Redemption Alewerks

I feel like I am slacking when it comes to trying new breweries. I have been trying to get better and get out there but really there are so many beers and so little time. (Please, dear reader, work on a time machine so we can all drink lots of great beer)

To Redemption Alewerks --

Thanks to one of those awesome deal makers, ie: Groupon,  we grabbed an awesome deal - 4 flights of 6 - 5oz beers, 2 starters and 4 entrees. Perfect amount of food and beer and a great way to spend a Sunday early evening.

Located up on 96th St, where the only Blue Grille use to bed, It is a mixture of modern art and comfortable home decor. I love that they have different game nights, trivia and live music. They have relaxing areas, and typical dining room area. The fermenter area isn’t producing just yet but there is a small selection of house beers mixed in with local and national favorites.

As I said earlier, a flight at Redemption is 6 - 5oz pours, so be careful! I chose a mix of beers I haven’t had - some of them local, some not and one house beer.  Below was my order:

• Dark Horse Raspberry Ale
• Outliers Blau Machen Pils
• Redemption Salvation Wheat
• Shipyard Melonhead
• Vander Mill Ginger Peach
• Brugge Madeline La Framboise

Starting from top to bottom, I wasn’t pleased with the Dark Horse Raspberry Ale. Not nearly enough fruit to call it a raspberry ale in my opinion. Then again, I’m a huge fan of Founder’s Rubeaus and THAT is a raspberry ale.  The Outliers Brewing Co., pils (Which btw is  an Indianapolis local, if you didn’t know ) was actually really solid. I like it’s clarity, I like the crispiness and I was surprised because previously I haven’t liked a single thing produced but Outliers which is kind of funny since I love Brugge ( I guess close by no cigar  - different brewers and all)

In the middle - the house beer. There were a few others to choose from that day I just wasn’t up to a pale ale or an IPA.  This wheat was enhanced with orange blossoms which I got in the nose, and very very lightly tasted it on my tongue. It was nice and light for a late spring day, but I think it needs to app up the citrus just a tad.

Moving on  - I am hit or miss on watermelon wheats. I had a great on last summer, I’ve tried Black Acre’s before and it tasted like a Jolly Rancher, this one from Shipyard was a sickly sweet watermelon flavor. I was not enjoying it at all.

Down to the last two - I have looked up Vander Mill before since I have some friends up in Michigan.  I’m not even a peach fan, but this was  a nice dry blend with that zingy ginger up front followed by a mellow peach flavor. I highly recommend it.

Lastly, the Brugge beer was nice. I, of course, am a bit bias when it comes to Brugge because I rarely dislike anything they make, food or drink wise and my favorite beer is their Harvey.  This one was a kind of rich and thicker that most of the other beers I drank on Sunday but it was a nice cap to the flight.

These were just 6 of at least 20 different beers that Redemption Alewerks had on tap. They seem to do a good job rotating them out. I love their electronic tap wall, with what they have just tapped, descriptions, abv rating, what is on board for their next beer, tweets and untapped messages also pop up there.

I’m also a fan of the beer cap flowers decor.  

My recommendation? Give Redemption Alewerks a shot. Their house beers are coming along, they offer plenty other beers and the food is really good too.

Cheers!

Kathleen

Beers, Cheers, and Sneers – July 12

General Admission tickets are still available for the Microbrewer’s Festival for $40 and can be purchased here. Be warned that online sales end tomorrow and there will be no tickets at the gate. Many local breweries have tickets available if you miss out on online sales or don’t want to pay their “convenience” charges. The Brewers Guild has posted a list of confirmed breweries for the festival on Facebook (you can add Bell’s to this list). Don’t be left out, we might have some rain that will just enhance the festivities.

Need some good advice and ideas on beer and food pairings? Check out the outstanding website from our new friends at BeerChow! In addition to general advice, BeerChow goes beyond the Beer Pairing Chart to give you specific beers to pair with a complementary dish. For example, check out the recipe for Dark Fruit Wafer with Trappist Westvleteren 12 or Spicy Steak and Mushroom Risotto with Three Floyds Alpha King. You can find a wide array of ideas for specific courses and full menus and even post your own pairing!

We’ve hit the “major” awards already, but you can now view the full results of the Indiana Brewers’ Cup for homebrew and professional. While this space is a bit small to list the full results, I’d like to specifically recognize the first place winners from Indiana. On the professional side, congrats to Bier Brewery (4), Big Dawg Brew Haus, Crown Brewing (4), Mad Anthony (2), Oaken Barrel (3), Sun King, The RAM (3), Thr3e Wise Men, and Upland (2). On the homebrew side, congrats to Timothy Ahrens, Eddie Angleton, Eric Cougill, Jeff Davis, Nate Engelberth, Agatha Feltus, Cesar Gonzalez, Shawn Kaus, Kevin Lemme, Evan Martin, Ben Nowotarski, Tim Palmer, Jason Penrod, Kevin Pritchard and Matthew Oakley, Steve Quimby, Bill Staashelm, Brian Steuerwald, Paul Till, and Tom Wallbank (2).

