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

Winterfest 2014 Review

New venue, new breweries, and new writers for us………it’s time to revisit the season’s preeminent beer festival with beer picks, failed strategies, and other observations from Winterfest 2014.

From Greg…..

Five-thousand attendees; eighty breweries; Four to Five Hours depending on your entry; well over 400 beers to sample: mission impossible. As our man Nathan pointed out just before the fest you must have a strategy, and even that can go awry once the crowd or a friend pulls you in another direction.

First the overall view: Great Venue, The Champions Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds eliminated the outside hustle in the rain to try specialty beers. Great volunteers, the Hoosier Beer Geeks organize a virtual army of folks who do everything from watch exits, take tickets, pour beer, assist crowds, assist breweries, and act as Ambassadors for craft beer and the event. Great Brewer Turnout, from the most established to the newest breweries including a number from out-of-state and several of those who have never been to an Indiana festival. We've seen a few comments about the line and entry times and given the first time in this venue we know Brewers of Indiana Guild will work to improve everything possible.

One of my strategies was to visit breweries I can't get to every day; sample from those that I know less. Thus, bypassing some of my regular haunts was difficult, and I did get back to some of them, but first a look at breweries we don't cover much:

We want to congratulate newbies like Wayne and Kathy Norris of Norris English Pub, Liberty, IN, for opening to fulfill their dream back in August and for their first festival. Norris English Pub is currently a nano-brewery distributing beer and working on a future retail location. Norris is focusing on English style ales (as the name suggests) with an Amber, Porter, Bitter, and American IPA. Their beers are smooth and without flaws for each style and we see they get some positive ratings on Untapped. Right now NEP is also producing other label beer for certain restaurants as well as having their own label beer on tap in just a few places.

18th Street Brewery of Gary, IN, is one we expect a lot out of. Owner/Brewer Drew Fox has a background in restaurants and hotels and took his home brewing experience to Pipeworks Brewing in Chicago. Drew had started with test batches at home while working a full-time job, morphed that to Pipeworks, then kept his focus (as Pipeworks knew) on opening his own place. He brought his concept to the Miller Beach, IN, neighborhood which is a stop on the Southshore Line Railroad and gets visitors from that city as well as locals to enjoy his brew. Currently brewing on a 3.5 bbl system 18th Street opened in late 2013. They offered a big and delicious "Hunter" double milk stout at 9% and a "Hunter Coffee" special release along with Lake Street Express American Pale (33 ibu) and Moon Walk Double IPA (66 ibu). All solid. A quick check on Untapped revealed high ratings.

Back Road Brewery of LaPorte, IN, has been around since 1996 and is one of those "local" brewers that attracts local customers. Look up reviews and you see words like "cozy" and "friendly." Their Blueberry Stout delivered plenty of blueberry flavor without overdoing and drew solid attendee comments. Their No. 9 barleywine also got very positive reviews. They were brave enough to bring a Bacon Spire Pale which was a little shy on bacon but did not offend.

Big Dawg Brewhaus, Richmond, IN, is one that has transitioned well from winery owners to solid beers, too. DownTown Chipotle Brown delivered a unique and tasty warming experience -- spicy and bold as promoted and a whopping 7.8% While not on the original beer list, a Belgian Triple made its appearance at 12% which was smooth, slightly sweet, and definitely warming. Two good beers, great conversation, and notes about the June 6 & 7 Viking Fest (more on that in our blog later) it was time to move on and not settle in too much.

Danny Boy Beer Works, Carmel, IN, is a small micro operating since the end of May, and a strong affiliation with Brockway Tavern in Carmel gave them an outlet and testing grounds for beer. KP and Prescott served up their Black, a 77 ibu Blck IPA with Citra and Cascade hops making a highly pleasing hoppy and balanced beer. Training Day is an assertive pale at 33 ibu but adding Galaxy and Citra hops to Cascade. Look for a Scotch at 7.8% to come from them soon.

