Hoosier Beer Geek: A Beer Blog for Indiana, from Indianapolis

Indiana Brewing by the Numbers

2012-05-25T15:16:00.000-04:00

The 2011 Brewer's Association numbers are in, and they paint a productive picture for Indiana beer - a 35.47% statewide production increase from 2010 to 2011.

Our thanks go to Evan Benn of the St. Louis Post Dispatch for passing along the following data.

Brewery/Brewpub	2010	2011	Difference	Percentage Change
Three Floyds	15003	20417	5414	36.09%
Sun King Brewing Company	4775	9952	5177	108.42%
Upland Brewing Company	8345	9690	1345	16.12%
Flat12 Bierwerks		3000	3000
Oaken Barrel	2115	2500	385	18.20%
Mad Anthony	2178	2098	-80	-3.67%
New Albanian Bank Street Brewhouse	1350	1725	375	27.78%
Ram/Big Horn Indianapolis²	1394	1516	122	8.75%
People's Brewing Co.	650	1300	650	100.00%
New Albanian Brewing Company	1200	1250	50	4.17%
Barley Island Brewing Company	1172	1140	-32	-2.73%
Shoreline¹	1000	1025	25	2.50%
Rock Bottom Indianapolis²	1149	995	-154	-13.40%
Broad Ripple Brewing Company	950	900	-50	-5.26%
Bloomington Brewing Company¹	825	850	25	3.03%
Main Street/Turoni's¹	831	850	19	2.29%
Rock Bottom College Park²	858	813	-45	-5.24%
Lafayette Brewing Company	721	784	63	8.74%
Granite City Fort Wayne^1,2	723	725	2	0.28%
Granite City Indianapolis^1,2	671	675	4	0.60%
Crown Brewing Company	408	619	211	51.72%
Lil' Charlie's Restaurant and Brewery¹	600	600	0	0.00%
Granite City Mishawaka^1,2	573	575	2	0.35%
Half Moon Restaurant and Brewery	495	515	20	4.04%
Great Crescent Brewery	99	500	401	405.05%
Bier Brewery and Taproom		460	460
Brugge Brasserie^1,2	425	425	0	0.00%
Brugge Brasserie (#2)/Vigo Brewing^1,2	325	400	75	23.08%
Figure Eight Brewing Co.	150	350	200	133.33%
Back Road Brewery¹	300	330	30	10.00%
Triton Brewing Company		330	330
Black Swan Brewpub		300	300
Four Horsemen Brewing Company¹		300	300
Bee Creek Brewery^1,3	250	100	-150	-60.00%
Mishawaka Brewing Co.^1,3	600	100	-500	-83.33%
Power House Columbus Bar	57	96	39	68.42%
Big Woods Brewery¹	40	80	40	100.00%
New Boswell Brewing Co.¹	20	60	40	200.00%
Bulldog Brewery		15	15
Alcatraz Indianapolis^1,2,3	225	10	-215	-95.56%
Das Bier¹		10	10
TOTALS:	50477	68380	17903	35.47%

¹ Estimate. We don't know who made the estimate. According to one brewery source: "I don't send them numbers."
² Company has more than one operating production facility.
³ Location is now closed.

Worth noting?
The entire state of Indiana's 68,380 total barrels vs St. Louis' 61,970 barrels

Granted, there are a whole lot of factors that go into those numbers (distribution area chief among them), but it appears that there's still room for more breweries (or at least growth of our current breweries) in Indiana.

Random Beer Roundup - The Start Your Engines Edition

2012-05-25T09:13:00.002-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Darren at Bier Brewery in Indianapolis:

Memorial Day Weekend Lineup:
We will be open Monday 12-4pm

Sessie
Persephone
Dunkelweiss
Farmgal
Belgian Witbier
Belgian Blonde
Smoked Brown
PDG Pale
Fustercluck IPA

Saturday Tappings 1pm:
Wee Fatty
Cooterlite

From Crown Brewing in Crown Point:

Illiana Mayfest is this weekend!!

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Saturday, May 26th: Illiana Mayfest, Lake County Fairgrounds (No brewery tours this weekend)
Saturday and Sunday, May 26th-27th: Regular taproom hours 12-6
Saturday, June 2nd: Fest of Ale, Clarksville, IN
Friday, June 8th: Tap takeover Yogi's in Bloomington (8 beers on tap)
Saturday, June 9th: Bloomington Beer Fest
Saturday, June 9th: Evansville Do the Zoo

From Andrew at Ram Restaurant and Brewery in Indianapolis/Fishers:

WTTS Brings the Grooves for our Brews
The RAM Restaurant and Brewery is teaming up with 92.3 WTTS to bring new music and new beer your way with two upcoming events. Join us in Fishers on June 9th at 2 p.m. for the release of Barefoot Wit or at our Indianapolis location on June 14th at 6 p.m. for the second beer in our RAMAGEDDON 2012 series, Endgame Russian Imperial Stout. WTTS will be handing out their Spring Music Sampler, and we will be on site talking about the tasty new beers.

Howlers for Race Weekend
Be sure to grab a recyclable 32 oz. plastic Howler of your favorite RAM beer for the Indy 500 festivities. There is nothing like some fantastic RAM brew to go with the beautiful weather at the track this weekend.

Events Calendar
Join us for our upcoming events.

6/2 - RAM Every Day IPA Awards Ceremony
6/9 - WTTS Tapping Tour in Fishers featuring the Spring Music Sampler and Barefoot Wit
6/14 - WTTS Tapping Tour in Indianapolis featuring the Spring Music Sampler and Endgame Russian Imperial Stout

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Over the last couple of months Thr3e Wise Men has been very busy in the brewery getting their new equipment installed. We are happy to report that is now completed!!! What does that mean for you? You will now be able to get Thr3e Wise Men beer at all of the Scotty's location around the state in July! We will also be taking our in house lineup from 4 beers to 6 beers. Make sure to stop by and check out the new equipment while you are enjoying some beer and pizza!

We will also be tapping the next Thr3e Wise Men seasonal beer, Children of the Corn Cream Ale, on Tuesday June 5th. Make sure to put this on your calendar. Tapping party starts at 6pm with a toast with Omar!

From David at Triton Brewery in Lawrence:

What's on Tap at Triton
Triton Beers:Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter IPA and Sin Bin Belgian Pale.
Guest Taps:Brooklyn Chocolate Stout, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Stone 11.11.11 Vertical Epic, Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard, Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, Upland Winter Warmer and Victory Hop Wallop
Mead & Cider:
New Day Meadery Dry Meads and Original Sin Cider
Wines:
Toad Hollow Un-Oaked Chardonnay, Oliver Moscato, Seaglass Sauvignon Blanc, Ruta 22 Malbec, Tamas Estate Double Decker Red
Upcoming events:
Red Room Bottle Sampling June 1- Join us to taste products in 12 oz bottles! 6335 Guilford Avenue, Broad Ripple.
Fox and Hound (Carmel,IN) June 7- Join us in Carmel at 4pm for a beer tasting at this fine establishment!
2nd Annual Bloomington Craft Beer Fest June 9-Woolery Mill, Bloomington, Indiana
Trivia Night at Sahm's Place June 1- At 8:30 pm, test your trivia knowledge and enjoy Triton while you do! 2411 E. 65th Street, Indy.

For Carry Out
From Todd at Keg Liquors in Clarksville/New Albany:

Mark your calendars - 7th Annual Fest of Ale on June 2nd.

From Corrie at Goose the Market in Indianapolis:

Birds of a Feather: a Finch at the Goose!

complimentary tasting of Finch's deliciously beery line up from Chicago

Saturday, May 26, 1-3pm

no reservations

Goose the Market 25th St & Delaware www.goosethemarket.com

Also, new on the Goose cellar shelves...

Don't turn around, Bonnie Tyler: it's Two Brothers' Pillar of Salt, a white rye and part of their 15 Beer For 15 Years series.

De Goose got de order of De Dolle Export Stout, a brew they only put together a couple times a year.

Track side, dock side, or in the AC on your back side, you *can* drink well on Memorial Day. Glass-free options at the Goose: Abita, Harpoon, Brooklyn, Finch's, Sixpoint, Sun King.

From Jake at United Package Liquors in Broad Ripple:

We have our Indy's Wine & Brew Fest on June 15^th 7-10pm at the Broad Ripple Strip Station. Attached are details about the event and a product list.

Early Entry tickets are available to allow patrons to get in at 6pm. They are limited to the first 200 people and will not be available at the door.

At Bars and Restaurants
From Jordan at The Beer Sellar in Castleton:

New on tap as of 5/23/12

Three Floyds Zombie Dust
Three Floyds Blackheart
Struise/Three Floyds Shark Pants
Rogue OREgasmic
Great Divide Oak Chocolate Yeti
Bell's Smoked Lager
Founder Breakfast Stout
New Holland Dragons Milk
Petrus Old Ale

June 2nd
Beer Sellar Goes Local 2 IS NOW POSTPONED UNTIL END OF SUMMER

June 15th 7pm
Hatter Day 2012
Mad Hatter
Imperial Hatter
Black Hatter
Rye Hatter
Farmhouse Hatter
Oaked Aged Hatter
All on draft.

From Eddie at Sahm's Place in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Chowdown Midtown is starting June 11 and will run through June 24th, and we will be featuring a $30 dinner for 2. We are not only going to give customers a chance at getting great food at a discounted price, but also great beer and whisky! We will be featuring a daily beer and whisky flight to go along with our 4 course dinner. At no extra cost, you can have 4 5oz samples of any beer on our list or pick a whisky flight featuring different cocktails and small batch bourbons.

This Tuesday we are proud to have Sun King in for our Tuesday Night Trivia starting at 8:30pm! Sun King always brings in great prizes, people, and best of all...good beer. We will have a few standards like Osiris & Wee Mac, but expect to have a few specialty brews on the list all for $3.50 pints.

New for bottles this week is Ommegang Abbey Ale.

Beer Inventory:

Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

Bells Oberon

Bells Two Hearted

Bells Double Cream Stout

Bells Lager

Founders Double Trouble

New Holland Dragon's Milk Stout

New Day Meadery Johnny Chapman

Bier Brew Persephone

Bier Brew Weizengoot

Bier Brew Barley Buddy Brown

Bier Brew Trippelle (sure to go fast)

Bier Brew Rye Pale

Schlafly Hefeweizen

People's Mr. Brown

Rogue Hazlenut Brown Nectar

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale

Fountain Square Workingmans Pilsner

Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA
Flat12 Super Bravo 46

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse in various locations:

Scotty's Brewhouse West Lafayette now has New Belgium Somersault Ale on tap! Come on by on a Tuesday and get a 48oz pitcher for only $5!!

Scotty's Brewhouse Downtown has just tapped Fountain Square Brewing Company's Bigger Nugget IPA! You can enjoy this really amazing IPA every Thursday for $3.50 a pint.

Scotty's Burger Joint has just starting pouring Tyrenna Orange Scurvy IPA. You can enjoy this great IPA every Thursday in a 24oz mug for only $4!!

From Adam at Trion Tavern in New Haven:

Brew Haven 2012 Ticket Release Party

Friday, June 1st • 6pm • Trion TavernAmong several other rare, stellar and unique beers, we will be tapping 3 Floyds/De Struise Shark Pants (aka Live A Rich Life). And, beers from all 58 taps will be ONLY $3.50! There is no cover charge and, as with all special beer events at the Trion, it will be SMOKE FREE for the evening. More info can be found on the Special Events page at TrionTavern.com
Online ticket sales for Brew Haven 2012 will also begin at 6pm on June 1st at BrownPaperTickets.com.

Brew Haven 2012
Saturday, August 4 • 2pm-6pm • Downtown New Haven, Indiana
Brew Haven 2012 is going to be even bigger and better than last year's event! We're adding lots more space for a second tent full of breweries. Check out our BeerFinder for an updated list of the breweries (with beers to be added) and an evolving interactive map of the festival to make it easy to find the beers you want to sample. We are currently expecting 40 breweries to be pouring draft beer at the fest and that number only continues to increase! Watch as the number of beers grows and is sure to exceed 200. Then, there's the Homebrew...our talented local club will be pouring 50 of their tasty concoctions and have invited their contemporaries from around the region to add theirs. Make sure you're following Brew Haven on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.

Upcoming Events
From Morgan at Brasserie D'Achouffe:

Gnome Week is an anniversary program celebrating all things Brasserie D'Achouffe from June 6-9, 2012 at Brugge in Indianapolis, Indiana. La Chouffe is a Belgium beer that is unfiltered and re-fermented in the bottles as well as in the keg. It is pleasantly fruity, spiced with coriander, and with a light hop taste.

We would like to invite you to celebrate Gnome Week, where you will get to taste limited release Brasserie D'Achouffe beers Biere Du Soleil and the Gnomegang collaboration, as well as Brasserie D'Achouffe favorites La Chouffe, Mc Chouffe and Houblon Chouffe. Also, in honor of our big day, we're going tastefully small with the World's Smallest Toast on Saturday, June 9th.

From Michele at Fishers Rotary Club:

Thursday, June 14th at FORUM Conference and Event Center.
Tickets
$40 General Admission
$20 Designated Driver

Visit their website for more information.

From Joe at Conner Prairie Horizon Council:

Friday, June 15th at Conner Prairie
Featuring Keynote by Douglas Wissing, author of "One Pint at a Time: A Traveler's Guide to Indiana's Breweries."

Craft brewing demonstrations by Tuxedo Park Brewers.

An evening adventure through 1836 Prairietown.

1859 Balloon Voyage*

Food will be available at an additional cost.

Tickets

This is a 21+ event. Ticket includes entry into Conner Prairie as well as a tasting from all breweries.
• $25 per person
• $12 for designated drivers
Information
• Call (317) 776-6006

Tappings and Tastings at Tomlinson Tap Room

2012-05-23T22:09:00.000-04:00

If you get to Tomlinson Tap Room on a Wednesday night around 6pm, you'll be greeted with an extra opportunity to sample a flight from a selected brewery while enjoying some tasty snacks from City Market vendors like Fermenti Artisan, Brad Gates Catering, and Circle City Soups. Ram's recent tapping featured four specialties, including Ghost King, a brand new IPA, Heaven-Sent and Hell-Bound (an Imperial Rye Pilsner aged in Chambourcin Wine barrels for a complex flavor, the Hell-Bound has an addition of currants for a fruity twist), and Apocalypto Barleywine.

The food is plentiful and the variety is wide, and it's a steal for just twenty bucks. This is a great opportunity to try a new vendor or a local brewery. Look for Upland and Fountain Square Brewery to be there for the next few weeks and keep yourself updated on Tom Tap's Facebook page.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying about Rare Beer and Love Regular Beer

2012-05-23T17:08:00.000-04:00

I've been drinking better beer for about a decade now. I would say that I've been trading beer for probably seven of those ten years, but in the last six months I've almost quit trading cold turkey, and I've found out a great deal about beer and myself along the way. I haven't pursued rare beer, trading beer, or worried about when a beer was going to hit the market. It has been very easy and very satisfying.

It is just fucking beer. I didn't buy into that school of thought much when I was busy trading for the rarest of the rare. I was certainly entitled to that new beer right? No. That is incorrect, but it took me a long time to learn that. The best beer is the one at the bottom of the empty glass.

That rare beer you are trading for really isn't that good. This is a very difficult one to come to grips with. That beer may have been aged in a rare barrel, had 40 malts, 20 hops, and three yeast strains, but it won't live up to the hype. There are plenty of beers on the shelf that didn't cost as much and were much easier to obtain with no shipping, waiting list, standing in line, or being tethered to your computer at a certain time.

Rating sites are ruining a chance for a quality drinking culture. I didn't buy into this as well until just a few months ago. I was very guilty of pursuing beer and trading for beer simply because the hype train had momentum behind it. High ratings on a beer rating website do not equal a great beer.

Our brewing community that is available in Indiana is making all of the beer that you need. I wish we got beer from other breweries, but I am pretty happy with our selection here in the Hoosier State. From local beer to beers that are distributed here.

Next time you look for that new seasonal or highly allocated one off at the liquor store, and they don't have it don't worry about it. Try another beer you haven't had before. It will be much more satisfying.

I've also discovered that stopping my beer hoarding and beer trading days has greatly increased my total beer dollars. I can take two or three more beer trips this year just on that money alone.

So here is my new motto. Drink beer that is regularly available. It has helped reinvigorate my passion for beer.

