and regional brewers who will continue to design beers for audiences they know well and respond to quickly. CraftWorks can only do this by continuing their current federalist(?) approach to brewing.

At least, I don’t think a more centralized approach will work out for them.

Which is the argument for why I think this is “not a bad thing.” The argument for why it might be a good thing is that, if economies of scale and the merging of redundant operations allows CraftWorks to open new locations, more people will be introduced to craft beer in an environment they are culturally familiar with. And there you have it. This is CraftWork’s game to lose at this point.

Related articles

• Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery Takes Home Seven Medals from 2010 Great American Beer Festival (eon.businesswire.com)
• Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery Taps ‘American Dream Ale’ (eon.businesswire.com)

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Second Dragonfly got poured right down the middle with about 7 fingers of head FAIL! @uplandindy Come show these people how to pour! #

@girlspintout You could start by getting more than 4 hours sleep! #

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For the beginning homebrewer, kits a definitely the way to go.  Once you have all your equipment you can simply pick up a box containing everything you need as well as some yeast and start boiling. And that’s exactly what we did.

So first a little info on the Kit we purchased. We both purchased the Brew BQ Pale Ale Kit from Great Fermentations. This is (according to them) one of their most popular kits. I have sampled it in the store and it is delicious. Nicely hopped with a great aroma.

The Brew BQ kit is that it has over 4 types of hops that are added at different times during the 60 minute boil. They are:

Cascade

Columbus

Amarillo

Ahtanum

It also includes 5 different malt grains

Light Munich Malt

Carapils Malt

Aromatic Malt

Wheat Malt

Biscuit Malt

The yeast suggestions it gives are:

Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale

Wyeast 1098 Brittish Ale

Nottingham Dry

Unfortunately, James had purchased his over a year ago! Being unsure of the potency of the hops after a year, James went back into Great Fermentations to purchase the exact same hops that were in the kit. Now, we both love our hops! So instead of throwing away the old hops,  (which we were told would be fine just maybe less aromatic) James decided to add them along with the new hops to his batch.

So the experiment goes as follows:

We take two kits, exactly the same.

One will be our “control.” We do everything according to the directions using a Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale liquid yeast pack.

The second, we double the hops and use a Nottingham Dry yeast pack.

Any of you that have ever brewed you own beer will probably know that you should NEVER cook it on your stove top. I learned the hard way. For those that don’t know, When you add malt extract to boiling wort it has a tendency to boil over if you don’t keep an eye on it. I literally took my eyes away for like 2 seconds and the next thing I know its boilng over right on my new white stove top. If you have ever burnt sugar you know how hard it is to clean up.

After the boiling process we had to chill the wort. This gave me the opportunity to try out my new wort chiller I made!

All parts were purchased at Menards for less than $35!

The Immersion chiller worked perfectly! Unfortunately I didn’t realize until after that while moving the chiller around I accidentally broke the thermometer in the wort. Luckily there is no Mercury in the thermometer but the weights (small tiny beads) and shattered glass ended up in the “control” batch. After speaking with the experts at Great Fermentations, they said it would be fine just make sure to filter the beer through a very fine filter before drinking to get rid of any glass or beads.

The other batch (with the extra hops) came out with no problems.

After about three weeks we bottled both batches. and then let them sit for another two weeks.

The result:

Considering the control batch was contaminated, the experiment didn’t come out as well as we had hoped.

The control batch has a nice hop characteristic but tastes oddly metallic! Ive been told that there is chance that might go away after a couple months, so I will let it sit and find out in January.

Surprisingly, the version with double the hops came out much more hoppier.  Much more.

I say I was surprised because even though we doubled the hops I fully expected the old ones to not yield much at all.  This is because when you get hops in the form of pellets the whole plant is crushed which releases part of the lupulin gland which is what is responsible for the resins and oils and what not.  This is good in a way because it helps your boil to utilize much more of it at a faster rate than if you were to just use whole hops.  The bad part is it’s then harder to keep your hops fresh because the lupulin will decay as it gets older at a faster rate then if you left it as hole leaf hops.  Happily I was able to get something out of the old and give it a great kick with the new.

The experiment went well. Two completely different tasting beers from the same beginning kit. I recommend you try it yourself. Change it up a little. Add different hops, different yeast, etc. Maybe try adding honey?

Keep brewing Indy!!

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So I’m excited to hear that the City Market bar has gotten a liquor license.  Currently they are going with the name Tomlinson Tap Room which yet again reminds me of school due to a teacher of the same name.  However, it get’s it’s name from Tomlinson Hall, the city’s first real convention center which stood at the City Market site. It burned down about 50 years ago in 1958.  The goal of this bar is to appeal to those of us that like to spend $5 on an awesome glass of beer and as such they have teamed up with the Brewers of Indiana Guild.  They have members that control some 32 breweries in the state and the tap room hopes to feature beers from around 15 of the central Indiana ones.  More proof that it is an exciting time for craft beer in Indiana!