Salt Creek Brewery, just north of Bedford, IN, is not on everyone's radar but I've been there a few times and Owner/Brewer Brad Hawkins brought along several of his beers including a local favorite Vanilla Porter. While this was somewhat heavy on the vanilla I am reminded that Brad runs a truly local venue with good food, good music, and pleasing the local palates. So I accept the fact that while I might like a tad less vanilla if that is what the customers want, the God Bless Brad for running a successful local and colorful place almost in the middle of nowhere (Needmore, Indiana, actually)! This brew pub is located in a former auto and truck service garage with the grease pit clean but still visible. I want to give Brad a shout for his Bradweiser Black IPA, and for Von Bierbauch (means beer belly in German) alt beer. One of Brad's loyal customers is German and an inspiration for the latter. Local beer!

Carson's Brewery, Evansville, IN, made their first appearance as they have only been truly open in their new facility a few months. This is a brewery with a 20-barrel system and beautiful tap room. I wanted their Icesis (again) which at 7% is a nice, spicy winter ale. This spiced brown ale base delivers cinnamon and coriander. The Carson's flagship is Brown Cow brown ale going down smooth at 5% and 32 ibu.

Quaff On, Nashville, IN, is the production brewery which originally started with brew pub Big Woods. They get my nod for most improved brewer since brewer Mark Havens left Oaken Barrel to head up this operation. I had tried their current Busted Knuckle Baltic porter recently and got over for a sample of the Bourbon Busted which delivered 8% and was a great base beer enhanced with the wood.

Getting through the crowd after sampling several beers I knew it was time to get to some beers I really wanted to try from places I do know.

Flat12 Bierwerks Head Brewer Rob Caputo had teased me weeks earlier with a glimpse of Whorechata bubbling away in fermentation. I knew just enough to want to be certain to get some. Boy am I glad I did! The traditional Spanish & Mexican horchata is almost like an egg nog but no eggs and is made with rice, cinnamon and sometimes nuts and seeds. Rob's Whorechata had the smoothness of the rice and the spice of the cinnamon along with almond flour and lactose. At 4.8% I could have downed a couple of pints of this as a dessert, but I had more tasting to do. Then came the Centeno Grande, also by Rob, the Imperial Rye cousin of popular Pogue's Run Porter but with mucho Mexican pilocillo sugar, weighing in at 8% and oh so delicioso! Finally (hold your breath) El Tacquiria Bohemia Roja, with lime zest, cilantro, cumin, and chipotle peppers. Holy flavor, el guapo! Was this beer or lunch? I had to pry myself away!

Zwanzigz Brewing was over in a corner where I could get away from the crowd and hang out with owners Kurt and Lisa and brewmaster Mike Rybinski. Mike, a medal winning brewer before joining Zwanzigz, had lured me with a traditional Eisbock. Yep, Mike had used the traditional method of freezing a lager. Why? The freezing process forms ice crystals which lose 7-10% of their water creating a strong beer. This one had all of the character of a German beer with power! Mike also took their popular chocolate golden ale (again, a nearly clear ale -- not stout, not porter) and aged in in a bourbon barrel. Whoa! True chocolate flavor, ale qualities from the base beer, with vanilla and notes of oak. Of course, I had to have a sample (okay, two) of their now famous Fulcrum Imperial Stout on Ghost Pepper. We've written about this before as it deliver the wonderful roast of stout and slight, oh so slight, burn of the pepper.

Black Swan, Indianapolis, was calling. We'd already had the Pulla Chile Porter on a visit to the brewpub but just had to remind ourselves (wife and I) of the nice chile flavor with very little burn - more of a tingle at the back of the throat -- and 7.8% Then the blueberry Imperial Stout at nearly 10% but almost a Russian Imperial Stout with a subtle hint of blueberries -- nice!

