Watching A Craft Brewery Grow..

I haven't been apart of the craft brewery scene for long. I'm sure those who have, for example, some of my fellow reporters and our IndianaBeer founder, Bob O., know this feeling a hundred times over.


What feeling is this you ask?
Watching a brewery that you love grow. 


I wish I could have been there at the beginning of Sun King, of Flat 12 Bierwerks, of even Upland to watch them expand into bars and build their successful businesses. Now, I've seen Triton Brewing Company and Fountain Square Brewery pop up and expand, but maybe because it is dear and near to me, it hasn't been as special as watching Bier Brewery grow.


Even though I've only known of Bier Brewery for about a year, I love reading their newsletter that announces their successes. I read about another bar nearby getting their kegs and that now they even have their own tap handles for bars. I sit there and read and smile.


I know I am only one craft beer lover out of thousands in the area, but a pint here, a growler there but seeing the local breweries grow is just something that makes me happy to be a part of it all. Even in the small way of just sharing it here, or via other forms of social media.


In closing.. 
Keep up the good work Indiana Breweries. We need to share you with the nation and future generations.


- Kathleen

Beer Overload?

May Day -- I think we've hit Beer Overload!

The other day on twitter I saw an event regarding nothing else than a beer festival. Triton Brewing Company in collaboration with Flat 12 are doing a tasting at the Rivera Club. Samples from both companies plus food from 7-11pm on 10/8.  I should be excited! That day is my birthday, but I'm already going and have been looking forward to Brew Bracket for over a month. Which is the same day - 10/8 from 12:30-5. 

What if I did both!? -- Beer Overload 

(almost 12 hours of tasting.. brings up the question.. is there such a thing as too much of a good thing?)

Everyday I scroll through twitter, I read IndianaBeer, I pop onto Hoosier Beer Geek, I check my inbox for brewing companies e-mail updates and I've gotta say.. If you like beer and live in Indiana, most specifically Indianapolis. You could probably go to a beer related event -- EVERY DAY. 

Breweries like Sun King, Thr3e Wisemen, Bier Brewery are constantly tapping new styles. Bars are have kegs from outside the city from craft brewers to tap as well. Almost every weekend there is an event or festival. 

Makes me want to be a beer butterfly fluttering to each keg to sip on the sweet brewed nectar. 

Try as I may I'll never get to try it all, but I won't give up. I'm a beer lover through and through and will continue to blog about it, talk about, tweet about, and like it Facebook.  


Though my blogs may have slowed ( I still owe the readers: The Search For The Great Pumpkin: Beer Edition Round 2 & 3 & So on, and a recap of my visit to Lexington Brewery)  


I am still here.. to drink beer!


Cheers. :) 




On a small sidenote: I will be at Bier Brewery tonight for their weekly release. Flat 12 for their Flat Jack Pumpkin Ale Tapping on Friday.  Sun King also on Friday.  Brew Bracket on Saturday! 

Hoosier Beer Geek's 5th Anniversary Party

If you are fan of festivals such as the Indiana Microbrewers' festival,

then you would've loved going to the Hoosier Beer Geek's 5th Anniversary Party. 

From 6pm - 11pm this past Saturday, Sun King Brewery's Tasting room opened their doors to 150 people in celebration of the team that continues to inform the masses, support the festivals and amuse beer lovin' Hoosiers. 

I was very happy to be 1 out of the 150 in attendance. 

Shortly after the party started (or fashionably late), I proudly walked in with my yellow Beer Knee Highs and Bier Brewery shirt and received a warm welcome from Rodney, Gina and other Hoosier Beer Geek associates at the door.  Thanks to the power of the Internets and Twitter, I was recognized as the new reporter for IndianaBeer.com. (which made me quite ecstatic to be "known" )

I was handed a one of a kind pint glass with an HBG5 logo on one side and Sun King Brewery on the other along with 5 red tickets for 5- 16oz pours of delicious beer of my choice. The glass is also how I was able to get unlimited samples of the 30+ beers available. Lastly I was also given a raffle ticket for the prize drawing to be take place later in the evening. 

Now, Ok.. I know you all are thinking enough with the small stuff.. Let's get to the beer! 

