IndianaBeer: August 2012

If you have not had the opportunity to try beers from Sun King Brewing Company http://sunkingbrewing.com/ located in Indianapolis, here is your chance to do so!!

On Thursday, September 6th, from 6p.m.-3a.m., there will be 12 Sun King beers tapped along with personnel from Sun King in attendance to answer questions and to hand out some swag. Here is the list and description of the beers which was provided to me by Adam Lepper, who is the Promotions and PR person for Trion Tavern. Thanks, Adam!!

Sun King beers to be tapped:

Sunlight Cream Ale - Sunlight has a smooth malt profile & a crisp, clean finish. Silver Medal, 2010 World Beer Cup, Golden or Blonde Ale. 5.3% ABV - 20 IBU
Wee Mac Brown (Scottish Ale) - This Scottish Style Brown has a nice hazelnut character with rich toffee undertones. Gold Medal, 2010 Indiana Brewers' Cup, English Brown Ale. 5.3% ABV - 23 IBU
Osiris Pale Ale - An assertively hopped west coast style pale ale. Every aspect of this beer is designed to showcase the hops without overpowering your taste buds. 5.6% ABV - 50 IBU
Firefly Wheat (Belgian Witbier) - A unique take on a Belgian Wit with locally produced Indiana honey. Firefly is brewed with orange peel & chamomile to compliment it's spicy clove notes. 5.0% ABV - 20 IBU
3 (Hoppy Black Lager Alt) - 3 is SK's third birthday present to themselves. Dark in color, yet light in body, 3 combines roast malt flavor with hoppy goodness & a crisp, dry finish. 6.1% ABV - 59 IBU
Grapefruit Jungle (American IPA) - With one pound of hops in every keg it's a hop lover's dream! It's named for the rich grapefruit characteristics of the three hops used to create it. 7.5% - 77 IBU
Oktoberfest - SK's take on the classic German Oktoberfest has a clean malty start with a slightly spicy hop note & a crisp, dry finish. 5.75% ABV - 22 IBU
Java Mac (Coffee-infused Scottish Ale) - SK's most popular coffee beer. It's a Scottish brown infused with locally roasted coffee. Gold Medal, 2011 Great American Beer Festival, Coffee Beer. 5.4% ABV - 23 IBU
Bitch'n Camaro (Imperial Rye IPA) - An Imperial IPA brewed with a hefty amount of flaked rye. SK used heavy doses of American Citrus hops to balance the spicy kick in the malt & give Bitch'n Camaro a big hop finish. 8.7% ABV - 89 IBU
Zaius Oatmeal Stout - Zaius is a creamy, dark roast oatmeal stout with a smokey twist. SK's good friends at The Smoking Goose smoked a portion of the malt with cherry wood specifically for this beer...it?s the touch that takes it over the top! 5.0% ABV - 27 IBU
Indiana Replicale 2012 (Farmhouse Ale) - This particular replicale is designed to showcase yeast & the important roll it plays in a beer's flavor. The base beer is an English Mild Ale, which is a very session-able and simple style of beer. SK chose to ferment with a French Farmhouse Ale yeast that imparts an earthy character and spicy notes with a bit of pepper on the finish. 4.0% - 20 IBU
Cream Dream V (Imperial American IPA) to be tapped at 8pm - A West-Coast Imperial IPA with tropical fruit flavors coming from huge citrus hop additions. The fifth edition to SK's Cream Dream series has a slightly dryer malt base to help showcase the hops. 9.0% ABV - 100+ IBU

Plus, $3.50 beers from all 58 taps!

Cheers!

Since becoming a writer I have had little involvement except with word of mouth promotion for our site as well as local beer. I am finally taking this opportunity to catch everyone up with what I've been up to these past few months as well as what I've seen in regards to the local breweries. To start with I have completed my first two homebrews. The first was an American pale ale with Cascade and Willamette hops. The second was an imperial stout single hopped with galaxy hops. I named this one Galactic Imperial Stout trooper. For a first time brewer most reviews of my beer had only praise and constructive advice. I recently procured a propane burner which will allow for more controlled temps. (my first two brews took place on a kitchen stove) An apricot Kolsch is next on the brew list followed by a hazelnut porter. Anyone who wants to possibly collaborate on these and any other brews please don't hesitate to contact me.
The local craft beer is also showing up in Trader Joe's (my employer). Both Indiana stores carry Triton's Fieldhouse Wheat, Railsplitter IPA, and Magnificent Amber. Flat 12's Half Cycle IPA, My name is Amber, and Pogue's Run porter are also there. Upland's Dragonfly IPA, Wheat, and Bad Elmer's Porter are regulars. Three Floyds Alpha King and Robert the Bruce have also made brief appearances.

That's it for this time guys and gals. Cheers!! -D.Vern

There are a LOT of events in the next few days!

THIS BLOGGER will look to see you at: the Beers and Bluegrass Festival TONIGHT in Franklin starting at 5:00 and until 9:00. Tickets are $20 at the door. Four of our Indiana breweries will participate: Flat12 Bierwerks, Fountain Square Brewing Company, Oaken Barrel Brewing Company, and Upland Brewing Company (as well as Mallow Run winery)!

