Congratulations to Chilly Water Brewing and Foam Blowers of Indiana Home Brew Club!

Each year brewers from around the country with a strong concentration from Indiana compete in the Indiana Brewers' Cup Competition: The Indiana State Fair Home Brew and Professional Brew Competition. This is one of nation’s largest beer competitions, having almost 1,300 total entries, with awards to both Professional Breweries as well as home brewers.

This year in the Pro Brewers awards Chilly Water Brewery of near downtown Indianapolis was awarded both Indiana Brewery of the Year and Grand Championship Brewery. They took the Best of Show brew award for professionals with a Scotch Ale. Chilly Water is the brain child of experienced local brewer Skip Duvall, who has worked at several other local breweries before opening this, his own trendy and hip music-based locale near Fountain Square just over one year ago (June 29, 1914). Dan Krzywicki is head brewer; Congrats to both Skip and Dan! Indianabeer.com caught up with Dan a couple of months ago and had a really interesting Saison as well as a Bird Song Belgian Ale that had nice character from Belgian yeast! Dan told me business was good and they've been quite pleased with the response to the beers! Chilly Water at 719 Virginia Ave #105, (Indianapolis) may be more packed once everyone learns of these awards! For our original story on the Chilly Water Opening CLICK HERE

By our count, looking only at GOLD Medals (first place in each category) Bier brewery had the most at 3 total. Considering TOTAL Medals (Gold, Silver, Bronze) Chilly Water tied with Bier for top count at 6 each.

The Foam Blowers of Indiana Home Brew Club (full disclosure: two of us who blog here are members of the "FBI") came away with Homebrew Club of the Year Award (based on total points) due to so many active and winning home brewing members as well as the Bill Friday Club Award (most points/total entries of the club). Bill Friday was a legendary home brewer and home brew promoter who visited many early clubs and touched many of our lives!

Tim Palmer OF Fishers, IN, a Foam Blowers of Indiana member, won Homebrewer of the year and had the Best of Show for home brew: a Helles Lager.

Our list of Professional Gold Medal winners by category is at the bottom of this posting!

Remember: BEER FESTS

The "Grand-Daddy of all Indiana Beer Festivals" is July 18, with 102 Indiana and Guest breweries pouring! Below is a list and links for some upcoming events!

July 18: Indiana Microbrews Festival - by the Brewers of Indiana Guild, Military Park (new venue), Indianapolis, CLICK HERE FOR INFO

July 25: GNAWBrew, Gnaw Bone, near Nashville, IN, Great time and you can CAMP!! CLICK HERE FOR INFO

August 1: Brew Haven, New Haven, IN, CLICK HERE FOR INFO

August 8: Pints in the Park, Highland, IN, CLICK HERE FOR INFO

Brewers Cup Gold Medals: Professional Breweries

Category 1 Light Lager (10 Entries)
Wolf's Ridge Brewing Columbus Ohio Gold Standard

Category 2 Pilsner (16 Entries)
Sun King Brewery Indianapolis Indiana Popcorn Pilsner

Category 3 European Amber Lager (12 Entries)
Mad Anthony Brewing Company Fort Wayne Indiana Auburn Lager

Category 4 Dark Lager (8 Entries)
Chilly Water Brewing Company Indianapolis Indiana Dark Side of the Munich

Category 5 Bock (11 Entries)
Wolf's Ridge Brewing Columbus Ohio Sustinator

Category 6 Light Hybrid Beer (38 Entries)
Bier Brewery Indianapolis Indiana Special K

Category 7 Amber Hybrid Beer (7 Entries)
Flix Brewhouse - Carmel Carmel Indiana Generation Alt

Category 8 English Pale Ale (14 Entries)
Bier Brewery Indianapolis Indiana ESB

Category 9 Scottish and Irish Ale (17 Entries)
Chilly Water Brewing Company Indianapolis Indiana Dance to the Storm

Category 10 American Ale (46 Entries)
Quaff On Brewing Company Nashville Indiana Trigger Hoppy

Category 11 English Brown Ale (18 Entries)
Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Indianpolis Indiana Bull Dog Brown

Category 12 Porter (22 Entries)
Quaff On Brewing Company Nashville Indiana Busted Toe

Category 13 Stout (28 Entries)
Oaken Barrel Brewing Co. Greenwood Indiana U.S. Stout

Category 14 India Pale Ale (IPA) (55 Entries)
Mission Brewery San Diego California Shipwrecked Double IPA

Category 15 German Wheat and Rye Beer (18 Entries)
Fountain Square Brewery Indianapolis Indiana Hero Hefe Jr.

Category 16 Belgian and French Ale (30 Entries)
Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Indianpolis Indiana Agrarian Queen

Category 17 Sour Ale (17 Entries)
Upland Brewing Co. Bloomington Indiana Paw Paw

Category 18 Belgian Strong Ale (21 Entries)
St. Joseph Brewery and Public House Indianapolis Indiana Benevolent Belgian Blond

Category 19 Strong Ale (10 Entries)
Bier Brewery Indianapolis Indiana Barleywhine

Category 20 Fruit Beer (15 Entries)
Tin Man Brewing Company Evansville Indiana Wired White IPA

Category 21 Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer (24 Entries)
Latitude 42 Brewing co. Portage Michigan Island Fever

Category 22 Smoke-Flavored & Wood-Aged Beer (37 Entries)
Rhinegeist Brewery Cincinnati Ohio Pappy's Ink

Category 23 Specialty Beer (23 Entries)
Bell's Brewery Inc Galesburg Michigan Oarsman

Category Mead (5 Entries)
New Day Craft Mead & Cider Indianapolis Indiana Washington's Folly

Category Cider (6 Entries)
McClure's Orchard/Winery Peru Indiana jerry's cherries

Brewers Cup Winning Homebrew Recipes

Following the completion of this year’s Brewers Cup competition, I thought it would be fun to solicit recipes from some of the winning homebrewers. Reviewing information like this is a great way to gain ideas that inform your own brewing and help you create a unique version of your own award-winning brew. And if you’re not interested in these styles, it’s still pretty cool to see what your fellow colleagues are up to in the brewhouse. But I think you will be interested – we’ve collected everything from session beers to heavy hitters, and a range of styles from relatively popular to obscure and historical. If you have a question for one of the brewers, please leave it in the comments and I will try to draw their attention to your query. And with that, away we go……in order by style category………

