Northwest Indiana Rumblings and Grumblings - 3/22/12

I am in a total beer backlog.  I hate when life gets in the way of what I enjoy doing.  Instead of bombarding the blog with huge entries, I've decided to offer some snippets here:

Crown Brewing hosted Beerducation on Tuesday, March 6 with author of Beer for Dummies and Homebrewing for Dummies, Marty Nachel.  The night was not what I expected, but enjoyable nonetheless.  Mr. Nachel may be an excellent writer, but as far as a beer educator he is a little lackluster.  He spent a good half hour providing the audience with rare beer facts that would make you appreciate beer history more, but I believe the room of mostly home brewers was looking for more insight into the brewing process then anything.  Fortunately Brewmaster Steve Mazylewski was there to fill in those gaps.  Ultimately, the opportunity to get five pints of Crown Brewing offerings was the best part of the evening.  We sampled Crown Light (a 3.2 ABV light ale), Marzen Madness, Shoe Corner ESB, Special Forces IPA (a local favorite), and Celtic Pride Oatmeal Stout.  There was actually a presence from a local newspaper reporter!  If you want to read better journalism: http://posttrib.suntimes.com/11338261-537/a-round-of-beerducation.html.

I must give credit where credit is due.  Check out Hoosier Beer Geek's write up of limited craft beer releases.  There really is no exact science when it comes to limited releases and this blog entry really gives it a great look.  The tickets for this year's Dark Lord Day went on sale at noon on March 17.  HBG indicates that tickets sold out in under an hour.  My friends indicated they couldn't get any quantities as of 12:04pm.  It could have easily been a server overload problem, but the reason I was told that tickets could not be purchased was because of the message, "There are no tickets of that quantity available for Group (A, B, or C)."

I have criticized Three Floyd's in the past and have in turn been vilified for it.  In this instance though, I have to say the approach for ticket distribution is a good one.  I liken the whole thing to football ticket sales: here's the day tickets go on sale, here's how you can buy them online, good luck!  Everyone has an equal opportunity based in part on timing and a little luck.  There was a huge outcry from locals bemoaning how they didn't get a chance, that Three Floyd's is screwing their supporters, etc.  However, the next day the brewery offered ticket sales on site and that was not much better.  Locals had the chance to buy tickets and some nice barrel aged beers, but Three Floyd's has consistently proven an inability to plan onsite events of this popularity.  The only way to truly avoid the pitfalls and please the masses would be to flood the market with Dark Lord by increasing its production, but then would it lose its mystique?  Would it still be the best beer in America?  If you are looking for Dark Lord Day tickets may I suggest: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=dark+lord+day&_sacat=See-All-Categories?  You may be able to take out a home equity loan to cover the costs.  Or wait until after Dark Lord Day and buy a bottle.  You can find those still reasonably priced on the secondary market.

When tickets went on sale I sat in my house with three computers all geared up to score some tickets.  I landed two for Group A.  If you were also fortunate to score some tickets, seek me out.  I'll have an Indianabeer.com gift for you.  Just walk up and say, "Wilk, I love Indiana beer" and score a free gift.

Blue Chip's Second Annual Brewfest is Saturday, April 14, which I know is the same day as a certain Indianapolis event I'll not mention because I'll leave that to my colleagues.  The list of brewers is available here.

Illiana Mayfest is Saturday, May 26.  This is also competing with some major happenings in Indianapolis that same weekend, but this is the culmination of American Craft Beer Week so the timing works for me.  Information on the brewers is available here.

I have become a beer hoarder.  I have 30+ bombers in my cellar.  Informal poll: Is it better to drink these alone or invite someone over to share?