Looks like Flat12 will be serving beer at Sullivan Hardware's EggFest at 71st and Keystone in Indy TOMORROW (8/25) 9AM- 3PM. The Egg refers to cooking on the Big Green Egg brand cooker/smoker/grill and there is entertainment, etc.

There is a CIBA/IndyCog Bike Swap Meet also Saturday (8/25) at the City Market with Flat12's Karousel Kolsch on tap

Also Saturday there is Beers Across the Wabash in Lafayette - Click and read the details!

on SUNDAY (8/26) Dozens of Indiana chefs, brewers, wineries and food artisans will gather in the park to celebrate all that Indiana agriculture has to offer at DigIN (click for details) Downtown Indy; Noon to 5:00PM at White River Park

And Bob of Flat12 passes on that we should find 6 packs of Flat12 Half Cycle IPA (bottles) in Indiana as they began distribution this week in Indiana (only)

Looking to the Future:

Friday, August 31st. Flat12 has Joe Brahma Coffee Brown Ale limited release (in their taproom)

September 6th RAM and Indiana State Fair Brewer's Cup Home Brewer of the Year Tom Wallbank announce the winning beer of RAM Every Day IPA Challenge, is released on at The RAM Downtown Indy location at 7 p.m. Join Tom and Ram brewer Andrew for a session IPA

Beers to us! GregKitz

A little preview from our friends at Flat12 Bierwerks --

Events where you can find Flat12 Beer! -

Beers and Bluegrass (Franklin) 8/24
EggFest (Indy) 8/25
IndyCog Bike Swap Meet 8/25 Karousel Kolsch on tap

Beers Across the Wabash (Lafayette) 8/25

DigIN (Downtown) 8/26

Next week:
Twenty Tap first anniversary party. 8/29
LaSalle Grill Beer Dinner. 8/30 South Bend
Heartland Film Festival Short Shorts Festival, 8/31 at Flat 12.

And heads up!! --

RELEASES
Joe Brahma Coffee Brown Ale will see a limited release (taproom) on Friday, August 31st.

Flat Jack Pumpkin Ale, previewed at DigIN this Sunday, will be released the week of September 3rd. This release will include draft and bottles.

Half Cycle IPA bottle release. 6 packs were released beginning the week of August 20th. Distribution will be Indiana only.

I am SUPER EXCITED about Flat Jack being in bottles this year!!

- Side note - I'll be at DigIN - Tweet me at @KJLSlauzis if you want to meet up or say hi!

It’s time for Lafayette to join the summer beer festival carnival with Saturday’s Beers Across the Wabash. Mother Nature is even bringing back 90-degree temps for the occasion. But it should be a fantastic day, and if you miss out you’ll just have to rely on our review and that would be a shame. In case you missed the comment earlier this week, here is an update from Josh at Flat 12: Just a heads up. Flat 12, Sunking, and People's will be taking over the taps at The Black Sparrow immediately following the festival. We did it with people's after TAPs this spring and it was a blast so with the addition of SK it will only be an even bigger party. For those that don't know Lafayette is my home town so we pulled some special stuff out of the cellar. Look forward to seeing everyone there!

Speaking of reviews, I’m going to start trying to throw a few beer reviews in here when it seems relevant. This week I picked up the Sierra Nevada Best of Beer Camp variety pack to try the Imperial Red Ale (developed by Muncie’s Stan Stephens and Bob Cox). The aroma is dominated by citrus hop character with the type of fresh quality that can be difficult to find in bottled beer that has been sitting around a liquor store. Nice, but doesn’t reveal the complexity of the flavor ahead. The first taste smacks you in the face with an assertive bitterness that is followed by a wonderfully complex blend of caramel and raisin from the malt and heavy grapefruit with hints of pineapple, peach, and mango from the hops. The finish is dry with a lingering bitterness and slight alcohol warming.

Overall, I would prefer to have the bitterness toned down but this was still a very enjoyable beer. Among the other varieties, the Imperial Pilsner was very good (quite flavorful but possibly one of the smallest commercial “Imperial” beers at 5.6%). The Oatmeal Stout shows promise and would probably benefit from some aging – at a mere 9% ABV it apparently didn’t qualify for Imperial status. The Floral IPA brewed with rose hips and petals had a mild perfume character that wasn’t really my thing, but maybe I need another to get used to it.

From Anita Johnson of Great Fermentations and the Indiana Brewers Cup: The Broad Ripple Brewpub has a standing agreement with the Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup to do a collaboration with the home brew Best of Show (BOS) winner. The collaboration with the 2011 BOS winner, Chris Ingermann, with his Vienna lager will be tapped this Saturday, August 25th at 3 PM. Stop by and support the Brewpub, the Brewers Cup and Chris Ingermann by having a pint.

Gravity Head at New Albanian is still six months away on February 22nd, but the list of festival-eligible kegs is already taking shape. Five vintages of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, six massive brews from Great Divide, three varieties of JW Lees Harvest Ale, and many more. Hopefully the Mayan calendar is a few months off.

In a sign of the current times, Ball Corp. is closing two can plants in response to slowing global demand for 12-ounce cans. The company will focus more on specialty beverage can packaging, such as the Alumni-Tek bottles that were recently used for the Sun King/Oskar Blues Chaka and have been promoted by Coors Light.

