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

HBG June Pint Night | Thursday, June 27, Mass Ave Pub, 6:30 p.m.

2013-06-19T16:19:00.000-04:00

We finally have details for this month's Hoosier Beer Geek Pint Night. We apologize for the delay, but your patience will be rewarded because we're pretty sure that you'll like what's going to be on tap.

Join us at the Mass Ave Pub (745 Massachusetts Avenue, 317.974.0745) from 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 27, for two beers from New Belgium Brewing's Lips of Faith series. Our two featured beers will be Heavenly Feijoa Tripel (a collaboration brew with Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!) and Cascara Quad.

Here are the beer descriptions from New Belgium:

Heavenly Feijoa Tripel combines Dieu du Ciel!’s love of hibiscus flowers with New Belgium’s passion for strange and worldly fruit. Feijoa, also known as pineapple guava, has a sweet, aromatic flavor, which makes the aroma of Heavenly Feijoa Tripel luscious and tropical. The beer has Belgian yeast and Nelson Sauvin hops, combining to make a sweet fruit taste, mild spicy tones and a sharp bite. Hibiscus adds a cranberry tartness and an ambrosial quality to the color.

Cascara Quad is a dark, strong and surprisingly delicate ale made with dates and coffee cherries. Channeling the Trappist tradition, it’s brewed with an ethereal malt bill, and spiced with the fruit of the coffee bean (cascara). The aroma brings dates, cherries and pipe tobacco right to the nose and builds layers with hints of spice and fruity Belgian yeast. Once on the palate, Cascara Quad starts swinging clove, fig and molasses. Each sip offers sweet warmth, deep complexity and fleeting dryness.

These are sipping beers, so Mass Ave Pub will be offering 9 oz. pours for $4.00 a piece.

What's the purpose of Pint Night? To feature beers at a reasonable price and, if you're interested in learning, to educate you about the particular beers on tap. In fact, we'll provide an information sheet on the beers and welcome your suggestions for which beers we should feature at future HBG Pint Nights. So come on out and enjoy some great beer and conversation with us.

"Skunked" Beer, "Light Struck" Beer, and the Impact of Temperature Changes

2013-06-19T08:09:00.000-04:00

Jake Wrote:

On multiple occasions in the last year, I have heard people use the term "Skunked" to describe an off flavor that they perceive in a beer. I have also been asked by friends if the myth that cooling a beer, letting it come back to room temperature, and then cooling it again will cause the beer to get "Skunked". I read a really informative post on the Binny's (Chicago store) Blog and I want to re-post it to make sure that it gets preserved. For reference, Adam Vavrick ("Vav") is one of the most respected guys in Chicago craft beer and is the primary beer buyer for the Binny's Lincoln Park location that is about to expand to 50,000 square feet of beer, wine, and liquor.

The Blog starts with a customer question:

I just bought a case of Petrus Aged Pale Ale. I opened it up when I got home and noticed it was cold. I thought this was probably a mistake since most people buying in bulk would want it warm so they can cool it at their leisure. I called to see if I could exchange it, and the guy said could but the beer would be fine. Basically it’s a myth about the warming/cooling of beer that leads to aged taste or skunkiness, and exposure to light matters. I was confused, having thought that was a factor.

- D.G.

And then Vav provides the answer with a side of great customer service:

Hi D.G.

The beer is absolutely fine for a number of reasons. Bear with me. There’s a lot of science coming up.

“Skunking” is a specific occurrence in beer, not a catch all for when beer goes bad.

Beer uses hops as its bitter component to balance the sweetness of malt. When hops are added to the beer during the boiling, they release Iso-Alpha Acids, which are the main components in hop oil. During the boil alpha acids isomerize, or transform into different molecules, which are very bitter. These, along with other hop oils, remain in the beer, contributing hop aroma. Some of the oils are quite volatile, and will break down when exposed to ultraviolet light. The reaction is quite fast: literally a matter of minutes and the isohumulone will break down into a chemical similar in makeup and aroma to the chemicals that come from a skunk’s anal scent glands. This is why beers from certain big European breweries smell skunky: green glass offers almost no protection from light. Clear bottles offer no protection. Brown bottles offer great but not perfect protection. A fun experiment is to grab a four pack of either Pilsner Urquell or Beck’s in cans. Pour a couple ounces into a clear glass, and put it on a sunny windowsill for two minutes. Then pour a few ounces into a second glass and smell the beer in both glasses. The difference will shock you.

Some beers like Corona and some Miller products use hop extracts that have been chemically altered to prevent skunking, even in clear bottles. So that’s where skunking comes from. In fact, we also call it Light Struck.

Still with me? Go grab a beer and then come back. There’s more…

The other part of your question is temperature variations. There is some truth to temperature fluctuations affecting beer, but it’s negligible. Basically, beer’s biggest enemies are time, light and oxygen.

Beer is partially a solid. Around 2% of beer is solid: carbohydrates, sugars, and more. This makes up the body and head of a beer. These solids, given a long enough time, will settle out of solution to the bottom of the container. Some beers hold up longer than others; it depends on the makeup of the beer, like how much residual sugar is left after fermentation, or how attenuating (thorough, basically) the yeast was, and so on. When beer is stored cold, it stalls the aging process. So purely as an arbitrary example, a Pale Ale with, say, a 6 month shelf life, might have a 5 month shelf life when stored at room temperature, a 4 month shelf at 85 degrees, 3 month at 95, etc. These aren’t exact numbers, but you get the idea. The warmer the beer is stored, the shorter the shelf life.

One way to accelerate the aging process is drastic temperature swings from near freezing to near boiling. In fact, many breweries do just that in their labs, subjecting their beer to harsh conditions to see just how durable they are as part of their quality control procedures. The negligible amount this happens in the real world when you take a beer out of the cooler, allow it to warm, and then re-chill it is is absolutely harmless. And even if it did speed up aging, it certainly wouldn’t cause skunking.

Petrus Aged Pale Ale (good choice, by the way) is a sour ale. In fact, it is a pale ale that uses a very small amount of hops, which then goes into 200 hectoliter oak tuns, called foudres, where it sits for upwards of 3 years. In general, sour ales require less hops because you WANT infections from various little funky bugs and yeasts. Hop oils, in addition to bittering, also have preservative qualities. By using less hops, it allows those funky bugs and yeasts to go work unimpeded. Additionally, most sour ales, particularly lambics, use aged hops, most typically hops that have been aged for three years or more. This aging drives off many of the oils that contribute to both the preservative effects and aromatics, leaving only the bittering potential.

So there you have it. Your beer is just fine. If you’re still uncomfortable, of course we’ll take them back, but rest assured that they are just fine.

So, next time your friends say that they want to buy beer warm because they are going to transport it, or say that something "Skunked" their beer, do us all a favor and point them to this post. I wish someone had done that for me in my early days of craft beer drinking.

Full disclosure: Petrus Aged Pale is one of my all-time favorite beers

Ticket Giveaway - Sun King & MOKB Present: SKB IV

2013-06-18T11:51:00.000-04:00

Join Sun King Brewery and My Old Kentucky Blog for a celebration of four years of Fresh•Local•Beer; Saturday, July 6th from 4-10pm at Sun King. Festivities include the tapping of Sun King's most anticipated seasonal beer, Grapefruit Jungle, accompanied by some of Indy's best food trucks and live rock and roll, honky tonk, blues and soul from Sturgill Simpson, Saint Paul and the Broken Bones, and Luella and the Sun.

This event will sell out so we highly encourage you to get your tickets in advance. A limited amount of $12 discount tickets will be available at Sun King or you may purchase them online ($15) at http://www.mokbpresents.com/event/266169-sun-king-4-indianapolis/.

A portion of the proceeds will go to IPS Education Foundation Teaching with Technology program. Check them out at www.ipsef.org

We have two pairs of tickets to give away to this event. To enter, please leave a comment below in which you tell us four things (fact or fiction) about grapefruit and/or jungles. Good Luck!

We'll chose our favorite comment on Tuesday (7/2/13) at 10 a.m. EST, and the winner gets the tickets. MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE US A METHOD TO CONTACT YOU - an email address or a twitter handle is great. You'll be responsible for checking back to see if you've won, and we can figure the rest out after that.

LEGAL STUFF
Creative entries are particularly appreciated.
We reserve the right to not give you tickets if we think you're shady.
We reserve the right to change all the rules and not award the prize if we don't like how things go.
Don't be a pain in the ass.
By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of HoosierBeerGeek.com, which shall be final and binding with regard to all matters relating to the contest.
END OF LEGAL STUFF.

Save the Date | June HBG Pint Night, Thursday, June 27, Mass Ave Pub

2013-06-17T14:23:00.000-04:00

We apologize for the last minute nature of this announcement, but we're still finalizing the details for the June edition of our monthly Pint Night event. While we're still in the process of choosing the beer and nailing down the exact time, we can tell you that this month's Pint Night will be held at the Mass Ave Pub on Thursday, June 27. Kick-off is likely to be at 6:30 p.m.

Last month's Pint Night focused on a sessionable style. This month we're shooting for something more exotic. So save the date, and we hope to have the final details made available by the end of the week.

What's the purpose of Pint Night? To provide the community with pints at a reasonable price and, if you're interested in learning, to educate you about the particular beer on tap. So come on out and enjoy some great beer and conversation with us.

Microbrewers Festival Volunteer Sign Up

2013-06-16T23:29:00.000-04:00

This year's Microbrewers Festival will take place on July 20. As has become the tradition, Hoosier Beer Geek will be organizing the festival and running the day-of operations. That means we're going to need a lot of help!

If you'd like to help us make this year's Microbrewers Festival a success, consider volunteering with us! All volunteers will work the entire festival, but we'll make sure that you have ample time to enjoy some beer as well. We have a loyal following of repeat volunteers that help us out every festival, so it can't be too bad of a gig!

If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments. Otherwise, follow this link to sign up.

http://bit.ly/mf13volunteers

Random Beer Roundup - The Cheers to Dad Edition

2013-06-14T09:17:00.004-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers:

From Amanda at Cutters Brewing in Avon:

Tap Take Over - Fickle Peach 6/14/2013 5-9pm 117 E Charles St, Muncie

Festival - June Fest 6/14/2013 10am Downtown Winchester, Winchester

Indy Wine & Beer Fest 6/14/2013 7-10pm Broad Ripple Station Parking Lot, Indianapolis

Festival - June Fest 6/15/2013 10am Downtown Winchester, Winchester

Tasting - Outside The Box 6/20/2013 6:30pm 1143 E. 116th St., Indianapolis

Festival - Brew Ha-Ha 6/22/2013 3-7pm 700 Block of North Park Ave Indianapolis

From Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

We announced our next seasonal release, Vacation Kölsch, this week. Vacation is a 5.0% ABV, 20 IBU, 3.2 SRM limited release that we brewed to coincide and celebrate the brewery’s summer holiday week and the summer solstice on June 21st. We love brewing beer but we are shutting down for a week for some R&R. Vacation provides an aggressively fun craft beer option for long, relaxing summer days and nights. It will be available on draft throughout the Daredevil distribution footprint of central and southern Indiana beginning Monday, June 24.

Our summer event schedule is in full swing and this Saturday we will be pouring at the Fishers on Tap Summer event and we hope to see many of you in person.

In addition here is our upcoming event lineup and you can always keep up by following our Facebook event page. If there is an event you think we should be at please contact us at info@daredevilbeer.com

· Brew-Ha-Ha, Saturday, June 22nd

· Make it Local Beer Dinner at Chef JJ’s Backyard, July 12

· Indiana Micro Brewers Festival, July 20th

· Beer Dinner at Indiana Downs, July 26th (more information coming)

We continue to add more fun locations for you to find Lift Off IPA and our current seasonal beers across the state of Indiana. Some of the most recent additions include The Black Sparrow (Lafayette), Fire by the Monon (Indy), Come Back Inn (Jeffersonville) and the Pearl Street Pizzeria & Pub (Indy).

You can always find the full list of locations that carry Lift Off IPA and our limited release beers on our website and we continue to add new locations weekly. Also, you can keep up with the latest news and learn about new locations to find our beers first by following us on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Want to know what people are saying about our beers? Check out our profile on Untappd.

Daredevil Brewing Co. | Current beers available

Lift Off IPA: Our flagship beer

A bounty of American Hops delivers the signature clean and crisp finish of a perfectly balanced West Coast style IPA.

Muse Belgian Golden Ale: A Belgian seasonal made in the Belgian Strong Ale style

A delicate Belgian perfume of pears and apples compliments complex spicy phenolics and lightly sweet alcohol with an inspiring clean, bright finish.

Vacation Kölsch: Our limited release summer seasonal

A delicately balanced, authentic Kölsch style ale brewed with the finest German malts, hops and yeast to provide a crisp, clean and refreshing match for summer relaxation.

From Bob at Flat 12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Friday, June 14th: Big Red Wine and Brew Fest. Broad Ripple.

Saturday, June 15th: Brew Bracket, State Fairgrounds. Pale Ales.

Saturday, June 15th: Circle City Derby Girls, Double Header.

Saturday, June 15th: Fishers on Tap. Summer edition.

Thursday, June 20th: Something related to the solstice? TBD.

Friday, June 21st: Noon. Taproom tapping of Summer Cycle IPA.

Saturday, June 22nd: Brew Ha Ha at Phoenix Theater

Wednesday, June 26th: Elbow Room 80th. Karousel Kolsch tapping

Thursday, June 27th: 4p Taproom tapping of Kiwi Kiwi Hefeweizen

Late June: Pennsy Trail Art + Music (Greenfield), Greenwood Freedom Festival

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple:

Thr3e Wise Men is now serving our newest creation, Czech Yo’ Self Big Pimpin’ Impin’ Pilsner. Stop by and have a pint for only $2.50 on Tuesdays!

Thr3e Wise Men and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse will be having a beer dinner on Friday June 21st. Four of our beers will be paired with a three-course dinner prepared by Chef Rolf. Please RSVP to Lori Seefeldt loris@ruthchris.us.

Here are some other upcoming events that you will be able to find Thr3e Wise Men:
· Tapping @ Brewstone, Friday June 14th from 6pm – 8pm
· Taste of Tippecanoe, Saturday June 15th
· Inside The Bottle @ Lucas Estate, Thursday June 20th
· Brew-Ha-Ha, Saturday June 22nd

Are you a bar or restaurant owner/operator? If you are then you can now serve Thr3e Wise Men Beer at your great establishments. We are now distributing through Cavalier Distribution of Indiana. Talk to your local Cavalier rep. Click here for more info.

From David at Triton Brewing in Indianapolis:

TRITON HOUSE BREWS
Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber Ale, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter India Pale Ale, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale, Gold Trans Am Ale, McQueenie’s (Smoked) Scotch Ale, Pink Ribbon Saison, Bourbon Barrel 500 Monks and Bourbon Barrel 500 Sour Monks

GUEST BREWS
Crispin Cider (bottle), Flying Dog Imperial IPA, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Mort Subite Kriek Lambic, Ommegang Biere D’Hougoumont, Sixpoint Resin and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

Chef JJ’s Brewer Dinner with Triton Brewing Company at Chef JJ’s Backyard (1040 Broad Ripple Avenue, 46220) - Friday June 14, 6pm. Six Triton Beers paired with various courses. For more information, contact 317.602.3828

Indy Wine and Beer Festival Broad Ripple, Friday, June 14, 7-10pm

Jungle Jim’s International Market Beer Festival (5440 Dixie Hwy, Fairfield, OH 45014), Friday June 14 & Saturday June 15, 7-10pm. Tickets are $40 for Friday and $45 for Saturday. Call 513.674.6000 or junglejims.com

Brew Bracket- Pale Ale Competition at the Indiana State Fair Grounds Expo Center (1202 E 38th St, Indianapolis)! Saturday, June 15th

Wednesday, June 19^th, 5-9pm #Clustertruck! Join us for your favorite Indy Food Trucks food trucks, craft beer and fun! At the Tasting Room at Triton Brewing Company! Join Byrnes Grilled Pizza, IN A Pita, Pho Mi, Retro 101, Scout’s Treat Truck and Big Rom’s Bistro

Hatchblower IPA Firkin- Thursday, June 20, 5pm at Triton Brewing with KG’s Slider Station vending!

