Misc News – Aug 31

Upland will be releasing the second year of Teddy Bear Kisses in 22oz bottles in October. This 2010 World Beer Championship Gold Medal winner is a 11.5% Imperial Stout that has "an abundance of dark malts and high alpha hops for a powerful impact of roast, chocolate, and sweet bitterness."

HBG4 in story and pictures.

Gone since March, Hare Trigger IPA with lots of Cascades will return to Big Woods Brewing next weekend.

The Post-Trib prints a good overview of the Sunday Sales question for 2011's session. article

"The brewery has released Batch 10,000 — an annual brew that celebrates Bell’s homebrewing roots — but it will be the last of the 1,000 series, Bell said." article

Drinking ages around the world.

Gizmodo looks at canned beer. Enjoy the comments.

The Zythophile tries to unravel the words Beer and Ale.

f(x) walks in to a bar. The bartender says "sorry, we don't cater functions".

Other strange beer names: Horny Goat, a contract brew from Wisconsin: Hopped Up N Horny, Horny Blonde, Exposed, Red Vixen, Belgian Wit, and Stacked Milk Stout – all.

LYS ØL pilsner from Sweden.

Misc News – Aug 27

Gina's Random Beer Roundup lists lots of new beers on the shelves.

World Class Beverage's Beer Spy is now available for the small screen. You can now find their craft beers in Indiana wherever you are. how-to video

Figure 8 Brewing has a Belgian Tripel in the fermenter and are fixing up a Meheen bottler.

Bell's Oarsman and Oracle (IIPA) are out now. and Eric Strader has some, some opinions, prices, etc. He also talks about last weekend's Art of Beer Festival.

18 Vodka. Hand Made in Indiana. Mishawaka. On Grape Road. 100% Rye. Coming up. Journeyman Distillery making whisky in Three Oaks, MI. article

Sandkerwa NA at the New Albanian Public House might start on September 9th. Roger is holding off on an absolute date until the Anstich kegs arrive. article Cask Conditioned beer from Ahornberger, Bayer, Beck, Gunther, Huppendorfer, Lowenbrau, Monchsambacher, Rossdorfer, Weissenohe. Reserve a Thurs, Fri, or Sat. More info later.

Upland's Taproom in Indy has a cool bike rack. They also are serving Wheat, Dragonfly, Preservation Pilsner, Helios Pale, and Double Dragonfly along with Alter State – Brian Steuerwald's UpCup Altbier – Good malt attack with good Alt hops balance that wants to taking over but doesn't intrude. At 4.7% it's quite drinkable, although not available in growlers.

The Taproom also confirms they are considering an expansion into the next space over which could include a nano-brewery. No dates and plenty of potential obstacles including problems with the ownership of the building.

Bob and Jim  and WCB get linked and inked by Beer News for asking back when "are there too many beers"?

Great Fermentations' Cider will be a 2-parter this year. Each year Anita gets a special blend of unpasteurized unpreserved cider that makes good spring drinking. There will be an early and a late blend available on Sept 18th and Oct 16th for people who want to do two batches. Count me in again this year – for both. $5.99/gallon. Must be pre-ordered by 9/14 and 10/12. They are also having Cider Finishing seminars if you are nervous. more info

Great Fermentations is holding a Brown Ale competition. No cost to enter. (by Oct 27th). No spices or herbs. OG < 1060. Winner gets $25 cert and brews the brown at GF.

The stoopid food of the day award goes to the Texas State Fair for Fried Beer™. "Beer-filled pretzel pocket is deep-fried to a golden brown. One bite and the escaping beer serves as a dipping sauce." 21 and over, ID required. article

Flat 12 Bierwerks Unveils Themselves

The four folks behind Flat 12 Bierwerks met on Thursday with almost 50 of their twitterites and other supporters. Indiana Beer was, of course, there.

So who's behind this new brewery startup?

Three of them are Indy natives who decided that beer is cool and a brewery would be cooler. The forth is an experienced brewer who is looking forward to a chance to add very interesting beers to our taps and shelves.

Bob Weaver is the Community Manager (we think that means marketing and the web), Steve Hershberger is the CMO, Sean O'Conner is the President, and Bob Caputo is the brewer. He's a 15-year homebrewer who

• is a Porter guy
• isn't a high-gravity guy
• is leaving a former life in quality and process control
• does IPAs
• has just made a Tangerine Porter
• likes his Glazed Ham Porter recipe
• isn't afraid to toss anything into a beer.