Some good news on the apple forecast from the latest USDA Crop Report: A slight increase in production from Washington, the largest producer in the country, helps to limit the drop in overall production to 15% despite catastrophic forecasts from Michigan and New York. Also of note, forecasted hop production is down 5% while barley production is up a whopping 42%!

Our crazy homebrewing community has put a little steam behind an online petition for the release of the White House’s suddenly infamous Honey Ale recipe (thanks to Jason Mundy for the heads up). The petition has gained over 3000 signatures in five days, but must reach 25,000 by September 17th to receive an official response. You can sign the petition and view the current status here. You will need a whitehouse.gov account to sign the petition, which probably subjects you to yet another avenue for the government to monitor your activities. What, me paranoid?

A few random notes that ~~almost assuredly~~ might interest only me. Beer name of the week - Nebraska Brewing Company is releasing an IPA called Romancing the Cone. I stumbled across another blog that is dedicated to covering three things: Punk, Beer, and Tacos! It’s such a wonderful feeling to finally locate my long lost brother……*sniff*

The battle to bring fictional Duff Beer to the masses continues. Two Colombian businessmen have been producing a beer using connected “f”s so they could claim the beer’s name was actually “DuH” when Rupert Murdoch’s minions came calling. Amazingly, the 20th Century Fox legal team was not fooled and the Colombian government shut down production, distribution, and sales of the beer. The brewers have vowed to defend their right to rip off cartoon products with Hagar the Horrible's frothy mug next on the agenda. Anyone else remember growing up with a strange attraction to Hagar’s daughter Honi? Yeah, nevermind…….

Cheers, Nathan

Friday, August 24:

Cap n' Cork, (see Calendar for address), will have a FREE beer tasting from 5p.m.-7p.m. Come out and sample some beers! (Must be 21 yrs. of age and over with valid Government-issued ID)

Wednesday, August 29:

Deer Park Irish Pub http://deerparkpub.com/ (see Calendar for address) will be having their Summer Beer Tasting starting at 6:30p.m. They will have nine (9) beers and the cost is $5.00. The beers are:

Honkers Ale
Sierra Nevada Summerfest
Widmer's Citra Blonde Summer Brew
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Founder's Cerise
Breckenridge SummerBright Ale
New Belgium Somersault
Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager
Blue Moon Honey Moon Summer Ale

Thursday, August 30:

Belmont Beverage, (see Calendar for address), will have an End of Summer Tasting Event from 6p.m.-8p.m. Sample a variety of beers for FREE!! (Must be 21 yrs. of age or older with valid Government-issued ID)

As the saying goes, better late than never.

It was another hot and humid day for the 2nd Brew Haven Craft Beer Festival that was held on Saturday, August 4th, at Trion Tavern in New Haven, IN. Despite the weather conditions and the eventual storms that arrived very late in the event, approximatley 1,500 thirsty beer drinkers showed up to partake in the 175 beers from 48 breweries in addition to 50+ homebrews provided by the MASH (Mad Anthony Serious Homebrewers) - Northeast Indiana Homebrewers.

Speaking of homebrewed beers, it has been reported to me that "Paul Till won the Inaugural Brew Haven Homebrew competition that had 97 entries from all over the country including California, Texas, Virginia, Ohio and Michigan. This competition was conducted by The MASH Club. The MASH Club also took home the first Brew Haven People's Choice award for best booth with Flat12 coming in a close second. (Rules for the People's Choice Award to be amended next year.)"

Even with the size of this year's attendance and more breweries this year, having two (2) tents sure made a difference from last year's event. It was easier to make one's way around versus everyone crammed into one (1) tent. Kudos to the organizers for two (2) tents!!

Of the beers that I sampled, my overall favorite was the Frangelic Mountain Brown from Founders. I enjoyed it so much that I had a second sample of it as it is a very smooth beer with hazelnut coffee, nutty, roasty, malty, sweet aromas and ditto for the flavor. The ABV (Alcohol by Volume) is 9%. This is definitely a beer that I would drink again!!

Thank you to Greg Jacquay, owner/operator Trion Tavern and to Adam Lepper, Chairman Brew Haven Planning Committee for putting on a great beer event again this year!

Mark your calendar for the 3rd annual Brew Haven Craft Beer Festival which will take place on Saturday, August 3, 2013!!

Here are some pics from the event. Also, check out Brew Haven's Facebook page for A LOT of pictures from the event (not taken by me).

Cheers!

The 1^st annual “Beers Across the Wabash” takes place this coming weekend, August 25^th, from Noon to 4pm across the scenic John T. Myers Pedestrian Bridge in downtown Lafayette. Breweries confirmed so far include:

Back Road; Barley Island; Big Dawg; Black Swan; Bloomington; Broad Ripple; Brugge; Bulldog; Crown; Cutters; Figure Eight; Flat 12; Fountain Square; Four Horsemen; Half Moon; Lafayette; Mad Anthony; New Albanian; Oaken Barrel; Peoples; Rock Bottom- College Park; Sun King; Three Pints; Triton; and Upland.