‘A Tasteful Affair- at Montage, Allison Pointe- Thursday, June 27, 6-9pm. Join us to help raise funds for the Lupus Foundation of America . Delectable dishes, wine and craft beer! Cost: $50. For more information, call 317.225.4400.

From Justine at Union Brewing in Carmel:

The Braumeister has arrived! It's shiny and new and looks so good sitting in our front window. As soon as the fermenters arrive from Germany we'll be back to doing what we love...brewing delicious beer!

This weeks food selection is brought to you by the following food trucks:
NY Slice (Friday)
In a Pita (Saturday)

We recently added Pub Grub to our food line up as well. They serve every Monday, Wednesday & Sunday. All items are made to order and fresh off the grill. The menu changes daily, and includes items such as brats, 1/4 hot dogs, Italian & Polish sausage, veggie dogs, beef burgers, turkey burgers & veggie burgers and more. All orders come with your choice of toppings and a generous helping of beer chips. Check our Facebook page for daily offerings!

We have live music this Saturday from 8-10 pm. Join us for a performance by Noblesville IN native Marcus McMahon. And don't forget about Open Mic Night every Tuesday starting at 7 pm, and Tim Nolan playing all your favorites by request on Thursday nights.

Just a reminder, this Sunday is Father's Day. It's a scientific fact that dads LOVE beer! Be sure to stop by and share a pint of one of your favorites, or maybe one of our specialty bombers with Dad.

At Bars, Restaurants, & Home Brewing Suppliers:

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Come join us at Scotty’s Brewhouse for Sunday Funday this Summer! We are now serving $2.00 Thr3e Wise Men Pints & $2.50 Thr3e Wise Men Centennial Martyr Double IPA Pints! (Excludes Mishawaka Location)

Scotty’s Brewhouse 96th Street Indianapolis is now pouring Thr3e Wise Men Rocky Ripple Pale Ale! Stop by on Thursday and get a refreshing pint for only $2.50!

Scotty’s Brewhouse Mishawaka is now serving Bell’s Oberon! Come by and try a 48oz Pitcher of this refreshing beer every Wednesday for $9.00!

From Chelsey at Union Jacks in Broad Ripple:

GOOSE ISLAND TASTING: Tuesday, June 25 at 7pm will feature their Summertime, Sofie, and their 25th Anniversary Beer. All pints of Summertime will be $3.75 that night. (Join us at 8pm for Pub Feud...Trivia...Family Feud style!)

GOOSE ISLAND BEER DINNER: Thursday, July 25. 5 courses, 5 beers featuring vintage ales Matilda, Pepe Nero, Pere Jacques, a special Sofie, Sofie Paradisi, along with one surprise beer. Tickets go on sale next week--$40/person or $75/couple.

SMUTTYNOSE WELCOME: Tuesday, July 2 we will have a Smuttynose tap takeover to welcome it to Indiana. Tappings at 7pm before Pub Feud at 8pm.

NEW TAP LINES: New system has been ordered and as soon as we have more lines, we will celebrate with a Brooklyn Tap Takeover featuring: Fiat Lux, 25th Anniversary Dopplebock, Mary Maple Porter, Pennant Ale, as well as Bier's DFG IPA.

TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY $4 PINTS

ON NOW:

Stone's Arrogant Bastard

Three Floyd's Robert the Bruce

Flat 12 Cucumber Kolsch

Sun King's Batch 999

Bell's Two Hearted

Bell's Oberon

Bier PDG Pale Ale

ON DECK:

Left Hand Milk Stout

Schlafly's Raspberry Hefe

Abita Turbo Dog

BBC Rooftop IPA

Cutter's Full Court Imperial IPA

Fathead's Goggle Fogger Hefeweizen

Flat 12 Hinchtown

Ommegang/Duvel Rustica

3 Floyd's Blackheart

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog

Beer Events/Fundraisers

Brew Bracket featuring Pale Ales
“BB7: The Cure for all Your (pale) Ales"

Date: Saturday June 15th
Time: 3-7PM
Place: Indiana State Fairgrounds
Participating Brewers: Flat 12, Upland, Bloomington, Barley Island, Triton, Brugge, Rock Bottom College Park, Half Moon, RAM, Iechyd Da, Three Wisemen, Union Brewing, Indiana City, Rock Bottom Downtown Indy, Peoples, and Evil Czech Brewing
Tickets details: $35 participant (350 tickets); $45 VIP – come an hour early, Q&A and extra samples with two brewers that have won prior events (50 tickets)
Where can I stock up: bbpales.eventbrite.com

Fishers On Tap - Summer

The Rotary Club of Fishers, is hosting Fishers On Tap - Summer, at the new Fishers Amphitheater on Father's Day weekend, Saturday June 15, 2013. This outdoor beer tasting fundraiser will feature 12-15 local Indiana brewers, live music from Soul Street, hand chosen food trucks. All proceeds will be given back to our local community to service organizations that help those in need.

Time: 4:00 - 5:00 PM VIP Tickets
5:00 - 8:00 PM General Admission Tickets

Price: General Admission $40.0
VIP $60.00
Designated Driver $10.00

Current Line up of Breweries:
Bier Brewery
Daredevil Brewing
Fountain Square Brewery
Flat 12 Bierwerks
Sun King Brewing
Union Brewing Company
Upland Brewing Company
Brugge Brasserie
Big Woods Brewing Company
Cutters Brewing Company
Bloomington Brewing Company
New Albanian Brewing Company
Four Horseman Brewing Company
Oaken Barrel Brewing Company
Tuxedo Park Home Brewers

Food Trucks
Edwards Drive-In Dashboard
Nacho Mama
NY Slice
Taco Lassi
LICK Local Ice Cream

Girls Pint Out: Beers, BBQ & a Lesson in Homebrewing

Always wanted to learn how to brew your own beer? Now is your chance! The guys at Balls Brewing have volunteered to give us a lesson in brewing their amazingly delicious IPA. Join us Saturday, June 22nd from noon to 5 pm for a day of brewing, complete with a cookout, and, of course, beer drinking. Samples of Balls Brewery homebrew will be provided throughout the day.

Tickets are $15 and include a Girls' Pint Out pint glass and food during the event. Only ten spots are available - so reserve yours now! This event is ladies only.Get your ticket here!

Girls Pint Out: Pint Night at Bier Brewery

It is always a special occasion when Bier Brewery serves pints! Come have a pint with us Wednesday, June 26th from 5-7!
You will also be able to buy cute clothes, fun accessories, adorable growler bags, and delicious cupcakes. We will also be joined by:

Shop Retro 101

Growler Girls

Sugar

Oh sure...we'll let the guys hang out with us, too.

Girls Pint Out: Happy Hour on the Patio

Scotty's Brewhouse (Downtown)July 10th 6:00-9:00 pm
It is everyone's favorite time of year: patio-drinking time! Join us for a night on the patio at Scotty's Brewhouse downtown. It will be a night of craft beer antics and fun. A representative from Thr3e Wise Men will also be joining us.
This is a ladies only event.
RSVP here

Girls Pint Out: Beer Cocktail Contest

Mass Ave PubJuly 16th 6 pm
Rules of the contest:

Recipes must contain at least two ingredients.

At least one ingredient must be a craft beer and another must be a liquor

All ingredients must be accessible and legal to consume

Submit your recipe by July 8th to amanda@girlspintout.com

Top three recipes will be available on July 16th for voting.
The top recipe wins $100 and the winning concoction will be available for the remainder of July at Mass Ave Pub.
This event is open to everyone!

18th Annual Microbrewers Festival:

The Indiana Microbrewers Festival makes its 18th showing on July 20 in Broad Ripple. Your favorite Indiana breweries will be joined by a select group of guest breweries from around the country at Indiana’s largest craft beer event. Over 300 beer selections to choose from!
There are tickets available for every level of beer enthusiast; from casual drinker to the major hop-head:

VIP Experience: $100 (very limited, online only)
Includes early admission (2:00) and access to exclusive VIP Experience Tent (special tappings and food pairings), tasting glass and unlimited beer samples

Early Bird: $55 (limited, online only)
Includes early admission (2:00), tasting glass and unlimited beer samples
General Admission: $40 (advance purchase)
Includes tasting glass and unlimited beer samples
Tickets available at Broad Ripple Brewpub, Crown Liquors stores and online

Designated Driver: $10 (available online and at the gate)
Includes unlimited soft drinks in special Designated Driver area

*ADULTS ONLY
This is a 21-and-over event. All guests must present valid, current photo ID at the gate.
Tickets on Sale starting June 1st
Online at Etix.com
Follow the Indiana Brewers Guild on Facebook and Twitter for announcements!
Ticket Page
http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/venueSearch.jsp?venue_id=4144&performance_id=1725671&language=en&country=US

Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/lIndianaMicrobrewersFestival

Our Webpage
http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/events/details/18th-annual-indiana-microbrewers-festival

Our Twitter

twitter.com/drinkindiana

Brews Across the Wabash

The event is set for Saturday, August 24. VIP admission opens at noon with general admission at 1 pm. The event wraps up at 5 pm.

Tickets available at www.beersacrossthewabash.com or http://beersacrossthewabash.eventbrite.com

Beers Across the Wabash

Sponsored by Village Bottle Shoppes

Friends of Downtown is proud to present the 2nd Annual Beers Across the Wabash. Join us for a fantastic afternoon of sampling craft brews from 25-30 of Indiana's finest small breweries. The event will be held on the John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge spanning the Wabash River between Lafayette and West Lafayette- probably the most scenic beer festival location in all of the Midwest! In addition to delicious beers, admission includes a commemorative sample cup and live entertainment by Woodstove Flapjacks and others throughout the afternoon. Look for homebrewing information and demonstrations from Tippecanoe Homebrewers Circle and Homebrewing Organization of Purdue Students. On-site foodservice will also be available for purchase from D&R Catering; Outpost Catering by Sgt. Prestons and The Lafayette Optimist Club.

Looking for the ultimate beer fest experience? Purchase our VIP ticket and you'll receive early admission to the Beers Across the Wabash festival grounds (noon vs 1 pm); complimentary food and beer pairings; and a ticket to the Uptown Jazz & Blues Festival set for downtown Lafayette later in the evening. We're also offering a Combo ticket which entitles the purchaser to general admission to Beers Across the Wabash plus admission to the Uptown Jazz and Blues Festival.

Ticket Giveaway - Brew Bracket - WINNER

2013-06-13T11:44:00.005-04:00

Wow! Thanks to all who submitted entries to the ticket giveaway. You guys all outdid yourselves and are all deserving of tickets. But there can only be one winner.... SO...

Congrats to slicknyk for the winning entry:

Brew, brew. Brew bracket, it’s true
No reason to feel blue, or be sad your plans fell through
Because…
Local Indy breweries, bring their Pales for you to judge
Try them all, try to be fair, give them all your respect and love
But…
In the end, like the Highlander there can be only one
So send me to the Pale Ale Brew Bracket so I can participate in the fun!

taste. vote. repeat.
Brew Bracket is back for a twist on the classic event, featuring 16 of Indiana's finest Pale Ales. Come join the crowd of 400 for an afternoon of blind, head to head beer tasting. Visit a station, taste two beers, and vote for your favorite across 15 rounds of tournament action. At the end of the day, one brewer will be left standing, the Brew Bracket champion.

The event will feature award-winning pale ales from Flat 12, Upland, Bloomington, Barley Island, Triton, Brugge, Rock Bottom College Park, Half Moon, RAM, Iechyd Da, Three Wisemen, Union Brewing, Indiana City, Rock Bottom Downtown Indy, Peoples, and Evil Czech Brewing.

A portion of ticket sales will be donated directly to People for Urban Progress (PUP), an Indianapolis based non-profit organization that promotes and advances public transit, environmental awareness, and urban design (http://www.peopleup.org/)

This is a 21+ event only. ID is required at the door. Designated driver tickets include free soda and water at the event. We are proud to bring some of the greatest variety in food trucks to our events for anyone looking for a bite to eat during a break from the beer tasting. Come join us for great times, an infamous tweet wall, toe tapping tunes, rocking door prizes, and some of the best pale ales Indiana has to offer.

The VIP session begins at 2PM and features a Q&A and additional sampling of some personal creations from previous Brew Bracket winners. Andrew Castner, head brewer of RAM (and most decorated Brew Bracket brewer) as well as one additional TBD brewer will be participating in the VIP hour before the Pale Ale event. Doors open to all participants at 2:45PM, tasting begins at 3.

For any more details about our event please visit www.brewbracket.com or send us a question through Eventbrite. Cheers!

We have two (2) tickets to give away to this event. To enter, please leave a comment below in which you tell us a haiku or short poem with the words "brew", "bracket", and "pale".

We'll chose our favorite comment on Thursday (6/13/13) at 10 a.m. EST, and the winner gets the tickets. MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE US A METHOD TO CONTACT YOU - an email address or a twitter handle is perfect. You'll be responsible for checking back to see if you've won, and we can figure the rest out after that.

LEGAL STUFF
Creative entries are particularly appreciated.
We reserve the right to not give you tickets if we think you're shady.
We reserve the right to change all the rules and not award the prize if we don't like how things go.
Don't be a pain in the ass.
By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of HoosierBeerGeek.com, which shall be final and binding with regard to all matters relating to the contest.
END OF LEGAL STUFF.

Sunday Drinking Post

2013-06-10T14:19:00.000-04:00

A trillion years and a few paychecks ago, I was lucky enough to make my way to the beautiful nation of Iceland (translated "Land of Ice" - actually, no, translated "Island"), where I went around drinking whatever I could find, because that's what you do when you've tried to make a name for yourself in the world of drinking.

On that trip, I had a bottle of Ölvisholt Brugghús's Lava, a beer I didn't write about, despite it being the standout beer of the trip.

After I got back, I interviewed Valgeir Valgeirsson from Ölvisholt Brugghús, and asked if the brewery had any plans to export their beer worldwide - which was probably the wrong question. The right question was "Is your beer coming to the United States?" - In any case, I've got an answer sitting in front of me.

Lava cold smells strongly of smoked meats, and has all the character of a typical smoke beer, but is still nicely balanced with the roast dark malt flavor of a robust porter. But once warm the flavors meld together even more so, with the smoke fading and lending a slightly more gamey flavor to the malt. There's the richness you might associate with some of the better known imperial stouts, but (I was guessing 8% and got 9.4%) the beer is never heavy-handed, and is ready for drinking right now.

Ok, when I wrote the stuff above, I thought this beer was a smoked porter. In any case, the alcohol is well hidden, lending just a hint of warmth. If you stretch your drinking session over the course of a two hour movie, as I did, additional elements of black licorice show up, as well as a hint of ash in the finish.

If you're a smoke beer guy, or always like the idea of smoke beer but maybe not the execution, Lava is a beer definitely work checking out.

Next up was a selection from 3 Floyds. In the long line of excellent 3 Floyds beers, Blackheart may be one that doesn't immediately come to mind. But it's an amazing take on the English IPA style, with a hop spiciness you just won't find in most examples of the style.

It may not surprise you to find out that Floyds takes their English IPA the extra step, aging it on toasted oak for a full on "boats across the ocean" sort of authenticity that other versions of the style don't have. I don't know why they put it on oak - I'm just wildly speculating because that's the sort of shit beer geeks do - I just know that the end result is full of surprises. The beer contains a Christmas bouquet of spiciness. This review could probably use some editing.

Last up, Dark Horse's Double Crooked Tree. If you're used to drinking Double IPAs, you're probably used to every drink tasting like you're sucking on a pine cone. Or grapefruit. Here's Double Crooked Tree to say "Hey, how about you have a dose of caramel to go with that trip to the coniferous forest, because fuck mooses."

That's probably not exactly what they were saying, but what they've said is "Here's what wellrounded Double IPA tastes like" by giving us a little malt body to work with. Double Crooked Tree is a 12% beer, so half the bottle is fine - you should share it. Sharing is what life is about, right? I don't mean that in a hippie way. I hate hippies.

Mike Atwood is a former and perhaps current member of HBG's KOTBR, a former participant in the Outliers Brewery project, and a kegwasher / artist / graphic designer sort of person at Sun King Brewery. He also likes to refer to himself in third person.

