20th Annual Indiana Microbrewer's Festival

The sun was shining, the temperatures were rising, and it was time to drink some great beer at the 20th Annual Indiana Microbrewer’s Festival.

I haven’t been to the festival as a sampler for a while, usually my roll is behind the scenes, volunteering, but since this year it landed on a concert date I went to have some pre-concert beer and to take pictures and chat with fellow beer lovers.

This year was the first year that the festival moved from it’s quaint space in Opti Park by the Indianapolis Art Center to all the way downtown to Military Park. I know there were a lot of objects to this move, however I felt that it was actually a really great idea. With the growth that Indiana is having with all the breweries plus the growth of nearby states and out craft buddies wanting to join us in this big beer celebration, the festival needed a new venue.

I thought Military Park was spacious. The tents didn’t overcrowd each other, the lines moved fast. Granted I was in Early Bird beer drinker, but even when the floodgates opened it still went by quickly.  With an admission amount 8,000 beer drinkers, the venue held its own. Only downfall is due overuse of the venue there were worn  grassy areas turned to mud, and the rainy weather we have experience, many places had boards and cardboard to help.

But that isn’t beer related.

We talk about about beer here.

And sometimes food. Which speaking of - Kudos to the Brewer’s Guild for a really good mixed selection of food trucks and having some great merchandise vendors

On to the beer!

I had to be smart with my beer choices. Because there were at least a thousand different beers that I could try.  I actually used a little bit of Greg’s pre festival advice when it came to trying beers at the festival.

1. Go for the firkin tent
2. Try new breweries you can’t travel to
3. Go to your favorites
4. Don’t drink house beers you can get anytime

That was my strategy.  I knew going on though, that I would be stopping by for sure at the Bare Hands Brewery table. They have slowly become a favorite for mine and not surprising a favorite for a lot of others.  Since I am already talking about them I will start with what I had there. I actually only had two of the impressive list on tap. On a flashback note, I was happy that they brought so many different beer choices just like they did at Winterfest.

As I was waiting for Bare Hands, an enthusiastic drinker next to me suggested the Thai Peanut. The notes under the description made it sounds like a liquid alcoholic Pad Thai and when I took that first scent under my nose  - smelling that delicious light peanut aroma waft up, and then that drink which was lightly peanuty that melted away into a tender spice i had to agree that it was light a beer version of Pad Thai.  After Thai Peanut I tried their beer called Corn Dog. - A mix of corn, smoky pecan malts, ghost pepper, scorpion peppers and chipotle peppers.  It was a slow build of heat but it hit you. The smoke flavor was first but that fire came through and it was really well balanced. I absolutely loved Corn Dog.

Bare Hands wasn’t the only brewery out there and certainly wasn’t the first to incorporate insanely hot peppers in their brews. I’m happy that there was a significant increase this year of beers with peppers.  Would it be hipster to say I liked spicy beer before it became cool? Yeah, I went there.

Let’s continue down the spicy route.  I popped by Burn ‘Em Brewing. I remembered their crazy ways at Winterfest with their very yummy Red Velvet Stout.  I had at their booth the Hail Saison. A black saison with a little zing of spice. Compared to Corn Dog, nothing else was significantly as spicy, but it was still great to drink.  The firkin tent had a few spicy beers. Bloomington Brewing Co tried a hand with their Jalapeno Lemon Kolsch, but where the spice was in the nose, it did not follow through at the taste.   My second favorite though came out of that tent with Iechyd Da’s Revolution IPA with lime and habaneros. The lime hit you right up front and then the habanero heat happily danced behind. It was a very significant taste change which was replicated every taste. I thought that was so brilliantly brewed.  I rounded up my spicy taste with my retired favorite of Zwanzigs Ghost Pepper Infused Imperial Stout.. Still good, but Zwanzigs will have to ramp it up to compare to this new generation of spicy beers.

Now comes the new guys -  I tried Central Brewing Co’s - House Noyau, which was delicious.  I’m glad to see Josh Hambright coming out and brewing for himself.  St. Joesph had a solid kolsch.  After having a lot of crazy beers, I’ve gone back to appreciating a simple, solid good beer.

Headed over to Function Brewing and tried Divergent because it was suppose to have lemon and ginger in which is close to a saison I am hoping to brew. I wish it had a little bit of more ginger in the taste.  I hit up a few more newbies, but couldn’t recall anything special about them but was glad to give them a shot and hope to see more of what they can bring to future festivals.

Another highlight was the HopCat tent. Sampled “ Smell’s Like Grahamma’s Tarts”, which was really neat having it randalized through sour lemon heads. I also tried my first radler at that tent. A collaboration with Oaken Barrell and Chilly Water. It was like alcohol Sprite but I loved it as a great light summer beer.

So much positive writing about so much creativity in beer, but I feel like I should comment that sometimes too much in a beer really is too much. I tried one beer, and I’m not going to call out the brewery but I will say some of the ingredients. Sea Salt. Chamomile. Raspberries???? I took one sip and actually did not swallow it. I’ve never done that with a beer. I’ve pour out beers after a sip but never spit it out.  I think it was just a case of too much, is really too much.

