IndianaBeer

It's 2023! Selected Indiana Craft brewers thrive. No Alcohol really is a thing.

noreply@blogger.com (GregK) — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 21:17:00 +0000

February 2023. [400 words, 1 1/2 minute read] NielsenIQ’s data shows the market for nonalcoholic beer, wine and spirits grew more than 20% last year — and more than 120% over the last three years. The market now sees almost $400 million in annual sales. NA is a real thing! Several Indiana as well as large regional breweries feature no alcohol products. It's still unclear what impact "Dry January" had on alcohol consumption in 2023, after an early survey (Morning Consult) showed less consumer interest this year. One author (https://www.newsweek.com/alcohol-drinking-dry-january-results-1777470) referred to "damp January" when not remaining totally committed to no alcohol. Yet clearly this trend with spirits and beer continues! Some local breweries such as Scarlet Lane continue to expand! In early February, Scarlet Lane announced they will take over the space Black Acre (Irvington) was leaving, involve some of the former Black Acre crew, and continue a couple of the Black Acre brews! While some smaller breweries folded, some such as Feed Store in Bloomfield, IN, (https://www.feedstorebeer.com/) made a niche in their community as a local hub and remain in good shape. For years I've followed Iechydda Brewing, and I know I have to look it up to spell it, too. (http://www.iechyddabrewingcompany.com/) Owners Summer and Chip are two of the nicest people I've met and they put their heart and soul into success in Elkhart, IN. Of course, others have put their heart and soul into a business that didn't make it. Yet, these two seem to have a special knack for community, reasonably p-iced snacks, pizza, and sandwiches, and what we could call mainstream beer. If you want to talk trends for a minute, 'craft beer' in contracting in sales (fewer sales) according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association who send me their warehouse withdrawals trends from the nation's beer distributors every month. Only imports and low priced beers are actually doing as well as they did a year ago. Yet enough people still want what I always referred to as flavorful beer to keep what we often call 'craft' going! Cheers! Greg Kitzmiller Oh yeah, I remain a writer with several different writing projects but I am NOT Indiana based anymore. I DO get a LOT of information about beer in Indiana and I have a number of family and contacts who send me information. I also do get to Indiana on occasion to check on the scene personally.

Wow. Finally open?

noreply@blogger.com (GregK) — Fri, 21 May 2021 22:51:00 +0000

it has been a tough time and things change! But bars and tap rooms are opening up! NOW is the time to support local! We are pushing out information on our Facebook Page (LIKE Indianabeer) let's all get behind #supportlocal for those who can.

We moved then bounced back.

noreply@blogger.com (GregK) — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 15:28:00 +0000

if you found us here, look at our facebook page for now. indianabeer. not too much to say for awhile

Bloomington Craft Beer Fest April 9 - Update!

noreply@blogger.com (GregK) — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 20:10:00 +0000

Combine a beautiful, historic venue and allow Indiana craft beer to flow for a few hours and you get one super beer festival! This coming Saturday, April 9, the Woolery Mill in Bloomington hosts the Brewers of Indiana Guild annual Bloomington Craft Beer Festival with general admission from 2-6. The event has sold out for the last several years so check to see if tickets are still available at bloomingtonbeerfest.com.

Nearly 60 Craft breweries from all over Indiana will pour samples; many with their regular beers but many with very special beer! Here are just a few we would put on our list to check out!

First we have to give a big shout out to the "Locals:"
Bloomington Brewing always brings the regulars and some of their special beers this year include a bourbon barrel pale, vanilla Belgian dark strong beer, and rhubarb (think local!) IPA
Function Brewing has TWENTY SEVEN beers on their list; to include Mayan chocolate stout, orange IPA, Sour cherry, Chai brown, experimental yeast beers, a cascade single-hop, a brand new bitter, more + look for a cask of Hefe with pineapple and toasted Coconut. Brewer Steve says he is ahead this year but will have very fresh and tasty beer!
The Tap Beer Company has already announced plans to bring a Beatbox Samurai and an American Brett Ale along with others.
Upland not only brings their regulars and Oak Aged Belgian Quad, Oak Aged TBK, a Coffee Blond, Coffee brown and more!
And let's include Salt Creek located about 20 minutes down the road who brought a powerful double IPA last year.
Finally, Quaff On has a restaurant and brew pub locally and has really been delivering delicious beers. They will have their regulars plus a strawberry blonde

Then let's mention some of the newer brewers that are in this year:
Big Lug from Nora has a very nice session brown that let's us drink more beer.
Brew Link from Plainfield may be bringing their Belgian Wit (we hope).
Deer Creek has opened in Noblesville as a sister to long-running Barley Island and features a few different variations we want to try.
Hoosier Brewing has been around nearly two years and is moving to Franklin. We love their Indiana focus and ingredients! they've added a pina colada stout to their mix
Metazoa of Indy loves animals (donates a %) but loves been more. They opened in 2015 and will bring a honey weiss, dark mild, cream ale, their dubbel, an Irish red, a (wait for this name...) FrangIPAna Midwest IPA, and an American Red
Saint Joseph has been around awhile now with a very seasoned brewer and anything they bring will be a delight while their Belgian Blonde or Black Lager will be a particular delight.
Schnitz of Seymour has a session hefe that brings flavor with low %.

Of course, we often also gravitate to Zwanzigz of Columbus because it might not be complete without a ghost chili pepper stout but they will offer a Rauchbier we've tried that is truly made the traditional way!
AND Daredevil is ALSO pouring Rauchbier (5.2% ABV) but for the VIP session -- inspired by the Bamberg style that uses a Märzen base recipe with the traditional smoked malts sourced from Germany.

Union Brewing Company's "Are You A Cop?" - well, no it is actually a Porter but gets good ratings! They also will bring a Belgian Strong Ale and a Raspberry Jelly Donut Porter! along with others.

Two Yard has a LOOONG list including tapping a Black Japanese Malt Liquor at 4PM. They also offer a double pale (7.7%), Imperial Oatmeal stout (8%), and Imperial Red (11%!) plus more

Look for the Cask Section at the South End of the Building on 'high ground' where we'll find such beers as Triton's Belgian Blonde Ale with hibiscus and chamomile while Tin Man Brewing offers a Prickly Pear Alloy Firkin! Must be a trend because Two Yard (Indy) will have a cask of Belgian blonde with hibiscus & chamomile. Triton brings a pin of O'rye Galaxy w/cara oranges (hey, that's what THEY wrote).

Oh, and Broad Ripple Brewpub announced they willl have a Barrel Aged Red Bird Mild!

And, yes, Wabash returns with BaconFace Brown ALd (named after a dog.... I've just GOT to get that dog story!!)

Here was our highlights from 2015 CLICK HERE TO READwhich points out some excellent beers we tried!

And here is a look back at a piece written here two years ago that will likely whet your palate for some good brews this year! CLICK HERE TO READ

We get letters

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 18:07:00 +0000

Hello –

I recently purchased a New Albany, Indiana paperback book “Postcard History Series” by David C. Barksdale and Robyn Davis Sekula. On page 83 it shows a photo taken in 1907 during a flood. The caption reads “This building was located on the northeast corner of East Third and Water Streets. For years the building housed the John E. Meyer Saloon. In 1907, when this area flooded, the building was vacant., etc”.

Copies of 4 U.S. IRS Tax Assessment Lists for the years 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1865 show my Great Great Grandmother, Maria Eva Meyer paid tax for this liquor business. This would lead me to believe that she owned the business prior to John E. Meyer. Since they both have the same last name there seems to be a connection.

I have used an old 1925 map and it appears the location would be the same for the photo and the tax info I have. I’m thinking the building would be between 3^rd and 4^th on Upper Water Street, as below is how the Tax Assessment Lists read:

The 1862 tax info lists “Upper Water” and “Hotel”

The 1863 tax info lists “3 & Water streets” (twice)

The 1864 tax info lists “Upper Water”

The 1865 tax info lists “Upper 4^th and Water st)

My GG Grandmother married on January 5, 1867 in New Albany and moved to Louisville with her new husband, Charles Rott. This would explain why she sold the business. If your readers have any information, I look forward to hearing it.

Cathy Rott Nuzum

c.nuzum@att.net

This is the picture from the Postcard History book. The New Albany Beer sign seems to be an ad for the New Albany Brewing Co. - a continuation in 1886/1887 of the Market Street Brewery.

Dribs and Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 22:20:00 +0000

A short calendar for the rest of the month:

Feb 26 until the beer runs out near the end of March.	New Albany	New Albanian's Gravity Head. NABC Public House. Opening with Stone Brewing offerings.
Mar 26	Fort Wayne	Beer Bourbon Bacon Festival (now who can turn that down?) $11.54-80.12. 5-9pm.
April 2	Hammond	Brews at the Shoe. Beer tasting at the Horseshoe Casino. $37-$73. 3-7pm.

Rita's Nuvo column covers New Boswell in detail. And of course more.

More about Scarlet Lane from Indiana On Tap.

15 Scotch Secrets from Glenfiddich’s Malt Master including "small stills make better scotch.

2015 GoEuro Beer Price Index. $2 in Krakow, $6 in Geneva. No U.S. prices.

Dribs and Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 21:48:00 +0000

Finally, and finely, a brewpub with a bocce ball court. No Mean City reviews Blind Owl Brewery

Rita's columns have been about "Prohibition and Privilege" and "Coffee and Beer, a match made in Heaven". Of course, both have lots of other news. Her columns are always a must-read.

An Nuvo also has a timely review of "St. Paddy's Day Pubs in Indy" by Cavan McGinsie.

And an announcement that Metazoa Brewing Co. will open in Indy April 1st.

The defunct Terre Haute Brewing Co. has been sold and the new owner says he'll be up and running in 2016. Hmmm.

When you fall back this Sunday night, thank the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission for extending Sunday night sales to 4am.

State parks in Indiana could soon sell alcohol

The AB-InBev and SABMiller is still in the works.

Inside the Global Scotch Shortage. Single Malt's popularity is overwhelming what the distilleries planned for, what, 7 years ago. With prices looming can whisky futures be the next hot trading commodity?

The NTSB wants a nationwide .05% rule.

For Sale: Large Handmade "Game of Thrones" style drinking horn. Real cow horn. $34. On Amazon.

Zomething Different: The Zima Story

6 Delicious Breakfast-Themed Beers

Dribs and Drabs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 05:22:00 +0000

Rita's Nuvo Column spotlights Twenty Below, Black Acre, QuaffON, Big Lug and more. Last week she wrote about Black Acre, Fountain Square and, of course, more.

LaOtto Brewing is open. LaOtto is north of Fort Wayne. Video

Indiana Craft Beer Week is April 24-30. Organized by Indiana On Tap. They say it's the first of the kind but they probably didn't know about the BIG Indiana Beer Week of July, 2008.

Martin's Supermarkets in Michiana have increased their beer shelving dramatically. (Thanks, The Beer Is Good)

The Ratebeer ratings of best in each state are out. Winners: the New Albanian Public House, M. Moggers, New Day, Keg Liquors, the Heorot.

The state Senate committee has approved bills to increase the number alcohol permits in Hamilton and Boone County. Sunday sales for artisan distilleries. Growlers of mead and cider. Turns down Sunday sales again.

Beers to hit the state soon include Ballast Point (launch at Boombozz in Carmel March 8, 3pm. - Thanks Eric)

Meijer's is going to bring in Michigan beers. Bell's Founders, Short's, New Holland, Atwater, Arcadia.

Tallgrass Brewing is coming in via Cavalier.

10 Reasons to Brew Your Own Beer.

Whaaaaa? AB InBev is trying to buy SABMiller? Cost $100 million. Heck you can buy a presidential nomination with those bucks. Stock $ goes down.

Chicago's Field Museum has an ancient Peruvian beer on tap starting Mar 3.

Here's Men's Journal's pics of the best 10 new IPA.

Coffee fixes your liver. Well, it keep your liver healthier. Got to give this a try.

The Sandford Park Alehouse in Cheltenham is CAMRA's best pub in England. Runners up are a couple of perennials, The Drovers Rest in Carlisle, Kelham Island in Sheffield along with a micropub, Broadstairs, in Kent.

Marble's Chocolate Marble was named the Champion Winter Beer. It's a "strong mild" from a small small brewery in Norwich. "It embodies everything a great winter beer should be, packed with flavour, complexity and depth, but still incredibly drinkable."

Meanwhile in England, CAMRA found half pints are charging between 41p and 50p more for two half pints than for a full pint. They are not amused.

Tailspin fest, Feb. 20 - a great way to learn Indiana and Kentucky beers in a historic setting

noreply@blogger.com (GregK) — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 15:07:00 +0000

This years Tailspin Ale Fest in Louisville promises to be better than ever on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. Eight Indiana breweries (the venue is just 8 miles from the Indiana state line) are serving including Tin Man and Carson's of Evansville, Flat 12 of Indy and Jeffersonville, New Albanian of New Albany, 450 North of Columbus, Upland of Bloomington, Central State of Indy, and 3 Floyds of Munster. Kentucky brewers will come from far and wide including new breweries!

