Home  

  Breweries     Calendar of Events     What's On Tap     News     Articles     Links     Contacts

Brewers of Indiana Guild Newsletter - August, 2006

B.I.G. News

The Microbrewers' Festival is over. Don't have counts yet but it was the largest attendance ever. Most beer dispensed. And the best crowd in memory - not one drunk at the end begging for "one more fill up". The heat and humidity might have had something to do with that, but it sure didn't slow down attendance.

The official high temp of the day was only 88°. People crowded inside the tents for shade and the west edge of the park was well used in the afternoon with both shade and the occasional breeze.

Next year we'll work on shortening the lines. The entrance line stretched well over a block.

If you missed Indiana's biggest beer event, there are pictures and a story at IndianaBeer.com.

B.I.G. Members earned a lot of medals at the Indiana State Fair.

Indiana Brewing News

Ken Price is leaving Oaken Barrel to move back home to Tennessee. Jeff Helm, former assistant brewer, will take over the Head Brewer roll. Ken writes,

"I will be brewing at the Yazoo Brewing Company (www.yazoobrew.com) in Nashville. Leigh and I are expecting our second child and are excited to be closer to family (Mom, brother, numerous aunts and uncles). We'll miss Indy and Bloomington and all the fun wonderful folks we've met. But we'll also still be around from time to time. Speaking of which, do you know anyone interested in buying an awesome home in Irvington?"

The Half Moon in Kokomo is now actively looking for a brewer. From ProBrewer:

"Well here it is.....I need an experienced brewer that can handle all aspects of brewing beer in a brew pub setting. We are currently under construction here in Kokomo, IN about 1 hour north of Indianapolis of a 8400 sq ft brew pub. I am not a brewer by any means that is why I am looking to hire someone that I can count on from formulation of recipes to quality beer flowing from the taps. I will not be bottleing but will have a keg racker just for in house rotation of tankage. Full grain with grist mill and a Pub brewing systems 3.5/7bbl system. My experience is in the restaurant industry with a four year degree and about 10 years of work in the industry. I am looking for someone that is quality minded, hard working , honest, dependable, and looking for a chance to grow both profesionally and personnally. I am very willing to pay the right candidate a salary in the range of 35-40k depending on this persons experience. So there it is very straight forward. I hope that I will be able to entice some of the best out there to get with me so that I can tell you more of the plans we have. Please fell free to email me at chrisroegner@aol.com  or call if you like 765-883-1289 thanks for your time Chris Roegner"

Nine G is also still looking for another brewer. As is Mad Anthony.

Look for a Baltic Porter, an American Strong Ale, and more from Three Floyds to celebrate their 10th anniversary in late 2006.

Gossip: Omar Castrellón at Alcatraz has a couple of goals for the fall. First, he wants a medal at the L.A. County Fair. Specifically he wants to steal a gold from Negra Modello in the Vienna Lager class. Second, he wants a good reception for his upcoming Sorghum beer (Chibuku, a traditional beer of Zimbabwe and South Africa).

The Indy Star covered the Brewers' Cup with a 7-paragraph article, er, a 10-sentence article.

Pure Beverage of Indianapolis has left the beer distribution business and sold that portion to The Beer Guy of Elkhart. Pure will still distribute a large line of non-alcoholic beverages.

From Bob Mack of World Class Beverages:

"I have the distinct pleasure of announcing that the winner of the 2006 Ultimate Beer Geek Challenge is Sean Tucker of Pendleton, Indiana. Sean brewed a terrific American IPA called “Problem Child IPA” that took the prize in a very tightly contested round of judging. Sean joins the ranks of Pete McNamara (2004 – Brown Ale) and Ron Smith (2005 – Red Ale) as an “Ultimate Beer Geek.” Judging was very difficult due to the overall high quality of the entries and it took the judges several hours to narrow it down to a winner."

Problem Child IPA will be brewed by Oaken Barrel and distributed statewide later this year.

