Coming Soon to A Beer Sellar Near You - Schlafly

It is safe to say, that I am a big fan of Schlafly's beer. 

I'm also a big fan of our Beer Sellar located in Castleton. 

Combining the two together is like having a pint of your favorite beer and drinking it too. 

Which is exactly what I'll be doing on 10/3 and I hope you'll join me. 

More details ? -- Let's see below - 

Schlafly Night with Tom Schlafly - 

at Beer Sellar in Castleton

Time : 7pm

Beer (Most important part):

     

Pale Ale

Kolsch

Dry-Hopped APA

Oatmeal Stout

Porter

Oktoberfest

Pumpkin Ale

Biere De Garde

Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout

Oak Aged Barleywine
Black IPA
Tasmanian IPA  on cask

Great way to kick off fall and I hope to see fellow readers out there. I'll try not to drink so much pumpkin ale that I turn into a pumpkin!

Also -- Another event with Goose Island will be coming up soon on 10/19.. Look for the those details shortly. 

Cheers!

- Kathleen

         

Round One (Wednesday) - Pre-BBC Beer Drinking Festivities

This past weekend was the Beer Blogger's Conference 2012, where over 100 beer bloggers from around the nation, and even a few from over seas, flocked to Indianapolis - this year's chosen city. We gathered from Friday night through Sunday afternoon for education, networking, and of course - drinking.


If I had only known what laid in store for me that weekend, I may have cut back days before, but certain opportunities can not be missed when scrumptious beer is available.


And thus it begins --


Wednesday --

Left - Pere Jacques, Right - Bourbon County

Once a month I try to do a beer meetup with some of my friends. Usually it is the tap takeover's that are at the Sinking Ship. This month, I decided to get a group together to meet up at the Beer Sellar for the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout and Pere Jacques tapping.  I figured the popularity of the Bourbon County Stout would be high, so even though the tapping didn't happen til 7pm, we were there at 6. Beer Sellar has a new deal now that a variety of about 15 taps on their wall are now $3 for a pint - everyday. (Previous deal was on Mondays and they had a special on Indiana beers on Wednesdays.)


First pint up for me was Brooklyn Brewery's Sorachi Ace - a light, crisp saison, which I recommended to two other friends. 


Then came the Pere Jacques and Bourbon County.  Those two were worth every penny of their $7 and $10 respective prices. I shared both of these as I could not have partaken both and walked out easily.  The Bourbon County had every complex layer of an aged stout, slowly sipped out of its snifter and felt every ounce of the 14.5% ABV. I actually enjoyed the Pere Jacques more. It was creamy, a caramel finish but also required a great deal of slow drinking.  


In capping the night off, I had a pint of Victory Brewing's Summer Love. Not my favorite of the evening; something about the American and German hops used in the Blonde ale was slightly harsh to my tongue.


Round One - about 3 pints of beer. 


Check out the next blog for Round Two!

American Craft Beer Week 2012 - The Beginning

First off, Happy American Craft Beer Week everyone!

I hope you are out supporting our local craft breweries or at least getting out and drinking some of the many great craft beers there are available to us in Indiana.

I personally kicked of this week on Monday by having a pint of New Belgium's Cocoa Mole at the Indy Beer Sellar. If you like chili beers, I suggest giving this one a shot. It leaves a nice little burn in the back of your throat. For more of what is available at the Beer Sellar - Check out their tap list! and make sure you stop in this Friday for their Tap Attack! starting at 7pm - Just to name a few to get you thirsty:

• Founders -  Breakfast Stout
• Three Floyds - Zombie Dust
• New Holland - Dragon's Milk Oak Barrel Ale 

Onto Tuesday - 

Went down to Irvington to visit Black Acre Brewing Co. for the first time and socialize with Girls Pint Out and Arts & Craft Beer Owner, Tara Maggert. 

Since Tuesdays, Black Acre is typically closed, the place was only filled with about 20-30 people at any given moment. Jordan, brewer - bartender - and more,  was quick to pour you a pint and the place was comfortable enough to just stay up at the bar and chat. 

My first pint was a house beer - Watermelon Wheat.  Wheat ales are not my typical choice, but I thought I would give it a try. If you like something sweet and cool, I would go with this beer. The other  house beer on tap was the Strong Ale.  Black Acre also offered selections from local favorites Sun King and Bier Brewery along with non local craft beer. 