The airplane hanger at Bowman Field provides a great historic setting for brewers from sixteen states! Against the Grain Brewery of Louisville was part of the Brewdogs television series and distributes in several states as well as several countries! ATG will have a barrel aged wheat wine and a rye imperial stout along with others. Sponsor West Sixth Brewing of Lexington will serve several beers including a coconut porter and a tripel. Country Boy of Lexington will offer a Red Ale aged in sherry bbls with blackberries along with other beers. Goodwood of Louisville features a coffee stout on oak. Yet another brewery in a church has opened in Louisville, and 3rd Turn Brewing will offer a porter and a cucumber saison. Rhinegeist Brewery of Cincinnati, with former Indy brewer Jim Matt, will share a bbl aged imperial stout and a Belgian style dark ale. Louisville's Apocalypse Brewing, with strong ties to Indiana, presents a Pro-Am collaboration with LAGERS local New Albany home brew club. Dry Ground Brewing of Paducah, KY is so named because their building, an old Coca-Cola bottling plant was flooded by the Ohio River in 1937. They too will bring a bbl aged imperial stout, a Belgian style rye PA, and a tripel.

With over 200 beers offered from nearly 50 breweries to sample between 3-7PM this Saturday and a chance to help the Dare to Care Food Pantry the event will build on the three successful past years offering up Honky Tonk music plus several food trucks and promised sixty-degree weather this year! For tix, directions and more CLICK HERE Everybody get's a free empty growler from Liquor Barn.

Dribs and Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 11:27:00 +0000

The House Public Policy committee turned down the bill to allow carry-out Sunday sales. Cold beer still will be only in liquor stores and pubs. Everything stays the same. Tap rooms and brew pubs can still sell growlers on Sunday. link

Rita talks about Beer and Donuts, especially in Wabash with Wabash Brewing. Also an interview with Redemption Alewerks' Dan Gohr. New titles on the beershelf. And more.

Roger says the B.I.G. is looking for board members. He also has the lineup for Gravity Head that starts on Feb 26.

The Beer Is Good.com passes on that in north central indiana, Martin's Super Markets have added a lot of craft beer. link

Hammond's Byway Brewing aspires to be world-class. Opens today. more

Banana Flask. $17.63

Wine Enthusiast magazine has a long article about America's Mead Renaissance.

Why You Feel the Burn when You Drink Alcohol.

The 101 Best Beers in America (per the Men's Journal).

Canada's 12 Oldest Bars

The Rise and Fall of the World's Most Unlikely Pub. Yeah, it's near a tourist attraction but the hiking path over a 14,000 ft. pass from Machu Picchu takes four days. And that's the only way to get there unless you're a llama. (Porters are available.)

Going to the pub is good for your wellbeing - CAMRA press release about an Oxford study.

Find Love at your local this Valentine's Day - Another CAMRA pr

Winterfest 2016 the lesser known brewers and beers

noreply@blogger.com (GregK) — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 02:17:00 +0000

Winterfest 2016 by the Brewers of Indiana Guild is a great place to try new beers. Winterfest was held this year on Saturday, January 29, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds from 2:00 (early bird) -6:45. With over 80 Indiana brewers plus many guest beers it took a strategy to decide what beer to try. Simple math says that if there were 84 Indiana breweries pouring at least 5 beers each (Bare Hands offered 40 brews) no one was going to sample over 400 beers!
We started with breweries we don’t know as well, those maybe farther away or newer.

One of the first beers we tasted was Blind Owl Brewery’s Belgian Dark Strong. They used traditional ingredients, La Chouffe yeast, and candy sugar in this one to provide a nice slightly sweet heavy beer. Blind Owl has not been open a year yet and is known for Hoo Brew Honey Brown and None the Wiser IPA, both of which they offered.

Schnitz Brewery’s Wayne Patmore offered us the Schnitz porter, with very nice deep roast flavor – a solid porter. Wayne had been home-brewing for about 15 years and loves to brew all styles. He told us the IPA & Blonde sell best, and we’d clearly support the porter!

Heady Hollow is a north side Indianapolis brewery (116th and Allisonville) with a wheat, APA, IPA, and scotch ale who are now adding small batch beers to their line up. The 60 Horses Scotch Ale is named for the 60 horses William Conner’s Delaware tribe wife kept when she left him to move on with her tribe! If Conner was brewing scotch ale back then we hope it had the solid flavor this one had.

Crooked Ewe Brewery of South Bend brought their Glasgow Butcher Scottish with nice caramel notes. Brewer Andy Walton has been concentrating on 5 styles but is starting to mix it up a bit. Their brewpub has a view of the river.

Cedar Creek (Winery &) Brew Co. has been around less than a year as a brewery and offers a slightly bitter, cocoa flavored porter. Their brewpub and winery is east of Martinsville off of Highway 252.

Big Lug’s Kristofferson is a true to style medium hopped pale from the hands of Steve Ellis, former brewer at The Ram downtown Indy. We also sampled the King’s Jive Brown which was malty with a chocolate hint. Big Lug opened this past year just over the Monon Trail at 86th Street. It is owned by Sahms who have many restaurants in town.

BrewLink, originally a beer and wine supply firm, has a brewery with one of the more unusual beers we tried. Ivory, a partner to their Ebony oatmeal stout, is a ‘white coffee stout.’ This very rich and ‘stout flavored beer’ has coffee, British malt, vanilla, and cocoa nibs but is a pale, golden color. If you closed your eyes this would seem to be a dark beer. And no matter, it is delicious! We’ll have to keep our eye on the new cans in distribution, their taps, and their upcoming taproom in Plainfield.

Devil’s Trumpet of Merrillville , open over a year, gave us their Chocolate Taco imperial oatmeal stout. We went for the name and the beer gave us nice solid chocolate flavor in a deep stout.

Route 2 Brews of Lowell, IN, is only about 30 minutes from Merrillville and is a really new brewery, open just a few months, yet Brewer Chris Fast brews 8 styles and we tasted his Psychotic blonde which was a good beer.

Back Road Brewery is not a new brewery but since we were tasting northern Indiana beer, once we saw the Bacon Spire Red Rye we just had to go for it. What we particularly liked was the modest level of bacon which did not overpower the slight bite of a rye.

Deviate Brewing opened in Fall 2015 and, true to their name, love to take a slight twist on classic beer styles. Their Tiki Mocha Nut Russian Imperial stout with coffee, coconut and vanilla beans gave a wonderful tropical trip in a dark stout at 10%, but stood up next to their The Main Monkey Business Scottish Strong with coffee and banana. Yep, you read that right this was one deviant but delightful pair of beers. The new brewery near 96th and Michigan Road in Indy is one to get to.

There is no reason to pick 'the best' from these. It was a real joy to try beer from a dozen or so breweries we have not been to. But since Deviate, Big Lug, and Blind Owl are on the north side of Indianapolis they are worth a visit to try sooner, rather than later. And Northwest Indiana is just a hotbed of new breweries so... road trip.

We'll post a Part Two about some of the special beers from breweries that have been around awhile.

Dribs & Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 04:14:00 +0000

Here are five events to get you through the February doldrums

Feb 19	Hammond	219 Day (that's the northwest's area code). Hammond Civic Center. 5-10pm. Four breweries will pour $5 pints - 18th Street, 3 Floyds, Byway, Wildrose. Food, music. Free.
"Crowds gather for traditional burning down of health clubs at 2:19 p.m." and encouraging the Gary South Shore Railcats mascot Rusty to threaten to beat up the Colts mascot, just on principle."
Feb 20	Columbus	D-Vine Winter Wine & Beer Festival. At the Commons. 1-7pm. $20-$25.
Feb 20	Michigan City	Shelf Ice Brewfest. $40-$65. Outside - dress warm. 1pm+
Feb 26	Indianapolis	Indy (Pizza) Pies & Pints. At Ivy Tech Culinary School. 7-10pm. $25-$50.
Feb 26 until the beer runs out near the end of March.	New Albany	New Albanian's Gravity Head. NABC Public House. Opening with Stone Brewing offerings.

The Brewers Guild has a new Drink Indiana Beer app.

Rita talks about Beers for Musicals. Sun King and Clowes Hall pairings to, for instance, Guy Meets Girl. Plus Tow Yard and The Tap Brewing are making a collaboration Black Japanese malt liquor. Brew Tours in Hamilton County. And also a Winterfest wrapup.

Yelp's best Irish pubs ranks Nine Irish Brothers as best in Indiana.

A state law introduced will let state parks serve alcohol.

The 18th Street Brewery is moving to 5417 Oakley Ave in Hammond on the 5th. It will be a full brewpub with the brewing equipment from the award winning 5725 Miller Ave micro. Oh, and the old location will continue to be a tap house with noshes. The re-grand opening will bee noon-midnight Saturday, 21+, and cash-only until they straighten up the charge system.

Kroger Wants Alcohol Companies to Pick up the Tab For Its New Booze Organization Plan.

How Flint's Only Brewery is Dealing With the Water Crisis.

Italian Monks are brewing and sending (soon?) their Belgian-style beers here.

This Dutch Machine Lets You Automatically Brew Your Own Beer. $2220. Not in production - looking for financing. Makes 5 litre batches. Controlled by iPhone apps. Good luck.

Winterfest 8 By Brewers of Indiana Guild another great success

noreply@blogger.com (GregK) — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 01:31:00 +0000

You could almost leave your jacket in your car at Winterfest on Saturday, January 30, 2016, the 8th annual. We counted at least 86 Indiana Breweries plus plenty of guests pouring a huge variety of beers. We knew Burn Em Brewing of Michigan City had decided a dozen varieties of beer was not enough and brought 16, but that was nothing compared to the 40 different beers from Bare Hands Brewery of Granger, IN. Looks like those from northern Indiana took this very seriously -- and each had some unusual beers. We'll have a report on some of the beers we enjoyed as we renew our notes. Here are a few photos that recap Winterfest!

The crowds were steady but lines moved quickly. There were real bathrooms plus porta-potties.

Dribs and Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 23:17:00 +0000

Let's get ready to Winterfest

Jan 30	Indianapolis	Brewers of Indiana Guild Winterfest at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. 101 breweries. 3-6:45pm. $40.
Jan 30	Dayton OH	Brew Ha-Ha. $35-$50. 6-10pm.

Early bird Winterfest tickets are sold out. General admission $40 tickets are available at the website. There also a list of represented breweries there. Oh heck, lets copy it here

18th Street Brewery
450 North Brewing Co.
Back Road Brewery
Bare Hands Brewery
Basket Case Brewing Company
Bier Brewery
Big Lug Canteen
Black Acre Brewing Company
Black Swan Brewpub
Blind Owl Brewery
Bloomington Brewing Company
Books & Brews
Brew Link Brewing
Broad Ripple Brewpub
Brugge Brasserie
Bulldog Brewing Co
Burn 'Em Brewing
Carson's Brewery
Cedar Creek Brew Co
Chapman's Brewing
Chilly Water Brewing Co.
Crown Brewing
Danny Boy Beer Works
Daredevil Brewing Co
Deer Creek Brewery
Deviate Brewing
Evil Czech Brewery
Figure Eight Brewing
Flat12 Bierwerks
Flix Brewhouse
Fountain Square Brewing Co.
Four Fathers Brewing
Function Brewing
Goshen Brewing Co.
Grand Junction Brewing Co.
Half Moon Restaurant & Brewery

Heady Hollow Brewing

Hoosier Brewing Co.
Iechyd Da Brewing Company
Indiana City Brewing Co.
Ironwood brewing co
Lafayette Brewing Co

Mad Anthony Brewing Company
Man Cave Brewing Co.
MashCraft Brewing
Metazoa Brewing Company
New Boswell Brewery & Tap Room
New Corner Brewing Company
Noble Order
Norris English Pub and Brewery
Oaken Barrel Brewing Company
Outliers
People's Brewing Company
Planetary Brewing Co.
Power House Brewing Co.
Quaff ON! Brewing Co
Ram Restaurant & Brewery
Redemption Alewerks
Rock Bottom
Route 2 Brews LLC
Saint Joseph Brewery
Salt Creek Brewery
Scarlet Lane Brewing Company
Schnitz Brewery & Pub
Shoreline Brewery
St John Malt Brothers Brewing
Sun King Brewing Co.
Taxman Brewing Co.
Tell City Brewing Company
The Devil's Trumpet Brewing Co.
The Guardian Brewing Company
The New Albanian Brewing Co.
The Tap Brewery
Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Co.
Three Floyds Brewing Co.
Tin Man Brewing Co.
Tow Yard Brewing Company
Triton Brewing Co.
Turoni's Main Street Brewery
TwoDEEP Brewing Co.
Union Brewing Company
Upland Brewing Co.
Wabash Brewing
Wildrose Brewing Company
Wooden Bear Brewing Company
ZwanzigZ Brewing

Rita's columns lately have been

Centerpoint opens, Three Pints closes plus anniversaries and much more news.
Winterfest, beyond the beer.
Winterfest preview: Big beers and big expectations which notes beer that will be served this Saturday.
Craft beer and costumes at Winterfest.
Winterfest newcomers The new breweries you shouldn't miss.

She's blogger faster than we can post. OK Rita, you win.

The Brewers Guild's drinkin.beer web site has an app with maps of Indiana breweries, events, and probably basically their newsletter.

The Indy Star gives us 8 ways to get alcohol on Sundays. and Indiana bill would bring back happy hour (video)

Northewt Times — A House committee is expected to approve legislation Thursday that could enable alcohol sales at the Indiana Dunes State Park pavilion, regardless of consent by local authorities.

WTHI - New senate bill would help Indiana beer producers. Tax relief to Hoosier farmers of hops and barley and to the brewery's that use them.

Or on the negative side that's being used politically: "Local businesses can testify to the negative impact it’s had on the state’s reputation in the global marketplace. Doug Dayhoff, president of Upland Brewing Co. said that he’s experienced a downturn in interstate exports. At a big festival in North Carolina, some beer enthusiasts told Dayhoff that they didn’t want to buy his beer because they didn’t like “what Indiana stands for.”"

NE Indiana & Fort Wayne News - Sylvan Cellars Barn Opens Craft Beer & Cocktail Tasting Room. Rome City.

