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

Quick Tips for the Indiana Microbrewers Festival

The quick and not so “dirty” hints for the Indiana Microbrewers Festival. 100+ brewers meaning likely nearly 1000 different beer possibilities. There is no way to try it all. But you likely know that. There are multiple types of beer festivals and the IMBF is the ‘huge offering’ type. One beer fest attender strategy is to find new beers you don’t know yet and go find those. I found that strategy often leads me walking back and forth across festival grounds with the advantage meaning at least walking off some of the calories and giving me some time. Another strategy, a more efficient strategy, is to move carefully from one brewery to another deciding as I go which I will skip and which beers I will sample. I skip almost every beer I know (sometimes a favorite lulls me away from that goal) on the hunt for some lesser familiar beer or a new brewer or brewery. I encourage you to find your own strategy instead of wandering aimlessly from place to place.

What beers? Find the list here http://www.indianabeerfest.com/ & scroll down
Where do I start? It seems so many people enter and just go get in some line. We suggest you decide what types of breweries you MOST want to sample from! Here are some thoughts:

- Do you want to try those you are less likely to ever drive to? If so, look for the breweries that are farthest away. If you live in Central Indiana, maybe you start with 3 Floyds of Munster, Bare Hands of Granger, Evil Czech of Mishawaka, Carsons of Evansville, Tin Man of Evansville, Iechyd Da of Elkhart, or Big Dawg of Richmond.

- Do you want to find the most unusual beers? That might be Bare Hands ThaiPA, Figure 8's CAMP coffee carmel, Flat12's surprises, Burn 'Em Smoked Pork Porter, Books&Brews Soba buckwheat, and BEER LIST HERE

- Do you want to try new breweries? Start with Mashcraft of Greenwood, Scarlet Lane of McCordsville, Chilly Waters of Indy, Taxman of Bargersville, Tow Yard of Indy, and on to Daredevil.

- Do you want to visit the biggest so you don't miss what your friends talk about? Sun King, Upland, 3Floyds then Flat12, Triton, etc.

- Do you want to visit award winners? See our recent list of gold medalists for Brewers Cup READ HERE Gold medals listed here and start with Chilly Water

- Do you want to revisit the "Tried & True," Some of Indiana's oldest breweries? The Broad Ripple Brew Pub, Barley Island, Oaken Barrel, The Bloomington Brewing Co., Mad Anthony, New Albanian, Lafayette Brewing.

Maybe you have your OWN thought such as shortest lines, beer other people talk about at the event, the ability to get exercise by walking back and forth.... just think about how you will approach this.

Remember, you have a small tasting glass and even a 2 ounce pour means 6 samples equals one legal bottle of beer. The body can handle one bottle per hour for most of us (some a lot more, some less) so 20-30 beers to try is very possible, just which ones? With 80 breweries you can't even get one from each place! (Hey, that was NOT a challenge.)

And our own Nathan Compton had a great blog with some other thoughts (Potty break, anyone?) for the Winterfest so rather than repeat it all, just check out Nathan's thoughts HERE.

AND say HI to Kathleen who will be there for Indianabeer.com !!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Remember: BEER FESTS

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

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

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

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

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

Brewers Cup Gold Medals: Professional Breweries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Festival time: Indiana Winterfest, KY TailSpin Ale fest, & More.

Tis the season for Winter Beer Fests! Winterfest from the Brewers of Indiana Guild will be held this coming Saturday, January 31, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in the Marsh Blue Ribbon Pavilion. More information and ticket purchases (3-7 PM) can be found here . We have talked to several brewers and while we don't want to spoil surprises you can clearly guess that you will find plenty of Bourbon Barrel Aged but also Rum barrel aged and specialty heavy beers! THere will be over 102 breweries represented! To build your anticipation you may want to look over our review of the 2014 event Winterfest 14 In addition, Nathan wrote a blog nearly a year ago on Maximizing your Winterfest Experience. The advice still holds! Check that Advice HERE

Lafayette Brewing Company's Winter Warmer event is already sold out but you might snag some tickets from friends as this event is held Feb. 7 (5-9PM).