Overall, great time. Great event. Wish the Brewer’s Guild could control the weather and cool it down a bit.  I look forward to the 21st festival and in the mean time to fulfill any festival desires, I could always pop down to Gnawbrew this Saturday!

Hope you all had a great time at the festival. Shout out your favorite beers! Share you pictures to our page.

We want to know how you enjoyed the 20th annual festival.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Kathleen

Indiana Brewers Gather, Share, Learn + Local Beer Fests tix on sale

There was excitement all around as the Brewers of Indiana Guild web page here (nearly all professional breweries in Indiana) met for the annual business meeting and held their first ever Craft Brewers Conference with over 200 in attendance this past weekend. There are over 100 breweries in Indiana, and more plan to open in the next few months! While the same strategies may not prevail whether in largest breweries in the state (from Three Floyds, to Sun King, to Upland, or Flat 12) down to the nano-brewery, the same overall trends affect all. Craft beer, which is best identified as from smaller breweries (less like beer factories) in small batches with much flavor, variety, and is likely local, is booming of course.

Mega-brands like Bud, Bud Light, and Miller Lite are declining, while still mega with huge volume. The mega-brewers (Belgian owned ABInbev and SABMiller with the SA standing for South African Brewing) meanwhile buy up local brands like Oregon based 10 Barrel Brewing, Seattle's Elysian (once known for a tag line 'corporate beer still sucks') and New York based Blue Point Brewing -- all 3 now ABInbev purchases. This has not affected Indiana's brewers (should we add, "Yet?"). Knowing the major local brewers in this state they are not about to allow their beer to become part of mega.

It was an honor to be a presenter or "Faculty Member" along with such known authors as Jim Palmer (How To Brew; Water: a comprehensive guide) and Stan Hieronymus (Brewing with Wheat; Brew like a Monk), as well as Ron Smith of BeerMBA, and many others. Brewers at the Conference had confirmation from Stan that, IPA is the style that is growing the fastest. In fact, in answer to an oft heard question, 'what is the next IPA?', Stan suggests, "IPA is the next IPA." Data showing sales of packaged goods through supermarkets, drug stores, and other big outlets shows IPA is the biggest single craft beer style and had the most growth in the past year. This trend is boosted by introduction of a number of new IPA products from major breweries (example Rebel IPA from Sam Adams), not just local craft. The IPA style represents nearly 1/4 of all craft beer according to research firm IRI, and grew at about 50% last year.

Indiana's breweries heard sessions on history, hops, yeast, water, beer quality, safety, and business topics such as hiring, managing a restaurant, trademarks, legal issues, and marketing. Greg Emig, owner of Lafayette Brewing Company as President of the Brewers Guild of Indiana welcomed all to the conference - and also served up a wonderful Belgian stout with Madagascar vanilla and star anise which delivered a bold and spicy flavor after hours.

Perhaps one of the biggest advantages of a state-wide brewers conference was having so many people from so many breweries gather and talk business, share experiences, and learn from each other. Big, medium, or small breweries truly did not matter as they came together as 'family' in the interest of providing us all with solid, local product to grow solid local firms. Indiana's own Master Excise Officer was supportive and making every attempt to help wade through old regulations that can have differing interpretations. Many positive comments were heard by attendees about how helpful this event was.

The following board members were up for re-election, and all were voted onto the board again: Roger Baylor (New Albanian Brewing Company), Nick Davidson (Tin Man Brewing Company), Jeff Eaton (Barley Island Brewing Company), Greg Emig (Lafayette Brewing Company), Jon Lang (Triton Brewing Company), DJ McCallister (Black Swan Brewpub), Justin Miller (Black Acre Brewery), Clay Robinson (Sun King Brewing Company), and Blaine Stuckey (Mad Anthony Brewing Company). New to the board are Shane Pearson (Daredevil Brewing Co) and Steve Llewellyn (Function Brewing). President Emeritus Ted Miller (Outliers Brewing, Brugge Brasserie) was also voted onto the board.

Brewers of Indiana Guild sponsors the upcoming 5th Annual Bloomington Craft Beer Festival on April 11, with early bird tickets nearly half gone already. Details and Tickets here.

Upland sponsors the Sour+Wild+Funk Fest on May 16, 2-6 at City Market. Tickets went on sale at noon, today, March 9 Details and Tickets here

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

The 4th Annual Bloomington Craft Beer Festival

A while ago I had written a story about what drives me to go out and try the new beer from all these new breweries popping up left and right in Indiana. In my blog I mentioned how at this point I was more likely to go out to a brewery boasting something different, generally a twist on an already solid beer instead of just going for the same styles over and over again.

