Beerocracy II - The Wrath of Kahns

Kahn's Fine Wines and Spirits brought it back.. with vengeance!  Beerocracy II is a beer lover's dream. For two hours, there are FREE tastings of 40+ beers with the chance that Kyle (@Beer_at_Kahns) may open up a rare bottle for a taster's delight!  And a bonus! - if you are a K Klub member, you can participate in a raffle to purchase those limited edition beers that for regular consumers, you either have to be great friends with your liquor store or be willing to camp out for the chance to buy a bottle. What kind of rare beers -- How about Founders KBS, or Upland Gilgamesh or even 3 Floyds/Mikkeller collab - BooGoop for example. 

Back to the event... 

Beerocracy II delivered the goods big time with seven tables - 5 brewery specific tables and two from local distributors.   To give you readers the full scale of deliciousness available at Beerocracy events, I'm going to list everything that was available because I really feel that this event helps benefit those curious about craft beer. It also helps if you want to try a lot of beers not available at beer festivals without having to buy random bottles. (which is fun, I've done random beer tastings before many times) 

Without further ado.. to the List!

(Sidenote - number on the left is the order I tasted the beer in, comments will be underneath) 

Table 1: New Holland Hatter Day Celebration

- New Holland Mad Hatter IPA

3 New Holland White Mad Hatter

1 New Holland Rye Mad Hatter

Not overly rye flavored, smooth but complex

2 New Holland Farmhouse Hatter

6 New Holland Black Mad Hatter

delicious roasted flavor at the end 

4 New Holland Oak Aged Mad Hatter

5 New Holland Imperial Hatter

Table 2: Samuel Adams

- Sam Adams Summer Ale

20 - Sam Adams Norse Legend - Sahti  (Single Batch Series) 

not on the original line up - but was a special opened ale by rep

24 - Sam Adams Angry Orchard Traditional Dry Cider

25 - Sam Adams Angry Orchard Crisp Apple Cider

if you like a puckery sweet cider, this one is for you. 

26 -Sam Adams Angry Orchard Apple Ginger Cider

Table 3: Ciders

28 - Crispin Brut

30 - Crispin Browns Lane 

(was not a fan of this one, was a little bland)

29 - Crispin Honey Crisp

31 - Crispin the Saint (above) 

started out sweet and aftertaste of light maple syrup

Around the time I got to the Cider table ( since I didn't go in order, Kyle decided to share this goodie with the rest of the class

**  27 -The Bruery - Fruet  **

the Fruet is a 100% bourbon barrel aged old ale.

Smooth oak and vanilla goodness

Table 4: Cavalier & Kristalweizen Machtprobe! (showdown) 

I believe @CavalierBeerIN  was the pouring host 

17 - Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbeir

16 - Sixpoint Apollo 

I could see this as sitting on the deck, drinking many cans of this beer.  It was crisp and sweet. 

20 - Sixpoint the Crisp (Pilsner) 

15 - Sixpoint Sweet Action

22 - Breckenridge Summerbright

23 - Two Brothers Dog Days

18 - Founders Cerise

My love of Cerise is huge!  and I'm happy that the 2012 version is back to the original red pigment ale. 

19 - Williams Sir Perry

This table surprised me the most. It had a variety of beers that I typically don't gravitate to such as a Pilsner and the hefeweizens but everything here was something I could drink over and over again. 

Table 5: Sun King

Sun King Popcorn Pilsner

Sun King Sunlight

Sun King Osiris

Sun King Wee Mac

Sun King Sky Cake Aleger

Sun King Chaka

the only reason I didn't try any of these is because I've had them all already, and when I got to this table, I thought it best to not have more beer when I already tasted about 30+ 

Table 6: World Class

served by @mattworldclass 

14  - Bell's Third Coast Beer

9 - Kasteel Cuvee de Chateau 

not on the original line up, but added last minute as a replacement to the Brooklyn Summer Ale

Bell's Oberon

12 - Boulevard Zon

nice blend of the coriander with the pinch of orange citrus

Brooklyn Summer Ale 

was on original line up but didn't come out to play

Triton Fieldhouse Wheat

Triton Magnificent Amber

13 - Paulaner Hefe-Weizen

10 - Van Steenberge Gulden Draak 9000

I think it is unfair that something so creamy and delicious would have to be over 10% ABV, but that's a Belgian quad for you.

11 - Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA

This IPA with a  140 IBU count had a nice grapefruit, slightly bitter overtone

last by not least

Table 7: Upland Brewing

served by @UplandCari

Upland Wheat

Upland Helios

7 -  Upland Maibock

I had this on draft at the Indianapolis Monthly Beerfest, to me it had a caramel coating mouth feel

8 - Upland Nut Hugger

In addition not on the lineup:

Upland Winter Warmer - BarleyWine 

Upland Infinite Wisdom - Tripel

And that was it!  I'm a little overwhelmed as I recap the beers available. See what you missed if you weren't there! Hopefully Kahn's will keep Beerocracy going and I'm looking forward to what they bring out in Beerocracy III.   I'm also hoping to see more ladies out to these events.  Out of 80 people who showed up about 10%, if that, were women.  Beer isn't just for men! :) 

Great job Kahn's! and readers if you need help in choosing some craft beer, please visit Kahn's  either downtown, on Keystone or up at North Willow. They are a great place to get started in trying new beer. 