So, in the spirit of David Letterman and Nigel Tufnel, I present you with my list for coming to Lafayette this weekend.

Top 11 Reasons for Attending “Beers Across the Wabash”

11. Great beers from Indiana breweries (see above)

10. Fantastic view from the pedestrian bridge across the Wabash

9. The possibility exists of a bald eagle sighting or two. Beer and bald eagles, not a bad Saturday in my opinion

8. You can someday tell your great-grandchildren that you were at the very 1^st Beers Across the Wabash

7. Because the possibility of a 2^nd annual Beers Across the Wabash may very well depend on YOU!

6. Lots of great establishments for delicious craft beer within walking distance after the event.

5. You can visit the newly expanded taproom @ People’s Brewing

4. You’re within walking distance of enjoying a Drought Buster IPA or Battleground IIPA @ Lafayette Brewing Co.

3. Make it a weekend and enjoy the Uptown Jazz & Blues Fest downtown from 5pm to midnight

2. You have an open invitation to, when encountering yours truly, tell me to my face how lousy of a blogger I am while I nod and hang my head in shame

1. Did I happen to mention all of the great breweries that will be in attendance?

Tickets are available at the Lafayette Brewing Co., People’s Brewing, all area Village Bottle Shoppe locations, and at the website: http://www.beersacrossthewabash.com/

Jason C.

“Let no man thirst for lack of Real Ale.”

"They who drink beer will think beer."
-Washington Irving

To help educate the masses and for the sure fun and benefits of it, I volunteered to run the Brewers of Indiana Guild's booth last Saturday morning and last Wednesday night. Not only was I educating others, but by playing a trivia game, I educated myself more on general knowledge of Indiana Breweries. A few of the questions were posted on Indiana Beer's Facebook earlier this week.

I also learned that sadly not many people know about Indiana beer. Some only know a select amount. The top names that came to people's minds were Sun King and Upland Brew Co. With the 2012 Brewer's Cup Awards list up, Bier Brewery was one that a lot of people asked about though.

I found that by asking people what they have already tried, or what kind of style they liked, it opened up really good conversations into recommending new breweries to try. I know I sent a few people away with directions, ways to get, or reasons to go to either Flat12 Bierwerks, Bier Brewery, Black Acre, Thr3e Wisemen and Brugge Brasserie. I took a baby step approach to conversions some people when they mentioned drinking Budweiser to trying Sun King Sunlight, which would be light, smooth, easy to drink and a nice switch over.

Over the conversations with the almost 200 people that came into the booth while I was there, I only heard one person mention they don't drink craft beer because of the price. I tried to highlight some of the more affordable breweries as well as highlight some of their specials and sales. I also played up the advantage of growler sales on Sunday.

All in all, I'm glad that I was able to represent the guild, represent IndianaBeer, represent as an Indiana craft beer drinker and give people information and inspiration to try something new.

- Kathleen

On my way to the fair!

-

Saturday, August 18 from 6-10 pm CDT Evansville's SWIRCA & More- Suds, Wine & Spirits Fest will be celebrating their 9th annual craft beer fest. Some featured beer vendors will be Turoni's Main Street Brewery, Tin Man Brewing Company, Flat 12 Bierwerks, Finches Beer Co., Schafly's, Powerhouse Brewing Co, & Blue Grass Brewing Co. World Class Beverage, and Working Distributors will also be offering samples from breweries not so close. Tickets are $35 advance, $40 at door. There are a few VIP tickets available for $70. Commemorative glass used for sampling, samples of your beverage(s) of choice, and food are included in the price of the ticket. I've heard new this year are chair massages being offered by Fusion Spa & Boutique. Hmmmm.... Good beer and massage, sounds like a good start to the weekend!

Keep an eye out for Sierra Nevada’s “Best of Beer Camp” 12-pack boxes hitting stores this month. The Imperial Red Ale inside was developed by Muncie’s Stan Stephens (owner of the Heorot Pub) and Bob Cox at last year’s Beer Camp. Their creation was selected as one of four beers to be included in the variety pack which also includes an Oatmeal Stout (quite large for the style at 9% ABV), Imperial Pilsner, and Floral IPA. If you can’t get your hands on a box, the Imperial Red Ale will be one of 20 Sierra Nevada brews tapped at the Heorot’s “beer school” on August 24th from 6-8pm. There is no charge for the event, but potential students are asked to sign up at the pub in advance of the festivities.

Congrats to Four Horsemen Brewing in South Bend for winning a bronze medal with their Irish Red in the US Open Beer Championship. The competition included more than 1650 beers judged in 65 beer style categories with Sweetwater Brewing in Atlanta winning the Grand National Champion award.

As we approach the season for Oktoberfest celebrations, word comes from Bell's that their annual Octoberfest seasonal brand will not be offered in six-packs this year. The construction and transition into their new brewhouse limited the required fermentation space, but the product will still be available on draft. In other Bell’s news, their seasonal and somewhat elusive Double IPA “The Oracle” will be tapped at 6pm tonight at Max's Place in Bloomington and at 5pm Friday at Gerst Haus in Evansville.

