Indiana Beer News – March 29

Chris Norrick has some pictures up of the Ohio Valley Homebrewers Association trip to the Broad Ripple Brewpub for the ISF BOS tapping party. Here, winner John Mills and Kevin Matalucci enjoy the first glasses of John’s just-tapped How Now Brown Cow. More pictures here.

A-B to buy Goose Island. $38.8M total. article John Hall comments. Brett Porter (Deschutes) to take over as brewmaster from Greg Hall. article

Michigan doesn’t like Flying Dog’s Raging Bitch IPA. Flying dog sues MLCC. article

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Coming up:

Thurs, Mar 31 - New Albanian Bottle Release Party. Keg Liquors, Clarksville. 5-8pm.

Fri, Apr 1 - Sun King Maibock tapping at the Rathskeller, Indy.  7:30pm+ Music 9-12pm

Sat, Apr 2 - Indiana Breweries by John Holl and Nate Schweiber, the Book initial Signing. New Albanian's Public House. 3-6pm. (also at the Bank Street Brewery on Sunday, 12-3pm

Mon, Apr 4 - Mead & Cider tapping party. New Day Meadery, Indy. 7pm+

Wed, Apr 6 - Tapping of RYEnocerous IPA. Rock Bottom, 86th St. Indy. 6pm

“To celebrate the release of Upland's specialty Belgain-style ale, Infinite Wisdom Tripel, Upland and the Bluebird are bringing world renowned artist Norton Wisdom to Bloomington to perform with local favorites The Twin Cats and The Main Squeeze.

“Norton Wisdom is a good friend of the brewery, and his work is featured on the label of our Infinite Wisdom Tripel, as well as our Dantalion Dark Wild Ale and Double Dragonfly Imperial IPA.

“An art show featuring Wisdom's works will be held at the Root Cellar in Bloomington on the night of Friday April 22nd. Wisdom will be there to discuss his works, meet his fans, and sign prints and original works that will be available for purchase.

“The excitement of Wisdom's work is not only in the final product, but in the process, which you'll be able to see first-hand the following night, Saturday, April 23rd at the Infinite Wisdom Tripel Release Concert. Wisdom will be painting original art to the sounds of The Twin Cats and The Main Squeeze at the Bluebird. Doors open at 9pm, and music starts at 10:30.”

The Man Towns are in the preliminary stages of planning a road trip. May 20-21. Bus trip from Indy/Martinsville/Bloomington to Huber Winery, New Albanian Public House, Caesars Casino on Friday starting 2-3pm. Sat is tours in Kentucky – Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey, Four Roses, Gentleman Cigars. Hopefully under $100 for bus, hotel, and tours. Looking for 30-50 guys. If you’re interested, contact Ed Winders.

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Proofreader wanted. The Indiana Beer Story (yes I’m writing a book) is ready for proofing and we’re looking for someone to mark up the MS of this 240-page history of Indiana breweries. Don’t need to deal with stuff like cross-referencing page numbers, just check that the text is grammatical and readable. Need it done in 2 weeks. Doesn’t pay anything but you’ll be the fourth person to read the book and you’ll get thanks in print. If you’re interested, call Bob Ostrander at 317-856-6092. Thanks.

AB Inbev to buy Goose Island

Another consolidation hits the beer industry. After a week of celebrating craft beer at the Craft Brewers Conference in San Francisco last week, comes the news that there will be one less independent craft brewer, as Goose Island is purchased by AB Inbev, the global beer giant with Bud and Stella brands. I predict additional consolidation in the craft beer arena during the next 12 months.

http://beernews.org/2011/03/anheuser-busch-to-buy-goose-island-for-38-8-million/#more-18165

Indiana Beer News – March 25

Stats: 6,000 Dark Lord Day tickets were sold. So the parking lot will still be an active swapfest. Park in the green areas, not the pink areas. No RVs allowed to even drive on the surrounding streets. article

Hey Evansvilleites. Gerst Amber looks to be coming back. Now made by Yazoo Brewery since Gerst and Sterling breweries are both defunct. article

Granite City Food and Brewery launches bottled beer line

The Indy Star talks about Cicerones with Cari Crow (good picture Cari), Ron Smith, and Chris Karl. article

Here’s the official Bell’s Oberon Release Schedule – including midnight tappings.

