Granite City, Rock Bottom, Tastings, etc.

Granite City's seasonal Wag's Wheat is a decent American Wheat. Nothing spectacular but certainly worth enjoying. Don't know about Ft. Wayne and South Bend, but the Indy 10th Anniversary tapping was well attended. Should say, well, crowded. Commemorative XL t-shirts were a nice touch.

Rock Bottom, 86th St has three nifty offerings right now and American Dream Cream Ale will be tapped on Thursday, 6pm.

• ReplicAle – Liz's is the first out this year. This Alt uses Kölsch yeast and is lighter colored than style (per Dave's recipe). It has a proper, almost malty start and a quick dry finish. Good drinking stuff. 5%
• Bourbon Barrel Porter – Smooth, authentic bourbon comes out rather than vanilla or oak. Aged 6 months (in a Jack Daniels barrel?)
• Chili Chocolate Cinnamon Brown – Chili? not really very strong. Chocolate? some. Cinnamon? yeah. But they all marry to make a nice Christmas Ale. Perfect for the Christmas in July parties. Bonus points for being cask conditioned on the handpull. Great temperature, little carbonation. A winter winner.

This week's festivities:

• Wed, July 1 - Beer Tasting. Westside Liquor, Evansville. 4:30-6:30pm
• Thurs, July 2 - Tapping of American Dream Cream Ale. Both Indy Rock Bottoms, 6pm.
• Thurs, July 2 - Tapping of FFF Apocalypse Cow - BW3, downtown Indy.
• Thurs, July 2 - Beer Tasting. Big Red Liquors, Bloomington. 6-8pm
• Fri, July 3 - Beer Tasting. Liquor Locker, Evansville. 4-7pm
• Fri, July 3 - Beer Tasting. Parti Pak, Greenwood. 5-7pm
• Fri, July 3 - Beer Tasting. Crown Liquors, Carmel. 5-7pm.
• Sat, July 4 - Oaken Barrel 15th Anniversary Party, hog roast, etc. Greenwood

Socrates and James T. Hart have a Hefe at Scotty's. harmless diversion.

Clipper City is planning another series of big beers, this time in 22oz bombers. First up is The Big DIPA – a Double IPA that releases this week. 10.6%. 75 IBU.

The Katz Group has filed for bankruptcy. Who? Just the folks who make three fourths of the worlds beer coaters. article 1 – article 2.

The World's 10 most legendary bars. Oddly, the world's most famous bar, the Hofbrauhaus, is missing.

 

Brew Ha Ha photos take 2

Some more photos of this year's Brew Ha Ha can be found here. Thanks, Bob.

Misc News

Roger Baylor doesn't have specific dates yet for some July/August specials at Rich O's.

• On or about July 6 – Three real ciders on the handpull - Yarlington Mill, Scrumpy and Norman (single varietal).
• Sometime in July – Brooklyn Brewery and Magic Hat nights.
• On or about Aug 1 – Lambic by the Glass. Some Cantillon by the keg. More Drie Fonteinen.
• On or about Aug 28 – Sandkerwa. All beer Bambug plus Franconian drafts from smaller breweries.

About 800 people at the Brew-Ha-Ha. Hot and no breeze but enough shade. Bands were OK. Omar always gets the spot in front of the speakers. Cavalier had a much bigger presence than World Class.

Best of the Fest: New Albanian served a Port barrel aged version of Beak's Best Bitter. Sweet grapes replace the bitter finish. Unexpected and very good. New Albanian came with kegs, people, tent, handouts, etc. John Campbell is certainly making a difference – 2 years ago NA dropped off a couple of kegs but didn't have anyone to pour or promote.

Worst of the Fest: Are there any handwriting experts out there that can help with my last important note from the Brew-Ha-Ha?

Sun King tells us they plan to brew their first batch Tuesday. To break in the brewery the right way the first batch will be a Barley Wine named Johann – an homage to John Handley, the Ram's first head brewer. Johann will use Maris Otter, Golden Promise, and a slurry of 10 different ale yeasts. Look for it at a party in January at the earliest.

A quick tutorial on having a beer tasting party.

The New York Times looks at Chicago’s New Wave of Microbrews.

Works of art: Lei Xue's Porzellan, handbemalt.