Ticket Giveaway - Brew Bracket

2013-06-10T09:26:00.001-04:00

Our friends at Brew Bracket have been so kind as to offer us two tickets to their event coming up on Saturday, June 15th.

taste. vote. repeat.
Brew Bracket is back for a twist on the classic event, featuring 16 of Indiana's finest Pale Ales. Come join the crowd of 400 for an afternoon of blind, head to head beer tasting. Visit a station, taste two beers, and vote for your favorite across 15 rounds of tournament action. At the end of the day, one brewer will be left standing, the Brew Bracket champion.

The event will feature award-winning pale ales from Flat 12, Upland, Bloomington, Barley Island, Triton, Brugge, Rock Bottom College Park, Half Moon, RAM, Iechyd Da, Three Wisemen, Union Brewing, Indiana City, Rock Bottom Downtown Indy, Peoples, and Evil Czech Brewing.

A portion of ticket sales will be donated directly to People for Urban Progress (PUP), an Indianapolis based non-profit organization that promotes and advances public transit, environmental awareness, and urban design (http://www.peopleup.org/)

This is a 21+ event only. ID is required at the door. Designated driver tickets include free soda and water at the event. We are proud to bring some of the greatest variety in food trucks to our events for anyone looking for a bite to eat during a break from the beer tasting. Come join us for great times, an infamous tweet wall, toe tapping tunes, rocking door prizes, and some of the best pale ales Indiana has to offer.

The VIP session begins at 2PM and features a Q&A and additional sampling of some personal creations from previous Brew Bracket winners. Andrew Castner, head brewer of RAM (and most decorated Brew Bracket brewer) as well as one additional TBD brewer will be participating in the VIP hour before the Pale Ale event. Doors open to all participants at 2:45PM, tasting begins at 3.

For any more details about our event please visit www.brewbracket.com or send us a question through Eventbrite. Cheers!

Random Beer Roundup - The Almost Forgot Edition

2013-06-07T12:16:00.002-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers:

From Adam at Big Woods Brewery in Nashville:

Do you love beer? Want to be a Competent Quaffer? Come to Big Woods Brewing Company this Saturday for Quaff N' Brew Beer School. This is your chance to learn everything you ever wanted to know about beer. See a batch of Big Woods Beer being brewed while enjoying samples of delicious Big Woods beer! Reserve your spot today!

From Amanda at Cutters Brewing in Avon:

Festival - Zoo Brew 6/13/2013 7-10pm Mesker Park Zoo, Evansville

Beer Dinner - Usual Suspects 6/11/2013 6pm 6319 Guilford Ave, Indianapolis

Tasting - Kahns liquors Downtown 6/13/2013 6-8pm 25 N. Pennsylvania st, Indianapolis

Festival - WINE(ona) Hops at the Shop 6/13/2013 1-5:30pm 700 Park Ave. Suite G, Winona Lake

Tap Take Over - Fickle Peach 6/14/2013 5-9pm 117 E Charles St, Muncie

Festival - June Fest 6/14/2013 10am Downtown Winchester, Winchester

Indy Wine & Beer Fest 6/14/2013 7-10pm Broad Ripple Station Parking Lot, Indianapolis

Festival - June Fest 6/15/2013 10am Downtown Winchester, Winchester

Tasting - Outside The Box 6/20/2013 6:30pm 1143 E. 116th St., Indianapolis

Festival - Brew Ha-Ha 6/22/2013 3-7pm 700 Block of North Park Ave Indianapolis

From Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

In addition here is our upcoming event lineup and you can always keep up by following our Facebook event page. If there is an event you think we should be at please contact us at info@daredevilbeer.com

Fishers on Tap Summer, Saturday, June 15th

Brew-Ha-Ha, Saturday, June 22nd

Indiana Micro Brewers Festival, July 20th

Beer Dinner at Indiana Downs, July 26th (more information coming)

Daredevil Brewing Co. | Current beers available

Lift Off IPA: Our flagship beer

A bounty of American Hops delivers the signature clean and crisp finish of a perfectly balanced West Coast style IPA.

Muse Belgian Golden Ale: A Belgian seasonal

A delicate Belgian perfume of pears and apples compliments complex spicy phenolics and lightly sweet alcohol with an inspiring clean, bright finish.

You can always find the full list of locations that carry Lift Off IPA and our limited release beers on our website and we continue to add new locations weekly. Also, you can keep up with the latest news and learn about new locations to find our beers first by following us on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Want to know what people are saying about our beers? Check out our profile on Untappd.

From Bob at Flat 12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Friday, June 7th: Tapping Axis Hefe (2011 Fringe Festival Beer - a mash-up of Japanese Sorachi Ace Hops and a German Hefeweizen)

Saturday, June 8th: Better Blocks, East Washington St./Rural, 12-5 (Neighborhood taproom pop-up)

Tuesday, June 11th: Meet the Coach! Indy Eleven is our new pro soccer team. 6-8 pm, come meet the new coach and enjoy some Cucumber Kolsch (bottle release, wk of June 10th). Der Pretzel Wagen.
Friday, June 14th: Big Red Wine and Brew Fest. Broad Ripple.
Saturday, June 15th: Brew Bracket, State Fairgrounds. Pale Ales.

Late June: Summer Cycle IPA, Kiwi Kiwi Hefeweizen

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple:

Thr3e Wise Men and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse will be having a beer dinner on Friday June 21st. Four of our beers will be paired with a three-course dinner prepared by Chef Rolf. Please RSVP to Lori Seefeldt loris@ruthchris.us.

Here are some other upcoming events that you will be able to find Thr3e Wise Men:
· Tapping @ Brewstone, Friday June 14th from 6pm – 8pm
· Taste of Tippecanoe, Saturday June 15th
· Inside The Bottle @ Lucas Estate, Thursday June 20th
· Brew-Ha-Ha, Saturday June 22nd

Are you a bar or restaurant owner/operator? If you are then you can now serve Thr3e Wise Men Beer at your great establishments. We are now distributing through Cavalier Distribution of Indiana. Talk to your local Cavalier rep. Click here for more info.

From David at Triton Brewing in Indianapolis:

TRITON HOUSE BREWS

Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber Ale, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter India Pale Ale, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale, McQueenie’s (Smoked) Scotch Ale, Pink Ribbon Saison, Wit or Wit-Out You, Bourbon Barrel 500 Monks and Bourbon Barrel 500 Sour Monks

GUEST BREWS

Chimay Triple, Crispin Cider (bottle), Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Ommegang Art of Darkness, Ommegang Biere D’Hougoumont, Sixpoint Resin and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

Saturday, June 8, Fisher’s Forum (9022 E 126th Street, Fishers, 46038), from 5-7pm!
Gold Trans Am Ale Tapping- Thursday, June 13, 5pm at Triton Brewing with KG’s Slider Station vending!

Chef JJ’s Brewer Dinner with Triton Brewing Company at Chef JJ’s Backyard (1040 Broad Ripple Avenue, 46220)-Friday June 14, 6pm. Six Triton Beers paired with various courses. For more information, contact 317.602.3828

Indy Wine and Beer Festival Broad Ripple, Friday, June 14, 7-10pm

Jungle Jim’s International Market Beer Festival (5440 Dixie Hwy, Fairfield, OH 45014), Friday June 14 & Saturday June 15, 7-10pm. Tickets are $40 for Friday and $45 for Saturday. Call 513.674.6000 or junglejims.com.

Brew Bracket- Pale Ale Competition at the Indiana State Fair Grounds Expo Center (1202 E 38th St, Indianapolis)!

Wednesday, June 19^th, 5-9pm #Clustertruck! Join us for your favorite Indy Food Trucks food trucks, craft beer and fun! At the Tasting Room at Triton Brewing Company!

Hatchblower IPA Firkin- Thursday, June 20, 5pm at Triton Brewing with KG’s Slider Station vending!

‘A Tasteful Affair- at Montage, Allison Pointe- Thursday, June 27, 6-9pm Join us to help raise funds for the Lupus Foundation of America . Delectable dishes, wine and craft beer! Cost: $50. For more information, call317.225.4400.

From Justine at Union Brewing in Carmel:

We just tapped Picadilly Circus, an Imperial ESB (ABV 7.1 IBU 70). A traditional style ESB made with 28 pounds of local Indiana honey and double the hops. This unique beer was brewed in very limited quantity, so get it while it lasts!

As always, we have delicious food courtesy of the Indy Food Truck Alliance for the weekend crowd.

Friday: KG's Slider Station
Saturday: Groovy Guys Fries.
Trucks are typically serving up their delicacies from approximately 5-9pm

We have music on the patio this Saturday night from 8-10pm. Join us for the musical stylings of singer/songwriter Jonathan Holleb.

Beginning next Tuesday (6/11) at 7:00 pm UBC will be adding Open Mic Night to our live music line up. If you are a talented artist interested in performing please contact our host, Mr. Tim Nolan, at tnolan_63@yahoo.com to reserve your spot today (all artists must sign up in advance).

At Bars, Restaurants, & Home Brewing Suppliers:
From Dan at Fat Dan's Deli:

Beers on 6/5 are: Bloomington Ruby Bloom, Fat Head's IPA, Oberon, Urban Chestnut Schnickelfritz, Old Style. We rotate pretty regularly and sometimes 2-3 kegs will change daily...

From Matt at Papa's in Culver:

Currently on draft: 3 Floyd's Dreadnaught, 3 Floyd's Arctic Panzer Wolf, Bell's Oberon, Bell's Two Hearted, Bell's Amber, Southern Tier Live, New Holland Dragon's Milk, Rogue Shakespeare Stout, Schlafly Kolsch, Hacker Pschorr, Bitburger, Cutter's Floyd's Folly, New Albanian Hoosier Daddy, Goose Island 25th Anniversary Ale, Goose Island 312, Dark Horse Crooked Tree, Dark Horse Edacsac Dekoorc eerT, Stone Arrogant Bastard, Sun King Wee Mac, Sun King Sunlight, Chimay Triple, Upland Wheat, Brooklyn Lager, Flat 12 Walkabout Pale, Founder's Breakfast Stout, Founder's Centennial IPA, Boulder Hazed and Infused

On deck: 3 Floyd's Blackheart, Stone Imperial Russian Stout

http://indianasbestpizza.com/beer/\

From Patrick at Patrick's Kitchen in Zionsville:

At the moment we have Bad Elmer's Porter, in addition to Upland's Double Dragon Fly, Three Floyd's Dreadnaught, Bier's Rye Pale, to be followed by their Hefe soon enough...also we are pouring Delirium Tremens and La Trappe Quad, BBC's Ruby Bloom Amber Ale, and their Hoppy Wheat called 10-Speed...Kentucky Brewing's Bourbon Ale, and Triton's Railsplitter IPA.

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Scotty’s Brewhouse West Lafayette is now serving Thr3e Wise Men Rocky Ripple Pale Ale! Stop by on Thursday to get a refreshing pint for only $4.00!

Scotty’s Brewhouse 96th Street Indianapolis is now serving Bell’s Oberon. Come enjoy a 48oz Pitcher of this awesome summertime favorite every Wednesday for only $10!

From Chelsey at Union Jacks in Broad Ripple:

DRAFT VS. FIRKIN: Friday, June 7 at 7pm: Draft vs. Firkin--Bell's Two Hearted on draft and in a firkin. Come taste the difference!

CUCUMBER KOLSCH: We just received a keg of Flat 12's Cucumber Kolsch and it will be the next beer on tap!

ON TAP NOW:

Three Floyd's Dreadnaught
Sun King Bitchin' Camaro
Victory Summer Love
Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale
Bell's Two Hearted
Bell's Oberon
Bier PDG
Curious Traveler Shandy

ON DECK:
Three Floyd's Blackheart
Stone Arrogant Bastard
Left Hand Milk Stout
Schlafly Razz Hefe
Fountain Square Hinchtown
Sun King 999 Luftballons
Three Floyd's Robert the Bruce
Abita Turbodog
Bloomington Brewing Co Roof Top IPA

NEW TAP LINES: New system has been ordered and as soon as we have more lines, we will celebrate with a Brooklyn Tap Takeover featuring: Fiat Lux, 25th Anniversary Dopplebock, Mary Maple Porter, Penant Ale, as well as Bier's DFG IPA.

PUB FEUD: 8pm every Tuesday is trivia, family feud style! Come join us, it's free to play. Pub Feud on June 25th will feature special tastings from Goose Island.

GOOSE ISLAND BEER DINNER: The last week of July we will have a 5 course Goose Island beer dinner--look for details on buying tickets in the next roundup!

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog

At Liquor Stores:

From Todd at Keg Liquors in New Albany / Clarksville:

Dieu du Ciel! - Rigor Mortis Abt (Canada)

Struise - Pannepot Reserva (Belgium)

Pretty Things - Fluffly White Rabbits (Massachusetts)

Clown Shoes - Blaecorn Unidragon (Massachusetts)

Clown Shoes - Tramp Stamp (Massachusetts)

HaandBryggeriet - Odins Tipple (Norway)

Clown Shoes - Hoppy Feet 1.5 (Massachusetts)

Clown Shoes - Chocolate Sombrero (Massachusetts)

Prairie Ales /Saint Somewhere - Prairie Somewhere (Oklahoma)

Mikkeller - Monks Brew (Bourbon Barrel Aged) (Denmark)

HaandBryggeriet - Odins Tipple Barrel Aged (Denmark)

Prairie - Prairie Gold (Oklahoma)

Clown Shoes - Porcine Unidragon (Massachusetts)

Brash - Smoglifter Stout (Massachusetts)

Panil - Divina (Barrel Aged) (Italy)

Bluegrass Brewing Company - American Pale Ale (Kentucky)

Bluegrass Brewing Company - Bourbon Barrel Stout (Kentucky)

Bluegrass Brewing Company - Nut Brown Ale (Kentucky)

Bluegrass Brewing Company - Amber Ale (Kentucky)

Hermitage - Citra Single Hop IPA (California)

Hermitage - Galaxy Single Hop IPA (California)

Hermitage - Ale of the 2 TUN (California)

Beer Events/Fundraisers

Girls Pint Out: Indy Brew Bus for Girls Rock!

We love our friends at Girls Rock! Indianapolis and how they are boosting the self-esteem of young girls with their awesome rock camp. We want to help them raise money for camp scholarships this summer with a trip on the Indy Brew Bus on Thursday, June 13th. Stops that night will be:

Indiana City Brewing Company

Black Acre Brewing Company

Fountain Square Brewery.

Buy your ticket now!

Brew Bracket featuring Pale Ales - LOOK FOR A TICKET GIVEAWAY NEXT WEEK
“BB7: The Cure for all Your (pale) Ales"

Date: Saturday June 15th
Time: 3-7PM
Place: Indiana State Fairgrounds
Participating Brewers: Flat 12, Upland, Bloomington, Barley Island, Triton, Brugge, Rock Bottom College Park, Half Moon, RAM, Iechyd Da, Three Wisemen, Union Brewing, Indiana City, Rock Bottom Downtown Indy, Peoples, and Evil Czech Brewing
Tickets details: $35 participant (350 tickets); $45 VIP – come an hour early, Q&A and extra samples with two brewers that have won prior events (50 tickets)
Where can I stock up: bbpales.eventbrite.com

Fishers On Tap - Summer

The Rotary Club of Fishers, is hosting Fishers On Tap - Summer, at the new Fishers Amphitheater on Father's Day weekend, Saturday June 15, 2013. This outdoor beer tasting fundraiser will feature 12-15 local Indiana brewers, live music from Soul Street, hand chosen food trucks. All proceeds will be given back to our local community to service organizations that help those in need.

Time: 4:00 - 5:00 PM VIP Tickets
5:00 - 8:00 PM General Admission Tickets

Price: General Admission $40.0
VIP $60.00
Designated Driver $10.00

Current Line up of Breweries:
Bier Brewery
Daredevil Brewing
Fountain Square Brewery
Flat 12 Bierwerks
Sun King Brewing
Union Brewing Company
Upland Brewing Company
Brugge Brasserie
Big Woods Brewing Company
Cutters Brewing Company
Bloomington Brewing Company
New Albanian Brewing Company
Four Horseman Brewing Company
Oaken Barrel Brewing Company
Tuxedo Park Home Brewers

Food Trucks
Edwards Drive-In Dashboard
Nacho Mama
NY Slice
Taco Lassi
LICK Local Ice Cream

Girls Pint Out: Beers, BBQ & a Lesson in Homebrewing

Always wanted to learn how to brew your own beer? Now is your chance! The guys at Balls Brewing have volunteered to give us a lesson in brewing their amazingly delicious IPA. Join us Saturday, June 22nd from noon to 5 pm for a day of brewing, complete with a cookout, and, of course, beer drinking. Samples of Balls Brewery homebrew will be provided throughout the day.