SunKing , Indianapolis, was a quick stop and unfortunately I'd missed a couple I wish I had not but Brewmaster Dave Colt shared his Pink Taco sour ale aged in oak barrels with raspberries and hibiscus and Brett. Wonderful, flavorful sour.

Evil Czech of Culver and now Mishawaka, IN, had all of their regular great beers we've written about but I can always enjoy the Dracula's Bite, smoked habanero black IPA. Warrior hop flavor and bittering with malt balance and pepper bite!

Bloomington Brewing is in my back yard and still I decided to get tastes of Ol Floyd's Belgian Dark Strong at 8.7% (big, bold, and flavorful), Bourbon Barrel aged Roggenbier that was a very balanced black rye collaboration with Black Acre (I love this beer) and BBL replicale!

Upland helped me get the Raspberry Sour for which I took a slightly larger than 'taste' pour to savor one of the better known lambics in the U.S.

I got to Black Acre, Indianapolis, and their nifty flight suits after the Earl Grey Belgian Wit was gone but found the Vertical Sun wit very delicious with a nicely spiced version and their Phantom Cat, Foreign Extra Stout at 7.4% with lots of roast quality.

Daredevil Brewing of Shelbyville, IN, offered several including one of my wife's go-to beers, Muse Belgian Golden Ale, and the J.W.P. Stout that is so much like pudding as a deep rich beer I could almost lovingly chew it.

And then the out-of-state breweries:

Arcadia Ales of Battle Creek and Kalamazoo is one I did not know. Operating a 25 bbl system they have been cranking out beer for 17 years. They are now being distributed again in Central Indiana. One uniqueness is their use of one yeast strain (Ringwood ale yeast). Their nut brown ale had a biscuit quality from Maris Otter malt along with five other varieties with a wonderful robust flavor. I doubled back for the tapping of their barrel aged Loch Down Scottish Ale which provided a nuttiness, caramel notes and wonderful vanilla from the oak.

Bell's of Kalamazoo, MI, was pouring Cherry Stout which I found had a robust malty chocolate with nice tart cherries; the only keg around of this year's Harvest Ale all of locally grown hops and Michigan barley which was smooth and silky at 5.7%; Wheat Love wheat wine, think barley wine but smooth, sweet and a bit funky (in a very, very good way); as well as Smitten rye pale ale.

Bluegrass Brewing Company (BBC) of Louisville can be a confusing quilt of brewing operations but the St Mathews and Downtown brew pub breweries were represented with a nice bourbon barrel porter that was nice light and spicy with vanilla, not to be confused with their almost-always-on-tap BBL Stout. I'll give a shout to Brewer Matthew Fletcher who was so nice to spend some time talking about what he's doing in the small brew space.

Against the Grain, Louisville, is one of my go-to places and my man the Hoosier turned Kentucky brewer Sam Cruz shared his Bourbon Barrel Rye with delicious rye spiciness and vanilla from the BBL with a heat at the end 'cause this sucker is 11%! He also had some 70K BBL stout which is a double recipe providing doubled up chocolate, roast, and some great vanilla notes coming in at 13%!

Urban Chestnut was represented this year and I've always enjoyed their Zwickel Bavarian Stout at their brew pub in St Louis and was able to have their Erlkönig (named after a famed German poem) Pale Wheat Doppelbock -- a surprise of flavor. Thanks to them I also got Wolpertinger, a barrel aged chestnut brown beer with Bavarian Weissbier yeast and huge bourbon taste. If you don't know, Head Brewer Florian is German and left a huge brewing conglomerate of St. Louis (you can probably guess it so I don't have to make you ...weiser) to join with a a partner and open their own operation. They recently expanded to an even larger space while keeping the original brew pub.

There were clearly more I would have loved to sample and visit with but, alas, time ran out and I was left talking with Jim Matt, former QA head at Sunking and now Head Brewer at Rhinegeist, Cincinnati, OH, but could not sample the beer. Oh well, road trip!

From Jake…..

