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

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.

Random Beer Roundup - The My Beer Is Better Than Your Beer Edition

2013-04-26T08:48:00.000-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

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 Scotch Ale, BJava Brown, Bourbon Barrel I-65 Baltic Porter, 2012 Muletide (BJava Bourbon Barrel 1-65 Baltic Porter) , O’Rye-N Galaxy Pale Ale and Wit or Wit-Out You

GUEST BREWS

Crispin Cider (bottle), Brooklyn There Will be Black IPA, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Rivertown Death, Schlafly Coffee Stout and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

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 Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

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.

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.

From Bob at Flat 12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

-Available this week in the taprooom - Hoosier Brown Rye, a collaboration with People's Brewing Co. of Lafayette.

-Still on tap while it lasts: Experimental Hops (a series brewed with newly developed hop varieties) and 12 Penny Scottish Ale, a cold-conditioned Scottish Export ale, done in collaboration with Great Fermentations. Brewing kits are available at Great Fermentations.

-Coming soon: Taproom - Cinco de Mayo Beers, (early, May 2nd) - Bleeding Heart(burn) IPA, Taco Beer, Month of May, Hinchtown Hammerdown Lager. (detail - from 2012 archives) June: Cucumber Kolsch (tap, bottled)

Friday-Sunday, August 26-28: Serendipity Festival, Cloverdale, IN

Saturday, May 4th: TAP at TAF Craft Brew Fest in Lafayette (Tippecanoe Arts Federation)

Thursday, May 9th: Girls Pint Out, Ask the Brewer at BoomBozz Pizza & Taphouse, Carmel

Friday, May 10th: Local Biergarten, Festival on Main, Speedway, IN

Saturday, May 11th: Upland Sour Wild Funk Fest

Thursday, May 16th: Sequicentennial Celebration of the Battle of Pogue's Run. Tapping - Double Pogue's Run.

At Bars, Restaurants, & Carry Out

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Scotty's Brewhouse Mishawaka is now open! We have an amazing lineup of great craft beer on our 30 taps. Come by right now an enjoy a pint of Bell's Oberon for only $4.00 a pint on Thursday nights.

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog/225-4-23-13

Beer Events/Fundraisers

Brew Bracket Tasting Tournament featuring Belgian Style Beers

Date: Saturday, April 27th
Time: 6-9PM
Place: Tomlinson Tap Room
Participating Brewers: Upland, Bloomington, Bier, Triton, Brugge, Twisted Crew, RAM, and Evil Czech Brewing.
Tickets details: $40 participant (4 pack for $35/ea), 150 will be sold
Where can I stock up: http://bbbelgians-es2005.eventbrite.com/?rank=1

Upland Maifest

On Saturday April 27th, Upland is holding an all-day Spring Festival at the Bloomington Brew Pub. It's going to be an exciting time featuring the release of our Maibock, a Bavarian-style lager!

Don't miss the free live music including the awesome Shaggy Wonda, Bloomington's Elephant Quiz, and Kid Kazooski & The Bufoonski Brother's Polka Band. Rain or shine the shows will go on! The bands are a blast but we didn't stop there! Enjoy a hot meal off our outside grill including giant turkey legs and challenge your friend to a game of corn hole.

Don't miss out on this fantastic event to hang out with friends and enjoy great beer, great music, and a rockin' good time!

National Homebrew Day Celebration

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

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

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.

Tailgate for Nothing 8 | Recap and Thanks

2013-04-23T20:59:00.000-04:00

On Saturday at Sun King Brewing Company's back parking lot, the eighth and best-attended Tailgate for Nothing took place. A time to share beer. A time to share food. A time to promote the spirit of camaraderie through the love of craft beer.

"Pot Food" was the theme. That theme was taken quite seriously by TFN8 attendees. The gentlemen from Balls Brewing, for example, offered up steamed mussels and frites that were worthy of Brugge Brasserie's version. Someone set out a genuine Cajun crawfish boil. There was curried goat stew. There was even vegan stew.

And yes, there was plenty of delicious beer to go around.

Despite the chilly weather, old friends came, and new friends were made. Folks came from as far as Wisconsin. People who had no idea about the event stumbled on to it and found themselves having a great time. The ladies of Girls Pint Out came and brought cool swag along with some of the best chocolate chip cookies on the planet. Folks from Black Acre Brewing Company joined us. The Brewers of Indiana Guild held a meeting of its members at Sun King, and some of Indiana's finest brewmasters joined in the festivities after the meeting. Thankfully, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves as the sun managed to finally show itself mid-afternoon to chase away some of the cold.

All in all, it was an outstanding day.

Now for the thank you's--

Our enduring gratitude goes out to the folks at Sun King for allowing us to hold TFN yet again at their place. We've done this eight times now and hope that we'll be able to continue the tradition this fall with our ninth TFN.

We also extend a hearty thanks to everyone who attended TFN8. We enjoyed seeing familiar faces and seeing new ones as well. We hope you enjoyed the experience. We certainly appreciate all the great food and beer that you brought and are grateful to those of you who tidied up after yourselves before you left. A few folks left behind a bit of a mess, but we trust that they'll do better next time as our ability to continue holding the event at Sun King depends upon our courtesy to them for letting us use their space.

Now for the photo dump. Enjoy the scenes from the day.

Scenes from HBG Pint Night | April Edition

2013-04-19T22:39:00.000-04:00

On Thursday night, attendees of our April Pint Night battled the elements to get to La Margarita to enjoy Prairie Artisan Ales' Funky Galaxy. We thank them for coming out to share a pint and some camaraderie. Funky Galaxy was indeed funky, citrusy, and delicious as expected and lived up to the hype that has surrounded Prairie's arrival in Indiana. We encourage you to give Prairie's beers a try because they're truly doing some creative and tasty things with the Saison style.