Your AB lineup for 2009

Phoenix Theatre's Brew Ha Ha 2009

We dropped by the Phoenix Theatre's Brew Ha Ha for some beer and merriment

Misc News

Half Moon's seasonals are a very hoppy IPA done with Columbus, Summit, Northern Brewer, and Glacier hops. It's assistant Bryan Culbertson's idea. For the summer they have Milf-n-Honey-Wheat Ale. Plenty of bitterness makes the honey almost redundant.

Alcatraz's 1 3/4 Belgian will be leaving after a long run this year. It will be replaced by a Cherry Stout. (Addenda 6/28: It won't be a Cherry Stout).

Dogfish Head 120 Minute is on tap at BW3, downtown Indy. Should last through the weekend. $8 for 8oz is a good price on this 21% ABV, 120IBU, Barley Wine of an IPA. Fun for all ages.

Three Floyds' food gets ink in the Post-Tribune. I hadn't noticed Duck Frites on the menu.

Coming to Indiana next week: Thirsty Dog Labrador Lager (a new regular in the lineup).

At this Saturday's Brew-Ha-Ha, Cavalier will be pouring St. Feuillien Triple from one of those 9-liter bottles. I'm sure you will have time to check Twitter during the event to find out when. Founders Old Curmudgeon will be poured at 4:30, Cherise all day.

Clipper City will be there from Baltimore and the Left Hand Moo Mobile will also be on hand.

North Shore Magazine looks at bottled beers of the midwest.

Ales for Tails – hail, hail

About 200 people supported the Kokomo Humane Society while enjoying a paired tasting of foods from the local Olde Oak Door and the Windmill Grill. 13 stations had everything from shrimp to cream puffs. Herbed cheese wontons, crab stuffed mushroom caps, bourbon glazed beef tips, and beef panini were highlights.

Each station had World Class beers that were well-matched to the food. Some variety of the same styles and some contrasts. For instance, the beef tips choices were Xingu, Brugge Black, Atwater Vanilla Porter, Murphy's, and Young's Double Chocolate.

 

 

Acoustic music from three groups added even more class. Harps have to play first because it takes so long to tune up.

Meet Scott and Jill Hersberger. Retirees from Delphi, as seemed to be most of the crowd. He came to try the food and find a beer as close to Budweiser as possible. Ended up going back for more Flying Dog In Heat Wheat. She ended the evening with a repeat of the cream puffs and Kasteel Rouge.

 

 

Lake George Wine & Beer Event

From the lakescountry blog: "This third annual wine and beer tasting event is set for Saturday, June 27 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Dry Dock Marine Center, 2195 W. 175 N., Angola. This gala fund-raiser features 35 wines and 20 beers, along with hors d'oeuvres by The Oyster Bar. Entertainment will be provided by Paul Haller on the piano. A boat show and silent auction also will be held. Last year's event drew 350 people and organizers are hoping for an even bigger turnout as the Lake George Conservancy hosts 'Spirit of Lake George-Stem & Stein.' Tickets are $35 and may be purchased at Dry Dock or by calling Joann at 517-238-4387."

Fort Wayne Events Updates

Some of the beers that will be available tomorrow evening, June 25th, at Belmont Beverage located on Dupont Road, Fort Wayne, are: Spaten Premium Lager, Spaten Optimator Dark, Spaten Dunkel, Franziskaner Hefe Weiss, Bells Oberon, Leinenkugels Summer Shandy, Leinenkugels Red, Leinenkugels Wheat, Miller Chill, Blue Moon Honey Moon, Flying Dog In Heat Wheat, Ommegang Wit, Duvel Ale, Goose Island Honkers Ale, Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale, and Honey Brown.

Here is an update to an earlier post for The Indiana Tech 3rd Annual Alumni & Friends Beer Tasting taking place in Fort Wayne, IN on Friday, June 26th from 6:30-9:30p.m. - Some of the beers that will be available are: Five Star Distributing - New Belgium Fat Tire, Upland Amber Ale and Helios Pale Ale, and Southern Tier Iniquity Imperial Black Ale, Aalco is offering Stella Artois, Shock Top, Boddingtons Pub Ale, Beach Bum Blonde Ale, Mad Anthony is featuring their seasonal hit, Summer Daze, along with Blonde, Auburn, Pale, IPA, Porter, and Raspberry, Granite City will be pouring Northern Light Lager, Brother Benedict's Bock, Duke of Wellington IPA, Broad Axe Stout and Blueberry, and Warbird will be pouring T-6 Red Ale, Mustang Gold Ale, Thunderbolt Wheat, and Warhawk Pale Ale.