Keep Track of the Brews You've Sipped With This Scratch-Off Beer Poster. Printable image but note that Pop Chart Lab makes all sorts of neat products. A real ~~browse~~ brews eyefeast.

27 craft beer labels that are intoxicating to the eye

We hate to not completely respect a giant when they do good but this picture is just too good to pass up. AB has always had a good history of helping people during emergencies and natural disasters. In all, they've donated over 74 million cans of drinking water since 1988 (Scripps Media) They have already sent 51,000 cans to Flint. (Question? Does that bottled water going there from many groups including governments do any good when taking a bath or shower? How long can families live on sponge baths? Am I a pervert for asking that question?)

Dribs and Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 00:11:00 +0000

Here

Bloomington: Where to eat and drink. Featuring Function Brewing.

Deviate Brewing gets love in Beeradvocate. (Thanks Rita)

Rita looks at Flat 12's 5-year anniversary.

Tow Yard and Denver's Factotum are collaborating on a Peyton Manning beer.

HopCat is going to open a Louisville location to add to their Lexington taps.

Cold sales in groceries and gas stations has been shot down again.

But there's another move afoot to allow to-go sales on Sundays. A bill has now been filed - HB 1399. Last year it was so confused by amendments the author withdrew it.

Sale of alcoholic beverages. Provides that a holder of an alcoholic beverage permit who is authorized by law to sell alcoholic beverages for carryout may sell alcoholic beverages for carryout on Sunday from 7 a.m., prevailing local time, until 3 a.m., prevailing local time, the following day. Requires a sales clerk who: (1) rings up; or (2) assists customers in accessing; alcoholic beverages in a grocery store or drug store to hold an employee's permit and have alcohol server training. Provides that the provision that allows individuals who are at least 19 but less than 21 years of age to ring a sale of alcoholic beverages in the course of the individual's employment does not apply to dealer establishments. Establishes alcoholic beverage display requirements for liquor dealers of grocery stores and drug stores. Requires video surveillance in stores, other than package liquor stores, where customers have access to alcoholic beverages without assistance. Makes it unlawful for: (1) the holder of a liquor dealer's permit, other than a package liquor store, to sell or distribute mini bottles through a self-service display; and (2) a person who is the proprietor of a package liquor store, drug store, or grocery store to allow a purchaser, or any other person who is not a sales clerk, to ring up or otherwise record an alcoholic beverage sale.

The mainstream media is all agog that someone may have said that carryout growlers are illegal. Friend of beer, Indiana Senator Ron Alting plans to fix it with SB 169. WISHTV, Oh, it's just in special Economic Development Zones.

The AP has a story about Eli Lilly's in-house bar.

The Star talks about Monarch Distributing's "fight to sell hard liquor".

The 18th Street Brewing Co. is now in Oklahoma.

There

Hoosier Hopped Coffee.

Patoka Like Winery gets love in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

Elsewhere

Remember that 100-year old beer found off the coast in Nova Scotia? Well it's been tested and tasted. "Pretty good . . . tree fruits, cherry, sulphur, rotten eggs".

Remember the London Beer Flood of 1814?

Martyn Cornell's choice of 20 beer quotes. (Thanks Roger)

British health says people shouldn't drink more than 6 beers per week. Good luck with that.

Military Times laments the French Navy can drink beer on board. Not to be confused with baby on board.

Naked Capitalism posits that beer is under siege by global warming. Hop crops are already smaller.

Where?

Dribs and Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 21:33:00 +0000

Jan 14	Indianapolis	Bicentennial Pours & Pints at Deviate Brewing. 4-8pm. Free.
Jan 16	Indianapolis	Flat 12 fifth anniversary Beer Festival. 11am-8pm. Free.
Jan 16-23	Kalamazoo	Beer Week. There will be a bus trip from Goshen Brewing.
Jan 17	Fort Wayne	Winter Warmer. J K O'Donnell's. 1-6pm. $25 advance.
Jan 23	Hobart	Big Barn Beer Fest. $50 County Line Orchard. 2-6pm.
Jan 23	South Bend	South Bend Brew Fest. $45.
Jan 30	Indianapolis	Brewers of Indiana Guild Winterfest at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. 101 breweries.
Jan 30	Dayton OH	Brew Ha-Ha. $35-$50. 6-10pm.

Senate Bill 127: Authored by Sen. Jon Ford.
Beer excise tax. Lowers the beer excise tax rates to: (1) $0.035 for the first 500,000 gallons of beer or flavored malt beverage sold in Indiana; and (2) $0.075 for the next 14.5 million gallons of beer or malt beverage sold in Indiana; if certain percentages of the hops and barley in the beer or malt beverage are grown in Indiana. Adjusts the distributions of the beer excise tax.

Rita tells us about making Bloomington Brewing pickles.
Also about Bier's 5th anniversary. New brews from Indiana City, Half Moon, Bloominton, Upland and Scarlet Lane.

Headline: Court hears appeal from beer distributor

Headline: Indianapolis #20 Among Best Cities for Beer Drinkers
Spoiler alert. The other 19 are Portland ME, Asheville, Portland OR, Billings, Denver, Seattle, Wilmington, Missoula (really?), Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Austin, Grand Rapids, Rochester, Columbus, Omaha, Bend, San Francisco, Cleveland and Kalamazoo. Notice that Indy beat Spokane, Madison WI and Boulder!

Here's a bit about the new 3rd Turn Brewing in Louisville.

Mathew Muncy of Indiana On Tap looks at the Cider Act which affects tax on, you guessed it, apple (and now pear) cider. it lowers the various taxes including a surcharge on carbonated cider.

A pub crawl team from England's Black Country have been to 18,000 pubs in 32 years. This year they plan to visit every pub in Nottinghamshire, making 300,000 miles traveled.

Snow Beer is the world's best seller. It's from SABMiller and a Chinese company. 61, 626,620,000 gallons. Yep, that's Billion.
11 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Bartenders. Sorta dumb but fun.

10 Foods That May Disappear Thanks to Climate Change. Guacamole, Apples, Beer (BEER!?!), Rice, Seafood, Chocolate, Coffee, Peanut Butter, Wind and French Fries. That's a scary list - could we live without these?

Dribs and Drabs Pen-Ultimate 2015 edition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 07:15:00 +0000

At the end of 2015 Indiana has 50 breweries, 66 brewpubs and one brew on premise. In planning are 20 more breweries and 6 brewpubs. It's great that so many are setting up nano-breweries since the law allows them to make a living for one or two families by selling on-site and bringing in tasters with rudimentary food or food trucks.

Only one brewery went out of business - Cutters in Avon which couldn't pay their $77k sewage bill.

I gave a talk last month to the Indiana Legislature education program concerned mainly with the prohibition laws we have had in the Hoosier state over the last 200 years. I also made a big deal of thanking the 50-or-so officepeople for helping make brewing a going and thriving business.

Girls Pint Out is five years old. Rita tells us what GPO is. Bonus picture of seven, SEVEN, Hoosier brewsters. Plus a bit about Omar, late of Alcatraz.

Last week she passed on that Bloomington Brewing's Ruby Bloom can now drink itself. It was Floyd Rosenbaum's initial beer at the new brewery. And I feel old.

Plus a recipe for Bad Elmer's Chocolate Cake.

Tyranena's well-reviewed The Devil Made Me Do It (28% ABV) will be coming to Indiana according to USA Today. It's banned in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississipi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Washington. Could it be just random that most of these states think government should keep off our backs? Our poor, poor, inebriated backs.

Neal passes on the UKeg 64 Copper-plated pressurized growler. 64oz, $149. Sold out until February. Retro cool. Do hipsters drink slowly?

Beer Advocate reviews their beer cocktails from 2012. Not sure I'm enthralled about Pomegranate Fizz.

Brokkston Beer Bulletin has a new Periodic Table of Beer. The full-sized one online is suitable for printing. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any organization to the table.

A-B InBev looks to buy Arizona's Four Peaks Brewing. They bought Breckenridge of Colorado and Camden Town of England last week. Here's Roger's take.

You know about the rice and the Budvar dispute but what don't you know about Bud? Look here.

Headline: Top 10% of Americans enjoy and average of 74 alcoholic drinks per week.

Climate change impact: Beer. Per Naked Capitalism:

It’s sad, but true. Beer is already a victim of a changing climate, with brewers increasingly finding it more difficult to secure stable water supplies. According to a 2010 report commissioned by the National Resources Defense Council, about a third of counties in the United States “will face higher risks of water shortages by mid-century as the result of global warming.” Between 2030 and 2050, the difficulty in accessing freshwater is “anticipated to be significant in the major agricultural and urban areas throughout the nation.”

Some specialty hops used by craft brewers have already become harder to source, since warming winters are producing earlier and smaller yields. “This is not a problem that’s going to happen someday,” said Jenn Orgolini of Colorado’s New Belgium Brewery. “If you drink beer now, the issue of climate change is impacting you right now.” She said that in 2011, the hops her brewery normally uses weren’t available due to Pacific Northwest weather conditions.

Salt Creek has a perfect put-down of Bud. Brad on a Bud.

Dribs and Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 04:07:00 +0000

Rita talk about Grand Junction, Thr3e Wise Men's latest restaurant, Cedar Creek, and Oaken Barrel. Bier gets 6-packs. And I'm not even going to mention the Star Wars-themed beers.

Indiana's cold beer rules gets upheld in court and gets an appeal. FLASH. The Court of Appeals upheld the lower court ruling.

Really? I didn't know Foster's is brewed in Fort Worth. If you didn't either - and actually bought an oil-can recently - you can join the class action suit.

WSJ: How to Understand a Beer Geek.

Want to try some Stone beer next time you're in Berlin? Here's some details (and pictures of what will become an elegant brewery.

Want to try Charles Mingus' (a great jazz bass player and my hero in high school) egg nog? Here's the recipe.

Want to spend $900 or $49,000 on a bottle of champagne for New Years? Here's some choices.

Guest Post - Bud Miller's Favorite Brewery - Salt Creek

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 20:42:00 +0000

A new writer, Bud Miller, has moved to Indiana. He sent this along for your enjoyment.

Salt Creek Brewery

Bedford Indiana, located in Lawrence Limestone Capital of the world. Once known 1800’s into the 1900’s for the production of Limestone, and in later years laying claim to producing 3 Astronauts, the most known being Gus Grissom’s and his prelaunch fatality in Apollo 1

In the late 1980’s and 1990’s Bedford claimed to be the Basketball capital of the world. After a championship winning girls team in the 1980’s, and in later 80’s with the Damion Bailey years of basketball, best Known for being scouted by Bob Knight in JR. high school, and later playing for Bob at I.U.

A city or county struggling with living in the current day and age, seem not to acknowledge their best asset, their “Local Brewery”. With the Beer Brewing industry growing in numbers each Year, The U.S. will have 4,100 + breweries in operation in 2016

This will be the RECORD amount of Breweries since before Prohibition. There were only a handful of breweries that survived the years of prohibition and the ones who did were instantly huge when the ban on alcohol was lifted. It is only in the last ten years that the Brewpubs have started coming back to now take the lead over the number of wineries and in the numbers of visitors or tourist that they bring. Breweries today are one of the Top tourist activities in the U.S. today.

Salt Creek Brewery is producing some of the best Beers I have tasted in my U.S. and World travels. Including Germany and England, who are known for producing some of the best beers ever?

Salt Creek is in the top 20 Beers I have tasted in my lifetime; while visiting 5 different Countries and tasting well over 400 different beers, these guys are something to talk about. The Brewery is 3 ½ years old. And has just started distribution in Indianapolis as of July this year, by November they have 30 Taps across Indy, ranging from private owned companies like Ember and Twenty Taps to corporate accounts like Hooters and BJ’s.

Their newest distribution area being Jeffersonville IN, landing taps at Buckhead Mountain Grille and Rocky’s sub pub both sitting on the river front of the Ohio River. They still maintain Tap space in Washington and Orange County, like Paoli Peaks Sky Lodge being one of their earliest accounts, and the French Lick Hotel and Casino being the newest one in Orange Co. The Brown County Inn in Brown County carries 6 of Salt Creek Brewery’s Beers, and what would be more fitting since we sit on the banks of north Salt Creek.

Salt Creek does not only produce great beers. It has a great history tied to the building. They converted an old Service Garage that had been in this location since the 1940’s sitting on what once was the main Hwy connecting Bedford to Indianapolis. Now the Highway dead end’s ½ mile south of the Brewery. Sold back to the limestone industry in the 1970’s, the Highway was closed and the stone below it was quarried - thus destroying the historic value of the highway forever and threatening one of the most Historic Quarry hole in the State.

This is where the stone for the Empire State Building was quarried. So while visiting the Brewery for one of their great beers and great preservation of the service garage, tourist has been known to visit the cemetery to sneak a view of the Empire quarry hole.

So make plans to visit the Brewery, to try one of their sixteen different Beers. 6 of which are Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal Beers. Make sure you walk up to the ½ wall by the bar and view the fermenting beers bubbling away in the former alignment pit of the old service garage, you can almost touch the Fermenter from where you are standing. Fill a Growler and take one of the award winning beers back home with you, even on Sunday.

Dribs and Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 23:54:00 +0000

Rita tells us about anniversary celebrations at breweries. Bare Hands, Daredevil, Tin Man 18th Street. She also passes on that Greenwood's Planetary Brewing has been named to Food & Wine Magazine's 50 picks for nano breweries; Sun King is expanding distribution again (to the south and west); and a list of holiday beers from all over the state.