Out of the 30+  beers available, I actually only sampled 10 beers and used three of my pint tickets. Of course you make think.. in 5 hours that is not enough beer, well my friends.. let's just say the team behind the taps, were more than generous with their samples. 

In numerical order.. the beers of my night were:

Stone Brewing Co. - Sublimely Self Righteous Ale 

Brugge Brasserie - SuperKitty Fantastico!

Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Company - Hoosier Beer Geek Double Brown

Barley Island Brewing Company - Barrel-Fermented Rust Belt Porter 

RAM Brewery - Bjava Disorder Porter
The St. Louis Brewing Company aka Schlafly - Raspberry Coffee Stout
 Sun King - A Few More Hops 

Flat12 Bierwerks -  Nunmoere Black 

Founders - Cerise
Upland Brewing Company -  Mother's Milk
 

The pint winners were:

 The RAM's Bjava Disorder Porter -

 a well blended mix of B-Java coffee beans and the RAM's Total disorder porter

The best of two worlds Coffee & Beer

Brugge Brasserie's SuperKitty Fantastico! - 

a barrel aged tripel, 

which surprised me because my tripel experience always has me comparing the beer to bananas

Upland Brewing Company's Mother's Milk -

a creamy malty milk stout

I'm a sucker for stouts

All the samples were fantastic and even though Founders and Schlafly are not Indiana beers, I highly suggest going and sampling the Founders - Cerise and the Schlafly - Raspberry Coffee Stout if you can, especially if you like a small fruit like sensation in your brew. 

In addition to all the beer goodness, Papa Roux  spiced up the night with make your own po-boys and cheesy etouffee.

As the beer clock ticked towards the end of the night.. Jason from HBG held a raffle. Some raffle winners won Hoosier Beer Geek wears or local brewery goods. Some lucky people took home growlers!  This gal was given a t-shirt from Triton Brewing Company from a winner for her beer shirt collection. 

Other highlights of the evening was meeting Jim and Jason from HBG, talking with Tara and others from Bier Brewery and interacting with many of my fellow beer aficionados.. which that part was mostly due to my socks. 

All in all a very good night for beer indeed!


And in closing I want to say:

Thank you Hoosier Beer Geek & Sun King for a fun night and I look forward to HBG6!

Bier Brewery - August Update

As an north east side girl and a new blogger to IndianaBeer .. I thought I'd start out the fun times by showing some love to Bier Brewery

First off on tap this week : August 24th - August 28th
Biersicle / Fruitcup Surprise
Oranjunkle / Barley Buddy Brown
Weizengoot
Witbier
Redrum
Belgian Dubbel
Calypso IPA
Rye IPA 

The lineup varies week to week.. all being easy to drink, smooth beers. Even the IPAs, to me.. and I am not a hoppy kind of lady.  

This week I highly suggest going down and trying Redrum. It is an Irish Red Ale.. very soft on the tongue. With an IBU of 20.8 and ABV of 5.6%.  I tend to lean towards the porters and stouts as it is.. so of course I fell in love with Redrum and bought a growler to take home. 

Not only is Redrum a new addition to Bier Brewery, but they have a new logo. Bier in the form of Indiana on the front and drink craft beer on the back (will add pics later) 

Later this week I'll be wearing my new shirt to Hoosier Beer Geek 's 5th anniversary party along with my beer knee highs (oh yes.. I have knee highs that say beer along the side) 

So please go to Bier Brewery ... and taste the awesomeness.

Beers on Tap - May 4

Lafayette Brewing Company (Lafayette, IN) - The Maifest is now on tap. This is a Munich-style dunkel with an ABV of 6.2% and IBUs 32. In late May, they will have the Golden Lady IPA which is an American style IPA with an ABV of 6.1% and IBUs 80.

Bier Brewery (Indianapolis, IN) - On tap this week: Kolsch, Dunkelweiss, Wildflower Wheat, Belgian Blonde, PDG Pale, Cascadian Lite Ale, Barley Buddy Brown, and Belgian Witbier.