Misc News

Four fermentation and six serving tanks were delivered last week to the Brickworks Brewing Co. in downtown Hobart, Indiana (327 Main St.). article

Owner Tom and Nancy Coster and a lot of their friends have been busy setting this up. Brickworks comes from the history of Hobart where the high school football teams of old worked in the brickyards instead of doing calisthenics.

Want videos? Here's a tour of the construction site, the new tanks, and the search for bricks. Brewing vessels arrive next week. "Set to open in July".

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The HBGs have fun with a French Press and a bunch of beers. "Upland Wheat w/ fresh strawberries - The most bizarre result. Smells and tastes like warm bologna." Not to spoil the ending but they liked Erdinger Weissbier with cucumber and Alpha Klaus with Whoppers. blog

Crown Liquors is renovating 7,000 sq.ft. of store at Ohio and Delaware in downtown, Indy. Should be opening mid August.

Look for the new Bud Light Golden Wheat to be on shelves in early October.

Indiana Beer Patents

Alexander Jameson of  Indianapolis invented, in 1883, a beer bung with an expandable bag. patent. Ths "rubber bag" would prevent outside are from contacting the beer. We haven't a clue how this could be made well with the materials then available. Bottled CO2 just wasn't available back then.

"The combination, with a bung, a tube passing through said bung, and an air-tight bag attached to said tube, of a cylindrical metallic case formed of two or more separable sections hinged to said bung, and adapted to inclose said bag and to be separated by the expansion thereof, substantially as and for the purpose set forth".

Did you know a guy in Terre Haute invented the jockey box? Well, it's a bit larger than an ice-filled cooler but it also cools the barrel. Henry Hahn patented it in 1894.

"D is the beer worm inside the ice box. The lower end of the worm D is provided with a branch d projecting through the side of the ice box, and E is the beer faucet provided with a shank e which passes through the side of the case A and is coupled to the branch d by the union e'."

"If desired, the case A can be made of large size and adapted to hold several barrels of 70 beer, each provided with its own faucet and cooling worm."

"When the air pump is worked, air is So drawn through the ice in the ice box, and is forced through the air worm inside the ice box, and thence into the top part of the beer barrel. The air becomes very cold in its passage through the ice and through the air 85 worm, and cools the beer in the barrel by direct contact with it."

Back in 1906 Gary Braybrook of Ft. Wayne invented a better beer tap. He was a principal in the Auto Omnibus Company. Nothing like a tap with a Motometer on it. From the patent application:

"It is well known that both draft and bottle beer is exceedingly sensitive to extremes of temperature, and. when it is too warm it is unpalatable and unhealthful, and that when it is "chilled" it loses its brightness, brilliancy and effervescence, and injures its flavor, which is best maintained by a temperature of from 42° to 45° Fahrenheit.

"The principal novel feature of my invention resides in the construction and cooperative arrangement of a mercury thermometer with the controlling valve or a draft beer faucet, whereby both the dealer and the purchaser can readily at all times ascertain at a glance the exact temperature of the beverage."

Misc News

Three Floyds says Bye Bye to their old bottling line.

Upland has two new reps that started yesterday. Cari Crowe has left her job as Beer Manager at Kahn's to sell Upland in the Indianapolis, Lafayette, and Muncie areas. Amy Crook, likewise, has left Nuvo to cover the rest of Indiana, Chicago, and Southern Wisconsin. Amy also did invaluable work on the Microbrewers Festival committee over the past few years. Say "hi" when they stop in your store, you'll be talking to enthusiastic beer folks.

Final reminder. Entries for the Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup Competition are due in by June 25th. That's Thursday. Get the forms from the web site and turn in your beers in at Crown Liquors, Fishers; Lafayette Brewing Co.; or Sahara Mart in Bloomington.

Per Jason Larrison: "Those submissions will be sorted and organized in advance of the judging. And the organizers need around 20 volunteers. The organizing work will occur on Saturday, June 28th, starting at 9am, in Bloomington. I have it on good authority that food and beer will be included. If you are interested, please contact <silver medalist> John Morrical at jmorrica@sbcglobal.net. These activities are usually a fun time and a great chance to meet other like minded craft beer enthusiasts."