What is the relevance to Bloomington Craft Beer Festival? A lot and at the same time not much. Festival time though is generally the time where breweries who usually play it same crank it up a notch. Some breweries do special beer tappings (which in bigger festivals generally make some beer drinkers upset if they can't cut through the crowd to try a special beer). Some breweries pick a theme for their beer offerings (I'm looking at you Flat 12 Bierwerks). Some breweries have some of their house beers but also bring some twists or outrageous beers.  I was pleasantly surprised and delightfully happy that this year's Bloomington Craft Beer Festival offerings were exactly what I was looking for.

First off..having a festival in Bloomington in April is amazing. The weather is perfect, the location is awesome. (Who can argue with an old mill as the festival backdrop), and the festival is smaller, more quaint and also gives attendees the ability to try more beer and get more bang for the buck.  However,  I think it has already started to get a little snug in the Woolery Mill this year with a sold out crowd of 3,000.  Unless you are good at snaking through crowds, being a little tough to get to your next beer, or don't mind being pushed around then by all means come back for the 5th annual BCBF.  This year did offer a little more as far as a grander musical stage, more accommodations and a "dining hall" up the hill for beer drinkers to rest and enjoy local food fair.

But enough about the layout and crowds.. I mentioned how the offerings were what I was looking for, so let me get to the important part of this piece - the beer.

Right out of the gate, I bee lined to Zwanzigs Scorpion Pepper Imperial Stout.
Taking a step away from the Ghost Pepper Infused Imperial Stout that Zwanzigs used to offer, this beer was still exactly what I was looking for. A chocolate, robust start and a slow tickle in the back of my throat burn.  The first offering was just a little to see if I actually would like it, but after quickly swallowing it down I asked for more, plus they had a small batch of it set aside to "kick it up" a notch. I, of course, had that added.  I was almost scared that it would cause a flame to shoot out my mouth, but was back to just having a pleasant burn, a bit more noticeable than the first time, but still just a nice pleasant beer.

From there I stepped down the row, my eyes in search of unique beers and Broadripple Brewpub did not disappoint. Their Cinnamon Roll Porter, could have been a great breakfast beer, if I drank beer at 8am.  The cinnamon flavor was just a slight, but there was definitely a creaminess that gave the drinker a mind set of licking icing off a Cinnabon roll.

Before my next crazy beer I did have a few interesting solid beers.  18th Street Brewery's Bitch Hands Pale Ale was a strong beer, that I would definitely drink more off, not just to say I was drinking Bitch Hands either (which brings up another thought I had during the festival off how crazy beer names are getting).  Choss - A triple IPA from Figure 8 was another solid good beer, that actually gave me a pop of taste as it hit the back of my tongue. It wasn't something that made my head turn like the beer was made unusually, the pop seemed to come naturally from the basic ingredients used for this beer .

Back to the crazy, (again looking at you Flat 12). Sidetrack - Flat 12 never disappoints me. Honestly, even if I may not like some of their crazy beers, <cough> Cucumber Kolsch, </cough>, they take the risk, they combine, they go crazy and almost all the time they hit their mark.  CC3, aka a Cotton Candy flavored Belgian Style Trippel was really great. It smelled like Cotton Candy, it tasted like Cotton Candy, I almost wish it was pink like Cotton Candy. I tried a sip of my friends Caramel Corn flavored beer for their table as well, it was sweet like caramel with that corn twinge.  If I wasn't on a mission to cover as many tables as I could for IB.com I would've tried all the beers at Flat 12. I'm hoping CC3 makes a comeback in the taproom. I know it won't be at another festival. Flat 12 keeps up with a theme per festival and so far hasn't repeated many of their festival beers at other festivals I've been able to attend.

My last special call out of beers has to be Crown Brewing's The Dude White Russian Java Porter.  The Dude definitely abides with this beer. I could almost hear the ice clink in the glass drinking cream, Kahlua and vodka with each sip of this beer.  

Besides being happy with finding these special diamonds in the beer festival rough, I was also happy to find good solid beers. Makes me rethink my intro of only popping into breweries that are pulling beer stunts.  Lafayette Brewing gets a shout out for their Star City Bock. I was definitely fan of this clean,slightly caramelized beer.  Salt Creek also deserves some love for the cream ale.  The biggest applause however goes to the homebrewing club, the Bloomington Hop Jockeys. I love their Berliner Weisse, the sour blonde and I did make it over the tapping of the sour stout.  Their Berliner Weisse opened my eyes to a new style of beer that may rise above regular sours as my favorite. the BHJ Berliner Weisse and later Desthil Brewing's Berliner Weisse were my ideal summer kind of beers. Tart, sour and shocking.

All this love for beers.. I bet you are wondering, did I love them all? No, of course not. There were some beers that just didn't cut it for me. One sip and the rest ended in beer blasphemy by hitting the rocks of the "floor" of the Woolery Mill.  I'm not one for knocking a brewery's beer down cause it could be an amazing beer for someone else, but I will say there was a new brewery's IPA that I was just not a fan of at all, it was flat and flavorless.  Another brewery's wheat ale was just about the same.   It could have been the location or the beer travel. I had a sample of a black ale that I had tried in the pub recently and it didn't taste nearly the same chocolately, slight tilt of sour that it did when I a pint of it a few weeks back.