Shelfice Brew Fest is happening Feb. 7 and appears to NOT be sold out yet, with over 20 Indiana Breweries from all ends of the state + more. Venture up north to Michigan City where you might get some beers you have not had from Burning Bush, Ironwood, Four Fathers, Burn 'Em, and many more. Tix are only $35 for the 1-5 event. There is even a but to and from the local Casino and Outlet mall! More info HERE

Louisville, Kentucky's second annual Tailspin Ale Festival will be held February 20 & 21. Indiana's own Flat12 which recently opened their second brewpub in Jeffersonville, IN (Our Story HERE) , just across the bridge from Louisville, will be a featured brewery.

Just a bit more than an hour and half South of Greenwood, Indiana, on Interstate 65 is Louisville, which continues to expand their beer scene. If you missed last year, the following was part of our attendance at that event: The first ever Louisville Tailspin Ale fest was held on a Sunny Saturday featuring an even dozen Kentucky breweries, nearly 30 other breweries including 3 from Indiana, with approximately 150 beers served.

Louisville beer festivals are showcasing craft beer, welcoming all to sample both new and old brews. This year, expect over 150 beers, over 40 breweries - many from Indiana and Kentucky, as well as food trucks. On Friday night the Tailspin features their exclusive "Barrel Role" with limited edition, barrel-aged beers and VIP tickets for $85. All details are found HERE: Tailspin Festival

Gear up for the FIFTH Annual BLOOMINGTON Beer Festival, on April 11.

And the big "kahuna" will be the TWENTIETH Annual Indiana Microbrewers Festival on July 18 in a NEW VENUE of Military Park in downtown Indianapolis. Check back here future news!

Indiana Microbrewers Festival Review

Arguably the biggest event on the annual Indiana beer festival calendar, the 19th annual Indiana Microbrewers Festival was one to remember. Well, at least we found a few staff members who claim to remember. Here are some pictures, observations, and beer picks from the big day.

From Dave…..

Saturday July 19^th, the Optimists Park and the Indianapolis Art Center once again welcomed the Brewers of Indiana Guild, Indiana Microbrewers Festival. With well over 75 breweries represented, the vast majority from our Hoosier state, there was no shortage of great beers.

After some 5 hours of sampling and getting to know the friendly faces pouring those samples, there were far too many to list. There were a handful of standouts that remain in my befuddled post-festival memory though… and in no particular order, some of my personal favorites from this years event:

Flat12 – The Good Wood. I liked the concept here. A standard, approachable base beer style separated into small batches and aged on different types of wood. We tried the beer aged on Maple side by side with the same beer aged on Ash. Picking out the differing flavors/aromas imparted by the wood was a lot of fun.

Stone – Smoked Porter with Chipotle Peppers. I know, Stone isn’t exactly local, and this beer may not be one of those special one-off-you-can-ONLY-get-it-at-the-festival beers for the elite crowd. But it WAS really quite good. All of the components were there, but not muddled and not the palate wrecker you might expect from a beer with peppers and smoke.

Rhinegeist – Zen. Look for a little more about Rhinegeist and their great beers in future IndianaBeer blog posts. Having made the journey to Cincinnati a couple of times this summer, we’ve become quick fans. And of all the great beers in the Rhinegeist roster, Zen is my favorite. If I could purchase it here in Indy I may well hang up my mash paddle and meager homebrewing habit. This is the beer I dream about when it’s June and I’m working in the yard or manning the grill. Zen is a hop forward, refreshing 4.8% session beer. I highly recommend the trip out to OH if you weren’t able to sample this beer at the festival.

Taxman – We were fortunate to try both the wit and the saison from Bargersville’s latest brewery venture. Both were very solid beers. Slightly tart, refreshing on a warm day. Worth stopping by the next time you find yourself South of the capital city.