Tickets are $15 and include a Girls' Pint Out pint glass and food during the eventOnly ten spots are available - so reserve yours now! This event is ladies only.Get your ticket here!

Girls Pint Out: Pint Night at Bier Brewery

It is always a special occasion when Bier Brewery serves pints! Come have a pint with us Wednesday, June 26th from 5-7!
You will also be able to buy cute clothes, fun accessories, adorable growler bags, and delicious cupcakes. We will also be joined by:

Shop Retro 101

Growler Girls

Sugar

Oh sure...we'll let the guys hang out with us, too.

18th Annual Microbrewers Festival:

The Indiana Microbrewers Festival makes its 18th showing on July 20 in Broad Ripple. Your favorite Indiana breweries will be joined by a select group of guest breweries from around the country at Indiana’s largest craft beer event. Over 300 beer selections to choose from!
There are tickets available for every level of beer enthusiast; from casual drinker to the major hop-head:

VIP Experience: $100 (very limited, online only)
Includes early admission (2:00) and access to exclusive VIP Experience Tent (special tappings and food pairings), tasting glass and unlimited beer samples

Early Bird: $55 (limited, online only)
Includes early admission (2:00), tasting glass and unlimited beer samples
General Admission: $40 (advance purchase)
Includes tasting glass and unlimited beer samples
Tickets available at Broad Ripple Brewpub, Crown Liquors stores and online

Designated Driver: $10 (available online and at the gate)
Includes unlimited soft drinks in special Designated Driver area

*ADULTS ONLY
This is a 21-and-over event. All guests must present valid, current photo ID at the gate.
Tickets on Sale starting June 1st
Online at Etix.com
Follow the Indiana Brewers Guild on Facebook and Twitter for announcements!
Ticket Page
http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/venueSearch.jsp?venue_id=4144&performance_id=1725671&language=en&country=US

Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/lIndianaMicrobrewersFestival

Our Webpage
http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/events/details/18th-annual-indiana-microbrewers-festival

Our Twitter

twitter.com/drinkindiana

Beer and Cheese - April & May Editions

2013-06-06T17:13:00.001-04:00

The Fungus Among Us

We recently gathered at Goose the Market to sample the April and May pairings for the Beer & Cheese Club. Or, as I like to call it,The Best Club Ever.

April's pairing was Langres cheese with The Bruery Saison Rue. SO GOOD. Langres is a French cow's milk cheese. Don't let the fancy name fool ya, it has a very down to earth flavor, creamy and smooth. It was encased in penicillium. Yes, I too freaked out about that. But not to worry...they do that a lot with cheese. It's a bit different than ACTUAL penicillin, so if you are allergic to the antibiotic you can probably still eat the cheese....**maybe. (**Do not take medical advice from a beer geek) The Saison Rue, a Belgian/farmhouse style ale, was a terrific pairing. The subtle malty, spicy, citrus hints blended well with the creamy mouth-feel of the Langres.

May's pairing was Kenny's 'Ted' cheese with Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel. Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese. Just take a moment to read that again...and remember it. Kenny makes this delightful cheese right down the road in Barren County, Kentucky. He uses raw milk from cows that roam around right in his pasture. The Ted, named after his grandfather, is a molded cheese, but you only get that moldy, funky, taste around the outside. The middle tastes like an aged cheddar. I ATE THE ENTIRE MIDDLE. I don't do mold...yet. The Triple IPA paired very nicely with the sharpness of this cheese. I also found that the cheese mellowed out the 'heat' from the higher ABV (9%).

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 Asteroid's Moon Edition

2013-05-31T10:05:00.001-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers:

From Amanda at Cutters Brewing in Avon:

Festival - History on Tap 5/31/2013 6pm 13400 Allisonville Road, Fishers

Festival - Keg Liquors Fest of Ales 6/1/2013 3-7pm 320 North Sherwood Ave., Clarksville

Tap Take Over - Bennigan's 6/5/2013 5pm 2521 E Center St, Warsaw

Festival - Zoo Brew 6/13/2013 7-10pm Mesker Park Zoo, Evansville

Beer Dinner - Usual Suspects 6/11/2013 6pm 6319 Guilford Ave, Indianapolis

Tasting - Kahns liquors Downtown 6/13/2013 6-8pm 25 N. Pennsylvania st, Indianapolis

Festival - WINE(ona) Hops at the Shop 6/13/2013 1-5:30pm 700 Park Ave. Suite G, Winona Lake

Tap Take Over - Fickle Peach 6/14/2013 5-9pm 117 E Charles St, Muncie

Festival - June Fest 6/14/2013 10am Downtown Winchester, Winchester

Indy Wine & Beer Fest 6/14/2013 7-10pm Broad Ripple Station Parking Lot, Indianapolis

Festival - June Fest 6/15/2013 10am Downtown Winchester, Winchester

Tasting - Outside The Box 6/20/2013 6:30pm 1143 E. 116th St., Indianapolis

Festival - Brew Ha-Ha 6/22/2013 3-7pm 700 Block of North Park Ave Indianapolis

From Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

This Saturday we will be pouring at the Fest of Ale in Clarksville, Indiana and we hope to see many of you in person.

In addition here is our upcoming event lineup and you can always keep up by following our Facebook event page. If there is an event you think we should be at please contact us at info@daredevilbeer.com

Fishers on Tap Summer, Saturday, June 15th

Brew-Ha-Ha, Saturday, June 22nd

Indiana Micro Brewers Festival, July 20th

Beer Dinner at Indiana Downs, July 26th (more information coming)

On a limited release beer note we are sold out of Rip Cord Double IPA. The warehouse is empty so get it while it lasts where you see it.

Daredevil Brewing Co. | Current beers available

Lift Off IPA: Our flagship beer

A bounty of American Hops delivers the signature clean and crisp finish of a perfectly balanced West Coast style IPA.

Muse Belgian Golden Ale: A Belgian seasonal

A delicate Belgian perfume of pears and apples compliments complex spicy phenolics and lightly sweet alcohol with an inspiring clean, bright finish.

You can always find the full list of locations that carry Lift Off IPA and our limited release beers on our website and we continue to add new locations weekly. Also, you can keep up with the latest news and learn about new locations to find our beers first by following us on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Want to know what people are saying about our beers? Check out our profile on Untappd.

From Bob at Flat 12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Friday, May 31st: History on Tap at Conner Prairie

Friday, May 31st: Brew at the Zoo, Nashville, Tennessee

Saturday, June 1st: Rocker's Reunion Afterparty, 6:30 pm (Vintage bikes)

Saturday, June 8th: Better Blocks, East Washington St./Rural, 12-5 (Neighborhood taproom pop-up)

Also coming in June: Axis Hefe, German Hefeweizen and Japanese Sorachi Ace Hops. Draft only.

From Roger at New Albanian Brewing in New Albany:

Tricentennial Ale at the Garden Party on June 1. More information at http://newalbanian.com/tricentennial-at-the-garden-party-on-june1/

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple:

Thr3e Wise Men will be tapping our next beer, Czech Yo’ Self Big Pimpin’ Impin’ Pilsner, on Tuesday June 4th! Put this date down on your calendar so you can make it in. Don’t forget every Tuesday our pints are only $2.50!

Are you a bar or restaurant owner/operator? If you are then you can now serve Thr3e Wise Men Beer at your great establishments. We are now distributing through Cavalier Distribution of Indiana. Talk to your local Cavalier rep. Click here for more info.

From David at Triton Brewing in Indianapolis:

TRITON HOUSE BREWS

Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber Ale, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter India Pale Ale, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale, McQueenie’s (Smoked) Scotch Ale, Pink Ribbon Saison, Wit or Wit-Out You, Bourbon Barrel 500 Monks and Bourbon Barrel 500 Sour Monks

GUEST BREWS

Chimay Triple, Crispin Cider (bottle), Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Ommegang Art of Darkness, Ommegang Biere D’Hougoumont, Sixpoint Resin and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

History On Tap at Connor Prairie, Friday, May 31, 6:30-10pm an evening celebrating Indiana’s rich tradition of brewing world class craft beer, past and present. Sample an array of brews from some of the area’s most popular brewers. Enjoy craft brewing demonstrations, historical beer tastings, food, music and more at this one-of-a-kind event.

Wednesday, June 19^th, 5-9pm #Clustertruck! Join us for your favorite Indy Food Trucks food trucks, craft beer and fun!

At Bars, Restaurants, & Home Brewing Suppliers:

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Scotty’s Brewhouse Bloomington is now serving Thr3e Wise Men Rocky Ripple Pale Ale! Come enjoy a 48oz Pitcher of this refreshing beer every Wednesday for only $9.00!

Scotty’s Brewhouse Mishawaka is now pouring Bell’s Oberon. You can stop by every Thursday and get a pint of this summer favorite for only $4.00!

From Adam at Tuxedo Park Brewing Supply:

The Tuxedo Park Brewers family would like to thank Co-Founders Jason Burk and Brent Chapman for all they have done for us and our customers. From starting up a new home brewing supply shop and teaching and sharing their home brewing expertise, to their effort in improving the local brewing community. We wish them nothing but the best after their departure from the company and in their future endeavors.

We’d also like to let everyone know that the rumors of our closing are greatly exaggerated. We will continue to serve our dedicated customers with the quality supplies, equipment, service, and expertise that they have come to expect and deserve. We appreciate the support and recommendations from all of our friends in the community and beyond.

Tuxedo Park Brewers is located at 1139 Shelby Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46203. Parking and entrance is at the back of the building, accessed from the alley. We are open Tuesday through Friday, 11:00 am to 6:30 pm, and Saturday, 11:00am to 5:00 pm, closed Sunday and Monday. Find us on the web at www.tuxedoparkbrewers.com. I want to personally thank everyone that has helped make this shop what it is today, and what it will become in the future. As always, Happy Brewing!

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog

Beer Events/Fundraisers

History on Tap - May 31, 6:30-10:30pm, Conner Prairie

Join us and some of our closest friends in the craft brewing industry for a special night at Conner Prairie History Park to learn about and celebrate the rich tradition of Indiana craft brewing – past and present. The event is put on by Conner Prairie’s young professional group, the Horizon Council, and all proceeds go to supporting the mission of Conner Prairie.

Typical of Conner Prairie, you will learn about craft brewing history “in ways that textbooks cannot” through interactive experiences such as tastings from us and over ten other local brewers, seeing the craft brewing process from live demos performed by Tuxedo Park, and listening to local brewers tell their unique stories in a panel discussion – “Brewer Innovation: A taste of the past, present and future.”

If you enter in our exclusive code TUXEDO20 in to their ticket registration form found at www.connerprairie.org/historyontap.aspx you will receive 20% off your ticket(s) purchased.

Beer MBA

There are a some seats open for the next series of classes, which will start this Saturday and will continue on July 6th & August 3rd. See the www.BeerMBA.com website and specifically this page... http://www.beermba.com/classes.php for class details. Recent classes have been Selling Out, so sign-up now! The classes are designed to be taken in sequence, and to take all 3 of them and get your Beer MBA Certificate. Class 1 is a prerequisite for the other 2 classes, so once you have taken it, you can take the other classes in a future series if you have date conflicts. Get more information about this class and upcoming trips to Germany and Belgium on Facebook.

Indiana Summer Beer Class with Master Cicerone Rich Higgins

Monday, June 3, 2013
6:00-7:30 PM
Tickets: $25
http://richhiggins.eventbrite.com
Tomlinson Tap Room
222 E. Market St., Mezzanine Level, Indianapolis, IN 46204
317-423-2337

One of five Master Cicerones in the country, Higgins is an experienced teacher, beer lecturer, and beer traveler. He will lead a fun and informative tasting of six beers as an exploration of three summery styles of beer -- pilsner, Belgian farmhouse, and India pale ale. In Europe, each of these styles was traditionally brewed to slake the thirst in warmer seasons. Higgins will explain the historical and cultural background of each style, and the tasting will feature two Indiana- brewed craft beers from each style to illustrate the artistic and stylistic differences.

Higgins joins the Tomlinson Tap Room to present the event. Located on the mezzanine level of the Indianapolis City Market, the Tap Room is Indiana?s hub for fresh, local beer, pouring the delicious beers of the Brewers of Indiana Guild.

Featured pilsners -- real golden lagers with nuance, personality, and peppery, herbal hops:
• Fountain Square Workingman's Pilsner
• Three Floyds Jinx Proof
Featured Belgian-style farmhouse ales -- with flavorful, rustic, Belgian yeasts and a sparkling, dry finish:
• New Albanian Black & Bluegrass
• Bloomington Brewing Biere de Mars
Featured American IPAs -- built around bold malts and citrusy, floral hop aromas, and so much more than just brash bitterness:
• Daredevil Lift Off IPA
• Oaken Barrel Superfly IPA

Tickets cost $25, and include tastes of 6 beers, plus a pint of your favorite choice after the tasting. Soft pretzels, chips, and popcorn will also be served. Tickets are more information are available at: http://www.richhiggins.com.

The Indiana capital is one of several stops on Higgins?s Summer Tour of Beer Events, in which he is hosting beer events in June in several cities, culminating in New York City with a ?Bootcamp? the day before the Brewers Association?s SAVOR event, the nation?s premier beer and food pairing event. Higgins is based in San Francisco.

Higgins was the third person to earn the title Master Cicerone; he brewed professionally for eight years and owns the consultancy, Consultant à la Bière. Master Cicerone is the highest credential in beer service, akin to the title of Master Sommelier in wine service. It is administered by the Cicerone Certification Program, and those who achieve this certification possess encyclopedic knowledge of beer and highly refined tasting ability.

Girls Pint Out: Indy Brew Bus for Girls Rock!

We love our friends at Girls Rock! Indianapolis and how they are boosting the self-esteem of young girls with their awesome rock camp. We want to help them raise money for camp scholarships this summer with a trip on the Indy Brew Bus on Thursday, June 13th. Stops that night will be:

Indiana City Brewing Company

Black Acre Brewing Company

Fountain Square Brewery.

Buy your ticket now!

Brew Bracket featuring Pale Ales
“BB7: The Cure for all Your (pale) Ales"

Date: Saturday June 15th
Time: 3-7PM
Place: Indiana State Fairgrounds
Participating Brewers: Flat 12, Upland, Bloomington, Barley Island, Triton, Brugge, Rock Bottom College Park, Half Moon, RAM, Iechyd Da, Three Wisemen, Union Brewing, Indiana City, Rock Bottom Downtown Indy, Peoples, and Evil Czech Brewing
Tickets details: $35 participant (350 tickets); $45 VIP – come an hour early, Q&A and extra samples with two brewers that have won prior events (50 tickets)
Where can I stock up: bbpales.eventbrite.com

Fishers On Tap - Summer

The Rotary Club of Fishers, is hosting Fishers On Tap - Summer, at the new Fishers Amphitheater on Father's Day weekend, Saturday June 15, 2013. This outdoor beer tasting fundraiser will feature 12-15 local Indiana brewers, live music from Soul Street, hand chosen food trucks. All proceeds will be given back to our local community to service organizations that help those in need.

Time: 4:00 - 5:00 PM VIP Tickets
5:00 - 8:00 PM General Admission Tickets

Price: General Admission $40.0
VIP $60.00
Designated Driver $10.00

Current Line up of Breweries:
Bier Brewery
Daredevil Brewing
Fountain Square Brewery
Flat 12 Bierwerks
Sun King Brewing
Union Brewing Company
Upland Brewing Company
Brugge Brasserie
Big Woods Brewing Company
Cutters Brewing Company
Bloomington Brewing Company
New Albanian Brewing Company
Four Horseman Brewing Company
Oaken Barrel Brewing Company
Tuxedo Park Home Brewers

Food Trucks
Edwards Drive-In Dashboard
Nacho Mama
NY Slice
Taco Lassi
LICK Local Ice Cream

Girls Pint Out: Beers, BBQ & a Lesson in Homebrewing

Always wanted to learn how to brew your own beer? Now is your chance! The guys at Balls Brewing have volunteered to give us a lesson in brewing their amazingly delicious IPA. Join us Saturday, June 22nd from noon to 5 pm for a day of brewing, complete with a cookout, and, of course, beer drinking. Samples of Balls Brewery homebrew will be provided throughout the day.