New DME equipment is ready to be delivered to the large facility on Dorman St, just east of downtown Indianapolis and they hope to have kegged beer "out this fall and bottles this winter". Their blog has pictures of the current state of the building, cleaned but empty.

The Flat 12 name is from an engine (no, not from the 1911 Indy 500 – all those engines were 4 or 6-cylinders).

Misc.-- Aug. 26

German style Indy... (if you are waiting for the Rathskeller to reopen)

Many have never had a good German Kolsch on tap. If you are one hurry to Chatham Tap in Fishers, 8211 E 116th. They are on the last keg of Gaffel Kolsch. Of course the Chatham Tap has 2 SunKing, several Bell's, various English offerings, more good beers and delicious food, too! I love the pizza, the Earl's Club, the Smoked Gouda Apple melt, but the beer..... While we know it must go we will miss miss our fresh, delicious, appropriately bitter Gaffel Kolsch once gone. Prost. We know it will be replaced by a delicious Oktoberfest, as it should be.

And while we're in the mood for German style beers, Liz Laughlin has her delcious Pils on tap at Rock Bottom College Park on 86th, just west of Township Line. Of course you might be persuaded to have 10 oz. of her strong Belgian Tripel - yum!

Misc News – Aug 25

The Hoosier Beer Geeks went to Madison's Great Taste of the Midwest and report about it with pictures of the Indiana breweries that were there.

Broad Ripple Brewpub 20th Anniversary beer right now is Limping Mallard. A 7.7% Scotch Ale that is like sucking on a caramel. This one last saw the light of day 15 years ago.

From: Omar Castrellón To: The World All friends and enemies invited. Alcatraz Aug 31 6:30 pm. Omar's goodbye (from Alcatraz). A couple of beers we need to empty. Good stuff.

On Monday a 60,000 crane with a 90-foot boom being operated in the beer garden of the Indianapolis Athenaeum/Rathskeller tipped over. The Indy Star has the article and a net-worthy FAIL picture.

Excruciatingly detailed Beer Paintings.

If you think the map on our home page is cluttered, you should see the Cask Beer Finder for America map (scroll down).

Thank Heaven For Beer has a grin-inducing story about the in-store beer snob. article

More grin-inducement as Weights and Measures visits the Public House. articleRumor has it SABMiller may offer $10.9 billion for Foster's. article

Misc News – Aug 22

Add to your calendar: KokoFest Micro Brew Festival in conjunction with AllKokomo.com. October 9th. Behind the Half Moon. Local beer freak Blake Montgomery is setting this up to benefit the Carver Community Center. The CCC provides youth activities, lunches, mentoring, day care, and generally makes life better for kids in Kokomo. Two CCC fundraisers earlier this year were strongly impacted by bad weather and this Festival hopes to make up some of their shortfall.

Breweries, etc.: Blake's one of the good guys and he has just over a month to pull this together. He's recruited the local VFW post to provide workers. When he calls you, give him the nod – or call him at 765-438-9591 (blake@profitws.com) right now. It's a good chance to make inroads into the Kokomo market and help a worthwhile cause.

Bloomington Brewing's equipment for the new production brewery is in and pretty muchly installed. They have a new Premiere system with 20 bbl capacity on the hot side and 40 bbl fermenters and bright tanks. Eileen Martin will brew the first batch in September.

Aleen tells us Bloomington beers can now be found at the three Indy-area Scotty's Brewhouse locations. (Wilbur Brewing's Country Mellow Amber is on tap in Scotty's in Bloomington).

Bee Creek Brewery has grown a bunch. No longer just brewing on Saturdays, they have 2 full-time and 1 part-time person. Huzzah.

Crispin Ciders is making inroads here. Distributed by World Class Beverages, they have a variety of natural no-sugar-ciders and a perry (pear cider for you heathens) made in California and supported by Chad Lushin here in Indiana. Bottles and kegs are available and Chad is getting more and more taps replacing Woodchuck and that ilk of fuzzy flavored water. They do want their cider to be served over ice, "European style" but won't monitor it in your own home.

They also make the cider for Original Sin's line (distributed by Cavalier).

