Paying a visit to the good Taxman - Death and Taxes Day 2015

Just 40 miles north of my residence in Bloomington is Taxman Brewing. Located in Bargersville, they’ve been on my radar for sometime— paying them a visit has been high on the to-do list but I had yet to make it happen. After seeing the event announcement go out on Twitter, I decided that one way to right the wrong would be to attend the inaugural Death and Taxes day.

I arrived shortly after the midday gate opening, and started out the day with a Let’s Get Weird by Upland. A part of their Side Trail series, it’s a blend of Belgian golden ale and oatmeal milk stout aged on blackcurrants. From its description I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I was greeted by was an ale with chocolate notes heavily influenced by the milk stout but nicely followed by a dash of tartness from the fruit.

After that one warm up beer, it was time to get down to business. The event ticket included two samples of the Death and Taxes beer, and after priming my palette, I was ready to try it for myself. Death and Taxes is an 11% Imperial Stout fermented with Belgian yeast. There was also a barrel variant aged in bourbon whiskey barrels for 10 weeks available. I was able to pick out a few Belgians esters in the aroma from the base beer. The barrel version however, has that huge hit of bourbon on the nose, which is to be expected but it does temper some of the other nuances in the aroma. In terms of flavor, the base beer has some roast, dark fruits notes but it had a really enjoyable bittersweet chocolate finish. The finish was similar in the barrel version but the flavors were of course more influenced with bourbon and vanilla notes contributed by the barrel aging.

A pit stop in the restaurant for lunch, accompanied by a Frozen Assets (Taxman’s Cocoa Belgian Milk Stout), provided me an opportunity to check out the indoor space they have for their brewpub.

In the afternoon I focused on some breweries that, due to their smaller distribution area, I’ve had minimal opportunities to sample. First up, based in Carmel, Danny Boy Beer Works and their American pale ale Training Day. Plenty of those west coast, grapefruit, citrus hops present but kept nicely in balance by some malt so it’s not too bitter, making it something you could enjoy a few of in a session. The next sample was Indiana City’s Shadow Boxer. One of their year-round brews, it’s an oatmeal stout with wonderful coffee, chocolate notes and the smooth creamy mouthfeel. Definitely a beer I look forward to having a full serving of at my next opportunity.

Before heading out I checked out some of the other tents but most importantly picked up my one allocated bottle. Based upon my earlier tastings, I opted for the bourbon variant and I’m looking to cellaring this to see how time evolves the barrel notes.

This was my first trip to Taxman but it wont be the last— I’ve already convinced my wife that this needs to be our next date night locale and I look forward to taking in more of brewpub atmosphere.
Check out GregKitz's review of Taxman food and beer HERE

BY: Ross Hughes, blogger for indianabeer.com and a homebrewer, aspiring Cicerone and all-around beer nerd.

Dig In 2014

It seems appropriate that after a long period of time of not writing that I come back to write about an event that I first wrote about 4 years ago when I joined the crew with IndianaBeer.com.

Dig IN Indiana is not just beer though. It is all things Indiana. Beer, Wine, Food from local farms, prepared into small portioned meals by Indiana chefs and finally treats from Indiana Artisans. Put on by Indiana folks and entertainment by local entertainment. Seriously the biggest Taste of Indiana anyone could have.  I've grateful to volunteer with this festival for the past four years.

But this is about the beer!

I was already anticipating all the beer I'd get to sample after my volunteer shift.  Especially since my duties for the day was directing all the vendors to their parking and as each brewer came through and we said hello or had a quick catch up chat, my excitement grew.

As the breweries grow in Indiana, the options for beer in Dig IN have grown along with the demand. It was nice to see seasoned vets like Flat 12, Sun King and Brugge there along with some of the new guys like Scarlet Lane and Tin Man Brewing.

My first stop was to Tent C and I visited TaxMan with their saison, Bloomington Brewing Company's hoppy wheat, Thr3e Wiseman and their blonde, but my favorite from Tent C was Indiana City's Yacht Rock. I've had this belgian wheat ale many times but either it was the hot day or the work of Ray and the rest of his crew at Indiana City Beer getting better as time goes by, but it was a nice and smooth beer.

After filling up again on my food ( which was all delicious and I had to use two hands to count how many different kinds of meat was used )  I headed over to Tent B.This time to get my hands on Pooka, which was poured at the Brugge table.  It is no secret that Brugge's sours (Harvey and Pooka) are two of my all time favorite beers.  It once again did not disappoint during Dig In.

I popped over the next table over to say hello to Rob at Flat 12 and was surprised to see that Flat 12 was offering their Flat Jack.  I also love pumpkin ale and I've been seeing a lot of it popping up in liquor stores. I  was surprised it was at Dig In but still delighted to give it a try once more.  It must be me, cause when I posed a question on Facebook about seeing pumpkin ales early, it seemed to be the norm to have it on the shelf in July.

Lastly Tent A was my last stop. (obviously my beer palate wanted to work backwards when it came to tasting). There I ran into good friends from Bier and has some Weizengoot. Tried the ale that Figure 8 had to offer. I wish I could remember their ale but in the midst of tasting I heard someone in the table over ask for TinMan Brewing Co's Apricot Sour and I honestly downed the sample I had in my hand and popped over to TinMan's table.