I will completely admit that I had a snifter of  Monk's Cafe Sour Flemish Ale after the Watermelon Wheat.  It is another favorite of mine, rare to find in bottles, and the first time I've seen it on draft. Who could resist that!?

If I lived closer to Irvington, I'd be a more frequent visitor to Black Acre. I hoping next time to catch a taste of the Green Tea Pale Ale. 

And a tip:

For the ladies - Try to come out to a GPO event, you are not alone in loving craft beer :) 

For the crafty ladies - Check out the monthly events at Arts & Craft Beer. 

Now those recaps are done.. Time to get ready for tonight!

Greg K and I will be at Tomlinson Tap Room for Indianapolis Monthly's first Beer Fest - 15 breweries, $30.. 6pm-8:30pm - Tickets are still available - (By Clicking Here!)

See you readers tomorrow for the recap. 

- Kathleen

Come on Dancer and Prancer and Brewers and Beer..

Breweries are starting to pop out their Christmas inspired brews. 

Even if you are naughty or nice you can still try this holiday cheer beer: 

Tomorrow ( Tuesday 12/13) at  Thr3e Wiseman Brewery - Mount Crumpet Christmas Ale (brewed w/ cinnamon, vanilla & spicy cloves) is tapping at 6pm.  

Starting Thursday 12/15 at Flat 12 - 12 Biers of Christmas: 3rd Week – Sugarplum Milk Stout, Brandy-aged Pale, Hot Cocoa Milk Stout, Fruitcake IPA 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm

And just some good ole' beers coming this week too -- 

Friday 12/16 - Upland's Indy Tasting room is tapping - Teddy Bear Kisses ( a Russian Imperial Stout) at 6pm 


Thursday 12/15 at the RAM - Java Disorder is coming back at their Ugly Christmas Sweater party, which will have a raffle that benefits the Julian Center. 


Thursday 12/15 at Sun King - Sink The Clipper tapping - 6pm 


Starting this week on Wednesday at Bier Brewery (regular hours til the bier is gone)- 
Blondie Country Girl
Trippelle
Fuggit Stout -- Brew Bracket Winner!!
Blonde Tri-Delta
Cascadian Light Ale
Fustercluck IPA 


Also check out 12 days of Sun King at The Indy Beer Sellar!

Plenty of Cheer and plenty of Beer! 

Happy Holidays!

~Kathleen

Misc News – Sept 3

September starts with Omar's new job at the Thr3e Wise Men. A loyal group helped him reduce some of the inventory of Devil's Ale, Bourbon American Stout, and other specials sitting in the back room.

Skip Duvall is taking over at Alcatraz and says the Search Light, Rock Bock, Weiss Guy Wheat, and Pelican Pale Ale will remain mostly unchanged while he puts his stamp on all the seasonals.

Power House and Great Crescent breweries are joining the collaboration frenzy. Jon and Dan will be co-brewing a Belgian Abbey Dark Strong at the Aurora facility.

At Power House, the Columbus Bar will be serving Dilligaf, a Rye Ale, any day now and an Oktoberfest is fermenting.

Half Moon has a Rasperry Rye Beer and Skull Splitter IIPA on tap.

Lafayette Brewing has just tapped their Star City Dark, a Schwarzbier with Styrian Goldings. "If you're looking for a lighter beer with depth of colour and taste, then don't be afraid to go dark with our darker version of our popular Star City Lager."

People's Brewing was at the Beer Sellar in Castleton this week. Sandwiched between Texas Hold'em and a pool league, Chris and Fred passed out samples, glasses, and other goodies. Cavalier is distributing People's and their IPA, Amber, ESB, and Pilsner are available to pubs over the state, not just in the Lafayette area.

• People's Pilsner – Plenty of Santium hops – a Tettnanger, Hallertauer, Mittelfruh hybrid. Noble with a touch of Saaz spicy.
• ESB – Dark red-tinged brown. Smooth. Balanced. All EKG. A+
• IPA – Dark, which means malty, but hit with 77 IBU of Columbus, Centennial, and Amarillo hops.
• Aberrant Amber – Has an up-front 48 IBU attack of citrusy Amarillo and Centennial.