Overall, the BCBF was a lovely festival. I hope that the 5th year sees an expansion of the layout so people can walk around easily without almost crowd surfing for beer. I also hope more breweries from the north come back down. I missed seeing Iechyd Da Brewing and Bare Hands Brewery.  I hope they either come down and join the southern fun or that centralized northern festival is in the works. Until then, I look forward to the Microbrewer's Festival in July and other great times come forward as the great weather festival events start off.

Hope to see you around!

Cheers,
Kathleen

Maximizing Your Winterfest Experience

When a major beer festival event approaches, bloggers (and major media outlets jumping on the trend) often mistakenly believe we have some pearls of wisdom which must be shared with the festival-attending world. Sometimes they’re good, and sometimes you might wonder if they’re cynically insulting your intelligence. For the general audience of this site, I’m going to assume the concept of a beer festival is not foreign and that you’ve been blessed with a lick of common sense. So we’ll skip covering earth-shattering territory like “eat a big meal”, “marathon not a sprint”, or “call a cab”. While Winterfest has a generous schedule of 4 hours, or 5 for Early Bird tickets, you’ll probably be checking the time in stunned disbelief when last call is announced. So these tips will focus on helping you make the most of your festival time. Because the decisions you make are always accompanied by an opportunity cost.

Opportunity cost: In microeconomic theory, the opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative forgone, in a situation in which a choice needs to be made between several mutually exclusive alternatives given limited resources. In Winterfest theory, the limited resource is your festival time, and the best alternative forgone is the beer(s) you were unable to try. To minimize the painful regret of forgone alternatives, I submit these tips to help you have a wonderful day while building a foundation for an even greater 2014 as a craft beer drinker.

If you have Early Bird tickets, rock the hell out of that first hour. You paid a solid premium for that 2-3pm hour, make the most of it! With the smaller crowd size, many of the other tips on this list do not apply during Early Bird hour. This is the time to hit the big names like Sun King and Three Floyds. Be on the lookout for Upland Lambics and other specialty beers that will be in high demand later. You’ll probably see other people you know, but don’t get sucked into too much socializing. This hour will fly by. Everyone else will just have to understand if they move down your list of priorities for 60 minutes.

Expand your geography. You may love your local brewpub for good reason. But don’t spend a lot of time drinking the same beer you’ll probably drive down the street to get next Friday. Make it a point to hit breweries and brewpubs you aren’t able to easily visit – it just might inspire you to plan a spectacular road trip this summer. This is especially true for Indy area residents. My first experience with Bare Hands was a sample of their Thai.p.a. at last year’s Winterfest. That sample inspired a road trip and ultimately selecting the beer as my choice for Best Indiana Craft Beer in 2013. Don’t miss out on finding yours tomorrow.

Expand your boundaries. Mixing in a wide variety of styles throughout the beer sampling itinerary helps keep the beers fresh in my mind and makes it easier to sort out favorites at the end. I’ve heard people suggest this would be a great time to try a bunch of the same beer style and decide which brewery has the best IPA, stout, porter, etc. Without the ability to place these samples side by side, I think it just leads to palette fatigue. Was that 19th IPA really more bitter than the 12th??? Take some risks, try some new things, and mix it up to keep your tasting senses sharp. If you try a new style and aren’t thrilled initially, don’t dump it after the first sip. You can’t properly evaluate most beers based on one sip. Unless it’s just really, really bad. Then find the nearest disposal opportunity by all means necessary.

   

Short lines do not equal bad beer. Don’t be afraid of short lines – they’re your best friend and will be in “short” supply during the peak hours of Saturday afternoon. While everything will be fairly busy, there is often a markedly shorter wait for beers from newer breweries outside the Indy area, traditional brewpubs, and any brewery exiled to the outdoor area. Wait times at the firkin tent are often surprisingly reasonable as well.

Don’t overdo the Replicales. Not because they aren’t good (many are probably great). But it’s a matter of considering our friend opportunity cost again. If you’re not familiar with the Replicale, it is a one-off (usually high alcohol) brew that offers breweries the chance to put their own spin on the same base recipe. I’ve spent a few festivals trying a large number of Replicales, and you ultimately look back and realize you spent a lot of time and sobriety drinking beers that a) taste similar by design and b) you won’t be able to buy in the future even if you love them. It’d be fun to sit down with many of these beers side by side and focus on the nuances between them, but this isn’t practical on the battlefield of Winterfest. I’d rather focus on finding the beers that will inspire my future beer purchasing and brewery visit decisions.

Don’t overdo the special tappings. If your favorite brewery is breaking out that super rare beer you’ve been dying to try, by all means, get in line for that beer and cherish the memory. But if you’re constantly hitting special tappings just for the sake of special tappings, you’ll spend a lot more time standing in line than sampling beer (though I suppose it gives you plenty of time to check-in and brag about that last special beer on Untappd).