I'm not a huge fan of apricots but this sour was the exception to my dislike of apricots. It was perfectly balanced, slightly creamy but with an appropriate zing that I love at the end of my sours. It almost made me question my love of Pooka that day.  I have had TinMan Brewing Co's beer before and wasn't really sold, but they have me wanting to come back and give them another shot after that apricot sour.

I didn't get to all the beer at Dig IN unfortunately. (I had a small food challenge of finishing the food passport and after that I had no room for beer) but what I did have was definitely delicious. I also learned a valuable lesson, don't dismiss the newbie breweries, like TinMan. Cause they make sneak up on you with a great out of the box beer.

Thank you Dig In for another year. Now that I'm getting back into the swing of things, it is time to start planning some brewery trips and tracking down some of those new breweries I've let slip through my fingers and give them a try!

Cheers!

Kathleen

Flat12 opens in L'ville metro of S. Indiana; Sun King plans 5th Anniversary, and more Indiana Beer News, Mar. 12

Flat12 may be the first Indiana brewery to have two tap rooms in two major metro areas when they open in Jeffersonville, IN, on the Ohio River literally within walking distance of Louisville in early-Summer this year! Co-founder and Director of Brewing Operations Rob Caputo gave us lots of details recently as we learned there will be some exclusive features to this new venture. After launching distribution in Louisville in late January, Flat12 announced they leased a building that provides ample room for a taproom as well as sufficient space for distribution or even brewing operation if warranted at some point in the future. The building is across from the Ohio River bank near the Jeffersonville amphitheater and a short walk from the new Jeffersonville park at the base of the pedestrian bridge linking Jeffersonville with Louisville. We caught up with Rob the day after he had been back down to the building who told us, “my initial vision for this is… we will have the 5 house beers, we will have our seasonal beer available, then there will be a lineup of beer that is exclusively available at that taproom. We may simultaneously tap some beer at the two locations. I don’t know how many taps yet.” Rob also shared that while they have only completed a rough floor plan, they do envision the space to eventually have a small kitchen so food is easily available. Caputo also stressed, “the nice thing is it is just blank inside…” so there is opportunity to design whatever fits best.

Rob was pleased that the City of Jeffersonville has a strong plan for development and is welcoming Flat12 to the area. We will keep you posted on developments and we will plan to be some of the first to enjoy a beer at this location! As long as Rob keeps some crazy, cool beers flowing beer-lovers in several states will be happy. I got to try some of the FlatTuesday Mardi Gras features including Mud Bug which was brewed with crawfish in the boil – giving it a decidedly seafood spicy flavor, without the actual taste of the crawfish, which we understood the brewers got to eat after the brew day! The King Cake porter was a big porter with extra sweetness and hints of the almond. I also found Big Black Dog American Stout with rye on tap at the Tap Room for big bold notes.

Flat12 also just announced a partnership with IndyEleven, the new soccer team in Indianapolis. In between Indy Eleven’s exhibitions against the Tourbeau Soccer Academy (March 15) and Indiana University (April 4), Indiana’s NASL side will take to the road on Saturday, March 22, for a contest against the University of Louisville Cardinals. Whoa, in the long run It could be Indy Flat12 Tap Room vs. Jeff Flat12 Tap Room!

There will be big news from Sun King Brewing this Thursday, March 13 7-11P, coordinated with their Naptown Brown Release Party with the Naptown Roller Girls. Not only will party goers get some of the American brown ale, plus tunes by A DJ Squared and food from a Taste of the Caribbean Food Truck, Sun King will announce the Headlining Act for their big SKB 5 Party this summer. SunKing turns five years old this summer and plans a major party on Saturday, June 28. This week first details for the party will be announced. Those at SKB 5 in June will get the first Grapefruit Jungle 2014. Then on the official 5th anniversary of Sun King on July 1, GFJ will be released in cans and to bars and restaurants as will BigIron Bourbon Barrel aged barley wine.

Sun King currently has Hopquarius, a big double IPA with Mosaic and Azacca hops at 69 ibu and 8.4 abv. With 7 Belgian yeast straina where the hops are prominent and provide a mango, lemon, citrus mix while the yeast tingle your taste buds with a spicy flavor. The Doctor of Style (yes, the Doctor is in!) is another Sun King creation providing banana bed and zest in a spicy Weizenbock at 8% alcohol. Both are in the tap room now and at select establishments. And then there is my friend Timmie, the Russian Imperial Stout with 9.4%, molasses, brown sugar, and dark chocolate.

Bloomington Brewing has gone to great length to introduce a new glass at their Lennie’s Brew Pub. A German style “Becher,” German for cup, sends more aroma to you with its curved sides. I found it sleek and stylish and the taste of my Imperial Ruby Bloom Amber that is so tasty on a cool evening.