Crispin's lineup:

• Honey Crisp Artisanal Reserve – Slightly cloudy and moderately carbonated cider that has a sweet meady quality from addition of organic honey. 6.5% ABV. Not using the sweet desert Honeycrisp apples, instead a blend of west coast pomes.
• The Saint – Slightly cloudy and slightly carbonated fermented with a Belgian Trappist beer yeast. Again, sweetish, this time from some organic maple syrup. 6.9%
• A "Blue" line of Crisp, Bright, and Extra-Dry ciders. at 5%, 3.2%, and 5.5%, respectively.
• Fox Barrel Perry that we haven't tried yet but will ASAP. 4.5%

 

It's now official and we have permission to tell you Omar Castrellón will be leaving Alcatraz in 2 weeks to be the head brewer at the Thr3e Wise Men brewery in Broad Ripple. Skip Duvall will move back across the street from the Ram to Alcatraz at that time. TWM has a new system very similar to Bloomington's (see above).

 

New to Indiana next month – We'll be seeing Napa Smith beers via Pelican Brands and WCB. Made in Napa, CA, by Don Barkley. He's been in craft beer since it started in 1978 at the New Albion Brewery who started it all - article. Oh, and Mendocino Brewing of course. NS is only two years old but it has chops. The first offerings are a Wheat Beer (4.6%), an Organic IPA (7.1%, 70 IBU), and Lost Dog Red Ale (7.2%) which has a boldness befitting its strength.

---

If the statistics Mark Kleiman quoted in the The Atlantic  are even close to accurate, his point also leads to the obvious conclusion that good craft beer can never be more than 20% of the market:

"Divide the population into deciles by annual drinking volume. The top decile starts at four drinks a day, averaged year-round. That group consumes half of all the alcohol sold. The next decile does from two to four drinks a day. Those folks sop up the next thirty percent. Casual drinkers - people who have two drinks a day or less - take up only 20% of the total volume. The booze companies cannot afford to have their customers 'drink in moderation'."

Misc News – Aug 21

Big Woods Brewing American Wheat is now on tap at the Story Still Tavern at the Story Inn in Story Indiana. It's Big Woods' first off-site account and Story Inn's only draft beer.

Big Woods is also instituting a new Sunday Growler policy. The first 10 new growler customers every Sunday get the bottle for free.

Mini-editorial: Every brewpub we have talked to since July 4th has been very happy with Sunday Growler sales, reporting double-digit sales every week. Two have estimated 50 growlers filled every Sunday. This is the biggest success story yet for the Brewers of Indiana Guild's lobbying dollars. Over and above the extra income generated, the publicity for Indiana brewpubs during June and July was all-in-all positive and will give long-term benefits.

Hopefully the B.I.G.'s next effort will result in a change Indiana law that will see Indiana-only beer and wine booths at the Indiana State Fair. This could be accomplished for the 2011 Fair and it would introduce the members' products to the 800,000 attendees. There could be no better use of the Guild's time and money than to achieve this level of recognition to new potential customers.

Coming up – new and strange brews from breweries – and distilleries.

Rogue Chatoe Creek Ale – A Belgian Kriek hits the shelves in October. Hopefully here in Indiana as well as Oregon.

Avery will have Ellie's Brown, White Rascal and IPA out in cans in September. article

Springbank has 5 new Scotch whiskies out. Hazelburn – 8yo unpeated and aged in both bourbon and sherry barrels. Springbank 10yo. Springbank 15yo - finished in sherry wood. Longrow CV – a blend of single malt ages with smoky notes. Longrow 10yo – finished in sherry wood. article

Misc News – Aug 20

Tomorrow's calendar (Sat, Aug 21):

• Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Festive Ale. 4-8pm. 200 S. Meridian. Indy. $40/$50.
• Southern Indiana Brewery, Winery & Spirits Festival. SWIRCA, Evansville. 6-10pm. $30/$35
• Tapping of Oatis Brown at Lafayette Brewing.
• Wamm Fest, Craig Park, Greenwood. 10zm-8pm. $8/$10. Barley Island, Upland, Oaken Barrel and Sun King will be pouring.
• Beginning Brewing Class. Great Fermentations, Indy. 9am
• Chicago Gourmet Beer Tasting. Berfhoff Restaurant. For Pints for Prostates. 5:30-8:30pm. $50.
• Art of Beer Festival. Including viewing of Locally Buzzed. Benton Harbor, MI. $25/$30
• The Livery 5th Anniversary Celebration. Free. Benton Harbor, MI. Noon-6pm
• Micro Brew Review. Oak Park, IL. 3-7pm

It's a Friday so Gina's Random Beer Roundup is out.