Bell’s Brewery sends cease and desist letter to Northern Brewer about Northern Brewer’s homebrew kit Three Hearted Ale.

Time to play identify the label.

New Albany, again!

After going to Louisville for a food show, we stopped for a pint in New Albany! I fell in love with the Elsa Von Horizon Imperial Pils. It is always a tough decision as to what to drink, but it was even harder yesterday. I sampled the Hard Core Gore, it dried my mouth out with Hops! Of course, I had to have a Hoptimus, amazing as always! Makes me wish I lived closer to New Albany...

Update

Right now, at Power House Brewing, they have a record 5 beers on tap: Two Dave's IPA, Jack the Bum APA, Wee Heavy Scotch Ale, White River Brown, and a first, Chocolate Stout. Stop in and check out the new stuff!

After a few days to recover, I must say, Gravity Head ROCKS!!! I had a hard time deciding on what to drink. Timmie from Sun King might be my new favorite RIS. We got to sample a 1987 J.W. Lees Harvest Ale, as well as a 1997 that got pulled from the cellar for Office Hours. The 1987 was older than one of the people drinking with me. As always, the guys at NABC showed us a great time! Thanks for the brewery tour and awesome pizza.

Like most of the people I know, I did not get tickets for Dark Lord Day this year...

Indiana Beer News – March 22

On Thursday (Mar 24) New Albanian’s Bottle Release Party will be at Keg Liquors in Clarksville. 5-8pm. Appetizers and newly-available bottles of Elector, Hoptimus, and Elsa von Horizon. Coming up: Solidarity Baltic Porter.

Whoops: Todd Antz of Keg Liquors writes: We had to postpone the New Albanian Bottle Launch until next week, on the 31st from 5 - 8PM. They are having some equipment issues and we had to push it out so they can fix things.

This Saturday, a new Crown Liquors on the northwest side of Indy will have a grand opening. 106th St. and Michigan Rd. The Woodford Reserve/Jack/Patron bottle engraver will be there in the afternoon. Goodys, prizes, etc. This location will be joining the Carmel, Fishers, South (US 31 & Shelby) Crowns in their Friday afternoon beer tastings. 4-7pm.

Dark Lord tickets sold out in 22 minutes. Stubhub scalpers are asking from $60 to $250. Craigslist folks want them for $25 or $50 and want to sell them for $100. One guy will take your ticket and buy you the DL for $25.

The hot beer topic in the newspaper today is that three Indiana breweries may soon pass the 20,000 bbl cutoff for a reduced “micro” excise tax. Three Floyds will beat that this year. Upland might. Sun Kin probably in 2012. They’d like the limit raised to 60,000 bbls. IndyStar article

Headline: Oregon home brewers, winemakers can compete again: House gives final OK.

Sam Adams Category 23 Longshot will hit the shelves any day now. It’s 2 each of 3 different Pro-Am winners in the “think outside the box” style. Friar Hop Ale – Belgian IPA. Blackened Hops – Black IPA. Honey B’s Lavender Wheat. press release

And now, your moment of Zen

Indiana Breweries – the book – the review

It’s out and available. Got mine from Amazon Saturday.

John Holl and Nate Schweber’s 140-page read is the latest Breweries book from Stackpole Books (also available for Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia+MD+DE, and the benchmark book of Pennsylvania by Lew Bryson – a Missouri book is due this September).

Last summer and fall, John and Nate crisscrossed Indiana for weeks harvesting information and visiting every brewery. The result is a very up-to-date travel guide. It includes the latest breweries (Bier, Flat 12, and Thr3e Wise Men) and even includes upcoming breweries (Black Swan, 3 Pints, Triton, and the Heorot).

Each brewery’s story is told with backgrounds of the owners/brewers, John/Nate’s pick of the beer and the food, occasional interviews with patrons, and even description of the environment right down to the crapola on the walls.

The only glaring omission seems to be street maps. But everyone has a GPS or Google now don’t they? The current fourth edition of Pennsylvania Breweries will be the last of the Stackpoles with maps I’m told.

And I have to add just one other niggling issue. The editorial board (?) decided to omit LiL’ Charlies and Granite City because they outsource their wort. That said, we must applaud the amount of coverage given by the authors anyway.

