A Tale of Three Cities

Took a short trip to New Albany on Wed/Thurs. The original plan was to  spend a night at Saturnalia. Did that but also found a slew of new New Albanian beers to try also.

• New Albanian Sour Red Belgian – Brown with hints of red under these dim lights. Aroma is light with a bit of Belgianness. Carbonation tang is quickly replaced by tartness. Dark cherryish finish. 4.5%.
• New Albanian Tunnel Vision – Belgian Wit. Nice but the day is crowded, let's go on.
• New Albanian Abzug – Think of it as a session Marzen. Looks like a Pilsner. Mouthfeel of a Cream Ale. Hoppier than, say, Kentucky Kommon.
• New Albanian Wee Foot Stout – Medium dry mild session stout. Soft roastiness. Nice.
• Bell's Christmas Ale – Slick-feeling Scottish Ale. Dark cordovan. Little hops (as per style). Interesting that they call it a Christmas beer. 5.4%.
• Thirsty Dog 12 Days – Spiced winter ale. Sweet and spicy with stuff wile cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, etc. Not really a pumpkin pie ale though. Mouthfeel is thick, almost syrupy by beer standards. 8.3%
• New Albanian Community Dark – I feel compelled to come back to this for the penultimate beer each visit to NABC. The British Mild will calm you down for the trip home. 3.7%. Served tonight with excruciatingly high carbonation.
• Schlenkerla Marzen – When I can have this wonderment as the last beer of the night it gives courage and the smoke protects one from the hangover gods.

Stopped back in on Thursday for the Anstich keg tapped at 1pm.

• #3 – The importer uses numbers pasted to identical casks to differentiate the dozen or so different beers from different small breweries around Germany. #3 is said to be Ahornberger Dark but it doesn't seem likely. At any rate, #3 is a beautiful sight looking like a big slide of fluffy lemon meringue pie, especially with the cold 28°. (addition) But who cares when it's great, fresh, German beer not available anywhere else in the midwest. Roger explains.

Seeing Roger Thursday afternoon at the Public House, he looked like Wednesday was not kind to him.. Read about Roger's long day in Indy, and the HBGs version of the story.

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Second city: Columbus - Power House / Columbus Bar. The Columbus bar was on the cover of Indiana Preservationist Magazine and featured in the Liquid Assets article.

We just made a quick stop to say high and try two of the taps.

• Power House Berliner Weisse. Perfect for style greenish yellow. Thickest mouthfeel and probably the sourest Berliner I've ever had. Not an Imperial Berliner but definitely on the high end of the scale. We'll probably see this on the podium at the State Fair.
• Power House Wee Heavy – Scottish with lots of hops and a roasty character throughout. Think of it as a Porter.

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Now, it's getting dark. SR 46 will deliver us to Nashville and Big Woods Brewing. They're serving lots of customers not only because of the fresh, local beer, but also for the food. Passing up the duck breast dinner for one killer, and huge, pulled pork sandwich, we're full. The two beers with that sandwich had a travel distance of about 8 feet from the brewery to the bar.

Spring's menu is attracting customers and Tim's beers are keeping them.

• Big Woods Possum Trot Pale Ale – They've hit it. Unfiltered foggy deep orange gives a premium look. Small white head. Nice malty balanced taste with a clean, quick finish. As an intro beer it's certainly upscale to the Bud found elsewhere in town.
• Big Woods Tim's Big Stout – Thick from flaked malt used in an Oatmeal Stout. Dry graininess reminiscent of Sheaf Stout.