Cheers!
Matt

Random Beer Roundup - The Late Late Edition

2012-05-21T00:44:00.003-04:00

Whoops! A little misunderstanding this weekend caused Roundup to be late. There's plenty to enjoy for the rest of the week and we'll see you at regular time next week!

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Darren at Bier Brewery in Indianapolis:

Here is our lineup for this week.

Sessie
Special Kolsch
Persephone
Fruitcup Surprise
Belgian Witbier
Barley Buddy Brown
Dred Brown
ESB
Cascadian Light Ale

From Crown Brewing in Crown Point:

Illiana Mayfest is Coming!!

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Friday, May 18th: Flat 12 Night at Cerulean, Winona Lake IN
Sunday, May 20th: Black Sunday at Flat 12 Bierwerks

From Roger at New Albanian Brewery in New Albany:

The RiverRoots fest in Madison IN this weekend will feature the following
Indiana craft beers in the beer tent:

Great Crescent: Cherry Wheat, Coconut Porter, Wit

NABC: Black & Blue Grass, Community Dark, Yakima Rye IPA

Sun King: Osiris Pale Ale, Sunlight Cream Ale, Wee Mac

Mobreki (pours to be determined)

Upland: Preservation Pilsner, Schwarz Black Lager, Wheat

http://potablecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-name-same-great-weekend-in-madison.html

From Andrew at Ram Restaurant and Brewery in Indianapolis/Fishers:

5/23 - Tappings and Tastings at Tomlinson Taproom
6/2 - RAM Every Day IPA Awards Ceremony
6/9 - WTTS Tapping Tour in Fishers featuring the Spring Music Sampler and Barefoot Wit
6/14 - WTTS Tapping Tour in Indianapolis featuring the Spring Music Sampler and our Russian Imperial Stout

From Clay at Sun King Brewing Co in Indianapolis:

Upcoming Events:

National Bike to Work Day

Friday, May 18th

Bike to Work Day Happy Hour

Friday, May 18th - After Work

Tomlinson Tap Room in City Market

INDYCOG and Fresh•Local•Beer

Fast Friday Track Cycling Races

Friday, May 18 - 7 PM

Major Taylor Velodrome - 3649 Cold Spring Road.

Chef JJ's Eggfest

Saturday, May 19 - 11am - 4pm

Chef JJ's Backyard - 1040 Broad Ripple Ave.

$25 per person for unlimited sampling from

50 chef teams all cooking on the Big Green Egg.

The Sun King Truck will be on had serving Fresh•Local•Beer

Tickets available online at:

http://tinyurl.com/7mj5944

Beer Dinner at Indigo Duck

Monday, May 21 - 6 PM

Indigo Duck - 39 East Court St., Franklin, IN

For Reservations Call: 317-560-5805

IIIF Presents: Bellflower

Thursday, May 24 - 7 PM

Indianapolis International Film Festival 2012 Spring Film

At the Earth House Collective - 237 N. East St.

Enjoy Fresh•Local•Beer while you watch

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Thr3e Wise Men is now pouring its current seasonal, Double Pagoda Pit Road Red! Come in on Tuesday and get your growler filled up with this or any of our other beers for $8!

From David at Triton Brewery in Lawrence:

Trivia Night at Sahm's Place Tuesday, May 22

At 8:30 pm, test your trivia knowledge and enjoy Triton while you do! 2411 E. 65th Street, Indy.

Beer Club Tasting at Fox and Hound June 7

4-6 pm, 14490 Lowes Way, Carmel.

For more information about these, or other upcoming events, follow us on facebook.com/tritonbrewing or on twitter at @tritonbrewing or check us out at tritonbrewing.com.

From Lindsay at Upland Brewing Co. in Bloomington/Indianapolis:

This is what we've got going on this week and next!

http://uplandbeer.com/2012-upcup-homebrewers-competition/

http://uplandbeer.com/upland-gran-fondo-of-louisville/

For Carry Out
From Todd at Keg Liquors in Clarksville/New Albany:

Mark your calendars - 7th Annual Fest of Ale on June 2nd. Here is the latest for Keg Liquors:

Here is the latest for Keg Liquors:
Flying Dog - Wildeman Farmhouse IPA (Maryland)
Evil Genius - Good N Evil Ale (Pennsylvania)
New Belgium - Lips of Faith Biere de Mars (Colorado)
Three Floyds - Blackheart English-style IPA (Indiana)
Dark Horse - Double Crooked Tree IPA (Michigan)
Left Hand - Good Juju (Colorado)
New Belgium - Lips of Faith La Folie (Colorado)
Schlenkerla - Oak Smoke (Germany)
Sierra Nevada - 2012 Southern Hemisphere (California)
Sierra Nevada - Hoptimum (California)
Goose Island - Pepe Nero (Illinois)
Goose Island - Lolita (Illinois)
Goose Island - Juliet (Illinois)
OFallon - Kite Summer Ale (Missouri)

At Bars and Restaurants
From Jordan at The Beer Sellar in Castleton:

June 2nd

Beer Sellar Goes Local 2

June 15th 7pm

Hatter Day 2012

Mad Hatter

Imperial Hatter

Black Hatter

Rye Hatter

Farmhouse Hatter

Oaked Aged Hatter

All on draft.

From Stuart at MacNiven's on Mass Ave, Indianapolis:

Friday Night Fountain Square Brewery Firkin Tapping!

From Eddie at Sahm's Place in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

We now have all 15 craft lines installed and are getting ready for our "Sahm Random Day in July"! Bier Brewery will be hosting with a bushel of grand brews and we will be grilling out to celebrate whatever random day we choose to have it on...stay tuned for more info.

This week we added Redhook ESB Bottles, Young's Double Chocolate Stout cans, and Thirsty Dog Raspberry Wheat Ale bottles to our bottle list.

Tuesday May 22nd Bier Brewery will be hosting Tuesday Night Trivia with 6 beer selections, great prizes, and some of the brewers here to answer questions and charm your pants off.PDG, Sessie, Belgian Blonde, Kolsch, persephone, and another seasonal will all be available for $3.50 pints!

Kegs this week:

Founders Double Trouble

Rogue Hazlenut Brown Nectar

Fountain Square Porter

Fountain Square Cosmic Wheat

Fountain Square Pilsner

New Day Meadery Johnny Chapman Cider

Bells Oberon

Bells Double Cream Stout

Bells Two Hearted

Bells Oarsmen

New Albanian Elector

Bloomington Brew Co. Ruby Bloom Abmer

New Holland Dragons Milk Stout

Bier Persephone

Bier Belgian Blonde

Bier PDG

Bier Sessie

Bier Kolsch

Schlafly Hefeweizen

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse in various locations:

Scotty’s Brewhouse 96th Street Indianapolis is now pouring two beers from Urban Chestnut Brewing Company! We have their Winged Nut & Zwickel! Both of these are amazing beers from St. Louis and you can enjoy these for $3.50 a pint every Thursday!

Scotty’s Brewhouse Downtown Indianapolis has just tapped New Albanian Hoosier Daddy! You can enjoy a 48oz Pitcher of this beer on Wednesday for $9.00!

Scotty’s Burger Joint has Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy on tap right now! Come enjoy a 48oz Pitcher of this refreshing summer brew for only $5.00 every Tuesday!

From Adam at Trion Tavern in New Haven:

Latest beers on tap:Flat 12 Mustache RideNew Albanian Yakima
3 Floyds Al-Dabeyoun
3 Floyds Rabbid Rabbit
New Holland Dragon's Milk
Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti
Sixpoint Resin
Rogue John John Dead Guy
De La Senne Zinnebir
Monk's Café
Wells & Youngs Double Chocolate Stout
On Deck:
Brooklyn Blast
Samuel Adams Dark Depths
He'brew Genesis

Use our Interactive Daily Tap List to check out the rest of the 58 beers we have on tap.Package Store specials (available now):
De Ranke Hop Harvest 2011 - 750ml bottles - $19.99 (price includes tax)
Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere - 750ml bottles - $14.99 (price includes tax)
Jolly Pumpkin Bam Noire - 750ml bottles - $14.99 (price includes tax)
Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura - 750ml bottles - $16.99 (price includes tax)
3 Floyds Gumballhead - 6-packs - $9.99 (price includes tax)
Bell's Oberon 6-packs - $8.49 (price includes tax)

Distributor info
From Jen at Cavalier Distribution:

NEW TO THE CAVALIER WAREHOUSE

Left Hand Good Juju - Pale Ale kissed with ginger; seasonal release; 6 packs

Breckenridge Summer Bright - American Wheat; seasonal release; 6 packs

Eel River Earth Thirst - Double IPA; limited release; 22oz bottles only

Lakefront Cherry - Cherry Lager; limited seasonal release; 6 packs only

UPCOMING EVENTS

5/18 - Craft Tasting at Liquid Assets; North Manchester

5/18 - Craft Tasting at Party Time Liquors; Greenville; 5pm-7pm

5/18 - Craft Beer Tasting Outdoor Event at Cap N Cork Dupont; Ft. Wayne; 5pm-7pm

5/19 - Craft Tasting at Moggers; Terre Haute; 4pm-7pm

5/19 - Maria Mitrioni's Italian Fest; Richmond, TBA

5/25 - Craft Tasting at Cap N Cork on Coldwater; Ft Wayne; 5pm-7pm

5/26 - Sahm's Place / People's Brewing Co. Tap Takeover/Trivia Night ; 6pm

5/26 - Illiana Mayfest; Lake County Fairgrounds, Crown Point; 2pm-6pm; $30 general and $45 VIP (entrance at 1pm)

6/1 - Founders Tap Takeover at Buckhead; Jeffersonville; all day event

6/2 - Keg Liquors Fest of Ales; St. Anthony's of Padu Lot; Clarksville; 3pm-7pm; $25 general admission

6/15 - UPL Indy's Wine and Brew Fest; Broadripple Station Parking Lot; 6pm-10pm; $30 in advance

6/23 - Brew HaHa; Downtown Indy; 3pm-7pm; $35 general admission

7/3 - Sahm's Place / NABC Tap Takeover/Trivia Night; 6pm

8/4 - Brew Haven Craft Beer Festival; Downtown New Haven; 2pm-6pm; $35 general admission

10/13 - Porter Beerfest 12pm-4pm

11/16 - Celebrate Election Day with Elector at Yogi's; Bloomington; all day event

Upcoming Events
From Morgan at Brasserie D’Achouffe:

Gnome Week is an anniversary program celebrating all things Brasserie D’Achouffe from June 6-9, 2012 at Brugge in Indianapolis, Indiana. La Chouffe is a Belgium beer that is unfiltered and re-fermented in the bottles as well as in the keg. It is pleasantly fruity, spiced with coriander, and with a light hop taste.

We would like to invite you to celebrate Gnome Week, where you will get to taste limited release Brasserie D’Achouffe beers Biere Du Soleil and the Gnomegang collaboration, as well as Brasserie D’Achouffe favorites La Chouffe, Mc Chouffe and Houblon Chouffe. Also, in honor of our big day, we’re going tastefully small with the World’s Smallest Toast on Saturday, June 9th.

From Michele at Fishers Rotary Club:

Thursday, June 14th at FORUM Conference and Event Center.

Tickets
$40 General Admission
$20 Designated Driver

Visit their website for more information.

From Joe at Conner Prairie Horizon Council:

Friday, June 15th at Conner Prairie
Featuring
Keynote by Douglas Wissing, author of “One Pint at a Time: A Traveler’s Guide to Indiana’s Breweries.”
Craft brewing demonstrations by Tuxedo Park Brewers.
An evening adventure through 1836 Prairietown.
1859 Balloon Voyage*
Food will be available at an additional cost.
TicketsThis is a 21+ event. Ticket includes entry into Conner Prairie as well as a tasting from all breweries.
• $25 per person
• $12 for designated drivers
Information
• Call (317) 776-6006

American Craft Beer Week - Shallo's Annual Spring Tasting

2012-05-16T10:29:00.000-04:00

Shallo's Restaurant and bar has been a Southside institution for over thirty years. From the outside, it's unassuming facade hides the beery goodness inside. Mike and I have frequented this place for as long as we've lived in Indiana and we've enjoyed many of their craft beers.

Along with their usual offerings, they also host a beer tasting twice a year, in the spring and fall. Most recently, they hosted their Spring tasting on Monday evening. While we checked out the offerings, I had a chance to talk to Paul Zoellner, one of Shallos' owners, and he told me this was his 30th tasting event. The number of people vary, and Monday's event held around 50 or 60 people. "I've seen it with as many as 100-110 people," Zoellner said, "but 50-60 seems like a comfortable amount".

This time around, the tasting featured representatives from New Albanian Brewery, Fountain Square Brewery and New Day Meadery, as well as distribution representatives from Cavalier, Monarch, World Class, and Zink. These folks poured samples of 40+ beers, ciders, and even a couple Bloody Mary mixes. There was a nice spread of snacks for responsible sipping as well.

Most of the offerings were served from bottles and cans, along with samples from four of their draft lines. Draft pours included Zombie Dust, a well loved pale ale from Three Floyds, House of Shandy Traveler, and two brews new to Indiana from St. Louis and the good folks at Urban Chestnut Brewing. The two beers we'll see around town and the two offered at the tasting were Winged Nut (literally nutty, as it is made with finely milled chestnuts), and Zwickel, an unfiltered German Lager.

A feature of Shallos' tastings is they offer a beer list and a pencil so you can make notes. It appeared that a majority of people, at least early on, were doing that. Another perk is a raffle held at the end, where I am pretty sure that everyone in attendance went home with a prize or two (Mike and I picked up Fountain Square Brewing tasting glasses). There had a wide variety of prizes including t-shirts, beer signs, and beer glasses of all shapes and sizes.

Thanks to Doug, barman extraordinaire, and all at Shallo's for putting on a fun event and for letting us be a part of it!

To end the night, we sampled some tasty test batches from Planetary Brewing (coming soon to Greenwood) and spoke to owner/brewer, Andrew Groves. Andrew and Doug have been working hard to get everything set up and ready. Look for them late summer/early fall.

With this being a beer tasting event, I did what I normally do, and took tasting notes:

Urban Chestnut

Urban Chestnut Zwickel - True to Germanic roots. Banana and bread, finishes dry.

Urban Chestnut Winged Nut - Toast and Pretzel nose, followed by burnt unbuttered popcorn. As bad as that sounds, it's actually kind of interesting and worth checking out.

I think Urban Chestnut may find an audience here because they're doing something completely different than anyone in town.

New Day Meadery

New Day South Cider, Cherry Mead, and Johnny Chapman - Perhaps because I've been so buried in beer, it took my a while to come around on meads and ciders. These were tasty examples.

I think traditional meads and ciders tend to be lacking in the sort of three distinct phases (front, middle, and back) that you find in better beer (and I could be completely wrong here). What I like about what New Day is doing is that they're incorporating craft beer techniques - stuff like dry hopping and barrel aging - into their meads and ciders, giving them completely unique character.

I talked with New Day's Brett Canaday about his process, and he believes that (along with Michigan's B. Nektar) New Day is among the pioneers in the use of these techniques in mead making.

Keep your eyes out of a barrel-aged version of Johnny Chapman.

Fountain Square Brewery

Fountain Square Bigger Nugget - Huge grapefruit nose, middle follows through big on bitter, medium body. Rich flavor reminds you that you're drinking a double IPA, but an easy drinking DIPA, if there is such a thing.

Fountain Square Cranberry Wheat - There's just hint of cranberry on the nose, followed up by light vanilla on front. Then an explosion of cranberry tartness dries out the finish.

I've really liked what the guys at Fountain Square are doing, and have yet to notice any of the usual hiccups that come along with the opening of a new brewery.

New Albanian Brewing Company

New Albanian Tunnel Vision - "Have I not had this?" Immediately likable. A glass of caramel apple popcorn. Lively chouffe yeast finish, and even though this was my third beer of the evening, I immediately knew it would be my favorite. It is a bit rich - a sharing bottle, perhaps.

Random Beer Roundup - The American Craft Beer Week Edition

2012-05-11T10:12:00.000-04:00

Happy American Craft Beer Week next week! There are a ton of great events coming up, enjoy yourselves! GO BEER.

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Crown Brewing in Crown Point:

Illiana Mayfest is Coming!!