- Kathleen

Beerocracy I

For those beer lovers near or in Indianapolis, 

Kahn's Fine Wines and Spirits has started a little event called:

 

Beerocracy I took place at Kahn's North Willow store from 6pm-8pm. 

5 tables set up with variety of beer styles and snacks. 

First off: What was available!

(What I tried in Bold)

Yum!

Table 1:

Victory Prima Pils

Victory Headwater Pale Ale

Victory Moonglow

Victory Golden Monkey – Belgian – Style Golden Ale (ABV 9.5% / IBU 25)

nice touch of spice, sour ale

Hoppin’ Frog Hoppin’ To Heaven IPA

Hoppin’ Frog Black & Tan - Hoppin' To Heaven blended w/ BORIS the Crusher stout (ABV 7.6% / IBU 65)

Hoppin’ Frog Silk Porter - English Style Robust Porter (ABV 6.3% / IBU 26 ) 

** Sun King Isis IPA

special bullet delivery by Sun King

*Firestone Walker Brewing Company – Parabola – Russian Imperial Stout

brought in from staff's private collection.

Oh My Goodness -- Smooth, stout, deliciousness

Table 2:

All Upland:

Rad Red Amber Ale

Dragonfly

Bad Elmer’s Porter  - American Robust Porter (ABV 5%  / IBU 19.6)

Schwarz - German-style Lager (ABV 5.3%/IBU 25.3) 

seemed to be missing something - felt flat. 

Table 3:

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat

Goose Island Honkers Ale - English-Style Bitter (ABV 4.2% / IBU 30)

Goose Island Matilda - Belgian-style Pale Ale (ABV 7% / IBU 32)

there was a little sweetness to this beer

** Sun King Dominator Dopplebock

My love - Saison!

at the event is was nice, but off the tap at Sun King - This has a nice smooth spicy too it

Table 4:

Coney Island Lager - Vienna Lager Dry Hopped w/ Cascade Hops (ABV 5.5% / IBU 28)

Hebrew Gensis Ale

Founder’s Pale Ale

Founder’s Centennial IPA

Founder’s Porter

have had this before -- well made porter!

Hebrew Lenny’s Bittersweet RIPA

The Bruery Mischief - Belgian - Style Golden Ale Dry -hopped with American Hops (ABV 8.5% / IBU 35)

This was a greater starter to my new love affair with The Bruery

The Bruery Saison Rue  - Belgian Style - Farmhouse ale (ABV 8.5% / IBU 30)

This and Victory - Golden Monkey were my A+ beers of the night.. nice compliments of sour in each

Table 5:

Yeastie Boys Digital IPA - American - Style IPA (ABV 7% / IBU 77) 

very strong nose, but for a high IBU still smooth

TO OL Final Frontier DIPA

Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black - American - Style Porter (ABV 6% / IBU 50) 

not my style of porter, too hoppy 

Mikkeller Beer Hop Breakfast - Aggressively Dry Hopped American - Style Oatmeal Coffee Stout 

(ABV 7.5% / IBU LOTS )

It is one seriously hopped stout - it is deceiving. I think the hops over powers all and you don't get any of the oatmeal or the coffee flavors

*Anchorage Brewing Company Bitter Monk  - Belgium Double IPA 

from Kyle's at Kahn's private stash

Beer aged in French Chardonney barrels - Very well done

Call all y'all it's the Yeastie boys!

Add some Hops, much?

So now you know what was offered.. and I know it looks like I didn't drink that much, but seriously there was a lot of beer to be had! All the staff was great.  The Upland station was from the brewery. Table 4 had someone from Cavalier Distributing, whom I remember from Winterfest - (wearing a Founder's flag as a cap and working at Founder's table). Table 5 - was Kyle  part of the Twitter handle @Beer_at_Kahns. 

It was a great time to taste a lot of beers not normally available in Indiana for tasting. Ran into a IndianaBeer.com reader (Hi Kevin!  aka @myers41) When Beerocracy II comes, I highly suggest checking it out! 

The best part though was at 7:30 - the raffle for Kahnoisseur Klub members started:

**If you are a Kahnoisseur Klub member(which by the way is only $10), you got the option to take part at a raffle at the end of the night to win the chance to buy some limited released beers! **

Raffle Prizes available for winning a chance to buy



I won the chance to buy : 

Which is now in my pantry "aging" :) 

What else can I say? Free tastings - Great Location - Friendly beer lovers all around? Oh, yeah - Go to Beerocracy II!

Until then: Check out what is coming up next week at Kahn's Fine Wines and Spirits:

Battle of Belgium 2342 W. 86th Street
March 7-10
6-8 pm

Brackets available online or at all Kahn's locations!

more info call or tweet to @Beer_At_Kahns

All is fun in ale and lagers! 

Cheers - 

Kathleen