There may be some concerns on the horizon for fans of hard ciders. Michigan is estimating a 90% loss of their annual apple crop after the spring weather caused fruit tree buds to come out early and subsequently freeze. Indiana could also see our worst crop in over 50 years.

This week the White House admitted to operating a homebrewery that makes small batches of beer for special events. After reading just a few of the comments on the USA Today story, I’m not going to attempt a joke or even say another word about this. Take a deep breath everyone, it’s not always that freakin’ deep.

The term “craft beer” highlights the list of words and definitions added to the latest edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Other notables include “gastropub”, “man cave”, and “sexting”. The list is rounded out with the ubiquitous “f-bomb”, which is likely utilized more frequently in the making of craft beer than its consumption.

The occasional odd/random request or announcement will hit my email, but this one was kind of a standout. In an effort to appeal to the younger audience, the folks at Roth IRA created Tom, the 25 year-old beer lover who can use their products to save enough money for a retirement skyscraper worth of beer that will provide a six-pack a day until he turns 100. I’m just guessing that most of us will need to buy a few things other than beer in retirement, but I have to applaud the effort here. It’s worth noting that the savings allocate 83 cents a beer, so you may have all you want but it probably won’t be Three Floyds.

A mother bear with three cubs reportedly ripped off the wall of a cabin in Norway and proceeded to consume over 100 cans of beer stored inside. The party continued as the bears finished off the cabin’s food and smashed the beds and kitchen appliances. The owner identified the culprits based on excrement on the outside of the cabin. So the ripped open wall wasn’t your first clue?

A startup brewery going by the name of Kinky Kabin in Bangor, Wisconsin (I couldn’t make this up if I tried) seems to have embraced the idea of taking sexuality in beer marketing to the next level. I’m not one to necessarily discourage such things (let’s not talk about some of my homebrew names), but the claim that their beers are “specially formulated to lower the inhibitions of the people drinking it” seems a bit obvious. There is a way to formulate beer to lower inhibitions. Most of us just call it fermentation.

Cheers, Nathan

Thursday, August 16:

Cap n' Cork (http://capncork.com/) located at 2799 Maplecrest Rd. will be having a FREE "End of Summer Tasting Event" beer tasting from 6p.m.-8p.m. Come out and sample some beers and perhaps find a new beer or two to enjoy this summer. Better yet, invite a friend who isn't familiar with craft beer and see what he/she thinks of craft beer!! ( Must be 21 years of age and over with valid government-issued ID)

Update on Mad Anthony Brewing Company OktoBEERfest on September 8:

Here is an updated list of the breweries plus 1 winery that will have beers/wines for sampling:

1. Black Swan Brewpub
2. Half Moon Brewery
3. ShoreLine Brewery
4. People's Brewing Co.
5. Sun King Brewery
6. Three Pints Brewpub
7. Brugge Brasserie
8. Broadripple Brewpub
9. Figure Eight Brewing
10. Fountain Square
11. Barley Island Brewing Co.
12. Bloomington Brewing Co.
13. Lafayette Brewing Co.
14. Rock Bottom Downtown (Indy)
15. Crown Brewing Co
16. Granite City Brewery
17. Cutters Brewing Co.
18. Bulldog Brewery
19. Flat 12 Bierwerks
20. Rock Bottom College Park (Indy)
21. Upland Brewery
22. McClure's Orchard/Winery

For more information on OktoBEERfest and other OktoBEERfest beer-related events taking place September 5-8, click on this link http://madbrew.com/ok/.

Tonight, August 14:

Tapping, Rock Bottom College Park, Indianapolis. Thanks to Liz and Jerry for NOT having their tappings on the same night! Aug 14, 6 PM Happy Pils - German style pilsner; Jerry's Cask Aged Ale (named IPA but just enough hops to be noticed, really) was delicious last week! Liz always has good pils.

Tasting, Yogi's, Bloomington. Several wheats (wits, weizens, American wheats) in comparison (free samples) Aug 14, 7 PM. In my back yard

Friday, August 17,

Tap Take Over - 8 taps of Flat12 Beer at Nick's English Hut, Aug. 17, 7 PM, yes the old college bar in Bloomington; also in my back yard

Future:

August 28, Rock Bottom Brewmaster's Golf Tournament.

Register at Black Tie use event code CWF828 or contact Rock Bottom College Park at collegepark@rockbottom.com or 317.471.8840

more soon...

GregKitz

On Saturday, August 18th, Piere'e Entertainment Center (http://pieres.com/) in Fort Wayne will be having BrewFest. This event will feature 50+ beers for sampling starting at 8p.m. The cost is $15 per person (Must be 21 yrs. of age or older with valid Government-issued ID). This will be an outdoors tent event. Also, a full bar and grilled munchies will be available.

800 Degrees Three Fires, 5129 Illinois Rd., will be having a Bell's Hopped Up Night on Wednesday, August 15th, from 5p.m.-11p.m. The following Bell's beers will be tapped and there will be give aways of Bell's swag:

Hopsolution Double IPA, Oracle Double IPA and Two Hearted IPA

Come out and drink some hoppy Bell's beers which goes very well with 800's pizzas!!