 

“Why So Bitter” by Tim Palmer

BJCP Style Category 8A: Standard/Ordinary Bitter

for 5.5 gallons

7.5 lbs. Maris Otter

7 ounces Crystal 120

0.9 ounces East Kent Golding 5.8% Alpha (60 minutes)

0.5 ounces East Kent Golding 5.8% Alpha (30 minutes)

0.5 ounces East Kent Golding 5.8% Alpha (5 minutes)

1 tsp Irish Moss (15 minutes)

0.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient (10 minutes)

1 gram gypsum (add to mash)

1 mL Phosphoric Acid (add to mash)

1 gram gypsum (add to boil kettle)

1 gram CaC12 (add to boil kettle)

Wyeast 1968: London ESB Ale)

Original Gravity: 1.037

IBU: 30

SRM: 9

Boil Time: 60 minutes

Brewing water was comprised of 6 gallons RO water and 6 gallons filtered tap water. Mash in with 10.93 quarts of 164.4 degree water and hold mash at 152 degrees for 1 hour. Fly sparge with 5.96 gallons of 168 degree water. Ferment at 67 degrees for 14 days.

“The Scottish Loveknot” by Nathan Compton

BJCP Style Category 9E: Strong Scotch Ale

for 5.5 gallons

9.5 lbs. Golden Promise malt

4.5 lbs. Maris Otter

1.5 lbs. Munich Light (~9 Lovibond)

6 ounces Crystal 40

4 ounces Chocolate malt

2 ounces Roasted barley

1 ounce Peated malt (optional)

1.5 ounces Fuggle 4.2% Alpha (60 minutes)

0.5 ounces Fuggle 4.2% Alpha (20 minutes)

0.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient (15 minutes)

1 pack Wyeast 1056, 1 pack Wyeast 1728 (1.5 liter starter)

Original Gravity: 1.084

Final Gravity: 1.020

ABV: 8.5%

IBU: 28

SRM: 18

Boil Time: 2 hours

Mash grains at 156 degrees for 1 hour. Collect the first gallon of mash runnings in a small stock pot. While collecting the remaining wort from the mash in your brew kettle, separately boil the first runnings for 30 minutes or until thick and mildly syrupy. Add boiled first runnings back to the brew kettle before beginning the 2 hour full boil. Ferment at 62 degrees for approximately 3 weeks. Transfer to secondary and bulk age for 6-8 weeks, or longer if your carboy space will allow. This beer will benefit from 1-2 years of aging……or longer if you have more patience than I do.

Note: I’ve found that a small peated malt addition adds subtle complexity to this beer. Some will tell you the addition of any smoked malt in a Scottish is inauthentic and therefore “wrong.” So decide for yourself - it’s your beer, make it how you like it! For post-brewing fun, look up the title of this beer if you enjoy adult-oriented cinema.

“Knuckles’ Brown” by Dave and Nate Bordenkecher

BJCP Style Category 10C: American Brown Ale

for 5.0 gallons

9 lbs. 2 Row Pale Malt

1 lb., 4 ounces Victory Malt

8 ounces Crystal 40

5 ounces Crystal 120

4 ounces Chocolate Malt

0.66 ounces Cluster 7% Alpha (60 minutes)

1.0 ounces Mount Hood 6% Alpha (20 minutes)

0.33 ounces Cluster 7% Alpha (15 minutes)

1.0 ounces Mount Hood 6% Alpha (5 minutes)

1.0 ounces Mount Hood 6% Alpha (1 minute)

Wyeast 1272: American Ale II (1 liter starter)

Original Gravity: 1.059

IBU: 35

Boil Time: 60 minutes

Mash in with 15.54 quarts of 162.6 degree water and hold mash at 152 degrees for 1 hour. Batch sparge with 3.44 gallons of 168 degree water. Ferment at 68 degrees.

“Dybbuk” by Jeremy Dunn

BJCP Style Category 18D: Belgian Golden Strong Ale

for 6.0 gallons

11 lbs. Belgian Pilsner Malt

1 pound Munich Light

1 pound White Wheat Malt

4 ounces Acid Malt

2 ounces Caramunich Malt

1 pound Cane (Beet) Sugar

2.0 ounces Sterling 4.5% Alpha (60 minutes)

1.0 ounces Willamette 5.1% Alpha (added at flameout)

Wyeast 3787: Trappist High Gravity

1 pound Golden Candi Syrup (added to fermenter after 2 weeks of primary fermentation)

Original Gravity: 1.072

IBU: 23.8

SRM: 5.2

Boil Time: 90 minutes

This recipe uses a multi-stage step mash. Add 18.72 quarts of 118.7 degree water to hit 112 degree mash temp. Hold at 112 degrees for 20 minute Acid Rest. Heat mash to 136 degrees over 15 minutes. Hold at 136 degrees for 25 minute Protein Rest. Heat mash to 145 degrees over 15 minutes. Hold at 145 degrees for 30 minute Amylase/Maltose Rest. Heat mash to 153 degrees over 10 minutes. Hold at 153 degrees for 15 minute Saccharification rest. Heat to 168 degrees for Mash Out. Ferment at 66 degrees for the first week, allow temp to rise to 72 after a week. Add the Golden Candi Syrup after 2 weeks in primary.

“GTO” by Kyle Vester

BJCP Style Category 21A: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer

Specific Style: Cucumber Kolsch

for 11.0 gallons

17 lbs. Pilsen Malt

1.5 ounces Hallertauer 4.8% Alpha (60 minutes)

1.5 ounces Hallertauer 4.8% Alpha (45 minutes)

White Labs WLP029: German Ale/Kolsch Yeast

1 pound Cucumber per gallon in secondary**

Boil Time: 90 minutes

Mash at 148 degrees with 6 gallons of water. Fly sparge with 10 gallons of water at 170 degrees. Ferment at 62 degrees. If desired, lager for a month or so.

**Notes on the cucumber addition: I used English Cucumber (seedless) and cut the ends off, chopped them up and threw them in. I didn't bother peeling them, however next time I make it I will. I didn't do any freezing or pasteurization of the cucumber. Left in the secondary for 1 week, then transferred to the keg to age.

