Indiana Brewery News

CALENDAR CHANGE - The Indiana Microbrewers' Festival has been changed to July 21st (from the 28th). The NASCAR race and the Michigan Brewers Festival both are on the weekend of the 28th. - any web articles should link to http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/festival.html

Todd Antz at Keg Liquors in Clarksville has scheduled his annual Fest of Ale for June 2nd of this year. Of course, he’d like as many Indiana brewers as possible to attend that event, and it seems to that this might be good timing to be there to promote the Micro Fest as well. events@kegliquors.com

The Great Lakes Brewing News is going to revamp it's directory to include maps. Contact them at 800-474-7291 to get the most from their listing.

The Brewers Association has a new set of 125 styles. pdf. They also have changed the definition of craft brewery:

The 2 million bbl/year keeps in Sam Adams. The 25% rule kicks out Widmer, Lienenkugel, etc. The adjunct thing seems like it may exclude Pittsburgh, Yuengling, Lone Star, etc. Should be controversial.

One of the bills (HB1392) at the statehouse would allow 10 more liquor licenses in Schereville in northwest Indiana. Reason? A proposed 50-store shopping center. They say it won't get off the drawing boards unless some new TGIF-style restaurants can open there. BUT those 10 new licenses will preclude any new licenses for real bars in the area. Should mega-chains outweigh the small corner boozer? Hmmm. Anyone want to guess which side will win? article

The 2 Bloomington breweries get some ink. And Upland may put on a beer festival.

Eh? Evansville is the 19th most expensive city for a first date according to Forbes magazine. Eh?

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: Schlafly is looking for a sales rep in the Southern Indiana area, KY, Eastern IL, and TN. Contact scottl@schlafly.com if you're interested.

It looks like Barley Island's new Flat Top Wheat Ale will become a year-round regular in the lineup.

Greg Emig of Lafayette Brewing sends "A big "THANKS!" goes out to all who were a part of making Winter Warmer 2007 another wildly successful event. With the help of a dozen brewers, 200+ enthusiastic beer fans, Hogeye Navvy, Hogmaster Bob, South Street Smokehouse, Sysco Foodservice, The Trails, McPhail Design, LBC management & staff and the generous contributions of time & money from friends & family alike, we were again able to raise approximately $3000 towards the Laura Williams Memorial Scholarship Fund. This year's proceeds should very well allow us to complete our vision of fully endowing this scholarship in order to provide monies for worthy Purdue students in the School of Consumer and Family Sciences for years to come. We are truly humbled by everyone's contributions in helping us reach our goal. THANK YOU ALL!"

June 1 is the kickoff date for SteveFest at RichO's in New Albany. With Keg Liquors' Fest of Ale in Clarksville on June 2nd it sounds like a road trip coming up. Now all we have to do is wait for spring.

Hot Shotz opened the evening of Feb 19th. They'll have full lunch and dinner service starting on the 22nd - opening at 11am every day. The initial tap list includes Old Speckled Hen, Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout, Goose Island Matilda, Upland Wheat, Wheistephaner Hefe, Single Track Copper Ale, Brooklyn Lager, Three Floyds Dreadnaught, Bells Two Hearted, Piraat, and Lindeman's Framboise. Plus about 80 bottles. Missing is the Robert the Bruce and Dirty Dicks. RtB may return when the next set of taps are added but Dirty Dicks has been given the axe by Youngs/Wells. Hopefully Brian will have a web site up soon so people can find it. Meanwhile, it's at 96th and Gray in Carmel. He's getting local magazine publicity already.

Sahara Mart in Bloomington (2nd and Walnut) has upgraded their beer room yet again.

It's officially in print now. Brugge Brasserie will begin bottling it's beers brewed at the Terre Haute Brewery in May. Mike Rowe may move the CV production to a new downtown brewpub. article

Oh, and Ram's Clay Robinson is one of Indianapolis Monthly's Hot Singles. No stopping him now.

The Cantillon Brewery in Brussels has been the subject of several robberies lately including one on December 13 where Claude Van Roy (right) had a knife at her throat! They say the may have to move out of their west-side neighborhood which would certainly affect their wild-yeast lambics. Owner Jean-Pierre Van Roy says "Ik wil mijn leven niet geven voor het patrimonium van de Geuze en de Lambik." or "I don't want to give my life for the Gueuze-lambic legacy." They have also been having many supply problems because trucks can't get down the street.

Cains of Liverpool says they'll make an Amber Ale next November infused with "succulent California Raisins".