Indiana on Tap has quite a few stories freshly posted.
Sugar Creek Malt Co. of Lebanon is looking for an assistant maltster.
St. John Malt Brothers is going to provide a tasting at the Capitol (Washington DC).
A review of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout.

Inside Indiana Business reports that Thr3e Wise Men will open a new restaurant in the Courtyard Motel in downtown Muncie. They will also serve room service and can deliver within a 5-mile radius.

The calendar for the rest of 2015

Dec 12	Indianapolis	12 Chefs and Flat 12. Indianapolis City Market. 7-10pm.
Dec 16-18	Indianapolis	Beer Wars at Flat 12.
Dec 17	Greenwood	Fireside Brewhouse Ugly Christmas Sweater Party (and Karaoke). Reservations: 317-859-9505.

And here's a surprise. Beer, wine on tap for 9 Indy-area Starbucks. Given Starbucks prices, how much will beer be?

Anheuser-Bush/InBev is reportedly trying a new push to get their distributors to add more shelf space. In short, AB had 49% of the market in 2008 and this has dropped to 45%. MillerCoors now has another 31%. American craft beers have about 11% (including Sierra Nevada, Stone and the like). 9% is taken by imports.

AB's idea is to spend $150m in 2016 in "advertising benefits" to distributors. Maybe $200,000 each. The hitch is they can only carry craft beers that make less than 15,000 bbl or that don't distribute out of state.

The St. Louis AB distributor has already taken steps to rid itself of the likes of Deschutes. Will Zink, Lafayette Beverage, Terrance & Smith, Little Beverage, Craig, Dekalb, Best Beers, Bartholomew County Beverates, Working, Aalco, Orange City, Greenfield, Calumet, Hedinger, Mid America, Boone Beverage, Nadorff, North Vernon, Miami, Jay County Beverage, United of South Bend, Dever, Nelson and Tippecanoe follow suit? If you are using one or more of these for local distribution and are 3 Floyds, Upland, Sun King, or anyone moderately big you should be worried.

Meanwhile the AB InBev / SABMillerMolsonCoors merger is stalled in congress while the CEOs testify that the 80% of the beer market they jointly control isn't a monopoly. The Brewers Association took the opposite view. Report, report.

A Brief History of Moonshine
11 Surprising Products Made With Beer

15 Cities to Visit for Their Famous Beer Styles - Short notes about Bamberg, Dusseldorf, Brussels, Pilsen, Cologne, Tourpes, Buttenheim, Deisenhofen, Oudenaarde, Mexico City, Burton-Upon-Trent, Kulmbach, Dortmund, Leipzig and Berlin.

The BA says 1,800 US breweries are in planning. and 4,144 are operating. In 1873 4,131 were operating and very few sent their products outside of their hometown. The largest brewery at that time made 138,449 bbl.

Not sure if this is a joke or political BS but supposedly the Stedji Brewery in Iceland makes a beer brewed with whale testicles.

Years Past - England part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 19:33:00 +0000

The last post about our 2005 European year. This covers Feb 23-Mar 20, 2006. Thanks for following.

--------------------------------------------

Found still more new beers to try - mostly in London. The CAMRA Good Beer Guide lists over 4500 pubs in England and more than 500 breweries making real ale. We've just scratched the surface.

1648 Winter Warrant - From the 1648 Brewery. Fairly thick dark winter warmer with a touch of plum. On the edge of grainy. Hops are quite subdued. Still, only 4.8%.
Abbeydale Moonshine - Perfect middle-of-the-range bitter. Maris Otter and Willamette. 4.3% (R).
Arundel Hard Willie - 4.7%.
Bartram's Jester Quick One - Not as dark as it could be for that much caramel. Sweetness is too strong. 4.4%.
Bateman's Jester.
Beartown Polar Eclipse - Rich oatmeal stout with roast chocolate and sweet coffee notes. Quite good. 4.8% (R).
Belhaven 6 Nations - For the rugby series.
Blindman's Icarus.
Brecon County Bitter.
Coach House Innkeepers. Darkish, fruity. Strong bitter finish. 4.5%.
Dark Star Nut Brown Ale. 4.5%.
Eastwood & Sanders Maximum Darkness - Oatmeal stout with plenty of chocolate taste but a bit light in the body. 4.3% (R).
Enfield Ale - Golden with honey notes.
Frankton Bagby Barnstormer - lightish session ale.
Freeminer Slaughter Porter - Dark cordovan red. Maybe a bit thin on the mouthfeel. Perfect balance. Lingering dry grainy bitter aftertaste. Some dark chocolate. 5.0%. (W)
Fullers Jack Frost.
Fullers London Porter - Chocolate and chickory. Rich.
Hanby Golden Honey. Light colored pale ale. Hone comes through strong but not overly sweet. A+.
Harviestoun Lager - Yes, cask conditioned. A bit bland. Still working with noticeable carbonation. Warmish temperature doesn't suit.
Harveys Armada - Fuggles earthiness. 4.5%.
Harveys Best - Ditto. 4.0%.
Harveys Mild - Ditto. Dark color. Possibly the least alcoholic mild but still not weak. A bit sweet. 3.0%.
Harveys Pale - Ditto the Fuggles. Makes you wonder that Harvey's measures ABV in .5% intervals. 3.5%.
Harveys 1859 Porter - Quite dark and quite restrained. Elegant. 4.8%.
Hidden Hidden Depths. Black dry stout. 4.6%.
Hidden Old Sarum - Dark. Bitter. Malty. Seems stronger than the 4.5%.
Hobden's Naughty Ferret.
Hydes Heavenly Draught - Reddish amber bitter with lots of Fuggles and Goldings. 4.2% (R).
Inveralmond Independence.
Jennings Cockerhoop - Hoppy Golden Ale with Goldings hops.
Malvern Hills Black Pearl Premium Bitter - Modern Golden Ale in all it's bitter glory.
Marston Sweet Chariot Carry Me Home.
McEwans Champion - Scottish Ale. Strong, edgy. Fruit background. 7.3%.
Meantime Porter - Served on CO2 so some carbonation on the upper lip. Slides down. Nice but otherwise not notable, maybe because it was served too cold. Belies the 6.5%. (W)
Nick Staffords Hambletons Gold Fleet.
North Cotswalds Cockles.
O'Hanlon's Port Stout. (W)
Outlaw Roosters Oyster Stout - Rich, thick. Black. Black malt with no sweetness evident anywhere. No hops either so balance is good. 4.7% (W)
Porterhouse Chocolate Truffle. (W)
Ridley Prospect - Golden Ale. 4.1%.
Salopian Shropshire Gold - Bland. Creamy. Dark oak color.
Sharp's Will's Resolve.
Shepard Neame Master Brew.
Skinners Betty Boogs.
Smiles Old Tosser - "Traditional dark ale". Really too sweet. 4.5%.
Stonehenge Sign of Spring - Drinkable but greenish. 4.6% (R).
Tring Jack O'Legs. Wonderfully strong, wonderfully simple, wonderfully balanced. 4.2% A+.
Thwaites Bomber.
Uley Old Spot - Strong bitterness. 5.0%.
West Berkshire Good Old Boy - 4.0%.
Westoe IPA.
Wizard White Wizard - Golden or light pale ale, tough to tell which. New Zealand Green Bullit hops.
Wold Top Mars Magic - Progress hops. Amber hue. Light body. 4.6% (R).
Wye Valley Victory Ale - 4.8%.

Also:

Cotswold Brewing Lager - A brewery in Witney that opened in May, 2005 with vessels bought from New York. Their lager is the only offering and it's gaining popularity in the west Oxfordshire area. Uses Maris Otter with Liberty and Hershbrucken hops.
Leffe Radieuse - Nose: caramel, toffee, pear? Taste: Something darker. Red grape, sloe? Low carbonation. Mild belch. On tap.
Inch's Harvest Dry Cider - 6.1%.
Demon Crisis Cider locally made at the Red Lion, Isleworth.
Rum Cask Cider also locally made - The rum aging doesn't come through as rum, rather as a sweet spiciness. Excellent.

(W) - At the White Horse on Parson's Green Porter and Stout Festival.
(R) - At the Red Lion, Isleworth, Spring Equinox Beer Festival

My son and daughter-in-law joined us for a couple of weeks. Jon and I toured lots of CAMRA-listed and other recommended pubs in London. In the downtown area every pub is elbow-to-elbow with suits after work as people spend a couple of hours bracing themselves for or avoiding the butt-to-butt ride home on the Underground. This affected our drinking schedule.

Elephant and Castle - Royal Oak* - Harvey's only London pub. 5 beers on. Classic 2-bar with a busy public side and a sedate reading room on the saloon side.
Holborn - Cittie of York - Cavernous high-ceilinged old pub with big vats over the bar. Tiny 4-seat snugs with armchairs along one wall. Odd triangular burner stove in the middle of the floor that has no chimney.
Holborn - Princess Louise - Elegant Victorian interior. Sam Smith's pub. Met a very friendly local drunk who recommended several other pubs we'd already been to.
Holborn - Shakespeare's Head - A JD Wetherspoons we wandered into by mistake.
Isleworth - Red Lion* - Local's pub that was CAMRA's regional pub of the year many times. Also "One of the top 50 boozers in London". Apt description.
Lambeth - 3 Stags - Local with very comfortable couches. Just outside the Imperial War Museum.
London Bridge Station - Shipwrights Arms.
Moorgate - Globe Bar - Ehhh.
Moorgate - Red Lion - Have to get out of this area to find a better pub.
Tower Hill - Hung Drawn and Quartered - Fullers pub. Inexpensive food.
Waterloo - Hole-in-the-Wall* - 2-bar pub just outside the north door of the station. Good meeting place. Front bar was un-manned in the early afternoon but back bar was excellent.
Westminster - Buckingham Arms* - It has been in every edition of the Good Beer Guide. Very busy and still very friendly. Met a couple of people who recognized my Gravity Head T-shirt and gave us some recommendations.
Westminster - Red Lion* - Tiny and disorganized pub right around the corner from Parliament on Whitehall.
Westminster - Sanctuary Hotel* - Elegant place near the Abbey.

And a couple more outside of London:

Steeple Aston - Red Lion
Gloucester - Severn Bore Inn - Highway roadhouse that packs with people when the bore is running.

* - In the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

Inside the Princess Louise.

Inside the Westminster Arms after a hard day at the office.

Red Lion in Avebury. What a goldmine.

The Red Lion is dead center of the circle above - the largest ancient stone ring in the world.
Tourist trade is massive every day of the year.

Found a London brewpub. The Bunker in a basement location in Earlham Street in the west end theatre area. It's changed hands a few times since being built in 1994 by Freedom Brewery. They still make Freedom Bier. Yep, a "German" pub. All wood, silver paint, and long tables at least.
The beers are a Pilsner, Organic Lager, and an Amber which wasn't on tap. Both that we tried were decent but carbonated and cold, a bit bready with plenty of hops. Very light color.

Finally found a homebrew shop. They are really quite rare and Pops Home Brew in Cheltenham is one of only two in the county of Gloucestershire. Had a nice hour chat about the business. Their place would fit right in to the US.

Owner Steve and full-time business partner, his wife, sorry, forgot your name.

The proper British beer glass is called a Nonik.

Best beer names (tie): Quick One and The Usual.

Shepherd Neame is England's oldest brewery - from 1696.

Met a guy who says two pints of nitro-beer gives him a nosebleed. Thinks it's like the bends.

Europe Totals (subject to final audit):

Country	Bars	Breweries/ Brewpubs	Beers	Beer Festivals	Beer Museums
Austria		5	23		1
Belgium	20	4	82		3
Canary Islands	3		5
England	234	9	365	11	1
France	2	7	28
Germany	15	71	225	2	5
Gibraltar	4		4
Hungary	1	2	7
Luxembourg	1		2		1
Maderia	2		2
Netherlands	3		23
Portgual	1		1
Slovakia	4		7
Spain	8		7
Switzerland		7	44	1
Total	298	98	825	14	11

Years Back - England part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 17:14:00 +0000

Being the 18th or so episodic review of Bob & Terry's trip to Europe in 2005.

Only one more post to go.

This time we're holed up in southwest England in Stow-on-the-Wold.

Stow is a fine place to hole up. We got a holiday cottage (it's the off-season), met the locals, joined a CAMRA chapter, and saw one small snowfall.

Many of the pubs around this area have a regular range of real ale. Our local, The Queen's Head, has Donnington's BB and SBA and hasn't changed for years. In fact, of the 8 pubs in Stow-on-the-Wold, only one has a changing tap - a monthly beer from Goff's Brewery. There are a few, though, that always have a changing range. The Tite Inn in Charlington and the Horse and Groom in Charlbury are both just over the Oxfordshire border. Five of the CAMRA-listed pubs in Cheltenham, 20 miles west of Stow, all have different beers every time I stop in.

There are more winter ales available now but the new ales I've had are still mainly Bitters, Golden Ales, ESBs, etc. Golden Ales are a relatively new breed in England and are gaining in popularity, especially since the Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (basically an American IPA) won the Champion Beer of Britain at the 2005 GBBF. Cascade hops have also become more prevalent in the last few years and especially in the last year because of this beer.