The Bruery's Black Tuesday barrel-aged Imperial Stout, at 20% ABV rivals Dark Lord in that there was a 4-hour line at the brewery last hear to get some. This year they are also rival Three Floyds with a Black Tuesday release on October 26th. They're even going way past Dark Lord at $30/bottle. If you're going to be in the Orange County, CA area, here's the details.

Is it too early for the Oktoberfest beers to be hitting the shelves? Yes. article

Out already – Ayinger, Becks, Bell's, Dogfish Head, Harpoon, Heavy Seas, Lakefront, Left Hand, Leinenkugel, New Belgium, Paulaner, Rogue, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Spaten, Upland, and Weihenstephaner.

Bud has slipped from 26% of the US market in 1988 to 9.3% in 2009. The St. Louis Post Dispatch asks Can It Be Saved?

Yahoo News gets the exclusive report on the two cans of Blue Moon taken from the Jet Blue plane. Now you know. article

It's been a slow news week. People are just back from Madison's Great Taste. So here's a random picture to fill in some space:

Misc News – Aug 17

Fiddler's Hearth, South Bend's premier beer pub, will hold the Indiana tapping of Founders Nemesis 2010 – a 12% Barleywine. Nemesis won't hit the stores until September but you'll be able to get it on tap on August 31st starting at 8pm.

Pelican, evidently a big-time trance-metal band (hear them here), are having a show in Chicago on October 23rd. Three Floyds will unleash a Doppelbock dedicated to them. article

Bell's fourth beer in mini-kegs will be out late this fall – Winter White will join Oberon, Two Hearted and Best Brown.

Bell's 25th Anniversary party will be held mainly on Friday, Sept 10th and Sat, Sept 11th at the Eccentric Cafe. Schedule:

• Thursday, September 9th: 9:30 pm: West Side Winders
• Friday, September 10th:
  2:00 pm: Press Conference in the beer garden
  3:00 pm: Music starts and continues all night with:
  • The Kalamazoo Dixieland Band
  • Great Lakes Grass
  • Black Jake & the Carnies
  • Greensky Bluegrass
  $1 off pints until 9pm on Friday if you are wearing a Bell’s shirt.
• Saturday, September 11th:
  11:00 am – 4:00 pm: The Galesburg Brewery will be open to the public for tours.
  There will be grilled food and soda available.
  1:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Bell’s celebrates homebrewers. You bring a 5 gallon carboy to the Eccentric Café, we fill it with cold, unhopped wort made with our Michigan barley at no cost. Take it home, hop it, ferment it and send 2 bottles to us no later than November 1st for judging. Guidelines available when you pick up your wort. Winners will be announced on All Stouts Day, November 7th. Limit – one entry per person.
  1:00 pm: Music starts and continues all night with:
  • Ein Prosit! (40+ member, traditional German band) – (These folks are amazing)
  • Deal’s Gone Bad
  • Rolling Head
  • My Dear Disco
  $1 off pints until 9pm on Saturday if you are wearing a Bell’s shirt.
• Sunday, September 12th: $1 off pints all day on Sunday if you are wearing a Bell’s shirt

<=== Arcadia Hopmouth label.

Sam Adams Doublebock label. They also plan an Imperial White and Imperial Stout ===>

In a previous post we mentioned the Brits who have crawled to 14,000 pubs. The CAMRA paper, What's Brewing, has an article about Stuart Ashby who has visited 17,015 pubs since 1984. "Not bad for someone who doesn't drive and has to rely on public transport".

"Burger King is opening a restaurant in Miami Beach that will serve beer along with burgers and fries, the chain's first U.S. location with alcohol." article Happy meal? Whopper, fries, and a Bud. $7.99. One coming in NYC also. And maybe Orlando.

Misc News – Aug 14

This is the latest cover of Lafayette Magazine. Now that's ink.
 

The Krups Beertender holds and chills a mini-keg of Heineken or Newcastle (seemingly not Bell's). Displays include keg volume and temperature. Supposedly keeps the beer good for 30 days. From $100.