Now for the bad news.  Due to construction and projects they aren’t expected to open until sometime in 2011.  Currently their hours are going to be Wednesday through Friday noon to 8 p.m. and noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays.  However, I’m sure if business starts booming and the tap room is full past that time they’ll adjust their schedules.

@jasonmryan I'll take the shirt in reply to jasonmryan #

@indybeer Tractor Supply in reply to indybeer #

Sounds awesome! Send pics and I'll put them on the site RT @thedudeabides81: @BrewIndy I am brewing an oud bruin on Monday. #

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@Fr0sTy0nE I know but I'd prefer to crack open a fresh bottle of my newest brew in reply to Fr0sTy0nE #

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In my perfect world, all smokers and smoking establishments would just wake up tomorrow and say “Enough! Let’s make that one guy in Indianapolis really happy and make Smoke Free America a reality.”

I, of course, have no illusions that this will ever happen. However, every so often there is good news on the “people freely choosing to go Smoke Free” front. Earlier this week New Albanian Brewing Company decided to make their Pizzeria and Public House 100 per cent smoke free. From the Potable Curmudgeon blog:

This is our choice, and not one mandated by local government, although I concede it’s only a matter of time until the decree is issued. Although I smoke cigars, and not being able to smoke a cigar in my own bar will take some getting used to, it is my belief that the time has come to acquiesce to changing attitudes and societal norms…

The argument from workplace safety is a compelling and well nigh irrefutable one. The case aesthetically is equally convincing. The simple fact of the matter from management’s perspective is that trying to balance smoking and non-smoking needs in the context of the configuration of an establishment like ours has become maddening.

OK, so they didn’t wake up and decide to make me happy. I can live with the fact that they had other reasons. But I’m also happy they are making this choice freely, without government interference, and because they think it will improve their ability to run their business in the most efficient way they can.  It also makes me happy that a shift in societal norms regarding smoking is one of the factors here.

As a student of political science I can tell you that I have read research that suggests that legislation has very little sway over the choices we make, but, if it is promulgated at a time when public sentiment seems to be shifting anyway, it can have an exponential impact on behavior. That seems to be the case in regard to smoking bans. It isn’t that the legislation alone has caused a significant drop in smoking, but it likely has sped the transition we are living through.

But that’s a conversation for a different day and probably on a different blog.

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Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA Tasting Notes from stonebrew on Vimeo.

Enough fancy schmancy embedded video.  Let’s get on with the review.

A: This beer is definitely not clear.  It’s a muddy orangish color with a nice white head on it that stayed throughout.  Nice lacing comes with it.

S: There are hops present but not nearly what you’d think you’d smell with an IPA that is 100 IBU’s.  Actually it’s absolutely not at all what you would expect from this beer.  If anything I pick up a little malty sweetness over a hint of earthy hops.  It’s quite pleasant.

T: Up front there is an awesome malty goodness to this beer that lingers to the point of asking yourself if there are any hops at all.  Then it hits you.  A bit of dryness starts to creep in and you can taste the hops.  Your mouth gets more and more bitter until you find yourself taking another drink.  All I can say is this is amazing.  I spent some time in England and although I had some really tasty beers over there I don’t remember having one as good as hits.  I welcome any of you Brits to send me an IPA you think can beat this one out   The more I hold on to this beer the less I get of the malt and the bitter hops shine through.  This one feels very complex if not for any other reason but that I’m just not used to the hops in here.  You owe it to yourself to pick this one up, it won’t last long.

Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA Announced from stonebrew on Vimeo.

205 N. College Ave.
Indianapolis, IN  46202
317.636.4516
www.easleywinery.com


It wasn’t until later on that night I realized I really had a winner. From the minute I smelled the sweet stickiness of this beer and the citrus hops that complement it’s golden color I knew for sure this beer would be awesome. I’m not sure how Mad Anthony has escaped me for the past few years considering they’ve been around since 1999. Perhaps they just started bottling. I’m glad it’s here now though.

The taste you’re going to get on this is something of a hop blast to the back of the throat. Hop lovers will like Mad Anthony’s IPA but even some of you Hop Heads will be broken by this beast. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Still, if you can get your hands on this, and you should be able to, you should give it a try. I found mine at my local “we sell a few microbrews but don’t get any special stuff in week-to-week” liquor store.

Mad Anthony IPA - Poured

Walgreens used to sell booze. Then they stopped. They now recognize that with other competitor chains like CVS, Kroger, Meier and Wal-Mart all selling booze, they need to get back in the game. They applied for licenses. They were just awarded 18. More are almost assuredly on their way. Each of these 18 stores were approved 4-0 by the governing licensing board on a store-by-store basis.

And why shouldn’t they have been?

As I said in my previous post on the subject, more liquor stores cannot possibly be the cause of increased alcohol drinking (except potentially in places where no such outlets are currently located) and consequently cannot be the cause of more alcohol-related crime. Now certainly there can be a correlation between higher crime and a higher liquor-store density. But, despite certain social scientists’ claim to the contrary, that’s almost certainly related to the neighborhood and not the store. That is, poorer places with higher crime are more likely to have more liquor stores (higher demand). Liquor stores do not create poverty or the crime that follows it.