   

Have a “pee break” strategy. Hey, it does make a difference if you’re trying to avoid wasting time. If you wait until the 4:30-6:00 time period to hit the facilities for the first time, you’ll find that quite a few festival patrons had the same idea. I suggest trying to hit it early, and then power through until that last hour when things start to thin out a little. Of course, if you have the type of bladder where “breaking the seal” must be avoided at all costs, this strategy will be of little use. But there may be other alternatives………

    

As a final tip, did you know the State Fair allows guests to leave cars at the Fairgrounds overnight for this event? OK, I said this blog wasn’t going to cover the “get a cab” tip. But the overnight parking option may not be common knowledge. Taking a vehicle down, finding alternative transportation home, and getting your vehicle the next day sounds like a might fine idea to me. Have fun, be safe, and try some great beer. Cheers!

- Nathan

Indiana Microbrewers Festival Review

The 18th Annual Microbrewers Festival wrapped up a huge week for Indiana craft beer, beginning with the Indiana Brewers Cup competition, and bridged by a boat load of special beer events during Circle City Beer Week. Our staff suffered through another long day of hanging out with friends and drinking great beer to bring you the following pictures and individual thoughts and beer picks. If you don’t see your favorite listed, give them some love in the comments below. Cheers!

From Greg………….

A record was broken by 4:45 on Saturday, July 20, when over 6400 tasting glasses had been given out at Broad Ripple's OptiPark for the Eighteenth Annual Microbrewery Festival. Cooler weather and huge sampling selection seemed to have combined to pull people out to taste beer! A number of attendees commented that though there were plenty of people the lines did not seem ridiculously long and there were certainly plenty of samples to be had.

What stood out and what did I try? It is impossible to sample all so the best you can do is start with an idea of where you want to go and then keep asking others what they most enjoyed so far. With such a large venue it also is best to sample by area or by tent, and I regret that I did not make it back to a few breweries I missed. It helps when a brewer has a particular beer they want to share. Thanks to Dave Colt of SunKing for making sure I got some of the Lonesome Dove Barrel Aged Tripel! So let's start with that.

SunKing, (Indianapolis, IN) LoneSome Dove Barrel Aged Tripel. Spent months in the barrel and delivered vanilla and oak from the bourbon, initial sweetness that moved to a dry finish of the tripel. Absolutely delicious.

From the brewery that just won Brewery of the Year from the Brewer's Cup.

SunKing served a special beer every half hour!

Zwanzigz Brewery, (Columbus, IN) I just had to try two! I went for the Barrel Aged Ghost Chili Pepper Stout -- a triangulation of Imperial Stout with roast and toast + nice spice (not intense burn) from the world's hottest pepper + a solid taste of bourbon (not hot, but flavor). And a Barrel Aged Scotch Ale delivered the gentle sweetness of that beer style with the flavor of a rye barrel and came in at 13% abv. Holy scotch and rye, Beerman!

Against the Grain Brewery, (Louisville, KY) Boom Gose the Dynamite (yep, GOSE) -- German style Gose, Brewer Sam shared that this is his favorite from what is currently on tap down at the brewery delivering a very sessionable ("drink all afternoon") 4.2% abv beer brewed with wheat and barley, seasoned with pink salt, coriander, and hops and fermented with lactobacillus to give a slightly sour, slightly citrus delicious hot afternoon drink.

Destihl Brewery, (Normal, IL) Saint Dekkera reserve lambic sour single barrel spontaneously fermented, slightly sour, refreshing and highly interesting beverage.

Bare Hands Brewery, (Granger, IN) offered TEN beers. Mango Habenero 574, spice, fruit and lots of heat -- this baby really delivered on the Scoville units but with nice fruit flavor.

Just had to try the Bare Hands Mosaic double IPA and the triple performance (aroma, bittering, flavor) gives this single-hop IPA wallop of flavor. Mosaic delivers some citrus, some pine and some herbal and this beer showcases that well.

I've read some out of Chicago are now making tiny little Bare Hands, located in an industrial park outside of South Bend, IN, a destination for beer!

Flat12 Bierwerks (Indianapolis, IN), offered TWELVE firkins and barrels! Barrel Aged Pogue's Run Porter was my first choice, since I really appreciate this Porter it was interesting to see what the Corsair whiskey barrel brought to it with nice notes of vanilla, spice, and hint of leather to add to this roasty bier.

Though I don't like cucumbers the Flat12 Gin barrel aged Cucumber Kolsch was recommended to me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this resulted in a bit of the Juniper berry and botanicals tangled with malty refreshment.

Sorry I did not get the Flat12 Cask Conditioned Brazilian Coffee Chipotle Vanilla Porter!

Iechyd Da! Brewing, (Elkhart, IN) The name means Cheers and is pronounced Yacky Da in Welsh but I went for one beer and was swayed by another! Afternoon Delight Rye PA was recommended to me by a beer connoisseur friend and it was spice, pine, and rye bread in a glass.