Upland Brewing announced brand logo and artwork changes are coming soon. Company President Doug Dayhoff says there will be an evolution to the Upland logo as well as to some depth of character to labels. Stay Tuned. Upland also announced Lightwave Belgian Pale is now being tapped with German style Munich malt and Belgian Trappist yeast. Lightwave is a small-batch brew so only available at Upland brewpub and taproom locations in Indiana. Upland released Coast Buster Imperial IPA brewed with Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, and Columbus hops and dry hopped twice for aroma in January and it is more widely distributed. Campside Session IPA, a drinkable lower alcohol beer, is also now being widely distributed. And a quick reminder that tickets for Upland Sour + Wild + Funk Fest have gone on sale and if any are available you can find those HERE

Remember that the Bloomington Beer Festival returns April 12, and tickets are available NOW HERE There will be many event locally the week before starting March 4. Check back as we announce events! Rob Caputo of Flat12 stated he feels this is the best festival.

I stopped by Indiana City Beer at 24 East Shelby where I-65 downtown meets Washington Street to learn their fund raiser for the restoration of the historic 1916 Obelisk standing proudly almost in front of the brewery went well and received attention from Indianapolis’ mayor as well as many who donated. While I find their Shadow Boxer oatmeal stout delightful I was also impressed with their Beast of Laurey’s Belgian Golden Strong at nearly 10% alcohol. It has a nice mix of spice with warmth and a pleasant note of malt.

Triton Brewery hosts Girls Pint Out and the Mentoring Women's Network on March 27th for a social/happy hour. Triton's Pink Ribbon Saison will be on tap, and there will be a behind-the-scenes tour of the brewery. Mentoring Women's Network is, "an organization for professional women. Our mission is a community of empowered women supporting one another personally and professionally through mentoring relationships and our vision is the largest and most effective mentoring organization for women in the nation." (mentoringwomensnetwork.com)
facebook notice HERE

Indiana Beer News - June 30: New Beers, Fun events

What beer will you drink for Fourth of July and what beer will you drink in 2014? The answer to each might change as more and more beers come on the Indiana scene! There is a LOT going on in the next few weeks and a lot more coming.

We did a quick stop at some downtown Indianapolis breweries this weekend finding new pours everywhere and also realizing we have so many offerings in downtown Indy we could not fit them all into our short schedule.

Indiana City Beer (see Kathleen's Grand Opening Story here ) was offering up a Belgian Wheat (Yacht Rock; 6%), Oatmeal Stout (Shadow Boxer; 7%), and APA (Beyond the Pale; 7.2) showing perhaps a trend in slightly 'bigger' beers in alcohol.

SunKing showcased their regular three, WeeMac, Osiris, and Sunlight, plus a hefe-weizen (Big H; 5.8%) ), Vienna Lager (Indian Lager; 5.4%), and a collaboration beer with Solemn Oath (Mythological Wonder, 7.7%) with spicy and rye notes, delicious combo hops.


Flat12 wants to give us our fruits and vegetables with so many beers on tap including their regular suspects (porter, amber, walk-about IPA, half-cycle IPA) and as usual so many seasonals, the newest being KiwiKiwiHefeWeizen with Kiwi fruit and kiwi juice so fruity, as well as Cucumber Kolsch which seems this year truly for those who love cucumbers, their Axis hefe and a Karousel Kolsch - tapped last week at the Elbow Room's 80th birthday party!

the RAM recently rolled out Barefoot wit, perfect for these hot days.

Daredevil has rolled out their Vacation Kolsch now showing up on taps throughout the state, also brewed with German ingredients and is a crisp, clean beer. Of course Daredevil Lift Off remains out there and seasonal Muse Belgian style can still be found on tap at many locations.


If you travel to Cincinnati you'll find a new brewery open (Grand Opening was June 29) with a strong Indiana connection. Rhinegeist brewing in the Over the Rhine District of the Queen City is the new home of Head Brewer Jim Matt who was a home-brewer in the award winning MECA club that also spawned now-pro-brewers Bill Ballinger and Michael Pearson of Daredevil. Jim gained professional status with SunKing, moved to head brewer status with Moerlein when they opened a brew haus in downtown Cincy, and just opened the Rheingeist operation serving a golden ale, English mild, Hoppy Wheat and IPA. Good Luck Rhinegeist and Jim!!

Bloomington Brewing Company has rolled out 10-speed nicely hopped wheat beer and a brand new Seven Sips Belgian Strong ale that has a nod to a wit with coriander + sweet and bitter orange peel but candy sugar to make it a big beer (8.3%). Also new at BBC is a Single Hop Columbus IPA following the trend of single hopped beers.
BBC's sister Lennie's restaurant and brew pub (the home of BBC beers) won a prestigious Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence award this month. The accolade, is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveler reviews on TripAdvisor.

UPCOMING:

July 4: most Indiana brewpubs are open on July 4 for growler fills!
If in Downtown Indy for the Freedom Blast (fireworks) check out the Indiana Craft Beer Garden with craft offerings from SunKing, Flat12, Fountain Square, Cutters, Barely Island and Peoples brewers.