To be a more complete travel guide, they’ve included area attractions, zoos, halls of fame, and museums to visit and have given B&B or small hotel picks. The lists of good beer bars hopefully will be used by the traveler as visits there complement brewery tours, brewpub meals, and other staples of a good vacation or weekend trip.

Every IndianaBeer, HBG, or Beer Nut reader, homebrewer, mug club member, Girls Pint Out or Beer Meetup folk, or BA/RB ticker needs a copy. Even your IndianaBeer reporter who has been immersed in the lore for years learned something about each of the 37 breweries detailed.

John Holl is actually a big-time beer writer with NY Times, Beer Connoisseur, and lots of web cred. Latest from him is a Wall Street Journal article about the Sun King and Three Floyds collaboration.

John and Nate will be back in Indiana (they’re actually New Jerseyites) for a book signing tour in April starting April 2nd & 3rd at New Albanian’s brewpubs. There’s one scheduled for  April 28th at Thr3e Wise Men. They should be at Beer Geeks Pub late on Dark Lord Day (April 30), and the calendar will fill in, and we’ll have it on the IndianaBeer Calendar – OR go to the book’s own facebook.com/indianabreweries pages for the latest.

Indiana Beer News – March 18

Press release that says it all (and a good reason to make the road trip to Battle Creek): In an effort to raise much needed dollars for the earthquake & tsunami victims in Japan, Arcadia Ales in Battle Creek will donate every dollar from on-site tap sales on Saturday, March 19 to relief efforts.

Here’s a 14-picture slideshow of Cantillon. Enjoy.

The 50 Most Important Inventions (and Discoveries) in Food and Drink. #50: The pull tab. #6: fermentation.

Indiana Beer News – March 17

Courtesy WTIU, Hoosier Hospitality: Craft Beer can be see in it’s 87 minute complete form as it was presented on-air during a pledge drive. It’s on their web site until March 22nd. You’ll also find more short videos and some recipes also. An extended DVD is available as you become a WTIU member.

HBG Mike visits Three Floyds for a big picture story and Barnaby talks about about Dark Lord Day, chillers, roofs, and such.

Gerst Beer is making another comeback. Gerst Amber was first brewed by Evansville Brewing for the Gerst Restaurant in Nashville. EB even sent it to Japan and South Korea. Brewing moved to Pittsburg Brewing in 1887 when EB closed – just as the Gerst Haus opened in Evansville. Bad timing. Now production is being moved to Yazoo Brewing in Nashville. Unveiling on March 25th (at the Gerst Haus in Nashville). An excuse for a road trip. article

 

St. Patrick's Day, March 17

Where's a great place to Grab your Irish Stout or Red? Your local brewpub or favorite pub, of course!

If you want to visit an "Irish pub" in Central Indiana there are several newer choices and one original. McGinleys' Golen Ace opened in 1934 with Pat McGinley from Ireland taking advantage of the repeal of Prohibition. That makes their 2011 St. Patrick's Day their 77th and they are doing it up right with 2 rounds of Irish music (1 tenor, 3 bands) from 11:30 AM until close using a tent in their parking lot. They serve sandwiches including a corned beef sandwich and what Indianapolis Monthley magazine called 'the best homemade cheeseburger in Indy.' The Golden Ace is at 2533 East Washington Street and features Irish music all day.

For another rather authentic experience there is the Irish Lion Pub and Restaurant, a Bloomington, IN tradition and often listed as one of Indiana's best restaurants. Housed in a restored 1882 building the Lion has the true feel of an Irish pub, great food, good European beer including Guiness and Harp plus great food including Irish specialties.

Indy has a wealth of "Irish pubs" and apologies to any left off this list:
Loughmiller's downtown
MacNiven's Scottish/Irish downtown
Claddaugh both downtown and Carmel
O'Reilly's downtown
Mickey's Carmel
Mo's in Hamilton Town Centre b
PJ O'Keefe's Zionsville
O'Gara'a Beech Grove
And while Chatham Tap is more English than Irish the quaint Mass Av location and the larger Fishers location both have Irish and English beer and a true pub atmosphere.