Like most of you, my Winterfest started in the cold cold rain outside waiting in line. As 5 hours passed in a glimpse I managed to taste quite a few new brews. Lets get straight to the breweries!

I got to try Moon Walk DIPA by 18th St. Brewery from Gary, IN. Moon Walk comes in at 8.5% ABV and has a strong hop flavor that helps balance the high alcohol. In the next booth was Arcadia Ales from Battle Creek, MI who have previously been distributed in Indiana, however that was before my time being of legal drinking age. Zinc Distributing’s new craft beer manager Eric Fear signed a distribution contract with Arcadia on Friday. Start looking for their Sky High Rye a rye pale ale with west coast hops and an english malt backbone, and the Nut Brown Ale a Northern English Brown with a complex malt bill and balanced by a fresh hop flavor and aroma.

Next up was Big Dawg Brewhaus out of Richmond, IN. I was only able to try the Down Town Chipotle Brown Porter, but it was pretty tasty. I personally am a big fan of pepper beers, and ciders, this chipotle brown porter might have been a bit short in terms of heat but the smoke flavors and aromas offered by the chipotle paired with the light roast of the porter quite well. Over at flight school, Black Acre, I was able to try a Mango Saison which had a nice level of sweetness to balance some of the moderately strong saison flavors and aromas that otherwise would have overwhelmed the beer. I also like the Chai Guy, Chai Tea Milk Stout, a moderately spiced milk stout that is a little bit thin for the style.

Recently I have been making and enjoying quite a few ciders. I was not able to stop by New Day Craft Mead & Cider, but I am hoping to go to the tasting room in Fountain Square sometime soon though. I was able to try Virtue Ciders from Fennville, MI. Virtue was founded by Gregory Hall who was a Brewmaster at Goose Island for 10 years. The Red Streak was a classic English cider style that is slightly tart with a bright crisp apple character. The Mitten was a superb bourbon barrel aged cider. The BJCP have recently confirmed a separate cider exam for judges will be offered starting at the conference in June. Look for Virtue the next time you are out, they are making some really classical and flavorful ciders.

While the bigger venue was great in terms of spacing, that also meant that there were too many breweries to get to them all. The Hoosier Beer Geek guys and all the volunteers did a superb job and even my wait in the rain was pretty short. I’m looking forward to Lafayette Brewing Company’s Winter Warmer next weekend, and Cincinnati's Beer Fest the weekend after.

From Jason C…..

I’m sure that heading into Super Bowl XLVIII, the Denver Broncos had a smart, concise, well-thought-out game plan for how they would defeat the Seattle Seahawks. Twelve seconds into the game, an errant snap resulted in a safety and two points for Seattle. The hours of study and preparation suddenly seemed to have taken an NFL sized blow to the head, resulting in a dazed and concussed Denver team that never recovered.

Much like the Denver Broncos, I had done some preparation for my big game, this year’s Winterfest. I’d looked over the impressive list of breweries that would be attending and made a list of must-visits. Armed with my pencil and composition notebook, I was prepared to jot down beers and breweries that left the strongest impression on me throughout the day. Additionally, I had decided to really hit the social media aspect hard with tweets highlighting both the festival and the breweries. Then, also much like the Broncos, I took my sudden and unexpected hit that knocked me off my strategy. I made a rookie mistake that cost me the game, I sampled too hard, too fast and wasn't able to recover.

So here are a few of my somewhat slightly blurred insights and fuzzy recollections from Winterfest 2014. First off, I’ll sing the praises of the new location. The Champion’s Pavilion was able to house the growing number of breweries, the Malt Shoppe, the Replicales, the Casks & Firkins, and hundreds of additional festival-goers in the warm, dry comfort of indoor accommodations. A claim that could not be made had the festival continued to be held in the Ag/Hort Building. A+ in deciding to move to expanded digs while keeping the event indoors!