From the Aug 1st Indiananapolis Monthly subscriber's email newsletter:

With a dizzying selection of beers to sample at last weekend's Indiana Microbrewers' Festival in Broad Ripple, we gave up trying to have them all and instead made sure to hit up the "ReplicAle" event, a timeworn brew-fest tradition whereby multiple brewers make beer from the same recipe, then let you compare the results. We tasted all seven variations of the Shagbark Farmhouse Ale, a truly inspired--and delicious--choice. The recipe, developed by Ram brewmaster Dave Colt, followed the general "brewprint" of the Belgian Saison style, a wheaty, rural concoction fermented at high temperature. The kicker, though, was the introduction of shagbark hickory syrup from the Syrup Hickoryworks in Trafalgar, Indiana (produced nowhere else in the country, we're told). The addition lent a note of complex sweetness to an ale that, across the spectrum, demonstrated a light, fruity bitterness that cut pleasantly through the swampy humidity of the afternoon. It wasn't a competition--but we especially liked the version that came from the Mishawaka Brewing Co. (3703 N. Main St., Mishawaka, 517-256-9993). Try the others while supplies last at Alcatraz Brewing (49 W. Maryland St., 488-1230), Barley Island Brewing Company (639 Conner St., Noblesville, 770-5280), Broad Ripple Brew Pub (842 E. 65th St., 253-2739), Ram Restaurant and Brewery (140 S. Illinois St., 955-9900) and Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery (10 W. Washington St., 681-8180).

Evan West says they'll do a blurb about the Associate Memberships in the next issue.

Warbird was a hit at the Oshkosh Air Show. Their T-6 Red Ale was everywhere including a huge display at a local supermarket.

The Good Beer Show's most recent podcast features Three Floyds, recorded at the brewpub in Munster and interviewing Nick Floyd.

There was a 5-beer ReplicAle side-by-side at Spencer's Stadium Tavern last week. Gordon Jones, Alchemist at the Hickoryworks, was there to try a couple he hadn't had yet. Said now that his Shagbark Syrup has been used in beer, he'd like to see a Hickory Daiquiri, Doc.

• Rock Bottom Downtown - Most hickory darkness. Jerry added syrup to fermenter.
• Broad Ripple - Earthiest. Bold.
• Barley Island - The middle line - Jon let the fermentation temperature rise up to 91°.
• Ram - Apricot notes and sweetness come through. Dave added syrup to serving tank.
• Alcatraz - Hoppiest due to earliest hop infusion. Dry finish. Omar (shhhh) used maple syrup.

The Broad Ripple Gazette ran a 3-page report of the B.I.G. Microbrewers' Festival. Lots of pictures and reviews of 11 beers.

On Tap in Northern Indiana

Back Road Brewery - LaPorte

• Available in bottles: Millennium Lager, Back Road Ale, Midwest IPA, Belle Gunness Stout.
• Seasonals: Belgian Wit, Blueberry Ale.
• Coming up in August: Scottish Ale

Lafayette Brewing - Lafayette

• On Tap: Whitetail Wheat, Prophet's Rock Pale Ale, East Side Bitter, Piper's Pride, Black Angus Oatmeal Stout, Eighty Five, Tippecanoe Common
• On the handpull: Weeping Hog IPA
• Current Seasonal - Phoenix Strong Ale

Mad Anthony Brewing - Fort Wayne, Auburn, Warsaw

• On Tap and in bottles: Auburn Lager, Gabby Blonde Lager, Harry Baals Irish Stout, Porter, Ol Woody Pale Ale, Ruby Raspberry Wheat, Summer Daze
• Seasonals on tap: Soft Wheat, American Red, Kölsch
• Coming up: Oatmeal Stout, Belgian Golden Strong Ale

Mishawaka Brewing - Mishawaka

• On Tap and in bottles: Four Horsemen Irish Ale, Lake Effect Pale Ale, Ella Rose Porter, INDIAna Pale Ale, Founder's Stout, Wall Street Wheat Ale, Raspberry Wheat Ale
• Seasonal on tap: Summertime Lemon Ale (5.85%), ReplicAle

Nine G Brewing - South Bend

• In stores now: Bitchin' Betty Citrus Wheat, Blacksnake Porter, Wingman Amber Ale, Infidel Imperial IPA

Shoreline Brewery and Restaurant - Michigan City

• On Tap: Foggy Loggy Lager, Ly.Co.Ki.We Kölsch, Queen Mum IPA, Beltaine Scottish Ale, Drunken Toad, Chester Brown Ale, Curse the Goat Doppelbock, Discombobulation Celebration Bourbon Aged Barleywine, Dim Wit Belgian, Don't Panic English Pale Ale

  Three Floyds Brewing - Munster

• On Tap and in bottles: Alpha King Pale Ale, Robert the Bruce Scottish Ale, Pride and Joy Mild, Dreadnaught Imperial IPA
• On Tap: Calumet Queen (Kölsch), Moloko Plus Milk Stout, Dolomite Malt Liquor, Brian Boru Irish Red, Bob Da Broot Scotch Ale, Broodoo Harvest Ale, Deesko Berliner Weiss
• Recently released in bottles: Gumballhead American Wheat
• Coming up: Young Sportsman Wit, Alpha Kong