“Mumms the Word” by Hugh Gardner

BJCP Style Category 23: Specialty Beer

Specific Style: Mumm (historical style)

batch size not specified, but likely 5 gallons

4 lbs. Light Liquid Malt Extract

3 lbs. Wheat Dry Malt Extract

1.5 lbs. Flaked Oats

12 ounces Briess 50/60 L Crystal

4 ounces Chocolate malt

4 ounces Rye malt

4 ounces Black Patent

0.5 ounces Northern Brewer (60 minutes)

1 pound honey

German Wheat Yeast

Herbs and Spices

1 ounce licorice root

2 tbsp juniper berries

0.5 ounce chamomile

0.25 ounce marjoram

0.25 ounce elecampane root

0.5 ounce rose hips

Boil Time: 60 minutes

Add all spices with 30 minutes left in the boil. Add the honey with 10 minutes left in the boil. Chill wort and add German Wheat yeast.

“Goat Holler Amber” by Steve Kent

Brewers Cup Category 99: Indiana Specialty Beer

Specific Style: Kentucky Common

for 5.5 gallons

8.5 lbs. Rahr 2 Row Malt

3 pounds Flaked Corn

1 pound, 2 ounces Muntons Crystal 60

9 ounces Muntons Pale Chocolate

2.45 AAU of Willamette (60 minutes)

4.1 AAU of Palisade (60 minutes)

2.9 AAU of Willamette (20 minutes)

4.9 AAU of Palisade (20 minutes)

Wyeast 2112: California Lager (2 liter starter)

Original Gravity: 1.053

Final Gravity: 1.011

To make the sour mash, take 35% of the grains (approximately 4 lbs, 10 oz) and mash the grains directly in your kettle for an hour at 152 degrees at 1 qt/lb. Cool the mash down to 130 degrees and carefully transfer the mash to a cooler large enough to accommodate it (2 gallons should work). Be careful not to introduce any oxygen at this point because it can spoil the mash.

Style Notes: Kentucky Common is an antiquated style popular in the Louisville area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Since the style originated in bourbon country, it employed a sour mash and a healthy proportion of corn. The resulting beer is crisp, refreshing and mildly tart. The sour mash takes two days. While you are doing it, make a two quart yeast starter to ensure a high enough cell count for pitching. This is an all-grain recipe using thebrew in a bag method. Estimated efficiency is 60%.

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed checking out these recipes! Thanks to Dave and Nate, Hugh, Jeremy, Kyle, Steve, and Tim for sharing their expertise with everyone. Happy brewing!

Indiana Brewers' Cup Awards

In its 16th year, the Indiana Brewers’ Cup is one of the nation’s largest beer competitions featuring home brewers and professional brewers. Nearly 1,300 entries were expertly judged by approximately 120 trained judges with help from dozens of volunteer 'stewards.' The Indiana State Fair, in partnership with the Brewers of Indiana Guild, hosts event. Sponsors include:
- Broad Ripple Brewpub: “Brewer of the Day” to the Best of Show Home Brewer
- Blichmann Enginering: A Boilermaker pot to the Indiana Home Brewer of the Year
- Great Fermentations: A $50 gift certificate to second place home brewers
- Brewers Art Supply: A $25 gift certificate to third place home brewers
- Sun King Brewery: The space, time and energy required to cellar beers prior to the event
- Sugar Creek Hops
- IndianaBeer.com

Entries were received from as far away as California in 2014 while the local Indiana Competition is still intense.

News This Year: Breweries open a relatively short time took home medals. The landscape is changing as Indiana nears 100 breweries and brewers from out of state continue to enter this competition. Two newer breweries in Evansville, IN, walked out with a host of awards! Tin Man Brewing opened in late 2012 and has been fine tuning their operation and their beers. They took a total of 4 medals winning gold for their stout and a spiced beer. Carson's Brewing was on a pilot batch back in Spring 2013 and has had their full commercial brewery opened for less than a year. Former Home Brewer John Mills made the switch to Pro Brewer for Carson's and left with 3 medals!

Perhaps the quickest brewery to win an award is Scarlet Lane, distributing only since May, with their tasting room to open July 20 in McCordsville. The power of female owner Lane who learned beer in Oregon and Head Brewer Chris Knott, formerly of the RAM came through with 3 awards.

Upland swept the last few minutes of the Award Ceremony with Pro Best-Of-Show, Brewery of the Year, and Grand Champion awards (UPLAND TEAM SHOWN AT RIGHT)

Following is our unofficial list of Gold Medal First Place Winners (as noted from announcements at the Saturday reception). Forgive Spelling and attribution of cities based on our notes.

PROFESSIONAL BREWERS CATEGORY: Gold medals

Light Lager: Mad Anthony Brewing, Ft. Wayne, IN
Pilsner: Sun King Brewing, Indianapolis, IN
European Amber: Mad Anthony Brewing, Ft. Wayne
Dark Lager: RAM Brewery, Indianapolis, IN
Bock: Latitude 42 Brewing, Portage, MI
Light Hybrid: Salt Creek Brewery, Bedford, IN
Amber Hybrid: Oaken Barrel Brewing, Greenwood, IN

Scottish & Irish: Indiana City Brewing, Indianapolis, IN
American Ale: Rhinegeist Brewing, Cincinnati, OH
English Brown: Bier Brewery, Indianapolis, IN
Porter: Latitude 42 Brewing, Portage, MI
Stout: Tin Man Brewing, Evansville, IN
IPA: Scarlet Lane Brewing, Indianapolis, IN
German Wheat/Rye: Christian Moerlein Brewing, Cincinnati, OH
Belgian/French Ale: Upland Brewing, Bloomington, IN
Sour: Upland Brewing, Bloomington, IN
Belgian Strong Ale: Bier Brewery, Indianapolis, IN
Strong Ale: Bier Brewery, Indianapolis, IN
Fruit beer: Destihl Brewery, Bloomington, IL
Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer: Tin Man Brewing, Evansville, IN
Smoke Beer: Indiana City Brewing, Indianapolis, IN
Specialty: Hailstorm Brewing, Tinley Park, IL
Indiana Specialty (Corn): Crown Brewing, Crown Point, IN

Shown are pro-brewers Elyse Lane (owner) and Chris Knot (Head Brewer) from one of Indiana's newest Breweries, who are planning to just open their tasting room on July 20. They received 3 medals including gold. They've only distributed since May 2014.