Zwanzigz – We counted ourselves fortunate indeed to get a sample of the Rye-Ice Bock, Aged in a Rye Barrel. Rumor has it there may be a small amount of this beer available in the tap room in beautiful Columbus, IN. If you’re anywhere nearby, drop what you’re doing and go there. Now. Order this beer and count yourself in the number of fortunate sons who got to experience it before it’s gone. Complex isn’t really a big enough word, and a simple description from a simple blog writer won’t do it either. You need to try it for yourself to really get it. 

All told, this year’s festival was a wonderful event. Maybe a bit on the crowded side once General Admission ticket holders were on the grounds.

But with the explosive growth of the industry, one can hardly complain about sharing beer passion with several thousand like-minded folks. We had great weather, great food, excellent beer, and made memories that will last a lifetime. Thanks to the Brewers of Indiana Guild for hosting such a great festival.

And now, let the planning for Winterfest commence!

slainte’
Dave

      

                       

From Greg…..

About half-way through the Microbrewers Festival at Opti-Park in Broad Ripple I saw the B.I.G. Director Lee Smith and new Communications Director Tristan Schmid to tell them I was not sure if it was the weather or maybe my attitude but this seemed like the best festival in a long time. The weather was perfect, and while there were plenty of people, lines seemed to flow quickly and most people looked happy! My personal goal is to find unusual beers or new breweries but also to talk the brewers and owners since this is like a “Brewery Reunion.” This was a great day for all of that.

Zwanzigz Brewer Mike Rybinski had told me a week earlier he would have a special beer at this festival; but then he ALWAYS has a special beer at a festival. His Barrel Aged Scotch Ale had all of the delicious caramel and malt of the style with added vanilla and oak from the barrel where it aged for over one year! The German style Gose, rare style, has a truly interesting saltiness with sour. I would not go for the Cucumber Lime Kolsch served with a cucumber slice (just me) but hundreds were handed out.

Figure 8 brewer Mike Lahti created quite a stir serving local Valparaiso ice cream with his own Root Beer – or did you get yours with the Rye Pale? Mike’s Camp 4 nut brown ale with chocolate, caramel, and cask conditioned (no exaggeration) coffee was a really complex offering at the firkin tent!

Black Acre continued (as did Flat 12) the concept of a theme. While I always appreciate their beer, this time I was particularly struck with their pirates costumes. The guys were almost all dressed as female pirates! Turns out a bra can be a good glass holder – or so they told us! I almost forgot about the tasty RyePA seeing the bellies sticking out of their outfits! Thankfully there was one real pirate girl, at least her outfit made it appear so.

Flat 12 went with a baseball theme. I somehow missed the “Shelled” Rye stout aged in Canadian whiskey barrels aged on cocoa nibs and peanut butter (really!) but enjoyed the George Brett B, APA with Brett and hopped with Bravo, Magnum, Chinook, and Citra. Brewer Sean was on hand to talk us through the beer while Head Brewer Rob Caputo told us he just spent a lot of time working on their new Jeffersonville, IN, facility.

I finally got a Vacation, Kolsch that is, from Daredevil. I’ve been looking for that one all summer and it did not disappoint. This version is a delicious light ale, appropriately effervescent, with just a touch of a hop finish, far less than any other ale that is pale.

Bare Hands Brewery of Mishawaka was a focal point for me, partly because I got the Mango Habenero 574, with a huge taste of mangoes but a nice spice from sliced, raw habanero peppers right in the cask. They doubled up this year with a Double Thai PA that had all we’ve come to expect of this beer in seasoning but the extra hops. Yet, what made this tent so special was Bare Hands owner Chris Gerard has recovered enough from his terrible accident to be there serving beer. The brewers of Indiana really pitched in to hold events which helped contribute to paying Chris’ hospital bills.

Scarlet Lane brewery is one of our newest with their tap room actually opening the day after Microbrewers Festival. Three medals at the Brewers Cup 2014 shows they are getting early credibility for owner Elise Lane and Head Brewer Chris Knott. Their Paeonia uses the Indiana State flower, peony, in a delicious saison that won silver this year. Their Dorian stout, a base for award winning coffee stout, is one of their regular beers and exhibited a great roast character.