April Recap - May 3

A few weeks ago I visited three of the newest breweries in Indy: Flat12 Bierwerks (http://flat12.me/), Bier Brewery and Taproom (http://www.bierbrewery.com/) and Thr3e Wise Men Brewery (http://thr3ewisemen.com/). A wide selection of beers were available for sampling at all three establishments along with friendly, courteous service. The servers took the time to explain each of the beers that were sampled and were very interested in feedback from those that were sampling their beers. This was great to observe as they wanted not only positive feedback, but not so positive feedback as well. This is how it should be in my opinion. At Flat 12 Bierwerks, I sampled six (6) of their beers (they had more available but I wanted to pace myself and not have a ruined palate for the other two breweries). I enjoyed their Amber Ale the most as it had a very nice malty and not overly hoppy aroma and flavor. It was very easy to drink and in my opinion a nice session beer. At Bier Brewery and Taproom, they had seven (7) or so beers available for sampling. Of the six (6) that I sampled, I enjoyed the Four Banger Ale and the PDG Pale beers the most. They both had a nice hoppy presence, but not overly hoppy. At Thr3e Wisemen, they too have a large selection of beers to choose from and I had the three beer sampler in which one can choose which three beers to sample. Of the three that I chose, the Golden Zoe IPA was the best choice. Very nice hoppy flavor and true to style. If in Indy, do yourself a favor, and take the time to visit these new breweries and try their beers! I also stopped at Chumley's for a first-time visit. They have about 50 or so taps and 100 or so of bottled beers. A very, very good selection of beers to say the least.

If you think that WineTime (6210 Covington Rd., Ft. Wayne, IN 46804 (260)459-9463) only sells wine, think again! They sell single bottles of beer for $2/btl. or $12/sixer. They let you mix n' match if you choose to do so and they also have a Beer of the Month Club which is $22 + tax. On a recent visit there they had beers from these breweries: Minhas, Berghoff, Crown Valley, Boulder, Strangford Lough, Sherwood Forest, Spanish Peaks, Breckenridge, Stegmaier, Left Hand, Mendocino, Lake Front, Sprecher, and Two Brothers. Stop in and check out their beer selection and speak to Jeff Armstrong about his beer selection if there is something special you would like for him to try to acquire.

Upcoming Events in Fort Wayne: On Saturday, May 21st, from 2p.m.-4p.m., the "1st" Annual Micro Beer Festival at Northbrook will take place. I have received information that there will be 100+ micros available for sampling. This is a FREE event (Must be 21 yrs. of age or older with valid photo ID). The address for this event is 10020 Lima Road and look for the "huge blue and white tent behind Starbucks and in front of Cap n' Cork".

On June 18th, from 5p.m.-8p.m., S & V Liquors on Illinois Road will be having their "Summer Beer Bash" with approximately 50 different beers distributed by Aalco Distributing, Cavalier Distributing, Five Star Distributors, and World Class Beverages. This is a FREE in-store beer tasting (Must be 21 yrs. of age or older with valid photo ID). Also, representatives from Cheesemanstore.com will have many, many samples of their delicious cheeses for sampling and purchasing.

Remember, to keep checking the Calendar section of this website for beer events that not only take place in Indiana, but outside of Indiana as well.

Indiana Beer News – Feb 16

The Bier Brewery and Taproom in Indy will now be open on Wednesdays. Wed-Fri: 3-7pm. Sat: 1-7pm. Sun Noon-4pm.

Random pictures at Oaken Barrel. Mark Havens, John Treeter, and John Caveda bottle. Venting the new Chocolate Marshmallow Porter (that’s a joke).

Tastes:

• Oaken Barrel Nitro Stout – Creamy and less roasty than most.
• Power House Tripel – Yellow with big foamy head. Lots of Belgian banana aroma that continues and adds yeast-bearing characters. 9% but not hot at all without just overlaying the alcohol with sweetness.
• Power House Wee Heavy – Deep black but light malt taste. Mild hoppiness then sweet malt finish that becomes somewhat more complex.

MIT Grad’s Invention Turns Brewery Waste into Fuel Methane from spent grain. Now in use by Magic Hat. Saves $2 per bbl.