PRO BREWER BEST OF SHOW: VinoSynthRed (collaboration with Indiana's Oliver Winery), Upland Brewing, Bloomington, IN

PRO BREWER OF THE YEAR: Upland Brewing, Bloomington, IN

Grand Champion Pro Brewery: Upland Brewing, Bloomington, IN

HomeBrew Club Foam Blowers of Indiana made a strong showing again with multiple medals taking both major Club awards! Interestingly the Home Brew Best-Of-Show and Home Brewer of the Year went to Louisville based brewer, Evan Brill.

HOME BREWER CATEGORY Gold Medals

Light Lager: Chris Ingerman, Muncie, IN
Pils: Brian Eichhorn, Chicago, IL
European Amber Lager: Evan Brill, Louisville, KY
Dark Lager: Brian & Dean Steuerwald, Indianapolis, IN
Bock: Brian & Dean Steurewald, Indianapolis, IN
Light Hybrid: Jonathan Robinson & Peter Argiris, IL
American Hybrid: Paul Till, Ft. Wayne, IN
English Pale: Tim Palmer, Indianapolis, IN
Scottish & Irish: Russell Bankert
American Ale: Josh, Kent, Eric Bertsch
English Brown: John Gladden, Alameda, CA
Porter: Kevin Paul, Royal Oaks, MI
Stout: Andrew Johnson, Noblesville, IN

IPA: Ryan Mills, Indianapolis,IN
German Wheat/Rye: Bryce Hooper, LaPorte, IN
Belgian/French Ale: Edward Kilroy, Carmel, IN
Sour: Tom Wallbank, Zionsville, IN
Belgian Strong: Jeremy Dunn, Evansville, IN
Strong Ale: Jim Jimerson, Indianapolis, IN
Fruit beer: Brian Spaulding & Kurt Conwell, Ft. Wayne, IN
Spice/Herb/Veg beer: Bill Staashelm, Indianapolis
Smoke/wood aged: Scott Pointon, Crest Hill, IL
Specialty: Hugh Gardner, W. Lafayette, IN
Indiana Specialty (Corn): Steve Kent

SHOWN (right) TOP PIC: Judges busy scoring during the day, including Master Judge Sandy
BOTTOM PIC: Foam Blowers members sitting waiting for the news!
Thanks to Nathan Compton and Bob Ostrander for contributing to this blog.

Home Brewer Best of Show: Evan Brill, Louisville, KY
Brewer's Cup Homebrewer of the Year: Evan Brill, Louisville, KY

Home Brew Club of the Year (most total points): Foam Blowers of Indiana

Bill Friday Home Brew Club Award (most points/total entries of the club) Foam Blowers of Indiana


Bill Friday was a home brewer from West Lafayette, IN, who traveled not only Indiana but to beer events far and wide spreading the connections between people and beer. This writer recalls Bill best for his many buttons he made and sold to make money for the local THC club. Yet, most memorable for me was a visit to Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee right after Bill passed on. Owner and Brewer Russ Klisch asked if I had known Bill. We almost spent more time talking about how much Bill had done for brewing than about Lakefront's beer! Bill had been to Lakefront a few times and since Bill and Russ were both tall guys Bill jokingly started the Tall Brewers Society with Russ as Charter Member. Bill would be too humble to have an award named after him which is likely why it is so fitting.

Remember the rest of the week!

Tuesday July 15 is Indiana Girl's Pint Out's gathering at Mass Ave Pub, 745 Mass Ave, Indy, 6-9 PM with the unveiling of the top three beer cocktails recipes from the GPO contest with samples and available to purchase the drink! The Winning beer-tail will be featured at Mass Ave Pub for the rest of July!

Saturday July 19 is the largest beer festival held in Indiana as nearly 6000 converge on Broad Ripple's Optimist Park for the 19th Annual Indiana Microbrewers Festival with over 350 craft beers from 80+ brewers, mostly Indiana. Tickets are likely still available at Big Red Liquors and online HERE. The main event is 3-7PM and sold out last year. A portion of ticket sales benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

And a shout out to bartenders and servers: HopCat Broad Ripple plans to open August 16, and is now hiring
for all positions with interviews until Aug. 1 (M-F 9-6). Those interested inquire at jobs@hopcat.com

BIG week of Indiana Beer Days in Indianapolis! July 11-19

Today starts the first of more than one week of BIG days for Indiana. BIG can mean Brewers of Indiana Guild as they are heavily involved in many of the truly big events.

Brewer's Cup Competition: The premier beer competition in the Midwest is The Brewer's Cup, which has nearly 1300 entrees from both Professional brewers and home brewers. Approximately 120 trained beer judges will assemble at the Indiana State Fair Grounds for the weekend starting tonight (July 11) for the first round of judging. Judging continues all day Saturday. The big announcement of winners comes Saturday night at the closed reception for brewers and judges (6-8PM). We will have the unofficial (meaning we wrote them down from the announcements) list of top winners on this blog by Monday. This year two new awards have been added. The Bill Friday Homebrew Club award for the club with the best winning percentage and the Grand Champion Brewer award for the pro brewer that earns the most points in the competition.

Saturday July 12 is the 19 mile Tour De Biere starting at 67th and Cornell at 10:00 AM down the Monon Trail and beyond to Fountain Square brewery, Flat12 Bierworks, Triton's Tap, and for those who want to head north back beyond Broad Ripple, Union Brewing in Carmel. map here

Sunday July 13 is the Broad Ripple Brew Pub's 2014 Hoods and Hops antique, classic, and custom car show with $5 entry fee for cars but free for browsers. Noon to 5:00PM.

Tuesday July 15 is Indiana Girl's Pint Out's gathering at Mass Ave Pub, 745 Mass Ave, Indy, 6-9 PM with the unveiling of the top three beer cocktails recipes from the GPO contest with samples and available to purchase the drink! The Winning beer-tail will be featured at Mass Ave Pub for the rest of July!

Saturday July 19 is the largest beer festival held in Indiana as nearly 6000 converge on Broad Ripple's Optimist Park for the 19th Annual Indiana Microbrewers Festival with over 350 craft beers from 80+ brewers, mostly Indiana. Tickets are likely still available at Big Red Liquors and online HERE. The main event is 3-7PM and sold out last year. A portion of ticket sales benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

And a shout out to bartenders and servers: HopCat Broad Ripple plans to open August 16, and is now hiring
for all positions with interviews until Aug. 1 (M-F 9-6). Those interested inquire at jobs@hopcat.com

We hope to see you out at one or more events!