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Friday, May 11th: Carmel-Clay Public Library with Ted Allen
Saturday, May 12th: Pre-Race Party with IndyCar #27 James Hinchcliffe Special tapping.
Saturday, May 12th: Arts & Crafts #4 at Elbow Room
Wednesday, May 16th: Indianapolis Monthly Tasting at Tom Tap
Wednesday, May 16th: Block Party for Riley Area Development Corp.
Thursday, May 17th: Tapping, Moustache Ride Red (Bourbon Barrel Vanilla Amber)
Friday, May 18th: Flat 12 Night at Cerulean, Winona Lake IN
Sunday, May 20th: Black Sunday at Flat 12 Bierwerks

From Skip at Fountain Square Brewing Co. in Fountain Square:

Next week for American Craft Beer week we will be releasing our first Double IPA. It is a version of our "Big Nuggets" IPA called of course "Bigger Nuggets". Light in color but bold in hops, this American IPA starts with a big floral nose and ends with a slightly bitter finish. Hopped generously with Nugget and Columbus hops, but balanced nicely with the addition of Honey Malt. 8.35% ABV 54 IBU. It will be on tap when we open on Thursday the 17^th at 4pm.

From Andrew at Ram Restaurant and Brewery in Indianapolis/Fishers:

Heaven and Hell Party!

Rumblings have begun down below and sounds of choirs can be heard coming from the sky. It must be getting close. The armies of Heaven and Hell are on the move but not for battle. This will be a more joyous occasion. Heaven-sent, Hell-bound, and Apocalypto Barleywine are ready to serve, customary costumes are being adorned, and feasts are being prepared. This Saturday at 7 p.m. is the time and the RAM in Downtown Indianapolis is the place. Be here for the Heaven and Hell Party, or you might regret it for eternity.

Events Calendar
Join us for our upcoming events.
5/10 - RAM Every Day IPA Homebrew Competition Registration Deadline
5/11 - Great Fermentations Homebrew Club Meeting with tasting of Hop Anonymous
5/12 - Heaven and Hell Party with costume prizes
5/16 - Indianapolis Monthly Beer Tasting at Tomlinson Taproom
5/23 - Tappings and Tastings at Tomlinson Taproom
6/2 - RAM Every Day IPA Awards Ceremony
6/9 - WTTS Tapping Tour in Fishers featuring the Spring Music Sampler and Barefoot Wit
6/14 - WTTS Tapping Tour in Indianapolis featuring the Spring Music Sampler and our Russian Imperial Stout

On Tap Now
Big Horn Maibock
Hop Anonymous IPA

From Jerry at Rock Bottom Brewery in Downtown Indianapolis:

May 17 - $25 for 5 courses - RSVP required (call the Downtown location)

1st - fresh ricotta, local honeycomb, black pepper
2nd - smokey blue cheese, apple and fennel baklava, rosemary honey, toasted almonds
3rd - white Irish cheddar with porter, toasted hazelnuts, chili compote, romesco
4th - Capriole Farms goat cheese trio
Mont St Francis, vanilla, sweet blackberry compote
Juliana, roasted walnuts, smoked salt, truffle honey
Obannon, bourbon, peaches, balsamic reduction
5th - red dragon yellow cheddar, andouille sausage, whole grain mustard, brown ale reduction

Each course paired with beer

From Clay at Sun King Brewing Co in Indianapolis:

The Sun King / Oskar Blues CANlaboration hit the streets this week and will be available for sampling in the Tasting Room this weekend. It is only available in the new bottle/can, which we spent months working with Oskar Blues, Ball Corporation and Cask Brewing Systems develop a small scale filling machine to allow craft brewers access to this packaging option. Until now, only large beverage manufacturers had access to this, so it's a pretty exciting project all around.

Indiana Landmark Wit and Naptown Brown IBA will both be available in the Tasting Room this week. We have several new beers coming your way: Sky Cake (it's an Aleger) will be released at MacNivens on Thursday, May 17th and this year's version of Firefly Wheat gets tapped at Chef JJ's EGGfest on Saturday, May 19th.

American Craft Beer Week is May 14th through May 20th! Get out and celebrate the best way you know how... By enjoying some Delicious American Craft Beer!

Upcoming Events:

MacNiven's Tap Takeover

Thursday, May 17 - 11am - Close

12 Sun King Beers PLUS

The release of Sky Cake

National Bike to Work Day

Friday, May 18th

Bike to Work Day Happy Hour

Friday, May 18th - After Work

Tomlinson Tap Room in City Market

INDYCOG and Fresh•Local•Beer

Fast Friday Track Cycling Races

Friday, May 18 - 7 PM

Major Taylor Velodrome - 3649 Cold Spring Road.

Chef JJ's Eggfest

Saturday, May 19 - 11am - 4pm

Chef JJ's Backyard - 1040 Broad Ripple Ave.

$25 per person for unlimited sampling from

50 chef teams all cooking on the Big Green Egg.

The Sun King Truck will be on had serving Fresh•Local•Beer

Tickets available online at:

http://tinyurl.com/7mj5944

Beer Dinner at Indigo Duck

Monday, May 21 - 6 PM

Indigo Duck - 39 East Court St., Franklin, IN

For Reservations Call: 317-560-5805

IIIF Presents: Bellflower

Thursday, May 24 - 7 PM

Indianapolis International Film Festival 2012 Spring Film

At the Earth House Collective - 237 N. East St.

Enjoy Fresh•Local•Beer while you watch

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Thr3e Wise Men will be participating at the Indianapolis Monthly's Beerfest which is Wednesday May 16th at the Tomlinson Tap Room inside City Market. Come enjoy our lineup: Golden Zoe IPA, Centennial Martyr Double IPA, Saint Slater's Irish Stout and our Special Tapping of our Double Pagoda Pit Road Red. The event kicks off at 6pm and goes to 8:30pm. You can get tickets to the event through IndianapolisMontly.com. We look forward to seeing you all there!

From David at Triton Brewery in Lawrence:

American Craft Beer Week (ACBW)-Clustertruck Wednesday, May 16
In honor of ACBW Triton Brewing Company is hosting a Clustertruck event bringing together some of our favorite food trucks: Scratchtruck, Der Pretzel Wagon, Mac Genie and Spice Box to name a few! Fresh craft beer and local food truck fare at Triton Brewing Company!

Trivia Night at Sahm's Place Tuesday, May 22

At 8:30 pm, test your trivia knowledge and enjoy Triton while you do! 2411 E. 65th Street, Indy.

Beer Club Tasting at Fox and Hound June 7

4-6 pm, 14490 Lowes Way, Carmel.

For more information about these, or other upcoming events, follow us on facebook.com/tritonbrewing or on twitter at @tritonbrewing or check us out at tritonbrewing.com.

From Lindsay at Upland Brewing Co. in Bloomington/Indianapolis:

This is what we've got going on this week and next!

http://uplandbeer.com/the-fifth-annual-wfhb-acoustic-roots-festival/

http://uplandbeer.com/2012-upcup-homebrewers-competition/

http://uplandbeer.com/upland-gran-fondo-of-louisville/

For Carry Out
From Todd at Keg Liquors in Clarksville/New Albany:

Mark your calendars - 7th Annual Fest of Ale on June 2nd.

Great Divide - Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti (Colorado)
Dark Horse - Plead the Fifth Stout (Michigan)
Schlafly - American IPA (Missouri)
Wandering Aengus - Wanderlust Cider (Oregon)
BBC - Saison (Kentucky)
Rogue - Dads Little Helper Black IPA (Oregon)
Two Brothers - Dark Mild Ale (Illinois)
Two Brothers - Pillar of Salt (Illinois)
Sixpoint - Apollo (New York)
Founders - Curmudgeon Old Ale (Michigan)
Two Brothers - Bonfire Dunkel Weiss (Illinois)
Abita - Strawberry Harvest Lager (Louisiana)
Tyranena - Scurvy IPA (Wisconsin)
Mendocino - Imperial Barleywine (California)
Victory - Headwaters Pale Ale (Pennsylvania)
Hoppin Frog - Barrel Aged Naked Evil (Ohio)
Gulden Draak - 9000 Quad (Belgium)
Hoppin Frog - Hop Heathen (Ohio)
Breckenridge - 72 Imperial Chocolate Cream Stout (Colorado)
Sprecher - Shakparo Ale (Wisconsin)
Haandbryggeriet - Sweet & Sour (Denmark)
Victory Stone Dogfish Head - Saison du Buff (Pennsylvania)
Viven - Smoked Porter (Belgium)
Makana - Dry Mead (South Africa)
Finchs Beer Company - Altus Gravitus (Illinois)
Stone - Imperial Russian Stout (California)
Rogue - Chipotle Ale (Oregon)
Haandbryggeriet - Haandbakk (Norway)
Hochland Imker - Lime-Tree Blossom Mead (Austria)
Dieu du Ciel! - Equinoxe du Printemps (Canada)
Dieu du Ciel! - Rigor Mortis Abt (Canada)
Kulmbacher - EKU 28 (Germany)
Dieu du Ciel - Rosee d'Hisbiscus (Canada)
Dieu du Ciel - Route des Epices (Canada)
Mikkeller - Black Buffalo ()
Pretty Things - Jack D'or (Massachusetts)
Pretty Things - 1838 X Ale (Massachusetts)
Pretty Things - 1945 X Ale (Massachusetts)
Struise - Elliot Brew (Belgium)

At Bars and Restaurants
From Jordan at The Beer Sellar in Castleton:

New drafts as of 5/8/12

New Albanian Elsa Von Horizon

Sixpoint Spice of Life Nugget

Sixpoint Resin

Victory Headwaters

Mikkler Invasion

Victory Mad Kings

New Belgium Cocca Mole

Tyrannena Dirty Old Man

Petrus Aged Pale

Three Floyds Pride

On Deck:

Pretty Things Jack D' Or

New Day Johnny Chapman

North Coast Scrimshaw

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

Brooklyn Summer Ale

Events:

May 14th

Craft Beer Week: Look for special tappings from

Great Divide Chocolate Yeti, 18th Anniversary

Stone IRS

Founders Double Trouble, Breakfast Stout

Goose Island Pere Jacques

Dark Horse Scotty Karate

Three Floyds/Struise Shark Pants

Brooklyn Sorrachi Ace

Rogue Orgasmic Ale

Bell's Smoked Lager

North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner

Sam Adams Norse Legend

New Belgium Tart Lychee

Pretty Things Jack D'Or

More to come!

June 2nd

Beer Sellar Goes Local 2

June 15th 7pm

Hatter Day 2012

Mad Hatter

Imperial Hatter

Black Hatter

Rye Hatter

Farmhouse Hatter

Oaked Aged Hatter

All on draft.

From Stuart at MacNiven's on Mass Ave, Indianapolis:

American Craft Beer Week starts Monday May 14th!!

All Draughts Go USA begining Monday!

Tuesday Night is Bell's Brewery Night! Two Hearted Firkin Tapping & More...

Wednesday Night Is Three Floyds Brewery Night....12 Three Floyds on Tap!

Thursday Night is Sun King Brewery Night....12 Sun King's on Tap, plus Grapefruit Jungle on The Hand-Pull and a Firkin of Timmie on the bartop!

Friday Night Fountain Square Brewery Firkin Tapping!

From Eddie at Sahm's Place in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

We finally did it. It was the most chaotic implementation of equipment this side of the Nile, but it has been accomplished. We have added 6 beer lines and 10 bottles (with a brand spankin' new glass reach in cooler) to our craft / local selections.

We now feature 20+ craft bottles & cans and 14 craft beer lines that will rotate local brewers, seasonal selections, and some tasty hard to find lines! We will be incorporating beer tastings, tap takeovers, and as always, our Tuesday Night Trivia sponsored brewers each week.

This week we will be hosting Fountain Square Brewing and New Day Meadery as they showcase there beer during Craft Beer Week! Some of the finest east side beverages will be available including FSQ porter, Double IPA, Hop for Teacher, New Day Meadery South Cider, Johnny Chapman, and if we are lucky a mead or two!

Beers on Tap this week:
Bells Oberon
Bells Two Hearted
Bells Lager
Bells Double Cream Stout
Bells Oarsmen
Rogue Hazlenut Brown Nectar
Bier Brew Belgian Wit
Bier Brew Cascadian Light
Fountain Square Cosmic Wheat
New Albanian Elector Red
New Day Meadery South Cider
Flat12 Super Bravo 46
Schlafly Hefeweizen
Triton 4 Barrel Brown
Brugge Pooka
New Holland Dragon's Milk
Founders Double Trouble
Sun King Landmark Wit
Bloomington Brew Co. Ruby Bloom
Upland Wheat

From Doug at Shallo's Restaurant in Indianapolis:

Shallos Beer tasting this Monday the 14th. 7-9:30 $25. Come and get some of this Zombie Dust I've been hiding for you. Fountain Square brewery will be there as well as New Day Meadery. This will be a drinking opportunity you don't want to miss. Bring your liver.

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse in various locations:

Scotty's Brewhouse Muncie is now pouring Three Floyds Gumballhead! We have a limited supply have so come get it while you can! Enjoy a 48oz Pitcher on Tuesday for $5.00!

Scotty's Brewhouse West Lafayette has just tapped Three Floyds Alpha King! Come by on Thursday and enjoy a pint of this amazing beer for only $3.50!

Scotty's Burger Joint in Columbus is now pouring Sun King Landmark Wit! You can come by and get a 48oz pitcher for only $9.00 every Wednesday!

Distributor info
From Jen at Cavalier Distribution:

NEW TO THE CAVALIER WAREHOUSE

Hebrew Coney Island Mixed Packs - A mixed pack of lagers and Mermaid Pilsner; limited seasonal release; 12 packs only

Mad River Double Dread Red - Imperial Red Ale; limited seasonal release; 4 packs only

Sixpoint Apollo - Bavarian Style Summer Wheat; limited seasonal release; 4 pack 16oz cans only

Hinterland Cherry Wheat - made from Door County cherries; limited seasonal release; 4 packs and draft

New Albanian Black and Blue Grass - Saison; limited release; 22oz bottles and draft

Great Divide Oak Aged Chocolate Yeti - limited seasonal release; 22oz bottles and draft

Shipyard Summer - Summer Wheat Ale; limited seasonal release; 6 packs only

Southern Star Le Mort Vivant - Biere de Garde; limited seasonal release; 4 pack cans only

Two Brothers Dog Days of Summer - Dortmunder Lager; limited seasonal release; 6 packs and draft

Two Brothers Pillar of Salt - Rye Wit; limited release; 22oz bottles and draft

Two Brothers Mild Dark - English Style; limited release; 22oz bottles and draft

Founders Old Curmudgeon - Old Ale; limited release; 4 packs and draft

Breckenridge 72 Imperial Chocolate Stout - limited release; 4 packs only

Tyranena Scurvy - IPA brewed with orange peel; limited seasonal release; 6 packs and draft

UPCOMING EVENTS

5/16- Founders Tap Takeover at Max's Place; Bloomington; 6:30pm

5/17 - Peoples Brewing Tasting at Chalet Liquors #1; Middlebury

5/18 - Craft Tasting at Liquid Assets; North Manchester

5/18 - Craft Tasting at Party Time Liquors; Greenville; 5pm-7pm

5/18 - Craft Beer Tasting Outdoor Event at Cap N Cork Dupont; Ft. Wayne; 5pm-7pm

5/19 - Craft Tasting at Moggers; Terre Haute; 4pm-7pm

5/19 - Maria Mitrioni's Italian Fest; Richmond, TBA

5/25 - Craft Tasting at Cap N Cork on Coldwater; Ft Wayne; 5pm-7pm

5/26 - Illiana Mayfest; Lake County Fairgrounds, Crown Point; 2pm-6pm; $30 general and $45 VIP (entrance at 1pm)

6/1 - Founders Tap Takeover at Buckhead; Jeffersonville; TBA

6/2 - Keg Liquors Fest of Ales; St. Anthony's of Padu Lot; Clarksville; 3pm-7pm; $25 general admission

6/23 - Brew HaHa; Downtown Indy; 3pm-7pm; $35 general admission

8/4 - Brew Haven Craft Beer Festival; Downtown New Haven; 2pm-6pm; $35 general admission

10/13 - Porter Beerfest 12pm-4pm

11/16 - Celebrate Election Day with Elector at Yogi's; Bloomington; all day event

Upcoming Events
From Michele at Fishers Rotary Club:

Thursday, June 14th at FORUM Conference and Event Center.

Tickets
$40 General Admission
$20 Designated Driver

Visit their website for more information.

The Louisville Beer Trail

2012-05-08T22:33:00.000-04:00

In my experience, vacationers usually fall into one of three classes. The first class consists of folks who are looking mostly for leisure. These are the people who travel to resorts in places like Mexico or the Caribbean to lie on the beach, hit the resort's buffet, play golf or tennis, and just generally escape the demands of workaday life. I call this vacationer the "comfort-seeker."