I originally stopped for the Iechyd Da Breakfast Cookies and Milk Stout. It did not disappoint, though a sweet stout.

Triton Brewing (Indianapolis, IN) French Toast Saison. You get maple syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar sweetness on a biscuit malt using a replicale (old school) base! Thought I would not like it -- I did! I mean, come on! We've heard "beer, it's not just for breakfast anymore..." but seriously? Breakfast french toast in beer? That should not work! But it certainly did!

Figure8 Brewing (La Porte, IN) Brewer friend Mike Lahti offered his new Pirate's Pils which had a nice ibu bite to it and was very refreshing!

Thr3e Wisemen (Indianapolis, IN) Two Lucy's Blackberry Wheat, an interesting beer for a Summer day! A gentle taste of blackberry (from Oregon) come through in a surprising 6% beer. A beer I had not tried and was glad I did! By my count Omar, Keely, and crew walked away with at least 4 awards from Brewer's Cup this year!

Some Surprises!

Hunter's Brewing Company, (Chesterton, IN) Northwest Indiana has yet ANOTHER new brewery since February. I loved the name: Porter County porter (yes, they are in Porter County, IN) and I loved the roast and toast in a 4.5% beer from this newcomer. Operating a one barrel brewhouse, they offered only two beer, the second being a very nice Steel Town Girl saison where all spice flavor came from the yeast. They currently are running 9 taps at the brewpub. Owner/brewer Amy Gentry was very sociable and truly enjoyed chatting about this hobby-turned-vocation.

New Boswell Brewing, (Richmond, IN) has historic roots! The first tiny brewery in Richmond was apparently owned and run by Ezra Boswell, who learned brewing in England, brewed in North Carolina, and built a frame structure in Richmond, Wayne County, IN, about 1817. The NEW Boswell brewery was started as an entrepreneurship project via the I.U. East Center for Entrepreneurship as owner/brewer Rodrick Landess was getting a degree. The current establishment opened in Spring, 2010. Landess offered Maelstrom Imperial Stout with peat smoked malt and Maris Otter malt at 10% and the smoke flavor enthralled me.

Planetary Brewing, (Greenwood, IN) Another one of our newer nano breweries, was proudly serving their Apes#!t IPA -- which I will reveal I did not have time to try, but one festival attendee was so excited and going Ape.... well, you get the picture, so I thought it worthwhile (seriously, true story) to mention!

Broad Ripple Brew Pub (Indianapolis, IN) My last taste at this Microbrewer's Festival is perhaps appropriate for two reasons. First, it was from the ground-breaking BR Brew Pub. I mean we were in Broad Ripple, steps from the Brew Pub! John Hill brought the concept to the area back in 1990 and it flourishes today.

Second, this is a beer with a story! Each year the Brewer's Cup Homebrewer's Best of Show beer is eventually brewed at the BR Brew Pub (most locals just call it, "the Brew Pub")> In 2012 Homebrewer Shaun Kaus won Best of Show with a cream ale that was jalapeno infused. This Holla Jala Jalapeno Cream was my last sip. It offered a clean, crisp beer (as a cream ale should) and a solid flavor of the pepper, more than a hint in my opinion, a burn but not a big burn! This was the 3rd pepper beer I'd had at this Fest and I could recommend any and all three!

All in all a very nicely organized, never push-and-shove crowded, great meeting of great brewing friends supported by wonderful weather, wonderful sponsors, and the Brewer's Guild of Indiana. Just wish it was a 3-day event so we could sanely and soberly get to more great beers!

Thanks to all and 'next time' to those I did not get around to!

From Jake………….

After waking up to a dreary Saturday morning, the Microbrewers Festival ‘13 had better weather than the last couple.  I’ll take some light rain over 95 degrees every year.  This year the Brewers of Indiana Guild started the VIP Experience, and I grabbed one right away.  I had no idea what this was going to consist of, because no one had heard anything about it.  In the build up to the festival I was able to talk to a few people and get a feel for what this VIP tent was going to entail.  The basic idea was pretty good, a tented area to sit down, relax, and get some really rare beer.   An email was sent out explaining that there would be two tapping times for the VIP experience tent and that absolutely no one without the special VIP wristband would be let in.

So 2:50 hits and  my phone alarm goes off to let me know to start heading that way.  I got to the tent and the volunteers weren't quite ready to serve the beer yet.  To help you relax there was an air conditioned bathroom, and some light food pairings and fruit. Sadly I missed out on the food pairings, but the bathroom still had quite a bit of a line most of the time. After a brief wait of 5 or 10 minutes we were let in and got to sample from the first tapping of beers.  The food line grew very large so I headed to the beer line, naturally. With the relatively well available lineup of Brugge’s Peony, Three Floyd’s Dreadnaught, among others I was starting to doubt if the VIP experience was worth it at this point. A few pitchers to pre-pour the beer and some more chairs probably would have been nice, but otherwise the experience ran pretty well.  The five o’clock tasting had quite a few interesting beers.  The offerings included Triton’s Batch #1, Lafayette’s 14 year old Big Boris Barleywine, and a 4 year vertical of Shoreline’s Scotch Ale from ‘07 to ‘10.  All of these were great, however by far the best beer at the festival, and one of the best beers I’ve ever had for that matter, was Pappy Fog.  This batch of Sun King’s World Beer Cup gold medalist Belgian Quadruple was aged in Pappy Van Winkle barrels and it is truly a spectacular beer.