Cheers! GregKitz

Thr3e Wise Men Brewers offer seasonal hits, hand-pull specials!.......Broad Ripple Brew pub passes 2500th batch!

Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Co., with restaurant brewery in Broad Ripple and with beer flowing in Scotty's BrewHouse restaurants around Indiana, has one of Indiana's more experienced professional brewers. Omar Castrellon was a backbone of the downtown Indy brewing scene for 8 years at the former Alcatraz brewery. He now has clearly shown Indiana what he and great brew staff like Keely Thomlinson can do in quality and award winning beers since moving to Thr3e Wise Men. If we can count and drink beer, Thr3e Wise Men won five awards at the Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup in 2013.
We visited Thr3e Wise Men on a couple of different afternoons over the past few weeks chatting with Omar briefly each time. You can take a quick brewery tour with Omar using the YouTube Video below (courtesy of Scotty's/Thr3e Wise Men & YouTube)




The Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Co. keeps a beer on a hand pull and a few weeks ago we found the 4 bean vanilla porter on the pull. It delivered complex vanilla with a lot of sweetness in a nice porter, perfect delivered this way. The next time we visited we found an American Wheat with Lemongrass to be a delightful beer without what I call the grain taste of some wheats but a nice 'spice.' Lemongrass delivers flavor of lemon without the bitterness. Other Seasonals Tasty Waves California common was the July seasonal still available in September with wonderful malt and caramel characteristics coming in at 5.5% alcohol and 38 ibu for a nice little bitterness at the end.

The September seasonal is the Antonius 1742 Oktoberfest – a 2013 Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup Gold Medal winner. We had a sample and found it a very solid beer. If you can find fresh Oktoberfest on tap at a Scotty's near you or at the Brewing Co. restaurant in Broad Ripple treat yourself.

As for the regular pours, the Bulldog Brown has become one of my favorites as I believe the crystal and kiln coffee malt shine through for a nice rich but not overpowering flavor. As a silver medalist at the 2013 Brewers Cup it is apparent others love this beer, too! We have written about the Two Lucy's Blackberry Wheat from beer fests before, but as usual we had not focused on the blonde, beer that is. The blond offering at some brew pubs is a light beer designed to satisfy the yellow-fizzy corporate beer drinker in search of FizzyLite. This Thr3e Wise Men Snow Bunny Blonde is a delicious beer with a lot of flavor provided by the German spalter hops, giving it 16 ibu but a lot of taste . The Rocky Ripple Pale is a solid offering which we chose as the beer to walk around the grounds of the Penrod Arts Fair a couple of weeks ago (See Story Here) If you love hops, the Centennial Martyr Double IPA with 98 ibu will likely be your choice.


Upcoming seasonal beer from Thr3e Wise Men are: October: Milk Stout, November: Dopplebock .......... ..... . (Shown: Oktoberfest, Cali-Common, Am. Wheat)

Thr3e Wise Men Brewing, 1021 Broad Ripple Avenue, Indianapolis, Open daily for lunch and dinner at 11AM


BROAD RIPPLE BREW PUB PASSES 2500th BATCH!

Ask anyone who knows the Indy beer scene about the earliest brew pubs and they will point you to Broad Ripple Brew Pub. We caught up with current BRBP Head Brewer, John Treeter along with author Rita Kohn, the day after this monumental brew day. Kohn, has just released her latest book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beer Tasting

This #2500 new beer which should be coming into the tapped line-up within a few weeks is a double IPA. The beer should have a lot of citrus dimensions.

Treeter shared a Tart Lizzie, a very flavorful and only slightly sour fruit beer that was almost palate cleansing. The Tin Lizzie was an homage to the current Queen Elizabeth of England of which we think she would be proud. This not-quite-puckering offering was brewed with the assistance of nearby Brugge Brasserie owner, Ted Miller, who has sour beer expertise for Brugge.

That has since been replaced on tap with a very smooth Scottish on Nitro! This low alcohol beer gives you a nice smooth session beer at 4%! You will also find their crisp Oktoberfest lager style for the season.

The Pub, as it is affectionately known by locals, ties into local events and will be having a Tales & Ales event September 26, 6-9 PM where patrons meet local dogs rescued from animal control and ready for adoption.

Broad Ripple Brew Pub, 842 E. 65th, Indianapolis, Sunday Noon-10PM, M-S 11-12midnight


Cheers! GregKitz

Behind the Scenes at Indiana Brewers Cup

For the 2013 version of the ever-popular Indiana Brewers Cup, a collection of brave souls came together to tackle the challenge of judging nearly 1300 homebrewed and professional beers in a span of 24 hours. As we adjust to steady growth in popularity, a few new changes were in effect this year. This was the first year an entry cap was in place with a limit of 900 homebrews and 400 commercial entries. While we did not actually hit the cap (despite what the registration system apparently told people at times), I believe the final tally brought us to around 880 homebrew and 370 professional entries. This still made it easily the largest Brewers Cup field yet with about 120 more homebrew entries. Second, there was a change in the way Brewery of the Year was determined on the professional side. Similar to the GABF competition, breweries were still free to enter as many beers as they wished but only 12 entries (of the brewery’s choice in advance) counted toward the points for Brewery of the Year. I thought this was a very positive change and ensured that everyone was on a level playing field regardless of brewery size, business model, etc.

I serve as the Chief Steward for this event, which basically involves a lot of bottle wrangling and checking paperwork since we attract so many repeat stewards who do an excellent job of working independently. There were a few hiccups along the way that test your ability to adjust on the fly. You don’t expect printer incompatibility issues in 2013. You don’t expect a last minute trailer cooler replacement that doesn’t have any source of light (see pic of Dave Lemen below). But once things were off the ground, everything went fairly smooth. I can’t say thank you enough to the community of organizers, judges, and stewards who pull this off every year. You don’t want to hear me whine about how much work is involved, but those who have been involved in the process understand that it’s no small task. So without further adieu, here are some highlights (or lowlights) captured in photos from Saturday followed by observations and insights on beer competitions and judging.