Adnam's Oyster Stout - Served cooler than the bitters at the Plume of Feathers. Black, creamy, mild. Belies the 4.3% ABV.
Archers Hadley Hall. Non-hoppy Golden. 4.3%.
Archers Loverboy - Edgy.
Archers Old Frostie - Golden ale.
Archers One Eyed Snake - Either a dark Golden or light Pale ale. Maybe there's a fine line but they do seem to run together. The 3.9% ABV probably means it's a Pale Mild.
Arkell Moonlight - 4.5%.
Badger Bitter - First Gold hops, nice and earthy. Good body. 4.0%. A+
Bank Top Dark Mild - Way overdone burnt toffee. Roast. Very complex. 4.0%. (N).
Bateman's Hooker - Very bitter.
Bath Festivity - Dark but thin. "Hints of rum mingling with coffee and vanilla". Coffee aplenty. Not a favorite since the coffee is not mitigated by any redeemable character. 6.6%. (T).
Bath Gem - Mahogany ale with little hops. 4.1%.
Battersea Power Station - Porter. Thick and clammy. Roast. Just a touch of burnt toast. Complex. Not black or could be a stout. Maybe the rightful heir of the term London Porter. 4.9% A+
Battledown Brigand - Cheltenham brewery opened just a couple of months ago. 4.7%.
Battledown Saxon - This is where all the Cascade hops are going in Britain. A golden American IPA of about 80 IBU. Clean and tooth-scraping. Very unbalanced.
Belhaven 80/- (80 Shilling) - Deep brown. Malt and tart. A bit roasty. Even some smoke notes. 4.5%.
Beowulf Dark Smoke - Dry stout. 4.7%.
Beowulf Wig Laf - Malty, spicy, and acidic. 4.3%.
Black Sheep Special Ale - Deep brown. 4.4%.
Brains SA
Brains The Rev. James. 4.5%.
Brakspear Special - ESB with long bitter on the back of tongue.
Burton Bridge Bitter. 4.2%.
Butts Barbus Barbus - This was anticipated highly by the beer-savvy folk at the Rose & Crown. Didn't seem anything special. 4.6%
Buts Traditional. Organic. Light copper. Fruity. Fresh grass. 4.3%.
Caledonian Six Nations - Golden Ale. Brewed for the international Rugby competition.
Caledonian XPA - Golden Ale with East Kent Goldings throughout. Very nice. 4.5%.
Charles Wells Bombadier
Churchend Gravedigger. Dark malty mild. 3.8%.
Cotleigh Barn Owl Bitter - Full bodied. Hoppy start and slightly tart bitter finish. 4.5%. (N).
Cotleigh Buzzard - Dark ale. Smooth and a little incisor-coating. 4.5%.
Cottage Brewery Between the Posts. For the rugby season. Bold and fairly sweet. 4.6%.
Cottage Brewery Double Century. For the 200th anniversary of Isambard Kindom Brunel who built the first transatlantic steamship, the Great Western. Malty and seemingly stronger than the 4.5% should be.
Cotswold Spring Winter Royal - Dark Winter Ale with anise, coffee. Spicy sharpness. Excellent. 5.0%. (T).
Daleside Bitter.
Dark Star Hophead - Yellow tending to a green tinge. Not enough alcohol to be a Golden Ale. Maybe it's a Golden Mild. Hops are Fuggles and Goldings and aren't overpowering at all. 3.8%.
Dark Star Winter Meltdown - Dark copper. Brewed with chocolate and crystal malt. Goldings hops. Ginger. Bitter and dry. 5.0%. (T).
Darwin's Ghost Ale - Nice bitter Golden Ale. Crisp. Some citric fruit. Dry finish. 4.1%. (S).
Dorset Steam Beer - Not an Anchor "California common". A lot of Old Ale characteristics but at 4.5%.
Eccelshall On The Pull - 5.2%.
Enville Chainmaker Mild - Sweet licorice throughout. 3.6%. (N).
Everards All-Black - Light bodied stout named for the New Zealand rugby team.
Exe Valley Devon Glory - This same beer is sold in Devon as Devon Bitter.
Exmoor Gold - Deep yellow. Fuggles and Goldings. Quite bitter. Light IPA.
Frog Island Best Bitter. Another miss-named beer. It's a pale mild. 3.8%.
Frog Island Natterjack - Lightish colored bitter. 4.8%.
Fuller's Jack Frost - Winter Ale less dark than Young's without the fruit or spice.
Glastonbury Hedge Monkey - 4.6%.
Grainstore Rutland Panther - Black mild. Very drinkable. 3.4%. (N).
Grainstore Winter Nip - Mahogany barley wine with fruit and alcohol coming through strong. Great. It was the festival best of show last year. 7.3%. (T).
Great Oakley Harpers - Malt Shovel's tied micro. 4.3%.
Great Oakley Wot's Occuring. 3.8%.
Greene King Fireside - "Full bodied ale" - Dark ruby, fruity, and yes, full-bodied. Fruity. First pour of the day without cleaning the lines. 4.5%.
Goff's Black Knight - Pure black roasty porter. 5.3%
Goff's Camelot - Dark, dry bitter. Very distinct raw coffee bean taste. 4.4%.
Hampshire Heaven Can Wait. 4.8%. Had the first or second glass from a new keg and it was replaced with another title when I complained.
Hanby Black Magic Mild - Near black Dark Mild. A bit of red. Bitter but a little stale / oxidized. 4.0%. (S).
Hart Nemesis, Goddess of Revenge - Unhoppy and creamy.
Harvey's Sussex Best.
Hexhamshire Devil's Elbow - Full Pale Mild. Amber. Plenty of hops and fruity goodness. 3.6%. A+ (S).
Hidden Brewery Hidden Quest - New brewery near Salisbury but the server thought it was local so their ploy is working.
Highgate Churchill's Pride - Made for Churchill's Taverns from a WWII recipe. 4.3%.
Highgate Old Ale - Dark reddish. Roast malt. Hops. Complex. Big and brutal. Very low alcohol for an Old Ale but that can certainly be forgiven since it has all the other characteristics. Well done. 5.3%. (T).
Highgate Special - A great-tasting rich dark mild but it gave both of us gas. 3.8%.
Itchen Valley Hampshire Rose - Very nice Golden Ale with some red hints. 4.2%. A+
Itchen Valley Tower Bridge - Balanced to the malty side. This is the only viable reason to visit one of the Wetherspoon's pubs near the tower as it's made especially for them.
Lichenfeld Hoppy Days - Complete with a picture of an almost-Fonz on the pump clip.
Loddon Country Cheer. Big hop. Centennial. This brewery doesn't stint on the hops. 4.2%.
Loddon Hoppit. Centennial hops are distinctive to Loddon. 3.5%.
Marlow Rebellion Overdraft Ale.
Marston Sweet Chariot.
Mighty Oak Down the Hatch.
Moles - Lang Syne - Rich golden ale.
Moor Old Freddy Walker - Rich black Old Ale that could be a stout, but not at 7.3%. Slides down nice. Lots of black malt but not roasty, chocolate, coffee, etc. Just thick black.
Nelson Brewery Devon Patrol.
North Cotswold Resolution - 4.5%
Oakham JHB - Golden ale with Fuggles.
Oak Leaf Blake's Gosport Bitter. Not an old ale but as dark and strong as one. With ESB & Porter characteristics. 5.6%.
O'Hanlon Yellow Hammer. "Devon's Golden Ale". 4.2%.
Old Stables Black Beauty Stout - Thick. Lingering roast flavor. 4.2%. (N).
Orkney Dark Island - The program said "chocolate malt character" but it's pure roast coffee. A bit thin for a stout or a bit light for an Old Ale. Long bitter finish with some vanilla sweetness coming in late. 4.6%. (S).
Orkney Northern Light
Otter Mac Otter - Hoped it would be a Scotch Ale. Some bitter-sweet chocolate malt but pretty rough. 5.0%. (T).
Outlaw K.I.S.S. - Golden ale with lots of Fuggles hops.
Palmers St. John's College, Oxford, 450th Anniversary Ale - Proper ESB. Big apple fruity finish.
Potton Shannon IPA - Good balance but weak. 3.6%. (N).
Ramsbury Deer Hunter. "Premium Bitter". Jet black ESB. Strong and balanced with lots of hops. 5.0%.
RCH Steam Sale - Named for a train wrecking yard. 4.5%.
Ridley Pride of Cheltenham. Dark Mild - Brewed for the Jolly Brewmaster pub. 3.9%.
Robinsons Old Tom - Strong but with delicate flavors. Chocolate. Plum. Port. Long bitter-sweet finish. Best of show. 8.5%. (N).
Rooster's Yankee - A Golden Ale with Cascade hops. Yep, an American Pale Ale. 4.7%.
Sam Smith's Old Brewery Bitter - The classic.
Severn Vale Monumentale. Pure black mild stout. Roasty background. 4.5%.
Sharps Doombar - 4.0%.
Sharps Sharp's Own - 4.4%.
Slater's Supreme - Best Bitter category to a tee. Pump clip proudly says "2001/2004 Champion Best Bitter Bronze Award Winner CAMRA". 4.7%.
Smiles Bristol IPA - Quite pale Golden ale. US NW hops in moderation.
Spinning Dog Mutley's Pit Stop.
Spinning Dog Organic - Lightish mild. 3.7%.
Spinning Dog Top Dog - Moderate hoppy but otherwise not remarkable. 4.2%.
Springhead Charlie's Angel - Light pale ale. This beer from Nottingham is supposedly named for something to do with the Cromwell era rather than 1970s American TV. Don't ask me, ask brewer Shirley Reynolds.
Springhead Roaring Meg - Pale yellow. 5.2%.
Springhead Rupert's Ruin. 4.2%.
Stanway Bitter - Local Cotswold brewery. Very light color. Very very bitter. No compensating sweetness.
St. Austell's HSD
St. Austell's Tinners - Thick rich pale session ale. Caramel malt comes through. 3.7%. A+
Stonehenge Pigswill - Very nice.
St. Peter's Lemon and Ginger Spiced Ale - Ooooh. Way overdone. Lots of ginger and the lemon comes through harshly. Worst of show. 4.7%. (N).
Sussex Draught Biter. 3.5%.
Theakston XB - Rich ESB.
Thwaites Lancaster Bomber - Not a favorite. Notes, though are unreadable.
Timothy Taylor Golden Best - Not a Golden Ale. Also not a Best Bitter. Really a session ale. Light colored bitter. Delicate malt and hops combine to give a light taste. 3.5%. (N).
Twaites Original
Wadworth Old Timer - Buttery smooth and bracing. 5.6%.
Wizard Black Magic - Very chocolaty stout.
Westbury Midnight Mash - Southern Brown style. Fruity. Dry lingering finish. Good but not great. 5.0%. (T).
Weymouth Steam - 4.5%.
White Horse Dragon Hill. Dry, astringent, bitter. Lots of Goldings hops. 4.2%.
Whittington Cat's Whiskers - Local brewery. Last pull from the cask.
Wickwar Rite Flanker. "The unofficial beer of Rugby". Strong apple notes. Probably past it's prime. 4.9%.
Williams Fraoch - Heather grass and peat come through more in cask conditioned form than in the bottle. 4.1%. (N).
Windrush Ale - From a brand new brewery in Witney (15 miles east of Stow). In fact this was their first batch released. Lightish but full of malt and Fuggles goodness. They should do well - hope to visit. 4.3%.
Woodforde The Usual - As in "I'll have a pint of The Usual". Has to be the best name for a beer. Ever. The beer, though is a darkish pale mild. Thin. Almost watery. 3.6%.
Wychwood Dirty Tackle - Amber brown. Bold fruitiness. Burnt caramel flavor. 4.4%.
Wye Valley HPA - Hereford Pale Ale - Golden ale. Very bitter IPA of East Kent Goldings hops.
Wye Valley Victory - Buttery diacytl. 4.4%.
Wye Valley Winter Tipple. Dark ESB. 4.7%.
Wylam Silver Ghost - All Maris Otter with Bramling and Fuggles. Fresh grass. 5.0%. (S).
York Brewery Last Drop Bitter - Dark and sweet. 4.0%.
York Brewery Yorkshire Terrier - Well balanced and refreshing. Long bitter aftertaste. 4.2%. (N).

Also:

Addlestone's Cloudy Cider
Barker's Upsydaisy Real Perry - Acidic. No pear taste. Yuch. 6.3%. (T).
Brooke Farm Cider - Medium dry. 6.2%.
Brooke Farm Perry - Sweet and tart at the same time. 8.4%.
Weston's Hereford Country Peary. Lots of pear. Tart but within control. A+.
Pivovar Herold Breznice (Czech) Bohemian Schwarzbier - On the handpull at a JD Wetherspoons. Brown head. Massively chocolate and coffee and black malt. Sweeter than German schwarzbiers. A bit of dreg in the last sip. For £1.69, quite a surprise. At another Wetherspoons this same brew was labeled 'Herold Weissbeir" - maybe a typo on the menu board.
Regal Christmas - Belgian Brown on tap. Plum, fruit, grape.

(T) - At the Tewkesbury CAMRA Winter Ale Festival.
(S) - At the Dun Cow Supernatural Beer Festival.
(N) - At the St. Neots CAMRA Beer Festival.

We've been to many of the pubs in the Gloucestershire Costwolds but keep finding a few more.