Tickets are $15 and include a Girls' Pint Out pint glass and food during the eventOnly ten spots are available - so reserve yours now! This event is ladies only.Get your ticket here!

Girls Pint Out: Pint Night at Bier Brewery

It is always a special occasion when Bier Brewery serves pints! Come have a pint with us Wednesday, June 26th from 5-7!
You will also be able to buy cute clothes, fun accessories, adorable growler bags, and delicious cupcakes. We will also be joined by:

Shop Retro 101

Growler Girls

Sugar

Oh sure...we'll let the guys hang out with us, too.

First Impressions | Indiana City Brewing Company

2013-05-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

One way for a new brewery to distinguish itself in Indianapolis's ever-growing craft beer scene is to make the brewery's location a destination in and of itself. Indiana City Brewing Company, a production brewery that held its grand opening on Saturday, has done just that. The building at 24 Shelby Street, which now contains the brewery and taproom, once housed the bottling works of the Home Brewing Company, a brewery that was shut down during Prohibition. Further, the taproom showcases the work of local artists. Currently on display is the art of Aaron Scamihorn, who also designed the labels for Indiana City's flagship brews. Add to this the exposed brick, the granite bar top, and the vintage light fixtures and you have one of the most inviting brewery spaces in the city.

But having an attractive and historic space isn't enough for a brewery to survive. The beer, of course, has to attract folks as well. Fortunately for Indiana City, founder/brewer Ray Kamstra and brewer Dustin Dahl have rolled out a solid line-up of beers.

The brewery's flagship beers are Yacht Rock (if you aren't familiar with the term "yacht rock," check this out), Shadow Boxer, and Beyond the Pale. Yacht Rock is billed as a "Belgian-style wheat ale," which might have craft beer enthusiasts thinking of a witbier. But that's not what's going on here, at least not to my eyes or palate. Rather, the golden Yacht Rock reminds me more of a German weissbier with its banana esters, albeit with a faint Belgian spiciness in the background.

Shadow Boxer is a well-balanced oatmeal stout with a faint sweetness backed by chocolate and coffee notes. Beyond the Pale is an American Pale Ale with a unique pine and resin flavor profile. And the seasonal, Dock 7, is a dry American IPA that bears a nice citrus character. All four of the beers are well-done and distinctive. I can see the easy-drinking and flavorful Yacht Rock becoming a local favorite, particularly among folks new to craft beer.

For the time being, Indiana City is brewing on a two-barrel system and has plenty of room to expand the brewhouse. Based on their initial beers, I'd say that they should be prepared for expansion because Indy's beer drinkers are probably going to be making plenty of return visits. The brewery sells growlers and has pint service. I look forward to seeing what the brewery has in store for future seasonal beers.

Scenes from HBG Pint Night | May Edition

2013-05-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

This past Thursday night was the May installment of Hoosier Beer Geek's Pint night. We were graciously hosted by the team at Tomlinson Tap Room. This month's beer was Ruby Bloom from Bloomington Beer Company served via Nitro and normal CO2. This also happened to coincide with Tomlinson Tap Room pouring eight beers from Bloomington Beer Company.

A big thank you to all the people that came out for a few pints with us and a big thank you to Tomlinson Tap Room for hosting us, and to Circle City Soups for staying open to serve up some fantastic food for the evening.

We were hoping to highlight how the way a beer is served can have significant effects on the the flavor of the beer. Neither good or bad, but seeing how flavors can either be highlighted or muted based on how the beer came out of the tap using a different gas to pour your pint.

Nitrogen in beer is most commonly associated with Guinness. It is gaining in popularity at more and more places across the US across a wide variety of styles. The original reason that nitrogen was first used was to try and make a beer mimic the body and flavor of traditional cask conditioned ales.

Nitrogen is largely insoluble in liquid, which is what contributes to the thick mouth feel. You can always spot the Nitro tap at a bar due to the restrictor plate that forces the beer through tiny holes on its way to your glass.

Carbon Dioxide or CO2 is the more common way of serving beer in the United States. The vast majority of draft beer in the US is going to be served via forced carbonation.

The process can have a dramatic effect on a beer and will produce different flavors and will mute other flavors. Nitro beers tend to really help malt forward beers, but it will mute brighter hop flavors.

Nitro pour on the right and the CO2 pour on the left.

Nitro pour with restrictor plate

A pint of their 10 Speed hoppy wheat. A very nice example of an American pale wheat ale

We hope to see you in June. We will put out those details as soon as we get them finalized.

Cheers!

HBG

Where to Drink in Indy | A Visitors Guide for Indy 500 fans

2013-05-24T09:27:00.003-04:00

Do you know folks from out-of-town who are coming in this weekend for the Indy 500? Are they looking for places to drink better beer? If you answered "yes" to both questions, we invite you to steer them to our Where to Drink in Indy guide.

We hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Random Beer Roundup - The Vroooooooom Edition

2013-05-24T08:57:00.001-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers:

From Bob at Flat 12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Thurs - Sunday: Regular Taproom Hours during Memorial Day Weekend. Plastic 32 oz growlers avail for track, campground, etc

Wednesday, May 29th Brew Mile at Flat 12 with Blue Mile (US Top 50 Running store)

Friday, May 31st: History on Tap at Conner Prairie

Coming in June. Cucumber Kolsch. In bottles and on draught.

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple:

Thr3e Wise Men will be tapping our next beer, Czech Yo’ Self Big Pimpin’ Impin’ Pilsner, on Tuesday June 4th! Put this date down on your calendar so you can make it in. Don’t forget every Tuesday our pints are only $2.50!

Are you a bar or restaurant owner/operator? If you are then you can now serve Thr3e Wise Men Beer at your great establishments. We are now distributing through Cavalier Distribution of Indiana. Talk to your local Cavalier rep. Click here for more info.

From David at Triton Brewing in Indianapolis:

TRITON HOUSE BREWS

Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber Ale, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter India Pale Ale, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale, McQueenie’s (Smoked) Scotch Ale, O’Rye-N Galaxy Pale Ale, Pink Ribbon Saison, Wit or Wit-Out You, Bourbon Barrel 500 Monks and Bourbon Barrel 500 Sour Monks

GUEST BREWS

Brouwerij Liefman Goudenband, Chimay Triple, Crispin Cider (bottle), Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Sixpoint Resin and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

WTTS Music Sampler Tasting at Kahn’s Keystone, Friday, May 24, 5-7pm

History On Tap at Connor Prairie, Friday, May 31, 6:30-10pm an evening celebrating Indiana’s rich tradition of brewing world class craft beer, past and present. Sample an array of brews from some of the area’s most popular brewers. Enjoy craft brewing demonstrations, historical beer tastings, food, music and more at this one-of-a-kind event.

Wednesday, June 19th, 5-9pm #Clustertruck! Join us for your favorite Indy Food Trucks food trucks, craft beer and fun!

From Ray at Indiana City Brewing in Indianapolis:

Indiana City Brewing
Grand Opening
Saturday, May 25th, 2-8pm
24 Shelby Street, Indy

indianacitybeer.com | facebook.com/indianacitybeer | twitter.com/indianacitybeer

At Bars, Restaurants, & Home Brewing Suppliers:

From Anita at Great Fermentations in Indianapolis:

Great Fermentations has announced that they will be opening a second store in beautiful Avon. They plan to open in September at the Northwest corner of US 36 and Dan Jones Road, in the Avon Crossing Sopping Center.

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Scotty’s Brewhouse 96th street Indianapolis is now pouring Thr3e Wise Men Rocky Ripple Pale Ale! Come by on a Wednesday and get a 48oz Pitcher for only $10.00!

From Chelsey at Union Jack Pub in Broad Ripple:

Union Jack Pub--Broad Ripple has made a commitment to serving more unique craft beer and expanding our tap list. We've just scratched the surface and cannot wait to share all that is to come including additional tap lines, flights, and more. Here's what's happening now:

On Tap Now

15 beers on tap including: Cutter's Half Court IPA, Founder's Dirty Bastard, Rogue's JJ Dead Guy, Triton's Fieldhouse Wheat, Bier's Rye Pale, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Bell's Two Hearted, Bell's Oberon, and Strongbow

On Deck (because a keg doesn't last forever!)

Victory's Summer Love, Schlafly's Raspberry Hefeweizen, Goose Island's Sofie Pardisi, Brooklyn's Mary Maple Porter, Bier's DFG IPA, Fountain Square's Working Man's Pilsner, Sun King's Bitchin' Camaro

Upcoming Events: Save the Date!

Friday, June 7: Bell's Two Hearted Firkin Tapping at 7:00pm
Later this summer look for information on a Goose Island Beer Dinner.
In the coming weeks there will be a Brooklyn tap takeover which will include their 25th Anniversary Doppelbock. Look for more information in the coming roundups!

We're Hiring!

Want to be a part of the Union Jack Pub--Broad Ripple beer revolution? We'd love to hear from you: http://www.snagajob.com/job-seeker/jobs/job-details.aspx?postingid=13690331&ref=dmtestquickonepack

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog

Beer Events/Fundraisers

History on Tap - May 31, 6:30-10:30pm, Conner Prairie

Join us and some of our closest friends in the craft brewing industry for a special night at Conner Prairie History Park to learn about and celebrate the rich tradition of Indiana craft brewing – past and present. The event is put on by Conner Prairie’s young professional group, the Horizon Council, and all proceeds go to supporting the mission of Conner Prairie.

Typical of Conner Prairie, you will learn about craft brewing history “in ways that textbooks cannot” through interactive experiences such as tastings from us and over ten other local brewers, seeing the craft brewing process from live demos performed by Tuxedo Park, and listening to local brewers tell their unique stories in a panel discussion – “Brewer Innovation: A taste of the past, present and future.”

If you enter in our exclusive code TUXEDO20 in to their ticket registration form found at www.connerprairie.org/historyontap.aspx you will receive 20% off your ticket(s) purchased.

Indiana Summer Beer Class with Master Cicerone Rich Higgins

Monday, June 3, 2013
6:00-7:30 PM
Tickets: $25
http://richhiggins.eventbrite.com
Tomlinson Tap Room
222 E. Market St., Mezzanine Level, Indianapolis, IN 46204
317-423-2337

One of five Master Cicerones in the country, Higgins is an experienced teacher, beer lecturer, and beer traveler. He will lead a fun and informative tasting of six beers as an exploration of three summery styles of beer -- pilsner, Belgian farmhouse, and India pale ale. In Europe, each of these styles was traditionally brewed to slake the thirst in warmer seasons. Higgins will explain the historical and cultural background of each style, and the tasting will feature two Indiana- brewed craft beers from each style to illustrate the artistic and stylistic differences.

Higgins joins the Tomlinson Tap Room to present the event. Located on the mezzanine level of the Indianapolis City Market, the Tap Room is Indiana?s hub for fresh, local beer, pouring the delicious beers of the Brewers of Indiana Guild.

Featured pilsners -- real golden lagers with nuance, personality, and peppery, herbal hops:
• Fountain Square Workingman's Pilsner
• Three Floyds Jinx Proof
Featured Belgian-style farmhouse ales -- with flavorful, rustic, Belgian yeasts and a sparkling, dry finish:
• New Albanian Black & Bluegrass
• Bloomington Brewing Biere de Mars
Featured American IPAs -- built around bold malts and citrusy, floral hop aromas, and so much more than just brash bitterness:
• Daredevil Lift Off IPA
• Oaken Barrel Superfly IPA

Tickets cost $25, and include tastes of 6 beers, plus a pint of your favorite choice after the tasting. Soft pretzels, chips, and popcorn will also be served. Tickets are more information are available at: http://www.richhiggins.com.

The Indiana capital is one of several stops on Higgins?s Summer Tour of Beer Events, in which he is hosting beer events in June in several cities, culminating in New York City with a ?Bootcamp? the day before the Brewers Association?s SAVOR event, the nation?s premier beer and food pairing event. Higgins is based in San Francisco.

Higgins was the third person to earn the title Master Cicerone; he brewed professionally for eight years and owns the consultancy, Consultant à la Bière. Master Cicerone is the highest credential in beer service, akin to the title of Master Sommelier in wine service. It is administered by the Cicerone Certification Program, and those who achieve this certification possess encyclopedic knowledge of beer and highly refined tasting ability.

Brew Bracket featuring Pale Ales
“BB7: The Cure for all Your (pale) Ales"

Date: Saturday June 15th
Time: 3-7PM
Place: Indiana State Fairgrounds
Participating Brewers: Flat 12, Upland, Bloomington, Barley Island, Triton, Brugge, Rock Bottom College Park, Half Moon, RAM, Iechyd Da, Three Wisemen, Union Brewing, Indiana City, Rock Bottom Downtown Indy, Peoples, and Evil Czech Brewing
Tickets details: $35 participant (350 tickets); $45 VIP – come an hour early, Q&A and extra samples with two brewers that have won prior events (50 tickets)
Where can I stock up: bbpales.eventbrite.com

Fishers On Tap - Summer

The Rotary Club of Fishers, is hosting Fishers On Tap - Summer, at the new Fishers Amphitheater on Father's Day weekend, Saturday June 15, 2013. This outdoor beer tasting fundraiser will feature 12-15 local Indiana brewers, live music from Soul Street, hand chosen food trucks. All proceeds will be given back to our local community to service organizations that help those in need.

Time: 4:00 - 5:00 PM VIP Tickets
5:00 - 8:00 PM General Admission Tickets

Price: General Admission $40.0
VIP $60.00
Designated Driver $10.00

Current Line up of Breweries:
Bier Brewery
Daredevil Brewing
Fountain Square Brewery
Flat 12 Bierwerks
Sun King Brewing
Union Brewing Company
Upland Brewing Company
Brugge Brasserie
Big Woods Brewing Company
Cutters Brewing Company
Bloomington Brewing Company
New Albanian Brewing Company
Four Horseman Brewing Company
Oaken Barrel Brewing Company
Tuxedo Park Home Brewers

Food Trucks
Edwards Drive-In Dashboard
Nacho Mama
NY Slice
Taco Lassi
LICK Local Ice Cream

Opening: Indiana City Brewing

2013-05-24T08:46:00.000-04:00

Just a quick reminder that Indiana City will host its official opening Saturday, May 25th from 2 - 8pm. They expect to have three regulars plus their seasonal IPA available for purchase. They will have live music and beers pouring outside as well as inside the tasting room. The outside beers are cash only, but they do accept cards inside the tasting room. Enjoy!

HBG Classics | Mr. Wizard Goes to Irvington

2013-05-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

This post from Serious Eats recently came to our attention. Putting beer in a French press? Sounds like a great idea. Back in June 2009, we did some of our own experimenting with a French press and had a great time doing it. We thought you'd enjoy seeing the results of our experimentation. So courtesy of the Wayback Machine, here's our write-up of what happened when we tried combining beer and other stuff in a French press--

Regular readers of this site will know that we aren't above tomfoolery. In fact, you might say that on occasion we can be downright buffoonish. I wouldn't have you believe for a second that we aren't aware that our wanton disrespect for common sense is anything more than a ploy to entertain ourselves and those reading.

Our experiments don't always start out with folly in mind - in some cases we're actually trying to prove something. But when a group of us gathers, the chance of hijinks is multiplied exponentially. It all started out like this:

Hey Jason,

I was wondering if you ever followed up on that coffee/beer infusion thing - I just read about a place doing an Oberon through blood oranges tapping and I'm thinking maybe a french press kinda thing might work... anyway... what did you do?

-Mike

* * * * *

The short of the coffee beer is I took a french press, filled it with porter, and pushed coarse ground coffee through it. Turned beer (Wabash Cannonball Porter) into better beer.

-Jason

* * * * *

I'd like to try that technique with a few other things, so if you'd like to make it into a longer experiment, let me know....

-Mike

The result? A beer and food blending experiment of what some might consider epically stupid proportions. We just thought it was fun. And in a few cases, tasty.