The second class of vacationer looks primarily for culture at his destination. This person yearns for the museums, the restaurants, the shops, the pubs, the art galleries. He wants to do what the locals do and fills each day with an agenda that immerses him in the local culture. A metropolis is his haven. I call this vacationer the "urban explorer."

The third kind of vacationer falls somewhere between the comfort-seeker and the urban explorer. She needs down-time on her vacation, yet she gets restless at the thought of being unable to fully interact with the locals. Anyone who's been to a vacation resort knows that it can almost be isolating, especially if the resort is in a second- or third-world spot. So this vacationer (for whom I don't have a nice snappy name) will travel to places that possess a good blend of leisure and culture.

My guess is that most people fall into the third class. But I'm squarely in the urban explorer camp. Now this is just a preference for me--I can hang with the occasional beach vacation--but it's a very strong preference.

A few years ago, a friend who knew this preference brought Louisville to my attention. At the time, I'd been to Louisville only once, and that was for a five-hour visit to the University of Louisville. So I knew little of what the city had to offer and was confused by his suggestion. Seeing my quizzical look, my friend assured me that the urban explorer in me would enjoy the city.

My friend proved to be wise because Louisville is a city that is endowed with a rich culture. To the city's great benefit, this culture flows not from national chains or generic sources, but rather from local, independent roots. Indeed, Louisville is the increasingly rare American city that strongly values this sort of independent culture. "Keep Louisville Weird," they say. Okay, they say "Keep [Insert City Name] Weird" in a growing number of cities these days, especially in the cities trying to mold themselves according to Richard Florida's models. But in Louisville, they really mean it when they say, "Keep Louisville Weird." You can't help but be charmed by the quirky uniqueness of the place. And this uniqueness is very much reflected in the city's businesses, whether those businesses are restaurants, food markets, bars, boutiques, or breweries.

Take the gastropub Holy Grale, nestled in The Highlands, the district which is the center of Louisville's independent spirit. Headquartered in an old Unitarian church, Holy Grale draws those who seek communion with hard-to-find European-style beers. At this pub, a goblet of Bockor's Cuvée des Jacobin Rouge may hammer one's palate with tartness, but the beer simultaneously lifts one's spirits. Or a tall glass of Mikkeller's Bloody Show Pilsner, brewed in collaboration with Louisville brewery Against The Grain, flowers with bitterness and citrus because it was brewed with blood oranges.

A trip to the arts-oriented East Market District takes you to Against The Grain. Against The Grain embodies Louisville's independent spirit with its irreverence. For instance, the brewery's brown ale is named "Brown Note," apparently after an infamous episode of South Park (aren't they all infamous?). And ATG is not just a brewery; it's a smokehouse too. So of course they brew a rauchbier, whimsically called "Raucho Man Randy Beverage" (R.I.P. Macho Man). While smoked beers don't appeal to me, coffee beers certainly do. ATG has an amazing coffee beer that came about when the brewery played well with another local. The local in question is coffeehouse Heine Brothers Coffee. Together, they gave birth to Heine's Big Bro, an imperial oatmeal espresso stout that one could rightly call a mocha in beer form.

On Barret Avenue at Lynn's Paradise Cafe for breakfast or lunch, you'll find yourself immersed in a kitsch explosion. If the B-52s had stopped making music and started designing restaurants, Lynn's Paradise Cafe would have been their prototype. Sit down at a booth and a menagerie of plastic animals greets you. Your table is a miniature zoo. What's the Kentucky angle here? Bourbon milkshakes. Thick-sliced bacon. Biscuits with house-made gravy. Eggs with yolks so gold-yellow that you'll have to wear sunglasses just to dig into them. And this place is no one-note tourist trap. Plenty of locals eat here.

Back in the Highlands on Bardstown Road, happy hour is being celebrated at Cumberland Brewery. This small brewery hails from the era when it seemed that most brewmasters had spent a few years of their lives following the Dead before they settled down to brew beer. Cumberland fits right into that free-spirited theme. English style beers are in abundance as regular brews, but a springtime-appropriate wit, saison, and doppelbock are also on the menu.

But first, sustenance. A Kentucky evening calls for fried green tomatoes, served with a spicy remoulade. Breaded with cornmeal, fried perfectly, and brimming with tartness. And the doppelbock calls. Anti-Coagulator is its name. The caramel and brown sugar of the malt certainly keep the blood flowing freely.

Last stop in the urban exploration: a return trip to the East Market District for a visit to The Louisville Beer Store. The Louisville Beer Store is exactly what its sign says, but it's more as well. Walls and walls of bottles and cans plus eight taps. So much to choose from. Some experts in cognitive behavior have criticized the perils of having too much choice; they say the mind can only handle so much. Apparently, if you keep on opening door after door, you become lost.

But when it comes to beer, the experts are wrong. It's possible to choose well when it comes to all that beer; it's just that you may have to make multiple trips to do your choosing. And there's certainly nothing wrong with that, especially when it's likely that different beers will be on tap during your next trip.

Choices -- This time, the choices are an armful of hard-to-find sour beers but also a pint of Lexington Brewing Company's Kentucky Coffee Stout. For a brewery known for its bourbon barrel ale, they have made a coffee stout to be reckoned with. Do you remember the Folger's Crystals switch? Secretly substitute Kentucky Coffee Stout for, say, Schlafly's highly regarded Coffee Stout and chances are that you'd fool the drinker.

Scenes from Tailgate for Nothing 6

2012-05-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

Good food, good beer, friendly people, perfect weather -- we couldn't have asked for a better combination for the most recent edition of Tailgate for Nothing.

As has been the case at past TFN's, folks were in the spirit of sharing and socializing. You couldn't walk five steps before someone offered you a taste of something you'd never had before. Full coolers of beer soon became empty. Casserole dishes, crock pots, and cake pans were hauled away after hungry attendees had their fill of breakfast-style dishes. The theme of TFN6 was "International Breakfast" after all.

We thank those who came out to enjoy the day with us. And if you missed us this time, we hope to see you at TFN7 this fall. In the meantime, here's a sampling of scenes from TFN6--

World Beer Cup - Indiana Winners

2012-05-06T10:50:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to the Indiana breweries taking home WBC awards yesterday.

Category 41: German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock, 44 Entries - Bronze: Dominator Dopplebock, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN

Category 61: Belgian-Style Dubbel, 39 Entries - Silver: Belgian Dubbel, Bier Brewery, Indianapolis, IN

Category 64: Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale, 41 Entries - Gold: Batch 333: The Velvet Fog, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN

Category 71: Scottish-Style Ale, 26 Entries - Bronze: Beltaine Scottish Ale, Shoreline Brewery, Michigan City, IN

Category 72: English-Style Mild Ale, 27 Entries - Gold: Crown Brown, Crown Brewing, Crown Point, IN

Category 77: Oatmeal Stout, 49 Entries - Gold: Naked Oat Stout, Rock Bottom College Park, Indianapolis, IN

Category 83: Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout, 30 Entries - Silver: Ring of Dingle, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN

Random Beer Roundup - The Big Hat at TFN6 Edition

2012-05-04T09:38:00.001-04:00

Join us: TFN6 on May 5!

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Crown Brewing in Crown Point:

Illiana Mayfest is Coming!!

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Saturday, May 5th: Cinco de Mayo, Taproom Releases: Dante's IPA, Chipotle Amber, Barrel aged Blanco el Diablo and Plana Doce Cerveza (a Mexican lager)
Friday, May 11th: Carmel-Clay Public Library with Ted Allen
Saturday, May 12th: Pre-Race Party with IndyCar #27 James Hinchcliffe Special tapping.
Saturday, May 12th: Arts & Crafts #4 at Elbow Room

American Craft Beer Week will include several tastings and the tapping of Moustache Ride Red - a bourbon barrel aged vanilla amber ale originally created for Movember. More details soon.

From Andrew at Ram Restaurant and Brewery in Indianapolis/Fishers:

RAM Every Day IPA Challenge

The RAM Small Ale Competition is taking on a bit of a new twist in 2012. We are going to focus your creative energy around a hop-tastic challenge to brew the best Every Day IPA that you can. Get your recipes together and tell your friends, because our competition will be limited to the first 50 brewers who register. Check out https://sites.google.com/site/ramipachallenge/home for the details.

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Thr3e Wise Men has just tapped their newest seasonal, Double Pagoda Pit Road Red. You can now enjoy this amazing beer or any of our other beers in a 101oz Table Top Tap for $25 every day of the week or come in on Thursday and get one of the Table Top Taps for $15.00!

From David at Triton Brewery in Lawrence:

On Tap at Triton:

Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber Ale, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter IPA, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale and B-Java Brown.

Bottle Sampling at Claude&Annie’s Airport May 9

At 7:30 pm, come and explore our line of bottled craft beer at 1229 S Girls School Road, Indianapolis IN www.claudeandanniesairport.com

American Craft Beer Week May 14-20

We will be tapping some guest beers and planning some great events for ACBW! We’ll keep you posted!

Trivia Night at Sahm’s Place May 22

At 8:30 pm, test your trivia knowledge and enjoy Triton while you do! 2411 E. 65th Street, Indy.

At Bars and Restaurants
From Jordan at The Beer Sellar in Castleton:

New drafts as of 5/1/12

Schlafly Kolsch

Flat 12 Cuttlefish Cuvee

Boulevard Single Wide

New Albanian Elsa Von Horizon

Sixpoint Spice of Life Nugget

Sixpoint Resin

Victory Headwaters

Mikkler Invasion

Victory Mad Kings

New Belgium Cocca Mole

Tyrannena Dirty Old Man

On Deck:

Pretty Things Jack D' Or

New Day Johnny Chapman

North Coast Scrimshaw

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

Brooklyn Summer Ale

Petrus Aged Pale

Three Floyds Pride

Events:

May 14th

Craft Beer Week: Look for special tappings from

Great Divide

Stone

Founders

Goose Island

Dark Horse

Three Floyds

Brooklyn

Rogue

More to come!

June 2nd

Beer Sellar Goes Local 2

June 15th 7pm

Hatter Day 2012

Mad Hatter

Imperial Hatter

Black Hatter

Rye Hatter

Farmhouse Hatter

Oaked Aged Hatter

All on draft.

From Stuart at MacNiven's on Mass Ave, Indianapolis:

Tapped Youngs Double Chocolate Stout and Victory Brewing Headwaters Pale Ale.

Craft Beer Week Begins May 14th, Firkin Tappings, Cask Tappings, Three Floyds Night (11 Draughts...so far!) and Sun King Brewery Night (12 Draughts)!

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse in various locations:

Scotty’s Brewhouse Muncie currently has Founder’s Double Trouble on for only a little longer. Stop by and get a pint of this any day of the week for $6.50!

Scotty’s Brewhouse West Lafayette is now pouring Triton Fieldhouse Wheat! You can enjoy a 48oz Pitcher every Tuesday for only $5.00!!

Scotty’s Lakehouse has just tapped Goose Island Summertime! Come by every Wednesday and get a 48oz Pitcher of this amazing Summer Brew for only $9.00!

Upcoming Events
From Jason at Tuxedo Park Brewers Supply in Fountain Square, Indianapolis:

AHA BIG BREW!

May 5, 2012 | 11:00 am

Come to the shop with your brewing rigs to brew one of the AHA BIG Brew recipes (this year it's American and Northern English Brown), and raise a world-wide toast with thousands of other home brewers at 1:00 pm!

Tuxedo Park Brewers is located in historic Fountain Square, just south of downtown Indianapolis. If you're curious but don't want to lug all your gear out, stop by and hang for a bit. Please RSVP on Facebook, because there is limited room! We're offering discounts on Big Brew ingredients if you brew at the shop.

KOTBR #141: Knights in Irvington

2012-05-03T10:55:00.000-04:00

Although we covered many of the details in our Grand Opening post, it took a while for the full KOTBR crew to make our way to Irvington's Black Acre Brewing Company. We're happy to report that Black Acre is now selling their own beer, but our visit came a day before that beer went on.

What's a brewing company without its own beer? In this case it's still one of Indy's premier craft beer destinations, with a full and interesting selection of beer from all over the place. You'll find a great variety of styles at Black Acre - proof that the folks running the place love drinking beer as much as they love making their own.

But this is a beer review, not a pub review, so let's get on with it.

Tripel Karmeliet: Simply put, this beer is a new classic. While this beer is brewed from a recipe over 300 years old, the modern day version has only been brewed since the 90s. Despite its relative youth in the Belgian market, it still maintains a balance only achievable by Belgian brewers. The aroma of the beer isn't quite the traditional Tripel experience. Instead, this beer lies somewhere between a Belgian Wit and a French Saison with its notes of banana and lime zest, coupled with a spicy blend of cinnamon, cardamom, clove and white pepper.

Where the aroma misleads, the flavor reassures. Sweet Belgian candi sugar carries throughout the beer. Honey, carmelized sugar and vanilla compliment the sweetness of the Belgian sugar. Fruit notes of banana, pear, apple are all present and provide an excellent counter-balance to the sugars and result in a beer that is surprisingly light for its high ABV. This isn't a heavy and yeasty tripel, instead it is refreshing, crisp and clean. Its slightly warming alcohol doesn't burn the throat, but instead beckons for you to enjoy another drink. 4.5 Mugs

Sixpoint 7th Anniversary Belgian Red IPA: What style of beer is this? All of them. With such a commanding name, you would expect a much more intense beer than this actually is. The aroma is faint, almost non-existent, but as it warms up, notes of caramel malt, strawberries, rye and orange all come out. You'll have to pay close attention to find them, but more than likely you won't get much of anything up front.

With such an elusive nose, this beer certainly provokes apprehension when taking the first sip. Luckily the beer itself is enjoyable. Elements of brown sugar, plums and pepper create the backbone for the Belgian component of this 7th Anniversary beer. Cinnamon and cocoa round out a slightly roasted characteristic, fulfilling the promise of a Red ale. Last but not least, pine and a dry, bitter finish end the beer on an IPA note. This one is certainly enjoyable, but the epic name raised my expectations to a weird place that they couldn't quite back down from. 3.6 Mugs

Tripel Karmeliet: Aside from macaroni & cheese, hot dogs, cereal, and pancakes, bologna was the only thing I'd eat until I was about six years old. I was nuts for bologna. And while that love affair endured, it didn't have frills; I wanted only a few slices of Oscar Mayer bologna with dill pickle chips on white bread smothered in plain yellow mustard. Had my five-year-old self had his way, he'd have eaten this simple bologna sandwich for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

So the fact that Tripel Karmeliet's nose first brought to mind bologna for me isn't as disgusting as it might sound; I immediately wanted to call the beer "Best Bologna Beer." Then a sip brought a wallop of bready notes, not unlike you'd get from a good lager. After this the character changed with each sip. The second sip brought sugar, the third pepper, and the fourth bananas. After that, the taste alternated between sugar and apples.

I can understand why Tripel Karmeliet has become a classic; not many beers can lay claim to such a chameleon-like character. This is a crafty little devil of a beer. 4.666 Mugs.

Sixpoint 7th Anniversary Belgian Red IPA: It's odd when you put a beer to your nose and don't get anything, particularly when it's an IPA. But that's what happened with this beer. The flavor brought an overwhelming smack of hops with a faint malt presence. The nose eventually gave rise to some banana esters and that good ol' Belgian mustiness, yet the flavor didn't change for me.

I haven't been disappointed by anything Sixpoint has brought to Indiana and am very happy that they're here. This beer is a good one, but it's not on par with Resin or Gemini. 3.80 Mugs.

Tripel Karmeliet - Colorwise, it's a jonagold apple in a glass. Big big big nose, full of flowers. This is a saison of triples. Not the banana tripel notes you'd expect. The beer is not (alcohol) hot to start, but the alcohol definitely crawls out and builds. Given time to warm, it's immediately evident. There's also an a warming almost mint-like spiciness to finish. Sweetness! 4.15 mugs for wackiness.

Six Point 7th Anniversary (Belgian Red IPA) - doesn't smell like much. Maybe a hint of funk, but I'm projecting. But here it is, a mix of Flanders Red funk and strong IPA bitter, muddled in the middle, immediately confusing, light bodied, corn chip and tobacco depth. But not a rewarding depth, so.. 2.9 Mugs

Tripel Karmeliet
Gina: 4.85 Mugs | Jim: 4.66 Mugs | Jason: 4.0 Mugs | Rod: 4.(High)5 Mugs | Mike: 4.15 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 4.43 Mugs

Six Point 7th Anniversary (Belgian Red IPA)
Gina: 3.5 Mugs | Jim: 3.8 Mugs | Jason: 4.2 Mugs | Rod: 3.6 Mugs | Mike: 2.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.6 Mugs

Commentary/Conversation: Ruminations of the Potable Curmudgeon

2012-05-02T12:02:00.000-04:00

For a very long time, some of the best Hoosier Beer Geek content never made its way to the public. We regularly have very lengthy email conversations about any number of topics going on in the world of beer. Here is one such example.