Upland Brewing is already well known for their sours which have earned Best in Show professional the past two years. So while it wasn’t a major surprise to see Caleb accept the award for the third straight year, it might be considered a bit of an upset that the winning beer was Helios Pale Ale. Sun King took home their first Brewery of the Year award in a very competitive race thanks to the new format. We had some unexpected national entries from breweries I’d never heard of including Blackberry Farm (Tennessee), Galveston Island (Texas), and Pateros Creek (Colorado). Besides strong performances from Sun King and Upland; perennial contenders Bier Brewery, Crown Brewing, and Oaken Barrel had another good year. Side note: If you’re in central Indiana and have never had a chance to try Crown’s beer, make it a point to do so at the Microbrewers Festival. You won’t be sorry.

On the homebrew side we had winners from brewers in states including Colorado, Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia (let’s just call them interlopers); but the Indiana brewers scored well again with a lot of different winners. Strong performances were turned in by consistently good brewers like Tom Wallbank, Chris Ingermann, and Brian Spaulding; while a few newcomers scored multiple wins as well. And some hack managed to work the name Poppi Rocketts into the list….which is awesome. While I should check my biases at the door, it was great to see my friend and occasional brewing collaborator Tim Palmer take this year’s Best in Show and Homebrewer of the Year awards. Make a big deal out of it if you see Tim, it will embarrass the hell out of him!

If you have not checked out the full results yet, they are now available here.

A few comments on the future of Indiana Brewers Cup and other homebrew competitions. The hobby of homebrewing has exploded in popularity and the number of brewers interested in entering competitions has followed suit. This creates a dilemma for competition organizers when the number of certified judges does not keep pace. This was particularly exemplified in this year’s National Homebrew Competition (NHC), the classic example of a no-win situation for the American Homebrewers Association. Despite taking the unprecedented step of limiting individual entries for the first time in history, demand for this competition created an insane rush of entries when registration opened. Aided by some system issues, this created a very frustrating experience for many would-be entrants. I’ve heard a variety of solutions for this, and none of them are perfect (before guaranteeing one entry per AHA member, consider there are still 40,000 members).

Some of the more popular competitions are going to have to decide how to balance allowing the maximum number of entries/participants with the quality of judging entrants will (and should) expect. NHC Regional sites cannot just accept an unlimited number of entries and ensure they will be judged by BJCP judges, nor can additional sites just be thrown together and staffed entirely by volunteers within a month. To handle the record number of entries, the Brewers Cup had to accept novice judges this year. Don’t take that the wrong way, our novice judges did a great job. But I know you homebrewers (I am you). If you get an unfavorable scoresheet from a novice judge, what’s your first thought going to be? What the heck is my point? Good question. 1) Expect to see more caps and various entry restrictions at larger competitions in the future. Try to understand that it just comes with the explosive growth of this hobby, and nobody intends it as a personal affront to you or your sure-fire winners. 2) If you want to help out, please consider working on your BJCP judge certification. You can find some info about exams here and Ron Smith’s Beer MBA class is a great place to start your studies if you’re local to central Indiana. 3) The good news is you can find a growing number of smaller competitions springing up in our region. These comps are often staffed by a large proportion of BJCP judges and you can receive excellent feedback if that is your main objective. You can find a list of upcoming competitions on the AHA calendar.

Cheers, Nathan

The following is commentary on beer judging from IB’s Greg Kitzmiller who served as a judge at the Indiana Brewers Cup……..

The Brewer's Cup, of the Indiana State Fair, has not only grown bigger each year but also grown better each year. Despite minor flaws, of the competitions I do or have judged this is truly one of the best organized and professional. What makes it solid? Judges are lined up well in advance; judges’ expertise are carefully considered. And if you are a home brewer (me too) you will be glad to know that while Nathan correctly reports novice judges had to be recruited still all beers are judged by judging teams and novices are paired with experienced judges. Another plus is that judges know in advance what styles they will be judging. While I often suspect what styles I will judge, knowing a couple of days in advance gives me a chance to pull some of the best examples of those beers, find some on draught, and read the style guidelines as I drink these examples. Yes, this year I literally opened more than one bottle, drank about 5 oz. and then eventually poured that out so I could focus my palate on another example -- all in the pursuit of giving that brewer the best advantage or the best attempt at judging their beer against some of the best.

The Brewer's Cup also draws some of the best judging talent in the Midwest. The top judges for the Kentucky State Fair or the Ohio State Fair and other major contests are here judging this one. I know judges come from all over the Midwest and I have judged with or enjoyed the company of many from Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and more. Beyond just judges many of the stewards handling the beer, checking the temperature, pulling the bottles, pouring the beer into pitchers for professional categories are brewers and/or have done this many times before. Anita Johnson did an excellent job of inspiring so many for this competition and Mike Freeman, Nathan Compton, Tom Stilabower, and many others have done a great job of making this professional.

Many of you know what it is like to judge. But yesterday I was asked, "how you judge beer without being biased by what you like." There are two forms of answer. First, all BJCP trained judges are taught to carefully evaluate a beer. We don't have to love a particular attribute of a beer, but we should be able to recognize the attribute. Judges should recognize how the tongue perceives sweet, salty, sour, umami, and bitter. (In 2012 researchers at Washington University identified that the tongue also perceives fat, but that does not add to beer judging!) Thus, following carefully constructed guidelines for each style of beer, a judge can recognize and comment on distinct aspect of aroma, appearance, flavor and mouthfeel of a beer as well as general characteristics. The second aspect is that most of us volunteer to judge beers that we do appreciate often - although many experienced judges can and will judge any style and have learned to appreciate (perhaps not 'love') every style. For example, I am somewhat of a self described 'nerd' so when I am drinking a beer socially there are times that I pull out the style guidelines (or just remember them) and mentally judge that beer against those -- a bit like 'training' in any other setting. For the brewer entering his or her beer it means someone has gone to great extent to evaluate that beer carefully against a strict set of guidelines and with an experienced beer palate and beer knowledge.