We also thank Jon Rangel and La Margarita for hosting us. If you've never been to La Margarita and you're into craft beer, we urge you to go. Jon keeps all taps flowing with craft beer and almost always has something on tap that no one else in town has. He also does a great job with the bottle selection.

May's Pint Night is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, May 23 at the Tomlinson Tap Room at the City Market. The beer selection is yet to be made, but we'll update you when that happens. In the meantime, save a spot on your calendars for our first Pint Night that will feature an Indiana beer.

Here's what you missed if you weren't able to come to La Margarita:

HBG Random Beer Roundup - The Tailgate for Nothing Edition

2013-04-19T09:26:00.000-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

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 Scotch Ale, BJava Brown, Bourbon Barrel I-65 Baltic Porter, 2012 Muletide (BJava Bourbon Barrel 1-65 Baltic Porter) , O’Rye-N Galaxy Pale Ale and Wit or Wit-Out You

GUEST BREWS

Crispin Cider (bottle), Brooklyn There Will be Black IPA, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Rivertown Death, Schlafly Coffee Stout and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

Railsplitter IPA Grapefruit Zest Firkin Tapping at Triton Brewing Company, Thursday, April 25th, 5pm with KG’s Slider Station!

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 Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

First, thank you to everyone who stopped to visit us in Bloomington last week when we were in town at the end of the week or at the Bloomington Craft Beer Festival on Saturday. We enjoyed an official event at the FARMbloomington and some unofficial hang out time at The Tap with friends and other brewers. Btown is doing it right! Looking forward to 2014.

Next, we continue to add new locations across the state. As of this week we are in +80 locations and +35 carry our seasonal and limited releases in addition to Lift Off IPA. New locations in the last few weeks include:
* Indianapolis: 86th Street Pub, The Mouse Trap, Binkley's, Canal Bistro, Creations Cafe, Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza, Radio Radio, Revolucion
* Bloomington: Sweet Grass Restaurant
* Carmel: Fox and Hound
* Fishers: Simeri's Italian Restaurant
* Pendleton:The Wine Stable and Brew Co
* Zionsville: Patrick's Kitchen and Drinks

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.

Remember a full list of where you can find our beers is 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:

Available this week: Experimental Hop Beers (As Seen in BTown)* and Moustache Ride Red. *Pints only

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.

Saturday, May 4th: TAP at TAF Craft Brew Fest in Lafayette (Tippecanoe Arts Federation)

From Beth at Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis:

TAP at TAF 5/4 all day in Lafayette (beer festival), 2-6pm

Bitchin' Camaro Tapping Party at Sun King 5/9 w/ White Trash Blues Revival (opener) and Left Lane Cruiser. Caveman food truck (tapping party), 6-9:30pm

Sour Funk Festival at Developer Town 5/11 (beer festival)

Sun King Tap Takeover at Dorman Street 5/23 (tap takeover), 6pm-?

Popcorn Pilsner Tapping Party at The Cove at Victory Field 5/30, 6:30 tapping with a 7:05 game time

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men Brewery in Broad Ripple:

Thr3e Wise Men is now pouring Rocky Ripple Pale Ale! We are now adding this to our full lineup of house beers! Come by and try this new style that will be on our taps all year around. You can enjoy a pint of this amazing beer every day of the week for only $5.00.

Did you know that Thr3e Wise Men is now distributing to other Bars & Restaurants? We are offering our Snow Bunny Blonde, Centennial Martyr Double IPA and @Brewhouse Brown through Cavalier. Talk to your local Cavalier rep. Click here for more info.

At Bars, Restaurants, & Carry Out

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

At Patrick's Kitchen in Zionsville, our patio has been open and full the last two Sundays! Thanks everybody for that...On tap at the moment we have Gaffel Kolsch, Sun King Batch 888, with Kentucky Brewing's bourbon ale, Triton's Deadeye stout and Ommengang's Abbey Ale, La Trappe Quad is ever present if we can get it...and it is right now!. There is also Mission Brewing's Shipwrecked a double IPA, and Clipper City's HOP3..as well as Stone brewing's IPA and we are hoping to tap the keg of Houblon Chouffe first thing tomorrow when World Class Beers brings us a tavern head!!!!!!
In reserve we have a keg of SK Cream Ale, and Some Oberon and a Flat 12 porter...and other tasty beers.

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Scotty's Brewhouse Mishawaka is now open! We have an amazing lineup of great craft beer on our 30 taps. Come by right now an enjoy a pint of Bell's Oberon for only $4.00 a pint on Thursday nights.

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog/220-4-16-13

From Adam at The Trion Tavern in New Haven:

On Saturday, April 20 the Trion Tavern will be hosting Owner/Brewer Clay Robinson and Off-Premise Account Manager Eric Fear of Sun King Brewing Company for a 20-Tap Takeover ("20 on the 20th"). This will be the official celebration of Sun King's expansion to distribute their beers in Northeast Indiana at Northeast Indiana's Premiere Craft Beer Destination.

4 of the 20 beers will be available when we open at 11am and then the following will be tapped later:
2pm: Bourbon Barrel Aged Wee Mac & Batch 888: 8 Philosophers for the Cup
5pm: Foxy Jam Pants & Batch 777: Touched by an Angel
8pm: Bourbon Barrel Aged Maibock & Batch 666: Sympathy for the Devil
All SK beers will be just $4.75 and beers from all 38 other taps will be only $3.50.

