Brew Bracket II: Stout Edition

 A couple of months ago, while following my twitter feed, I found out about Brew Bracket.  I knew instantly that I must go to this event. Not only for the fact that it was a new and interesting way for beer lovers to decide the winner of an event, but because it was all about stouts, one of my favorite beer styles, and it was my 30th birthday, which to me equaled - my destiny to attend. 

The basics of Brew Bracket is simply this -- Blind taste testing of 16 local breweries versions of Stout. March Madness style with four rounds. After the fourth round, a winner is declared.  

The event was held at the Indiana State fairgrounds from 1-4:30. 

Upon entering you receive two tasting glasses, a pen and a voting tablet. Each sheet has a gray or orange option and after tasting you cast your vote into a paint can. 

Me Being Silly Before Hand

Round one was separated into two parts 1a and 1b since there were only four corners to taste and only two beers at a time. 

Unfortunately two breweries didn't make it to Brew Bracket, so two lucky breweries had a bye on Round 1: Triton Brewing Company and Bee Creek Brewery. 

Where is the Beer!?!

 The event overall was pretty well organized. Definitely low key. there were picnic tables scattered through out the all with oyster crackers in bowls and stickers from some of the participating breweries  Along the wall were gate-leg tables with more crackers and hundreds of bottles of water. Each side also had a rinsing station. Towards the East end was a food vendor and in the middle the prize stage, voting area and announcement area. 

One part that was really nice was a live twitter feed wall, where any tweet with the hashtag #BBStouts would pop up onto the wall.  The goal was to get #BBStouts trending on twitter for Indianapolis about about 3/4 through the event, we succeeded!

          **Yes, my twitter name -

          KJLSlauzis was up on the 

                     wall a lot**

On to the Beer Highlights:

First.. I want to say that the two breweries in the finals appear to be the only two breweries who actually brewed a stout specifically for Brew Bracket.  Because of that I am glad they ended up being 1st and 2nd place.  Not that the other stouts weren't good, I know I've bragged about Upland's Mother's Milk stout before, but I think it was nice to have a new stout to try.  Instead of comparing previous tried stouts. 

Secondly.. It was great that some of the newer breweries like  Twisted Crew & Triton were participants in the competition.

Coffee or Oat stouts seemed to be the favored styles for each 

   brew.   Unfortunately there wasn't a way to tell at the end which  one you really did vote for, but I know there was a stout that had an aroma and taste of banana. Which made it seems like you were drinking a chocolate covered banana. By process of elimination

I'm leaning towards saying it was Brugge Brasserie's Black. 

Triton's Stout was their Deadeye Stout aged in a Bourbon Barrel, which I am a total sucker for Bourbon Barrel aged anything.. even   an IPA ( see New Albanian B'urban Trotter - A bourbon barrel aged Imperial India Pale Ale) 

Classic favorites where there as well:

Upland  - Mother's Milk Stout

Flat 12 - Lacto Matic Milk Stout

                  Bee Crew - Clay County Coffee Stout

After 3 1/2 hours of tasting, contests, food and talking... a winner was announced: 

www.bierbrewery.com

Fuggit Stout!

A stout that Darren literally said Fuggit and put in all they had into it!

I'm really glad that as a local brewery that I frequent often, due to their great quality bier, won the Stouts competition  Congratulations Darren, Corbin, Jerry, Tara and all associates of  Bier Brewery. Hope to see your trophy in the tap room. 

The event was great to be part of and I'm glad I chose this to do for my birthday. I can't wait to see what the spring version will be about! 

A final shout out:

DoItIndy -- You guys did a great job with promoting Brew Bracket. Ben -- Thanks for the saying hi! :) 
Brew Bracket -- Nicely organized! - Thank you for the birthday wishes
The 14 Breweries that particpate: Bier Brewery, Lafayette Brewing Company, Barley Island, Rock Bottom - College Park, Rock Bottom - Downtown, Twisted Crew Brewing, Brugge Brasserie, Half Moon Brewing, Figure 8 Brewing, Bee Creek Brewing, Flat 12, Bloomington Brewing Company, Upland ,Triton -- All great stouts!

Indiana Beer News – April 6

Here’s the WHAS news report and video from the Holl/Schweber Indiana Breweries book signing in New Albany over the weekend. Good job.

Beervana gives Indiana Breweries a glowing review. with some stats: “What did leap out was how: 1) small, and 2) new the market for good beer appears in Indiana.”