Bourton on Water - The Mousetrap - Really a restaurant without a proper pub seating area. Still, a quiz on Sundays.
Cheltenham
- Adam and Eve* - The most "local" local I've been in.
- Cheltenham Motor Club* - A private club that has many members who race and rally. Pictures of member's cars in action adorn all the walls. Very friendly, especially since I can talk the lingo.
- Jolly Brewmaster* - A big circular bar dominates this ex-family house. Erudite clientele (quizzes, crosswords, puzzles, etc.). Good selection. Cider. Perry. Open all day. And best of all, it's only a block from a quilt store.
- Little Owl* - Pub, restaurant, and event hall with very friendly locals. Also serves cider and a perry from the bagged box.
- The Moon Under the Water - JD Wetherspoons chain pub. Dim cavern. No charm but quite cheap and has 9 changing handpulls with prices from £1.60 to £1.75. (Most pubs are £2 to £2.50).
- The Norwood (Lecklade) - Big food pub on a busy corner.
- Royal Oak* - Restaurant by day on one side and local pub by night on the other. Skittles alley out back.
- Sudeley Arms* - Victorian local in a downtown corner pub. Beer enthusiast landlord. Served the new local's beer from a bagged box until the quality turned out to be not up to snuff.
- The Swan* - Cheltenham CAMRA Pub of the Year 2005. A good selection of well-kept beers but the ambiance is similar to a not-very-well-kept neo-yuppy sandwich shop.
Chipping Campden
- Dover's Bar - Busy hotel pub that had a handpull visible through the window. The handpull turned out to be a farmhouse cider so it wasn't a complete waste.
- Eight Bells - Quiet restaurant bar with good selection.
- Lygon Arms - Hotel pub with indifferent service.
Ebringdon - Ebringdon Arms - New landlords just took over this pub in the center of a very small village. The locals helped them remodel, lose the posh dining, put back the dartboard, etc. We predict it will be in the Good Beer Guide in 2008. Recommended it to the powers that be for 2007 but now, in January 2006, it's too late for that.
Paxford - Churchill Arms. We were looking for lunch but food was really pricey. Had one beer and left.
Tewkesbury - White Bear* - Manically busy place with 19 taps (only 4 handpulls), pool table, darts, bar seating for 10, couches, 30 people, 3 dogs, 4 kids; all in about 500sq ft.

A trip to London found some more good pubs.

Ashorne - Cottage Inn* - Town local with no lunch in the wintertime. Wish the GBG was a bit more detailed about this.
Christmas Commons - Fox & Hounds* - Rambling gastropub with 3 taps.
London - Anglesea - Anglesea Arms* - Non-ritzy bar in a ritzy section of town.
London - Greenwich - Plume of Feathers* - Beautiful 2-room interior surrounding a 3-sided square bar. Beer is dear. Food is highly regarded and our quick lunch was superb.
London - Greenwich - Mitre Hotel - Town sports pub with fruit machines (a complicated gambling device) and big-screen TV. Crowded for the games.
London - Greenwich - Richard I* - Young's 2-room local.
London - Greenwich - Trafalgar Tavern* - Historic pub with a great Thames-side location. Busy dinner crowd. Still, the soap scum glasses turned me off.
London - Parson's Green - White Horse* - Much fabled of CAMRA and Michael Jackson song and story. It's been "found". Obscenely busy local house and meeting place. On a Friday evening it was shoulder to shoulder suits and 30-somethings. 5 handpulls are tripled on a three-sided square bar. Reasonable food. Good Belgian beer menu and some on tap. Fuller's London Porter on nitrogen(!). Early on Saturday was the same situation and the same 5 ales.
London - Tower of London - There's a JD Wetherspoon's both north (Moon Over the Water) of the Tower and south (Pommelier's Rest*) of Tower Bridge. Ignore both of these.
London - Westminster - The Speaker* - Corner downtown pub with lots of suits, lots of history, and a 70's refurb decor. Two suits on a break from the office block across the street sent us on a 4-pub scavenger hunt quest for the afternoon to the most distinctive London pubs they could conjure up. Thanks guys. We wouldn't have found 3 of the next 4 pubs without you.
London - Charing Cross - Ship and Shovell - A 2-part pub where there's a street running between the two halves.
London - London Bridge Station - The George - Timeless classic half-timbered sloppy-floor multi-room outside-loo Dickensonian pub in the heart of the city. Occupies one side of a galleried courtyard down an alleyway. Even more delightful is the £1.80 price for a pint of ale.
London - Faringdon - Ye Olde Mitre - Again, down a small alley. Claimed to be the oldest still-standing pub in London, from 1546. Front public bar holds about 20 people. Rear saloon bar, maybe twice that many. Posh in an 18th century way. This small alleyway and the half-dozen old buildings on it are actually part of Cambridgeshire, not London due to an ancient deed to some lord or other. This anomaly is actually still honored on the tax roles and the London police can only enter this half-block if invited.
London - St. Pauls - Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese - "Rebuilt in 1667" after the fire of London. Dickens haunt and he included this pub in his books. Now owned by Sam Smiths and seems to have been enlarged with a basement section since we last visited here in the 1990s. Old Brewery Bitter on the handpull for £1.70 per pint! That's the equivalent of $8 for a 4-pack of the 16-ounce bottles we can get in the states.
Northampton - Bold Dragoon* - Residential suburb local. Big place that doesn't serve food all day regardless of what the GBG says. Churchill Taverns chain.
Northampton - The Trumpet - A Wetherspoons wannabe clone chain outlet (John Barras). Only go here if you're desparate for cheap food.
Northampton - Malt Shovel* - WOW. One of the best beer pubs in England. 13 ever-changing handpulls. Friendly landlord and staff. Friendly locals. A blues band on Wed night packed the place. Thursday quiz night is £2.50 per person and that includes a meal. In three hours one night two casks ran out and were replaced with different titles. The owner also has started a small brewery (Great Oakley) nearby to supply his and a few select other pubs. Right across the street from the Carlsberg/Tetley brewery makes the smells in the rear beer garden magnificent. The Frog Island Brewery 2 blocks away also supplys fresh beers.
Stoke Goldington - Lamb* - Small town local known for food.
Watlington - Carrier Arms*

* - In the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

Michael Jackson's favourite London haunt.

The George near London Bridge.

I've been to local branch CAMRA meetings in Longborough, Charlbury, Cheltenham, and Chipping Campden. From 5 to 30 people come and they are quite similar to a pub crawl put on by the Beer Advocate folks in the States. Visit 2 or three pubs. Swap stories and recommendations. Excellent evenings.

The Tewkesbury sub-branch of the Gloucestershire chapter of CAMRA held their 11th Winter Ale Festival on Feb 3 & 4. On Thursday evening, the 2nd, they had a free preview for CAMRA members and about 200 people showed up. Got a chance to re-meet people from the Cheltenham and North Gloucestershire sub-branches and some folks I just met at pubs. 7pm to 11pm. Had 7 half-pints of Winter Ales and Old Ales. They had 61 available.

Another festival at a pub in north Oxfordshire, The Dun Cow, had 7 casks on the counter with a complete range of styles (Pale Mild, Dark Mild, Bitter, Best Bitter, Golden, ESB, and a Stout (or was it a weak Old Ale)). The names had a supernatural theme - Ghost, Magic, Devil, etc. On a Saturday afternoon about 40 people crowded into the back room where the heat had been left off to keep the beers cool.

Terry joined me at a beer festival in St. Neots, Cambridgeshre, and we had a very interesting evening at a table with two local bobbies. Even met the Mayor of St. Neots but resisted turning that into a photo-op.

Also visited the Stanway brewery with the North Gloucestershire sub-branch of CAMRA. 25 people crowded into the small brewing room before heading out for a dinner and drinks courtesy of the brewery.

The old manor house at Stanway, with 86 workers, had a brewery back in the 1700s. A small affair with iron kettles fueled by fire. It continued until 1913. Alex Pennycook felt the need to resurrect it in 1993 and moved into the room, replacing the iron vessels with stainless steel. He did, though, keep the WOOD FIRED kettle and now uses 50 tons of wood each year, all picked up from the floor of the surrounding estate.

It's an "almost 5bbl" system with just 3 brewing vessels and 3 fermentation/aging tanks. A small hot liquor tank added recently lets him sleep in until 7:30 instead of getting the fire going at 6am on brewing days. It feeds the open mash ton about the time a wood fire heats more water for sparging - the plumbing is original to the 1700s. It's all pumped back to the wood-fired tun, hidden behind a circular brick wall, for boiling before being fed back to the sparge which is by now converted to a hop back.

Alex uses a proprietary yeast that he describes as "doesn't rise or fall" so it's evolved to be not a traditional ale or lager yeast. He also uses a water-transfer chiller rather than the original oak pan that is now the floor of the upper story and now a store room. One last change is the use of mains water rather than from one of the numerous springs on the property. He "Burtonizes" this water with gypsum as is the current ale fashion.
10 pubs are served with his ales on their guest taps from one or two brews per week.

The boiler is behind the bricks. A wood fire goes in the slot on the side.

Finally, wrote an article for Beer on Tap, the hand-out bi-monthly newsletter of the North Oxfordshire CAMRA branch.

An American Beerwolf in Oxon

Warm flat beer. Maybe that’s how most American Bud-swillers think of Real Ale, but not all by any reckoning. My wife and I are Yanks from Indianapolis where race cars are more famous than the 9 breweries in this city of a million people.

All the breweries serve one restaurant each, brewpubs, and only 2 produce bottled beer. Most are big restaurant chains, the type that make up half the 2500 brewpubs in the States. Most brew typical American Ales, Wheats, Browns, Porters, and Stouts; while one makes only Belgian Abbey and Wit styles.

One, though, is a true British pub open now for 15 years and owned by a Yorkshire ex-pat named John Hill. The Broad Ripple Brewpub has two handpulls where cask-conditioned Bitter, ESB, Porter or Stout are served along with 6 other keg ales at any one time. Walking in, any Brit would be right at home. Order at the bar, no TV, no music, a darts room, oversized lined glasses, and lots of Fuggles hops. What more can you ask?

So why go to ground in the Cotswolds over an English winter? In fact warm flat beer is why my wife and I have moved to this area until spring. Winter warmers, barley wines, bitters, milds, ESB, great stuff. Since November we’ve had a chance to try over 200 Real Ales, visit 50 pubs in Gloucs, Oxon, and Warwickshire, and meet dozens of CAMRA members and other conversationalists at those pubs.

We’ve also met the owners of some of the smallest breweries around. Mike Garner at Wizard and John Pilling at North Cotswold Brewery have been very generous with their time, showing off their kit and explaining the idiosyncrasies of their business here in England. In some ways their job is easier than an American equivalent since guest taps are more prevalent here than at the Bud-Miller-Coors-only bars that make up 90% of the States. In other ways it’s more difficult because the shelf-life of Real Ale is considerably shorter than a lager or keg ale and planning must be a lot more precise.

It has been surprising to see some pubs that don’t change their beer selection at all. Understandable that a Donnington, Wadworth, or Hook Norton-owned pub will stick with the same range but even many free houses seem to have an unvarying menu. That’s why some real gems such as the Tite Inn and the Rose and Crown get our repeat business – every time we go there there’s a new beer or two on tap. (Most of the CAMRA GBG pubs in Cheltenham do the same so much of our time is spent there also.) We still have much of the area around Banbury to explore and are savoring the anticipation.

Come March we’ll be heading back across the pond with memories and ideas of how to publicize good beer in Indiana. The Good Beer Guide, of course, has been invaluable but Beer on Tap, The Tippler, ShakesBeer, and The Beer and Ragged Staff have also proved great tools to find the best pubs and best beers. Thank you very much for publishing them.

And a side-trip.

To repeat myself, we stayed in a holiday cottage in Stow. Holiday - as in being kicked out for two weeks during Christmas due to a prior reservation. Turns out hotel and food prices are WAY up during the holidays. Guess everyone in England treats that season as a "lets go see the family" extravaganza.

So we took the cheaper way out. A sea cruise. The QEII's final trip. And we can't say enough bad about this tub / floating potential reef. (It's now in Dubai and since 2008 people have been going bankrupt trying to change it into a hotel.)

Went to Lisbon to get my pocket picked unsuccessfully; Barcelona which was almost deserted; Gibralter so Terry could wrestle Barbary apes; and the great Canary Islands; and a horrible stop in Dakar for fuel.

Likely looking bar in Funchal.

Local wines and brandies. The three on the left are very local, being
formulated, mixed, and aged in the back. A dry sherry-based, a sweet port-based,
and a chamomile brandy aged with twigs and flowers in the bottle.
Spicy, big aroma, grape background, big alcohol burn.

We can suggest getting some chamomile and sticking it in some brandy. Wait 6 months for a real treat.

New Years Eve fireworks in Funchal.

And of course some beer. Brit on the say to Southampton to catch the boat.

Some Hampshire pubs:

Burghclere - Carpenters Arms - Friendly Arkells pub and great food in a very small town.
Southampton
- Duke of Wellington* - 1340s inn that was a brewpub in the 1500s. Wadworth owned.
- The Village Bell (Eling Hill) - Local that wasn't worth eating lunch at.
- The Platform Tavern* - Boisterous adults every afternoon. Evening is actually quieter. Free house with a big variety of ales.
Winchester - Old Market Inn - Downtown business pub.

* CAMRA Good Pub Guide listed.

Arkells JRA (James's Real Ale) - Rich but low alcohol.
Arkells Noel - Winter warmer. Light color. Quite bitter. Alcohol adds bite.
Gales HSB - Walnut colored ESB.
Goff's White Knight - Very bitter golden ale. 4.7%.
Itchen Father Christmas - Port wine thickness and sweetness. 5.0%.
Itchen Godfather - 3.8%.
Wadworth Old Timer - Sulphur notes. Long finish.
Wadworth Bishop's Tipple. Very little malt but lots of alcohol. Medium gold. Similar sulphur notes.
Whitestar Crafty Shag - "Pilsner style" real ale. Dark ale with plenty of Noble hop aroma. Quite bitter. Served on the handpull in Southamption.

The Canary Islands brews Tropical Pils, Reina Oro, and Dorado. All decent all-malt helles lagers.
Funchal, Madeira the Coral brewery. They make an uninspired light lager as well as Coral Tonica - a decent dark lager.
A bitters from Switzerland that we picked up in the Canaries. 44% ABV.