From Keg Liquors in Clarksville & New Albany:

Here is the latest from Keg Liquors:

Stone - Imperial Russian Stout (California)

Founders - Double Trouble (Michigan)

Great Divide - Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti (Colorado)

Shipyard - Pugsleys Smashed Blueberry (Maine)

Hebrew - Rejewvenator (New York)

De Proef - Zoetzuur Flemish Reserve Ale (Belgium)

Colorado - Guanabara Imperial Stout (Brazil)

Colorado - Vixnu Imperial IPA (Brazil)

Dark Horse - Double Crooked Tree IPA (Michigan)

Leinenkugel - Summer Shandy (Wisconsin)

Sam Adams - Summer Ale (Massachusetts)

Schlafly - Summer Lager (Missouri)

Dark Horse - IPA Variety 12 Pack (Michigan)

Brooklyn - Silver Anniversary Lager (New York)

Beer Events/Fundraisers

HBG's Tailgate for Nothing 8

Tailgate for Nothing 8: Pot Food!

Saturday, April 20, 2013, 11 a.m. - ???

Back parking lot of the Sun King Brewery

135 N. College, Indy

Brew Bracket Tasting Tournament featuring Belgian Style Beers

Date: Saturday, April 27th
Time: 6-9PM
Place: Tomlinson Tap Room
Participating Brewers: Upland, Bloomington, Bier, Triton, Brugge, Twisted Crew, RAM, and Evil Czech Brewing.
Tickets details: $40 participant (4 pack for $35/ea), 150 will be sold
Where can I stock up: http://bbbelgians-es2005.eventbrite.com/?rank=1

Upland Maifest

On Saturday April 27th, Upland is holding an all-day Spring Festival at the Bloomington Brew Pub. It's going to be an exciting time featuring the release of our Maibock, a Bavarian-style lager!

Don't miss the free live music including the awesome Shaggy Wonda, Bloomington's Elephant Quiz, and Kid Kazooski & The Bufoonski Brother's Polka Band. Rain or shine the shows will go on! The bands are a blast but we didn't stop there! Enjoy a hot meal off our outside grill including giant turkey legs and challenge your friend to a game of corn hole.

Don't miss out on this fantastic event to hang out with friends and enjoy great beer, great music, and a rockin' good time!

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

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.

Ground Rules & Tips for Tailgate for Nothing 8 | Saturday, April 20, 11 a.m.

2013-04-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

We hope to see you at Tailgate for Nothing 8 this Saturday from 11 a.m. to ??? in Sun King Brewing Company's back parking lot. The theme: Pot Food! More details here.

Here are the ground rules for the event and some tips for you if you're going to attend:

- Weather. We all know that the weather in Indiana is unpredictable. Therefore, regardless of Saturday's weather forecast, we recommend that you bring a canopy if you have one in case the weather decides not to cooperate. Here's hoping that we have sunny skies and warm temperatures.

- Travel. The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is taking place on Saturday morning. The Race course is limited to the IUPUI campus. So if you avoid that part of downtown, you should be fine in getting to Sun King. If for some reason you're coming from the west side and would normally travel through campus to get to the brewery, maps of the Race course can be found here so you can plan your detour accordingly. And if you're participating in the Race, don't let that stop you from coming to TFN8. We'll be tailgating into the evening hours.

- Parking. When you arrive, please park your car in Sun King's back lot if there are spaces available there. Do not park in the main lot in front of the brewery. If there aren't any spaces open in the back lot when you arrive, plenty of parking should be available on the surrounding streets.

- Victuals. We don't have many rules for this thing, but one rule we expect everyone to follow is this: Please bring beer and food to share. The beer and food don't have to be anything super-rare or of gourmet quality. Just bring something tasty. Don't be a freeloader.

- Courtesy. Please pick up your trash before you leave. Our friends at Sun King are doing us a big favor by letting us hold TFN8 at their place. Therefore, please return their kindness by not leaving a mess behind. Trash bags will be provided by the brewery to make the job easier.

- Keep off the hill. The hill behind the parking lot is off limits. Please don't go there. If you do, you'll have to suffer Jason's naked hugs. And believe me, you don't want to suffer them.

- I gotta pee. A portalet will be provided on site. Please use it if you have to go to the restroom. Do not go inside the brewery to use their restroom. Of course, it's okay to go inside the brewery if you want to buy more beer, but don't go in just to use their crapper.

We hope that you'll come out and enjoy a day of beer-sharing and food-sharing with us!

Random Beer Roundup - The I Need a Beer Edition

2013-04-12T08:39:00.000-04:00

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

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 Scotch Ale, BJava Brown, Bourbon Barrel I-65 Baltic Porter, 2012 Muletide (BJava Bourbon Barrel 1-65 Baltic Porter) , O’Rye-N Galaxy Pale Ale and Wit or Wit-Out You

GUEST BREWS

Crispin Cider (bottle), Brooklyn There Will be Black IPA, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Rivertown Death, Schlafly Coffee Stout and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle)

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

#Clustertruck, Wednesday, April 17, 6-9 pm! Join us and our friends from the Food Truck Alliance.

Corks & Forks at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse to Benefit Second Helpings, April 18, 7pm. Join us at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for an evening of delicious hors d'oeuvres prepared by many of the city's top chefs, fine wines, a silent and live auction, and entertainment... while transforming lives through the power of food.

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

Watch for exciting events for American Craft Beer Week, May 13-19. Look for special events and specialty beer releases from your friends at Triton Brewing Company!

From Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

Upcoming Events
Daredevil Brewing Co tap take over @ The Root Cellar | FARMbloomington
Friday, April 12th, 6 to 9 pm

Daredevil Brewing Co @ The Bloomington Craft Beer Festival
Saturday, April 13th

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 seasonal 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.