Mark Snelling of Bee Creek Brewery tells us “Bee Creek is expanding again.  Grain handling had become too much of a hassle, so we've added a large grain bin and augers to move the grain around.  In the background you can see the new 15 barrel brite tank as well.  As soon as we can figure out how to fit a 10 foot tall tank under a 9 foot tall ceiling, we will have that available as well.”

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Rock Bottom has a new, temporary, beer menu. Their website now says “There is a unique beer menu at every Rock Bottom in addition to our core line up of consistent flavor profiles that you can expect at any Rock Bottom you visit nationwide. But, you’re thirsty and want to know what beers you can expect down here, right? Well, you can always expect to find a pint of one of these:

Liz is tapping Rye IPA tonight at 6pm.

Her handpull has Double Barrel Pale Ale flowing but it’s a secret. Soft but not to the creamy stage which works well.

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Other events this week:

Wed, Apr 6 - Northwest Indiana Beer tasting. Tomlinson Tap Room, Indy. 5:30-7:30pm

Fri, Apr 8 - Release of Bumpy Face Agave Wheatwine. Lafayette Brewing

Sat, Apr 9 - Sun King 1887 tapping. Victory Field, Captains Cove. 6:30pm at the season opener.

Sat, Apr 9 - Bluechip Brewfest. Blue Chip Casino, Michigan City. $30/$50.

Sat, Apr 9 - BJCP Study Group. Indy. 12:30-6pm. Contact Ron Smith

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We’ve heard of 8 start-ups that should open this year.

Black Swan Brewpub – Plainfield – D. J. Macallister - Brewpub
Three Pints Brewing– Plainfield – Tom Hynes – Brewpub
Blue Republic Brewing Co. – Shelbyville – Bill Ballinger – Production brewery
Triton Brewing Co. – Indianapolis – Jon Lang – Production brewery
Fountain Square Brewing Co. – Indianapolis – Skip DuVall – Production brewery
Bare Hands Brewing Co. – Granger – Chris Gerard – Production brewery
Black Acre Brewing Co. – Indianapolis – Justin Miller – Production brewery
Heorot Pub and Draught House – Muncie – Bob Cox – Brewpub (currently a pub)

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In PA, Troegs (Mad Elf) hits Bethlehem Brew Works (Rude Elf) with a C&D. Ridgeway (Bad Elf, Seriously Bad Elf, Very Bad Elf, Criminally Bad Elf, Insanely Bad Elf) stays out of this fight so far. article

What should I drink? Cute flowchart

Brewbot: An Automated Homebrewing Machine.

What does vanilla smell like? Notes on learning aroma and taste only by smelling and tasting.

Moa Breakfast Beer (a Cherry Wheat) is called irresponsible by New Zealand watchdogs. article

Quote of the day: " 'Geek' is actually probably exactly the right word for a lot of us," said Gera Exire LaTour, who spends much of her spare time brewing at home, judging brewing contests and, of course, drinking obscure beers. article

Trappist Beer

Misc News – Aug 22

Add to your calendar: KokoFest Micro Brew Festival in conjunction with AllKokomo.com. October 9th. Behind the Half Moon. Local beer freak Blake Montgomery is setting this up to benefit the Carver Community Center. The CCC provides youth activities, lunches, mentoring, day care, and generally makes life better for kids in Kokomo. Two CCC fundraisers earlier this year were strongly impacted by bad weather and this Festival hopes to make up some of their shortfall.

Breweries, etc.: Blake's one of the good guys and he has just over a month to pull this together. He's recruited the local VFW post to provide workers. When he calls you, give him the nod – or call him at 765-438-9591 (blake@profitws.com) right now. It's a good chance to make inroads into the Kokomo market and help a worthwhile cause.

Bloomington Brewing's equipment for the new production brewery is in and pretty muchly installed. They have a new Premiere system with 20 bbl capacity on the hot side and 40 bbl fermenters and bright tanks. Eileen Martin will brew the first batch in September.

Aleen tells us Bloomington beers can now be found at the three Indy-area Scotty's Brewhouse locations. (Wilbur Brewing's Country Mellow Amber is on tap in Scotty's in Bloomington).

Bee Creek Brewery has grown a bunch. No longer just brewing on Saturdays, they have 2 full-time and 1 part-time person. Huzzah.

