Bloomington Tastes and Other News

Upland's Pro-Am Rauchbier of Tom Wallbank is on tap (and growlers) at the Tap Room. The cordovan red color and tight ivory head make a good presentation. Classic Bambug taste. Smoke is not as strong as Schlenkerla but sharper than Spezial and with a very dry finish. 5.4%. Tom's homebrewed prototype is more Schlenkerlese but the final product is no doubt more suited to Upland's clientele.

Mothra, the 80-bbl wine cask has a double batch in it and is soaking for next year's lambics. Caleb is thinking Kiwi, Raspberry, Cherry, and maybe Persimmons in a spring release.

• Upland Weizenbock – Reddish brown. Nice sweet malt hit. Balanced. Hints of orangey citrius. Stays balanced through the finish. 4.5% but seems more.
• Dupland Double IPA – Golden with a fluffy white head that looks harmless but just keeps the character hidden underneath. There's very little aroma to warn you of the closet cleaning of hops. At 9.1% and "80+" IBU it is indeed a hop bomb.
• Bloomington Brewing Mild. 1) Served very cold. 2) Nice brown/orange color, where's my sea bass flashlight?. 3) Floyd, this is too cold. 4) High carbonation. 5) Good British Mild  or Southern Brown. Bright and earthy at the same time.

On the BRIPA trail, Upland's Porter (4.4% – 19 IBU) and Dragonfly (6.0 – 39) mix gives a malt-predominant but balanced beer that is eminently quaffable. Some overtones of Old Ale stock come through from the porter. Try it for yourself.

Bloomington Brewing is now in 28 places in Bloomington and 4 in Nashville. When the leaves turn and you drive around Brown County, get Floyds beers at the Holy Cow, Ordinary Tavern, Pine Room, or Old Golf Club; all fine sounding pubs.

Lennie's has BB's Pale and Stout both on three ways – CO2, Nitro, and Handpull.

The Louisville Brew at the Zoo's "Best Of Brews" went to the New Albanian and Jared sounds proud.

Kentucky Ale's Pro-Am Cream Ale will be on tap in Louisville for 3 nights.

Tuesday, September 1 at Brendan's Restaurant & Pub
Wednesday, September 2 at O'Shea's Irish Pub
Monday, September 13 at Cumberland Brews

Monk's Cafe in Philly is closed indefinitely after two people fell from a 4th floor fire escape when a rusted railing broke. article – blog.

A tale of a brewery hop harvest. Small hops farms are springing up all over America.

Blonde Ambition, Mixing BRIPAs, and other insanity.

Blonde Ambition, Barley Island's Pro-Am brew with Andrew Korty (right) was tapped last night at the Noblesville brewpub.

For comparisons, Andrew brought samples of his homebrewed prototype and Leffe since the beer is a Belgian Blond and Leffe is the primary commercial example listed in the BJCP guidelines.

Comparisons were interesting. Excepting the higher carbonation of the Leffe, you could throw a very small blanket over all three. In other words, they have a winner. It's available in bottles and on tap now at the brewpub.

In other Barley Island news, look for a 10th anniversary party in December.

Patrons at the BI bar are ordering enough BRIPA to require it programmed into the cash register. BRIPA? ½ Brown and ½ IPA. Tried it with Dirty Helen and BarFly. That's a Summit-hoppy brown that surpasses the IBAs (Indian Brown Ale) we saw earlier this year from Jerry's Rock Bottom for instance. Maybe this is an IIBA. A malt attack followed swiftly by a long bitter classicly American finish.

A similar mix at the Broad Ripple Brewpub using Kevin's Belgian Brown "Donker Bier" and his less citric-hopped IPA gives a very different result. Earthy, darker start and a less assertive but dryness that lingers. It's going to be fun trying combinations. Try it for yourself and report back in the comments.

14 Brilliant Beer Bottle Openers.

Stories Behind 7 Famous Beer Logos.

Bourbon barrel beers may be the rage. How about Sake Cask Aged beer? The Beer Scientist looks at Hitachino Nest XH.

The FDA Finally Rules On Gluten-Free Beers.

What does this mean? "The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission will meet in Executive Session on Friday, August 28, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at IGCS, Rm E114, 302 W Washington St., Indianapolis. The agenda consists of IC 5-14-1.5-6.1(b)(2)(B): Discussion of strategy with respect to initiation of litigation or litigation that is pending or has been threatened, specifically in writing.  - E. Edward Dunsmore, Executive Secretary"