The Ram's Wit has come to term nicely after we raved about it over a month ago. It's properly cloudy. Big citric orangeyness. Very dry but non-bitter finish - intriguing. Made with orange peel in the boil, coriander, and chamomile. Sadly, this is the last beer made with the fabled 777 yeast that has been used by 4 breweries. Happily they made a double batch and it should be available through July. Coming up, an Irish Stout. After that, something secret for Gencon.

Victory Wild Devil Belgian Amber Ale should be in Indiana by the end of the month.

The Hoosier Beer Geeks interview Valgeir Valgeirsson of Ölvisholt Brugghús, Iceland.

As you know, Indiana, Georgia, and Connecticut are the only states to deny carry-out on Sunday. Connecticut allows Sunday sales if July 4th is a Saturday. article . . . Or maybe, just maybe, the $15-$20mil the state could take in on Sundays may make the ban archaic in the scramble for tax dollars. Cash squeeze may bring Sunday liquor sales.

Beer served on Father's Day to any father who will get off the couch and go to church. article appropriately at Thank Heaven For Beer

article

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Anthony Willis writes "I am a Michigan resident and here in Michigan we have a Michigan Beer Guide magazine that is published monthly to promote Michigan Beer. . . I believe a magazine would go  a long way to support Microbreweries/brewpubs in Indiana."

We reply: "Rex Halfpenny has done a great job with the Michigan Beer Guide for, what, 9 years now? It takes a lot of bravery to go into something like that on a full-time basis with ad revenue as your main income. Have to admire Rex, the Alstroms, Tony Forder (Ale Street News), Bill Metzger (Brewing News) and plenty of others who have accomplished this in print.

Unfortunately none of us chicken Hoosiers have done it and I don't know of anyone down here with that kind of ambition. Including me. The Brewers of Indiana Guild isn't big enough to hire someone for a print mag but the tri-fold flyers B.I.G. has out (with the wheat on the front) are in Interstate rest stops and, of course, all the brewpubs.

IndianaBeer.com doesn't have the expense of paper, printing, distribution, fancy graphics editing, or deadlines. We do get expense reimbursement from World Class Beverages. Can't lose money, just time; and what better way to lose time than doing what you like to do?

Bob.

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30 Bell's at the Beer Sellar

Someone asked if Guinness was going to be there. Not to be poured but to certify the record. 30 beers from one brewery on tap at the same time. It's not a record (Dragonmead has 42 on tap right now at their brewpub) but it's pretty impressive. Bringing most of the thirty beers down to another state, setting up 30 lines, tap handles, goodie bags, a raffle, publicity, wow, days and days of work.

I can vouch for the Lager of the Lakes, Smoked Stout, Oarsman, Third Coast, Hell Hath No Fury, 2006 Eccentric Ale, Poolside Ale, Cherry Ale, and Harry Magill's Spiced Stout. The other 250 people who were there can vouch for all the others. Everyone thought all the work done by Bell's, World Class, and the Beer Sellar staff was worth it. Thanks for the nice evening.

30 taps of beer on the wall,
30 taps of beer.
You pour one out and pass it around,
there's still 30 taps of beer on the wall.
<repeat until closing time>

Bell's Packaging Manager, Cam Helmuth and Kevin Stuchell, the brewer at the Eccentric Cafe came down for the party. In fact, 13 of the 30 were brewed by Kevin and rarely or never before served outside his realm, including:

• Oarsman – Old German sour mash wheat style. Not exactly a Gose but with a hint of the sharp acid making it very refreshing.
• Smoked Stout – Thick. Mild smoke on top of roast.
• Poolside Ale – Cherry Wheat
• Cherry Ale – Cherry Ale
• Harry Magill's Spiced Stout – Thick. Tangy. Big stuff at 7.8%.
• 2006 Eccentric Ale - "brewed with malted milk balls, juniper, and caraway seeds". 10.8%

Those last 2 were the first to run out of course.

Is that Larry Bell under the hat signing a homemade Oberon Guitar?

Yep. Larry and Rita Kohn of Nuvo are flanked by
Bob Mack and Jim Schembre of World Class Beverages.

More pictures at Hoosier Beer Geeks.