Indiana Beer News – March 13

We’ve said it before. Dark Lord Day is April 30th this year. Tickets ($10) will be needed to get your allocation  and to get onto the grounds for the swap tables. These will go on sale sometime on March 19th with links at the Three Floyds blog, Facebook, and Twitter sites. (When did everything get so complicated?)

If you know wine and are in Central Indiana, Easley Winery is looking for some people and are having a Job Fair at the College St. location in Indy March 18-10, 9-12pm. Positions Available:

8 Seasonal Wine Stewards/Tour Guides
2 Full Time Winery Representatives who will travel to Farmer’s Markets & Festivals through out the Mid West (Wed-Sun)
1 Full Time Year Round Cellar Assistant (Cleaning tanks, and bottling wine Monday—Friday)
1 Full Time Tasting Room Manager (Tues—Sat)

This years’ Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout had just been released and we should see some in Indiana in maybe even a week or so.

This is an AP Photo, taken by Itsuo Inouye, of the Kirin Brewery.

Other majors, Sapporo and Asahi, have shut down plants for inspection. Suntory and sorta micro Kiuchi (Hitachino Nest) are bottling water at their plants. Info thanks to BeerNews.org

The top 10 brews available at big league ballparks

Hey what? London’s 2012 Olympics have sold the exclusive beer and cider rights to whom? Heineken, that’s whom. That’s like Bud being the official beer of the World Cup in Germany. Oh, it was.

Dogfish Head Pulls out of Indiana.

According to their blog, Dogfish Head has seemingly overextended. They’re pulling out of the UK and out of 4 states. INCLUDING INDIANA.

The race to the shelves starts . . . . . . . now.

World Class Beverages’ Beer Spy will let you know which liquor stores have bought your favorite DFH recently so you can stop on your way home from work. But 120 Minute IPA show as not available but does show plenty of locations for World Wide Stout. You’re on your own from there. Good luck,

Sigh,
Bob.

Indiana Beer News – March 11

On Wed, March 16th, this spring’s Upland Blackberry & Cherry Lambics will be available. Well, at least you can put in your reservation for one bottle of each starting at noon. $20 each. Go to their web site at that time to find the link. Pick-up will be March 29th through April 12th at the brewery or at the Indianapolis Tasting Room.

The Feds are on our side? “Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) today introduced legislation to reduce the beer excise tax for America’s small brewers. … Currently, a small brewer that produces less than two million barrels of beer per year is eligible to pay $7.00 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels produced each year. This legislation will reduce this rate to $3.50 per barrel, giving our nation’s smallest brewers approximately $19.9 million per year to expand and generate jobs. This change helps approximately 1,525 breweries nationwide.” If you’re bigger than 60,000 bbls (non in Indiana are) the excise tax is $18 per bbl and this bill will lower that to $16 per bbl.

beerpaintings.blogspot.com is two artistic folk who do oil painting of craft beer. They do commissions. These are paintings, not photos. OK, they are photos of paintings.

Headline: Scientists reveal that Guinness really does taste better in Ireland

Indiana Beer News – March 10

Wanna design the poster for this year’s Indiana Microbrewers Festival? Here’s the rules.

Upland recently became the first brewery to be accepted into the Indiana Artisan program.

Bloomington Brewing gets ink in the BA’s CraftBeer.com

Flat 12 Bierwerks gets video (Indy Channel 8). Over 5 minutes of video. With their address on screen the entire time. Cool.

Keg Liquors and all 7 Trappist beers get ink in the Jeffersonville New & Trib. And Todd even gets his picture involved.

Triton is alive and, well, according to HBG.

         These might not be schoolteachers,                but these are and they kill fascists.
   

Thank you Tony Beard.

Indiana Beer News – March 7

Back in January the Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers (liquor stores) sued the state ATC, claiming they issued more permits than allowed by law. (Read, they don’t want more liquor stores and will spend a load of money to try to curtail more competition.) A Superior Court  last Thursday said it ain’t so.

“The retailers association and the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission disagree on whether stores that have both beer- and liquor-sales permits should be counted toward the quotas set for both categories. The commission says it counts stores that have both permits only toward the liquor-sales permit quota because the law doesn't offer clear guidance on the issue.” article

Maybe they’re saying 3-way licenses shouldn’t count toward the cap on beer or 2-way carry out licenses (which are not that hard to get).  Well, only because the law doesn’t say they should.