Warbird Brewing - Fort Wayne

• In Stores now: T-16 Red Ale
• In select pubs: P-47 Wheat

On Tap in Central Indiana

Alcatraz Brewing- Indianapolis

• On Tap: Searchlight Golden Ale, Weiss Guy Wheat, Big House Red, Pelican Pale Ale, Birdman Brown, Prison Porter, Old Glory Stout
• Seasonals on tap: Sledgehammer Ale (6.0%), Bock (6.5%), Schwartz Imperial
• On Tap: Light Wheat Ale, American Wheat Lager, Light Summer Brown, Pale Lager (Amarillo hops), Black Lager.
• Seasonals: Pilsner, Abbey Ale, ReplicAle
• Coming up: IPA Lager (yep, a lager with honey, Amarillo and Cascade hops), Bock (Honey and Hallertau hops), Sorghum beer (Chibuku, traditional beer of Zimbabwe and South Africa).

Barley Island Brewing - Noblesville

• On Tapand in bottles: Barfly IPA, Dirty Helen, Flat Belly Wheat, Blind Tiger Pale Ale, 60 Shilling Scotch Ale, Rust Belt Porter
• Seasonals on tap and in bottles: Sheet Metal Blonde Wheat Ale
• Seasonal on tap: ReplicAle

Broad Ripple Brewpub - Indianapolis

• On Tap: ESB, IPA, Red Bird Mild, Lawn Mower Pale Ale, Pilsner, American Red
• On Tap - Cask Conditioned: Porter, Diving Duck Brown Ale
• Seasonal: ReplicAle
• Coming up: German Hefe

Brugge Brasserie - Indianapolis

• On Tap: Tripel de Ripple. Dubbel, Chief USA Tomahawk Ale

Oaken Barrel Brewing - Greenwood

• On Tap and in bottles: Indiana Amber, Snake Pit Porter, Gnaw Bone Pale Ale, Razz-Wheat, Alabaster Witbier
• Seasonals on tap: Uberweizen, Superfly IPA, Irish Stout
• Coming up: Saison with DuPont yeast. Beir de Garde with Crystal Rye. Cherry Stout.

Ram Restaurant and Brewery - Indianapolis and Fishers

Growler refills are 1/2 price at the Ram during July. Every day of July.

• On Tap: Indy Blonde, Butt Face Amber, Big Red IPA, Ram Pilsner, Big Horn Hefeweizen, Total Disorder Porter
• Seasonals on tap: O'Reilly's Amber Lager, ReplicAle
• Coming up: Tangerine Cream Dream

  Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery - Washington St, Indianapolis

• On Tap: Circle City Light, Sugar Creek Pale Ale, Raccoon Red, Brickway Brown
• This month's Hoosier Ma Stout: Oatmeal
• This month's Wheat: German Hefeweizen
• This month's seasonals: Miracle IPA, Super Beer X (a strong amber), ReplicAle
• On the handpull: IPA
• Coming up: Kölsch, Pilsener (for the Brickyard race), Wit

Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery - 86th St, Indianapolis

• On Tap: Circle City Light, Heartland Red, Double Barrel Pale Ale, Brickway Brown
• This month's Hoosier Ma Stout: Oatmeal Stout
• This month's Wheat: American Wheat
• Seasonals: American Dream IPA, Kölsch
• On the handpulls: Vanilla Bean Stout, IPA
• Coming up: Chocolate Brown Porter

Terre Haute Brewing - Terre Haute

• In stores now: Champagne Velvet, Velvet Amber Lager, CV Gold Label Bock

On Tap in Southern Indiana

Bloomington Brewing - Bloomington

• On Tap: FreeStone Blonde, Quarrymen Pale Ale, Ruby Bloom Amber, Big Stone Stout, B'Town Light
• Seasonals on tap: Vision Weiss, Belgian Strong Ale

Little Cheers Restaurant and Pub - Evansville

• On Tap: Platinum Blonde, Chocolate Porter, ShrAmber

Main Street Brewery (Turoni's Pizza and For-Get-Me-Not-Inn) - Evansville

• On Tap: Vinny's Light Lager, Honey Blonde Ale, Thunderbolt Red Ale, Blue Eyed Moose
• Seasonal: Wit's Up
• Coming up: Belgian Tripel