Addenda: The Beer Sellar still have most of the special Bell's on tap and will sell them until they run out. Many will be sold in the 5oz samples for between $3 and $5. Others, like the Oarsman will be priced at, say 16oz for $4. Same prices as last night.

Indiana gets three medals at the NHC

The National Homebrew Competition has found some good beer from Indiana:

Brian Steuerwald	Brownsburg (FBI)	Gold	Bock - Eisbock	155 entries
John Morrical	Indianapolis (FBI)	Silver	Belgian & French Ale - Belgian Specialty Ale	334 entries
Jim Matt	Indianapolis (MECA)	Bronze	Porter - Robust Porter	226 entries

Here are some shots of the FBI crew from Scott Courtney. more pictures

 

 

The FBI in their dress-up clothes.

 

Gold Medalist Brian and Starla Steuerwald

Addenda:

OK, I have to tell this story. Last week when I flew out to San Francisco, there was no problem when I checked in for my flight. Then, after several days of twittering about the "FBI", having fake badges and handcuffs, as well as various items with the FBI logo on them, laying around my hotel room, and then organizing a group of people all dressed up and pretending to be FBI agents, etc., I'm suddenly on the real FBI's "Watch List". Coincidence ???

Now, it is probably just my common name, Ron Smith, but after pretending to be an FBI agent and sending out lots of tweets with the word FBI in them, it certainly makes one wonder (in a humorous way of course).

Anyway, the lady at the airline check-in counter just asked me some additional questions and looked me up in some special database and everything was fine. Apparently they only found out I was guilty of making average homebrew and having a cheesy FBI agent costume, neither of which pose a threat to national security.

Cheers,
Ron Smith

Addenda 2: There's now video of Brian's win on YouTube.

Addenda 3: This is the second win for Brian's EisBock. Back in January it won the FBI's only annual competition - the "Heavy Hydrometer Award".

Barley Island and Upland both coming to College Ave in Indianapolis.

The Hoosier Beer Geeks got the scoop: Coming Soon to Indy (maybe): Upland Brewing Company but if Jason had continued the search, he'd have found out about Barley Island's upcoming tied house at the old Scholars Inn Bakehouse on the main corner of Broad Ripple Ave and College.

Jeff Eaton, owner of BI says " We have agreed to lease terms for the former Scholar’s Inn site at the corner of 62nd/College.  Planned opening for Barley Island Restaurant & Brewhouse is mid-September with 20 taps featuring Barley Island as well as Indiana & Regional craft beer.  The new Brewhouse will be non-smoking with a family dining section and a tap room containing an oak bar from the T.G.I. Friday’s at the old airport location.   I look forward to increasing sampling and brand recognition for Barley Island with the beer-savvy Broadripple clientele."

So it will be Upland at 49th and College, Barley Island at 62nd and College, Brugge, and the Broad Ripple Brewpub for a 4-pub crawl. Bring on the beer tourists.

Upland is applying for a liquor license at 4842 N. College in Indy.

   

And Barley Island also has a permit pending for 701 E. Broad Ripple Ave.
Both images stolen from Google Maps.

New Beers and stuff

What's on tap in Indy:

• Broad Ripple Brewpub has Diving Duck Brown and IPA on the handpull.
• Alcatraz's hits include The Rock Bock, 1 3/4 Belgian (not quite a Dubbel), and an American Stout.
• Ram has a bit of Nitro-pushed IPA dry hopped with Sarachi Ace. Also Barefoot Wit. Jon's new Kölsch gives excellent fullness to the mouth with a nice bitter finish. An Alt is in the works as well as something else that looks in my notebook like "irisastorm".
• Rock Bottom, downtown Indy has Schwartzlager, Hefeweizen, Maibock, Bottoms Up Kölsch, and Cezanne Saison.
• Oaken Barrel has Maibock and Dunkel Weizen seasonals right now.
• BW3, downtown Indy is continuing the big summer theme with Dogfish Head Red&White, 90min, Founders Double Trouble, Imperial Stout, Stone Imperial Russian Stout,  Gulden Draak, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (ready now – think super IPA).

Sam is going to do Thursday tappings at BW3 starting June 25th with Dogfish Head 120min - $8/8oz. Apocalypse Cow will be on tap July 2nd. Also on July 2nd. Tapping of American Dream Cream Ale at both Rock Bottoms so a small crawl down Washington St. seems in order.