I enjoyed the rest of the festival as well, with some entertainment provided by Flat 12’s cosmic bowling themed casks and Black Acre’s togas or maybe they were ghosts.  I missed out on most of Flat 12’s beers, even though I didn’t mean to, but Black Acre’s Coffee Cat was one of my favorite beers all day.  Sun King’s booth was tapping a new specialty beer every thirty minutes, which actually worked out quite well for them and it was great beer too.

After the five o’clock beers I would have to say that the VIP experience felt worth the money.  It certainly needs some improvements, but at the end of the day its all about the beer.  Congratulations to Clay, Rob and the rest of the Guild on a great festival and a big thanks to all the volunteers.

From Jason………….

Despite my best efforts to infuse some sort of clever, witty opening commentary summarizing my experience at this year’s Indiana Microbrew Festival, I came to realize that this reflection will most likely end up mirroring my day of beer tasting. Looking back at the day, the breweries I visited, and the beers I sampled, the only word that accurately sums it all up is random.

Just about the only conscious decision that I recall making was to hit the Hopapalooza tent upon entering. Beyond that, just about every brewery visited was either the result of following a friend to where they were getting their next sample or just running out of beer and hopping into the closest beer line. Ok, where am I? Victory? I’ll try the Summer Love Blonde. Against the Grain? The Kentucky Ryed Chiquen sounds interesting.

The only negative thing about not having an itinerary is realizing that you missed out on a few favorites along the way. Not only that, but one of those favorites, People’s from here in good ol’ Lafayette, had a pretty kick-ass jukebox tapper featuring all of their #1 hits. Personally, I’m big on the Space Cowboy and Amazon Princess but, for this day, my randomness just didn’t find my feet taking me in their direction.

I will say this about my beer tasting exploits for this day, there were some damn fine beers for the tasting. I’m no beer judge and I’m not about to start breaking down specific characteristics that made the following list of beers enjoyable. So I’ll just say this and get on with the list; they were very, VERY enjoyable! So, in no specific order (I suppose that makes this….random?) I give you my IMF favorites for 2013.

• Grapefruit Jungle IPA – Sun King
• Black Note Stout – Bell’s
• Doom 2013 Imperial IPA – Founders
• Ghost Pepper Imperial Stout – Zwanzigz
• Barrel Aged Strong Scotch – Zwanzigz
• Saucy Intruder Rye PA – Black Acre
• Plead the 5^th Imperial Red – Crown
• Mt. Lee California Common – New Albanian
• Hop Head Red Ale – Green Flash

I really don’t have many other observations for the event this year. Rain stopped just in time and the temperatures were a welcome relief compared to last year. Everything seemed pretty crowded yet it never seemed like too long of a wait for your next tasty offering. Overall, couldn’t have gone much better from my perspective. Well done Brewers Guild, see you again next year.

From Kathleen………….

It's been two years since I last volunteered for the Microbrewers Festival. I've helped out at Winterfest and other events, but this festival is one of the biggest festivals put on by the Indiana Brewers Guild.

Being a volunteer gives me a different perspective on the festival, it also limits my drinking time. Let's start with my thoughts on the festival and wrap up with the fun stuff aka the beers I did get to try.

Overall, I thought this festival was one of the best ones. Things were more organized, chaos did not ensue.  I'm not sure if the VIP tent was a good new feature or not. None of the volunteers were allowed in and the people I helped checked in who paid the $100 to go to the VIP experience didn't seem to understand themselves what it was all about. (Which I found interesting considering how much they paid to be there). Lines this year at the booths weren't extremely long, even with General Admission roaming around, I'm not sure if that was due to not selling out or the brewers were just getting them in and out faster than before.

My only two thoughts / issues I had with the festival was first seeing around 5:30, with an hour and half left of the festival, that there were empty booths, or that most of the beer was out from the brewers. It was a mixed feeling to be happy that people loved certain breweries so much that they ran out of beer, but it was also sad that the breweries weren't more prepared for everyone to enjoy their beer. Secondly, and I know the Microbrewers festival is getting bigger and bigger, but I didn't like that all of the Indiana breweries were crunched into the Riverfront, the Lawn or the Allee and all of the distributors and out of state breweries had the free reign of the fields. I'd almost like to see if that could be flipped somehow. Or at least give more room to the Indiana Breweries instead of the out of state breweries.

Now.. Onto the Beer!