New Albanian Brewing (Rich O's Public House and Sportstime Pizza) - New Albany

• On Tap: Bob's Old 15-B, Community Dark, Elector
• Special NABC beers: Strathpeffer Heather (Gruit brewed with honey), Artemisia Ale (Gruit brewed with molasses and mugwort), Jenever Rye (Gruit brewed with rye and juniper berries)
• On the handpull: St. Radegund Bitter

Upland Brewing - Bloomington

• On tap and in bottles: Wheat, Weizen, Amber, Pale, Porter, IPA
• Seasonals on tap and in bottles: Ard Ri Irish Ale, ReplicAle
• Coming up: Wit, Saison in bottles at Bloomingfoods
• Coming up later: Mulberry Wheat

Miscellaneous News (if you didn't read it at IndianaBeer.com already)

Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee has been around since 1987 and is growing. They are heading to Indiana with an Organic ESB, Coffee Stout, Cherry Lager, and their "New Grist" beer. New Grist is a gluten-free beer brewed from sorghum that won't cause stomach problems to people who can't eat wheat, barley, rye, and oats. A-B is also exploring gluten-free beers. article

"Anheuser-Busch, ... is now producing two organic beers of its own. Those beers, Wild Hop lager and Stone Mill pale ale, are being sold in several test markets nationwide." article

Vestal Design tells about how Heineken had a plan to reuse beer bottles as home construction bricks. Good idea. The bottles were square and would fit into each other to automatically provide insulation. Cool idea.

Blue Moon. Belgian? The Potable Curmudgeon thinks that's a foul ball.

History lessons:

• "Light" beer goes back to 1967 when Reingold and Meister Brau both introduced low calorie beers to the market. Reingold's Gablinger beer went nowhere. It was a no-carbohydrate beer so watery it wouldn't even form a head. Moreover their slogan, It doesn't fill you up" didn't catch on.
• Meister Brau's Lite beer also died a early death - advertised as a low calorie beer in ads featuring Miss Lite. But Lite was revived after Miller bought Meister Brau and in 1979 hired aging athletes to argue about the merits of the new product. Advertising dollars won out and light lagers went on to become the biggest sellers in the US.
• Robert Cade spent some of his money from the sale of his Gatorade product to Stokely-Van Camp on Hop 'n' Gator. Yep, a Gatorade beer. Brewed by Pittsburgh Brewing Company in 1969. Maybe only one batch was brewed though as it mercifully died within 3 months.
• Lone Star also made flavored beers for a time. In 1970 they had three "exciting" tastes: Cola, Grapefruit, and Lemon-lime. Shudder.

The Wine-N-Vine homebrew store in Muncie was opened one year ago - just in time to meet the demand from new homebrewers in that college town. Seems Muncie instituted a ban on kegs to hold down the fraternity partying at Ball State. Jeff and Bonnie Johnson didn't start that Wine-N-Vine for that purpose though. They met in Hollywood Florida and moved back to his native Muncie to get out of the heat (another best-laid plan gone astray). They, themselves, are more into wine than beer and make a kickin' Elderberry Wine.

Great Fermentations' new store is coming along. Someday they'll look back fondly at these pictures.

Headline: Milwaukee should reverse its decade-old ban on the sale of Pabst beer at county facilities. In other news, Milwaukee banned Pabst in 1996. "many Milwaukeeans may retain a bitter taste over Pabst..."

MSNBC reports the Coast Guard has started to homebrew as part of Homeland Security. "A beer brewing kit and ingredients for more than $1,000 for a Coast Guard official to brew alcohol while on duty as a social organizer for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. 'The estimated price for a six-pack of USCG beer was $12,' the investigators noted."

Oxford University is offering a 3-day course this fall (er, autumn) entitled "Inns, Taverns and Public Houses". "This weekend will provide an opportunity to explore recent scholarship into various aspects of the social, architectural and cultural history associated with their specialised function over a period extending down to the 20th-century. The focus will be mainly on England but excursions will be made into Europe and the eastern seaboard of the United States." Sept 29 - Oct 1.

FYI, Folks who keep records about the beers they drink are called "Beer Geeks". In England they are called "Tickers".

A syndicated story says "In Indiana, Hoosiers drink less imported beer, per capita, than any other state... Yet even here, tastes are changing. "Import sales are definitely up," says Sean Clark, owner of Gallagher's Place, a neighborhood bar in a strip mall on the South Side of Indianapolis. "Six years ago, we probably weren't doing two cases of Corona a week and five cases of Heineken a month." Now he's selling 30 cases of Corona a month and 20 cases of Heineken Premium Light." -- Huh? Corona is an import? Don't tell my cousin Vinny.