We plopped down on Jason's porch in Irvington and lined up the following victims:

Wabash Valley Cannonball Porter vs. Kroger Private Selection Medium Dark Roast Coffee
Upland Wheat vs. Strawberries
Harpoon UFO Hefeweizen vs. Bananas
Brugge White vs. Oranges
Brugge Black vs. Cherries
Brugge Black vs. Red Stag Whiskey
Bell's Oberon vs. Blueberries
Founders Cerise vs. Hershey's Extra Dark Chocolate
Bell's Expedition Stout vs. Bell's Double Cream Stout
Bell's Hopslam vs. Grapefruit
Erdinger Weissbier vs. Cucumber
Three Floyds Alpha Klaus vs. Whoppers Malted Milk Balls

One thing worth noting -- running beer through a French press might automatically make it worse. Every beer blend seemed to be under-carbonated - an effect that was either caused by the blending or the tools used. Since we didn't try any beer straight through the French press, we don't really know. So much for the scientific method.

The bad pairings:

Wabash Valley Cannonball Porter w/ Kroger Private Selection Medium Dark Roast Coffee - Tastes like the bottom of a day-old pot of decaf.

Jason's note: When I did this previously, I seemed to remember it tasting better. I think maybe fresher coffee would be good (this coffee was ground at least 3 months ago).

Upland Wheat w/ fresh strawberries - The most bizarre result. Smells and tastes like warm bologna. Disgusting.

Gina's note: I didn't get bologna out of the Upland Wheat/strawberry combination.

Harpoon UFO Hefeweizen w/ fresh bananas - Much worse than expected. Tastes like a banana that's been sitting on a shelf in the basement, gathering dust for a few weeks. We added fresh oranges to the mix later. No improvement. If anything, the mix tasted crappier with the oranges in it.

The "meh" pairings:

Mike's note: The Annoy Ted Division

Brugge White w/ fresh oranges - Disappointing, but not terrible. Tastes like a flat Belgian wit with a touch of orange juice.

Brugge Black w/ fresh cherries - Sort of chocolately with a little hint of cherry zip. Not great, but not bad.

Jason's note: I thought this was a winner of a combo. I suggest that Ted takes this idea and runs with it. Seriously. I also mixed the Black with a Jim Beam Black Cherry Bourbon. Better than any boilermaker I've ever had. Also, better than any Boilermaker ever to come out of Purdue (but that's not really saying much now is it?).

Bell's Oberon w/ fresh blueberries - The blueberries produce no effect. Tastes like a regular Oberon.

The good pairings:

Founders Cerise w/ Hershey's Extra Dark Chocolate - Tastes like a chocolate-covered sour cherry. And the chocolate from the bottom of the French press tasted heavenly after being steeped in the beer.

Bell's Expedition Stout/Double Cream Stout Blend - We didn't do this in a French press; we simply mixed the two beers in a pitcher for a reprise of a blend that Bell's has done at beer festivals. Brown sugar, licorice, and pecans in the nose; hoppy and sweet flavor with chocolate, vanilla, and brown sugar notes. The blend nicely subdues the licorice whomp of the Expedition Stout. I may have to make this at home.

Bell's Hopslam w/ fresh grapefruit - Tartness of the grapefruit melds well with the piney/peachy hop character. If you mixed a DIPA with a Belgian sour ale, this is what it might taste like.

Gina's note: With all of the pairings, the carbonation of the beer disappeared almost completely in some cases, so it makes sense that the higher alcohol beers, like Hopslam, were able to stand up to the additions.

The bizarrely good pairing:

Erdinger Weissbier w/ fresh cucumber - Hey, it's beer gazpacho! Think of getting a buzz from a cucumber salad; that's what you have here.

Jason's note: A week after we did this, I was at a trade show where a booth had jars of ice water for our enjoyment. One had lemons in it. One had strawberries. And one had cucumbers. I love fresh cucumbers. And the flavor that the cucumbers add to beer or water is phenomenal. Is there a cucumber soda?

The grand champion:

Three Floyds Alpha Klaus Porter w/ Whoppers malted milk balls - Lovely. Tastes like a really sweet milk stout with a hoppy bite. Fizzed up like a nitro stout when we mixed the two.

Random Beer Roundup - The Happy Craft Beer Week Edition

2013-05-17T07:34:00.001-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple:

Thr3e Wise Men is now pouring 7 full time house beers. We have added our Rocky Ripple Pale Ale to our full lineup. Come by and try this great Pale Ale or one of our other beers every Tuesday for only $2.50 a pint.

Are you a bar or restaurant owner/operator? If you are then you can now serve Thr3e Wise Men Beer at your great establishments. We are now distributing through Cavalier Distribution of Indiana. Talk to your local Cavalier rep. Click here for more info.

From David at Triton Brewing in Indianapolis:

TRITON HOUSE BREWS

Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber Ale, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter India Pale Ale, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale, McQueenie’s (Smoked) Scotch Ale, O’Rye-N Galaxy Pale Ale, Pink Ribbon Saison and Wit or Wit-Out You

GUEST BREWS

Brouwerij Liefman Goudenband, Chimay Triple, Crispin Cider (bottle), Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Ommegang Art of Darkness, Ommegang Biere D’Hougoumont, Sixpoint Resin and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

Grapefruit Zest Railsplitter IPA Tapping, May 17, 7pm at Twenty Tap (5406 N College Ave.)

Triton Beer Sampling, Friday, May 17, 4-7pm at 21st Amendment, 5561 N. Illinois Street, for American Craft Beer Week!

Triton Beer Sampling, Friday, May 17, 5-7pm at United Package Liquors, 9908 East 79th Street, for American Craft Beer Week!

Triton Beer Sampling, Friday, May 17, 4-7pm at Crown Liquors, 150 North Delaware Street, for American Craft Beer Week!

Pink Ribbon Saison and Bourbon Barrel Ales, Saturday, May 18, 7pm at Triton Tap in Broad Ripple (915 Broad Ripple Ave)

Crown Beer Fest- Crown Point, Indiana, May 18, 2-6pm

From Bob at Flat 12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Saturday, May 18th: Crown Beer Fest, Crown Point, IN

May18th, 21st and 23rd: Meet the Driver behind Hinchtown Hammer Down.

Wednesday, May 29th Brew Mile at Flat 12 with Blue Mile (US Top 50 Running store)

Friday, May 31st: History on Tap at Conner Prairie

Coming in June. Cucumber Kolsch. In bottles and on draught.

From Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

We are working on our event schedule for the summer and fall. If you have an event that you think we should be at drop us an email at info@daredevilbeer.com.

During American Craft Beer Week, May 13 to 19, we will be participating in several events at establishments that carry our beers and we will be sharing details in the next week on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned and come out and meet us in person if you are in the area.
The next craft beer festival we are signed up to participate in will be Fishers on Tap Summer, Saturday June 15th.

Daredevil Brewing Co. | Current beers available

Lift Off IPA: Our flagship beer
A bounty of American Hops delivers the signature clean and crisp finish of a perfectly balanced West Coast style IPA.

Muse Belgian Golden Ale: The first of our Belgian seasonal beers
A delicate Belgian perfume of pears and apples compliments complex spicy phenolics and lightly sweet alcohol with an inspiring clean, bright finish.

Rip Cord Double IPA: Our newest limited release
An abundance of American hops balanced with a hint of malt to produce an exhilarating experience of intense hop flavors and aromas of citrus, floral and resin that combine to provide a satisfying crisp finish.

You can always fine the full list of locations that carry Lift Off IPA and our limited release beers on our website and we continue to add new locations weekly. Also, you can keep up with the latest news and learn about new locations to find our beers first by following us on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Want to know what people are saying about our beers? Check out our profile on Untappd.

At Bars, Restaurants, & Carry Out

From Stuart at MacNiven's Restaurant & Bar in Indianapolis:

American Craft Beer Week continues. On Tap: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, Three Floyd's Arctic Panzer Wolf, Stone Espresso Imperial Russian Stout, Bell's HopSlam, Sixpoint Bengali Tiger, New Holland White Hatter, Big Woods Mocha Java Nitro Stout and Hinterland IPA. Tapping Thursday May 16th, Sun King Bitch'n Camaro Firkin at 6pm, plus Bourbon Barrel Wee Mac, Batch 666 Sympathy For The Devil, Bitter Druid ESB & Big Iron Barley Wine!

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Scotty’s Brewhouse Muncie is now pouring Goose Island 312! Come enjoy a 48oz Pitcher of this great beer on Wednesday for only $9.00!

Scotty’s Brewhouse West Lafayette is now serving Leinenkugel Summer Shandy! Come celebrate summer with a refreshing pint of this great beer every Thursday for $4.00!

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog

Beer Events/Fundraisers

History on Tap - May 31, 6:30-10:30pm, Conner Prairie

Join us and some of our closest friends in the craft brewing industry for a special night at Conner Prairie History Park to learn about and celebrate the rich tradition of Indiana craft brewing – past and present. The event is put on by Conner Prairie’s young professional group, the Horizon Council, and all proceeds go to supporting the mission of Conner Prairie.

Typical of Conner Prairie, you will learn about craft brewing history “in ways that textbooks cannot” through interactive experiences such as tastings from us and over ten other local brewers, seeing the craft brewing process from live demos performed by Tuxedo Park, and listening to local brewers tell their unique stories in a panel discussion – “Brewer Innovation: A taste of the past, present and future.”

If you enter in our exclusive code TUXEDO20 in to their ticket registration form found at www.connerprairie.org/historyontap.aspx you will receive 20% off your ticket(s) purchased.

Brew Bracket featuring Pale Ales
“BB7: The Cure for all Your (pale) Ales"

Date: Saturday June 15th
Time: 3-7PM
Place: Indiana State Fairgrounds
Participating Brewers: Flat 12, Upland, Bloomington, Barley Island, Triton, Brugge, Rock Bottom College Park, Half Moon, RAM, Iechyd Da, Three Wisemen, Union Brewing, Indiana City, Rock Bottom Downtown Indy, Peoples, and Evil Czech Brewing
Tickets details: $35 participant (350 tickets); $45 VIP – come an hour early, Q&A and extra samples with two brewers that have won prior events (50 tickets)
Where can I stock up: bbpales.eventbrite.com

Talking Wood: Caleb Staton

2013-05-10T11:24:00.002-04:00

Jake Wrote:

On Sunday, May 5, Matt and I had the chance to spend a couple hours with Caleb Staton of Upland Brewing Company talking about their amazing sour program and touring the new facility they recently opened on the west side of Bloomington. Caleb started with Upland in 2004 as a cellarman after completing the 5-month Master Brewer program at UC-Davis. He worked his way up through the ranks to being the Head Brewer for the 11th street facility. Upland has since hired a VP of Operations allowing Caleb to continue work on the sour program and recipe development with the brewers at the Vernal Pike facility.

HBG: So, we're here at the 11th Street facility, I assume this is the original brewhouse?

Caleb: This is our original brewhouse which has undergone some modification. The kettle is maybe five years old and we turned the original kettle into a hot liquor tank. This was the brewhouse that got us to 10,000 BBL in a year on this property. Towards the end of last year, we started to change a few things here, but with Carmel opening, graduation, and Little 500, some things have been put on hold.

Caleb and Jake

HBG: So what is left to do here?

Caleb: From a brewery standpoint, we are pretty much done. There is some expansion in the restaurant space and adding another bar area to support the business they are already doing and try to cut down on some of the wait times on the weekends.

HBG: How long have you guys had the Foudre and where did you get it?

Caleb: It is a 75HL French Oak tank that we got from a California winery that was kicking it out of their program. Oliver was buying some tanks and they told us that there was an extra tank they were not going to use. I think all said and done it cost us about $7000.

French Oak Foudre

HBG: Are you guys using it to store beer long term or something else?

Caleb: I use it as our primary fermenter/inoculation tank for our lambic-style beers. We usually fill it up and then two weeks later use it to inoculate the individual barrels that we store in the other building until they are ready which is about eight months. It is currently aging beer that has been in there for two months, but when we are really turning things, it gets filled and emptied every couple of weeks. I say that, but we took this facility from 10,000 BBL/year to Lambic and we will probably only brew 300 BBL or so this year. The real bottleneck is being able to store the barrels.

HBG: You mentioned Oliver (Winery). Is that where you are getting most of your barrels?

Caleb: I would say 75% of our barrels are coming from Oliver and are white oak. The other 25% are bourbon barrels which were used for what was named "Gilgamesh", but we have now renamed "Malefactor”.

HBG: So the sour program. was that really your brain child?

Caleb: Yeah. We had a guy named John Metzcar who used to work at Upland go over and start to work for Oliver. We already had great contacts with Oliver, but I e-mailed John and asked if they ever kicked barrels out of their program. He said, "Yeah, we do." So, we got four barrels from them originally and I brewed a really small batch, filled them up, and tucked them in the grain room for about eight months. We continued to grow the program, but we had to focus on our other growth as well, so we are just getting to a point where we can really start focusing again.

HBG: In the local beer community, people have always known about Upland, but it seems the sour program has helped put it on the map from a national sense. How has it been to watch that happen?

Caleb: I'd like to say that we always had a pretty good Midwest spotlight, but this kind of gave us the national and international glow. It is still such a small portion of what we do, but the attention we get for it sometimes shocks me. With our first release, it was a couple of days before we went through the reservation process. The next time it was about an hour. With the most recent release, it was minutes. We have been trying to make it the most fair that we can, but it is really hard to please everyone with the limited quality that we have.

HBG: What do you guys currently have fermenting in this area?

Where the magic happens

Caleb: In the foudre, we have the base lambic beer. I just brewed a batch for Malefactor last week, so that will get divvied out to bourbon barrels in two weeks. In the barrels over there we have three fruited with strawberries and three fruited with blackberries. We fruited those about three weeks ago, so they are starting to really get into the re-fermentation process. The (blackberry) one in the middle is especially cantankerous. It has popped the air lock a couple times.

**NOTE As we were talking, one of the strawberry barrels started to pop the air lock. Thankfully Caleb saw it coming and relieved some of the pressure.

Active Airlock

HBG: We covered that you get most of your white oak barrels from Oliver, but where do you get most of your bourbon barrels?

Caleb: Most of the ones we have are Buffalo Trace. We do have some Wild Turkey and a Pappy Van Winkle. We brought them in for our core line brewing (Bourbon Barrel Winter Warmer, Bourbon Barrel Teddy Bear Kisses). After they are used for those beers, we kick them over here for a secondary use with Malefactor.

HBG: So the primary run is to pull the bourbon character into the core line beers. Are you using them for some of the oak character the second time?

Caleb: I am looking for some of that dark, oak character. The idea is not to have a boozy sour, but to have the polite amount of bourbon barrel character. The char, even little bits of bourbon, but in a polite amount. The goal with Malefactor is a strong Flanders-style Red that has a polite amount of bourbon character.

HBG: When the barrels come over from the core line beers, what do you do to prep them?

Caleb: We give them two cycle of two minutes with 180-degree water, then a cold rinse for two minutes, and then we inspect the barrel with a flashlight to make sure it is free from debris. We also smell the barrel, use our other senses, to make sure it is free of any unwanted aromas. If we see some flaws, we will repeat the cycle. Ultimately, if it can't be cleaned, we kick the barrel out of the program.

HBG: We really respect what you guys did by making the decision not to release Persimmon. That had to be tough.

Caleb: That was a tough day to dump almost two skids of bottles. But, we have been working on the way we bottle condition the beers since then to try and get it to be a little bit more reliable for us. I think we had some storage environment issues, related to bottle conditioning temperature, with that batch so what was a great beer when we put it into the bottles, it went south from there.

HBG: You mentioned barrels going all the way back to 2008. Was that when you started the program?

Caleb: We started in 2006 with the four barrels and I think the program started to really get ramped up in about 2008. We grew it to 2011 when we had to put the brakes on the program a little bit because of the amount of barrels that we had room to store.

Those are cobwebs between the barrels. A good sign of traditional lambic aging.

HBG: About how many barrels do you currently have in the program?

Caleb: We have about 141 barrels right now off the top of my head. I will say, the barrels we get from Oliver are mostly red wine, so I am sure the beer picks up some of those characteristics, but we are really using them to harbor the micro-organisms that live in the wood.