Sun King offered special tappings with one of my favorite, Lonesome Dove, bourbon barrel aged triple that delivers plenty of the flavors from the barrel supported by some sweetness and nearly bubble gum character of the Belgian style.

Upland’s Head Brewer Caleb poured Light Synth for us! Light synth is a collaboration of 50% New Belgian Brewery’s Felix (an oak aged sour ale) with 40% Upland Sour Reserve oak aged plus 10% oak aged cherry lambic with cherries added. The complexity of this beer is amazing.

Big Dawg of Richmond offered their Freya’s Chosen Viking Ale a Norse beer with heather tips, juniper berries and honey using grains soaked in birch wood. Unusual may not be a strong enough word.

Bloomington Brewing had the Ol’ Floyd’s Belgian Dark Strong aged in bourbon barrels alongside a randle infused Quarrymen pale ale. Of course they had their silver award winning Ten Speed Hoppy Wheat and their Gold from last year Rooftop IPA.

I tip my hat to Carson’s brewery of Evansville to my first beer of the festival, their delicious Brown Cow English brown ale. Brewer John Mills walked away with 3 awards this year at Brewer’s Cup.

Tin Man of Evansville had the Pink Peppercorn IPA that took a silver this year at Brewers Cup. The spice is truly amazing.

The grounds are very nice and provide a pleasant atmosphere to walk around, yet this festival is so large and spread out with clusters of brewers making it easy to get sidetracked with talk or from the crowd. I missed a few beers that I truly intended to try.

        

         

From Nathan…..

“Quality over quantity”……it’s a familiar refrain in the world of craft beer drinkers. Sure, it may be just a bit disingenuous to dismiss the quantity aspect when a massive crowd descends on Broad Ripple to binge on 4 or 5 hours of beer drinking. But it actually seems to apply to the experience at this year’s Microbrewers Festival. First the good: I can’t think of another Microbrewers Festival where the overall quality of the beer I sampled measured up to this year. Now the bad: Who the hell had any beer left in the six o’clock hour this year? Not many it seemed, so the few that did attracted a sizable crowd. The most disappointing aspect is several of the breweries on my “must try” list for this year ran out of beer before I could get there. Ah well…can’t really say I didn’t get my money’s worth in the first few hours anyway.

To the committee who planned the Port-a-Johns this year…..bravo!!! It’s amazing how beer festivals across the country chronically underestimate the need for bathroom space when thousands of people are there for the primary purpose of drinking beer. Listen up festival organizers….this ain’t rocket science….people are going to need toilets. And if you need an example of how to do it right – look no further than Indiana’s own Microbrewers Festival. Rather than being centered in a huge cluster with even larger lines, the facilities were well spaced and plentiful throughout the festival grounds. Lines ranged from minimal to virtually nonexistent. What a rare pleasure to attend a festival that didn’t require a half-hour wait for the privilege of peeing in a plastic box.

These festivals have grown to the point where a comprehensive review of the breweries is impossible. So we always try to target places that are outside the Indy area and find the up-and-coming Hoosier brewers that we just can’t visit everyday. These folks end up receiving well-deserved accolades in posts like this, but they also become destinations for future beer trips. It’s the large festivals like this which have introduced us to the likes of Bare Hands, Iechyd Da, and Zwanzigz. Word clearly gets around and the lines for these breweries have grown longer with each passing festival.

Well, add a new one to the list this year as Culver/Mishawaka’s Evil Czech Brewery was the day’s winner in my book. They hit the coveted festival combo of offering a diverse, unique lineup (Belgians, Specialty IPAs, Peppers, Coffee, etc.) with solid technical execution. I sampled four of the beers at their table and all were excellent. Their line was minimal when we passed through the area – that will change in the future and you need to check them out if you haven’t recently. I suppose it probably didn’t hurt that Poppi had a lady boner for the server’s vintage dress. But I digress…..on to the beer picks:

Pick of the Day: Evil Czech White Reaper (Belgian White IPA with honey and lemongrass)