Oaken Barrel has been open now for 15 years. They will have a Pork of July Party on Sat, July 4th to celebrate. Starts at 11:30am.

Rad Red should hit the shelves soon.

Cavalier tells us they will have 5 gal of barrel aged He'Brew Bittersweet Lenny's RIPA for the Indy Micro Brew Fest.

Fat Tire is in Indiana now in Draft. Wouldn't you like to have a piece of this action? Seems like hundreds of taps now pouring Newcastle Brown, Stella, and even maybe Mich are about to change to an American beer.

Adrian Ball, the Ram's new Assistant Brewer: "When do we start tomorrow?"
Jon Simmons: "The earlier we start, the earlier we get done, the more time we have to drink."

Misc News

Stone's Vertical Epic 09-09-09 will be, according to their label approval paperwork “This is quite a complex and layered beer. Bold and smooth chocolate malt flavors combine with a Belgian yeast lending tropical fruit/banana flavors and hints of spiciness, all complemented by citrus notes from an addition of tangerine peel. Rich vanilla beans add a nice counter to the chocolate malt – actually enhancing the chocolatiness. The finish is smooth, with additional traces of vanilla and toasted characters from French Oak. The goal for this edition of the Stone Vertical Epic Ale series is to be reminiscent of artisanal chocolates accentuated with orange.”

BJ's Restaurants have a prolific public relations department and a little corner of the net called Search=beer+indiana is covered with their releases whenever a new store is opened. But this one takes the cake as it is in the German newspaper Welt's onlne edition: BJ's Restaurants Celebrates Father’s Day Weekend With Free Commemorative Pint Glass and Premier Golf Getaway Sweepstakes for Dads

Thanks Heaven for Beer tells how Beer, Bikes, and Better Business works for New Belgian.

The Potable Curmudgeon tells about Kentucky Ale.

BeerNews's story about Upland's new vat is OK but ours at least included Scott Johnson's pictures.

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Sparklers. It's not July 4th yet, so we must be talking about the way northern Brits like their beer – forced through a tight mesh to produce a creamy head and accentuate the bitter aroma. Southern Brits like a more relaxed pour with a smaller, bigger bubbled, head. A pour that lets the bitterness stay in the beer for a dryer finish.

Sometimes drinkers have to ask the landlord to please remove the sparkler if they want a southern-style Ordinary, ESB, or IPA. There's a lot of difference. Roger Prost says of a side by side side test with Greene King IPA "I was able to detect the sharp difference in aroma and flavour of the beer. I shall always prefer the southern style, with hop aroma and bitterness lingering down the glass".

Now some pubs offer a choice with Drinks Dispense Group's new fount. The lever on the swan neck controls the sparkler. Quicker and more sanitary than putting an aerator on the end of the tap. They say it also raises the pour level above the bar so the customer can watch the action and as a plus, it's easier on the barman's back. Cool idea.

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This from the RealBeer as well as the BelgianShop newsletter (don't know who grabbed from who) and probably on Snopes soon.

A beer lover from Oberhausen, Germany, has topped his own world record by gulping down 50 litres of beer in 4 minutes 55 seconds, belga reported on June, 12. Philipp Traber, 35, thus improved by 17 seconds his previous record: in 2001, he had emptied 250 glasses of beer in 5 minutes 12 seconds, which was registered in the Guinness World Records.

The record holder said he owed his success to his brother who had served the necessary 250 glasses of beer. The price of the beer he drunk was one euro per glass. The money will be donated to a charity organization, it is reported."

Huh? 50 liters? Isn't that sorta like 105 pints. Minus spillage. Ain't buying it. A German paper says

"Ein 35-jähriger Gastronom aus Oberhausen hat seinen eigenen Weltrekord im Bier-Schnellzapfen gebrochen. Der amtierende Weltrekordhalter Philipp Traber zapfte auf der Oberhäuser Fronleichnamskirmes 50 Liter Bier in 4 Minuten und 55 Sekunden.

Damit unterbot der Gastronom seine eigene Bestzeit aus dem Jahr 2001 um 17 Sekunden. Er schaffte es damit ins Guinness-Buch der Rekorde."