German Beer is Hitting Rock Bottom at $1.18 a Six Pack

Misc News – Jan 7

Scott Bort visits Figure Eight Brewing. article Reports Ro Shampo is available in bombers.

Skip DuVall at the Alcatraz is having a name that beer contest. He has a Strong Scotch Ale that will tap in about a month, but need's a name. Winner gets dinner for 2 and bragging rights of course. The name can be "Alcatraz Prison" related or not, but be creative. Send your suggestions to indy@alcatrazbrewing.com.

This year’s Upland Schwarz Black Lager will be out in 6-packs and tap in a couple of weeks.

Head Brewer Mark Snelling tells us Bee Creek Brewery “has taken delivery today of 4 new 7 barrel fermenters and a 15 barrel brite tank.  The new tanks will allow us to increase production and get us up to near 100 barrels per month. If you would like, I could take some pictures tomorrow and send them to you for posting.” Yes, please do.

HBG details This Month In Beer Releases from World Class Beverages. And Jason visits Flat 12 blog

Next Thursday, Darrin Conner at the Bier Brewery and Taproom will have Chocolate Mint Stout back, a Belgian Tripel, and Cold Sweat (20 SCH Kolsch) available. Later, a Bacon Bourbon Stout.

The Ram has $5.99 growler refills all month (except Sundays and seasonals). Andrew’s seasonal plans are to always have a light, a hoppy, and a malty beer available on the chalkboard. Oh, and on Wednesdays, the Fishers location has $1.99 24-oz glasses. Downtown now has a choice of 13, 18, or 24 oz. Had a 13oz Delusion for $4.50. Yike.

The NABC/Schlafly/O’Fallon C2 will be out mid January. It’s a Smoked Belgian Dark Strong Ale. Full recipe

Tastes:

• Bier Brewery and Taproom Winter Porter – Not a spicey kind, just a 6.6% kind. Perfect carbonation.
• BB&T Ol’ Red – Robust American Red at 6.6%. A 140% Red rather than a Double Red. Worthy.
• BB&T Weizenbock – The winner. As thick and as sweet as the BCJP style guidelines allow. 6.7%.  A+ with a Gold Medal prediction.
• Ram Total Disorder Porter – Thicker than it looks, an impression probably reinforced by some graininess (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing).
• Ram Coo Coo for Cocoa Stout – Quite thick with a tan head. Aroma is light chocolate with some roast. Dark chocolate dominates flavor.
• Ram Dry Hopped Delusion IBA (Fishers) – Little if any big dry-hopped aroma. While it has a hoppy finish, it seems less IBU than most IBAs.
• Ram Dry Hopped Delusion IBA (Downtown) – The kegging of DHDIBA for the Fishers location from the serving tank downtown changed this beer a touch so we stopped in downtown to see the difference. Here it still has very little dry-hopped aroma but it certainly has a sharper, more bitter bite immediately and has a longer finish. We prefer this one.

Kahn's third store (downtown Indy) is now open. On Pennsylvania just north of Washington. The old Sam’s Liquors. They swear not to let Steele Reserve become their best selling beer.

The Tavern on South, Indy has revamped their lines to have 6 Indiana beers and 6 more very interesting offerings on tap. Current Tap List (via Gina): Sun King Cream Ale, Cowbell Porter (Just A Little Bit Left), Golden Princess; New Albanian Beaks Best; Peoples Pilsner; Upland Komodo Dragon Black IPA; Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout; Founders Dirty Bastard; Bells Amber; Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen Tripel IPA; New Holland Mad Hatter IPA; Goose Island Mild Winter. Tues & Thurs: all Indiana beers $4. Wed: Most pints are $3.75.

 

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Gnomegang. Brewed in New York, by Achouffe Gnomes? Blonde Ale. 9.5%. Both Ommegang and Achoufre are owned by Duval Moortgat.