Remember a full list of where you can find our beers is 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:

-Bloomington Craft Beer Week: Events all week. 8th-13th
-Bloomington Craft Beer Festival: April 13th
Special: Flat 12/People's Brewing Collab - release date, April 12th at Nick's English Hut. Bloomington Craft Brew Fest, April 13th.
Also:
Saturday, May 4th: TAP at TAF Craft Brew Fest in Lafayette (Tippecanoe Arts Federation)

From Beth at Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis:

• April 17th – The Time for Three Sun King Collaboration tapping party at the Catacombs in City Market – Tapping of Eternal Promise of Spring
• April 13th – Bloomington Craft Beer Fest
• April 18th – Chef JJ's Sun King Brewers Dinner at Sun King - look for an upcoming giveaway!

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men Brewery in Broad Ripple:

Thr3e Wise Men is now pouring three Seasonal Beers. We have our Old 59 Barley Wine, Two Sisters Carolina Saison & Saint Slater’s Irish Whiskey Stout. Come by and try one of these tasty seasonal or one of our 6 house beers!

Come check out our booth this Saturday April 13th at the Bloomington Beer Festival. We will be serving our Snow Bunny Blonde, @Brewhouse Brown & Centennial Martyr Double IPA! We will also have some special tapings at 3pm it will be our Old 59 Barley Wine, at 5pm our Stong Ale and at 6pm Two Sisters Carolina Saison. See you all there!!

Did you know that Thr3e Wise Men is now distributing to other Bars & Restaurants? We are offering our Snow Bunny Blonde, Centennial Martyr Double IPA and @Brewhouse Brown through Cavalier. Talk to your local Cavalier rep. Click here for more info.

From Roger at New Albanian Brewing Company:

NABC is seeking a full-time brewery representative - apply online.

At Bars, Restaurants, & Carry Out

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse:

Scotty’s Brewhouse Muncie is now pouring Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy! Stop by on Wednesday and get a 48oz Pitcher for only $9!

Scotty’s Brewhouse Bloomington is serving Bell’s Oberon! Come try a refreshing pint on Thrusday’s for only $4.00!

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

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

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/events-blog/218-4-8-13

Beer Events/Fundraisers

Bloomington Craft Beer Week & Festival

BCBW 2013 is April 6-13, leading up to Bloomington Beer Fest on 4/13. Local breweries, restaurants, bars, and retail establishments will be hosting events all week. http://www.facebook.com/btowncraftbeerweek for more information on events and the festival.

Brew Bracket Tasting Tournament featuring Belgian Style Beers

Date: Saturday, April 27th
Time: 6-9PM
Place: Tomlinson Tap Room
Participating Brewers: Upland, Bloomington, Bier, Triton, Brugge, Twisted Crew, RAM, and Evil Czech Brewing.
Tickets details: $40 participant (4 pack for $35/ea), 150 will be sold
Where can I stock up: http://bbbelgians-es2005.eventbrite.com/?rank=1

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 + Black Market Beer Brunch Recap

2013-04-10T08:30:00.000-04:00

We at Hoosier Beer Geek are firm believers in occasionally enjoying a pint or two or more before noon. Indeed, some of our events, such as the Craft Beer Meal That Comes Before Lunch with Brugge Brasserie and Tailgate for Nothing, feature forays into morning beer-drinking.

This past Sunday, we continued our tradition of beer-themed events in the a.m. with our first ever Hoosier Beer Geek + Black Market Beer Brunch. The HBG + BMBB featured our beer selections (and one mead selection) with Chef Micah Frank's exceptional cuisine. A full house of attendees were treated to a menu consisting of a warm-up beer followed by five paired courses that presented traditional breakfast fare, but with Chef Micah's unique spin on each dish. Meals of this sort can leave one feeling bloated by the time the dessert course is over. But the brunch's portion sizes were perfect and, of course, delicious. So everyone left comfortably full and (hopefully) happy.

Our thanks go out to everyone who attended. We hope you enjoyed the brunch as much as we did. We also thank Chef Micah, Ed Rudisell, and the rest of the crew at Black Market for the amazing meal. We feel fortunate and honored that you hosted the event. And we thank Flat12 Bierwerks, Sun King Brewing Company, Daredevil Brewing Company, Black Acre Brewing Company, New Day Meadery, and Bjava Coffee for their outstanding contributions to the brunch. We hope that the future holds more brunches like this one.

Finally, we extend a special thanks to our favorite Manchester City FC fan and friend-of-HBG Don, who has attended every Hoosier Beer Geek Craft Beer Meal That Comes Before Lunch and was with us on Sunday morning at Black Market. Thanks for sticking with us, Don!

Don instructing us on the correct pronunciation of "Brugge." Take heed, Ted Miller.

Here's a rundown of Sunday's menu--

Flat12's Raspberry Walkabout - Our warm-up beer

Course One: Sixpoint Brewery's 3Beans Porter paired with French toast bites in crème Anglaise

Course Two: Sun King Brewing Company's Pink Taco Sour Ale with Scotch eggs and bacon

Course Three: Daredevil Brewing Company's Muse Belgian Golden Ale with biscuits and sausage gravy

Course Four: A beer float pairing Black Acre Brewing Company's Raspberry Blonde with cream cheese ice cream

Course Five: New Day Meadery's Breakfast Magpie Black Raspberry Mead, which is made with Bjava Coffee, paired with chocolate-toffee saltines

Vegetarians, you need not have despaired because Black Market cooked up fantastic vegetarian substitutions for the meat-based dishes--

Course Two, vegetarian-style -- A lovely tomato sauce and grilled green onions substituted for the bacon

Course Three, vegetarian-style -- Mushroom gravy with tofu substituted for the sausage gravy

Spring Storms, SnoFros, and the Fabled Colorado Sun

2013-04-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

As I rocket up the Northwest Parkway from Denver International Airport to Boulder, ashen clouds drift over the mountains and plant themselves above the highway, hovering so closely to the ground that they nearly cling to the pavement. The robo-voice in the airport shuttle bus boasted in a faux-John Wayne cadence that Colorado sees sunshine 300 days a year. And it's certainly dry here, drier than I remember Colorado being. But today is one of the other 65 days because rain has arrived. It pelts my scurrying armadillo of a rental car as I close in on my destination.