Indiana City Brewing (26 Shelby Street a block from Washington Street and I-65), celebrates with a 4th of July Music Festival staring at 4:00 with $5 tickets and lost of live music, local beer, and food trucks -- plus a location to view the Indy fireworks.

July 6: SunKing celebrates their 4th anniversary with a Grapefruit Jungle IPA tapping with music, local beer, and food trucks 4-10PM - $10 tickets at the tasting room. Beer Tappings are scheduled throughout the day: 4pm Grapefruit Jungle, 6pm Port Barrel Aged Wee Mac, 7pm 777, 8pm Afternoon Delight, 9pm Velvet Fog.

Brewers of Indiana Guild 18th Annual Indiana Microbrewers Festival is Saturday, July 20, 3-7 p.m. at Indianapolis Art Center and Optimist Park in Broad Ripple.
Your favorite Indiana breweries will be joined by a select group of guest breweries from around the country at Indiana’s largest craft beer event. Over 300 beer selections to choose from!Details and Tix

Noted out-of-state beers coming to Indiana!

Green Flash from San Diego, noted for their West Coast style IPA, should be in distribution in Central and Southern Indiana by mid-July. Early reports suggest only 20 bars may be the first to have a GF beer on tap but many liquor stores are to get product! WCB is the distributor.

Smuttynose brewing of New Hampshire, as we previewed for Ft. Wayne story here is kicking off distribution with Cavalier in Indiana in the Northern and Southern parts of the state check releases here . We should be finding best-selling Finestkind IPA and international award-winners Robust Porter and Wheat Wine Ale in most of our areas soon.

DogfishHead has announced their return to Indiana (+ Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Wisconsin) with a cute video watch the video here . Look for DFH to work out the deal with a distributor and be back by 2014, possibly sooner.

Oskar Blues of Longmont, Colorado, the first to use CANS announced in March that they should be available in Indiana soon. Most in Indiana know of the SunKing/Oskar Blues collaboration of CHAKA last year. As OB rolls out to Indiana look for Dale's Pale and Mama's Yellow Pils.

Speaking of cans look for some other craft brewers (in Indiana) to consider cans. Foxnews.com recently released a clip from one of their junior reporters extolling the virtues of cans vs bottles

and finally, having a Summer Wedding? Beer is IN! Anja Winikka, TheKnot.com Site Director recognizes the trend: "Our brides love beer! More and more we've been seeing couples go beyond the traditional bar and really personalizing the experience for their guests. Beer is huge – everything from beer flights and craft beer bars to beer tasting stations and beer and food pairings. Couples are even serving homebrews specially created for their events. That's why we're so excited about Brewlywed Ale – it gives all craft beer lovers a chance to enjoy the trend at their weddings. Plus, what could be better for personalizing your day than a specialty wedding beer?" (thanks to PR from SamAdams)

Brew Bracket Pale Ales

After tackling Ambers, Belgians, Bourbon Barrel Aged, India Pale Ale, Stout, and Wheat; the latest incarnation of Brew Bracket featured the popular American Pale Ale style. If you’re not familiar with Brew Bracket, it’s the unique beer competition where the winner is determined based on the votes of blind tasting participants. No qualifications required, no guidelines, just pick the beer you enjoy the most. Participants taste two beers at the same time and the winner of that voting round advances to face a new opponent in the next round until an overall champion is determined.

Jake, Jason, and I attended the event and decided to take a new approach by publishing each of our votes here for a good round of public ridicule. Our picks deviated significantly from actual winners early in the competition before falling in line a bit more as we drew closer to an overall champion. Congrats to Thr3e Wise Men for winning the tournament with their Rocky Ripple Pale Ale, and to Rock Bottom Downtown for claiming runner-up with Sugar Creek Pale Ale. We’ll start with the matchups and our choices followed by a bit of commentary.

Sweet 16 Round

Flat 12 vs. Rock Bottom College Park (North Region)

Jake’s Pick: Flat 12

Jason’s Pick: Rock Bottom College Park

Nathan’s Pick: Flat 12

The People’s Choice: Rock Bottom College Park

Three Wisemen vs. Union Brewing (North Region)

Jake’s Pick: Union Brewing

Jason’s Pick: Union Brewing

Nathan’s Pick: Union Brewing

The People’s Choice: Three Wisemen

RAM vs. People’s (West Region)

Jake’s Pick: RAM

Jason’s Pick: People’s

Nathan’s Pick: People’s

The People’s Choice: RAM

Brugge Brasserie vs. Bloomington Brewing (West Region)

Jake’s Pick: Brugge Brasserie

Jason’s Pick: Brugge Brasserie

Nathan’s Pick: Brugge Brasserie

The People’s Choice: Bloomington Brewing

Upland vs. Rock Bottom Downtown (East Region)

Jake’s Pick: Upland

Jason’s Pick: Upland

Nathan’s Pick: Upland

The People’s Choice: Rock Bottom Downtown

Evil Czech vs. Triton (East Region)

Jake’s Pick: Triton

Jason’s Pick: Triton

Nathan’s Pick: Evil Czech

The People’s Choice: Evil Czech

Barely Island vs. Indiana City (South Region)