Paste Magazine’s 25 best American Breweries (of the decade). DFH, Allagash, Avery, Victory, Founders, Three Floyds, Bell’s, Rogue, SamA, New Belgium, Jolly Pumpkin, Stone, North Coast, Ommegang, Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada, and Great Divide are the ones we get here.

in addition to the 20oz pint (and the occasional 10oz half pint) Brit pubs will soon be able to serve in a 2/3 pint (400 ml pour). They’re making a big deal out of this in the press over there but we don’t think your next vacation to the UK will be ruined. article

Friend of the show, John Holl has an article in next Sunday’s NY Times about visiting breweries. No Indiana breweries but an interesting read. It’s online now.

Beervana’s DMS Awards. (Dismal Malty Substances)

The most aggressive label yet. Collaborative Evil from FiftyFifty in Truckee; Lucky Buckets in La Vista NE; Oakshire Brewing of Eugene, OR; Silver Peak in Reno, Flossmoor Station, Triple Rock in Berkeley, Fatheads in Cleveland, and Brew Kettle in Strongsville, OH. Whew. details

Misc News – Dec 22

It’s time to renew your mug club memberships.

Big Woods Brewing is expanding again. They are going across the street (ok, alley) to put in a new keg washing facility. “Last week, Ed, Jeff, Tim and Dave travelled to the Tall Grass Brewery In Manhattan Kansas and bought their inventory of kegs.  With more kegs and more space to clean and store the empties, we'll be able to brew more often and start to meet the demand for our beer at more locations around the state.”

Tastes:

• Bier Brewery and Taproom Dark German Wheat. Fairly dark. Not overly sweet like many. Yes, it’s the season as shown by the Bier Tree at right.
• Bier Brewery and Taproom Winter Porter. Thick body. Made with star anis and a bunch of other wintery spices but they are quite subtle. 6.5%
• Bier Brewery and Taproom Chocolate Mint. Yep, a chocolate mint stout. Semi-sweet baker’s chocolate and a pound of mint. Again subtle. More subtle than “a pound of mint” would suggest. Got a growler.
• Broad Ripple Brewpub Wee Alec Heavy. Kevin’s malty Scotch Ale returns at 7.7%. Big foamy head through the handpull that lasted through the entire quaff. Potent but not brassy. We wonder if Kevin has a vertical stashed away.

Coming up at Bier: Tripel, Barleywine, Smoked Brown, and variations with wine-barrel oak chips.

Also, according to Jim Herters’ column in Great Lakes Brewing News:

• Back Road. Now Available: No. 9 Barleywine and the corresponding Small Beer. Christmas Ale (a Baltic Porter).
• Barley Island. A Barley Wine in January.
• Crown Brewing. Now on: Winter Warlock (through February). Coming: Industrial Porter. Bourbon barrel aged Grand Poobah Imperial Stout. Batch 100 Black IPA and AlkoholikA Blonde Dopplebock in January.
• Great Crescent Brewery. Now available: Bourbon’s Barrel Stout aged in Maker’s Mark barrels – made expressly for Bourbon’s Bar & Grill in Lawrenceburg. Chocolate Porter in January.
• Half Moon. No on tap: Steel Curtain Stout. 7.0% Scottish. Honey-Rye (7.1%) in January.
• People's Brewing. Ardell Scottish Ale. Small-batch IPA in January.
• Sun King. Imperial Stout in January.

Pelican Brands of Carmel has purchased the Napa Smith Brewery & Winery. Pelican was the exclusive sales agents for Napa Smith before and has taken them into 17 states. article

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) finds that alcohol can’t be absorbed through skin abstract. And that white wine slows down digestion of cheese abstract.

Misc News – Dec 19

Darren sent us this next week’s tap list at the Bier Brewery and Taproom.

On Wednesday December 22nd at 3pm, the Bier Brewery will release four of our newest biers.

Christmas Chocolate Mint Stout - Highly anticipated bier made with Ghiradelli chocolate and organic mint for a nice, balanced blend of holiday happiness.

Problem Child IPA - 2006 Beer Geek Challenge winner Sean Tucker stopped by and helped brew his winning recipe. 7.8% alcohol and 90IBUs.  This bier was never brewed commercially, so here it is, better late than never.

Winter Porter - Robust porter with a touch of Briess cherry-wood smoked malt. Also added was Star Anise, Juniper Berries, and Sweet Orange Peel. The nice thing is that all of these ingredients are blended so well together and balanced to be sure to warm you up on a cold winter night.