I didn't get to try everything I wanted. (I'm looking at you - Zwanzigz - with your Imperial Stout infused with Ghost Peppers), but I did get to a few ones and some that weren't on my list that I tried were great.

These are my highlights -

Great Fermentation - Berliner Weiss - I was surprisingly delighted by this one. If the lines weren’t crazy in the Alley I would've gone back for more.

Flat 12 Bierwerks - Brazilian Coffee/Chipotle/Vanilla Porter - This was on the top of my list to try. I think I'd like a little more vanilla than coffee, but everything blended together beautifully. So much so, that it was the only beer I took a picture of on Saturday.

Broadripple Brewpub - Jalapeno Cream Ale - This beer was interesting. Not on the original line up, but you get the cream first and then the jalapeno heat to follow. I felt like I was drinking a jalapeno popper.. (maybe they should add some bacon into the brewing process)

Hawcreek Brewing Co. - Wildberry Wheat - I really liked this one. I've had some fruit mixed wheats were the fruit kind of tastes heavy along with the beer, but this made it nice and light and not overpowering with the berry flavor.

Against the Grain - Boom Gose the Dynamite - a Sour, of course I was destined to like this one. It was my first choice

Black Swan - Sour Cherry - this is a cheat, I've had this a few times at Black Swan's Brewpub. Still delicious and tart everytime.

Brugge Brasserie - Harvey - I'm very happy that Brugge brought back Harvey. I still remember the first time I had it, back in 2011- First Annual Bloomington Craft Beer Festival. This beer is one of my loves. (which means I had multiple glasses of it)

I hope everyone had a great time at the festival, that you were nice to the brewers and volunteer staff, that you found a new beer to love or a brewery to follow and that you come back next year!

From Nathan………….

The 18th Annual Indiana Microbrewers Festival was a nearly flawless event from my viewpoint. I know that’s a pretty boring opinion and the good people working behind the scenes could probably tell you 30 things that went wrong off the top of their head. But here’s what matters for an attendee: we got in quick, all the breweries we saw were setup and ready to roll, and we had great beer. Congrats to the Brewers of Indiana Guild, Hoosier Beer Geek, World Class Beer, and all the breweries and volunteers on another great event! They’ve been around this block a time or two and know how to put on a good show.

The Microbrewers Festival is a huge event, but with a completely different layout and feel than Winterfest. While things can get fairly crowded in “The Alley”, the massive outdoor layout never quite induces the same claustrophobic panic sensations as trying to walk down one of the main aisles of Winterfest at 4pm. The beer lines do get a little long, but I’ve seen worse at the Michigan Summer Festival and GABF. This year was also blessed with cooler weather that did not inflict the wrath of “swamp crotch” on attendees. However, as Poppi noted, this meant you weren’t sweating out all the liquid you consumed and lead to longer restroom lines.

Some random observations:

Browsed through the Zwanzigz website and could only find info about their pizza (which is supposed to be pretty good), and nothing about the brewery. They really need to start bragging about the beer! This is the one brewery that comes to mind who has consistently produced an unexpected standout (see picks below) at every festival in recent years.

It’s always a subconscious goal for me to hit breweries whose beer is not readily available in the Indianapolis area. The aforementioned Zwanzigz, along with Bare Hands, Crown, and Iechyd Da have been consistently impressive at these events. You can’t hit every brewery and Figure 8 (normally on this list) was one of my regrets this year, but fortunately their bombers have become more prevalent in better craft stores around the city.

While I don’t recall it interfering with any particular brewery I was determined to try, the number of breweries who shut down early was definitely more noticeable than I can ever recall. Do you blame that on poor planning or credit the insatiable thirst of our crowd?

I’d hate to be accused of promoting irresponsible behavior, but time management is critical if you have 2pm entry for this event. We spent way too much time holding empty glasses and talking with friends during that hour. You end up regretting that. There will be plenty of time for talking later while you’re standing in line.

If you buy a ticket for 3pm entry and for some reason feel it’s vitally important to show up at the gates before 2:00, don’t mix in line and try to sneak in early. It doesn’t work (I’m talking to you, couple who tried to enter in front of us). Better yet, spend a few more minutes at home with a good book and enjoy your Saturday. Staff will get you in efficiently if you show up a little later.

On to the beer picks……..

Nathan’s Pick of the Day: Zwanzigz Barrel Aged Scotch Ale – Intensely malty with a nicely balanced bourbon character, ridiculously smooth for a beer weighing in at 13.4% ABV.

Honorable Mention:

Against the Grain Citra Ass Down IPA

Bell’s Black Note

Black Acre Saucy Intruder (Rye IPA)

Carson’s Psycho Pagan (dry-hopped Pale Ale)

Crown Brewing 5th Anniversary Imperial Red

Daredevil Rip Cord DIPA

Iechyd Da Big Pit Porter

New Albanian Mt. Lee California Common

Oaken Barrel King Rudi Hefeweizen

Urban Chestnut Zwickel

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.