Another brewpub is coming to Central Indiana. The Black Swan Brewpub at 2067 E. Hadley Rd. (the ex-Hog Heaven just north of I-70 at the Ind 267 exit) has received zoning approval from the Plainfield authorities. D J McCalister is the guy behind it and has worked with Lafayette Brewing, Oaken Barrel, Barley Island and Alcatraz. He said to zoning commission "Brewpubs in general especially in the Midwest have a long history of combining very good food, very good beer and providing excellent service to their customers." They'll be opening as an English Public House while they source brewing equipment and do all those other little details necessary to brew beer.

Black Swan Brewpub from Fork in The Road on Vimeo.
(Neil, Thanks for the tip, as always)

Indiana was represented at Beer And Sweat a week ago. Jim Matt got a Gold with his American Pale Ale and credits the filtering as being very important in a keg-based competition. Eric King and Clayton Cummings of Indy were second with a Saison and Steve Llewellyn of Bloomington got a silver with a Belgian Specialty Ale.

Quality Wine and Ale Supply has more homebrewing articles:

• How Temperature Affects Wine And Beer During Fermentation
• Get Better Results From Your Beer Brewing Kit With Recipes
• How Seasonal Beers Are Made
• An Introduction To Seasonal Beers
• Why Is Light Beer Light?
• What Makes Dark Beer Dark?
• What The Beer Lover In Your Life REALLY Wants

The Beer Sellar has raised the quality of their craft selection a lot in the past year (above). Right now it's all Monarch/WCB plus a couple of Sun King but Cavalier may make inroads with taps for People's, Mad Anthony, Crown, and New Albanian as the lineup gets more and more Indiana offerings. But please, take down this misleading sign. ==>

Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland made 80,000 bbls in 2009 and has expanded to a 150,000 bbl capacity.

There are about 20 new breweries in the planning in the state of Washington. article

Divers in the Baltic Sea have found a shipwreck and bottles of beer from the early 1800s. sketchy article – better article

30 Bell's at the Beer Sellar

Someone asked if Guinness was going to be there. Not to be poured but to certify the record. 30 beers from one brewery on tap at the same time. It's not a record (Dragonmead has 42 on tap right now at their brewpub) but it's pretty impressive. Bringing most of the thirty beers down to another state, setting up 30 lines, tap handles, goodie bags, a raffle, publicity, wow, days and days of work.

I can vouch for the Lager of the Lakes, Smoked Stout, Oarsman, Third Coast, Hell Hath No Fury, 2006 Eccentric Ale, Poolside Ale, Cherry Ale, and Harry Magill's Spiced Stout. The other 250 people who were there can vouch for all the others. Everyone thought all the work done by Bell's, World Class, and the Beer Sellar staff was worth it. Thanks for the nice evening.

30 taps of beer on the wall,
30 taps of beer.
You pour one out and pass it around,
there's still 30 taps of beer on the wall.
<repeat until closing time>

Bell's Packaging Manager, Cam Helmuth and Kevin Stuchell, the brewer at the Eccentric Cafe came down for the party. In fact, 13 of the 30 were brewed by Kevin and rarely or never before served outside his realm, including:

• Oarsman – Old German sour mash wheat style. Not exactly a Gose but with a hint of the sharp acid making it very refreshing.
• Smoked Stout – Thick. Mild smoke on top of roast.
• Poolside Ale – Cherry Wheat
• Cherry Ale – Cherry Ale
• Harry Magill's Spiced Stout – Thick. Tangy. Big stuff at 7.8%.
• 2006 Eccentric Ale - "brewed with malted milk balls, juniper, and caraway seeds". 10.8%

Those last 2 were the first to run out of course.

Is that Larry Bell under the hat signing a homemade Oberon Guitar?

Yep. Larry and Rita Kohn of Nuvo are flanked by
Bob Mack and Jim Schembre of World Class Beverages.

More pictures at Hoosier Beer Geeks.

Addenda: The Beer Sellar still have most of the special Bell's on tap and will sell them until they run out. Many will be sold in the 5oz samples for between $3 and $5. Others, like the Oarsman will be priced at, say 16oz for $4. Same prices as last night.