Jake’s Pick: Barley Island

Jason’s Pick: Indiana City

Nathan’s Pick: Indiana City

The People’s Choice: Barley Island

Iechyd Da vs. Half Moon (South Region)

Jake’s Pick: Iechyd Da

Jason’s Pick: Half Moon

Nathan’s Pick: Half Moon

The People’s Choice: Half Moon

Elite 8 Round

Rock Bottom College Park vs. Three Wisemen (North Region)

Jake’s Pick: Rock Bottom College Park

Jason’s Pick: Rock Bottom College Park

Nathan’s Pick: Rock Bottom College Park

The People’s Choice: Three Wisemen

RAM vs. Bloomington Brewing (West Region)

Jake’s Pick: RAM

Jason’s Pick: RAM

Nathan’s Pick: RAM

The People’s Choice: RAM

Rock Bottom Downtown vs. Evil Czech (East Region)

Jake’s Pick: Rock Bottom Downtown

Jason’s Pick: Rock Bottom Downtown

Nathan’s Pick: Evil Czech

The People’s Choice: Rock Bottom Downtown

Barley Island vs. Half Moon (South Region)

Jake’s Pick: Barley Island

Jason’s Pick: Barley Island

Nathan’s Pick: Barley Island

The People’s Choice: Barley Island

Final 4 Round

Three Wisemen vs. RAM

Jake’s Pick: Three Wisemen

Jason’s Pick: Three Wisemen

Nathan’s Pick: Three Wisemen

The People’s Choice: Three Wisemen

Rock Bottom Downtown vs. Barley Island

Jake’s Pick: Rock Bottom Downtown

Jason’s Pick: Rock Bottom Downtown

Nathan’s Pick: Barley Island

The People’s Choice: Rock Bottom Downtown

Championship Round

Three Wisemen vs. Rock Bottom Downtown

Jake’s Pick: Rock Bottom Downtown

Jason’s Pick: Three Wisemen

Nathan’s Pick: Three Wisemen

The People’s Choice: Three Wisemen

From Jason C………….

For the record, I went into this thing a Brew Bracket virgin. I had really been wanting to attend since its inception but I suppose I was just saving myself for the right style. When I saw pale ales on the calendar well, I just knew that I was ready both physically and emotionally...it was just my time. Little did I know the mental anguish that awaited when the beers I liked left the competition without so much as a goodbye note. At least I am able to take some comfort in knowing that I can stalk those beers now that their identity has been disclosed.

After sampling everything from the Sweet 16 (rounds 1&2), I felt that the North Region was in control of the bracket (even tweeted it at the time). Oddly enough, I ended up voting against the eventual winner for it's first two pairings. This isn't meant to slight Three Wisemen in the least, their beer was certainly deserving as they did receive my votes in both the Final 4 & Championship rounds. Looking back, I still feel that the toughest decision for me was the Round 1 match-up between Flat 12 & Rock Bottom CP and I maintain that the Rock Bottom CP offering was the best beer I had all day.

I was surprised that the People's entry was knocked out in Round 1 as I felt that they had the strongest offering in the West Region (and no, I'm not being a homer!). The East Region's best match-up came in Round 1 with Upland vs. Rock Bottom DT. While I gave the edge to Upland, I wasn't surprised to see Rock Bottom DT advance to the finals. Again, a first round match-up that knocked out a pretty nice beer. The last thing I really want is to be a hater but there really wasn't much to get excited about in the South Region. The only beer that really caught my attention was the offering from Indiana City. Looking at the bracket it's obvious the majority of the beer drinking populous didn't share in my taste for this beer. The flavor contained an interesting spice note (ginger maybe?) that I found to be unique and pretty tasty. Because of this combination I gave it my vote, albeit in vain, to move on to the next round.

So that's my brief summary of my first venture into the exciting world that is Brew Bracket. They say you always remember your first and I feel that the pale ales will be no exception. I've also been told that it gets better with experience so, that being said, bring on the Oktoberfests!

From Jake………….

Like Jason, I popped my brew bracket cherry this past weekend. So the theory behind this event was a March Madness style bracket of beers, with the final beer standing being the champion. This is a great idea and the execution of the event really makes it easy for the consumer to simply enjoy themselves. A pair of food trucks fed the few hundred or so people with pretzel bun sandwiches from a german food truck and scratch truck’s indian style offerings. I was surprised to see just how many brewers were at the event; a few made it out to mingle with the crowd but most of the time they were behind the scenes drinking amongst themselves. A corn hole style long toss, a raffle, and a trivia contest sponsored by NUVO kept the mass entertained as the bottle cap votes were counted.

At the beginning of the festival a 1 page handout from Ron Smith gave a brief rundown of the style’s history and what a BJCP trained judge would look for in this style. Essentially the style is an American hop showcase. Just enough malt backbone to help balance the moderate to high hop bitterness and flavor, and low to no yeast character. This is a great style for an event like this because you do not overwhelm your senses with the first few rounds.