Many of the larger beer festivals for the summer are now in the rearview mirror, but you can still seize some summer memories at the Wine & Beer New Orleans Style in Fort Wayne this Saturday, the WAMM (Wine, Art, Music, and Microbrew) Fest in Greenwood on the 18th, or Beers Across the Wabash in Lafayette on the 25th. Hopefully everyone had a great time at Brew Haven last weekend. Congrats go out to Paul Till for winning the Brew Haven Homebrew Competition with a Vienna Lager.

Barnaby Struve of Three Floyds chatted with the Northwest Indiana Times about the new conference room and improved menu in the brewpub, the intent to expand their operation to Chicago, and the possibility of hitting Indiana’s small brewery production cap again in the near future. As part of their efforts to keep up with demand, and prevent corner liquor stores from bringing along “four homeless people” that buy the max quantity, the purchase limit for to-go beer has been reduced from six cases to two. If my math is correct, said liquor stores will now need to bring 14 homeless people to get their normal 30 case haul. Or maybe they’ll back off and let everyone have their fair share.

No blog around here is really complete without the requisite Tom Wallbank mention. This week, Tom’s homebrewing achievements were recognized by the Zionsville Times Sentinel. I wonder if the Times Sentinel realizes there are two national medalists in their backyard (cheers Mr. Meinzer).

Chris Ingermann’s 2011 Brewers Cup Best of Show Vienna Lager recipe will be tapped at the Broad Ripple Brewpub on August 25th at 3pm, and he recently sat down for an interview with Anita at Great Fermentations. On a side note, the late 19th/early 20th century Ingermann family brewery is mentioned in Bob Ostrander’s book on Indiana Brewing History and you can find additional information from Chris himself here.

Founders Brewing continues to have a variety of nonsensical problems breaking into new distribution markets. This time there is an issue with Breakfast Stout in New Hampshire. The child that is featured on the beer’s label (clearly using a bowl and spoon, not the typical way beer is consumed in my experience) violates the state’s liquor code that forbids any reference to minors on alcohol packaging. “Live Free or Die” eh?

Black Swan Brewpub got a dining review from the IndyStar and some recognition for sourcing local food. At the risk of going cheerleader, this place is seriously worth a visit for some quality food and brew. Chef Nick is a pretty cool guy, and where else can you get fries tossed in truffle oil and parmesan with a bacon aioli dip?

Reciting sales figures can get a little old, but the recent Brewers Association announcement that craft beer sales were up 14% by dollars and 12% by volume in the first six months of 2012 is pretty impressive. Can this type of growth be sustained? I’m somewhat optimistic, but the 1252(!) breweries currently in planning had certainly better hope so.

Because the bigger sites like to rip off my ideas (just kidding bigger sites), BeerPulse has asked their readers to vote on if they think Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams) is a “craft” brewery. Since I frequently ~~rip off~~ link articles from BeerPulse (see the Founders story above), I’ll let it slide this time. The results: 52% consider it craft, 40% don’t consider it craft, while 8% took the time to vote because they’re indifferent. Apparently “just get back to shoving beer news down my gullet blogger boy” wasn’t an option.

You might be very relieved to learn that Bud Light has renewed their partnership with “worldwide hit-maker” Pitbull. Because nothing spices up your light lager like a little boom, boom, boom, boom. Dale!

Cheers, Nathan

In addition to our previous announcement of 2 tappings within 2 blocks in Downtown Indy

1) Doomsday Scenario Imperial Red at the RAM in downtown Indianapolis at 6:30.

2) Cask Conditioned Ale @ Rock Bottom downtown Indy 6-10 (or as long as the beer in the cask lasts)

we add...

3) 500 Monks Belgian Strong at Triton near Lawrence at 5:00 PM.

I plan to at least make it downtown tonight! Hope you make it out

GregKitz

Friday, August 10:

Belmont Beverage, 10311 Illinois Rd., will be having a Taste of Indiana event starting at 6p.m. They will have beers from around the state of Indiana available for sampling. This is a FREE event. (Must be 21 yrs. of age or older with valid Government issued ID).

Cap n' Cork, 6712 E. State Blvd., will be having a FREE beer tasting from 5p.m.-7p.m. They will be featuring beers from Boulevard Brewing Company to sample. (Must be 21 yrs. of age or older with valid Government issued ID).

Starting Tuesday, August 14, and for the remainder of August:

JK O'Donnell's Irish Ale House, 121 Wayne Street, will be celebrating their 5 Year Anniversary. They will have some limited edition Anniversary glassware for sale (each glass comes with a free draft beer inside) according to their Facebook page.

Saturday, August 25:

AleFest Dayton ( http://www.alefest.com/dayton.htm) takes place from 2p.m.-5p.m. at Carillon Historical Park. $35.00 in advance ($40.00 day of the event)

The price of admission includes 20 samples of craft beer, tasting glass, sampling guide, live entertainment, and raffle entry for a Yuengling Brewery trip.

Designated driver/non-drinker $15.00 and are purchased at the gate. The cost includes a bottle of water and an AleFest sampling glass as you exit.

Check out their website for more information about this event and for the list of breweries that will have beers to sample. (Must be 21 yrs. of age or older to attend).