Equally strange: Headline: World's First Fruit and Cream-Based Premium Malt Beverage Hits the Market; Hard Creamer(TM) Brand Establishes New ''Malternative'' Category - Captures Essence and Taste of Freshly Blended Tropical Cocktails -- Huh? Establishes New Malternative Category? New?

Proposed rules by the ATF-whatever-they're-called-now folks would require labeling of allergins in beer. Such as fish, milk, eggs, oysters, peanuts, and soybeans. But on a serious note, this would include isinglass finings used to clarify beer. article

There was a rumor floating around the Microbrewers' Festival about a police sobriety check that would target festival goers. Not true but it turns out the rumor was close to fact. There was a sobriety checkpoint set up near 96th and Keystone that afternoon - about 4 miles away.

Castleton Wine and Spirits has new manager, Sandy Lavoy and she's instituted a sort-of around the world club. Purchasing 10 different beers gets you a 10% discount. 25 earns a package of goodies. 50 a mug, and 75 gets your name on a plaque in the store.

Finally explained (and quite conclusively): Do bubbles in Guinness go down?

Do you have some sentimental beer cans laying around? Are you a serious collector? Guaranteed you aren't as serious as this guy. 50,000 cans. Movable walls to display them.

Facts: There are 15.5 gallons in a keg. It weighs about 130 pounds. 1,984 ounces of beer in a keg. That's the equivalent of 164 twelve-ounce beers, almost 7 cases. Beer is typically 50% more expensive in cans than in kegs but cans are much easier to sneak into traffic school. But that's what they make Sneaky Shorts for.

One way to reduce an excess foam is to stick your greasy nose in it. "The common human nose can only lower the foam on 2 beers" so that's where Foam Down Nose Grease comes in handy. We don't make this stuff up. Other people do.

The $9.95 Beer Neck is a combination bottle cozy, churchkey, and reseal cap. Not a bad idea for picnics.

32 ways to open a Gaffel Kölsch.

Purdue. Freeze-dried beer. Somehow that figures.

Crouch Vale Brewers Gold has won the Champion Beer of Britain for the second straight year. This is the most prestigious title in the UK and is the result of a judging at CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival. Had some last winter. It's plain and simple an American IPA. Quite hoppy with lots of Cascadey goodness.

In the This Guy Can Write department, here's the start of an article in Britain's Sunday Times:

"IT SHOULD be patently obvious. The principal drawback to vertical drinking is the danger of vertical falling over into horizontal befuddlement.

Police in Preston, Lancashire, think it is not as simple as that. Vertical drinking, they believe, is one of the country’s main causes of public disorder and would like to see it banned in the city’s pubs.

Vertical drinking is a new term for what used to be called standing at the bar, long regarded as the natural refuelling posture. Sixteen pints of lager slip into the tanks much more easily when the gullet is erect rather than kinked by the body being squeezed into a chair like a half-shut penknife. Drinking while standing in a like-minded group, police argue, is a contributor to booze-fuelled violence.

When the mindless nerd next to you knocks the pint out of your hand, it’s much easier to go for him directly than having to get out of a chair to punch his lights out."

The ice which has covered Greenland for millenia gives the new beer a "very special taste", reminiscent of "chocolate, grilled nuts and roasted coffee beans". Greenland Brewhouse, which receives help from the Greenland local government, hopes to sell two million litres of beer in the first year of production, mostly in Europe and the United States. article

Beer we'll probably be getting in Indiana sometime yet this year:

• North Coast Brother Thelonious - Belgian Dark Strong Ale 9%.
• Dogfish Head Punkin Ale and Chateau Jiahu "a unique beer from ancient China made with rice, honey, grapes, and chrysanthemums". No really.
• He'Brew Monumental Jewbelation. "The most extreme Chanukah beer ever created". October release.
• Two Brothers' Black Saison.0%.

And a couple we probably won't be getting:

• Butternuts Heinnieweisse and Porkslap Pale Ale.
• Goose Island Ed. 9.7%. Made with 60% smoked malt. And a rauchbier from Ed's second runnings. Both available in September at the Clybourn brewpub.

News compiled by Bob Ostrander, Marketing Director. It's all considered accurate but then Bob has been known to have a drink or two while writing this so-called tome. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Brewers of Indiana Guild, in which case Bob will lose his job. Some coupon offers are for Associate Members only, non-transferable, and may be withdrawn due to unforeseen circumstances, acts of the gods, bankruptcy, or other capricious reasons. It's illegal in Indiana to offer any alcoholic beverage at discount through coupons, prizes, or the fact that the drinker is female. Sorry.