"Made from a selection of the finest aromatic herbs from 43 countries. The unique blend of valuable herbal ingredients and premium-quality alcohol make Underberg a perfectly natural herbal digestive.
Underberg worldwide after a good meal."

Reina and a sea-food tapa.

Duke of Wellington - Southampton

Cemetery at Winchester Cathedral

In Memory of
Thomas Thetcher
a Grenadier in the North Reg.
of Hants Malitia, who died of a
violent Fever contracted by drinking
Small Beer when hot the 12th of May
1764. Aged 26 Years
In grateful remembrance of whose universal
good will towards his Comrades, this Stone
is placed here at their expence, as a small
testimony of their regard and concern.
Here sleeps in peace a Hampshire Grenadier
Who caught his death by drinking cold small Beer,
Soldiers be wise from his untimely fall
And when ye're hot drink Strong or none at all.

These Scots are really a joyous couple.
You missed celebrating New Year on the QE2 with them.

Dribs & Drams of Bartender Appreciation Day

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 18:15:00 +0000

Yes, it's Bartender Appreciation Day on Sunday, the day after National Repeal Day. Give kudos and a big tip to the overworked soul behind the taps. Who else will call you a cab at 2am? Who else will keep the slob at the other end of the bar from hitting on you? Who else will hold your hair back while you puke? Well, maybe not any bartender I know. Still, they make sure our beer is the right temperature, the bottles on the back bar aren't watered down, and can make a Tequila Sunrise at sunset.

What's up this weekend

Dec 4	Fort Wayne	Tasting at Cap n' Cork, Georgetown location. 5-7pm.
Dec 4	Indianapolis	Taps and Touchdowns at Pan Am Plaza. 5:30-9pm. $35.
Dec 5	Indianapolis	Repeal of Prohibition.Prohibition Party at Indiana City Brewing. 5-10pm. TwoDEEP Brewing Christmas Party. 6-11pm.
Dec 5	Fort Wayne	"Holiday Extravaganza" Beer, wine and liquor tasting at S&V Liquors, Illinois Rd. 6-8pm.
Dec 12	Indianapolis	12 Chefs and Flat 12. Indianapolis City Market. 7-10pm.

Indiana News

Rita tells us Jerry Sutherlin is leaving the downtown Rock Bottom for Round Town Brewery and Nathan Scruggs is moving south from College Park to fill Jerry's shoes. A party is planed on Dec 16th.

Chicago's Festival of Barrel Aged Beers gave nods to FLIX, Shoreline, Sun King, Upland and Three Floyds.

Last Week Rita talked about Tomlinson Tap, Round Town, Scarlet Lane, Shale Creek, Switchyard and more.

Indiana on Tap reviews Flat12's Koko B Ware Milk Stout.

Eric Strader's latest columns have been about today's Bell's Eccentric Day and buying beer in Michigan.

The Indiana BCCA folks get lots of love from, of all places, USA Today. DO CHECK THIS OUT.

Booze and the law have always had an uncomfortable alliance. Our sponsor, Monarch Beverage, is appealing the current rule that beer and wine distributors can't have liquor in their portfolios.

Brew Bracket has been in the autumn but you might be able too play at home with a "hosting kit" available after the kickstarter kicks in. They already have $10,000 in pledges.

We've got trouble brewing. The FDA says they'll require nutrition labeling on beer menus at chain restaurants starting a year from now. At $600 testing costs and weeks delay for a test panel of each title, Applebee's, TGI Fridays, etc. won't be seeing new brews on tap in 2017. Those are taps that should be owned, owned I say, by new local breweries instead of BudMillerCoors and one or two house offerings from Upland and Sun King.

Other

Canadian Diver Finds 19th-Century Bottle of Beer - Thinks about drinking it while wearing school-crossing shirt.

Carlton recalls some beer. One million bottles of beer are recalled, one million bottles of beer. You take one down, pass it around, Nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine bottles of beer are recalled.

The Men Behind Your Favorite Liquors - A Johnnie, a Jack, a Jose, a Jim. Hmmm. Is that a pattern?

The worlds most expensive places to buy a beer in a bar (spoiler - Hong Kong)

Beer flavored whiskey?

Georgia's jail system turned down a last meal request of a six-pack of beer. Marcus Ray Johnson had to eat baked fish, cheese grits, dry mixed beans, cornbread and fruit punch, same as all the other inmates. Sorry, dude. I know you're a murderer and rapist but nobody should be fed dry mixed beans.

Dribs and Drams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 22:14:00 +0000

Nuvo named the Broad Ripple Brewpub as one of the best fireplaces in Indy. John Hill's Wellington Pub also made the list.

Midwest Breweries gives us A Day at Broad Ripple Brewpub, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.

Rita talks about that and Taxman of Bargersville, Daredevil of Speedway. Alse the 25th anniversary again and Tow Yard, Upland's Side Trail Series (maple syrup and coffee) and Bloomington Brewing.

Roger talks about Moscow as it was in 1987. Also the north European scene in 1985.

BTW, Roger lost in his election bid for New Albany's mayor. He's in good company. Tom Schmidt of Mishawaka brewing lost the South Bend mayoralty race back in 2003. Some brewers were mayors though - John Gaff of Aurora and Henry Berghoff of Fort Wayne.

We hear the old Zorn Brewing site in Michigan City will be repurposed - as a brewery.

Scarlet Land and Taxman are collaborating on Heaven and Hell.

A pub called Brewfest in the 8300 block of Kennedy Ave in Highland has self-serve beer taps.

Eric passes on info about Bell's Christmas Ale and the malt behind it. He also talks about Brite Eyes of Kalamazoo.

InBev (Bud) and SABMiller (Miller) are, indeed, merging. Over $107 billion. That would give them 31% of the world market. WORLD MARKET. (Heineken will be in 2nd with 9%). But MillerCoors will be sold to Molson. MOLSON.

Georgia death row inmate Marcus Roy Johsnon denied six pack as last meal.

NC judge charged with trying to bribe official with ‘couple of cases of beer’.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article42936522.html#storylink=cpy

Why Do British Pubs Have Illustrated Signs Outside?

Party Animal Bottle Pourers. $9.

Here's a Beer Knowledge quiz.

Woke up this afternoon to the first snow of the season. What's the Right Way to make a Hot Toddy?

An extremely good idea.


An extremely bad idea.

An extremely cute idea.

Prohibition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 15:18:00 +0000

I'm off this afternoon to talk about Indiana Liquor Laws to the (aides of) about 50 Indiana Senators and Representatives. Here the talk:

Nov 20, 2015 – State House
Bob Ostrander

WELCOME

My bio is probably in order first. After 15 years in Data Processing I started a company, Public Brand Software, that distributed shareware mail order. On disks. 360K disks. It was Inc Magazine's 95^th fastest privately-owned company in America; so when the Internet came around I sold to Ziff Davis, publishers of PC Magazine.

Three years later Ziff closed the Indianapolis operation but that whole internet thing seems to be working rather well.

Since then I've owned pieces of a bar and a brewery, helped some start-ups, and created the IndianaBeer.com web site and blog. I've also written Hoosier Beer, Indiana Prohibition, and the 4-volume Indiana Bicentennial. All available at Amazon of course. And I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

If you have any questions, just shout them out.

Let's start with a 5-minute history of the events in Indiana that led to two periods of Prohibition.

Way back when, the land this building sits on was inhabited by everything from squirrels to mastodons. Then the Ice Age covered most of northern Indiana but it went away and left rivers and hills to the south. Then came the first human immigration. Paleo-Indians roamed this far north from Mexico and left mounds scattered across the state.

The “Native” Indians that met the Europeans came from the east having been pushed out during the Beaver Wars in New England.

Then the French, Spanish, and finally Englishmen used the midwest as an endless source of meat, firs, cropland and wood.

TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT

The English gained control and the Indiana Territory was formed in 1790. Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison had complete quasi-military control of the state. He immediately instituted the first Prohibition law in Indiana, prohibiting furnishing liquor to Indians and soldiers.

This was a year before the federal government put a liquor tax into effect (which was the U.S.'s first tax rather than excise on imports). That, of course was the basis of the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania. Something that we out in the hinterlands didn't even notice. Oh, and the soldiers went back to wet status in 1795.

Jean Jacques Dufour moved to Vevay and started growing grapes In 1798. His was the first successful winery in the U.S.

Maybe it wasn't great wine but people did buy it at $2 per gallon. It would be 200 more years before true two-buck chuck came to Indiana. Dufour's book The American Vine-dresser's Guide, Being A Treatise On The Cultivation Of The Vine, And The Process Of Wine Making” is still in print.

Harrison put in other rules before leaving when Statehood came in.

1805 – No liquor could be sold within 30 miles of any meeting with the native tribes.

That same year came licensing of taverns. The county courts sold these licenses at $12.

1806 – The area within 40 miles of Territorial Capitol, Vincennes, was declared dry to Indians.

1807 – Sales to minors was prohibited. A minor at that time was under 16 years old.

1810 – Militia officers were forbidden to furnish alcohol to enlisted men. This might have been because the men voted on who would be their officer. Or maybe it was just that officers were cheap.

STATEHOOD

Statehood in 1816 saw a new power base in Indiana in the form of Jonathan Jennings and the original 43 men who wrote the Constitution.

The state immediately started licensing breweries. Two got licensed that first year - one by Ezra Boswell of Richmond and the other by the New Harmony Colony – which had been making beer, whiskey and wine for many years as part of the Utopian society's income.

Prohibition of Sunday sales also popped up right away. To get a license, taverns had to have 12 petitioners (free white males) that would affirm the licensee was a person of good moral character and that the inn would be for the convenience of travelers. This, of course, didn't slow down new tavern starts but the $500 surety bond needed took inns from the front rooms of roadside farm houses to specialized businesses. By 1819 an inn had to have rooms to let. This changed the landscape from roadside rests to what passed for hotels in the day.

A few more breweries opened early on and most of these quickly failed. Jacob Salmon in Madison did have one that lasted until the civil war as Greiner's. Edward Mason in Fountain City was run out of town by his fellow citizens. New Harmony shut down production in 1826 then sold to teetotaler Robert Owens the next year. Boswell's Richmond brewery closed in 1831.

1855 PROHIBITION

This might be a surprise but the first statewide Prohibition in Indiana was in 1855.

Alcohol was very contentious after the Civil War. There were more distilleries and breweries but the temperance movement had lots of wealth and attracted crowds for the preaching extravaganzas.

That no person in this state shall drink any whisky, beer, ale, or porter as a beverage, and in no instance except as a medicine.

This was passed by the Senate 29-18 and the House 51-41 in 1855. It was completely a push by the Democratic Party who had control of both houses (– 26-24 and 57-43). Note that wine and cider were still allowed.

The law allowed medicinal alcohol and set up a state agency to stockpile and sell it to distributors in the drugs trade – those are the people who had the distribution lines to the pharmacists. They got paid $1,000 each for this task.

Many lawsuits followed., by distributors, breweries and distilleries. Appeals came from both sides, commerce and constitutional (you've heard this story before, right?) In the end the Supreme Court of Indiana found the law unconstitutional. The state government lost about $100,000 dollars directly on this effort – does anyone want to estimate how much that would cost now?

Prohibitionists were not amused but went on to other things including Anti-German terrorism in Cincinnati, Louisville and Chicago. Tipplers were not amused by the prohibitionists and staged The Lager Beer Riot of Chicago in 1855 to protest an Illinois dry-Sunday law. This resulted in one death and 60 arrests.

POST-CIVIL WAR

It took 50 years but Prohibition did come around in 1918. During the interim:

There were 56 breweries in Indiana at the start of the Civil War. The Feds put a $1 per barrel tax on beer for funding. The number of these small breweries dropped a bit but after the war bounced back to 67.

In 1872 the National Prohibition Party was formed, getting 2,100 votes for President.

“Baxter Laws” came around in 1873 and were about the most onerous the Republican Party could put into place.

A tavern license had to be supported by a petition of half of the voting-eligible inhabitants (still white males). A $3000 bond had to be financed. Taverns needed to close at 9pm. No sales were allowed on Sundays, election days, to minors (still 16), and habitual drunkards. Who determined the status of habitual drunkard? The wife or family of any person could tell a landlord the person was one and on that word the landlord had to shut off the taps to him.

This and other instances of overkill were too much for the average person and they voted the Democrats into both congressional houses in 1880. Being the ex-opposition party, they put different rules in place. Not necessary wetter or drier, just different. Not toothless but still needing some dental work.

Closing time went to 11pm. Public intoxication became a crime. The age of majority raised from 16 to 21. Minors buying liquor became a crime for the buyer rather than the seller. The “habitual drunkard” part of the earlier laws, Sunday and election day sales restrictions were all kept.

TEMPERANCE

Temperance campaigns started up big time then. Rallies in dozens of cities, small and large, attracted crowds and contributed to the coffers of the Womans Christian Temperance Union, the Anti-Saloon League, the the Prohibition Party. Smaller efforts were the red ribbon campaign, the blue ribbon campaign, the Youth Temperance Alliance of America, the National Temperance Society, the International Reform Bureau, the Catholic Total Abstinence Union, the Order of the Sons of Temperance, the National Christian Board of Temperance, the Dry Democratic Organization and the Indiana Dry Federation.

Even the Klu Klux Klan of Indiana supported prohibition. They were instrumental in putting Indiana Secretary of State Ed Jackson and U.S. Senator Samuel Ralston in office. The KKK was anti-alcohol as well as anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish anti-Black and anti-gambling. Then, in 1926, it all unraveled when Indiana's Grand Dragon, D.C. Stevenson, outed government Klan members and was convicted of abduction, rape and murder.