Did anybody read (New Albanian Publican) Roger Baylor's latest musings?

I just did. We're in that same boat. We all know there's bad beer being served, and we're saying nothing.

This isn't a new problem. This is a problem that has been there as long as I've been drinking craft beer - which, admittedly, is only a fraction of the time Roger has been drinking craft beer. I cannot name a single brewery that I've never tasted a flawed beer from. And I mean a "the recipe is off and/or the end product has an issue" flaw, not "I don't like this beer" which happens sometimes too. I'm serious about this. If I've had a decent sampling of the brewery's catalog, I've had at least one beer that I can tell they shipped because they can't afford to dump it.

Much like Roger, I don't choose to write about it. Honestly it's because I don't think it does anyone any good. I certainly won't encourage you to drink that beer, but I'm also not going to rain on your parade and tell you why it's bad if you actually like it. If you approach me and point out that the beer is bad, sure, I'll offer constructive input and commiserate with you. Where it gets difficult is that I truly believe no one is intentionally brewing bad beer. Everyone is creating a product that they're proud of. Maybe you can't afford a Quality Control team. Maybe you can't afford to flush 10 barrels of beer. Maybe by the time you've attempted to save the beer through additional hops and malt you've just created a beer 3x more expensive that you can't afford to dump even more than you couldn't afford to dump the original product. Brewers know that serving bad product results in consumers having a bad opinion of your product and therefore not buying it in the future.

So why waive the red flag and say "Brewery X is selling you bad beer"? Unless you have some sort of personal vendetta against Brewery X, why would you want them to fail? Wouldn't it be more constructive to talk to a brewer with Brewery X and let them know your findings? And even if you do, remember that you're talking about their baby. Just as you probably wouldn't walk up to someone and tell them that their baby looks messed up, you shouldn't walk up to a brewer and tell them that their beer tastes messed up. It's a delicate matter and it needs to be addressed as such. And posting on the internet that Brewery X's baby looks messed up isn't going to fix Brewery X's baby.

I think I see two axes to Roger's post.

When we started writing this blog, we didn't know any brewers or industry people, and we reviewed from strictly the standpoint of "Do I like this beer?", and some beers got less favorable reviews. If folks have been paying attention, they can probably see that it's been a very long time since we torched a beer, and that it only happens in cases where the beer is undeniably bad.

Instead, like Roger, we're guilty of self-censorship, or maybe even sins of omission. But it depends on your definition of omit. If your definition is as straight forward as to leave out, then we're all guilty. If your definition has more to do with something left out, not done, or neglected - have we neglected to insult someone's baby? Is that really a sin?

But at what point do you look at that baby and finally say to the parent, "You know, you should probably have had that rash looked at months ago"?

On the other hand Roger writes "I find myself dreading those occasions when I must stand up in front of people and preach the gospel of craft beer. Why am I being bothered?"

You might think he got there by not believing in the gospel anymore. But I think "Why am I being bothered?" points somewhere else. It's like when we started the website - we were out there waving a flag as hard as we could. And then one day we looked down and realized that someone built a castle under us.

"A castle! They've built us a castle!"

And then we take a tour of the castle and realize that it's not the way we would have built it. Maybe we'll skip a few rooms when we're giving the tour. And the castle has multiple flagpoles already, so why bother climbing a turret to wave ours? And come to think of it, how much of this castle is really ours anyway?

Maybe it's better to just go home and plant your flag there?

Does it do anyone any good to call someone out for making bad beer? What are the repercussions of a place making bad beer? A place can hide behind the moniker of "support local" for only so long, but ultimately it is about the beer in the long run.

I certainly don't want to put words in Roger's mouth, but his musings to me represent something I've been thinking about for quite some time. Craft beer really isn't all that much fun for me anymore. I really want it to come back around, but it just hasn't. The more I put myself on the fringe and then come back into the fold the more that things piss me off. I've only been in the craft beer scene for about 10 years, and so many people have been drinking and making beer for decades longer than me, but I feel we (an entire craft beer collective) are ruining the chance to truly create an amazing beer culture right now. I was one of the worst offenders. I let a brewery get bigger than beer, and I let it stay that way for a very long time, but I've come to the point where I resent much of the beer culture we are building. Places tried to run with the Us vs. Them mentality for so long, but now that we have nearly 2000 breweries online it has become an Us vs. Us issue. I'm a firm believer in a rising tide lifts as ships, and protectionism is a proven way to kill your brand, your market share, and your product. I'm bothered by things like tap takeovers, breweries twitter feeds, RateBeer, BeerAdvocate, Ebay and the constant flow of marketing B.S. that flows from places. So many breweries and craft beer fans rip on BMC's marketing practices, but I don't see much difference than what they are doing than many craft breweries are doing. I don't fault anyone for making a buck and trying to grow their business, but ultimately it must come down to making great beer. That means not pushing shitty beer to the market in the first place. I understand the economics behind that doesn't make sense, but if a new consumer to your brand is behind that sip the economic damage over the life of that consumer is much more painful than dumping a batch of beer. It means not adding ingredients to a terrible batch of beer and then try and pull the wool over your consumers heads by claiming you brewed a new beer. Consumers are more intelligent than that.

I look at a place like Three Floyds. They don't have a marketing budget, and they knock it out of the park on just about every single beer they make. They have built a reputation with me that would take something quite awful to sway. But if they did stop making great beer I wouldn't support them anymore (That had better not happen, but I'm just using that as an example). I've had way too much bad beer in this town from places pushing beer to market. Does that hurt craft brewing or help it? When the numbers come out people all like to point out that craft beer is growing, but they neglect to point out that overall beer consumption is down. What does that mean? BMC people are coming over to craft, but are new drinkers coming into the fold? The numbers for the faux alcho-pops would say no. Is craft still rising, but just setting the stage for its collapse? I don't know, but I do know what we are building as a culture is not the reason I got into great beer. I do indeed lament the days of people just bonding over some great beer. It isn't enough now to just be drinking a beer, but now it matters who you are drinking.

Perhaps I've just got sand in my cheeks lately, but I do know I resent the culture I was part of building. I just want to get back to drinking good beer with my friends. I plan to do just that.

Illiana Mayfest Ticket Giveaways - VIP and General Admission!

2012-05-01T09:09:00.000-04:00

It is that time again! We have two pairs of tickets to give away for this festival that is quickly approaching, thanks to our friends at Crown Brewing!

Crown Brewing Co. is hosting their 3rd annual Illiana Mayfest on May 26th up in Crown Point, Indiana and we want you to join in the fun! To register for the General Admission tickets, leave a comment in this post and include your name and some way to get a hold of you. To register for the VIP tickets, leave a comment in this post and include your name and some way to get a hold of you along with a little extra something about why you would like to go. You have until 5pm EST on Monday, May 7th to register. We will then randomly select a winner and contact you to get a mailing address.

If you don't win, don't worry; tickets are on sale now at www.IllianaMayfest.com. General Admission tickets are $30 and designated drivers are $5 (VIP tickets are sold out). Illiana Mayfest occurs during American Craft Beer Week and will feature breweries from Indiana and Illinois.

Dark Lord Day 2012 Recap

2012-04-30T14:37:00.000-04:00

Heading up to Munster for our fifth Dark Lord day, there weren't the list of questions that normally float around the event. Or maybe those questions did still exist, but we've learned to just go with it.

The previous large Three Floyds event - their 15th anniversary party - wasn't without its problems; on the inside things went smoothly, but there were some folks who didn't make their way through the gates until much later than they had expected. But despite what some folks might believe, the 3F staff does pay attention, and they do work hard at making their events as good as possible.

With that in mind I expected a nearly flawless event, and Three Floyds delivered.

The HBG crew arrived later than normal this year - with the addition of per-ordained time slots, there's really not much reason to get there too early (though one gentleman set up shop at 3am). Although we were deep in the line, we knew what to expect, and things moved pretty quickly once the doors were opened. I was also well on my way at that point, thanks to our cooler bag and the help of the folks near us in line.

Sometimes you pose in a scarf.

In previous years we did our best to cover all aspects of the event. This year we enjoyed ourselves, setting up camp on a northeast corner picnic table with a group of folks who closely associate with STLHops - good folks to spend a day drinking with. My phone died very early into the event, so photographic coverage ceased. In any case, it won't be long until you can find multiple "line videos" on youtube, as we were passed by folks videoing the event nearly every 10 minutes.

Towards the end of our day our table was crowded by the Group C line, with folks trying to buy our beer, or trade line tickets for bottles, and things got a bit uncomfortable - our cue to go watch High on Fire. We took in a few songs, and headed back to our parking lot and a park bench to talk over the day. A good day, as expected.

Line beer two, I think. Line highlights included Firestone Walker's Sucaba.

Overall I thought the event was great. Lines were ridiculous as always, but I thought moving the picnic tables out of the middle and cycling the guest taps more frequently by offering less at a time were big improvements. It was also nice that they had 12+ 3 Floyds beers on at the other stations, instead of just the 4 standards.

""That's got 12.5% alcohol? That's a hell of a pizza!"
Cleanup efforts began much earlier this year, as roving groups of folks picked up empty bottles while many were still in line.

I was expecting the worst on Saturday and was surprised by how well it went. Lines are lines, so be it, but they were a helluvalot better organized than last year. No chairs and no big coolers meant more room for everybody. I liked how they handled guest taps too. At the end, they put Firestone Walker Sucaba on tap. Damn good shit. If they had put a lot more on tap at once, then all the good stuff would have been gone early. The amount of 3F beer was great too. They could use portalets in the carryout purchase line and around the industrial park for pre-entry waiting. But otherwise, I have nothing bad to say other than I didn't win. But that's just $50 I didn't have to spend.

It was very cold standing in line, but as the day went on things got more reasonable. These folks lowered the tent to get out of the wind.

As a dld virgin, I loved it. I don't have anything to compare it to, obviously, but things seemed to run pretty smoothly. My only suggestions would be more trash cans lining the entry route - makes people more likely to actually throw their trash away; adding some water stations around the place; some portalets outside on the entry route; and adding a little more seating. But that said, not having those things didn't cause any real problems. The beer selection was great, though between what I brought and what people were sharing, I actually only bought 3 beers.

Reminder | Tailgate for Nothing 6 is on May 5th, 2012

2012-04-28T11:07:00.001-04:00

Some of you who are currently waiting in line to purchase your allotment of Dark Lord know that Dark Lord Day morphed over time from a few hundred craft beer lovers hanging out in the brewery to the world's largest craft beer tailgate party. But as you now know, Three Floyds' new system of running the event has largely put an end to the free-for-all tailgating. Based on the massive mess the old system made of the industrial park where Three Floyds is based, this was the right decision.

That being said, we at Hoosier Beer Geek have fond memories of Dark Lord Day's tailgating aspect. So two-and-a-half years ago, we began a semi-annual Hoosier Beer Geek tradition in the vein of Dark Lord Day tailgating: our Tailgate for Nothing event.

Next Saturday marks our sixth Tailgate for Nothing. We'll be setting up in the back parking lot of Sun King Brewing Company at 11 a.m. The aims of the event are these: to share good beer, to share good food, and to make new friends.

So we invite you to come out. But before you do, make sure that you read all the details and ground rules for TFN6, which you can find here.

We hope to see you next Saturday!

Beer and Cheese Club - April 2012

2012-04-27T10:00:00.000-04:00

It would be an understatement to say the Gulden Draak is fairly well known among craft beer drinkers. The original Gulden Draak ("golden dragon") is one of the world's few dark Belgian Tripels. Gulden Draak turns the amp to 11 and pushes forward into Quadruple territory. While the white Gulden Draak bottle houses a dark triple, the black Gulden Draak 9000 bottles contains a copper colored Quad. This beer is brand new to Indiana, and was only released in Belgium last Fall.

Thistle Hill Farm Tarentaise is a Vermont cheese, modeled after a style of Alpine cheese. The rennet used for coagulating the cheese is actually made on the same farm, which is a rare practice among producers. As if to add one more element of exclusivity, imported French copper vats are used in the creation of the cheese. There really is nothing else like the Tarentaise that Thistle Hill Farm has created.

If you're a member of the Beer and Cheese Club at Goose the Market, your Aprilinstallment is ready for you to pick up right now. If you're not a member, the club is $99 for 4 months. This month's delivery includes 3 bottles of Gulden Draak 9000 and about half a pound of Tarentaise. Either of these items would be great experiences on their own, but we feel they are even better when consumed together.

Thistle Hill Farm Tarentaise - vermont, copper vat, 5 months, stone cellar, rennet used for coagulating the cheese is made on the farm and helps give complexity (rare process)

Sweet cheese, reminds me of a white chocolate/macadamia cookie - not nearly as sweet but the same sort of flavors. Hardest cheese ever, bring your machete.

Rind is super grassy

Gulden Draak 9000 Quad - woo woo. Silky smooth quad. Lively mouthfeel, big banana sweetness

Combined: similar and matching flavors, no magic, but a happy middle.

I really had no idea what to expect with Gulden Draak 9000. The name itself was epic, and fitting for the gold-plated dragon on the bottle. Most American Quadruples are super boozy, hardly masking their large alcohol content. Gulden Draak pulled off nearly 11% ABV as only the Belgians can. The aroma of the beer is exactly what you would expect - sweet, candi sugar and caramel spiced with cardamom, clove and anise. At first taste, everything the aroma promises is fulfilled. Candi sugar, almost like cotton candy, cinnamon, banana, anise and a pleasant warming alcohol background. It is important to note that the alcohol here is warming, and not burning. If session beers were redefined as beers that were incredible easy and enjoyable to drink, this would be a prime example. As you continue your way through the bottle, the 11% ABV clearly starts to take its toll on your sobriety, but the beer only becomes friendlier, each drink welcoming you more than the last. This is a well crafted beer.

The cheese is very firm, but the texture gives way quickly when consumed. Nutty flavors (macadamia nuts, walnuts) are immediately noticeable. The background of the cheese resembles a mild cheddar with a hint of grassiness. Rich cream is present throughout and brings all the flavors together. When combined with the beer, the flavors all exist in harmony. The sugary sweetness of the beer calms down a bit and the nut flavors are welcome compliments to the warm alcohol. This isn't a complex pairing, just one that is easy to enjoy. And enjoy you will.

To join the Beer and Cheese Club at Goose the Market (in conjunction with Hoosier Beer Geek), check out this PDF and then either call Goose the Market at 317-924-4944 or stop in the shop at 2503 N. Delaware St.

Random Beer Roundup - The Day Early Edition

2012-04-26T22:05:00.000-04:00

Save the Date: TFN6 on May 5!

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Darren at Bier Brewery in Indianapolis:

This week we have...

Kooterlite

Bier Genuine Kooter

Special K Kolsch

Persephone

Belgian Blonde

Witbier

Belgian Dubbel

Porter

Chinookalicious IPA

Friday Release 3pm: 1 keg of Billy Baroo & Wee Fatty
Saturday Release 1pm: 1 keg of Wee Fatty

From Crown Brewing in Crown Point:

Illiana Mayfest is Coming!!

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Friday, April 27th: Taproom Release, Liquid Fiction/Batch 112, a session IPA dry hopped with American and New Zealand hops
Saturday, April 28th: TAP Festival in Lafayette
Saturday, April 28th: Special Tapping following at Black Sparrow with Josh Hambright: Cuttlefish Cuvee, Big Black Dog Rye Stout and one surprise.

(From Michael at Maggiano's) Maggiano's will be partnering with Flat 12 Brewery on May 2nd, 2012 at 6:30pm for a Four-Course Beer Dinner Event. Location is at Maggiano's Little Italy, 3550 E 86th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46240. We will be featuring (4) of Flat 12's Craft Beers including: Upside Down Blonde Ale, Walkabout Pale Ale, Lacto-Matic Milk Stout, and Tangerine Porter paired up with flavors created by Executive Chef Garza and his culinary team. Pricing is $60.00 per person. Must be 21 and older to attend, reservations required (317) 814-0727.