Which (crudely) translates to

A 35-jähriger gastronomer from upper living (Oberhausen) broke its own world record in the beer high-speed tap. The acting world record owner Philipp Traber tapped 50 litres beer on the upper houses Fronleichnamskirmes in 4 minutes and 55 seconds. Thereby undercut the gastronomer its own Bestzeit from the year 2001 by 17 seconds. It created it thereby in the Guinness book of the records.

Oh. Tapped. Never mind. Here's his German-language web site for the really curious.

Upland's new French Oak Barrel means more lambics

Bloomington Indiana's Upland brewery just put in a 2,015 gallon oak barrel made in Bordeaux. This one tank will hold 65 bbl so we will see a bigger production of their Lambics than before – in a year.

"It has been used once for red-wine fermentation in California, taking away some of the 'oaking' capabilities of the tank. This makes it ideal for lambic fermentation. The tank is a massive 8 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter at the bottom. It will contain two of Upland’s lambic batches – which it will hold for about 12 months. After one year in this tank, the lambic is moved to the 70 gallon oak barrels where local Indiana fruit is added. After 3 more months in the barrel and another few weeks of bottle conditioning, the lambic is finally ready to enjoy.

"After only 2 released batches to the public, Upland has already become renowned for their lambic production. It is the highest-rated American producer according to www.ratebeer.com and requests for the sour beers have come from all over the globe."

The next release of Upland Lambic is due out in early 2010 and Upland is mum on exactly which fruits will be used. Last production run was Blackberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Peach, Raspberry, Strawberry, and the star-crossed Kiwi (only 4 cases were salvaged after a barrel exploded). Our reviews.

 

Misc News

Final List for Bell's 30 Taps at the Indy Beer Sellar on June 22 (alphabetically):

Amber, Best Brown Ale, Cherry Ale, Cherry Stout, Double Cream Stout, Debs Red, Expedition, Golden Rye, Harry Magill's, Hell Hath No Fury..., Hopslam, IPA, Java Stout, Kalamazoo Stout, Lager, Oarsman, Oatmeal Stout, Oberon, Pale, Poolside, Porter, Raspberry Ale, Rye Stout, Smoked Stout, Third Coast Beer, Third Coast Old Ale, Two Hearted, Wedding Ale, 2006 Eccentric Ale, Bourbon Barrel Double Cream Stout.

$15 at the door. Gets you 5 sample tickets, and a Bell's tasting notebook. Use your sample tickets wisely, some beers will not be available in a sample pour other than with a sample ticket. The official start time is 5 pm. but doors are open at 2. Not all beers will be pouring at 2, to try to make all beers available to everyone coming out, some will not begin to flow until 5.

The first Great American Beer Festival back in 1982 had just 22 breweries. This year there should be more than 400.

Anchor Boulder - now Rockies Champale – closed Coors Falstaff - Ft. Wayne – closed Genesee - now High Falls Geyer - Frankenmuth – closed Heileman – closed Huber – now contracted at Minhas Hudepohl – closed Koch - Not Boston's Koch - closed

Latrobe Leinenkugel - now part of Miller F.X. Matt Rainier – closed River City - Sacramento – closed August Schell Schmidt - Philadelphia – closed Sierra Nevada Stevens Point Henry Weinhard – closed Yuengling

Indiana brothers create National Man Day "Drink a beer, eat an 18-ounce steak and watch all the Rambo movies back-to-back from a new recliner where you can scratch yourself in manly places. Just get out there and be a man, but don't expect a greeting card."

Think of a growler as a glass doggie bag.

Misc News

From Great Fermentations comes this blatant ad:

Just  in time for the warm weather Brewer's Best has released its Summer seasonal. This crisp and refreshing Summer Ale is pale in color and a small addition of wheat malt contributes to its slight haze. Pleasant citrus notes come from the bitter orange and lemon peel combined with two additions of cascade hops. This beer finishes clean with lingering flavors of citrus and spice. Perfect for a hot Summer day!

We have added some exciting new flavor extracts to favor your beers. Now in stock: watermelon, chocolate and ginger. These new 4 oz. bottles are now formulated for 5 gallons so there is no more measuring.

After about a 2 year absence we are pleased to announce the return of Northern Brewer hop pellets. They should be in the shop sometime later this week.

Lastly, we are pretty excited to be able to get 2 new German malts. From Briess comes Munich liquid malt extractfor all of those malty Fest-style beers and from GlobalMalt comes Kolsch grain. The latter comes from the only malt house in all of Cologne. Both of these new malts are in stock.

