Bloomington Craft Beer Week... beer events worth visiting Bloomington for!

Bloomington Craft Beer Week starts Saturday, April 5 continuing through and after the Bloomington Craft Beer Fest on April 12. It is #drinkindiana week! Many local places will have Indiana beer on tap starting April 4! So maybe you went to school in Bloomington or maybe you've driven to Bloomington on a scenic trip to Brown County, Indiana. You fondly recall the quaint town square, maybe a pound of beer (their word for pint) at historic Nick's English Hut, the beautiful limestone buildings, and a warm Spring Day. COME ON DOWN and have a pint of beer or two sometime this week. Revisit, refresh, and reacquaint with a town and its love of quality craft beer!

Note: all beers, bar events, and tappings were checked with reps and organizers but remain subject to change. Get the Bloomington Craft Beer Week APP! for updates

April 5:
Bloomington Brewing Company, the 20-year-old that was the first craft brewery in Southern Indiana has been a draft-only brewery but kicks BCBW off Saturday with the release of beer in bottles by offering 22 oz. "bombers" of gold-medal-award winning Rooftop IPA at the Big Red Liquors big store at 8th and College Ave, Bloomington, with brewer appearances from Noon to 2:00 PM April 5! Rooftop took gold in the IPA category of the most recent Brewer’s Cup Competition, Indiana State Fair, which receives commercial entries from multiple states as one of the largest competitions in the nation. BBC brewers and staff will be at Big Red Saturday and would be glad to sign a bottle or chat about beer. Rooftop bottles start selling at Big Red and will eventually expand throughout central Indiana. This brew delivers the hop forward and balanced IPA that offers both citrus and pine notes with a bitter finish while still balanced with malt. Rooftop will be the first commercially available ‘bombers’ in a series that will eventually (think Summer) include Ten Speed Hoppy Wheat and Ruby Bloom Amber. Get B’ton Craft Beer Week started off right by celebrating this historic moment! Get one of the first bottles ever produced!

What: Bottle Release Party: 22 oz. Bloomington Brewing Co. Rooftop IPA
When: Saturday, April 5
Noon to 2:00
Where: Big Red Liquors, 418 North College Avenue, Bloomington

Indiana brewery Flat 12 pours beers, passes on information, and provides ‘swag’ at legendary I.U. pub Nick’s English Hut Saturday night at 7PM offering limited edition Pogues Run Vanilla Porter, a flagship Flat12 beer with vanilla beans that opens with big vanilla notes backed by the solid hearty roast of this favored porter. Flat 12 beers on tap also include Half Cycle IPA, Walkabout Pale, and Hinchtown Hamer Down Golden Ale.

Bicycle tour to 3 breweries starting at Function Brewpub on 6th starting at 10:30 AM continuing to BBC, and Upland.


April 6:
Flat 12 brings Nunmoere Black American Black Ale along with Half Cycle, Hinchtown, and Pogues Run Porter along with information to Yogi’s, Bloomington at 3:30 PM for “Sunday Funday.”

April 7:
Upland rolls out their collaboration with New Belgian Brewery sampling “Light Synth” and “Dark Synth” at 6:00 PM. Dark Synth to be on tap along with Upland’s new Haystack Lightning American Wheat (the 2nd beer in the new Side Trail Series), Campside, and Wheat plus New Belgian La Folie, Le Terroir, and Snapshot Wheat.

April 8:
Bloomington Brewing, Cutters Brewing, Quaff On!, and Upland will pair beers and food for a candlelight brewery dinner at The Root Cellar inside The Farm Restaurant, at 6:00 PM. A four course meal will pair with Cutter’s Knobstone Pale, BBC Rooftop, Quaff On! Java the Red, and Upland Wheat. $49 per guest. Phone (812) 323-0002 for details as space is limited.

Tin Man Brewing Co. “Beer School” at Yogi's Grill and Bar. Featuring: Czar Russian Imperial Stout, Overlord Imperial IPA, Circuit Bohemian Pilsner, Rivet Irish Red Ale

April 9:
Cutter’s & Bloomington Brewing Tapping at The Tap Beer Bar, BBC: Amarillo Pale, Biere de Mars, Rooftop IPA and Ruby Bloom; Cutters: Nitro Peanut Empire Stout

Sun King Tap Takeover at Yogi’s Grill and Bar: Barrel Aged Ring of Dingle stout, Dominator Dopplebock, Naptown Brown IPA, & Indians Lager

Function Brewing, Bloomington Brewpub taps a test batch of single-hopped pale with Falconer’s Flight hops plus a version adding Mosaic and Citra Hops.