And now for the most important details, the beers and breweries….umm, yeah. My notes amount to three, count ‘em, three beers before I just let myself go and completely abandoned any semblance of organized thought. I can say that I was excited to see Iechyd Da’s table directly in front of me as I finished checking my coat. Starting off the festival with an eagerly anticipated taste of their Breakfast Cookies Stout was a great way to kick-off the day. Hit up Three Floyds, gave the sour wheel a spin at Upland (password when I got there was Leslie Knope) then over to ZwanzigZ for a Ghost Pepper Imperial Stout, which I highly recommend.

Stopped by Country Boy for a Chestnut Brown Ale, an interest of mine since I also brew a brown ale w/ American chestnuts. Made my way to Figure Eight, Dark Horse, and Backroads and then, then came Bare Hands. This is where my game-plan went straight to hell and I threw my two interceptions. I've sung the praises of this brewery a few times over the past year and I’m sure I’ll do it again in the not-so-distant future. I managed to sample 8 of their 10 offerings in a relatively short period of time. As much as I knew I should diversify my sampling, I just couldn't drag myself away. Game over, turn out the lights, thanks for playing! I was effectively running out the clock for the remainder of the event.

There are a number of stops that I made throughout the rest of the day, Carson’s, Flat 12, People’s, back to Iechyd Da, I even managed to finally sneak out a tweet about Quaff ON! Brewing late in the day. I managed to make my way to the Replicales and some cask ales and sample a few of each. However, aside from overall impressions of really enjoying my selections, I must sheepishly admit that when it comes down to critiquing any of these beers, I dropped the ball! This loss is on me.

FINAL SCORE:  2014 Winterfest Breweries – 43, Jason – 8

Jason C.

@oldbeerdork

From Kevin…..

The Reinheitsgebot, or German Purity Law, has been around for over 500 years. This law pertains to beer in that it specified water, malt, and hops were to be the only permissible ingredients for brewing. Obviously, yeast was added to this list after the scientific advancements forged by Louis Pasteur. However, lacking sufficient amendments, this archaic law largely remains irrelevant these days. Recent trends within the American craft beer scene have facilitated the use of heavy adjuncts that most certainly underwrite our modern culture’s more refined palates. Therefore, I’m going to highlight some of the deviants from this year’s Winterfest while hoping you picked up on some of the sarcasm.

18^th Street Brewery - Gary

Hunter: This phenomenal Double Milk Stout boasts an ideal balance between chocolate and roast with some softer vanilla and caramel notes.

Bare Hands Brewery – Granger

Thai PA: Super complex IPA that’s only strength isn’t blowing your palate away with bitterness. Great hop aroma and flavor combined with lemongrass

Black Thai: Similar to Thai PA, but black with a little more malt character that supports the extra heat.

Imperial Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout: Incredible dessert beer. Tastes just like it smells – delicious!

Broad Ripple Brew Pub – Broad Ripple

Gum Ball Lager: Tastes like bubble gum; lasts longer than 5 seconds.

Evil Czech Brewery – Mishawaka

Dracula’s Bite: A smoked habanero black IPA that showcases how hops can intensify the heat. Take note for your future culinary creations

Flat 12 - Indianapolis with respect to El Jabali, The Gimp, and The Gentle Pervert

Flan Porter: Flan infused porter that’s lot more appetizing than staring at a cold mushy spongecake

Molon Lave: The Lacto-Matic Milk Stout with coffee added makes this already delicious beer more complex. Throw in some Habaneros and you end up with a great malt backbone to cool the flames

Whorechata: Studying in Spain allowed me to come to appreciate horchata, but after a failed attempt of convincing a friend who was visiting Cigar City to fill up a growler with pints of their “Horchata Ale” in the bathroom (pints only?! ugghh) I resolved that I’d never have the opportunity to try such a beer. Flat 12’s example was one of my favorite beers from Winterfest and I’m really hoping to sit down with a full glass at the brewery.