England: Drinkers on longest ever pub crawl reach 14,000th pub. "It turned from being a bit of fun to a serious hobby." 4 guys. 24 years. 21,000 pints - each. Every pub in 11 counties.

Misc News – Aug 13

Rock Bottom, Downtown Indy's Happy Pils is all Sterling and Mt. Hood hops for a real Czech Pilsner experience. Bright yellow with light aroma of malt and clean glass. When cold it gives a nice grassy bitterness with a hint of pepper and a bit of a sweet malt finish. Once warmed it's more Czech with the up-front mercaptan you get in Urquell.

Rock Bottom, 86th St, Indy will tap Triple Trouble next week and Liz's BOS Simcoe IPA will return soon.

The Ram went through 110 kegs-worth of beer in the 5 days of Gencom.

Another batch of Uberweizen is back at Oaken Barrel.

Gina's Random Beer Roundup is out.

John Templet has tapped a new record at the Half Moon – Skull Splitter DIPA is 8.4% and 134 IBU. Magnum, Summit, Cascade. My brain hurts.

Elkhart's Quality Wine and Ale Supply has another series of homebrewing posts:

Get The Most From Your Beer Brewing Kit With These Tips
How Long Will It Take To Brew My First Batch Of Beer?
How To Reuse Your Old Wine And Beer Bottles
Accessories and Additional Ingredients to Use With Your Beer Brewing Kit
The Four Ingredients You Need (Along With A Beer Brewing Kit)

Consolidation: Carolina Beer bought by Dallas consortium.

Misc News – Aug 12

Results of the 3rd Annual Strassenfest Homebrew Contest, held by the Dubois County Suds Club. 91 Entries. Best of Show – Chris Norrick (OHVA) Winter Wit #58. Complete results (Hint: John Mills' State Fair BOS wins it's category). 

Driving Under the Influence of…Bread. Turns out breathalyzer results can be inflated by bread. To confirm, I had two sourdough English muffins this morning with butter and cinnamon sugar. A half hour later blew 0.02. Seriously. This could be a problem.

Alarmists say the Russian harvest problems will raise the price of beer (and bread). article

Roger Baylor passes on the 4-minute video "Life in a Beer Nation". Mainly Pilsen, CR, with helicopter shots and a theme of "Beer builds beautiful bodies".

Consolidation continues. Anchor Brewing sold to some liquor guys. Pyramid, Magic Hat, and TacTarnahan's sold to North American Breweries who own Labatt's USA, Genesee, Dundee, and Seagram's Smooth. Mendocino Brewing buys Butte Creek's organic brands.

AB-InBev's sales in the UK are up 18.6% on the strength of the World Cup advertising. Just think how much they would have gained if England had a real soccer team. article

KegMate attaches an iPad to a beer tap to provide stats about the beer, who's poured from it, what they rated it, etc. Open source. Open mouth. Insert "whaaaa?"

Half Acre comes up with another terrific label. “Bairn will be available in both bombers and draft at the brewery, plus some jaunts around town. This beer is an ode to all things Phil. Our friend, coworker and brewing confidant, Phil Wymore, has been busy having a child and gearing up to start his own brewery in St. Louis. This beer is a nod to his beautiful little girl, Lily — probably the most sincere and “nice” label you see come out of Half Acre. So, as Phil departs from Half Acre he’s leaving us and you with this Saison brewed with lemon and chamomile.”

In some areas of England are giving questionnaires to people pulled in for alcohol-related offences. They ask where they were last served and by whom. "These have then been used as evidence if a pub’s licence comes up for review or, in some cases, to instigate a review to force new conditions on trading." article So inebriated people can affect a pub's future – not under oath, not in person, maybe out of spite because they weren't served.

While we're talking about bad ideas. How about a nice Beer Popsicle?

Misc – Aug 10

About those hidden tunnels and the speakeasy under the Terre Haute Brewery. . . Mike Rowe has a blueprint. article

Todd Antz gives himself and some summer beers ink in the Clark County Focus magazine. He recommends Gaffel Kolsch, FFF Gumball Head, Left Hand Good Juju Ginger, St. Bemardus Wit, and Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat.

Dennis Reas claims he invented the "doughnut burger" for this year's State Fair. article. Bunk. Not only was the Columbus Bar offering one a year ago, but Bada Boomz was 3 years ago – with bacon no less.

The Brewers Guild posts a picture of the Beer display at the State Fair.