Combining beer and hot peppers has become a very successful endeavor for homebrewers. Bell’s Brewery will tap a Bit of Heat on July 21st, which apparently is an IPA brewed with paradise seeds, rose hips, and habanero peppers. The recipe’s origin comes from Bell’s second annual homebrew competition that was won by Geoff Groff of Climax, Michigan. In case you were wondering (just admit you were), the town of Climax received its name when the settler’s son climbed a tree upon arrival and declared “this caps the climax of everything we saw.” Climax launched the first Rural Free Delivery mail service in Michigan in 1896 and a memorial to this event now stands next to the Lawrence Memorial Library. The memorial features four bronze tablets, one of which was contributed by the Climax Men’s Fellowship Club. So there you have the story of Climax. Now what were we talking about again?

Ah yes, beer. Dark Horse Brewing, in good company as one of my favorite imports from Michigan, is in the process of an expansion that will double their production capacity. What makes this case unique is the additional plan to add a creamery, candy shop, bakery, and distillery to their Marshall facility. If you’ve visited their current facility, which is reminiscent of a garage sale explosion in a trailer, you can imagine the spin they might put on the new facilities.

This has been making the rounds already, but the IndyStar’s article on women in microbrewing is well worth a quick read if you haven’t seen it yet.

In the modern age of political correctness, the world of craft beer is still the oddity where people sue over the right to brand their product with an “idiot” label. Southern California’s Coronado Brewing Company has filed a lawsuit against Washington’s Elysian Brewing claiming that the brewery’s new Idiot Sauvin IPA violates Coronado’s trademark for Idiot IPA. The gloves really came off in this one as Coronado claims the “Defendant’s goods are not of the same quality as CBC’s goods” (Elysian’s Beer Advocate rating of exceptional might suggest otherwise). These proceedings could be nervously viewed by Pennsylvania’s Weyerbacher, whose Blithering Idiot barleywine is available year-round.

The enterprising folks at floatingsheep.org decided to pursue a Twitter analysis of all geotagged tweets sent within the continental U.S. between June 22 and June 28. They extracted all tweets containing the word “church” or “beer” and determined which one was more popular in each county. You will still need some good eyesight to pick out your county, but clicking on the picture to the right should provide a somewhat easier view. I’m fairly certain there is a block of “much more beer” in the middle of the state that represents Marion County, which is then surrounded on all sides by the “more church” and “much more church” designations. Take that suburbs!

Cheers, Nathan

Working it for Winterfest

Unlike roaming free with my fellow reporters, I decided to join  Hoosier Beer Geeks's volunteer squad for Winterfest.  I was at the fairgrounds at 11am, about 4 hours before the VIP were allowed in, and worked til about 9:30pm, which was after a massive cleanup!!


Volunteering was an interesting experience.


I ran into people I had met volunteering at the summer's Microbrewer's Festival, I had people I knew volunteer with me. I got to walk the halls and talk to new breweries like BullDog, see my local favorites like Bier Brewery, meet people from the home brewers club such as from the Ohio Valley Home Brewers Association, and taste on tap for the first time Founders' Breakfast Stout and Cerise.


I'd say my favorite times were being able to get behind the scenes and participate, use my volunteer "powers" for beer, and just basically talk with a lot of people while I was out and about.  It was also the first time all the IndianaBeer reporters were together :) 


As for the beers... the Highlights of my Day was:

Flat 12 Bierwerks - Moustache Ride  - An amber ale aged in used whiskey barrels w/ vanilla beans (Jim Beam Barrels).


Dark Horse Brewery  - Scotty Karate Scottish Ale - A smooth Scottish ale with a small smokey chocolate/vanilla like taste. 


Barley Island - Count Hopula - An Imperial IPA. (I know. me.. a malty girl, actually enjoyed a hoppy style beer)  What can I say, even at 84 IBU, it was still smooth to me. 


I had plenty other delicious beer while I was out and about. The volunteering experience even started with us passing around bottles of Bell's Brewery - Hopslam.  I finally got to try Flat12 Bierewerks - Blackberry Porter.  Overall, I think there was a definite plus to Winterfest that will make me come back again next year and volunteer all over again. 


As for some picture highlights -- check out the views below:

  Pre - Winterfest  Prep -

 Getting all those Wristbands ready to attack arm hair! 

There are a lot of glasses here.. 

unfortunately we ran out!

Goes to show that Winterfest was a big hit. 

Small Crowd going already with the VIP's and Media inside. 

Winterfest Brochure.  It did exist!

I hope everyone had a good time, plenty of great beer, and made it home safe. 

Thanks for all the high fives and the fist bumps while I guarded the exit!

- Kathleen