Thursday, May 3rd: Taproom release - Karousel Kolsch
Thursday, May 3rd: Beer Dinner at Oceanaire
Saturday, May 5th: Cinco de Mayo Taproom Release: Dante's IPA, Chipotle Amber, Barrel aged Blanco el Diablo and Plana Doce Cerveza (a Mexican lager)

From Andrew at Ram Restaurant and Brewery in Indianapolis/Fishers:

Big Things Coming SoonThere are a lot of very cool beers coming out of the RAM Brewery in the near future. We have Heaven-sent and Hell-bound ready for the big party on May 12th. We are close to removing Bombshell Brown from its whiskey barrel for possible availability on Kentucky Derby Saturday. And, we have Bayside Dreams (California Common), Ghost King IPA, and Apocalypto Barleywine in fermenters preparing for release, as well. Let's Party!

Hop Anonymous CollaborationHop Anonymous was brewed in conjunction with Great Fermentations. Look for the recipe to be available in homebrew kits coming up in May.

Heaven and Hell Party ReminderWhat: Heaven and Hell Party and costume contest with prizesWhere: Indianapolis RAM Restaurant and BreweryWhen: May 12th, 7 p.m.Why: Because the beer is awesome, and we want to share it with you.

On Tap NowBig Horn MaibockHop AnonymousBatch 1100: Monk Juice (Almost gone)

RAM Every Day IPA Challenge
The RAM Small Ale Competition is taking on a bit of a new twist in 2012. We are going to focus your creative energy around a hop-tastic challenge to brew the best Every Day IPA that you can. Get your recipes together and tell your friends, because our competition will be limited to the first 50 brewers who register. Check out https://sites.google.com/site/ramipachallenge/home for the details.

From Clay at Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis:

Indiana Landmarks Rescue Party

Saturday, April 28th at 6-11pm

at the Indiana Landmarks Center-1201 Central Ave.

Support Historic Preservation while you enjoy

food, music and Fresh•Local•Beer

featuring Sun King's Landmark Wit

www.indianalandmarks.org/tours/calendar/Pages/SearchResults.aspx?EventID=579

The Athenaeum's St. Benno Festival

Saturday, April 28th at 7 PM

401 E. Michigan St.

Fresh•Local•Beer and Good Times

Two Wheels One City

Saturday, May 5th

City Market @ 222 East Market St.

Fresh•Local•Beer and Bicycle Advocacy

Hoosier Beer Geek TFN6

Saturday, May 5th

Sun King South Parking Lot

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Thr3e Wise Men is celebrating the month of May the right way with the tapping of its newest seasonal, Double Pagoda Pit Road Red. Tapping party will be at 6pm next Tuesday May 1st. Stop by for the toast with Omar and some free snacks.

From David at Triton Brewery in Lawrence:

Triton Brewing Company is very excited to welcome Mike Hess to our production staff! Hess has been with Barley Island for more than 8 years. Triton Brewer and co-Founder Jon Lang worked with Mike at Barley Island for five years before Jon left to help found Triton Brewing Company. Mike took over the Head Brewer responsibilities for Barley Island when Lang departed more than two years ago. Triton Master Brewer Jon Lang remarked about Hess coming on-board, "We are very excited to have Mike join the Triton Team. He has an impressive work ethic, he is a great brewer and a heck of a nice guy." Hess will start with Triton Brewing Company on April 30.

Beer Dinner at Mud Creek Golf Club April 28:
Saturday, April 28, 6pm- Smoked European Cheeseboard, Baby Florintine, Key Lime Sorbet, Herb Crusted Roast Pork Chop, & Flourless Chocolate Torte. Cost is $35/person. RSVP’s required at 317-894-3343.

Bottle Sampling at Claude & Annie’s Airport May 9

At 7:30 pm, come and explore our line of bottled craft beer at 1229 S Girls School Road, Indianapolis IN wwwclaudeandanniesairport.com

American Craft Beer Week May 14-20

Some great events are being planned we’ll keep you posted!

Trivia Night at Sahm’s Place May 22

At Bars and Restaurants
From Jordan at The Beer Sellar in Castleton:

New drafts as of 4/26/12
Schlafly Kolsch
Flat 12 Cuttlefish Cuvee
Boulevard Single Wide
Peoples Wheat
New Albanian Elsa Von Horizon
Founders Double Trouble
Sixpoint Spice of Life Nugget
Sixpoint Resin
Victory Headwaters
Three Floyds Dreadnaught

On Deck:
Pretty Things Jack D' Or
Mikkler Invasion
New Day Johnny Chapman
North Coast Scrimshaw
Victory Mad Kings
New Belgium Cocoa Mole
Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

Events:

May 14th
Craft Beer Week: Look for special tappings from
Great Divide
Stone
Founders
Goose Island
Dark Horse
Three Floyds
Brooklyn
Rogue
More to come!

June 2nd
Beer Sellar Goes Local 2

June 15th 7pm
Hatter Day 2012
Mad Hatter
Imperial Hatter
Black Hatter
Rye Hatter
Farmhouse Hatter
Oaked Aged Hatter
All on draft.

From Eddie at Sahm's Place in Indianapolis:

We are planning a few big events for the month of May and hope some of you beer geeks can join us! We will be celebrating Cinco De Mayo with some great craft beer specials including $13.00 pitchers, $4 Oberon and Two Hearted, and $4 Sun King Cans. Cinco de Mayo is always a good time over here so we might as well drink well while fiestaing. We will also start our first official week of Tuesday Night Trivia. The 10 week season will begin May 8th with Bells sponsoring the event. If you are not sure about how our trivia night works, come in on May 1st for a preseason round that still has great prizes and is being sponsored by our friends over at Flat12. Mark always brings in great brew, so make sure and at least check out the taps!

Beer in Stock:

Bier Brewery Belgian Wit

Bier Brewery Cascadian Light

Bier Brewery Special K

Flat12 Tangerine Porter

Blooming Brew Co. Ruby Bloom

Fountain Square Cosmic Wheat

Bells Oberon

Bells Lager

Bells Two Hearted

Founders Porter

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale

Triton Railsplitter

Upland Maibock

Moylan's Hopsickle

Sun King Landmark Wit

Rogue Hazlenut Brown Nectar

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse in various locations:

Scotty’s Brewhouse Downtown is celebrating the Indians season with the official beer, Sun King Indians Lager. You can come by every Wednesday evening and get a 48oz pitcher for only $9!

Scotty’s Lakehouse is currently pouring Flat 12 Lacto-matic Milk Stout! Come on by and enjoy a 24 Mug of this great Stout every Thursday for only $4!

Scotty’s Burger Joint in Columbus has just released a new beer menu! Come on by and check out our new selection. With the new menu you enjoy tasty beers like Triton Rail Splitter IPA or Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale!

Upcoming Events
From Jason at Tuxedo Park Brewers Supply in Fountain Square, Indianapolis:

AHA BIG BREW!

May 5, 2012 | 11:00 am

Come to the shop with your brewing rigs to brew one of the AHA BIG Brew recipes (this year it's American and Northern English Brown), and raise a world-wide toast with thousands of other home brewers at 1:00 pm!

Tuxedo Park Brewers is located in historic Fountain Square, just south of downtown Indianapolis. If you're curious but don't want to lug all your gear out, stop by and hang for a bit. Please RSVP on Facebook, because there is limited room! We're offering discounts on Big Brew ingredients if you brew at the shop.

Dark Lord Day 2012

2012-04-26T14:26:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow is Dark Lord Day Eve, and if you were lucky enough to snag a ticket in that 4 minute window in March, you're starting to get as excited as a kid on your way to Disney World. The pre-event exposure this year has been a lot lower, but we'll try to put together all the information we know in one convenient spot for you.

Weather

High of 45
70% chance of precipitation

Band Lineup

Argonauts
Powermad (featuring Todd Haug, Surly's head brewer)
Eyehategod
High on Fire (were listed as Ghan Jovi)

Dark Lord Wax Color

RED

Guest Taps Provided By

Firestone Walker
Upland
New Albanian Oaktimus and Rye Barrel Aged Yakima
Haymarket
Sun King
Hitachino
Schlenkerla
Schneider
Birra Del Borgo
New Belgium
Stone
People's
Sierra Nevada
Left Hand
Brugge
Schlafly
Brew Dog
Cigar City
Pizza Port
Revolution
Pipeworks
Goose Island
Fat Heads
Founders

Rules of the Day

A ticket is required to attend Dark Lord Day.
Dark Lord Day is always CASH ONLY. ATMs are on site and routinely run out of money during the day.
Last year the bottle limit was 4 per person, at $15 each. This is always revealed on Dark Lord Day, but it's handy to use the previous year as a budget guideline.
Parking will be at a premium - carpool if possible. No RVs.
Either have a DD come pick you up or have a plan to get sober before you leave.
Bring water or Gatorade, hydration is key.
No pets or kids.
This isn't a tailgating event anymore, so keep your tents, coolers, grills, etc. at home. If you want to bring in beer to sample and share, I'd recommend an over-the-shoulder style cooler. If you're looking for a tailgating event, check out TFN6 next weekend.
Please don't trash the area, we've seen the aftermath the day after and it's not pretty. Help everyone out and throw away your trash.
Carry your Dark Lord by the bottom of the package it is in. Broken Dark Lord bottles are depressing. Drunk people drinking Dark Lord off the street are even more depressing.
It's going to be cold and rainy, dress appropriately.

If you see any of us around on Saturday, stop and say "hi." And more importantly, let us know what awesome beers we need to try!

Random Beer Roundup - The Dude, What Edition

2012-04-20T09:03:00.001-04:00

Save the Date: TFN6 on May 5!

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Darren at Bier Brewery in Indianapolis:

This week we have...

Kooterlite
Sessie
Special K
Persephone
Dunkelweiss
Witbier
Mild Brown
Belgian Dubbel
PDG Pale

From Crown Brewing in Crown Point:

Illiana Mayfest is Coming!!

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Hope all is well. As you might have seen, our labels have been approved by TTB and we're moving along on putting liquid in bottles pending print production and other loose ends. We'll update on release dates in the coming weeks.

On tap in the taproom this week:

Other calendar items include:

Thursday, April 19th: Taproom Release, Hop b' Bomb, a Wheat Ale with Citra hops
Friday, April 27th: Taproom Release, Liquid Fiction/Batch 112, a session IPA dry hopped with American and New Zealand hops
Saturday, April 28th: TAP Festival in Lafayette
Saturday, April 28th: Special Tapping following at Black Sparrow with Josh Hambright: Cuttlefish Cuvee, Big Black Dog Rye Stout and one surprise.

(From Michael at Maggiano's) Maggiano's will be partnering with Flat 12 Brewery on May 2nd, 2012 at 6:30pm for a Four-Course Beer Dinner Event. Location is at Maggiano's Little Italy, 3550 E 86th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46240. We will be featuring (4) of Flat 12's Craft Beers including: Upside Down Blonde Ale, Walkabout Pale Ale, Lacto-Matic Milk Stout, and Tangerine Porter paired up with flavors created by Executive Chef Garza and his culinary team. Pricing is $60.00 per person. Must be 21 and older to attend, reservations required (317) 814-0727.

Thursday, May 3rd: Taproom release - Karousel Kolsch
Thursday, May 3rd: Beer Dinner at Oceanaire
Saturday, May 5th: Cinco de Mayo Taproom Release: Dante's IPA, Chipotle Amber, Barrel aged Blanco el Diablo and Plana Doce Cerveza (a Mexican lager)

From Skip at Fountain Square Brewing Co. in Fountain Square, Indianapolis:

We now have our Cran-Wheat on tap. It is an American Wheat infused with 100% organic cranberry with a tart almost champagne like character.

Also on tap…….Workingman’s Pilsner, Backyard Porter, Hop for Teacher Pale, Preacher’s Daughter Amber, Saison DuVall and Oatmeal Stout.

From John at Half Moon Brewery in Kokomo:

Half Moon has Summer Wheat on tap. It reached the final 4 at the 4/14
Brew Bracket event.

A refreshing American Wheat beer brewed with sweet orange peel and coriander. It has a fresh orange-citrus flavor that balances with the soft spiciness of the coriander.
ABV = 5.1% IBU=14

From Andrew at Ram Restaurant and Brewery in Indianapolis/Fishers:

Heaven and Hell Party

Residents of both Heaven and Hell will be co-mingling at the RAM Restaurant and Brewery in Indianapolis on May 12th. "What mysterious power would be able to bring Angels and Demons together in peace and harmony?," you ask. "Our 1000th brew, an Imperial Pilsner aged in Chambourcin wine barrels," I say. This aged beauty is going to be served two ways, side-by-side. The barrel-aged version with a touch of grape blending perfectly with the imperial pilsner base will be known as "Heaven-sent", while another version "Hell-bound" will take on a more devilish hue and slight tartness as a result of the addition of Black Currants. With all this tasty brew, we will be hosting a Heaven and Hell themed costume contest with prizes!

What: Heaven and Hell Party and costume contest
Where: Indianapolis RAM Restaurant and Brewery
When: May 12th, 7 p.m.
Why: Because the beer is awesome, and we want to share it with you.

RAM Every Day IPA Challenge
The RAM Small Ale Competition is taking on a bit of a new twist in 2012. We are going to focus your creative energy around a hop-tastic challenge to brew the best Every Day IPA that you can. Get your recipes together and tell your friends, because our competition will be limited to the first 50 brewers who register. Check out https://sites.google.com/site/ramipachallenge/home for the details.

From Clay at Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis:

We've got a lot of great beers coming up... Indiana Landmarks Wit has just been tapped, Naptown Brown Indiana Brown Ale comes out next week and Chaka, our CANlaboration with Oskar Blues, will be hitting the shelves of central Indiana liquor stores the week of May 7th.

Upcoming Events:

Derby Does Downtown

Friday, April 20th at Banker's Life Fieldhouse

5:30 pm doors - 6:30 pm Bout

Naptown Roller Girls vs. the Tampa Bay Tantrums

Enjoy Fresh•Local•Beer and Roller Derby Downtown!

Naptown Brown IBA Tapping

Thursday, April 26th in the Tasting Room

Food from Taco Lassi

Music J P Harris and the Bad Choices

Indiana Landmarks Rescue Party

Saturday, April 28th at 6-11pm

at the Indiana Landmarks Center-1201 Central Ave.

Support Historic Preservation while you enjoy

food, music and Fresh•Local•Beer

featuring Sun King's Landmark Wit

www.indianalandmarks.org/tours/calendar/Pages/SearchResults.aspx?EventID=579

The Athenaeum's St. Benno Festival

Saturday, April 28th at 7 PM

401 E. Michigan St.

Fresh•Local•Beer and Good Times

Two Wheels One City

Saturday, May 5th

City Market @ 222 East Market St.

Fresh•Local•Beer and Bicycle Advocacy

Hoosier Beer Geek TFN6

Saturday, May 5th

Sun King South Parking Lot

From David at Triton Brewery in Lawrence:

On draught at the Tasting Room: Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter IPA, B-Java Brown and Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale.

Bottle Sampling at Claude & Annie’s Airport on April 25 at 7:30 pm has been postponed until May 9th. On May 9, come and explore our line of bottled craft beer!Claude & Annie’s Airport, 1229 S Girls School Road, Indianapolis IN, (317) 247-8124 www.claudeandanniesairport.com.

Beer Dinner at Mud Creek Golf Club April 28, 2012 sponsored by Mud Creek Men’s Club at Ironwood Golf Course, 10955 Fall Road, Fishers, IN, 46038. Call for reservations: 317.842.0551.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mud-Creek-Mens-Club-at-Ironwood-Golf-Course/198309370198070

From Lindsay at Upland Brewery in Bloomington/Indianapolis:

http://uplandbeer.com/upland-brewing-co-vs-bloomington-brewing-co-for-the-ymca/

At Bars and Restaurants
From Jordan at The Beer Sellar in Castleton:

New Beers on tap as of 4/16/12

Brooklyn Blast

Stone Sublimely Self Righteous

Sun King Grapefruit

Victory Headwaters

Three Floyds Dreadnaught

Coming Soon

Stone Russian Imperial Stout

Great Divide 18th Anniversary Ale

Brooklyn Sorrachi Ace

Dark Horse Scotty Karate

Founders Double Trouble

Founders Breakfast Stout

Goose Pere Jacques

New Albanian Elsa

Upcoming Events

Friday 4/20/12

Special Kegs Tapping at 4:20 pm

Sixpoint Resin 9.1%

Sixpoint Spice of Life Nugget 6.5%

June 2nd

Beer Sellar Goes Local 2

June 2nd.

More details coming soon.