Crispin Ciders is making inroads here. Distributed by World Class Beverages, they have a variety of natural no-sugar-ciders and a perry (pear cider for you heathens) made in California and supported by Chad Lushin here in Indiana. Bottles and kegs are available and Chad is getting more and more taps replacing Woodchuck and that ilk of fuzzy flavored water. They do want their cider to be served over ice, "European style" but won't monitor it in your own home.

They also make the cider for Original Sin's line (distributed by Cavalier).

Crispin's lineup:

• Honey Crisp Artisanal Reserve – Slightly cloudy and moderately carbonated cider that has a sweet meady quality from addition of organic honey. 6.5% ABV. Not using the sweet desert Honeycrisp apples, instead a blend of west coast pomes.
• The Saint – Slightly cloudy and slightly carbonated fermented with a Belgian Trappist beer yeast. Again, sweetish, this time from some organic maple syrup. 6.9%
• A "Blue" line of Crisp, Bright, and Extra-Dry ciders. at 5%, 3.2%, and 5.5%, respectively.
• Fox Barrel Perry that we haven't tried yet but will ASAP. 4.5%

 

It's now official and we have permission to tell you Omar Castrellón will be leaving Alcatraz in 2 weeks to be the head brewer at the Thr3e Wise Men brewery in Broad Ripple. Skip Duvall will move back across the street from the Ram to Alcatraz at that time. TWM has a new system very similar to Bloomington's (see above).

 

New to Indiana next month – We'll be seeing Napa Smith beers via Pelican Brands and WCB. Made in Napa, CA, by Don Barkley. He's been in craft beer since it started in 1978 at the New Albion Brewery who started it all - article. Oh, and Mendocino Brewing of course. NS is only two years old but it has chops. The first offerings are a Wheat Beer (4.6%), an Organic IPA (7.1%, 70 IBU), and Lost Dog Red Ale (7.2%) which has a boldness befitting its strength.

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If the statistics Mark Kleiman quoted in the The Atlantic  are even close to accurate, his point also leads to the obvious conclusion that good craft beer can never be more than 20% of the market:

"Divide the population into deciles by annual drinking volume. The top decile starts at four drinks a day, averaged year-round. That group consumes half of all the alcohol sold. The next decile does from two to four drinks a day. Those folks sop up the next thirty percent. Casual drinkers - people who have two drinks a day or less - take up only 20% of the total volume. The booze companies cannot afford to have their customers 'drink in moderation'."

Misc News – Jan 11

Education: BeerMBA. Fishers. Ron Smith's 3-part classes.

On Saturdays, Jan 23rd, Feb 6th, Feb 13th
And on Fridays, Feb 12th, 19th, 26th

Roger Baylor tells us "Through the kind offices of Indiana University’s Southeast’s Division of Continuing Studies, there’ll be two offerings of my non-credit beer education class during the spring semester of 2010. The first time we held the class in the spring of 2009, I was inspired to write about it: Beer class tonight.

The 2010 listings are now posted at IUS's web site, where you can register and pay for the course. The price is $65, which includes my time and tales, the venue and numerous beer samples."

1st session: February: 3, 10, 17, and 24 (all Wednesdays)
2nd session: April 7, 14, 21, and 28 (all Wednesdays)
Times: 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Location: NABC Pizzeria & Public House

NABC has also posted the preliminary list for Gravity Head 2010, beginning Friday, February 26. 8 to 18 percent. Heck, the lightest is Harviestour Ola Dubh Special 18 Reserve 2008. On Tap!

Bee Creek Brewery now has a 4-head Meheen bottling line from Lake Louie Brewing in Wisconsin so we can get more Hoosier Honey Wheat – and soon Clay County Coffee Stout. See it in action on their web site. The welded-up vessel behind it is a homemade 30bbl fermenter. Their major outlet has become Baesler's Market in Terre Haute.

The Courier-Journal has a good essay on why the growler bill may not pass. Legislature to look at alcohol law changes.

This from Paul Edwards:

"According to an article in the Indy Star, Veolia (the Indianapolis Water Company)will be adding additional chlorine to the city water supply as part of an annual disinfection maintenance effort, This will go on until early March or so. So if you use tap water for your brewing, make sure you either use activated charcoal filtering or something like Campden tablets to remove the chlorine. You ought to be doing this anyway. I'll be stopping by the hardware store for a new filter cartridge for my filter. One Campden tablet will bind up the chlorine or chloramine in 20 gallons of water."

Out but probably not headed to Indiana: Mikkeller 1000 IBU. Not a typo.