They have multiple stacked rows of barrels like this

HBG: Do you guys brew a single base beer? I know New Belgium uses two base beers for their program, so I am wondering if you use one for all of the beers in yours or if there are different base beers.

Caleb: We brew the primary batch and then once it goes into the different barrels, you still have consistency, but that is really where you get variation. Even down to where the barrels are in the stack and in the location of the building, there can be a degree or two of temperature variation.

HBG: So you guys are definitely using a blending technique.

Caleb: Yeah, once we go and sample, we really pick what we are looking for. We have some barrels that are still in there from 2008 we are hoping can turn into something great. We go through and pick some of the different years. For example, the next round of strawberry and blackberry is a blend of '08 and '10. So, we fruit an empty barrel, draw out our blend into the barrels, let the refermentation happen, and then we will bring all of those back together in our mixing tank for packaging.

HBG: I see some of the barrels labeled with what looks to be a mix of other years. Am I reading that correctly?

Caleb: Yes. We have them labeled as "Geuze" because as we go through we found some really primo stuff. They are still pretty good despite being moved a number of times. Once of the big things we have learned is to try and move them as little as possible.

HBG: When you say "refermentation" are you talking about the fruit sugars?

Caleb: Yes. The funny thing is that they take a little bit to get going, but when they go they GO. For example, it took those 2-3 weeks to really get going.

HBG: About how long does that last?

Caleb: The really depends on the fruit and the amount of sugar in those fruits. It can even depend on the season. Some years, you get more sugar based on the season. With persimmon, young, non-ripe persimmon is really astringent and not a pleasant experience to eat. So each fruit we work with have their own respective character, composition and handling aspects.

HBG: Are you guys trying another persimmon batch then?

Caleb: Oh yeah. We have three (barrels of) persimmon and three (barrels of) kiwi over here that we brought back over here to rest. Their activity has pretty much run it's course, so we let them rest. they will then get crashed in the cooler later this month for two weeks. Then we rack them into the mixing tank and add our priming sugar. Then we have a paddle on the mixing tank that tries to make that as homogenous as possible. Then we raise the whole tank up and put the in-line strainer in place to catch any particulate. Then it feeds by gravity down to the filler and over to the corker and cager.

HBG: What kind of output do you expect in cases from each wooden barrel?

Caleb: Each barrel gets us 20-25 cases.

HBG: It sounds like you expect a lot of loss into the barrels with those numbers.

Caleb: Oh yeah, the fruit loss is atrocious. Because we use whole fruit, the amount we lose is pretty massive.

HBG: Whole Fruit? Really?

Caleb: I really am a true believer in using whole fruit, to the detriment of profitability sometimes. We have tried Strawberry puree, which is basically juice, and I don't think it was as awesome.

HBG: Do you leave the skin on the kiwi and cut it in half or how did you handle it?

Caleb: We de-skin the kiwi. 750lbs of kiwis with three guys hunkered around a table. We cut the top and the bottom off, put a slit down the middle, and pop the fruit through by pushing with our thumbs opposite the slit.

HBG: How many days did that take?

Caleb: Two days.

HBG: What about the strawberry tops?

Caleb: We didn't worry about the tops. If you have tasted them, they taste like strawberries, so we leave them on.

HBG: You guys have what looks like a pallet of Sour Reserve 3 and a pallet of Dantalion back in the corner. Are those recent bottling runs?

Caleb: Those were both bottled in March. The Sour Reserve is showing great promise with the bottle conditioning and we hope that some of the cases will be ready for Sour Fest next weekend (May 11, 2013), but we are patiently waiting for Dantalion.

HBG: How often do you check barrels?

Caleb: I really try to taste as little as possible. When we know we have a deadline coming, we start the selection process, but we really do not want to disturb the pellicle that forms on the top of the barrels.

HBG: What lessons learned can you share?

Caleb: 1) You can spend as much or as little time on this, but you are only as good as the number of people you can bring in to help package it all. 2) We store our barrels wet and with a sanitizing solution to make them easier to rinse. 3) The way we arrange the barrels now makes sampling much easier and makes the selection process more efficient.

Note the nail. Samples are taken by removing the nail instead of opening the bung

HBG: What future projects are you planning at this point? Is a coolship in the works?

Caleb: Right now our focus is getting everything in place for 2014 releases. We had a large number of barrels that were filled with water, so we have been focused on getting those filled and ramping up our fruiting process later in the year. We are hoping that 2014 becomes our first big, solid year of releases. I would love to incorporate a coolship, but we don't have the space as you can see, nor have we done any homework and experimentation to indicate we have ambient micro floating around to generate fantastic results.

UPDATED As of Noon EST on 5/10: Caleb was nice enough to confirm the list that Upland will be pouring this weekend at Sour Fest:

We are pouring:

Sour Reserve Batch 3

Blackberry Lambic (both 2010 and 2012 releases)

Cherry Lambic (2010)

Persimmon Lambic (2010)

Sour Reserve Batch 1

and there will be small windows where Peach, Raspberry and Dantalion will make an appearance

**Editors Note: This post will be updated with Pictures. However the Brew Bokeh team took some great shots in March that can be found here (http://www.brewbokeh.com/place-upland.html)

Random Beer Roundup - The Did You See that Guitar Made from a Skateboard??? Edition

2013-05-10T07:10:00.001-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple:

Thr3e Wise Men is now serving two new great beers, Double Pagoda Pit Road Red & Kiss The Bricks Maibock. Come by and celebrate the month by drinking one of these amazing beers with us.

Thr3e Wise Men is now distributing to other Bars & Restaurants. We are distributing through Cavalier Distributing. Talk to your local Cavalier rep. Click here for more info.

From David at Triton Brewing in Indianapolis:

TRITON HOUSE BREWS

Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber Ale, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter India Pale Ale, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale, McQueenie’s (Smoked) Scotch Ale, O’Rye-N Galaxy Pale Ale and Wit or Wit-Out You

GUEST BREWS

Brouwerij Liefman Goudenband, Chimay Triple, Crispin Cider (bottle), Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Ommegang Art of Darkness, Ommegang Biere D’Hougoumont and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

#Clustertruck! Wednesday, May 15, 5-9pm! Join us and some of your favorite local food trucks in honor of American Craft Beer Week!

Triton Tap Takeover & Pink Ribbon Saison Tapping, May 15, 7pm at Sinking Ship (4923 N College Ave.)
Triton Tap Takeover & Pink Ribbon Saison Tapping, May 16, 6:30pm at Red Lion Grog House (1043 Virginia Ave #6 H)

American Craft Beer Week Tapping at Triton featuring a couple of bourbon barrel beers and the Pink Ribbon Saison, Thursday, May 16, 5pm at Triton Brewing Company! The Saison, a Belgian-style pale is packed with flavor, made with white and pink peppercorns and coriander. This sweet and spicy beer is big on flavor!

Grapefruit Zest Railsplitter IPA Tapping, May 17, 7pm at Twenty Tap (5406 N College Ave.)

Triton Beer Sampling, Friday, May 17, 4-7pm at 21st Amendment, 5561 N. Illinois Street, for American Craft Beer Week!

Triton Beer Sampling, Friday, May 17, 5-7pm at United Package Liquors, 9908 East 79th Street, for American Craft Beer Week!

Triton Beer Sampling, Friday, May 17, 4-7pm at Crown Liquors, 150 North Delaware Street, for American Craft Beer Week!

Pink Ribbon Saison and Bourbon Barrel Ales, Saturday, May 18, 7pm at Triton Tap in Broad Ripple (915 Broad Ripple Ave)

From Bob at Flat 12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

Friday, May 10th: Festival on Main. Speedway, Indiana. Hinchtown Hammer Down on Tap (Beer Tent)
Saturday, May 11th: Upland Wild Funk Fest, Developer Town in Indianapolis
Saturday, May 11th: Sideshow Alley, IndyFringe
Thursday, May 16th: Double Pogue's Reserve. Special beer, commemorative of the Sequicentennial of the Battle of Pogue's Run. Extra privileges for Civil War reenactors. Tapping at 5:20 pm.
Saturday, May 18th: Crown Beer Fest, Crown Point, IN

Coming in June. Cucumber Kolsch. In bottles and on draught.

From Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

We are working on our event schedule for the summer and fall. If you have an event that you think we should be at drop us an email at info@daredevilbeer.com.

During American Craft Beer Week, May 13 to 19, we will be participating in several events at establishments that carry our beers and we will be sharing details in the next week on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned and come out and meet us in person if you are in the area.
The next craft beer festival we are signed up to participate in will be Fishers on Tap Summer, Saturday June 15th.

Daredevil Brewing Co. | Current beers available

Lift Off IPA: Our flagship beer
A bounty of American Hops delivers the signature clean and crisp finish of a perfectly balanced West Coast style IPA.

Muse Belgian Golden Ale: The first of our Belgian seasonal beers
A delicate Belgian perfume of pears and apples compliments complex spicy phenolics and lightly sweet alcohol with an inspiring clean, bright finish.

Rip Cord Double IPA: Our newest limited release
An abundance of American hops balanced with a hint of malt to produce an exhilarating experience of intense hop flavors and aromas of citrus, floral and resin that combine to provide a satisfying crisp finish.

You can always fine the full list of locations that carry Lift Off IPA and our limited release beers on our website and we continue to add new locations weekly. Also, you can keep up with the latest news and learn about new locations to find our beers first by following us on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Want to know what people are saying about our beers? Check out our profile on Untappd.

At Bars, Restaurants, & Carry Out

From Keg Liquors in Clarksville and New Albany:

Breckenridge - Summerbright (Colorado)

Ace - Apple Honey Cider (California)

Schofferhofer - Grapefruit Hefeweizen (Germany)

Sam Adams - Porch Rocker (Massachusetts)

Sam Adams - Thirteenth Hour (Massachusetts)

Sam Adams - New World Tripel (Massachusetts)

Sam Adams - Thirteenth Hour (Massachusetts)

Bruery - Trade Winds Tripel (California)

Bruery - White Oaks (California)

Hoppin Frog - Goose Juice Rye IPA (Ohio)

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Scotty’s Brewhouse 96th Street Indianapolis is now serving O’Fallon’s Hop Hemp Rye! Come by and enjoy a 48oz pitcher on Wednesday for $10!

Scotty’s Brewhouse Downtown Indianapolis is now pouring Bell’s Oberon! Come have a pint of this refreshing summertime beer for only $4 every Thursday.

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog/229-05-07-13

Beer Events/Fundraisers

Cheers to Camp!

Sun King Brewing is hosting Cheers to Camp! to benefit Camp Delafield on May 15th from 4:30-7pm.

Come by Sun King to enjoy pints of fresh, local beer, and be sure to visit the Taco Lassi food truck. We will have your favorite relay races and camp games running through the evening. Grab a group of friends, and join us for some fun!

Camp Delafield is a program of the Dyslexia Institute of Indiana.
This will be the 24th summer of Camp Delafield, a summer camp for kids ages 7-12 with dyslexia. We have two four-week sessions each summer, and each session holds 30 campers. The mornings are academic rotations – one-on-one tutoring, written expression, math, and art. The afternoons are full of field trips, swimming, sports, activity groups, etc.
The campers make academic strides, but most importantly, they leave with new friends and an improved self-confidence.

Rock'n' Pint at Black Acre - May 16th 6-9

Girls' Pint Out is pairing up with Girls Rock! Indianapolis for a night of fun at Black Acre Brewing Co - May 16th, 6-9

Dress as your favorite rocker for the costume contest. Drink great beer. Meet other fabulous ladies who enjoy drinking great beer. Maybe win some sweet prizes from our friends in Irvington.

A $5 donation is recommended to raise money for Girls Rock! Learn more about their awesome program dedicated to building positive self-esteem in girls and encouraging creative expression through music here http://girlsrockindy.org/.

Love Girls Rock! Indianapolis? Go on the Indy Brew Bus on June 13th and half of the proceeds will go to Girls Rock! The bus will be going to Black Acre, Fountain Square Brewery, and Indiana City Brewing. Sign up here: http://www.indybrewbus.com/tour/girls-rock-indy

Second Annual Midwest Sour Wild Funk Fest

Upland Brewing Company will host their second annual Sour Wild Funk Fest, the Midwest's premier wild ale festival, on Saturday, May 11, 1:00-5:00pm, at Developer Town, 5255 Winthrop Ave, Indianapolis, IN. This year over 20 breweries will be included from across the country and world, with over 50 beers to enjoy.

The focus of this festival is to celebrate the wild ale category of beers, focused exclusively on Lambic, Flanders, Farmhouse, and Saison style beers and ales. These beers are finely and carefully crafted, taking months and sometimes years to produce. Some have a distinct tart or sour flavors, other have vinous qualities, while other have uniquely funky characteristics. This rapidly growing category of beers has had a tremendous impact on the craft beer community, and Upland is directly in the midst of that trend.

VIP tickets are sold out. General Admission is $45 and includes a commemorative sampling glass, and samplings of delicious craft wild ales, with paired meats, cheeses, fruits, and desserts provided by event partner Smoking Goose Meatery. Designated Driver tickets will also be available and include food and non-alcoholic beverages. Tickets can be purchased at www.UplandSourFest.eventbrite.com.

HBG May Pint Night: Bloomington Brewing Company Ruby Bloom on Nitro

2013-05-08T10:30:00.001-04:00

Jake Wrote:

Our third installment of the Hoosier Beer Geek Pint Night will be held on May 23rd at Tomlinson Tap Room. This month, we will feature Bloomington Brewing Company's Ruby Bloom Amber as a comparison of two carbonation methods. For $4 you will get a pint of Ruby Bloom on Nitro with a side car of Ruby Bloom on CO2 carbonation (Predominant kegging method). The hope is that tasting the two side-by-side will spark a conversation about what impact different carbonation methods have on beer.

There will be at least one food vendor from the City Market open to provide food. The other exciting part about the night is that the outdoor patio service area should be open for Tom Tap. Although you will not be able to carry beer from the second floor outside, they will have taps flowing outside as well.

DETAILS:

When: 5/23, 6:30pm

Where: Tomlinson Tap Room (Indianapolis City Market)

What: Pint Night featuring Bloomington Brewing Company Ruby Bloom on Nitro and CO2.

UPDATED: 5/20/2013
Circle City Soups HBG Pint Night Menu
Poutine - $9

A common Canadian dish made with frites, topped with brown gravy and cheese curds.

Kentucky Fried Bacon - $6
Yeah.. Kentucky Fried Bacon

Frites - $6
Duck fat fried frites.

Beer Can Chicken Wings - $7

Duck fat fried chicken wings with the CCS signature Beer Can Chicken seasoning.

See you there!

Third Annual Dark Lord Day Pub Crawl #dldpc3

2013-05-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hi. We’re Meg and Kristin. This is the story of our third annual Dark Lord Day Pub Crawl #dldpc3. The pub crawl's name originated from, "Eff you, go have fun at Dark Lord Day. We're going to stay in the comfort of our own city and drink." Warning - this post is not about beer.

We had some rules for the day:

each spend $200 on food and drinks -this had to include friends AND strangers
ask a question/take a poll at each location
last stop had to be the Alley Cat.

1. A group of 9 frisky folks met at the Broad Ripple Brewpub at 1pm. We ordered a variety of beers…Rye PA, Strange Broux Brew, Lawn Mower Pale Ale, and Gale’s Hard Cider. This is the only place we took notes on the beer, and they were crappy notes. The beers were all good.

First Question/Poll! Are you able to poop in a public restroom? 2 for no / 7 for yes. Poopers rule. (later that changes to 2 / 9)

2. We rolled a D20 die to predict where we moved next – don’t worry, we only did this once. And it failed because Connor’s won but Plump’s pulled us in on the walk over. So much for fate. Osiris wasn’t on tap, which was a bummer because it’s a tradition to order a pitcher(s). There were a lot of High Lifes ordered by the folks trying to pace themselves… We picked up one more crawler! Oh, and then we lost one. :(

Second Question/Poll! Would you rather eat human feces twice a month or have to constantly clap your hands? 8 for human feces / 2 for clapping. We decided that the question did not list the amount of feces you had to eat…and you could cook the feces into something. Feces was the obvious choice at that point.