Rye Pale - We didn't think we could make our PDG Pale any better, well we did. It was the addition of Rye Malt that did it. It has a nice spiciness that compliments the C hop additions.

We have only about 80 growlers of each of these gems starting on Wednesday at 3pm.  All of these biers will also be featured at the Winterfest this January, these are 4 of the 9 biers we will be taking.

Also, this short week, a little something all over the state:

• Wed 21st: 12 Bell's beers at the Chatham Tap, Downtown Indy. 6pm+
• Wed 21st: Beer tasting. Pikk's Tavern, Valparaiso. 5-6pm
• Thurs 23rd: Rick & Jeff Tours bus pub crawl to Louisville's breweries. $25. 502-807-7531. email
• Thurs 23rd: Bell's Batch 10,000 tapping and Ugly Christmas Sweater party. Chubby Trout, Elkhart. 6pm-midnight
• Thurs 23rd: Beer Tasting. Big Red Liquors, Bloomington. 6-8pm
• Thurs 23rd: Beer Sampling. Chalet Party Shoppe, CR 17, Elkhart. 4-6pm
• Fri 24th: (These are probable since they’re every Friday but not confirmed on this Sunday morning)
• Beer Tasting. Crown Liquors, Downtown Indy. 3-7pm
• Beer Tasting. 21st Amendment, Broad Ripple. 5-7pm
• Beer Tasting. Liquor Locker, Evansville. 4-7pm

Oaken Barrel’s seasonal Epiphany is back on tap. A Belgian Tripel with both sweet and spicey notes.

Flat 12 Bierwerks gets ink in the Indianapolis Business Journal.

“The plan is to produce five beers to offer at bars and package stores and seven beers exclusive to the tasting room. The first round of offerings include a winter seasonal called Glazed Ham, an India Pale Ale called Half Cycle, an Upside Down Blonde, and a porter and amber ale still in search of clever names. Growlers will go for $12 and refills will be $8.”

Bier Brewery and Taproom

5133 E. 65th St. (west of Binford).
At the other end of the building from Great Fermentations.
darren@bierbrewery.com

Fri – Sat: Nominally 3-7pm
Sun: Noon-4pm if there is any beer left from Friday and Saturday.

www.bierbrewery.com

Darren Conner and Ben Starrett have been busy setting up the brewery so don't expect much in tap room decor right now. Darren seems to be following the successful Sun King method of free samples and growler sales late in the week but he has no plans to bottle, can, or sell by the pint.

Opening night they had 7 on tap. The PDG Pale was the first to go but it lasted long enough. Friday and Saturday might see the other 6 disappear but fear not, there's more for next week. Check the website then to see which are on.

Quick notes:

• Special K Kolsch – Krisp. To style.
• German Wheat – Again to style. Mild esters and spices.
• Belgian Blonde – Lots of nuances, big and small.
• PDG Pale – 45 IBU of Citra IPAness.
• Dred Brown – UberRich Southern brown.
• Porter – Smooth robust porter. Just a touch of roast. Fireplace stuff.
• Oat Stout – Exact. Hit it the first time (as if this is the first time Darren has brewed and Oatmeal Stout). A+

First night crowd from 3pm until after 7pm.

Where it all starts.

Other blogs also are talking: BrewIndy

Race to be the next brewery

Thr3e Wise Men on Broad Ripple Avenue is being finished out, insulated, but still a long way to go. The tanks are in but not plumbed.

As you enter (bottom right on the plan), a vestibule/tasting area will be backed by a glass walk-in with 5 bright tanks. Omar looks to have finally escaped the cramped quarters with a 15/30 bbl system in the back.

A bar will becon to the left. Two kitchens (seemingly one for this location and one for advanced prep for all Scotty's houses). The Hoosier Beer Geeks have more pictures and stuff.

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At The Bier Brewery and Taproom, Darren Conner has the pots and kettles in and hopes to be producing fermented beverages before Thanksgiving.

Yep, lots of burners. Lots of Blichman equipment. He'll end up with 8 fermenters and 8 secondaries so we'll be seeing a lot of variety.