1 night, 2 tappings in 2 blocks: This Thursday, August 9, Doomsday Scenario Imperial Red @theRAM Indianapolis 8/9 at 6:30. Cask Conditioned Ale @ Rock Bottom DT Indy 6-10 (if lasts) Join us! GregKitz

It now looks like Evansville is taking Indy's lead on expanding the number of craft breweries. In addition to Turoni's Main Street Brewery , and the soon to be open Tin Man Brewing Co, Evansville has a 3rd brewery opening soon... Carson's Brewery . Carson's has already partnered with Ohio Valley Homebrewers Association to brew the winning recipe of OVHA's Members Only homebrew competition, Big Turkey, in addition to the other accolades of wining the title of Big Turkey, they get to be Brewer for a Day at Carson's Brewery.

Honestly, there can really never be enough beer nor breweries. Every style is different, every brewery is different and every brewer has a personality of their own.

Welcome to Indiana City Beer.

A new nano-brewery is in the works, currently hoping to revive The Home Brewing Company's bottling house by fall of 2012.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ray Kamstra, the founder of Indiana City Beer, during a tasting at Tomlinson Tap Room and tried their Oatmeal Stout along with their Pale Ale. Both were very well received by myself and my fellow bloggers. It has definitely left me curious with what else Ray will produce.

To help fellow IndianaBeer readers know more about Indiana City Beer, I sent Ray a few questions which I hope will give curious minds a glance at what I hope will become one of Indianapolis' top nano-breweries.

A side note before the Q&A -- Indiana City Beer is still looking for pledges for their kickstarter program . If you want to help please click the link - How You Can Help!

Home Brewing Co

And if you are wanting to try some of their beer -- Pop down to Fountain Square and see them tonight (8/3) at Red Lion Grog House - at 7pm.

Q&A --

Answered by Ray Kamstra, Founder

How long have you been brewing?

I’ve been homebrewing for a few years now. I really dove into it head-first back when my wife and I were living in Chicago. I got started after reading Charlie Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing.” After my first two batches I was ready to go all-grain. The first all-grain batch I brewed was an American Pale Ale and it rocked! At that point I was hooked, and you could say that’s when I became a full-on student of brewing. I began studying text-books on brewing. After about a year of developing a solid understanding of the traditional processes and the science behind making beer, I started sending my beer off to homebrew competitions. My beer consistently receives high scores and my Wheat Ale is my blue ribbon winner.

What are your favorite styles of beer?

I’m a big fan of aromatic, hop-forward India Pale Ale. Like most beer drinkers, my tastes change with the seasons. Give me a Kolsch in the summer, a Porter in the fall and a rich Imperial Stout in the winter, but a well-balanced IPA is always in season in my opinion.

What made you decide to go from home brewing to becoming a nanobrewery?

There was a point in my brewing early on that I knew I was up to the challenge of starting my own brewery. A couple years ago I read “Starting Your Own Brewery” a publication of the Brewer’s Association, and I began reading probrewer.com to learn all I could about commercial brewing. I found real inspiration for taking my brewing to the next level by visiting microbreweries where I met guys like me with a true passion for making beer, who also got their start as homebrewers. I learned about how they put a solid plan together, perfected their craft and successfully made the leap towards going pro. That’s when I knew I had to take my passion for making great beer, along with my professional experience in graphic design and marketing to build my own brewery. I continued reading all I could about beer and brewing. Each concept I developed was reworked over and over, until I had a solid strategy in mind. Then, last winter I took two months to develop the business plan, met with advisors and revised every aspect of the plan until I had a clear roadmap for building Indiana City.

We made the decision to start off small for a couple of reasons. The main reason being, starting small keeps us close to our homebrewing roots so we can focus on brewing quality beer and being more experimental.

What was the inspiration behind the name of your brewery?

The name, Indiana City, is the literal definition of “Indianapolis” and it also highlights a sentiment of mine. Indianapolis is the major city in Indiana and I take pride in the growing arts scene and beer culture found here. The creative energy in Indy is truly comparable to what you find in bigger cities. It’s on a smaller scale, but the work ethic and artistic talent found in the community here is second to none. I want Indiana City to grow in this community as the community grows along with it.

How is Indiana City Beer going to define and separate themselves from current breweries?

First of all, we will be much smaller than all of our neighbors. Being small allows us to take a hand-crafted approach to brewing beer that celebrates the art of craft brewing. Our beers are a little different from what other brewers are doing. We start on the foundation of traditional styles and take it up a notch with specialty spices, aromatic hops and increased alcohol. For example, our Pale Ale is a Belgian style with aromatic hops common to American style Pale Ale and slightly spiced with an ingredient rarely used in beer. The result is a fresh, aromatic beer that doesn’t really fit into a traditional style category. To us, that’s what craft beer is all about.

It’s our mission to brew innovative beers for craft beer lovers in Indy. And that is that. We’re focused on Indy. We’re doing all we can to add to the beer culture right here. We’ll be filling growlers at our taproom near downtown, and we’ll be on tap at select craft beer bars in Indy.