From Eddie at Sahm's Place in Indianapolis:

Tuesday Night Trivia will be starting again this upcoming Tuesday. April 24th at 8:30pm will be our first of two preseason weeks to get people back in the groove of trivia and ready for another 10 week season of awesome beer, weekly prizes, and big time cash for the top 5!

We will be lining up beer sponsors in the next week, so hopefully we can get a schedule out to you shortly. Expect Bier, Upland, Bells, Sun King, Flat12, Fountain Square, Bloomington Brew Co., and hopefully a few new ones along the way.

Beer in Stock:

Upland Maibock

Lexington Brew Co. Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale
Bier Brewery Special K

Bier Brewery Rye IPA

Bier Brewery Cascadian Light

Bier Brewery Belgian Wit

Rogue Hazlenut Brown Nectar

Bloomington Brew Co. Ruby Bloom Amber

Bells Two Hearted

Bells Oberon

Fountain Square Batch 13 IPA

Flat12 Walkabout

Flat12 Porter

Sun King Osiris

Founders Porter

Moylan's Hopsickle DIPA

From the Distributors
From Jen at Cavalier Distribution:

NEW TO THE CAVALIER WAREHOUSE

Boulder Kinda Blue - Blueberry Wheat Ale; limited seasonal release; 6 packs and draft

Shipyard Pugsley Series Smashed Blueberry - Hybrid Porter/Scotch Ale with Blueberries; limited seasonal release; 22oz bottle only

Stevens Point Drop Dead Blonde - Blonde Ale with only 110 Calories!; new everyday offering; 12oz bottles and cans

Bison Organic Honey Basil Ale - Sweetened with Honey and Spiced with a Hint of Basil; limited seasonal release; 4 packs only

Stone Imperial Russian Stout - Imperial Russian Stout; limited seasonal release; 22oz bottles and draft

Finch's Altus Gravitus - Barleywine; limited release; 22oz bottles only

Heavy Seas Plank Series II Dopplebock - Dopplebock Style Lager aged on Eucalytus treated Poplar Planks; limited release; 22oz bottles only

UPCOMING EVENTS

4/21 - Thunder Over the Ohio; Behind Buckead on the River; Jeffersonville; all day event

4/26 - Kahn's "Bring the Noise, Drink the Funk" Sour Beer Tasting; North Willow location; 6pm-8pm

4/28 - Sahara Mart Spring Tasting; Sahara Mart East Lot; Bloomington; 12pm-4pm

4/30 - Beer vs Wine Dinner at JK O'Donnell's; Ft. Wayne

5/1 - Birdy's Monthly Tasting; 6pm-8pm; $10

5/9 - Sixpoint Tapping Party at The Sinking Ship; 7pm

5/26 - Illiana Mayfest; Lake County Fairgrounds, Crown Point; 2pm-6pm; $30 general and $45 VIP (entrance at 1pm)

6/2 - Keg Liquors Fest of Ales; St. Anthony's of Padu Lot; Clarksville; 3pm-7pm; $25 general admission

6/23 - Brew HaHa; Downtown Indy; 3pm-7pm; $35 general admission

8/4 - Brew Haven Craft Beer Festival; Downtown New Haven; 2pm-6pm; $35 general admission

10/13 - Porter Beerfest 12pm-4pm

Upcoming Events

From Sam at Against the Grain Brewery in Louisville, KY:

Wondering what to do for Thunder Over Louisville 2012?! Not willing to chance the rain or cold?! Look no further!! We are excited to announce our AtG Thunder Package 2012! We will be closing our doors on Saturday, April 21, 2012 for a private and relaxing experience to all who purchase the AtG Thunder Package 2012!. The package includes:

A ticket into Louisville Slugger Field seating area section 101-106 (Facing the 2nd St. Bridge...perfect view of the show!) for both the baseball game & a perfect seat to watch the largest fireworks display in the country!

Access to the concert down on the Field (Journey UnAuthorized)

Exclusive all day access to 1 seat in Against The Grain (including access to the clean, neat, & maintained restrooms, large televisions showing the Air Show, and full-fun-friendly service!)

Vouchers for your choice of, both, 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, as well as, 5 (well liquor or house made beer) drinks!

These tickets will include return access to and from your seat in the ball field & Against The Grain all day!

This package is available for the $200 (*plus tax) per adult & $175 (*plus tax) per child (children tickets will not include alcoholic drinks, duh). We encourage all interested to act promptly, as we have limited seating and will not extend sales beyond our indoor seating capacity. TICKETS ON SALE.

Commentary/Conversation: Goose Island BCS and the Growth of Mid-Major Breweries

2012-04-18T08:55:00.004-04:00

Some of the best Hoosier Beer Geek content never makes it to the site, as we regularly have very lengthy email conversations about any number of topics going on in the world of beer. Here is one such example.

So Goose Island is saying that they'll be making bourbon county stout year-round.

That got me to thinking about Matt's theory that the big guys will ultimately be the winners of the craft beer explosion. What happens when the big guys figure out how to make better beer than everyone else at a cheaper price?

Is it possible that the increased production of BCS is a bad thing?

I think the increased production of BCS is a great thing, an amazing thing. There are a lot of economics behind why smaller brewers create such limited batches of things like Dark Lord, Kate the Great and KBS, but they favor the brewery and not the consumer. I'd love to have a barrel-aged imperial stout (and one of the best ones, at that) available year-round. Complaining about Goose Island doing that is like complaining that Russian River releases barrel-aged beer year-round. It's not going to drop the market out for 3 Floyds or Founders or anyone else. 3 years ago you could pretty much buy BCS year-round anyway. Beer snobs are going to decide that BCS has "changed" and is of lower quality and move on to praising the harder to obtain things like they always do. Everyone wins.

Although to be fair, Goose Island has been producing BCS year round for the past few years. Coffee, Vanilla, Rare and other one-offs make their way into the market throughout the year. Goose Island is always brewing/aging the stuff, it just gets released in batches. I realize that by doubling their production they can afford to stop releasing in batches, but again, I think that's a good thing.

I'm with Rod here. There will be lots of carping about this, particularly given AB/InBev's stake in the whole thing. But I look forward to having more frequent access to BCS, particularly because GI has the barrel-aged imperial stout style down so well.

As to Matt's contention that the big guys will ultimately be the winners of the craft beer revolution -- I don't know about this. I think it all depends on how you define "big." While I don't have any facts to back this up, it seems to me that it's extremely difficult to do a truly artisanal product on a national scale, albeit perhaps not so difficult on a regional scale. Of course, this doesn't prohibit an InBev or a MillerCoors from purchasing several regional brewers to ensure that the company has a national reach, but with different "craft" brands, so maybe that's what we'll see more of. I wouldn't be surprised to see the big beer conglomerates increase their efforts to buy smaller, good quality brewers.

All in all, it'll be interesting to see how the craft beer industry will develop over the next decade. The whole thing reminds me of how indie rock fans react when their favorite band gets "too big." They all sit around talking about how the band was great back in the day but has now sold out, even when some of the bands they criticize continue to make good music.

I just finished the entire article and it's an excellent read. I think the most shocking thing to me is that the AB buyout allowed them to double their capacity. To 230,000 barrels. 3 independent craft breweries have announced expansions this year that are twice the size of Goose Island's entire operation, post-expansion. Stone, Dogfish Head and Bell's are all way bigger. I guess it's just an intriguing contradiction - AB is the largest in the world, but Goose Island isn't even in the same ballpark as the largest craft breweries.

My favorite part of the article is Laffler's attitude, and it's what I believe is the correct attitude to have. If AB screws up Goose Island and ruins the beer, there's no reason to be loyal to them and pretend like everything's ok. But it hasn't happened yet, so keep drinking the beer.

I think there's already a form of "big guys undercutting little guys" happening in the market but it doesn't seem to hurt the little guys much unless they suck. I mean, who's selling quality six packs under $10? Just big craft guys like New Belgium, Goose Island, Sierra Nevada, etc. Are we worried that AB/InBev is going to start selling a quality product for $7 per sixpack and no one will buy Sun King anymore? Seems unlikely to me.

As for BCS, I'll be ecstatic if they make that available year round. I haven't had it -- other than an aged bottle here or there -- in two years because of scroungers/hoarders.

I still strongly feel that the craft beer revolution will benefit the largest brewers in the long run. Economies of scale and consumer demand long term is always the same. People want what they want, when they want it, at least cost. Craft beer is at a golden opportunity right now where demand outpaces supply. This won't always be the case. Companies will either be major regional players or major national players. I harp on cost often (sorry everyone) but it matters when perceived products have the same intrinsic value but different cost points. I think you already see it with places that can't keep cans of Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, or Sixpoint on the shelves - high quality product at a lower price point. Local bottling breweries are up against stiff competition. Liquour stores put it next to Bells and people see a $3 dollar per sixer price difference and won't support it.

The Goose Island buyout really shows you that beer geeks will still strongly support a place as long as quality doesn't suffer even if owned by the evil empire.

Over the next decade I think a brewery is going to have to be something special to truly survive and support their bloated payrolls.

Just my two cents.

I'm was waiting for Matt to weigh in (and he did right before I hit the send button), but did you see that the guy from Cigar City is worried about availability of raw supplies? (See the last question in the link)

I think that's going to be another 'big vs little' issue. We can already see that certain varieties of hops are hard to come by, but what happens when it's barley? Or bourbon barrels? Obviously it makes more sense to sell all your barley or barrels to one big guy instead of twenty little guys. Just because you're not big compared to Budweiser doesn't mean you're not big compared to Black Acre (for example).

If anything, I think mega-craft breweries will actually prevent a shortage of raw supplies. Now if you just have a bunch of small breweries requesting ingredients, it takes a clever business person to put the numbers together and realize and overall growth in the market - which is realized eventually, but more slowly. When Sierra Nevada steps in and needs enough barley to brew 500k more barrels of beer, the industry takes notice and reacts immediately. Farmers will grow enough barley and hops to support the market. If there's money to be made, people will make it. If guacamole becomes popular, there isn't an avocado shortage - they just grow more avocados.

What Cigar City's brewer should really be worried about is the price of raw ingredients going up - that is a very real concern and will happen soon. The only hops that are in limited supply are the ones that are being grown in limited quantities and small brewers are buying up. Once they catch on, there will be plenty of them. CTZs are the prime example. When it comes to Bourbon barrels, we're a long way away from a shortage on those. Alcohol is a pretty huge industry, and barrels can only be used once. Jim Beam alone goes through hundreds of thousands of barrels every year.

I think Matt is spot on with his assessment that the larger brewers will profit more from the craft beer growth. The more beer you make, the more you can sell, and the lower price you can sell it at, which sells your product faster. I think the craft beer market is going to split into small and large craft. Essentially $7-9 six packs and $10-14 six packs. Small will be assumed to be of higher quality and artisan workmanship and large will be the mass market alternative to macro. Lower cost will sell more, but both will see growth. Liquor stores need to be smarter with their marketing and put all the Indiana beer together instead of pitching local stuff against Bell's if they really want to sell it. All Indiana brewers are selling at a pretty similar price point.

That certainly doesn't mean that you're going to see $12 4-packs of BCS. Barrel-aged beer takes a lot more labor, space and time to create, so it will continue to carry a higher price tag.

We also need to keep in mind the distinction between production breweries and brewpubs. While the big guys will probably benefit from the craft beer boom, I think that brewpub-brewed beers will continue to be in high demand locally, particularly when the beers brewed by local brewpubs and the general atmosphere and experience provided by local brewpubs are unique to their particular locality (did I say "local" enough there?). Brugge is a great example of this. No one else in Central Indiana--hell, no one else in Indiana period--is brewing many of the beers that Brugge is brewing, and people will continue to visit the brasserie just to get those beers.

It may come as a surprise to most of you, but I don't drink beer that frequently. Honestly, I may drink one or two days a week. I don't generally drink beer at home unless I have guests. And then I'm opening up bombers or a bottle from a mixed six pack. I don't have a regular, everyday beer. I keep Miller High Life around for boiling bratwurst, but absent that, I do not have a go-to beer at home. So the discussions of six pack pricing doesn't really concern me. I'm interested in trying a variety of beers and satisfying my beer-drinking desires which change direction with the wind.

So having GI BCS available anytime I'm in the mood for a barrel-aged stout is a win for me. Will it ruin other breweries? Doubtful. How many geeks keep barrel-aged stout in the house as their "go-to" beers.

Otherwise, I rarely buy the same beer twice for home, so the $8 vs. $12 six pack argument does not really impact me. But I am be the exception.

Flat 12 releases labels

2012-04-16T17:27:00.000-04:00

Thought these were pretty cool...

Beer Diary #25 - Mike - FSB and F8 at Tomlinson Tap Room

2012-04-13T14:00:00.000-04:00

After a month away from beer I've come back strong - perhaps a little too strong - recently. With a going away party to attend (We'll miss you, Jon), we first stopped in at the Tomlinson Tap Room to partake in a run-through of the latest offerings from Valparaiso's Figure 8 Brewing Company. But first, a warm-up beer.

Fountain Square Brewing's Preacher's Daughter - As we reset our sites on that which is sessionable, perhaps it's also time to revisit amber. Preacher's Daughter is Fountains Square's amber offering, and it's full-flavored, tasty, balanced, and almost-sessionable at 4.7% ABV. A lingering caramel flavor, smooth, and clean, this is another solid offering from the city's currently newest brewery.

Left to right: German Hefe, Belgian Dubbel, ESB, Imperial Red. Not pictured: IPA

Zaptist (sp?) German Hefe - Here's a beer that looks like you'd expect, with a very big nose featuring an almost a red wine-like note. The front is light, giving way to banana bread. Light on the clove, but full-on bready, the beer finishes sweet.

Belgian Dogma Dubbel - Gold/copper color, plum and nail polish in the nose. The front hints that you're about to drink a hot/higher alcohol beer (thanks, nose), but middle slides right by, and the finish is a hint of caramel. The beer is dominated by its nose, but not in a way that's off-putting.

Scapegoat ESB - Golden color, with an appley-english nose. A buttery apple middle, the beer finishes dry, but also chewy. Those things go together, right?

Ro Shampo Imperial Red - A hoppy tootsie-roll nose is what hits first, with the middle and finish living together in an alcohol-fueled bitter wonderland. Finishes dry, but not chewy.

Where Lizards Dare IPA - Looks gold. My notes start going off the rails here. "Does anyone read beer reviews and go 'Oh that's totally the wrong color, screw that beer'. The beer is purple. Weird. I made that up."

Where Lizards Dare is a balanced IPA, hops and malt working in equal parts. It's sweet in ways I appreciate. My favorite beer of the group, not over-anything. A level teeter-totter.

Random Beer Roundup - The Superstitious Edition

2012-04-13T08:49:00.001-04:00

Save the Date: TFN6 on May 5!

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Darren at Bier Brewery in Indianapolis:

Here's the lineup for this week:

Kooterlite
Sessie
Kolsch
Weizengoot
Belgian Wit
Barley Buddy Brown
4 Banger Amber
Cascadian Light Ale

Saturday at 1pm -
DFGIPA
Rye IPA
Chinookalicious IPA

From Jordan at Black Acre Brewing Co. in Irvington, Indianapolis:

This is what we have on tap right now: Sun King Ring of Dingle, Bell's Oberon, Flat12 Pogue's Run Porter, Stone Smoked Porter, Steven's Point Belgian White, Founders Double Trouble, Founders Pale Ale, He'Brew Lenny's RIPA, Sixpoint Redd's Ale, Ommegang Three Philosophers, New Day Meadery Johnny Chapman Cider, Dark Horse Boffo Brown, New Albanian Elsa von Horizon, Lefthand Sawtooth (nitro), and Boulevard/Deschutes Collaboration #2.

We have the following patiently waiting for its turn on the rotation when something runs out: Saison Dupont, Great Divide 18th Anniversary (Wood Aged DIPA), New Albanian Bonfire of the Valkyries, Sixpoint Brownstone, Stone Old Guardian, Weihenstephaner Hefe, Triton Dead Eye, Victory Headwaters, Triton Sin Bin, Bier Rye IPA, Bier Sessie, Magic Hat #9, Sam Adams Angry Orchard Cider, Upland Preservation Pilsner, Bosteel's Tripel Karmeleit, Bloomington Brewing Co. Vision Weiss.

From Crown Brewing in Crown Point:

Illiana Mayfest is Coming!!