Bloomington Brewing’s new production digs west of Ind 37.

It’s been reported that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale will be appearing in cans late this year.

Mark Dredge visits Brew Dog. blog

This guy is good ==>>

You’ve aready seen The Obamas Make History With Homebrewed White House Honey Ale. Brewed in the White House. “There were no leftovers”.

March 7, TV news

A quick reminder that tonight, Monday, March 7, is the TV premier of the documentary on Indiana Craft Beer on WTIU Bloomington. Starting Tuesday, March 8, the show will be available to stream live on the WTIU web site.

http://indianapublicmedia.org/hoosierhospitality

The show airs tonight at 8 on Channel 30.

Hosted by Anita Johnson with appearances by brewers and features of Upland, Bee Creek, the Broad Ripple Brew Pub and 3Floyds. If you are part of the Hoosier Beer scene you won't want to miss this show as you will recognize many folks and scenes.

Upcoming Fort Wayne Events - March 4

This Sunday, March 6th, Dash-In http://www.thedashin.com in downtown on Calhoun Street will be hosting their first beer dinner. Four Goose Island reserve beers + one surprise on draft will be served in conjuntion with a four course meal prepared by Chef Paul Liming. Seating is limited to 40 attendees. The cost is $40/ticket. The doors open at 5p.m. and dinner will be served at 6p.m. Call (260)423-3595 to make a reservation.

Saturday, March 12th, the 2011 Brewefest will take place at the Masonic Temple in downtown Fort Wayne. For more information the website is http://www.brewfestfortwayne.com.

On Saturday, April 16th, Belmont Beverage www.belmontbev.com on Illinois Road will be having a Free In Store Tasting featuring Spring beers being poured by multiple area beer distributors. Food will be provided by Aboite Grill and many, many varieties of Wisconsin cheeses from Cheeseman's will be available to sample and purchase.

Indiana Beer News – March 4

Dark Lord Day is April 30th this year. A big change for the tailgaters this year (from their faq):

“The biggest change for this year is that a ticket will be required to attend the event. This ticket will also guarantee bottle allocation. Regrettably, changes have to be made to ensure the longevity of the event, safety and shorter lines. Without the ticket, there will be no admission to the premises.”

Will the tailgating move across the street? Will the tailgaters who in past years have set up down the block be cleared out? Hundreds or it could be over a thousand folks show up without magic tickets; just for the party. We hope 99.99% of these folks can still be accomodated.

The BoomBozz web site says “BoomBozz Taphouse Coming Soon to Indianapolis!”. They’re a 4-unit pizza chain growing in Louisville that is getting good reports (despite having not one silly Z but two). This picture is of the board of the one at Bardstown Rd at Eastern Parkway (stolen from Roger Baylors’s Potable Curmudgeon) shoutout.

Cavalier has new JW Lee’s Harvest Ale and we’ll be seeing it and more of some old vintages in stores soon.

Greg Koch of Stone says “The great myth of wine and cheese MUST die. Now.”  blog

Jason scoops us on the story about Great Crescent Brewery’s cans.

Fri. Mar 11. Founders, night at Gravity Head. New Albanian's Public House. John Host will be down and 8 Founders will be on tap:

Backwoods Bastard 9.2%
Black Biscuit 10.5%
Breakfast Stout (2009) 8.3%
Devil Dancer Triple IPA 12%
Double Trouble IPA 9.4%
KBS Kentucky Breakfast Stout 2010 11.2%
Imperial Stout 10.5%
Newaygo County Cherry 7%

Half Moon was voted Best of in 8 categories by the Kokomo Tribune: BBQ, Burger, Steak, Wings, Place For Family Dining, Place To Watch The Game, Place To Go And Talk With Friends, and last but certainly not least, Best Place To Catch A Buzz. Jon Templet will tap a Dry Irish Stout on March 10th in celebration of either that or an Irish saint.

We’re obligated by unspoken contract to talk about, or at least link to anyone else’s blog article about an article about another article. Especially friend-of-the-show John Holl’s. But we’re not giving it an entire article. Sorry John.