April 10:
Cutters at Nick’s English Hut with Knobstone, Bank Robber Belgian Brown, Rye on the Scarecrow Double Rye IPA, and Monon Wheat

Upland and Oskar Blues at The Tap Beer Bar, 7 PM, with Wheat, Champagne Velvet, and Campside. Oskar Blues beers: White Buffalo West Coast IPA, Dales Pale Ale T45 - dry hopped Dale's Pale, Dales Pale Ale T90 -- another dry hopped Dale's Pale - each beer has a different hop kettle additions.

Bloomington Brewing Company at Yogi’s 6 PM with BBC Biere de Mars, Ruby Bloom Amber, Kirkwood Cream Ale, Rooftop IPA, and BBC/New Albanian collaboration FeastMaster 80 Shilling (delicious session beer with plenty of deep roast flavor)

Function Brew Pub holds a tribute to home brewing with a Robust Porter, Mayan Chocolate Stout, and English Mild

April 11:
Upland holds their beer & music focused Vinyl Release Party at their main Bloomington Brewpub (banquet hall) 5-8PM featuring Vinyl Tap Rye Pale Ale with part of the proceeds from the beer sale going to local community music. All Upland locations start revealing the new Upland logo and look starting April 9.

Bloomington Brewing and New Albanian tap take-over at Nick’s English Hut 7-10 PM featuring: BBC Quarrymen Pale Ale, BBC Ruby Bloom Amber, BBC Vanilla Floyd, BBC Imperial Ruby Bloom Amber, NABC Hoosier Daddy, NABC Oaktimus, NABC/BBC Collab FeastMaster 80 Shilling, + Sampling of BBC Rooftop IPA Bottles

Cutters Knobstone Pale Ale will be the featured Friday beer along with Upland Wheat on tap at the Alley Bar on Kirkwood.

Atlas Ballroom Bar on South College will pour offerings from Cutters, Mad Anthony, and New Albanian.

Player’s Pub on South Walnut will feature Tin Man (Evansville) beers.

April 12: THE BIG DAY

Bloomington Craft Beer Fest is Saturday, April 12, at 2200 Tapp Road 4-7PM for $35. Sponsor The Fourwinds Resort will shuttle you to & from the event from your room with special rates of $89. There will be live music, local food, hundreds of beers from not only most Indiana breweries but many regional and national craft brewers. We participated in a discussion of porta-potties and organizers have considered signage and locations of units to reduce lines. The current weather forecast may prove God and Mother Nature love beer as the sun should shine and forecasts predict temperatures of 71 degrees! If you’ve not been to the historic Woolery limestone mill venue expect a nice canopy of shade with plenty of filtered light and great breezes. Tickets are available at most Big Red Liquors locations (esp. Bloomington – call ahead) and online HERE
Further Fest details here

Then get ready to PARTY at many local venues AND save your wristband for a special deal on Sunday!

Sun King tap takeover and after party at The Tap Beer Bar on the square with Timmie RIS, Batch 666: Sympathy for the Devil (Belgian-Style Black Ale loaded with chocolate, roasted walnut, and banana flavors), Batch 777: Touched by an Angel ( Belgian-Style Tripel), Big Iron Barleywine, Moonlight Serenade toasted oatmeal stout, and Fistful of Hops.

while many BBC and New Albanian beers should remain on tap from Friday, there is no official party at Nick's on Saturday

Upland Beer Fest after party at The Bishop Bar

Max’s bar on the square will have a kill the keg party with BBC Rooftop IPA and Kirkwood Cream Ale where the person to get the last pint gets a Max’s gift card.

AND….
The premier craft beer bars in Bloomington will feature Indiana Craft Beer all week at The Tap Beer Bar and Yogi’s Grill & Bar. As well Scotty’s Brewhouse will feature their own Thr3e Wise Men Indiana beer

Local restaurants
Finch’s Brasserie will feature Indiana beer including Three Floyd’s Dreadnaught, War Mullet, Fountain Square Count Nibula Chocolate Stout, Evil Czech Gypsy American Wheat, Tin Man Rosenweiss German krystallweizen with rose
The Trojan Horse will feature beers from BBC, Quaff On!, Cutters, and Upland

April 13:
Fest Wrist Band Day at Lennie’s Restaurant and Brew Pub 10% off Sunday Brunch at Lennies - Beer Fest attendees get 10% off their meal with their Beer Fest wristbands.

Cheers & hope to see you at an event!

GregKitz