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Upcoming items on our calendar include the following:

Friday, April 13th 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm - Meet the Brewers (@Great Fermentations)
Saturday, April 14th Brew Bracket (@Fairgrounds)
Saturday, April 21st Thunder on the Ohio (Louisville)
Saturday, April 28th Tippecanoe Arts Federation - Lafayette Beer Festival
Sunday, April 29th Book Release at 4pm, Jared Carter (F12 Taproom)

From Andrew at Ram Restaurant and Brewery in Indianapolis/Fishers:

Brand New IPA on Tap

Hop Anonymous is on tap! Stop by either RAM location for a taste of our brand new American IPA, which features fruity and spicy hop flavor with a nutty malt backbone.

Heaven and Hell Party
Residents of both Heaven and Hell will be co-mingling at the RAM Restaurant and Brewery in Indianapolis on May 12th. "What mysterious power would be able to bring Angels and Demons together in peace and harmony?," you ask. "Our 1000th brew, an Imperial Pilsner aged in Chambourcin wine barrels," I say. This aged beauty is going to be served two ways, side-by-side. The barrel-aged version with a touch of grape blending perfectly with the imperial pilsner base will be known as "Heaven-sent", while another version "Hell-bound" will take on a more devilish hue and slight tartness as a result of the addition of Black Currants. With all this tasty brew, we will be hosting a Heaven and Hell themed costume contest with prizes!

What: Heaven and Hell Party and costume contest
Where: Indianapolis RAM Restaurant and Brewery
When: May 12th, 7 p.m.
Why: Because the beer is awesome, and we want to share it with you.

RAM Every Day IPA Challenge
The RAM Small Ale Competition is taking on a bit of a new twist in 2012. We are going to focus your creative energy around a hop-tastic challenge to brew the best Every Day IPA that you can. Get your recipes together and tell your friends, because our competition will be limited to the first 50 brewers who register. Check out https://sites.google.com/site/ramipachallenge/home for the details.

From Clay at Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis:

Opening Day at Victory Field
Friday, April 13th 5pm
Bike to the Ball Park from Sun King
with INDYCOG & Mayor Ballard
Tapping of Indians Victory Lager at 6:30pm

Black Market Brewer's Brunch
Sunday, April 15th 10:30am & 1:30pm
4 Course Brunch paired with Sun King Beers
Call 317-822-6757 for Reservations

Derby Does Downtown
Friday, April 20th Doors at 5:30pm
@ Banker's Life Fieldhouse
Naptown Roller Girls vs. the Tampa Bay Tantrums
Featuring Fresh•Local•Beer

Indiana Landmarks Rescue Party
Saturday, April 28th at 6-11pm
at the Indiana Landmarks Center-1201 Central Ave.
Support Historic Preservation while you enjoy
food, music and Fresh•Local•Beer
featuring Sun King's Landmark Wit
www.indianalandmarks.org/tours/calendar/Pages/SearchResults.aspx?EventID=579

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Co. in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Thr3e Wise Men is now pouring its newest creation, Two Sisters Carolina Saison. You can come by and enjoy a $3 Pint of this or any of our other beers we have on tap every Wednesday!

From David at Triton Brewery in Lawrence:

On draught at the Tasting Room: Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter IPA, B-Java Brown, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale and Irish Hill Bourbon Barrel Amber.

Bottle Sampling at Claude & Annie’s Airport on April 25 at 7:30 pm. Come and explore our line of bottled craft beer! Claude & Annie’s Airport, 1229 S Girls School Road, Indianapolis IN, (317) 247-8124

www.claudeandanniesairport.com

Beer Dinner at Mud Creek Golf Club April 28, 2012 sponsored by Mud Creek Men’s Club at Ironwood Golf Course, 10955 Fall Road, Fishers, IN, 46038. Call for reservations: 317.842.0551.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mud-Creek-Mens-Club-at-Ironwood-Golf-Course/198309370198070

Triton Brewing Company Beer Dinner at Skyline Club (One American Square, 36th Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46282) Wednesday, April 18^th, 6–8pm featuring Triton Brewing Company Beer and amazing fare from Skyline Club’s own Executive Chef, Scott Reifenberger. Join us for 5 Gourmet Courses, each with Triton Beer Pairings. The cost is $30 Members and $35 Non-members. Call 317-263-5000 to make reservations. http://www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/Skyline-Club-Indianapolis

From Lindsay at Upland Brewery in Bloomington/Indianapolis:

http://uplandbeer.com/bike-and-build-fundraiser/

http://uplandbeer.com/upland-brewing-co-vs-bloomington-brewing-co-for-the-ymca/
And the Tripel Release with DJ Logic is THIS Saturday! http://ow.ly/abn6A

At Bars and Restaurants
From Patrick at Patrick's Kitchen in Zionsville;

PKD BEER LIST   04-06-12        LIST SUBJECT TO CHANGE ON DRAFT
Brewery Huyghe Melle, Belgium Delirium Tremens 8.5% abv. (A triple ) 9.25 12oz (no samples) Golden color, with a light creamy head, fruity, almost cherry finish, and packs a punch.  Watch out! Elected as the best beer in the world in 1998 at the WBC in Chicago.
O’Hara’s Irish Red (Product of Ireland Bagenalstown, Carlow Ireland)6.00 Pint
Bell’s Oberon 4.75 Pint (a sure sign of summer)(coming soon, Napa Smith Organic IPA)
SixPoint Brewery Diesel  6.3%abv. 5.75 Pint (part American Stout, part black IPA, robust chocolate and roasted flavors with a pine hop aroma)
New Albanian Hoptimus Imperial IPA 6.75 12oz 10% abv (coming soon, Brooklyn Lager)
Sun King Grapefruit Jungle (yes, it’s a tasty IPA) 12oz 7.25
Sixpoint Brewery Resin 7.50 12oz (it’s their double IPA 9% abv. 103 ibu’s)
Fountain Square Brewery “Hop for teacher Pale” 4.75 Pint (their oatmeal stout was delicious)
Sun King ISIS (It’s a double version of Osiris Pale Ale) 5.75 12oz
Three Floyds Dreadnaught 7.50 12oz Imperial IPA (no samples please) (coming soon Artic Panzer Wolf)

BOTTLES
Scourmont Abbey Chimay Blue a Belgian strong ale(very potent, watch out)9.25
Dark Horse Scotty Karate (A big Scotch ale) 9.5%abv.
Spaten Optimator A nice Dopplebock
Wexford Irish Cream Ale (it’s a pub can) Duvel (a classic Belgian Golden Ale)

WHEAT BEERS
Celis Grand Cru
Two Brothers Monarch Wit (their anniversary beer)

From Eddie at Sahm's Place in Indianapolis:

To better satisfy our customers diverse palates (or oversized stomach muscles, not sure which is the biggest influence) we are now featuring a daily "Secret Slider" and "Apertivo del Dia" which will be $2.22 on our 222 menu and will be different everyday! To get updates on what the specials are as well as tap changes, follow us at @SahmsPlace on twitter or at Sahm's Place on facebook.

We have added a few new bottles to our lineup this week with Widmer Hefeweizen, New Holland Kolsch, and Six Point Resin Double IPA.

Kegs upcoming this week:
Bloomington Brewing Company Ruby Amber
Fountain Square Big Nugs IPA
Flat12 Walkabout
Flat12 Porter
Bier Brewery Kolsch
Bier Brewery Rye IPA
Bier Brewery Dubbel
Bells Two Hearted
Three Floyds Brian Boru
Upland Maibock
Brugge Pooka
Six Point Righteous Ale
Sun King Osiris
New Albanian Beaks best
Great Divide Nomad Pilsner
Triton Railsplitter IPA

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse in Various Locations:

Scotty’s Brewhouse West Lafayette is now serving People’s Hoodlum Pale Ale! You can get a 48oz Pitcher of this tasty Pale Ale every Wednesday for $9!

Scotty’s Burger Joint in Columbus is now pouring Sun King Timmie Imperial Stout! You can get a pint of this amazing beer everyday for $6.25!

Scotty’s Lakehouse has just tapped Flying Dog Doggie Style! Come on by every Thursday and get a 24oz Mug for only $4!

From the Distributors
From Jen at Cavalier Distribution:

NEW TO THE CAVALIER WAREHOUSE

North Coast Old Stock Otsuchi - Old Ale with a big cause; limited release; 750ml bottle only

http://beerstreetjournal.com/north-coast-old-stock-otsuchi-2012/

Great Divide 18th Anniversary - Wood Ages Double IPA; limited seasonal release; 22oz bottles and draft

Great Divide Colette - Saison; limited seasonal release; 6 packs and draft

Mad River Serious Madness Black Ale - American Black Ale; limited seasonal release; 4 packs only

Fruli - Belgian Starwberry Beer; everyday offerings; 4 packs only

Laverstoke Organic Ale - ESB; everyday offering; 4 packs only

Laverstoke Organic Lager - bottle conditioned lager; everyday offering; 4 packs only

Two Brothers Red Eye Coffee Porter - American Coffee Porter; limited release; 22oz and draft

Finch's Threadless IPA - India Pale Ale; new release!; 16oz cans and draft

Dentergenes Wit - Belgian Wit; everyday offering; 750ml bottles only

UPCOMING EVENTS

4/21 - Thunder Over the Ohio; Behind Buckead; Jeffersonville; all day event

4/28 - Sahara Mart Spring Tasting; Sahara Mart East Lot; Bloomington; 12pm-4pm

5/1 - Birdy's Monthly Tasting; 6pm-8pm; $10

5/26 - Illiana Mayfest; Lake County Fairgrounds, Crown Point; 2pm-6pm; $30 general and $45 VIP (entrance at 1pm)

6/2 - Keg Liquors Fest of Ales; St. Anthony's of Padu Lot; Clarksville; 3pm-7pm; $25 general admission

6/23 - Brew HaHa; Downtown Indy; 3pm-7pm; $35 general admission

8/4 - Brew Haven Craft Beer Festival; Downtown New Haven; 2pm-6pm; $35 general admission

10/13 - Porter Beerfest 12pm-4pm

Upcoming Events
From Mike at Brew Bracket:

Here’s the 101 on our event:Brew Bracket is the only one of its kind, a true tasting tournament. 16 brewers bring a similar style of beer (Wheat for our spring event) and are seeded randomly into a bracket. 400 participants taste beer (blindly, 2 glasses at a time) and vote for their favorites. Over the course of the day winning beers move through the tournament until we crown a champion at the end of the event.

Here’s why this year is exceptionally awesome:Our 16 brewers are very close to Indianapolis, and we have nearly every new brewer to the scene involved in the event. This includes 5+ breweries that have just started within the last year. It’s an awesome opportunity for beer fans to find out about new breweries and learn more about what they like within the style through the blind tasting. And we’re partnering with local charity, the SCI Hope Fund, to give back to the community as part of the event.

Basic details: Saturday, April 14^th from 12:30PM – 5PM
Tickets are $35 each, only 400 available

More information and ticket purchases through http://www.brewbracket.com/upcomingevents/

From Katherine at IU:

From Sam at Against the Grain Brewery in Louisville, KY:

Wondering what to do for Thunder Over Louisville 2012?! Not willing to chance the rain or cold?! Look no further!! We are excited to announce our AtG Thunder Package 2012! We will be closing our doors on Saturday, April 21, 2012 for a private and relaxing experience to all who purchase the AtG Thunder Package 2012!. The package includes:

A ticket into Louisville Slugger Field seating area section 101-106 (Facing the 2nd St. Bridge...perfect view of the show!) for both the baseball game & a perfect seat to watch the largest fireworks display in the country!

Access to the concert down on the Field (Journey UnAuthorized)

Exclusive all day access to 1 seat in Against The Grain (including access to the clean, neat, & maintained restrooms, large televisions showing the Air Show, and full-fun-friendly service!)

Vouchers for your choice of, both, 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, as well as, 5 (well liquor or house made beer) drinks!

These tickets will include return access to and from your seat in the ball field & Against The Grain all day!

This package is available for the $200 (*plus tax) per adult & $175 (*plus tax) per child (children tickets will not include alcoholic drinks, duh). We encourage all interested to act promptly, as we have limited seating and will not extend sales beyond our indoor seating capacity. TICKETS ON SALE.

Eastward Ho!

2012-04-12T09:15:00.000-04:00

We are currently situated in an interesting slice of American brewing history. All breweries start small, even Adolphus Busch and Frederick Miller started with modest breweries before becoming the global mega powers they are today. The key advantage that AB-InBev and MillerCoors currently have in the market, is time. These brewery empires were built over more than a century of brewing and brand recognition. American craft brewing as we know it today, is roughly 25-30 years old. You don't tackle a giant overnight, but you also don't become a fixture in the industry without growing.

Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Lagunitas have all recently realized that to meet the demand of their products, they have to grow. Not simply grow the size of their brewhouse, but grow the size of their companies. This happens in two ways, through contract brewing or through building new breweries. Contract brewing is cheaper, and has historically been the most popular option with craft brewers up to this point. Building new breweries is expensive, but it increases the size of the business while still ensuring full control of the end product. Opening a new brewery is clearly the ideal scenario, but its prohibitive cost makes it difficult. The Boston Brewing Company, the largest American craft brewery, has done both with a long history of contract brewing and a more recently emphasis on opening new breweries as seen in Cincinnati.

Sierra Nevada

The first brewery to make the announcement of an expansion this year was Sierra Nevada in January. A location 12 miles south of Asheville, North Carolina was chosen for its water quality and thriving beer culture. The brewery will initially produce 300,000 barrels with room for expansion. For reference, Sierra Nevada is currently brewing somewhere in the ballpark of 1 million barrels per year in Chico. Both flagship beers and seasonal releases will be brewed at the new facility. The new brewery is scheduled to open in 2014.

Does this affect Indiana? Probably not. There's a chance there will be a perceivable difference in the quality of the beer, but it's unlikely. It's possible they might pass the transportation savings on to us, but that's also unlikely.

New Belgium

Hot on the heels of Sierra Nevada, New Belgium announced last week that they were also planning on building an additional facility in Asheville. Instead of building outside of the city, New Belgium is developing a brownfield site in the River Arts district of Asheville. While Sierra Nevada mentioned water quality as a major factor in the location choice, New Belgium cited the city's sustainability, bike paths and greenways. Of course they were also drawn by the outstanding beer culture. New Belgium's expansion is planned to have a capacity of 400,000 barrels, exceeding the plans of Sierra Nevada, though it should be noted that Sierra Nevada's primary brewery is larger than New Belgium's. The new brewery is scheduled to open in 2015.

Does this affect Indiana? Probably not. Much like Sierra Nevada, there's a chance that the quality of the beer might change, but it's doubtful. The bigger impact would be New Belgium's ability to distribute into more states east of the Mississippi River. Currently 17 of the 22 states New Belgium does not distribute to are east of the Mississippi River. Of the 5 remaining, 2 are Hawaii and Alaska.

Lagunitas

In a completely surprising move, Lagunitas announced via Twitter earlier this week that they would be building an expansion in Chicago. Lagunitas' expansion will be built in an existing film sound stage in the Douglas Park neighborhood, just west of Pilsen and a few blocks north of the California-Cermak Pink stop. The decision to build a brewery in Chicago instead of another city (because Asheville is probably looking for a trifecta) seems to be more of an emotional one. Tony Magee, founder of Lagunitas, is a Chicago native. The Lagunitas expansion is the biggest of the 3, weighing in at 600,000 barrels, equivalent to their existing brewery. The schedule is also more aggressive, with a planned opening of 2013.

Does this affect Indiana? Most likely yes. It's hard to imagine a brewery producing 1.2 million barrels of beer annually with a brewery in Illinois wouldn't distribute to Indiana. Lagunitas is typically priced at the same entry point as Sierra Nevada is grocery and liquor stores, so you'll have one more low cost craft option.

What happens next?
That's a good question, and one up for speculation. With these 3 expansions, 3 more craft breweries will be producing well in excess of 1 million barrels per year. It seems like a new classification of brewery is in order. A brewery producing that much beer can't claim to uphold the same beliefs and practices as smaller, local breweries, but that also doesn't mean that they should be automatically cast into the same pile as breweries that put profits above consumers. Sam Adams faced the same issue a few years back when they grew outside of the definition of a "craft brewery." Their response was simply to continue brewing good beer and place a focus on their philanthropic efforts towards the craft beer community. As a result, hardly anyone noticed that they outgrew the classification.

Perhaps more importantly, what happens to the craft beer community in Asheville. In a community with 10 breweries (give or take), what happens when not one but two giants come to town. Will the community help each other and develop into one of the country's top beer destinations? Or will the new breweries cannibalize the existing breweries' profits?

Share your thoughts about these new developments and the rapid growth of the industry in the comments!