Anyways enough about the event, lets talk about beer. As I’m sure you read I only got 7 of my 15 picks correct. This didn’t really surprise me as I had no idea what to expect. Like Jason, I thought the North and West regions were stacked with great beer, the East had a few tasty ones. Regretfully, most of the South region would have struggled against any beer in the North or West. After discussing the event, after round 2, with some friends from another blog; I picked the beer I thought would win the whole thing. I choose Andrew Castner’s creation for the RAM. Andrew’s offering made it to the semifinal round and only lost to the overall winner, Omar’s offering from Three Wisemen. Some notable first or second round upsets were Rob Caputo’s offering from Flat 12, Upland’s Campside, Ted Miller’s Brugge beer, and newcomers Indiana City. Some of the underdogs who did well were Barley Island, always great beer but more well known for their darker beers, who made it to the semifinal, and Evil Czech who lost in round 3 to finalists Rock Bottom Downtown. After only voting for Three Wisemen once, against my pick to win it all by the way, I can’t really say I think Omar’s was my favorite beer. In reality any of the semifinalists could have won, as they were all pretty tasty.

Congratulations to Omar, and everyone at Three Wisemen! The future of brew bracket is promising. With Oktoberfests on the horizon for the next event in September and another one later this year there will be plenty of opportunity for you to end your brew bracket virginity as well. Oktoberfest is one of my absolute favorite styles, so I will be at the next event. Now I’m sorry I missed Bourbon Barrel Brew Bracket, sounds like it was a good time. What I would love to see next year is some more interesting styles like Saison, Schwarzbier, and perhaps a Berliner Weisse competition.

From Nathan………….

This was a pretty strong field of beers, I can only think of one entry that the three of us were unanimously unimpressed with. So there were a fair amount of tough decisions, and the brackets pretty much guarantee some of your favorites will be knocked out early. It’s interesting to note that as a group we unanimously voted against Thr3e Wisemen in the two North region matchups, but this is primarily because the Union and Rock Bottom CP beers were exceptional in my opinion.

The first round matchup between Flat 12 and Rock Bottom CP was just brutal – those were probably my two favorite beers in the competition. The Evil Czech vs. Triton matchup was also very difficult as they both ranked near the top of my list. I haven’t had the chance to try a lot of offerings from Evil Czech, so it was great to find out they had such a strong offering in this competition. Of course, none of the four beers I mentioned as favorites advanced past the round of 8, and the people have spoken! On the other hand, the few entries I didn’t care for were also eliminated in the first two rounds.

Once we reached the Final 4, my favorites were gone but the remaining entries were very solid. At this point, my notes tabbed the Thr3e Wisemen entry as the best remaining beer in the field. This seems illogical since I had voted against it twice, but the North Region entries were disproportionately strong. Once we pass the Porter competition in December, the next challenge may be finding new styles that Indiana brewers produce commonly enough to hold a full 16 brewer competition. Brown Ales, Lagers, and Light Hybrids (Cream Ales, Blonde Ales, etc.) are a few that still come to mind. Thanks to Brew Bracket for putting another great event and motivating me to pick up a sixer of the Flat 12 Walkabout!

 

Check out the Brew Bracket event page for your next chance to participate and select a champion (hopefully with a better rate of success than we had)! Upcoming events include:

Oktoberfest Beers

September 28th, 2013

8 Brewers, 150 Participants

Held at Tomlinson Tap Room (in City Market, Indianapolis)

Porters

December 7th, 2013

16 Brewers, 400 Participants

Held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis

Brew Bracket: The Cure For All Your (Pale) Ales! - Contest & Information.

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Feelin' a little out of sorts? Need something to help out those beer blues?

Time to step right up and head on over to Brew Bracket 7 and get the cure for all your (pale) ales!

For limited time only - June 15th from 3-7pm, come and help find the best ale, the best brew, the one that all others pale in comparison to!

For those new to Brew Bracket: Here is the breakdown -

• You & 399 Beer Drinkers at the Indiana Fairgrounds - Exposition Hall
• 16 Breweries
  • Flat 12 Bierwerks
  • Upland Brewing Co.
  • Bloomington Brewing Co.
  • Barley Island - (BBIII: Wheats - Winner)
  • Triton Brewing Co.
  • Brugge Brasserie
  • Rock Bottom - College Park
  • Rock Bottom - Downtown (BBI: IPA - Winner)
  • Half Moon Brewing
  • The RAM - Two Time Winner! (BBIV: BB, BBV:Amber)
  • Iechyd Da Brewing Co.
  • Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Co.
  • Union Brewing Company
  • Indiana City Beer - New to the competition!
  • People's Brewing Co.
  • Evil Czech Brewery
• 4 Hours of Blind Tastings
• 4 Round of voting
• You help pick the winner!
• Benefits - PUP (People for Urban Progress)

Want more? - Tickets are at www.brewbracket.com

VIP - $45, GA - $35, 4-Pack of GA - $120 & DD - $5

Now -- For a treat! 

How about getting some tickets for -- FREE!

We at IndianaBeer.com love beer and we know our readers do too.

We also love Brew Bracket! 

And with all this love - we are offering one reader a chance to win two free tickets to BB7: The Cure for All Your (Pale) Ales.. 