Indiana City will be an outlet for local artists to display their work, perform, collaborate and expand local creative expression. We have an affinity for breweries that understand the important role visual arts play in the craft beer experience. When you smell and taste a beer you're experiencing the artistry of the brewer who made it. The visual aesthetic of the label on the bottle or the taphandle it was poured from effects that experience too. Done well, we believe visual art can heighten that experience and lead to an even greater respect for beer. Though we have no plans to bottle or can in the first couple years, the visual arts will be woven into every beer we brew.

When is your estimated date for opening the taproom?

We’re shooting for opening later this year. It’s nearly impossible to give an exact date at this time. There are just way too many variables, but we are on track for getting it all put together by the end of this year. We post regular updates on our website at indianacitybeer.com and on Facebook and Twitter. Anyone who follows our progress there will be among the first to know.

Please help welcome Indiana City Beer; support your local breweries so that we can continue to grow Indiana's beer presence to the nation.

- Kathleen

This past weekend marked the Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Festival in Ypsilanti (near Ann Arbor) and served as a celebration of the Guild’s 15th anniversary. And they know how to throw a good party – two days with sessions covering Friday night and Saturday afternoon, 62 breweries, and over 500 different beers. Huge thanks to Jim and Joe from Liberty Street Brewing for taking on a couple brewery volunteers from the Hoosier state for the big weekend!

The first destination on our beer agenda was a pit stop at Dark Horse Brewing just off I-69 in Marshall to get some lunch. Dark Horse is notorious for bringing an obscene number of beers to the festival (I counted 51 this year) so predictably there weren’t a lot of specialties left around for visitors to the taproom. But it was pretty hard to argue with a pumpkin seed cilantro pesto, artichoke heart, sausage, tomato, spinach, and mozzarella pizza. My first experience to Dark Horse on a brewery trip years back found a low-key trailer filled with artifacts that would make you think of a massive garage sale held by a child of the 80s. The trailer is now jam packed with tables and the growing popularity of their mug club has taken control of the interior decorating. The lot now includes a separate general store and tattoo parlor with future plans for a creamery, candy shop, bakery, and distillery in the works.

The festival features only Michigan breweries and includes certain Indiana bottle shop fixtures like Bell’s, Dark Horse, Founders, and New Holland. But these breweries (along with Short’s, which only distributes within Michigan) tend to attract some insane lines at the festival. So we mostly avoided them with the exception of a few visits during the VIP hours. We did get some Founders Imperial Stout which ranked among the standouts along with Arcadia cask Baltic Porter, Liberty Street 42nd Parallel Double IPA, Michigan Beer Cellar Uncle Krunkle’s Dunkel, North Peak Vicious Wheat IPA, Odd Side Mayan Mocha Stout, and Sherwood Daytripper Trippel. Many breweries also brought a 15th Anniversary Ale, which apparently was considered a “strong Pale Ale” but seemed to leave open plenty of room for interpretation among breweries.

So how does it compare to our festival? One major difference is that Michigan requires tokens to be exchanged for samples. Admission includes just 15 tokens, but additional tokens can be purchased for 50 cents each and the exchange is not always rigorously enforced anyway. There is a VIP hour before each session, but you cannot buy a ticket for it. You’d need to join the Guild as an “Enthusiast Member” or find a nice brewery you can volunteer with for access. There is an overwhelming amount of beer available at this festival and the quality across the board is fairly exceptional. The downside is the crowd size, particularly during the Saturday session. The lines are pretty bad for the well-know breweries, so we find it quite a bit more enjoyable to try new things from smaller breweries rather than stare at someone’s back all day. Riverside Park in Ypsilanti provides a decent amount of shade and a simpler, more intuitive layout than we had this year in Broad Ripple.

One thing I definitely want to give Michigan some credit for is the convenient placement of composting and recycling receptacles throughout the festival grounds. Volunteers from the High Five Program and Sweaty Mouse Green Team were present and actively encouraging participants to help the Guild work towards their goal of “zero waste” for the festival. All cups, plates, and utensils used were biodegradable. This was great to see and I really hope that Indiana will start to adopt some of these practices for our festivals next year.

Cheers, Nathan

Sun King Tap Takeover at the Trion Tavern (New Haven, IN) - August 30

A Long Time Coming.

Indiana Beer News 8/24: A LOT going on

Never Fear, Flat12 has Beer!

Beers, Cheers, and Sneers – August 23

Fort Wayne Upcoming Events - August 20

2012 Brew Haven Craft Beer Festival Recap - August 20

Beers Across the Wabash: This post is one louder!

Brewers of Indiana Guild and the State Fair

Evansville - Suds, Wine & Spirits Fest Aug 18, 6-10pm

Beers, Cheers, and Sneers – August 16

Fort Wayne Updates - August 14

Indiana Beer News August 14 and beyond....

BrewFest (Piere's Entertainment Center) - August 13

Bell's Hopped Up Night (Fort Wayne) - August 10

Beers, Cheers, and Sneers – August 9

Tonight (Aug. 9): 3 tappings!

Fort Wayne & Beyond Events - August 9

Thursday Tappings Downtown

Evansville News

What is Indiana City Beer?

Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Festival

Like us on Facebook

Follow on Twitter

Blog Archive

Other News and Blogs

Subscribe on RSS

Like us on Facebook

Follow on Twitter

Blog Archive

Other News and Blogs