Misc News – Sept 14

The Hoosier Hops and Harvest in Story saw about 250 people enjoying good bluegrass and samples from Big Woods, Upland, Power House, New Albanian, Bee Creek, and World Class Beverages. Shame there weren't more people as it was a good fest in a beautiful glen. Just a little out of the way (and the 7 cop cars at the entrance didn't encourage anyone passing on Ind 135 to just drop in).

Some quick reviews:

• Bee Creek Ale – Their newest offering is 2-row and Carapils with a light Cascades touch at 17 IBU. They say there's no honey in this one but it has a nice touch of that sweetness. It will prove popular. That's their new honey-hauler at right.
• Big Woods Busted Knuckle – Dark, Malty, Light bodied. A good example of a Southern Brown.
• Big Woods Possum Trot Pale Ale – Floral and Bright.
  
• Lil' Charlie's Harry's Pale Ale - Copper, plenty hoppy, worthy of Harry's name.
• Lil' Charlies Father Franz' Hefeweizen - Liberty and Chinook in a Krystalweizen. Fresh tasting and mild.
• Lil' Charlies Red Wheat – Bolder, sweeter, maltier, and a favorite with EKG.
• Lil' Charlies Bull Ram Bock – Light copper color and a full bold malty flavor on a EKG base. 7%. This could be great if barrel aged.
• Lil' Charlies Batesville Blonde. Pilsner with liberty and EKG. Light and 4.8%.
• New Albanian Blackgrass Saison. Using lemon grass and black pepper, both of which come through. Deep chill-haze copper served appropriately with no head and no room left in the 1/2 litre glass. 5.3%.
• Power House Pogo Stick Wheat Ale – Hoppy American Hefe. Very cloudy. Lots of Simcoe.
• Upland Oktoberfest Lager – Malt to style and a perfect light orange color.
• Bell's Oarsman – Sour mash techniques with enough sour to be noticable. Another winner.

Upland will have some of the current batch of lambics out near the end of October.

NABC say their 3-head bottler will be producing bombers in November. Hoptimus and Elector are slated to debut first.

Jared Williamson, the brewer at the Grant Line NABC facility, has been running a set of brackets over the last couple of months. Cascade beat Nugget, Amarillo beat Centennial, Simcoe trounced Chinook, and next up is Summit vs Warrior. He makes an APA 4-bbl batch of each using just one hop, dry hops it likewise, releases them both on the same day, and sits back to see which empties first. In late Nov Cascades will take on Amarillo and Simcoe will meet either Summit or Warrior. The final round may coincide with the Super Bowl. The NABC 8th anniversary ale will use all 8 hops in an 8% 80 IBU special.

It's finally happened. Nick, Barnaby, and Chris of Three Floyds visited Brew Dog. By the looks of the pictures, this should end well.

If you buy a growler of Wheat from Lil' Charlies, they will, upon request, include orange slices. Neat idea.

Jim Schembre tells us a fill crew will be following him, Bob Mack and other World Class Beverages folks around for a while doing a documentary. They will start in Denver while Jim tries to bounce from place to place during his very busy GABF schedule.

This week's beer adventures: (plus a lot of liquor store tastings you can find in the Calendar. Thurs, Sept 16 Tapping of Rocktoberfest at both Indy Rock Bottoms. 6pm Feast of Fall Beers - Tasting. Keg Liquors, Clarksville. 5-8pm. Free. 20 O'fests. Bell's Night at the Chubby Trout, Elkhart. Incl Batch 9,000 and Oracle. Sandkerwa NA might will begin at New Albanian's Public House. They still have not received the Anstich kegs from Franconia so the start date is dependent on that. The casks are in. Check The Potable Curmudgeon for updates details. Fri, Sept 17 Upland Oktoberfest firkin tapping at Sonka Irish Pub, Terre Haute. Dry hopped with Magnum. Hosted by Caleb Staton. 5:30 Sept 17-18 Great Lakes Brewfest, Racine, WI. Upland will be pouring. Sat, Sept 18 Back Road Fall Fest. The Ein Prosit Band with the Alphorngruppe will be back again. Oaktoberfest party. Noon-4pm. Oaken Barrel, Greenwood Cincinatti Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati. Noon-Midnight

Bell's Brewery announces $52M expansion over next six years. article "The projects are aimed at accommodating the company’s goal of  20 percent annual growth".