An even stranger style: Proefbrouwerij Witte Noire – not a black Wit, an Imperial Amber Wheat Ale. a little info

And even stranger: Guy Ritchie in brewery plan.

Misc News – Nov 11

Upland's Tasting room at 49th & College in Indianapolis is now open. Tastes and flights are available everyday. Growlers are available Mon – Sat. Pints are available on Sunday and Monday $3.75. Wed is $6 growler refills (normally $8).

Watch Kristin pour growlers on Caleb's special 3-octopus counter-fill system. Explosive.

New beers coming up from New Albanian include Bretted Phoenix Kentucky Komon; Single Malt/Single Hop APA series # 1 & 2 - Cascade & Nugget with 2-row barley; Le Douche Mental Imperial Belgian IPA – A collaboration with The Livery.

Three Floyds got a bronze medal at the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers for Blackheart English IPA aged on toasted oak.

Brugge Brasserie's new Hibernal Black has a big Abbey Ale aroma, big Imperial Belgian Black essence. and a dry, dry, dry finish. Brugge Black on steroids. Lots of dark D2 invert sugar gives it a 9% alcohol buzz. A+

Bee Creek Brewery is expanding their line from one beer (Hoosier Honey Wheat) to two, adding Clay County Coffee Stout. It's made with Brazilian Santos Coffee from Jameson Coffee in Greencastle. 6%. It will be out soon – to find out where, check their web site.

Bee Creek has expanded their sales locations to include some in Plainfield and Indy as well as Brazil and Terre Haute.

Indiana University Southeast (New Albany) is offering a non-credit "Here's to Beer" course. Roger Baylor is teaching this 4-session course about the brewing process, styles, and all things beery. The course will be presented 6:30-8:30pm on 1) all the Wednesdays of February and 2) all the Wednesdays of April.

The Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago is now offering a 3-day course titled "Start Your Own Brewery". Teacher is Ray Daniels. About $1,200. Dates: Nov 30-Dec 2. Apr 12-14, Nov 15-17.

Rogue's Most Arrogant Bar contest is on again. These contestants in Indiana are trying to sell the most Arrogant Bastard by Friday. So go help them out.

• Beer Seller, Castleton
• Columbus Bar, Columbus
• Constant Spring, Goshen
• Fiddler's Hearth, South Bend
• Fickle Peach, Muncie
• Fox & Hound, Indianapolis
• The Heorot, Muncie
• The Mad Hatter, Muncie
• Max's Place, Columbus
• New Albanian Grant Line Public House, New Albany
• Shallos, Greenwood
• Yogis, Bloomington

When you hear about the Hindenburg bottle of Lowenbrau going to auction you'll go here for a good summary.

Speaking of disasters, here's a forklift driver destroying $150,000 of cognac and vodka – dominoes style.

Bee Creek Brewery

The extended Forster family and friends have, for quite some while been mixing up the three "b"s; beef, bees, and beer; on the banks of beautiful Bee Creek near Brazil, Indiana.

Bee Creek: Bee Creek Brewery is actually not on Bee Creek, but it runs between the farms of Dr. Frank and Julie Forster and Julie's brother and 25-year homebrewer Mark Snelling.

Beef: A pole barn on the Forster's cattle ranch housed the brewery and the cows crowd toward the fence as soon as the mash odors hit the air. The goal is to brew enough beer to feed their 30 head of cattle on just spent grain, grass, and their home-grown hay.

Bees: Yeah, why not. They use 90 pounds of honey from Hunter's Honey Farm in Martinsville in every 6bbl batch of their flagship

Beer: Mark has been brewing since his days in the Navy where submariners in SF Bay wanted more than torpedo juice. Presumably he wasn't actually brewing on a submarine.

That's them over to the right. Mark and Frank up top. 2nd row has quality control inspector Tycha Donathan, Julie, and Mike Godsey, a friend and the brewery's mechanical/plumbing guru.

They are sitting on a 6 BBL system recently installed from a defunct brewpub in Sacramento. The original 15-gallon Sabco is now going to be used for a pilot brewery.

The flagship beer has been settled on. Hoosier Honey Wheat – a German Hefeweizen brewed with copious honey to give a bold 7.0% ABV. Lots of banana and honey sweetness takes out some of the traditional clove notes and leaves a long, sweet finish.

It is waiting for has label approval and might just show up in the World Class Indiana 12-pack this fall.

Look for them at the Microbrewers Festival in July and welcome them to the family.

One of these is named Molson because it was born on Canada Day.