3. Connor’s. So every year the Cancer Crawl folks are out and about on the day of our crawl, and we always seem to hit Connor’s when it’s loaded with these Crawlers. This year was no different. Boy those Cancer Crawlers can dance! A round of Fat Head’s Head Hunter was ordered…kind of…they ran out. And we were shown where the boobies are located on the wall. We also met a black lab, whose owner stood while the dog sat in the seat. Brilliant chick magnet move.

Third Question/Poll! What member of Hoosier Beer Geek would you take on a date? (this was not the question actually asked) Mike Atwood - unanimous.

4. OH it was time for the Wellington! Brian told us all about the Zappos store in Louisville. YES…there is a store. YES…the story was captivating. There was also talk about nonprofits and guns. Beer does funny things. We decided to buy a couple a round if they answered the poop in a public restroom question. They both said YES! Of course.

Fourth Question/Poll! You have to remove an organ…what organ do you remove and who do you give it to?

Meg: Kidney to her next cat that has renal failure
Chris: Kidney to Meg’s cat to see it wear a kidney backpack
Erik: Heart to the lion...we decided he meant the tin man
Brian: Lungs to the kiddos at Bonnaroo so they could scrape the resin off and smoke it
Kristin: Liver to the Broad Ripple Brewpub to cook and serve
Jamey: Male organ to a transgender
Libbie: Liver to science
Ross: Bladder to the mom of the Duggar family
Rachel: Liver for a new liver

5. BRUGGE! It was seriously time for more beer and food: Lunchbox IPA, some Pooka, some other beers, and two orders of l’enorme frits. Warning…the poll below is obnoxious.

Fifth Question/Poll! You’re in a nude calendar…What month are you, and what is your theme?

Ross: Cocktober, no theme needed
Chris: Sextember, no theme needed
Kristin: July – vagina explosion O_o
Brian: August – naughty school girl
Meg: December – elf in my shelf
Erik: March – naked Caesar
Rachil: May – MayPOLE dancer
Libbie: November: naked on the turkey
Jamey: December: 12 inches of Christmas

6. Yes…we were still going. Chumley’s seemed like the right place to go. $3 Saturday pints! No idea what time it was at this point.

Sixth Question/Poll! Peanut butter & Jelly or Peanut Butter & Honey? We think Peanut butter & Jelly won…there are some side comments…like it depends if the bread is toasted. We picked out a group of six to buy a round for if they answered our poll. Yes…they all answered PB&J…so that was the winner. We ordered them one margarita, four Alpha Kings, one Upland Wheat, and one Fat Tire. Yep…we wrote that down…clear as day.

7. We made it to the Alley Cat. Maybe it was 7pm? We drank.

Seventh Question/Poll! Would you have sex with Kristin’s mom? 4 yes / 3 no. No, Kristin did not answer this question, sickos.

So that concludes our third annual Dark Lord Day Pub Crawl. No one had anything stolen.

Random Beer Roundup - The FRIDAY Edition

2013-05-03T08:34:00.002-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple:

Thr3e Wise Men will be kicking off the month of May the correct way with the tapping of our Double Pagoda Pit Road Red on Tuesday May 7th. Come out and enjoy this beer or one of our other 7 house beers that we have on tap.

Did you know that Thr3e Wise Men is now distributing to other Bars & Restaurants? We are distributing our beers through Cavalier Distributing. Talk to your local Cavalier rep. Click here for more info.

From David at Triton Brewing in Indianapolis:

TRITON HOUSE BREWS

Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber Ale, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter India Pale Ale, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale, McQueenie’s (Smoked) Scotch Ale, O’Rye-N Galaxy Pale Ale and Wit or Wit-Out You

GUEST BREWS

Brouwerij Liefman Goudenband, Chimay Triple, Crispin Cider (bottle), Brooklyn There Will be Black IPA, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Schlafly Coffee Stout and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

Railsplitter Grapefruit Zest Firkin tapping at 5:30pm for the Inaugural First Friday Firkin Night at Fat Dan's Chicago Style Deli (5410 N. College Ave.)

Melting Pot Beer Dinner, May 9, 7pm tickets available in advance. For more information call 317.841.3601.

#Clustertruck! Wednesday, May 15, 5-9pm! Join us and some of your favorite local food trucks in honor of American Craft Beer Week!

Triton Tap Takeover & Pink Ribbon Saison Tapping, May 15, 7pm at Sinking Ship (4923 N College Ave.)
Triton Tap Takeover & Pink Ribbon Saison Tapping, May 16, 6:30pm at Red Lion Grog House (1043 Virginia Ave #6 H)

American Craft Beer Week Tapping at Triton featuring a couple of bourbon barrel beers and the Pink Ribbon Saison, Thursday, May 16, 5pm at Triton Brewing Company! The Saison, a Belgian-style pale is packed with flavor, made with white and pink peppercorns and coriander. This sweet and spicy beer is big on flavor!

Grapefruit Zest Railsplitter IPA Tapping, May 17, 7pm at Twenty Tap (5406 N College Ave.)

Triton Beer Sampling, Friday, May 17, 4-7pm at 21st Amendment, 5561 N. Illinois Street, for American Craft Beer Week!

Triton Beer Sampling, Friday, May 17, 5-7pm at United Package Liquors, 9908 East 79th Street, for American Craft Beer Week!

Triton Beer Sampling, Friday, May 17, 4-7pm at Crown Liquors, 150 North Delaware Street, for American Craft Beer Week!

Pink Ribbon Saison and Bourbon Barrel Ales, Saturday, May 18, 7pm at Triton Tap in Broad Ripple (915 Broad Ripple Ave)

From Bob at Flat 12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

-Available this week (Thursday at 4): Cinco de Mayo Beers (Taco Beer*, Mole Porter, Bleeding Heartburn IPA and the White Devil. *Pints only **Yes, we are aware Thursday is Dos, not Cinco. Crazy gringos.

Still on tap while it lasts: 12 Penny Scottish Ale, a cold-conditioned Scottish Export ale, done in collaboration with Great Fermentations. Brewing kits are available at Great Fermentations.

Also:
Saturday, May 4th: TAP at TAF Craft Brew Fest in Lafayette (Tippecanoe Arts Federation)
Thursday, May 9th: Special Tapping w/ Girls Pint Out. Ask the Brewer at BoomBozz Pizza
Thursday, May 16th: Double Pogue's Reserve. Special beer, commemorative of the Sequicentennial of the Battle of Pogue's Run.

Coming in June. Cucumber Kolsch.

From Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

We are working on our event schedule for the summer and fall. If you have an event that you think we should be at drop us an email at info@daredevilbeer.com.

During American Craft Beer Week, May 13 to 19, we will be participating in several events at establishments that carry our beers and we will be sharing details in the next week on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned and come out and meet us in person if you are in the area.
The next craft beer festival we are signed up to participate in will be Fishers on Tap Summer, Saturday June 15th.

Daredevil Brewing Co. | Current beers available

Lift Off IPA: Our flagship beer
A bounty of American Hops delivers the signature clean and crisp finish of a perfectly balanced West Coast style IPA.

Muse Belgian Golden Ale: The first of our Belgian seasonal beers
A delicate Belgian perfume of pears and apples compliments complex spicy phenolics and lightly sweet alcohol with an inspiring clean, bright finish.

Rip Cord Double IPA: Our newest limited release
An abundance of American hops balanced with a hint of malt to produce an exhilarating experience of intense hop flavors and aromas of citrus, floral and resin that combine to provide a satisfying crisp finish.

You can always fine the full list of locations that carry Lift Off IPA and our limited release beers on our website and we continue to add new locations weekly. Also, you can keep up with the latest news and learn about new locations to find our beers first by following us on our Twitter and Facebook pages. Want to know what people are saying about our beers? Check out our profile on Untappd.

At Bars, Restaurants, & Carry Out

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Scotty’s Brewhouse Muncie is now serving Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy. Come enjoy a 48oz Pitcher of this refreshing summer beer on Wednesday night for only $9.00!

Scotty’s Brewhouse West Lafayette is now pouring People’s Amazon IPA! You can enjoy a pint of this delicious IPA every Thursday for only $4.00!

From Patrick at Patrick's Kitchen & Drinks in Zionsville:

Patrick's Kitchen in Zionsville is pleased to announce that we will be partnering with the brewers of Bier Brewery to bring their beer to Zionsville. Bier has been available at their taproom at 5133 E. 65th Street in Indianapolis, and decided to sell their awesome beer to a few outside accounts. We will keep you updated on our FB page as to when it is on tap.
Currently our draft list includes Three Floyds Zombie Dust, Bloomington Brewing company Ruby Bloom Amber, Gaffel Kolsch, Clipper City Loose Cannon IPA, Daredevil Brewing's Ripcord, La Trappe Quad, Lexington's Kentucky Bourbon Barrel ale, Flat-12's Pogue's Run Porter, Bell's Oberon, Houblon Chouffe (a Belgian dubbel, hopped like a Triple IPA) huh?...
In the wings we are sitting on Founder's Double Trouble, Ommengang's Rare Vos Amber, and Muse from Daredevil's fabulous offerings.
Thanks for supporting your local independent restaurants!

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog/227-04-30-13

Beer Events/Fundraisers

National Homebrew Day Celebration at Tuexedo Park Brewers Supply

A celebration of National Homebrew Day, known as AHA Big Brew, is now in its 16th year. Tuxedo Park Brewers Supply will host a local gathering on May 4, 2013. Organized by the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), AHA Big Brew celebrates National Homebrew Day, honored on the first Saturday of May each year. AHA Big Brew brings together thousands of homebrewers from around the world, all brewing the same beers simultaneously. More than 5,000 homebrewers from North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America and Australia are expected to participate this year.

Tuxedo Park Brewers, 1139 Shelby St, Alley Suite, Indianapolis, IN, 46203. www.tuxedoparkbrewers.com. 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We'll break out the smoker and brew some batches. Come by with your equipment and brew, or just for a look at homebrew heaven

Saturday, May 4th is National Homebrew Day at Great Fermentations!

Bring some home brew and hang out with us. Don't miss the world wide toast at 1 PM with Mayor Ballard. Some events require registration on Eventbrite.
All the details can be found at our blog, http://blog.greatfermentations.com/bigbrew2013

Here's what is happening
· Homebrew Garage Sale - From 10 until 1 PM home brewers will have a chance to buy and sell equipment at our annual Homebrew Garage sale. We provide the tables, you do the rest. Open to all.
· Brew In - Forty brewers have signed up to brew in our parking lot. This community of brewers will brew over 200 gallons of beer in our parking lot that day! Open to all.
· Cheese Please – Great Fermentations’ cheese maven, Jenny Kraner will teach twenty five lucky people will to make a simple Farmers Cheese. Registration required.
· Off- Flavor Seminar – Owner of Great Fermentations and BJCP beer judge, Anita Johnson, will instruct attendees on how to identify off flavors in beer as well as the causes and the resolutions. Registration required.
· Sour Beer Face – Kyle Kohlmorgan will lead the sour heads through how to make sour beers and have some samples of his own. He’ll make this same presentation at the National Homebrew Convention in June. Registration required.
· Ask-a-Judge – A panel of four BJCP judges will help you determine if you have a competition-worthy beer and what category and subcategory in which it should be entered. Registration required.
· Bar BQ N’ Fool – Grant Ford will be providing some samples of his barbeque and talking about his upcoming Kansas City Barbeque Class covering competition and judging. All day in the parking lot.
· Meet and Greet – Home brewers from across the state are encouraged to stop by and bring some home brew to share. You’re guaranteed to meet new friends.

Kahn's Fine Wines and Spirits Magical Brewery Tour

$48 for Kahnoisseur Club Members
$60 General Kahn's Fine Wines Magical Brewery Tour will visit 5 of our top Indy Breweries!
Call any Kahn's Fine Wine's Location or Stop in to purchase your Tickets
Questions? call 317-632-9463 or email Lu at Lu@kahnsfinewines.com

Only 50 seats available!
Exclusive Tours
Exclusive Beer Samples
Great Swag
Food from Brugge Brasserie
And more beer than you can shake a bottle opener at!

Need more info? How 'bout a detailed itinerary?
1st Stop: Triton Brewing Company : 5764 Wheeler Rd. : Indianapolis, IN 46216

One of Triton’s founding members will lead this leg of the tour, discussing the unique history of the brewery’s location and specific elements of the brew process. Guests will sample Triton’s core beers, as well as a rare specialty brew.

2nd Stop: Bier Brewery and Tap Room : 5133 E 65thSt. : Indianapolis, IN 46220

One of Indianapolis’s smallest, and most beloved, breweries. What’s it like being a small brewery in a big brewer’s world? Sample the beers, and learn more from one of the brewers themselves!

3th Stop : Sun King : 135 N. College Ave. : Indianapolis, IN 46202

Sun King is not only one of the goliaths of Indy’s local brew scene, they have been growing their sour and barrel aging program by leaps and bounds for years now. Sample some rare brews, as well as local favorites, and learn just what it takes to make some of their most sought after beers.

4th Drop off : Flat 12 Bierwerks: 414 Dorman St. : Indianapolis, IN 46202

Come walk the floor of Flat 12 with a brewer, and learn more about how they create their classic brews, as well as their notoriously unique limited release selections. We’ve got their brews to sample, and some excellent surprises to take home!

5st Drop Off: Brugge Brasserie : 1011 Westfield Blvd : Indianapolis, IN 46220

We know at this point you’ll be getting hungry! Learn about brewing Belgian style ales, chow down on a fabulous spread provided by Brugge Brasserie, and enjoy samples from their phenomenal selection of beers!

Tour will drop guests back at their Cars at:
Kahn's Fine Wines & Spirits: 2342 W. 86th St Indianapolis, IN 46260

Cheers to Camp!

Sun King Brewing is hosting Cheers to Camp! to benefit Camp Delafield on May 15th from 4:30-7pm.

Come by Sun King to enjoy pints of fresh, local beer, and be sure to visit the Taco Lassi food truck. We will have your favorite relay races and camp games running through the evening. Grab a group of friends, and join us for some fun!

Camp Delafield is a program of the Dyslexia Institute of Indiana.
This will be the 24th summer of Camp Delafield, a summer camp for kids ages 7-12 with dyslexia. We have two four-week sessions each summer, and each session holds 30 campers. The mornings are academic rotations – one-on-one tutoring, written expression, math, and art. The afternoons are full of field trips, swimming, sports, activity groups, etc.
The campers make academic strides, but most importantly, they leave with new friends and an improved self-confidence.

Rock'n' Pint at Black Acre - May 16th 6-9

Second Annual Midwest Sour Wild Funk Fest

Upland Brewing Company will host their second annual Sour Wild Funk Fest, the Midwest's premier wild ale festival, on Saturday, May 11, 1:00-5:00pm, at Developer Town, 5255 Winthrop Ave, Indianapolis, IN. This year over 20 breweries will be included from across the country and world, with over 50 beers to enjoy.

The focus of this festival is to celebrate the wild ale category of beers, focused exclusively on Lambic, Flanders, Farmhouse, and Saison style beers and ales. These beers are finely and carefully crafted, taking months and sometimes years to produce. Some have a distinct tart or sour flavors, other have vinous qualities, while other have uniquely funky characteristics. This rapidly growing category of beers has had a tremendous impact on the craft beer community, and Upland is directly in the midst of that trend.

VIP tickets are sold out. General Admission is $45 and includes a commemorative sampling glass, and samplings of delicious craft wild ales, with paired meats, cheeses, fruits, and desserts provided by event partner Smoking Goose Meatery. Designated Driver tickets will also be available and include food and non-alcoholic beverages. Tickets can be purchased at www.UplandSourFest.eventbrite.com.

Dark Lord Day Help

2013-04-28T00:22:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone, kind of an atypical post here. If you were sitting at our table at Dark Lord Day and took a grey Marmot jacket home with you that wasn't yours, please post in the comments. I appreciate you leaving my keys on the table, but that jacket is kind of special to me. If you or anyone you know has seen my jacket (there are gloves in the pockets), please let me know.

Thanks and I hope everyone had a great Dark Lord Day!

Update: Josh from Flat12 is missing a grey and red Timbuk2 messenger bag. Please post in the comments if you picked this up or know who did.

Update 2: Josh's bag has turned up. Huge relief there. Still looking for my jacket, though.