If you will ever be close to a breathalyzer (and you will), you need to read "When Alcohol is Not Alcohol". 

The Zythophile has some very good points – So What Is the Difference Between Barleywine and Old Ale?

LiL' Charlie's hits the glasses running.

Lil' Charlie's official opening wasn't until today but you wouldn't have known that at the Batesville Oktoberfest celebration in the parking lot Saturday. About 500 people enjoyed free food from CIA Chef Adam Israel's kitchen. Bavarian tablecloths. DJ, MC, etc. Event T-shirts and mugs. And a homebrew contest. If you remember, they bought the house next door (at right below), attached it to the main restaurant, created a fine homey stucco-walled bar and installed a brew kit. Compare with the old look at right.

Judges

Andy Greenlee and Travis Law (right) took the top three honors at the homebrew contest and got gift certificates for the Steakhouse as well as bragging rights. They both came over from Columbus after Powerhouse's Pro-Am homebrew contest earlier in the day.

Two pairs of young lovers from Oldenburg were in 4th place with a quite decent APA – the result of their very first brewing from their very first beer kit bought last month. Ryan Paul, Lindsay Baker, Molly Tunny, Kyle Tekulve (pardon if the order isn't right).

All the judges and all the entrants were interviewed for the crowd's approval

Beers on tap include

• Lil' Charlie's Batesville Blonde – Sometimes when you say "perfectly acceptable" it's a good thing. Like this well-carbonated dark copper lager. It will satisfy the BMC drinker at their Steakhouse already known locally for its good beer list. Specifics? You know them. Creamy blonde you've had a dozen times. Clean, quenching. Liberty and East Kent Goldings. 4.8% ABV. Good starter.
• Father Franz' Hefeweizen – The hefe-ness is variable so please think of it as a American Wheat. Liberty and Chinook hops. 5.0 ABV.
• Harry's Pale Ale – Very good American Pale Ale. After a long day of tasting, this was nice to come back to. Not heavy on the bitter but satisfying with a drying finish.

Bull Ram Bock and Fire House Red Wheat round out their beer stable with the addition of one seasonal on 6 of their 14 taps. The other 8 have offerings also suitable for the casual dinner crowd.

LiL' Charlies Brewhouse Opening Scheduled

LiL' Charlies Steakhouse And Grill in Batesville, you may remember, is adding a 20bbl brewhouse.

From last November: There's a steakhouse in Batesville called Lil' Charlies that has bought the house next door to hold 20bbl brewery equipment and become a brewpub. Hurrah. Owners Kip and Tricia Miller and Adam Israel's plan includes a complete overhaul of the restaurant, the addition of a bar area, increased seating, etc. etc. Adam will be the brewmaster along with his chef title - he's a CIA grad.

Well, they're getting ready to open and are planning a party on Saturday, Sept 12th in conjunction with Batesville's first ever Oktoberfest. Their parking lot will be the scene of a small beer festival and Adam is hoping to have some guest breweries pouring (did you get that hint, Jon, Caleb, Floyd, Dan, Mark, John?). Band will start at 6 and a comedian at 10pm.

They will also have a bratwurst eating contest and a homebrew contest. No entry forms available yet but watch their website for details.

The new bar area inside will officially open on Monday, Sept 14th.

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Ben Ross has put up some excellent pages about the history of Lafayette Breweries. Bohrer and Thieme & Wagner get special attention.

"Wastin’ away again in Weihenstephan.
Drinking Kristallweiss from a large stein.
This much is clear,
This is not a dark beer.
And I know it treats me just fine."
                    - Jason

Hoppin' Frog has Hop Master's Abbey and Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale coming up in September. Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. may show up in Indiana this month.

Britain’s Colourful Pub Signs.