The Northwest Parkway eventually joins the Denver-Boulder Turnpike and enters Boulder, weaving by the burnt reds and browns of the University of Colorado campus. Nearby, strip malls and national chains confront me. I've seen that Barnes & Noble, that Einstein Bros., that Whole Foods Market, that Starbucks before. Were it not for the beauty of the foothills and the Flatirons rising over the college and city, I might despair at the dull sameness of the commerce.

My trek terminates in downtown Boulder. Unlike the outlying areas of the city, here independent shops and restaurants abound. To be sure, a Rise-of-the-Creative-Class ubiquity exists here, especially among the businesses that cluster along the Pearl Street Pedestrian Mall. A café called Snooze in Boulder is Café Patachou in Indianapolis. Pizzeria Locale is Pizzology or Napolese. Trattoria on Pearl is Ambrosia or Mama Carolla's. Atlas Purveyors is Hubbard & Cravens or Foundry Provisions. Yet it's important to remember that Boulder was creative class before creative class was cool. Boulder is a pioneer, not a coattail rider like so many other cities that have rushed to join the new urbanism.

Boulder. Home to the Brewers Association. Birthplace of Chuck Pagano, beloved by Colts fans. Home of the aforementioned University of Colorado, place of higher learning and perennial favorite in the "best party school" category. A hippie haven. The dream of the '60s is alive in Boulder. Is Boulder the Bloomington of the Rockies, or is Bloomington the Boulder of the Hoosier State?

And then there are Boulder's breweries.

To my good fortune, the storied Colorado sun has revealed itself upon my arrival in town. So after I stash my bags at the nineteenth century-era behemoth serving as my hotel, I bolt for West Flanders Brewing Company, which is two blocks away on the Pearl Street Mall. This brewpub's Belgian-style beers quench one's thirst for Flemish ales. To cite but one example, a beer called Angry Monk brings to mind the Trappist beers that Belgium is known for, the blonde brew leaving lingering notes of bananas and pepper on the tongue. It's not quite Orval, but it's more than an acceptable substitute. Wasabi deviled eggs and a plate of poutine prove to be the perfect culinary companion.

Late afternoon turns into evening as I stroll up Pearl Street to the venerable Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery. The pub's vibe brings to mind the Broad Ripple Brewpub, but less English and more hippie. Perhaps Louisville's Cumberland Brews is a closer analogue. Walk in and there's no place to sit at the short bar because there are no barstools. Stand and consume your pint, take a booth beside a tie-dye tapestry, or head outside for alfresco imbibing. Alfresco it is. I cannot pass up the chance to drink Boulder's beers in the setting Colorado sun. Half-pints during happy hour, which is much longer than an hour in Boulder. Half-pint number one is Korova Cream Stout on nitro. Silky, sweet, and chocolaty, not brutal like the patrons of its milk bar namesake. Resinous Rye IPA is the second half-pint--creamy, unfiltered, and piney as expected.

The next day brings a long day of work and, at blessed happy hour, another opportunity for Boulder's highly-touted beers. No opportunity to go far afield because an early day beckons tomorrow, so a restaurant pint it will have to be. Leaf is the name of the establishment. Vegetarian fare is its forte. This is Boulder after all. A veggie reuben? Why yes, let's see if it can compete with the Chicago Diner's renowned Radical Reuben. What beverage to accompany it? A spring snowstorm approaches, so a winter beer seems appropriate. Twisted Pine's Pearl Street Porter. Baltic. Smoky. Malty. Sweet. If Lithuanian weather is coming, I might as well drink like the Lithuanians. And the reuben? Good, but Chicago Diner is still the champion.

The snow comes that evening. And comes. And comes. Twenty-five miles south in Denver, our nation's best eleven resume their quest for a berth in the 2014 World Cup. An early goal for Deuce. In the second half, the referee almost calls the game because of the blizzard. But the players implore him to continue, and the game goes on. After 90, the result stands. The USA wins and the SnoFro is born in a match that will long be remembered.

The snow continues the next day. Come midday it is done. Evening arrives and a choice must be made. Limited time, limited options. It's either one brewery or another. Avery Brewing Company or Boulder Beer Company. A or B. I've had both A and B, and my apologies B, but A wins because, well, I've had A's beers and they are phenomenal. If I leave without visiting A's premises, I will forever regret it. So it's off to Avery in the already-melting snow. Yes, the sun shines again.

Avery sits on Boulder's outskirts in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it spot. Welcome to Three Floyds' western twin, another brewery in an industrial park. The taproom is a welcoming space, staffed by amiable and attentive servers who know their craft beer shit inside and out. And the beers? A murderers' row of brews. Beers like Bolder Weisse, a Berliner weisse that needs no syrup because it's exceptional alone, a tad more sour than your typical Berliner weisse. Beers like Eremita V, a sour ale in the style of Flemish browns, a beer that almost puts BFM's Abbaye de St. Bon-Chien to shame, a beer produced from an exquisite blend aged in Cabernet, Zinfandel, and whiskey barrels. And the finale, Lilikoi Kopolo, a Belgian-style wheat infused with passion fruit and well-paired with a bowl of calamari.

The next day, more sunshine. The blizzard that produced the SnoFro has enveloped Indiana. It is time to return to Indianapolis to unfortunately experience the storm again. But at least I was lucky enough to bask in the fabled Colorado sun.

HBG's April Pint Night | Thursday, April 18, La Margarita, 6:30 p.m.