Iechyd Da Brewing Company – Elkhart

Breakfast Cookies: A unique milk stout that was part of the general admissions “early entry”. However, I’m still not sure if anyone knows how to pronounce their name (it’s Yah-key-Dah).

New Day – Fountain Square

Imperial Breakfast Magpie: Coffee-infused black raspberry mead aged in bourbon barrels. If you missed this; you messed up. Redeem yourself by finding it in bottles or on draft!

Upland – Bloomington

Sours: Yes.

From Nathan…..

This was the first Winterfest to be held in the Champions Pavilion of the State Fairgrounds after years in the Ag Hort building. There was reportedly some consideration given to various alternatives, including moving the event outdoors. At the risk of sounding soft, I was pretty grateful this did not come to fruition given the cold rain we experienced on Saturday. When we first entered Champions Pavilion during Early Bird hour, the amount of space available in the new building looked very impressive. But with more tickets sold than ever before, I should know better than to jump to the conclusion that crowds would be inconsequential. Specifically, the center aisle became very difficult to navigate at times during General Admission. But such is life as the popularity of these festivals continues to grow, and Indiana continues to excel in the ratio of patrons to breweries. You could almost always find a line that wasn’t too long, which isn’t the case at some of the larger festivals I’ve attended out of state.

It probably isn’t pointed out enough, so I’d like to give some appreciation to the volunteers who bust their asses at this event so the rest of us can have a great day. In particular, the guys at the firkin booth were really working hard and doing an amazing job of quickly getting beer for waiting patrons. Their work kept the lines from ever getting too long in this area, and left drinkers in the enviable position where deciding which beer you wanted often took longer than getting service. Also of note was the volunteer working the portable toilet area. Moving quickly down the aisle to find open stalls for the next people in line, he kept the line moving far more efficiently than a veteran festival attendee has come to expect. Thank you to all the volunteers and staff who worked to keep things running smoothly throughout the day.

Now on to the beer……where Bare Hands Brewery was the big winner in my book. I wrote last year that Bare Hands had the potential to become Indiana’s answer to Odd Side Ales of Michigan, where an emphasis on spicing and other flavor additions generate some pretty creative ales. While that was meant as a compliment, it almost seems like selling them short after working through their lineup this year. The excellent lineup included creative spiced beers like the Black Thai with Thai Bird chili peppers balanced with somewhat more conventional, but still aggressive options, like the Honey Badger Imperial IPA with honey. My ultimate favorite was the Imperial Porter: big, rich malt character with a huge kick of hop flavor coming through in the finish. If you have not visited their brewpub in Granger (near South Bend), start making plans to pay them a visit now!

Additional beer notes from the day:

• Upland isn’t usually the first brewery that comes to mind for IPAs, but I was very impressed with the Coast Buster Imperial IPA. You can find this seasonal brew at all Upland locations starting this Friday.
• Tried a couple beers from Quaff On! Brewing and they may be really starting to hit their stride since hiring former Oaken Barrel head brewer Mark Havens.
• While I’m a big advocate for avoiding long lines at these events, it was still nice to see a few longer lines at Zwanzigz when passing by that area. It means word is clearly getting around about a brewery that has really impressed us in recent years.
• Tried several beers from 18th Street Brewery in Gary that were pretty solid. Given how new this brewery is to the scene, they look like one to watch for great things in the future.
• This was my first opportunity to sample beer from Country Boy in Lexington, KY and the Chestnut Brown was outstanding. Despite my best intentions, I never made it back for another of their samples, but did hear several other people singing their praises. We always encourage road trips that involve brewery visits, and this might be a good reason to make your way down to Lexington.