CAMRA is hitting back. When pubs in Britain were allowed extended hours a year ago plenty of newspapers called it "24 hour drinking" and said it would lead to binge drinking. Now the consumer organization representing Real Ale lovers says the low price of Fosters and Carling in supermarkets encourages irresponsible use of alcohol. They found prices of 54p per pint (about $3.80 per US 6-pack) and note that $2.68 of this is tax. Now that's a price war on cheap beer.

Evidently Mayor Daley (Chicago) is sending some Berghoff beer to Bart Peterson (Indy) to settle a bet. Hmmm. Why send a beer that originated in Indiana? That's brewed in Wisconsin? Oh well. Prost Bart.

The (national) Brewers Association is starting promotional (lobbying) efforts on behalf of the 1300 "small" brewers - those making less than 2,000,000 bbl / yr. See Roger's synopsis.

The Oregon Brewers Festival won't allow children on the premises this year after being scolded by the state Liquor Control Commission about a rule that forbids minors from a "drinking environment". Before they had a family-friendly atmosphere with playground and free root beer for kids (and designated drivers).

A 1998 91.1 million euro fine against Inbev and Kronenbourg for price fixing in Belgium was just upheld by the EU court. article

Huh? Sam Adams unveils ultimate beer glass? "the first glass specifically designed to showcase beer as brewers intended." - "world-renowned sensory experts" - "will be sold in packages of four for $30"

Finally. Johns Hopkins has figured out how yeast have sex. And it doesn't even involve alcohol. short article. Long involved paper in March's Nature says "Live H. capsulatum yeast deficient in α(1,3)-glucan were able to bind to fibroblasts expressing dectin 1 but yeast expressing..." Ah, nevermind.

"The appeal of bourbon worldwide is on a roll. Everybody is gearing up for more production." article

Beer Launching Fridge - Save precious calories you'd otherwise waste walking to the cooler. Complete with remote control. Bonus: video.

Left Hand's Oak-Aged Imperial Stout is being held up by the fed's label approval mechanism. Seems they want stated on the label what percent of the blend of oak-barrel vs stainless steel matured beer goes into the bottle. That's something the brewer didn't know until the final bottling. Oak isn't something you can predict accurately and they need to control the character. After racking on Jan 18-19 they could then re-submit for a new label approval and then get the labels printed. Arrrrgh.
Limited Releases coming up from Left Hand:

Barman in Newcastle gives self laser surgery with line-cleaning caustic. Doesn't need glasses anymore. Don't try this at home. article

The best selling quaff in Britain? No surprise - Stella Artois. But it's now 60% bigger than 2nd place Carling and 3rd place Fosters. John Smith's Bitter is #10. No other ale cracks the top 20; not even Guinness. My goodness. Maybe because it takes 9 months to get a bar towel.

Why does beer froth?

Bubbles form under the influence of escaping carbon dioxide; the walls of the bubbles consist of various proteins and carbohydrates present in the beer such as dextrins, barley malt proteins, ions from the water and bitter principles from the hop. These substances reduce the surface tension of the water and thus prevent the formation of water droplets.

The walls of the bubbles are not evenly thick. Under the influence of various factors, including gravity, surface tension and capillary action, the thicker parts of the bubbles become thicker, with the final result that the bubbles burst. After a certain time the thickness of the head is halved: that is called the half-life. Determining this is an interesting exercise for the school: you can examine how the half-life is influenced, for example, by the temperature and the purity of the glass. Experts describe a half-life of 110 seconds as very satisfactory. Brewers also make use of froth stabilizers to prolong the time.

Reprinted from the BelgianShop newsletter.
They sell Belgian beers email, have a huge online catalog, ship to Indiana, and also a good news search and newsletter.

The 2nd stupidest thing you'll read today: Sunday sales, George soap opera version. There may be hope for one of the last 3 blue-law states to come to their senses but maybe not. "The Rev. Aaron McCullough didn't beat around the bush: Georgia lawmakers who vote for a bill which would pave the way for the sale of alcohol on Sunday will have 'blood on their hands' if a fatal accident results from a six-pack purchased on the Sabbath." article

The stupidest thing you'll read today: A group of Attorneys General from 23 states are asking Anheuser Busch to put a opening age-check screen on their web site. That's not new, lots of brewers have inconvenient drop-down forms for this. What's new is they want A-B to collect user name, address, and driver's license number. They also want A-B to make a phone call to the user to verify age.

OK, maybe this is even stupider: A-B will be putting out a tea-flavored beer, Evolve, in black and green tea flavors. 4.2% ABV.

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.


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