What are some other downsides to beer competitions? First, on the plus side many if not most of the professional beers winning medals this year appear to be beers that you or I could actually have purchased from the brewery or at the brewpub. Yet, that is not always so. Commercial brewers are allowed to brew small batches for entry which means (and seems to happen with GABF) the beer that wins is not necessarily consumed by the masses drinking that brewers beers. Kudos to Indiana Breweries that received Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals for beers that we can find on the shelves or at their tapping room! Reviewing the list of winners it is clear if most, maybe all, were commercially available. Yet there is one other 'wrinkle.' Obviously if you were entering a car competition you would polish your car and if you drove to the competition you might spruce up that car a lot before judging. Likewise, brewers certainly bottle the beers at what they believe will be the ideal condition for judging in July. So I have actually judged beer where certainly I did not know what brewery it was from, but the score was so high (and I was judging with one of the top judges in the U.S.) that it became clear the beer I judged was a medal winner in that category. Some weeks later I happened to visit that brewery's retail facility (I am masking this to hide the brewery and will only reveal that it was in Indiana but not my hometown). It was clear to me, as well as to my table of experienced beer lovers, that the beer we were drinking that particular day was not the best that brewery had put out. Since then I've had many fine beers from that brewery. But a medal does not completely guarantee that the beer in your glass later is the same beer the judge tasted. Just as true of homebrewers of course. So take heart, if your score was low remember if the first line judges got a bottle that was not the best example for you, that score reflects that bottle. Even then, I have asked to pull and have often seen this when there is oxidation perceived, the 2nd bottle just to give that brewer a chance in case the one bottle suffered.

So for my friends that think beer judging must be the BEST possible hobby, I'd like to share with them some beers I've judged for which I really wished I did not have to take another swallow! On the other hand, given a choice I think I am very glad I get to judge beer and my hat is off to the swine judges! I'll stick with beer.

And the Winners Are.... Brewers' Cup competition news!

The Brewers' Cup of the Indiana State Fair has become one of the largest beer competition in the country and this year accepted nearly 900 entries from home-brewers and 400 entries from professional breweries. With judging July 12-13, this competition had its annual awards celebration last night, July 13 at the Indiana State Fair grounds.

Brewers in both the home-brew and professional categories won from as far away as Texas! Even though this event is proudly sponsored by and featured within the Indiana State Fair we are quite pleased that it has become a national competition. Three of our indianabeer.com bloggers have been busy at work with Nathan Compton, webmaster, an event organizer while I, Greg Kitzmiller, judged for the 6th or 7th year and Jake Keefer was kept busy judging this year also. A quick comment: I've judged for the Kentucky State Fair and the Ohio State Fair and while nice competitions, neither are near as big the Brewer's Cup.

You will find major blogs here including photos during this next week with in depth coverage. However, here is a(n) (Unofficial- based on my notes) list of winners from this years Brewers' Cup.

TOP AWARDS:

Professional Brewery of the Year: SunKing Brewery, Indianapolis, IN

Professional Best of Show Beer: Upland Brewery, Bloomington, IN

Home Brew Brewer of the Year: Tim Palmer, Foam Blowers of Indiana Club

Best of Show, Home Brewer: Tim Palmer, Indianapolis (FBI)

Homebrew Club of the Year: Foam Blowers of Indiana


Special Mention for indianabeer.com: our own Nathan Compton, homebrewer, beer officianado, and our webmaster/blogger won 3 awards

The GOLD (1st place) Awards by Category;

Professional Brewers:

Light Lager: Brickstone Brewery, Bourbonnaise, IL, 557 Light Lager

Pilsner: Bells Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI, Lager of the Lakes

European Ambers: Thr3e Wisemen Brewery, Indianapolis, IN

Dark Lager: Upland Brewery, Bloomington, IN, Schwartz Bier

Bock: SunKing Brewery, Indianapolis, IN, Maibock

Light Hybrid: Twisted Crew Brewery, Seymour, IN, Red Rye

Amber Hybrid: G'Town, Galveston, TX

English Pale: Upland Brewery, Bloomington, IN, Helios Pale

Scottish and Irish: Half Moon Brewery, Kokomo, IN, Stoplight City Red

American Ale: Triton Brewing, Indianapolis, IN, 4-barrel Brown

English Brown: SunKing Brewing, Indianapolis, IN, Wee Mac

Porter: Bier Brewery, Indianapolis, IN, Dread Brown

Stout: Crown Brewing, Crown Point, IN, Celtic Pride

IPA: Bloomington Brewing Company, Bloomington, IN, Rooftop IPA

German Wheat and Rye: Oaken Barrel Brewing, Greenwood, IN, King Rudi Hefe

Belgian and French: Oaken Barrel Brewing, Greenwood, IN, Alabaster Wit

Sour: SunKing Brewing Company, Indianapolis, IN, Stupid Sexy Flanders

Belgian Strong: Sunking Brewing Company, Indianapolis, IN, Velvet Fog

Strong Ale: Crown Brewing Company, Crown Point, IN, Squatch

Fruit Beer: Lakefront Brewing Company, Milwaukee, WI, #22

Spice/herb/vegetable beer: RAM Brewery, Indianapolis, IN, Anaheim IPA

Smoke beer: RAM Brewery, Indianapolis, IN, Barrel Aged Final Countdown

Specialty Beer: Upland Brewing Company, Bloomington, IN, Rye So Serious

HOMEBREW: MY APOLOGIES in advance for completely messing up some names!

Light Lager: Chris Ingerman

Pilsner: Tim Palmer

European Ambers: Tom Wallbank

Dark Lager: Tim Palmer

Bock: Charlie Milan

Light Hybrid: Jeff Jennings

Amber Hybrid: David Bordenkecher

English Pale: Brian Spalding

Scottish and Irish: Tim Palmer

American Ale: Brian Pickerell

English Brown: Lloyd Chatham

Porter: Brent Johnson

Stout: Brian Imbrusia

IPA: Brady Smith

German Wheat and Rye: Keith & Pam Bradley

Belgian and French: Dwayne DeLaney

Sour: Tom Wallbank

Belgian Strong: Ken Shannon

Strong Ale: Tom Wallbank

Fruit Beer: Alex Robertson

Spice/herb/vegetable beer: Brian Imbrusia

Smoke beer: David Murz

Specialty Beer: Lee Frisk



Note: Corrections and editorial content will be published later this week!