Honorable Mentions

Bare Hands Brewery - Pineapple 574 DIPA

Figure 8 Brewing - Black Corridor Imperial Stout (served with a scoop of ice cream)

Iechyd Da - Fearless King (Smoked Rye Porter)

Shoreline Brewery – Barrel Aged Big Bella Scotch Ale

Three Floyds – Evil Power Imperial Pilsner

Zwanzigz – Gose Beer (wheat beer with coriander and salt)

If you did not get enough sampling or you did not go, consider the 45 minute drive south of Indy to GnawBrew in beautiful Brown County this weekend, starting Saturday, 2:00 PM. Featuring 20 breweries + wineries, music, art, and a free primitive camping spot, this is an ideal and more intimate way to get to know local, Indiana breweries. The venue is Valley Branch Retreat (Map here) From newer brewers Tow Yard, Taxman, & Quaff On to established Powerhouse, New Albanian, Zwanzigz, and Fountain Square, you have a great chance of sampling. CLICK HERE for Tickets

MicroBrewers Festival - Strategies to make the most of a beer event!

It's that time again! Tomorrow is the third and biggest major Indiana Beer Fest associated with the Brewers of Indiana Guild. The 19th Microbrewers Festival starts at 3:00 for general admission and is likely sold out by the time you read this but check here or Big Red Liquors locations. We don't pretend to believe 'we know best' how to visit a festival. Yet, we want to at least encourage attendees to think about a strategy!

Here are some questions to think about before you go!

Where will I park? That is a very important question with 6000 people descending upon a park where there is no direct parking lot in the cute little area known as Broad Ripple. There is a parking garage at 62nd & College Av. within a few blocks. Go to an online map and at least get an idea where you might park.

What can I bring in? The B.I.G. answers that and a few other questions here with other FAQS

Where do I start? It seems so many people enter and just go get in some line. We suggest you decide what types of breweries you MOST want to sample from! Here are some thoughts:

- Do you want to try those you are less likely to ever drive to? If so, look for the breweries that are farthest away. If you live in Central Indiana, maybe you start with 3 Floyds of Munster, Bare Hands of Granger, Evil Czech of Mishawaka, Carsons of Evansville, Tin Man of Evansville, Iechyd Da of Elkhart, or Big Dawg of Richmond.

- Do you want to find the most unusual beers? That might be Bare Hands ThaiPA, Figure 8's CAMP coffee carmel, Flat12's surprises, Burn 'Em Smoked Pork Porter, Books&Brews Soba buckwheat, and BEER LIST HERE

- Do you want to try new breweries? Start with Mashcraft of Greenwood, Scarlet Lane of McCordsville, Chilly Waters of Indy, Taxman of Bargersville, Tow Yard of Indy, and on to Daredevil.

- Do you want to visit the biggest so you don't miss what your friends talk about? Sun King, Upland, 3Floyds then Flat12, Triton, etc.

- Do you want to visit award winners? See our recent list of gold medalists for Brewers Cup READ HERE and start with Upland and on to Bier Brewery!

- Do you want to revisit the "Tried & True," Some of Indiana's oldest breweries? The Broad Ripple Brew Pub, Barley Island, Oaken Barrel, The Bloomington Brewing Co., Mad Anthony, New Albanian, Lafayette Brewing.

Maybe you have your OWN thought such as shortest lines, beer other people talk about at the event, the ability to get exercise by walking back and forth.... just think about how you will approach this.

Remember, you have a small tasting glass and even a 2 ounce pour means 6 samples equals one legal bottle of beer. The body can handle one bottle per hour for most of us (some a lot more, some less) so 20-30 beers to try is very possible, just which ones? With 80 breweries you can't even get one from each place! (Hey, that was NOT a challenge.)

And our own Nathan Compton had a great blog with some other thoughts (Potty break, anyone?) for the Winterfest so rather than repeat it all, just check out Nathan's thoughts HERE.

Go, enjoy, experience, look us up! The weather should really cooperate this year!

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

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