Evidently Henry Weinhard's beers go well with crab. Check out the Wizard's Captain Keith's appearances.

Misc News – Aug 6

Hoosier Hops & Harvest on September 12th in Story, Indiana, has been finalized. Big Woods, Bloomington Brewing, Broad Ripple Brewpub, Brugge, New Albanian, Oaken Barrel, Power House, Three Floyds, Upland, and World Class Beverages will all be pouring. poster

Goose Island's Christmas Ale won't be made this year. Seems they can't keep up with production of the mainstays in an expanding market.

Flying Dog's Wild Dog Barrel-aged Gonzo Imperial Porter is coming back in 12oz (and expensive) bottles. It's being bottled right about now.

Here's a look at nanobrewing in Portland. Every pub can have its own beer. But nano lemonade stands are a different story. article

The Green Dragon Inn in Cockleford, Gloucestershire, England, was closed for lunch and dinner because of a bomb scare when unexploded WWII bombs were discovered nearby during some road construction. article

Duvel Moortgat is buying Brouwerij De Koninck. Now Duvel, Chouffe, Maredsous, Liefmans, Vedett, and De Koninck will all be under one company. It's starting to seem like Belgium is G.Heilmaning itself.

"One of the most popular beers was a home brew from Southern Brewing and Wine Making in Tampa that drew a long, steady line. To say it was unique understates it: Called Cookies and Milk Stout, it was an oatmeal stout run through a Randall of double-stuffed Oreo cookies. It was chocolatey and milky without being too sweet. It may have been more interesting than good, but it was a hit." article

Misc News – Aug 5

The Evansville Courier & Press gives big ink to John Mills and his Best of Show at the State Fair (even though the online copy is weirdly edited with a broiled salmon recipe stuck in the middle). "Homebrewers' association member turns hops into a first-place creation"

Nate Schweber gives Upland and Broad Ripple Brewpub ink in BA's CraftBeer for their Bison.

Nate and John Holl have turned in the manuscript for their Indiana breweries book. It will be over 200 pages when it comes out.

Now at or coming to a tap near you:

• Back Road – Now: LaPorte UnCommon, Sit. Late August: Midwest IPA, Pols Shift Pale Ale. Mid September: Double Back Autumn Ale. Don't forget their tours/tastings on Saturdays, 1-4pm.
• BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse – September: Oktoberfest
• Figure 8 Brewing – Now: Rye Knot, Baltic Rye, Snake Pro Double IPA. They now have 8 brews on tap in the tasting room.
• Granite City – Sept 13: Oktoberfest
• Great Crescent Brewery – Dark Lager
• Lafayette Brewing – Sept 21: Oatis Brown
• New Albanian – Now: Ancient Rage Smoked Baltic Porter
• Ram – Aug 18: Aries American Wheat
• Rock Bottom – Aug 11 (86th St) and Aug 12 (downtown Indy): Apply Pils
• Shoreline – Now: Dim Wit
• Sun King – Now: Grapefruit Jungle. Aug 26: Chinookie
• Three Floyds – 5pm today: Ruggoop Rye Wine (only on Thursdays – also being sold by the bottle at the brewpub), Owd Engwish Bawley Whine (only on Fridays.
• Upland – Aug 7: Altered States – Brian Steuerwald's UpCup competition winner. Mid August: Oktoberfest

The HBG Knights review Great Divide Hercules and visit the Ball & Biscuit on Mass Ave in Indy.

Here's a slideshow of the True Brew signing at Lafayette Brewing

Misc News, Aug 4

The latest collaboration of Three Floyds and Mikkeller is Ruggoop, a 9.5% Rye Wine. It was bottled on Tuesday and will be tapped on Thursday and each Thursday until it's gone. On Fridays they will tap a keg of Owd Engwish Bawley Whine each week also.

---

The Ram is experiencing Gencom once again. As 25,000 gamers descend on downtown Indianapolis the Ram is ready with a back room set up for game playing, TroolBlood Alt and Primal Porter are pouring from the taps.

Trollblood Alt is has the proper red notes and is much to style with stringent bitter that overcomes the hefty malt. The boys' new batch of Big Horn Hefeweizen went on tap Tuesday evening and is a perfect example of a German Hefe rivaling Oaken Barrel's Uberweizen - miraculous since it was brewed last Friday, boiled CO2 on Saturday through Monday and was ready in just 4 days.