To enter:

Please comment on the blog with your 

FAVORITE INDIANA MADE PALE ALE 

*   Must be  registered comment, no anonymous comments allow

A random winner will be chosen and announced on our Facebook page on Wednesday 6/12 at 5pm!

Edit:
We have a winner for @BrewBracket BB7!! - Christopher Sturgeon! Please e-mail kathleen@indianabeer.com for further details. Thank you to the ones who participated. It was great seeing everyone's choices.

Thank you to Brew Bracket! 

and

Good luck to the breweries.. may your ales save us all!

Indiana City Beer Grand Opening

                                                                                                                                                              

Another brewery has joined the Indianapolis downtown area!  

After a long wait, Indiana City Beer has officially opened its doors at 24 Shelby St.  The brewery is in good company with Sun King Brewing Co. and Flat 12 Bierwerks each a small 15 minute walk away.  

Building its home from the roots of the Home Brewing Co., Indiana City Beer has mixed the clean lines of today within its taproom while maintaining the building's original brick structure.  

The grand opening celebration kicked off at 2pm on Saturday and this reporter was able to be on the scene to enjoy the crowds, the food trucks, the music and most importantly, the beer.

Currently available for pints and growlers, Indiana City Beer offers four beers:

• Yacht Rock - a Belgian-style wheat ale
• Beyond the Pale - a pale ale
• Shadow Boxer  - an oatmeal stout
• Dock 7  - an IPA

On Saturday, I had a pint of the Yacht Rock, and it was the perfect beer for a nice spring/early summer day.

It had a slight creamy /citrus aftertaste.  Definitely one I'd recommend readers giving a try.  

If you get a chance, pop into Indiana City Beer  during their regular hours -

Wednesday & Thursday - 4pm - 8pm

Friday & Saturday - Noon - 8pm 

Sunday - Noon - 4pm

Or Indiana City Beer can be found in rotation around local Indianapolis Bars such as Twenty Tap, Red Lion Grog House and more. 

In closing, Welcome Indiana City Beer! I look forward to trying more of your beer. 

Cheers!

Kathleen

What is Indiana City Beer?

Honestly, there can really never be enough beer nor breweries. Every style is different, every brewery is different  and every brewer has a personality of their own.  

Welcome to Indiana City Beer. 

A new nano-brewery is in the works,  currently hoping to revive The Home Brewing Company's bottling house by fall of 2012. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Ray Kamstra, the founder of Indiana City Beer, during a tasting at Tomlinson Tap Room and tried their Oatmeal Stout along with their Pale Ale. Both were very well received by myself and my fellow bloggers. It has definitely left me curious with what else Ray will produce. 

To help fellow IndianaBeer readers know more about Indiana City Beer, I sent Ray a few questions which I hope will give curious minds a glance at what I hope will become one of Indianapolis' top nano-breweries. 

A side note before the Q&A --  Indiana City Beer is still looking for pledges for their kickstarter program . If you want to help please click the link  - How You Can Help!

Home Brewing Co 

And if you are wanting to try some of their beer -- Pop down to Fountain Square and see them tonight (8/3) at Red Lion Grog House - at 7pm. 

Q&A -- 

Answered by Ray Kamstra, Founder

How long have you been brewing?

I’ve been homebrewing for a few years now. I really dove into it head-first back when my wife and I were living in Chicago. I got started after reading Charlie Papazian’s “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing.” After my first two batches I was ready to go all-grain. The first all-grain batch I brewed was an American Pale Ale and it rocked! At that point I was hooked, and you could say that’s when I became a full-on student of brewing. I began studying text-books on brewing. After about a year of developing a solid understanding of the traditional processes and the science behind making beer, I started sending my beer off to homebrew competitions. My beer consistently receives high scores and my Wheat Ale is my blue ribbon winner.

What are your favorite styles of beer?

I’m a big fan of aromatic, hop-forward India Pale Ale. Like most beer drinkers, my tastes change with the seasons. Give me a Kolsch in the summer, a Porter in the fall and a rich Imperial Stout in the winter, but a well-balanced IPA is always in season in my opinion.

What made you decide to go from home brewing to becoming a nanobrewery?

There was a point in my brewing early on that I knew I was up to the challenge of starting my own brewery. A couple years ago I read “Starting Your Own Brewery” a publication of the Brewer’s Association, and I began reading probrewer.com to learn all I could about commercial brewing. I found real inspiration for taking my brewing to the next level by visiting microbreweries where I met guys like me with a true passion for making beer, who also got their start as homebrewers. I learned about how they put a solid plan together, perfected their craft and successfully made the leap towards going pro. That’s when I knew I had to take my passion for making great beer, along with my professional experience in graphic design and marketing to build my own brewery. I continued reading all I could about beer and brewing. Each concept I developed was reworked over and over, until I had a solid strategy in mind. Then, last winter I took two months to develop the business plan, met with advisors and revised every aspect of the plan until I had a clear roadmap for building Indiana City.

We made the decision to start off small for a couple of reasons. The main reason being, starting small keeps us close to our homebrewing roots so we can focus on brewing quality beer and being more experimental.