Pick of the Day: Bare Hands Imperial Porter

Honorable Mentions

Bare Hands Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout

Country Boy Chestnut Brown (fermented with Kentucky Chestnuts)

Oaken Barrel Java Stout

Quaff On Busted Knuckle Ale

Upland Coast Buster Imperial IPA

Poppi’s Pick of the Day (tie): Bare Hands Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout and Thr3e Wisemen Coffee Porter

Maximizing Your Winterfest Experience

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

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

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

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

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

   

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

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

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

   

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

    

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

- Nathan

Beer Review: Kulmbacher Eisbock

Greetings everyone! First off, we have a huge weekend coming up so please check out our calendar if you’re looking to enjoy some beer festivities. Along with various Greater Lafayette Craft Beer Week events, Friday brings the Zoo Brew and Wine Too in Fort Wayne and Beer and Bluegrass Festival in Franklin. On Saturday, you can hit Beers Across the Wabash in Lafayette, Upland’s 15th Anniversary Carnival in Bloomington, or Festiv-Ale in Indianapolis. Wrapping up the weekend on Sunday is Indy’s Dig IN – a celebration of local food, beer, and wine.

I plan to occasionally post some reviews for beers you can find in Indiana that are new to the market, seasonal offerings, or represent uncommon styles. They may be old hat for some of you seasoned veterans, but I hope it will give you some ideas for what to seek out (or avoid) if looking for something new on your next trip to the liquor store. For the first in this series, we’re going big with the legendary Kulmbacher Eisbock. If you’re not familiar with the style, Eisbock literally means “ice bock” and can basically be described as a concentrated Dopplebock. The concentration comes from partially freezing the beer and extracting the remaining liquid. Leaving behind some of that pesky water intensifies the flavor and alcohol level of the finished product. What would inspire such an experiment? According to legend, it was pure accident. Here is the description from Kulmbacher, who lay claim to producing the world’s first Eisbock:

The ice bock, also known as "Bavarian", owes its discovery to a coincidence. According to the chronicles of the Kulmbacher brewery, some time around 1900 an apprentice forgot on a cold winter day to carry two barrels of bock beer into the brewery cellar. The barrels stayed outside, were covered by ice and snow and weren't discovered until the following spring. The barrels had burst and the apprentice was reprimanded. But the carelessness was a stroke of luck because under the thick ice coat, a bock beer extract remained, strong tasting and high in alcoholic content.

           

No freshness date on the bottle, has been in my cellar for about 9 months.

The beer poured with a decent head for a 9.2% ABV offering, but it dissipated fairly quickly. On the higher end of bock color, it is a deep chestnut to dark brown but still very clear if you isolate a small sample. The aroma is bready malt with notes of dried fruit and brown sugar. Alcohol is very noticeable, but not harsh enough to be unwelcome. The flavor is a complex blend that brings to mind a fruitcake consisting of raisins, dates, and hazelnuts……soaked in booze. This is complemented by hints of caramel, bitter chocolate, and a slight sherry quality from some oxidation. This example has clearly had time to blend all of these qualities together, no one character is sharp or overwhelms the rest. Light bitterness on the tongue, no discernable hop flavor, no unique yeast flavors – this is all about maxing out the qualities of German malts. This beer begs to be sipped and take it all in, making you look forward to the next one.

One note on the alcohol level: While not excessively hot or unpleasant, it is very prominent throughout. This is not a “oh, I can’t believe it’s X% ABV” type of experience. It works for me, but drinkers who do not enjoy prominent alcohol notes may want to seek out another option.

Finding Kulmbacher Eisbock may require a little searching depending on your location, but 6-packs of 0.33 litre (11.2 ounce) bottles can be found at some of the better craft beer stores. Kahn’s Fine Wines lists it at $16.99, which I believe is the same price I paid at a Crown Liquors location. While a slight premium over most 6-packs, consider that comes out to roughly 25 cents an ounce. This would be the equivalent of a $5.50 bomber, which most of us would feel is a great value for a specialty beer. Your bonus with a 6-pack: drink a few now, set the rest aside, and enjoy noting how it matures over time.

The Verdict [Avoid/Worth a Try/Recommended/Highly Recommended]: Highly Recommended

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