2013-04-07T19:58:00.002-04:00

We've finally scheduled April's Hoosier Beer Geek Pint Night. If you're looking for a novel beer to try, we think that you'll be very happy with our chosen beer.

Join us at La Margarita in Fountain Square (Murphy Arts Center, 1043 Virginia Ave., Suite 1, 317.384.1457) at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 18. Our featured beer will be Funky Galaxy by Oklahoma brewery Prairie Artisan Ales. Prairie is new to Indiana and is focusing their brewing efforts on the Saison style. Their unique beers are generating quite a buzz among beer geeks, and we're eager to try more of their beers (we had a Prairie beer called Standard at Mass Ave Pub, which we quite enjoyed). Funky Galaxy is billed as "a Galaxy-hopped Black Farmhouse Ale." La Margarita will be pouring the beer for $5.00 a pint.

What's the purpose of Pint Night? To provide the community with pints at a great price and, if you're interested in learning, to educate you about the particular beer on tap. In fact, we'll provide an information sheet on the beer 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.

Here's the Facebook event page for HBG Pint Night.

Session beer day: Low in alcohol, but not low in taste.

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

I vehemently dislike specific beer "days". I just don't find them very productive to the craft beer conversation, but coming up on April 7th is a day that I put my stamp of approval on and that is Session Beer Day.

What is session beer? If you know me you know what session beer is because you've probably heard me gripe about the lack of it for over two years, but for those that do not, I agree with the beer writer Lew Bryson on his definition of session beer:

4.5% alcohol by volume or less
flavorful enough to be interesting
balanced enough for multiple pints
conducive to conversation
reasonably priced

I think it really depends on how long you have been drinking craft beer and where you are in your craft beer journey, but once you've been though your days of the biggest hop monster you can stand, and what rare barrel aged stout you can drink, and how much face puckering sour can you stand I think most beer geeks eventually come to the point where I am right now. I still enjoy those types of beer, but in extreme rarity these days, and for 90% of my drinking I simply want a refreshing and low alcohol beer that I can relax with and have multiple beers with friends or at home and still function just fine. One of the best beers I've had this year was a 4.5% dry hopped Belgian pale ale that I would choose that over almost any rare or next "it" beer.

The craft beer culture is coming up around so many fads that seem to ebb and flow. The race for the hoppiest, highest ABV,longest barrel aged, most sour, crazy ingredients, and strangest hops are all part of the landscape, but those have no staying power in my opinion. Great beer has staying power.

Indiana has several breweries producing beer that falls into the session beer definition. One that makes several is New Albanian in New Albany. Their community dark is a full flavored English dark mild at 3.7%, their tafel beer at 4%, and they will have another beer available on April 7th that will weigh in at 4%. We get some New Albanian beer here in Indianapolis, but as far as I know I've never seen any of those or Abzug on tap here in Indianapolis. A real pleasure though this summer if you can get down to the Bank Street Brewhouse and get a pint of Community Dark and sit outside. That is good living right there.

Here is a list of Indiana beers I can think of that currently would fit the session beer model.

Upland Wheat at 4.5%
Ram Brewing Company Big Horn Blonde 4.4%
People's Pilsner: 4.2%
Brugge Brasserie White 4.5%
Shorleline Foggy Loggy Lager 4.4%
Oaken Barrel Brewing Alabaster Wit 4.5%
Rock Bottom Circle City Light 3.9%
Flat 12's 12 Penny Scottish Ale 3.4%
Crown Brewing Crown Brown 4.1%

I am sure there are more that are less than 4.5%, but I'm can't seem to remember any more. If you know of more that are below 4.5% that will be available on April 7th please leave a note.

I hope this will bring about more brewers to put on full flavored low alcohol session beers. The simple fact is that if a brewer can get maximum flavor out of a true session beer I will drink drink anything that brewer ever makes from that point on. It is truly a skill.

Please raise raise a pint of true session beer with me on April 7th, and hopefully many more session beers after that day.

Cheers!
Matt

Reminder | Tailgate for Nothing 8: Pot Food! - Saturday, April 20, 11 a.m.

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

Click to enlarge.
We're now a little over two weeks away from our semiannual event, Tailgate for Nothing. This spring brings our eighth edition, which will take place on Saturday, April 20, from 11 a.m. to ??? in Sun King Brewing Company's back parking lot. The theme: Pot Food! Complete details here.

We hope that you'll come out and enjoy a day of beer-sharing and food-sharing with us!

Random Beer Roundup - The Long Winter is Over Edition

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

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

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 Scotch Ale, BJava Brown, Bourbon Barrel I-65 Baltic Porter and 2012 Muletide (BJava Bourbon Barrel 1-65 Baltic Porter) and O’Rye-N Galaxy Pale Ale.

GUEST BREWS

Crispin Cider (bottle), Brooklyn There Will be Black IPA, Fat Heads Headhunter IPA, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Rivertown War, and Widmer Omission Lager (bottle

TRITON BREWING EVENTS

Beer Dinner at the Skyline Club, April 10, 6-8pm with a truly incredible menu! Five courses including Dungeness Crab, Local Rabbit, Chipotle Pork Chops and more each paired with your favorite Triton Beers. For reservations call 317.220.6302. $29.95 per person plus taxes and gratuity.

Beer Tapping: Wit or Witout You Belgian Wit, Thursday, April 11, 5pm we will be tapping a new Seasonal Beer for the Tasting Room. Made with Indian Coriander, Seville Bitter Orange, chamomile and a touch of rye, this 4.6% ABV beer is light on hops (12ibu’s) and huge on flavor!

#Clustertruck, Wednesday, April 17, 6-9 pm! Join us and our friends from the Food Truck Alliance.