What was the inspiration behind the name of your brewery?

The name, Indiana City, is the literal definition of “Indianapolis” and it also highlights a sentiment of mine. Indianapolis is the major city in Indiana and I take pride in the growing arts scene and beer culture found here. The creative energy in Indy is truly comparable to what you find in bigger cities. It’s on a smaller scale, but the work ethic and artistic talent found in the community here is second to none. I want Indiana City to grow in this community as the community grows along with it.

How is Indiana City Beer going to define and separate themselves from current breweries?

First of all, we will be much smaller than all of our neighbors. Being small allows us to take a hand-crafted approach to brewing beer that celebrates the art of craft brewing. Our beers are a little different from what other brewers are doing. We start on the foundation of traditional styles and take it up a notch with specialty spices, aromatic hops and increased alcohol. For example, our Pale Ale is a Belgian style with aromatic hops common to American style Pale Ale and slightly spiced with an ingredient rarely used in beer. The result is a fresh, aromatic beer that doesn’t really fit into a traditional style category. To us, that’s what craft beer is all about.

It’s our mission to brew innovative beers for craft beer lovers in Indy. And that is that. We’re focused on Indy. We’re doing all we can to add to the beer culture right here. We’ll be filling growlers at our taproom near downtown, and we’ll be on tap at select craft beer bars in Indy.

Indiana City will be an outlet for local artists to display their work, perform, collaborate and expand local creative expression. We have an affinity for breweries that understand the important role visual arts play in the craft beer experience. When you smell and taste a beer you're experiencing the artistry of the brewer who made it. The visual aesthetic of the label on the bottle or the taphandle it was poured from effects that experience too. Done well, we believe visual art can heighten that experience and lead to an even greater respect for beer. Though we have no plans to bottle or can in the first couple years, the visual arts will be woven into every beer we brew.

When is your estimated date for opening the taproom?

We’re shooting for opening later this year. It’s nearly impossible to give an exact date at this time. There are just way too many variables, but we are on track for getting it all put together by the end of this year. We post regular updates on our website at indianacitybeer.com and on Facebook and Twitter. Anyone who follows our progress there will be among the first to know.

Please help welcome Indiana City Beer; support your local breweries so that we can continue to grow Indiana's beer presence to the nation. 


- Kathleen

Beers, Cheers, and Sneers – July 19

Just a brief rundown with some exciting Indiana news items to pass along before tonight’s date with Iron Maiden. I’ll try to take good notes on the diverse and affordable beer selection at Deer Creek Verizon Wireless Klipsch Music Center. But let’s start with a few leftover notes from the Blogger’s Conference: 

Friday night’s gathering at Tomlinson Tap Room presented the first opportunity to sample some beer from Indiana City Brewing. Both the Pale Ale and Oatmeal Stout were nice offerings and I’m looking forward to the chance to try their full lineup. The Pale Ale is sort of a hybrid of American/Belgian characteristics with spices that make it a little more distinctive than your typical flagship offering. They are targeting an opening of this fall with the exact location yet to be announced. If you want to help support Indiana City, check out their Kickstarter campaign where donations can earn you various rewards up to designing and brewing your own recipe.

We had the chance to try a couple beers from Sam Adams that should be showing up in retail outlets in the near future. Fat Jack is a “double pumpkin” 8.5% specialty ale that manages to give the impression of a pumpkin beer complemented by spices rather than the other way around. Fat Jack should be available this fall in bombers and it worth a try if you’re in the market for new pumpkin ales. The Thirteenth Hour addition to their Barrel Room Collection is an imperial stout brewed with Belgian-style yeast and blended with oak aged ale. I don’t know what the price tag will be on this, but I’d highly recommend it if you’re able to pick one up in the $10 range.

Another upcoming addition to Indiana craft brewing is Union Brewing Company in Carmel. Union will be unique in their approach to serving all of their beers cask-conditioned through a hand-pulled beer engine. Union is targeting a mid-to-late September opening at 622 S. Rangeline Road and will have a dining menu provided by nearby SoHo Cafe & Gallery. You can read more about their plans and see a floor plan of the new brewery in an article from Current Night and Day. Note to the Night and Day author and local media in general: I’m starting to think that continuing to perpetuate the idea that Indiana has “very few microbreweries compared to other states” is becoming a bit outdated. Unless your benchmark state is Oregon.

If you’re heading to New Albanian’s 25 Years of Beer & Loathing on Sunday, you can find the full beer lineup here. There will also be a keg of Three Floyds Alpha King tapped at the NABC Pizzeria and Public House on Saturday at 4pm in memory of their friend Margaret Bauman. If you knew Margaret, raise a glass of hoppy ale in her memory this Saturday wherever you may be.

2012 Great American Beer Festival tickets go on sale July 31st at noon for members of the Brewers Association or American Homebrewers Association. General public sales begin August 2nd at noon. If you can only attend select sessions, I highly recommend attending Thursday night and skipping Saturday night based on past experience. Unless the idea of a frat party in a convention center seems appealing. Or you enjoy feeling like this ==>

Cheers, Nathan