 

---

Last Monday Oaken Barrel celebrated their State Fair Champion Brewer award by bringing back some stash. Almost 100 people came for the last pints of Common, Barley Wine, Port Barrel Barley Wine, 2009's BOS Pumpkin, Java Porter, Brewberry Stout, Schwartz, Uberweizen, and (the first to be drained) 2009's Apple Buzz. Kwang gave away some mugs and copies of Rita's True Brew.

==>> Here's Rita with Jim Dunbar who bought the first mug of Oaken Barrel beer back in 1996 – A blonde named Irish Gold if you don't remember. Jim was with the USAF Reserve at the time and now flies Lifeline helicopters.

The Apple Buzz has held up nicely and should yield 4 batches this autumn instead of 2. The Brewberry Stout is better than ever. The Barley Wine now has leather notes. The Port Barrel Barley Wine has aged very well, giving a bunch of oaky vanilla that lingers on and on. The Schwartz has dried, which is not a bad thing. The Java Porter has acquired some sweet vanilla also.

Oh, and they are going to make another batch of Uberweizen while the summer heat is still on.

---

Rita's review of Liz Laughlin's BOS Simcoe IPA is worth a read.

Congratulations to Sun King for being voted the Best Brew Pub / Tasting Room in Nuvo's Best of Indy 2010. They also got the cover and 3 page article.

The Brewers Association says there are 1625 breweries in the United States. That's 100 more than last year at this time.

Misc News – Aug 1

It started with a thread on Pro Brewer – Rating the Raters: Opinions on BA & RB. Stuff like "Beer geeks are one thing, I am one. Beer wankers are another. These seemingly alcoholic losers wouldn't know a good beer if it was delivered by the gods themselves. They have little to nothing to do with my consumer base." Then it calmed down. Now Beer Advocate and Rate Beer folks are talking about it. "We are all mega fans of Shock Top "craft" wheat. I mean just look at how well we’ve scored it. 12/100 points for witbiers. So you’re exactly right, no way we can tell good beer even if it hit us in the face."

The dry Indiana State Fair is coming up real soon now. Aug 6-22.

At Vine and Table, Carmel, Denis tells us there are a couple of new Whiskey's worth putting on your shelves.

• Makers Mark just released their first new whiskey after 52 years of operation. So what distinguishes the new Makers 46 from the regular bottle? Well, after a period of ageing, the bourbon is dumped from the barrel and then oak staves are planted inside the now empty cask. Then, the casks are refilled and aged for a further 2 to 3 months, which imparts spiciness with more caramel and vanilla on the palate. $35/750ml
• Four Roses 100^th Anniversary Limited Edition Barrel Strength Bourbon. Only 2,300 bottles were released in the US, and they are selling fast. This is a 17 year old single barrel that is aged a lot longer than the regular single barrel. $70/750ml

TastingBeer.com's 2010 World Beer Awards are out. Yeah, another web site handing out awards. But this one is a bit special. Judges included Roger Protz, Jeff Evans, Stan Hieronymus, Jay Brooks, Eric Warner, and Ben Vinken – all notable writers. And the winners are:

• Pale Ale - Deschutes Red Chair NWPA
• Dark Ale - Unibroue Unibroue 17
• Lager - Primator Premium
• Stout/Porter - Minoh Beer Imperial Stout
• Wheat - Weihenstephaner Vitus

There are about 150 different "World's Best" by category listed on their web site at www.tastingbeers.com/awards/wba/2010. Worth a browse, even if there seems to be a monotonous repetition of the same breweries.

Some we get in Indiana include Rodenbach Grand Cru, Harvey's Old Ale, Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve 40 Years Old, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Fuller's London Pride, Unibroue La Fin Du Monde, Fuller's ESB, Rogue Mocha Porter, Unibroue Quelque Chose, Kiuchi Hitachino Nest White Ale, Kingfisher Premium Lager, Fuller's 1845, Konig Ludwig Hell, Brasserie St. Feuillien Blonde, Harviestoun Old Engine Oil, Konig Ludwig Weissbier Dunkel, Samuel Adams Black Lager, Full Sail Session Premium Lager, Samuel Adams Longshot Traditional Bock, Rogue Chocolate Stout, Unibroue Blanche De Chambly, Unibroue Don De Dieu.