Corks & Forks at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse to Benefit Second Helpings, April 18, 7pm. Join us at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for an evening of delicious hors d'oeuvres prepared by many of the city's top chefs, fine wines, a silent and live auction, and entertainment... while transforming lives through the power of food.

From Shane at Daredevil Brewing Co:

This week we announced the inaugural release of Rip Cord Double IPA. This release was planned to be available in conjunction with Bloomington Craft Beer Week and in time to pour at the Brewer’s Guild of Indiana sponsored Bloomington Craft Beer Festival on Saturday, April 13th. Rip Cord Double IPA is a 9.0 percent ABV, 90 IBU, 5.8 SRM limited seasonal release that represents one of our interpretations of the American Double IPA style. It will be available on draft throughout the Daredevil distribution footprint of central and southern Indiana beginning Monday, April 8th.

Upcoming Events
Daredevil Brewing Co tap take over @ The Root Cellar | FARMbloomington
Friday, April 12th, 6 to 9 pm

Daredevil Brewing Co @ The Bloomington Craft Beer Festival
Saturday, April 13th

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 seasonal 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.

Remember a full list of where you can find our beers is 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:

-Now available: Walkabout Pale Ale in bottles. At your local package location now or very soon.
-Taproom: Tapping 12 Penny Scottish Ale, a cold-conditioned Scottish Export ale, done in collaboration with Great Fermentations. (Thursday, April 4th, 7 pm). This will be available in the market on draft beginning next week. With brewing kits are available at Great Fermentations.
-Bloomington Craft Beer Week: Events all week. 8th-13th
-Bloomington Craft Beer Festival: April 13th
Special: Flat 12/People's Brewing Collab - release date, April 12th at Nick's English Hut. Bloomington Craft Brew Fest, April 13th.
Also:
Saturday, May 4th: TAP at TAF Craft Brew Fest in Lafayette (Tippecanoe Arts Federation)

From Beth at Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis:

• April 11th – Chatham Tap Takeover (Mass Ave) and the tapping of Maibock (all day with the tapping of Maibock at 6pm)
• April 17th – The Time for Three Sun King Collaboration tapping party at the Catacombs in City Market – Tapping of Eternal Promise of Spring
• April 6th – April 13th – Bloomington Craft Beer Week – locations are still being finalized
• April 13th – Bloomington Craft Beer Fest
• April 18th – Chef JJ's Sun King Brewers Dinner at Sun King - look for an upcoming giveaway!

At Bars, Restaurants, & Carry Out

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

We are looking forward to opening the patio soon, maybe by the weekend....Currently on tap we are pouring Founder's All day IPA, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel aged ale, Ommengang Abbey ale, and Gulden Draak 9000 (their quad), with Houblon Chouffe in reserve, representing Indiana breweries right now is Triton Deadeye Stout, Bloomington Brewing Ruby Bloom amber ale, Chris Johnson's People's Pilsner from People's Brewing, and Sun King ESB Druid and SK Cream Ale, with their Foxy Jam Pants pale waiting in the wings...in addition we are pouring Shipwrecked DIPA from Mission Brewing in CA, and when it blows we will tap the Clipper City Loose Cannon IPA....
Think Patio!!!

From Mike at Yogi's in Bloomington:

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

Beer Events/Fundraisers

Bloomington Craft Beer Week & Festival

BCBW 2013 is April 6-13, leading up to Bloomington Beer Fest on 4/13. Local breweries, restaurants, bars, and retail establishments will be hosting events all week. http://www.facebook.com/btowncraftbeerweek for more information on events and the festival.

Brew Bracket Tasting Tournament featuring Belgian Style Beers

Date: Saturday, April 27th
Time: 6-9PM
Place: Tomlinson Tap Room
Participating Brewers: Upland, Bloomington, Bier, Triton, Brugge, Twisted Crew, RAM, and Evil Czech Brewing.
Tickets details: $40 participant (4 pack for $35/ea), 150 will be sold
Where can I stock up: http://bbbelgians-es2005.eventbrite.com/?rank=1

Talking Wood: Andrew Castner

2013-04-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

Jake Wrote:

In early March, we had the chance to talk barrels and brewing with Andrew Castner. Andrew is the Head brewer at The RAM Downtown Indianapolis and Fishers locations. Although The RAM is a national chain, Andrew is given license to brew a number of his own recipes on the seasonal side. He has won multiple awards locally and nationally including a GABF medal and two Brew Bracket Championships in 2012 (Amber and Barrel-aged).

HBG: One of the interesting factors we discovered in talking with Josh and Poff was how the barrels are prepped. What is your approach?

AC: You know, that is an interesting one, because it depends on the outcome I am looking for. With a rinse, you lose some of the spirit flavor, but it works really well if you want to push more of the wood characteristics into the beer. But, if you want to get the bourbon notes with the wood tones in the background, then you don't rinse it. We learned this lesson with the Oak-Aged Big Red IPA. I am a big fan of dry hopping in the barrel with our house IPA. The first run we did, we did not rinse. So, it came out bourbon over oak with the dry hop. The second run on that barrel showcased oak and the dry hop. So, if you want that bourbon character in a big imperial stout, don't rinse the barrel. But, if you want some oak flavor with a dry hopped IPA, rinse it.

HBG: How hot does the water need to be for the rinse?

AC: You need to get the barrel as close to 180 degrees as possible. Now, you're not going to kill everything because the water can't get in to every crevice, but you can make it as safe as possible.

HBG: We see a few barrels tucked away, how many do you currently have filled? Are they mostly Bourbon?

AC: We currently have eight filled and are looking to fill a few more. We have been lucky because we have a really good relationship with our liquor distributor (Republic National) [Since the RAM is a Brewpub, they have Liquor on-site]. So, we have mostly Buffalo Trace, Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam. They have been great about partnering with us on events as cross-promotional opportunities. We have mostly bourbon, but have had some wine barrels too. The Barrel Aged Maibock that won Brew Bracket was in a local Harrison Bourbon barrel. I was really happy with the caramel, butterscotch, and vanilla flavors that came through in that one.