The largest of the dozen dry campaigns was carried on by Indiana's own Billy Sunday who preached to millions in temporary wood gathering halls in towns from Boston to Kansas from his home in Winona Lake. These halls usually held about 20,000 people and Sunday often received the entire collection plate. His most famous sermon was called The Water Wagon and “get on the water wagon” became a rallying cry for many prohibitionist organizations.

“I am the sworn, eternal and uncompromising enemy of the Liquor Traffic. I have been, and will go on, fighting that damnable dirty, rotten business with all the power at my command.”

Sunday was pro-women's suffrage, against child labor, capitalists, Jim Crow, dancing, immigration, theater, evolution, cards and novels. He became quite wealthy of course and the call for dryness did not end with Prohibition or even Repeal. The Prohibition Party Convention was held in Winona Lake in 1948 and they got 103,489 votes nationwide.

(In 2012 the Prohibition Party Convention was held at the Adams Mark Hotel at the Indianapolis Airport and the slate got 519 presidential votes. Total. Nationwide. Their convention for 2016 has been canceled.)

LOCAL AND COUNTY OPTIONS

The Republicans were back in charge in 1881 when they and the Methodist Church tried again with constitutional amendment that went nowhere due to the opposition of State Senator John Hill who was an investor in the Madison Brewing Co.

Other state laws allowed cities to collect brewery taxes and taxes from distributors. That was declared unconstitutional in two years.

In 1895 the Nicholson law allowed remonstrants against tavern licenses to file objections to any license. This resulted in 167 townships and 6 cities going dry.

The Moore Amendment allowed not only specific objections but let white adult males put in an ongoing objection to all liquor licenses. In effect this made a “NO” result standard that each tavern would have to fight by getting out the vote. 24 counties, 32 towns and 18 cities went dry under this rule. This could be expensive to impossible since the rules required no check on the signatures on remonstrances.

There were some cases where breweries tried to stay open by shipping their output across county lines. The Huntington Brewing Company was the focus of a local-option raid in 1911 where the owners were not jailed as “they employed a number of men about their plant who would be thrown out of employment if [the owners] were deprived of their liberty” - Indianapolis Star, June 13, 1911.

FRANK HANLY

Governor Frank Hanly was the Governor from 1904 to 1909. He and the Republicans were voted in on an anti-alcohol, anti-gambling platform. He immediately called a special session to pass local options. (Sen 32-17, House 55-45 along strict party lines.)

By 1907 counties could vote themselves dry – something which 70 did (but 43 rescinded). By the time Prohibition came around in 1920 there were ten states with county-option dry areas: Idaho, Indiana Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon and South Dakota.

TERRE HAUTE

It's worth a breath about Terre Haute in the early 1900s. City candidates routinely handed out business cards that could be exchanged for a glass of beer at any tavern in town.

The 1900 Census noted 14 houses of prostitution in just one block of Second Street. Mayor Donn Roberts was convicted of election fraud in 1915 and went to prison. 7 breweries made Terre Haute the largest beer culture in the state. 5 large distilleries had been going since before the Civil War. A very interesting town to investigate.

NATIONAL PROHIBITION

The US's 18^th amendment started in 1920 but Indiana already had a Prohibition – since 1918.

The Republicans took over all the major state offices in the 1916 elections. The Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer were all lost by the Democrats as well as control of the House. The Senate ended up a tie when the Democrats lost 24 seats.

The Anti-Saloon League gave the legislature a petition with 250,000 signatures and newspapers around the state cried “DRY” in big headlines. Indiana was dry with a vote of Sen 70-28, House 38-11. Governor Goodrich signed the law immediately and April 2, 1918 became Dry Day.

During Prohibition, people, of course, were out of a job in distilleries, breweries, wineries, and pubs. We don't have good counts for this but we can count during Prohibition, 40 breweries closed their doors and 18 reopened afterword.

Have you noticed that Prohibition was and still is the only Constitutional Amendment that takes away rights from the people?

Indiana was the 35^th state to ratify Prohibition. Nebraska was next, three days later, giving the 36 needed for the amendment to take effect.

PROHIBITION LAWS

The National Volsted Act set down rules for everyone, but several states instituted their own more onerous laws.

In Indiana the Wright Bone Dry Law was an omnibus that took effect in 1925. It called for:

$500 fine and 30 days in jail for possession of any alcohol
Empty bottles and even the smell of alcohol were evidence of guilt.
Alcohol in a vehicle was a felony. The owner, driver and passengers of a car were guilty if a rider even had a flask.
Local prosecutors were given a personal $25 bonus for each conviction.
Medicinal sales were outlawed.
The law went so far as to ban the sale of cocktail shakers and hip flasks. With the jazz age coming on strong, these were fashion items but at least they didn't outlaw garters.

There were 250 arrests the first week the Wright Bone Dry Law went into effect. Statistics aren't available but many historians estimate 10,000 arrests in Indiana alone resulted before Prohibition ended.

EFFECTS OF PROHIBITION

The effect on workers was staggering. Not only breweries, distilleries and the few wineries laid off people but the taverns (most of them anyway) closed up putting thousands of men on the street. Yep, men only – women could not yet work at a bar.

Obviously thousands ended up in jail. The KKK and the Horse Thief Detective Association (which both had a history of post-war lynchings) took it on themselves to anoint 20,000 “constables” who raided gambling houses, arrested people in parked cars and generally carried on a pogrom of harassment. Most of their arrests (or kidnappings) never made it to court simply because their badges were completely bogus. These “constables” were also never arrested for kidnapping, false arrest, or impersonating a law enforcement officer.

But then, as now, rank had its privileges. Governor Ed Jackson's wife was treated by a doctor with alcohol. Attorney-General Arthur Gilliom treated his wife and 3 sons with alcohol. The head of the Anti-Saloon League, Reverend Shumaker, was found to have a daily elixer, Busho Tonic, that was 23% alcohol, He also treated his wife and 1 son with Busho.

In the end of this, Reverend Shumaker was convicted of libeling Attorney General Gilliom and was pardoned by Jackson.

The Indiana State Medical Association petitioned for a repeal of the non-medical use portion of the Wright Bone-Dry Law and it was removed in March, 1933, just in time for repeal.

There were some positive aspects of Prohibition. Drinking overall dropped by 30% and deaths by cirrhosis dropped by 64% by 1929.

PROHIBITION BUSINESSES

Various companies around the state saw their business drying up since producers didn't need their wares. Uhl Pottery of Huntingburg had made beverage glasses, Root Glass of Terre Haute had made bottles, and dozens of large cooperages shut down.

Root Glass, by the way, did just fine because their design for a new Coca Cola bottle was accepted, resulting in those fluted bottles we are still familiar with rather than the straight-sided bottle Pepsi uses.

We also need to look at how some producers tried to stay in business during prohibition. Many tried to make soda pop (orange, grape and lime were popular). Some made “near beer” a non-alcoholic beverage that tasted somewhat like beer, maybe; I haven't tried it. Others made various food products from grain and a few made “baking yeast” or Malt Syrup which actually came with instructions to not introduce yeast to the syrup for fear it would turn it into beer. Obviously this was a popular product but the results evidently produced poor results.

Others hooked up with mob interests such as George Remus in Cincinnati who transported booze mainly to Chicago under a federal permit to make medicinal alcohol. His venture became Fleischmann which, yes, makes yeast and also makes “neutral grain spirits” sold to what are called rectifiers who add flavorings, bottle, and put out boutique brands. Remus himself went to jail for killing his wife, Imogene, in 1927 after she testified against him in a trial for violations of the Volsted Act and mobster activities. She had sold their home and took off with the money.

It's not easy to document these times because no records were kept, bootlegging being illegal and all. Sort of like the Underground Railroad which is now claimed by many old farms, barns, churches, warehouses.

The Hammond Distillery sold their raw whisky to George Remus until at least 1923.
The Lawrenceburg and Aurora distilleries were effectively run for the benefit of Remus.
The Hoham brewery in Ply mouth was sold and the new owners built a vary large “fruit cellar” that turned into a brewery, speakeasy, beer garden, bordello, and inn. They were raided in 1928 arresting 35 customers. The place was padlocked for one year. The family says the fruit cellar was used in the Underground Railroad and notables including Zeppo Marx were caught in that raid.
Muessel Brothers in South Bend sold their beer to the Detroit mob of Giacamo Tocco and Al Epstein.. This same organization fixed up the selling of Muessel to Drewrys of Canada in 1936.
T.M. Norton of Anderson made some full-strength (5%) beer along with their soft drinks and ice products. Two truck drivers were arrested while taking 29 barrels of beer to Cincinnati – probably George Remus but the court records don't say.
Paul Reising Brewing of New Albany made Hop-O and Hop-O Dark near beers, but some batches had as much as 7% alcohol. In 1922 three men from Reising were caught by T-Men who hid in a closet listening to price negotiations and logistics with a Louisville distributor. Then-president Michael Schrick lost his job but was then named the Senatorial campaign manager for James Watson.

REPEAL OF PROHIBITION

Gosh, this wasn't even a contest. The U.S. Congress passed the 21^st Amendment by 63-21 and 289-121. In just 9 months it was fully ratified and went into effect.

Once the 21^st was ratified, the Indiana legislature immediately repealed the Wright Bone Dry Law and Governor Paul McNutt emptied 982 people from the jails.

Continuing restrictions were many. Lots of favoritism went on (or buying votes, if you will). A fight with Michigan changed national law. It went this way:

Distributors in Indiana got a new law to deal with in 1933. “Imported beer” (being from another state) required a separate $1,500 license and a $10,000 bond. Only 13 were sold. Michigan countered with a tax on beer from Indiana. Their law got upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court as the 21^st amendment said states had full control on liquor. Missouri and Ohio got into the act with taxes (port of entry fees) on Indiana beer and finely an accord was reached for everyone to kill all those self-defeating regulations in 1938.

1939 – The Alcoholic Beverage Commission was formed to establish rules for alcohol. They raised the excise tax on beer to 4¢ per gallon This and license permit costs, of course, are raised quite often.

1940 – Terre Haute Brewing Company put brewing dates on their labels. This is the first anywhere. Note this isn't an expiration date. Nor is it a legal mandate.

1941 – Tavern licenses were limited to one for every 1,000 people in the county – except for Lake County next to Chicago where it was 1 for every 500.

1947 – Taverns have to serve food in order to serve alcohol. This is still basically on the books.

1948 – Sales were banned on the day after each holiday.

There were 11 Hoosier breweries in 1950. This tumbled due to mergers, wider transportation and mainly television advertising, especially those aimed at sports fans.) Only 4 breweries were still open 1960. The count went down to 2 in 1980 but is now 104.

Now let's talk about the rules you people put into effect that allowed this tremendous growth. Thank you and your predecessors from about 80% of us Hoosiers for the sensible laws that are now in the books.

1963 – Cold beer and wine were allowed to be sold in liquor stores. This continues to the present day and while groceries may not have chilled product, taverns and breweries may also sell cold beer to go.

1973 – State liquor laws were completely rewritten which put everything together as Article Title 7.1 If you are interested in seeing the latest iteration of the law, go to the Indiana Government web site at iga.in.gov.

1976 – Approval of the artwork on wine and beer labels was necessary. This is now done basically by the Feds's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – why have duplicate effort?

1979 – The ABC allowed exclusive territories for liquor distributors. This let the more powerful distributors slice up the state into duchies and effectively set up monopolies. It became known as the “Beer Baron” rule.

1979 – Permits became required for bartenders and store clerks. The rule requiring a permit for dancing was abolished - except for nude dancing, which continued to be prohibited.

1984 – MADD got the 21 year old drinking age passed in every state. Younger than that and you couldn't buy alcohol or display it in public – not a total ban.This or the state lost 10% of its highway funding. The result was country wide of course with Indiana being one of 7 that put in a full drinking ban.

1984 – Package stores were allowed to give wine samples.

1984 – A lawsuit allowed sales of warm beer and wine at grocery stores and gas stations.

1988 – The familiar health warning on bottles and cans was instituted at the Federal leval. No studies have been made on whether this has ever been read.

1989 – A repeal of the “Beer Baron” rule was killed by Evan Bayh's veto. In 1979 there were 200 distributors; by 1989 there were only 80.

1994 – Drug stores were allowed to sell liquor.

2001 – Governor Frank O'Bannon let the Beer Baron rule die. Now distributors usually set up territories by contract with the producers and importers.

1999 – Mail-order purchase of beer and wine was allowed by a federal court decision. The state appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which confirmed the lower court.

2004 – Grocery stores may sell alcohol (warm).

2005 – Liquor stores can provide samples to customers.

2010 – Photo ID must be produced to buy alcohol.

2011 – Photo ID must be produced to buy alcohol unless the purchaser appears to be older than 40 years of age. (Most grocery stores and some liquor stores still check ID.)

2014 – As of 2014 but breweries could only sell directly to pubs and stores if they made less than 30,000 barrels of beer per year. Bigger than that and they must use a distributor, can't have a brewpub, and cannot sell or give away samples at their place of business without providing food. Luckily food trucks do count as food so many places work with the temporary trucks for sausages, pizza, and other food availability, often on a regular weekly schedule. Better than a can of soup on a hot plate as in the old days.

2015 – There were three breweries that bumped up against the 30,000 barrel limit: Three Floyds in Munster, Upland in Bloomington, and Sun King in Indianapolis. A bill this year expanded this limit to 90,000 barrels. Thank you.

Thanks for coming. You'll find more at indianaprohibition.com or in my book at Amazon.