Beers, Cheers, and Sneers – August 23

It’s time for Lafayette to join the summer beer festival carnival with Saturday’s Beers Across the Wabash. Mother Nature is even bringing back 90-degree temps for the occasion. But it should be a fantastic day, and if you miss out you’ll just have to rely on our review and that would be a shame. In case you missed the comment earlier this week, here is an update from Josh at Flat 12: Just a heads up. Flat 12, Sunking, and People's will be taking over the taps at The Black Sparrow immediately following the festival. We did it with people's after TAPs this spring and it was a blast so with the addition of SK it will only be an even bigger party. For those that don't know Lafayette is my home town so we pulled some special stuff out of the cellar. Look forward to seeing everyone there!

Speaking of reviews, I’m going to start trying to throw a few beer reviews in here when it seems relevant. This week I picked up the Sierra Nevada Best of Beer Camp variety pack to try the Imperial Red Ale (developed by Muncie’s Stan Stephens and Bob Cox). The aroma is dominated by citrus hop character with the type of fresh quality that can be difficult to find in bottled beer that has been sitting around a liquor store. Nice, but doesn’t reveal the complexity of the flavor ahead. The first taste smacks you in the face with an assertive bitterness that is followed by a wonderfully complex blend of caramel and raisin from the malt and heavy grapefruit with hints of pineapple, peach, and mango from the hops. The finish is dry with a lingering bitterness and slight alcohol warming. 

Overall, I would prefer to have the bitterness toned down but this was still a very enjoyable beer. Among the other varieties, the Imperial Pilsner was very good (quite flavorful but possibly one of the smallest commercial “Imperial” beers at 5.6%). The Oatmeal Stout shows promise and would probably benefit from some aging – at a mere 9% ABV it apparently didn’t qualify for Imperial status. The Floral IPA brewed with rose hips and petals had a mild perfume character that wasn’t really my thing, but maybe I need another to get used to it.

From Anita Johnson of Great Fermentations and the Indiana Brewers Cup: The Broad Ripple Brewpub has a standing agreement with the Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup to do a collaboration with the home brew Best of Show (BOS) winner. The collaboration with the 2011 BOS winner, Chris Ingermann, with his Vienna lager will be tapped this Saturday, August 25th at 3 PM. Stop by and support the Brewpub, the Brewers Cup and Chris Ingermann by having a pint.

Gravity Head at New Albanian is still six months away on February 22nd, but the list of festival-eligible kegs is already taking shape. Five vintages of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, six massive brews from Great Divide, three varieties of JW Lees Harvest Ale, and many more. Hopefully the Mayan calendar is a few months off.

In a sign of the current times, Ball Corp. is closing two can plants in response to slowing global demand for 12-ounce cans. The company will focus more on specialty beverage can packaging, such as the Alumni-Tek bottles that were recently used for the Sun King/Oskar Blues Chaka and have been promoted by Coors Light.

Some good news on the apple forecast from the latest USDA Crop Report: A slight increase in production from Washington, the largest producer in the country, helps to limit the drop in overall production to 15% despite catastrophic forecasts from Michigan and New York. Also of note, forecasted hop production is down 5% while barley production is up a whopping 42%!

Our crazy homebrewing community has put a little steam behind an online petition for the release of the White House’s suddenly infamous Honey Ale recipe (thanks to Jason Mundy for the heads up). The petition has gained over 3000 signatures in five days, but must reach 25,000 by September 17th to receive an official response. You can sign the petition and view the current status here. You will need a whitehouse.gov account to sign the petition, which probably subjects you to yet another avenue for the government to monitor your activities. What, me paranoid?

A few random notes that almost assuredly might interest only me. Beer name of the week - Nebraska Brewing Company is releasing an IPA called Romancing the Cone. I stumbled across another blog that is dedicated to covering three things: Punk, Beer, and Tacos! It’s such a wonderful feeling to finally locate my long lost brother……*sniff*

The battle to bring fictional Duff Beer to the masses continues. Two Colombian businessmen have been producing a beer using connected “f”s so they could claim the beer’s name was actually “DuH” when Rupert Murdoch’s minions came calling. Amazingly, the 20th Century Fox legal team was not fooled and the Colombian government shut down production, distribution, and sales of the beer. The brewers have vowed to defend their right to rip off cartoon products with Hagar the Horrible's frothy mug next on the agenda. Anyone else remember growing up with a strange attraction to Hagar’s daughter Honi? Yeah, nevermind…….

Cheers, Nathan

More Indiana Berwers Cup Photos

All I have to add is more pictures. Clicking on them should return a bigger picture.

 

Panorama of Judging tables

 

The Powers that Be

Anita, Tom, who's running Great Fermentations?
You're not supposed to notice spelling

 

Judging of Homebrew Best of Show (Pro BoS in back)

 

Some of the Stewards that made it happen.

 

Caleb served a selection of Upland's Sours.

Got a line-up worthy of the Microbrewers' Festival

 

Shawn Kaus - Best of Show, Homebrew

You can homebrew too - get a kit and some lessons at your local store.

There's a map on our web site.

  

 

Tom Wallbank won Homebrewer of the Year.

And got a Blichmann Pot

Bier Brewery won Brewery of the Year.

There were medals enough to go around.

The Foam Blowers of Indiana, based out of Indy,

won Homebrew Club of the Year (based on ribbon counts).

MONK, based out of the Tuxedo Park homebrew store wasn't far behind.

Indiana Brewers’ Cup Photos

Well, it appears I am the loser in our internal race to bring you the highlights of this weekend’s Brewers’ Cup competition. So I’ll ask you to check out Greg’s summary of winners in the next blog post or by clicking here. The only additional item I have to add is that the Homebrew Club of the Year went to the Foam Blowers of Indiana - led by Homebrewer of the Year Tom Wallbank.

Worth noting on the professional side is that Upland Brewing has earned back-to-back Best of Show awards with their Persimmon Lambic in 2011 and Flanders Red (commercially known as Gligamesh) this year. It is also the second consecutive Brewery of the Year award for Bier Brewery.

Since I had the opportunity to work with the wonderful Brewers’ Cup staff this year, I was able to snap a few pictures that hopefully will give you an interesting “behind-the-scenes” look at a competition of this scale.

The full results including all homebrew and professional award winners will be posted at the Brewers' Cup website in the near future. Congrats to all of the winners for taking home awards in a very difficult competition! And a big thanks to the staff, judges, and stewards who work very hard to make a competition of this size run so smoothly.

Cheers, Nathan