HBG: What projects do you have in the works with the barrels on order?

AC: We are hoping to take the ReplicAle (a Strong Ale) from this Winterfest and put it into four different barrels (Bourbon, Port, Rum, and Cider). We are going to fill those barrels and release them singularly plus a master's blend. It should be a fun event. We really like to do educational stuff like comparing the beers young and then aged like we did with the Ramageddon series in 2012.

HBG: Speaking of the Ramageddon series, which was awesome, were you the only location doing that or was it a nationwide thing?

AC: It was just us. Chris [Knott. Assistant Brewer] was really the brains behind that and did most of the recipe creation. We not only got to use it as a teaching tool for our guests, but it allowed us to test some new glassware. Because of that test, the tulip glass has now been adopted nationally, so not only do we get to push some of our customers, but we can also help drive the company a bit too.

HBG: With the eight barrels, are they split up in batches or are they all one-off?

AC: With everything we do, for now, they are going to be one-off. We just don't have the space. We have cleared out space in our parking garage storage area to store a couple barrels out there as well. We could get up to 16, but we are space constrained. Also, we don't have room for a forklift, so we're having to move them around on a dolly.

HBG: You guys are also storing the barrels vertically. Have you had any issues with the bungs coming out of the side?

AC: We have to make sure the bung is in there tightly, but have not had an issue.

HBG: Is eight barrels about the average you try to keep at one time or is that more or less than average?

AC: About four months ago, we were up near 12. We only did one in the first year, but we keep adding to it. The goal is to release a barrel aged beer each month. Since we do not do carry-out beer sales for these premium products, the barrel aged beers last a bit longer than they would in other locations.

HBG: On the note of beers lasting a bit longer on tap, do you think you get hurt at times by having the stigma of a chain?

AC: You guys know I am a huge fan of buying local. But, I do think we get overlooked from time-to-time. My goal is to continue building our seasonal offerings so that when people ask their friends, "Hey, I am staying downtown, where should I go?" That people say, "Go to the RAM and check out the seasonal board." Although we are a national brand, all of our beer is made locally. We do special events like tap takeovers and events. Those have been one of our main goals for the last three years. The RAM has been really great about granting us the freedom to do those fun things for craft beer fans.

HBG: Speaking of special events, I remember coming to the tapping of the homebrew recipe competition last year. Is that happening again this year?

AC: Definitely. We started it in 2011 to celebrate session beers. I think we were slightly ahead of the curve since session beers are still at least a year from hitting the big time, but that was the goal. Last year we wanted a session IPA. It had to be less than 5.5% in ABV and have IPA flavor. Our winner was Tom Wallbank, and the guys from Tuxedo Park in Fountain Square took 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. This year, itis Rye that we're after. The beer has to be less than 6.5% ABV and contain at least 20% Rye malt, but it can be any style that you want. We are lucky to have an incredible judging panel every year.

HBG: How did you start with barrel aging?

AC: Our first barrel was an Evan Williams 1792 Bourbon barrel. But, with Republic National, we have been able to get access to a wider variety. We started three years ago with a Barrel Aged Brown ale that was released for the 2011 Kentucky Derby. We released another beer for the 2012 Derby, but the Ramageddon project really pushed it forward.

HBG: A common theme we have seen in these interviews is alternating room temperature with storage in the cooler. What have you learned about that?

AC: it is absolutely necessary. If you want all of the qualities that the barrel has to offer, you have to simulate the seasons. As soon as we fill the barrel from the crashed fermenter, we warm it immediately. We typically want at least one temperature change and then it all goes on taste from there.

HBG: Both Josh and Poff mentioned tasting every three to six months, but going based on taste. What are your thoughts.

AC: With our setup, we taste around the 4 month mark and adjust from there. I agree with those guys that you have to trust your instincts as well to determine how often you need to check the beer.

HBG: You mentioned earlier how you can never get all of the natural bugs out of the wood with a rinse. Do you guys have any plans to intentionally sour any beers?

AC: It would be interesting, but since everything is so compressed in our space here, it isn't smart to take the risk. As long as I am here, we won't do it. It is just too risky with possible cross-contamination in mind.

HBG: What other lessons learned can you share?

AC: One early lesson was to fill the barrel with uncarbonated beer. You tend to create a large amount of foam if you have carbonated beer hit the uneven surface of the wood. Also, with dry-hopping in the barrel, you need to use an air lock or release the pressure from the bunged barrel slowly. That was a hell of a mess.

PS Andrew, thanks for the hops, we'll have our recipe and demands over to you at some point in the future.

HBG + Black Market Beer Brunch - now complete with menu!

2013-04-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

We've been promoting this brunch on beer alone, but now we have a menu to match the tap list!

Hoosier Beer Geek + Black Market Beer Brunch

April 7, 2013 + 10:30am

4 5 courses + 6 beers

Welcome Beer + Flat12 Raspberry Walkabout

French Toast Bites + Sixpoint 3Bean

Pickled Scotch Egg & Bacon + Sun King Pink Taco

Biscuits & Hamhock Gravy + Daredevil Muse

Cream Cheese Ice Cream + Black Acre Raspberry Blonde (Make Your Own Float)

Brickle & Chocolate + New Day Breakfast Magpie

$40

~~We're about 75% full, which means you aren't too late to RSVP but it will probably fill up very soon!~~ Vegetarians will be accommodated on the courses that have meat involved, so don't worry about that. RSVPs are required, we hope to see you Sunday!

~~To RSVP, call Black Market at 317.822.6757~~
SOLD OUT!