Oh, and John, we haven’t gotten a review copy of your new Indiana Breweries book. See you at your first Book Signing.  New Albanian's Public House. April 2, 3-6pm. Or the next afternoon at the Bank Street Brewhouse.

Get your copy as a thank-you gift during the upcoming WTIU fund drive. Or at Amazon’s pre-order page. Or, well, it should be everywhere in a couple of weeks.

Zink deficiency and BAC. Hmmm. article

Session Beer and Pub Crawl are trademarks? article

Brew Your Cask Off 80 brewing teams in Atlanta had a really big brew day each brewing a cask conditioned ale at Sweetwater Brewing to have 80 available for a charity festival tomorrow. report and video

It’s not often a review includes the words “brewed specifically for easy drinking in both microgravity environments, as well as here on Earth.” article

Hoosier Hospitality: Craft Beer in Indiana

Almost 100 people watched a preview of Hoosier Hospitality: Craft Beer in Indiana last night at Bloomington Brewing’s new production brewery. Good crowd of beer people, IU folk. and WTIU folk, Bloomington and Upland beer, and One World Catering’s noshes. WTIU? That’s the Bloomington PBS station who created this one-hour documentary spotlighting the Indiana brewing scene.

You get to watch it Monday, March 7th at 8pm if you get WTIU (which, we’re told is on DirectTV in the Indy area at least). Sounds like good reason for a viewing party, hint, hint.

Repeats on Sat Mar 12, 12pm, Tues Mar 15, 1pm and 10pm and maybe Tues, Mar 22 at 8pm.

Check back here Sunday and we’ll post any news we get about viewing parties.

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It’s not often we get to do book or film reviews so you may want to look at this 2-minute promo before continuing.

Now, if you have time, read the press release

We’re back. Done?  Did you recognize several faces? Did you recognize all of them? Do you love a good beer? If so, you’re officially our kind of people.

This film packs a lot of info into a short time and that time goes fast. Anita Johnson does a very passable job being Samantha Brown traveling Indiana instead of Portugal. She can do anything.

After a bit of the History of Indiana Brewing done by Doug Wissing, there are interviews at Broad Ripple Brewpub, Bee Creek, Three Floyds, Rock Bottom North, Bloomington Brewing, Sun King, Upland, Black Swan, Bier Brewery, Great Crescent, MECA homebrewers’ garage, and Winterfest. They talk about why they’re in the business, the beers they like, the beers they brew, cans, lambics, and more.

Interspersed is Doctor Professor, er, Clay Robinson with food pairings, celebrity chefs, and some general stuff.

We don’t know much about film but we did notice the timing of sequences is geared to the attention span of an adult. Each interviewee is allowed the time to make their point and nothing seems rushed. It’s to the production crews credit, no doubt, that everyone comes across relaxed and competent at public speaking. You all deserve a round (of applause).

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Did you catch the quick view of Ron Smith in the promo? Don’t expect more of him on Monday, he ended up as spent grain on the cutting room floor.

BUT the show will be available on DVD starting next Tuesday. Not sure yet where or how much but probably on the WTIU web site. This DVD will have another 45 minutes of 10 more vignettes including the Ron Smith segment. And, we’d guess People’s, Lafayette, Figure 8, New Albanian, and Shoreline.

Indiana Beer News – March 2

Monday, April March 7th is the debut of Hoosier Hospitality: Craft Beer in Indiana on WTIU TV (Bloomington). 8pm. Promo

WTIU is really getting into this. Their Weekly Special show will feature Bill Ballinger this Thursday (tomorrow) at 8pm – with a repeat on Friday at 6pm.

This weekend at Bier Brewery and Taproom: Cream, Belgian Dubbel, Belgian Pale, Weizengoot, PDG Pale, Winter Porter, Dred Brown, El Nota (Milk Stout).

Also happening:

• Thurs: Tapping of Whose Ear Double Red Ale. Both Barley Island locations. 6pm
• Thurs: Michiana Beer Nuts 2nd anniversary party. Constant Spring, Goshen
• Thurs: History Behind the Pint: The Local History Behind Craft Beer Names. Indiana State Library. 5:30-6:30pm.
• Fri: Spring Beer Tasting. Parti Pak, Greenwood. 4:30-6:30