Dark Lord Weekend

This was a busy weekend for lots of people. Not the least being a couple of easterners showing off their new Indiana Breweries book. Nate (left) and John (2nd left) made 7 stops in Indy including 2 morning TV shows and a book store, stops at both breweries in Lafayette, and ended Saturday at the Beer Geeks Pub in Highland. They got within 5 miles of Three Floyds and the 6,000 people who would have snatched up books.

The interview on WISH-TV’s Indy Style is available online where they show off 3WM’s blackberry wheat, Flat 12’s wheat, Sun King’s Alt, and Bier’s . Love Nate’s headband by the way.

Me, I hit 3WM and SK before heading north to Shoreline, Figure 8 Brewing, Crown Brewing, Beer Geeks Pub, Bone Dry, DLD, and repeats at Beer Geeks and Bone Dry. A mellow trip.

Shoreline’s menu board

Figure 8’s Menu

Tanks at Figure 8 are crowded in everywhere.

Tom has rented out the second spot down the line of offices to use as storage. The tap room is busy and a pinball machine stuffed in the corner adds another reason to stick around for another pint. For speed at the Dutch door ordering station, they have growlers pre-prepared using counter-pressure filling. The customer doesn’t have to wait and it will keep unopened up to a week.

Crown Sampler pack. 6 generous pours for $6.50.

The Beer Geeks Pub in Highland became a second home for some visitors. Not crowded. Great menu (beer that is, there’s no food at all). Even the Hoosier Beer Geeks were there on Friday. Saturday, after a full Dark Lord Day, it was still a bit subdued. John and Nate were on their next-to-the-last stop on the book tour.

 

Indiana Breweries – the book – the review

It’s out and available. Got mine from Amazon Saturday.

John Holl and Nate Schweber’s 140-page read is the latest Breweries book from Stackpole Books (also available for Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia+MD+DE, and the benchmark book of Pennsylvania by Lew Bryson – a Missouri book is due this September).

Last summer and fall, John and Nate crisscrossed Indiana for weeks harvesting information and visiting every brewery. The result is a very up-to-date travel guide. It includes the latest breweries (Bier, Flat 12, and Thr3e Wise Men) and even includes upcoming breweries (Black Swan, 3 Pints, Triton, and the Heorot).

Each brewery’s story is told with backgrounds of the owners/brewers, John/Nate’s pick of the beer and the food, occasional interviews with patrons, and even description of the environment right down to the crapola on the walls.

The only glaring omission seems to be street maps. But everyone has a GPS or Google now don’t they? The current fourth edition of Pennsylvania Breweries will be the last of the Stackpoles with maps I’m told.

And I have to add just one other niggling issue. The editorial board (?) decided to omit LiL’ Charlies and Granite City because they outsource their wort. That said, we must applaud the amount of coverage given by the authors anyway.

To be a more complete travel guide, they’ve included area attractions, zoos, halls of fame, and museums to visit and have given B&B or small hotel picks. The lists of good beer bars hopefully will be used by the traveler as visits there complement brewery tours, brewpub meals, and other staples of a good vacation or weekend trip.

Every IndianaBeer, HBG, or Beer Nut reader, homebrewer, mug club member, Girls Pint Out or Beer Meetup folk, or BA/RB ticker needs a copy. Even your IndianaBeer reporter who has been immersed in the lore for years learned something about each of the 37 breweries detailed.

John Holl is actually a big-time beer writer with NY Times, Beer Connoisseur, and lots of web cred. Latest from him is a Wall Street Journal article about the Sun King and Three Floyds collaboration.

John and Nate will be back in Indiana (they’re actually New Jerseyites) for a book signing tour in April starting April 2nd & 3rd at New Albanian’s brewpubs. There’s one scheduled for  April 28th at Thr3e Wise Men. They should be at Beer Geeks Pub late on Dark Lord Day (April 30), and the calendar will fill in, and we’ll have it on the IndianaBeer Calendar – OR go to the book’s own facebook.com/indianabreweries pages for the latest.