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(old news) Muncie native Tonya Cornett had a high honor last month when she was picked to be one of 6 guest brewers for J D Wetherspoon's International Real Ale Festival. There are Interviews with the 6 brewers including Tonya available in pdf. She's doing an enchore performance to brew Independence Ale at Shepherd Neame but don't worry, she'll be back at Bend Brewing in Oregon (sadly where we can't get her beers).

Speaking of Rad Red, A bit of Mad River Double Dred Red will be finding its way to Indiana around the end of the month. That will hopefully be followed by Mad Belgian Golden Ale.

 

Yike

Bee Creek Brewery

The extended Forster family and friends have, for quite some while been mixing up the three "b"s; beef, bees, and beer; on the banks of beautiful Bee Creek near Brazil, Indiana.

Bee Creek: Bee Creek Brewery is actually not on Bee Creek, but it runs between the farms of Dr. Frank and Julie Forster and Julie's brother and 25-year homebrewer Mark Snelling.

Beef: A pole barn on the Forster's cattle ranch housed the brewery and the cows crowd toward the fence as soon as the mash odors hit the air. The goal is to brew enough beer to feed their 30 head of cattle on just spent grain, grass, and their home-grown hay.

Bees: Yeah, why not. They use 90 pounds of honey from Hunter's Honey Farm in Martinsville in every 6bbl batch of their flagship

Beer: Mark has been brewing since his days in the Navy where submariners in SF Bay wanted more than torpedo juice. Presumably he wasn't actually brewing on a submarine.

That's them over to the right. Mark and Frank up top. 2nd row has quality control inspector Tycha Donathan, Julie, and Mike Godsey, a friend and the brewery's mechanical/plumbing guru.

They are sitting on a 6 BBL system recently installed from a defunct brewpub in Sacramento. The original 15-gallon Sabco is now going to be used for a pilot brewery.

The flagship beer has been settled on. Hoosier Honey Wheat – a German Hefeweizen brewed with copious honey to give a bold 7.0% ABV. Lots of banana and honey sweetness takes out some of the traditional clove notes and leaves a long, sweet finish.

It is waiting for has label approval and might just show up in the World Class Indiana 12-pack this fall.

Look for them at the Microbrewers Festival in July and welcome them to the family.

One of these is named Molson because it was born on Canada Day.

Upland RadFest

The first Upland RadFest was officially for the release of their new beer heading for the permanent lineup, Rad Red. Unofficially, it was yet another excuse for Upland to throw a party.

“Rad” was the order of the day, starting with the Rad Red itself. It’s a bold American Amber quite different from Upland Amber. No details yet but the bottom of the 6-pack says:

All right, we know what you’re thinking: What on Earth is going on down there in Bloomington? To be honest, it’s really about the beer. Brewing for over a decade with the most totally righteous malt, hops, yeast and water led us to develop this aptly named and deliciously rad brew. Crunchy caramel malts for balanced bitterness and aroma? Check! Upland’s sweet blend of ale yeasts doing their magic? Check! Excellent clean tasting water of Southern Indiana? Right On! In our experience with Rad Red, we had visions of zombies, robots, ninjas and a gangster jectpack monkey. An no, this isn’t a goofball party beer lacking taste, character and hand craftedness. This is a beer brewed to be rad, to have a pelasant and prominent malt presence, a blessed bitterness and a beauty aroma and one ond to enjoy with best friends on those occasions when you argue incessantly about what is and isn’t rad. We just thought a space babe riding a rocket with a laser whip would get the conversation going.

With only a bit over 200 people, 6 bands, and a 5-hour event it turned more into a party where people could stroll up, talk to the brewer, and start a personal relationship with a particular beer. Brewers represented were Barley Island, Bloomington, Broad Ripple, Brugge, Lafayette, Mad Anthony, New Albany, Oaken Barrel, Shoreline, and of course Upland – along with the Bloomington Hop Jockeys.

What would a RadFest be like without Rad clothing. Everyone was invited to wear their best and the crowd favorite got a $50 gift certificate to the tap room.

The winners were the couple in the sorta-Romulan costumes. They ended up with a quick game of rock/paper/scissors with the Dog and Hula couple for the honors.

You won’t miss the beer in stores; just look for RED.