Nevertheless, Neo-Prohibitionist Groups like Save My Sunday, Drug Free Marion County and Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations are very much upset by the notion that Walgreens may soon supply to grown adults the products they wish to purchase with their own dollars.

I don’t have much to add to current story and so post this merely to update readers of this blog that they can now buy their liquor a little more conveniently than they used to.

A quick aside, while I find Save My Sunday and groups like it to be a made up mostly of despicable liars willing to glom on to any claim no matter how untested or unreasonable as long as it remotely seems to support their emotional disgust of liquor, groups like MCANA and even Drug Free Marion County have a lot of goals which I am in agreement with. So I don’t mean to discount the entirety of the latter two groups even as I wish they would drop their efforts against the lawful and responsible selling of alcohol. Their time, efforts, and dollars are all better spent on their more worthwhile projects.

On a related note, as a fan of craft beers and small batch liquors, I’m not super excited that Walgreens is back in the booze business. Their presence increases the amount of shelf space available to macro-manufacturers like Budweiser. It doesn’t cause an increase in consumption of liquor in general but it does shift some of the purchasing from package liquor stores to Walgreens. Since Walgreens doesn’t make a wide variety (if any) craft beers available, it potentially shifts consumption from craft beers to macros. So while I’d rather not see Walgreens in the liquor game, you don’t see me adopting specious arguments to advocate for my position. It just means that in venues like Brew Indy and in person, I will just have to ramp up my honest advocacy efforts.

They have several classes coming up including a Beginning Brewing class.  From their website:

Learn the basics of brewing with extract and specialty grains in this live demonstration. We’ll show you the tips and tricks to make your brewing easier and more successful. This is your chance to learn from our mistakes! Class meets one time for about 1.5 hours. Reservations are required two days before the class. Class fee is $15 or attend with a friend and pay $10 each.

This would be a great class for anyone interested in brewing their own beer to get involved with.  Look for it on April 21st and May 12.  Only one of those dates is needed.

They also have an All-Grain Brewing class for those of you who are more advanced.  Again, from their website:

We’ll show you the tips and tricks to make the transition from extract to all-grain easier and more successful. This is your chance to learn from our mistakes! Class meets one time for a minimum of 2 hours. Reservations are required two days before the class. Class fee is $25.

You can look for that one on April 25th.  Expect it to fill up fast so go to their site now and get signed up!

Appearance: Deep deep red bordering on brown. I over poured this, my second over pour of the night! The head dissipated into a nice off white frothy head.

Smell: Carmel and vanilla notes hit you right away.  Sweetness and alcohol are very present in the nose of this Ard Ri.

Taste: Vanilla is up front on this one.  Very tasty and immediately makes me wonder what this aged in oak barrels or even on cask would taste like.  A little bit of bitter but not much but some great sweet carmel flavour is present.  The alcohol is very present in this one.  Just to let you know, alcohol to me is a sweet flavour in my beers.  This isn’t true for everyone though.

Mouthfeel:  Smooth and creamy what else did you expect?  Perhaps a little bit of bitterness on the back end but balanced all the same.

Drinkability:  At 9.3% I don’t know how much you really want to drink.  This one is great to split with a friend(s) and enjoy.  For an imperial red ale Upland really out did themselves.  I’m disappointed I only have one as I’d love to taste this after getting some age on it.  If you can find it pick it up as you won’t be disappointed.

Ireland’s first and last Ard Ri (high king) of the whole Gaelic race, Brian Boru was born in Munster Ireland around 940. His mother was killed by Vikings when he was a child. He spent his life uniting the Irish tribes to become the first king of Ireland, only to be killed at Clontarf on Good Friday, 1014 putting down a rebellion by the King of the province of Leinster. Brian Boru Irish Brand Red Ale is a very rich caramelly ale with toffee, citrus, and pineapple aroma. Brian Boru is brewed with several malts and Amarillo hops. Slainte!

(Note the location of FFF and the Ard Ri’s birthplace)

Appearance: Very nice carmel red color.  I over poured this one a bit unfortunately so it had a massive head on it but died to to around a fingers worth of some nice thick and creamy foam.

Smell: You can pick up some nice citrus flavor among the carmels and the malts.  Smells a little hoppy for what I would expect but I’m hoping that it is a little on the hoppy side.  I dig it but I also dig the way red ales smell.

Taste:  They weren’t kidding when they said pineapple.  I can pick that out almost immediately although it’s not the bulk of what you’re going to taste in this but you will get the sweet and citrusy tones from that.  There is also some great carmel flavour in here.  The more I sip the more I realize the sweet flavor of tropical fruits staying with me long after I’ve drank it.  Before tht you can expect the dark burnt carmel taste with some nice bitterness.

Mouthfeel:  Great feel.  Very balanced.  Slightly bitter working that tongue into a lather ut also ery smooth and creamy.  Love it!

Drinkability:  If I could get Brian Boru in a six pack I would.  This is very sessionable and would be nice to sip on as the night passes me by.