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Brewers of Indiana Guild Newsletter - February, 2008

B.I.G. News

The Board of Directors is now Mike DeWeese, Jeff Eaton, Greg Emig, John Hill, Penn Jensen, Ted Miller, and Blaine Stuckey. Some of these will serve 2-year terms and some 3-year.

Ted Miller has been elected the new President, ending Blaine Stuckey's three years of service. Thanks Blaine. There's now a VP - Greg Emig. Jeff (and Linda) Eaton is staying on as Secretary Treasurer.

D.O.T. "tourist oriented directional signs" have been approved by the Indiana State Bureaucracy for placement on US highways and State highways that are 4-lane with a median. Individual breweries will need to work with the D.O.T. to best fit their situation. Signs will cost about $350 each. More, much more, on Interstates. We're also hoping to get some form of this permission codified in Indiana law.

There is consensus and enthusiasm to hold a Winter Microbrewers Festival next year.

The Director of the Indiana State Fair, Pat Berger, is not opposed to have beer stands at the fairgrounds during the fair. This will require a change to state law which we will work for in the 2009 session.

The 2008 session has one omnibus bill about alcohol, HB 1118. It's called a "Christmas tree bill" because everybody is trying to hang ornaments on it. Right now the bill has bright and shiny baubles for wholesalers and liquor stores and has passed through the committees and B.I.G's lobbyist, Mark Webb, hops to get something in there for us. Mark also sees a problem with another provision that puts Marion County style rules on permits into force statewide. This would mean a more difficult time selling a brewpub (or any bar) since all zoning ordinances would have to be met. Don't know where this is going.

Update: House Bill 1118 has passed the House and is headed for the Senate for a vote on Feb 13. As it stands, it does not contain anything for Sunday sales at brewpubs. B.I.G.'s legal guy, Mark Webb, hopes to see our amendment added in the Senate.

This year's ReplicAle will be a 70/- Scottish. The B.I.G., through Dave Colt, might provide breweries that make a ReplicAle with a Buffalo Trace bourbon barrel to age some for the 2009 Winter Festival (or Winter Warmer).

Indiana Beer News

Ratebeer has Rich O’s Publick House listed as the 39th best beer bar in the world. And one near Philly has overtaken the Kulminator for top spot (although the descriptions don't sound like it deserves it except for references to gray market beers). The Map Room in Chicago is #4.

More ratings from RateBeer: Keg Liquors in Clarksville is rated 15th best retailer while Kahn's Fine Wines in Indy is 19th. That makes both of these higher than Sam's in Chicago. Wow. Mike Sprinkle's Crown Liquors in Fishers is rated #43.

Shoreline is adding 3 more fermenters and another bright tank. Beer is just flowing across the bar and Sam wants more capacity. So much so that he's thinking of going to 30bbl vats. He has been hit by the hop shortage though, the venerable Queen Mum which he developed back in Valparaiso has been replaced temporarily with Cluster Phuch - the same recipe but with Challenger hops replacing Fuggles.

Jon Lang has put some of Barley Island's Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout in a bourbon barrel for future release - that not news. He's added a bunch of raspberries - that's news. Next: Blackberries.

There are two authors now writing books about Indiana beer. They haven't met and their two efforts attack the subject from two different angles.

Douglas Wissing from Bloomington is working with the Indiana Historical Society. His book will cover the history of brewing in Indiana. He writes many magazine articles and is the author of "Scenic Driving Indiana" and "Pioneer in Tibet: The Life and Perils of Dr. Albert Shelton".

"Breweries of Indiana will explore the history and living artisanal culture of our state's long, vibrant brewing tradition. Using regional, ethnic and commercial lens, the text will depict the early 19th-century origins of Indiana's commercial breweries that started with Richmond's Buhl's brewery, through the early 20th-century heyday when 41 Hoosier breweries hustled beer, to the mid-20th-century consolidation and decline. Extensive historic photos, maps and contemporary spot illustrations will leaven the historical section layouts. The book will focus on Indiana brewing's remarkable post-1989 renaissance. Today more than twenty breweries produce award-winning microbrews across the state. Breweries of Indiana will provide a travel guide to these craft breweries, interweaving their stories with Indiana architecture, ethnicity and regional specificity, connecting the dynamics of today with the luster of the past. Profiles, sidebars, commissioned photographs, spot illustrations, vintage photos, maps and ephemera will further illuminate these diverse breweries' colorful characters and unique styles."

Rita Kohn of Indianapolis writes for Nuvo and has 20 books to her credit. Her mother homebrewed back in the bad old days when it was illegal, even in the Catskills. Her book, A Good Head: A Social History of Indiana Brewing, will spotlight past and present brewers and brewery owners and how they have affected society. She hopes to have it out in July, 2009.

Not the last call but Roger Baylor needs to know if you're going with the group on the Pacific Northwest Brewery Tour May 6 through the 14th. Portland, BridePort, McMenamins, Full Sail, Tacoma, Harmon's, Hale's, Seattle, Pike, Pyramid, Astoria, Wet Dog, Fort George, Newport, Rogue, Brewers on the Bay. Plus museums, aquarium, scenic drives, waterfalls, and more.

Pictures from Lafayette Brewing's Winter Warmer are up on IndianaBeer.com. THC's Linda Swihart won the ladies division in the keg lift.

Indiana News for Breweries

Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup entries are open this year from June 14 to the 28th. Judging is on July 14th.

Next July the federal "special occupational taxes on producers and marketers of alcohol beverages" will go away but "recordkeeping and registration requirements remain" (the 4 R's). info from TTB if you can figure it out.

Upcoming Events

Please see http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/events.shtml for Indiana (and some surrounding area) events. Also lists bands playing at member brewpubs.

On Tap

Please see http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/ontap.html for the current tap lists of Indiana Breweries.

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

Carlsberg follows their invention of lager yeast with a $400 10.5% lager, "Vintage No. 1". Pricing formula: 2008 Danish kroners. Next year it will be 2009DK, etc. "hints of prune, caramel, vanilla, and oak from the French and Swedish wooden casks in which it is stored". article Look for Utopia to cost $1776 real soon now.

A study done by researchers at the California Institute of Technology found that inflating the price of a bottle of wine "enhanced a person’s drinking experience". Volunteers were told the price of a wine, once with the true price and once with a fake one. The “higher priced” wine was consistently given higher ratings in tastings even though it was exactly the same wine.

Alabama still has a 6% cap on beer and the big A-B distributor is trying to kill a bill to raise the cap to 14.9%. In response a Bud boycott has started. article

Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin have lower alcohol taxes and no container deposits. This can save the people $5 per case of beer. This can entice liquor store owners in Niles to buy beer in Indiana. This can cost the Michigan government $14,000,000 in lost taxes? article

"Costco Looking at Selling Own Line of Beer". Kirkland Signature Pale, Amber, Hefe, and Lager. "Craft-beer styles such as Hefeweizen might appeal more to drinkers who would otherwise be buying Michelob or Sam Adams than they would to the typical purchaser of a Busch Light 30 pack." Brewed by Gordon Biersch. article

Heineken and Carlsberg have bought Scottish & Newcastle for $15.4 billion in cash. They'll split it up with Heineken gets Europe and American business and Newcastle Brown. Carlsberg gets French, Greek, and Chinese operations.

Maryland considering eliminating taxes on school textbooks and raising taxes on beer from 9¢ to 54¢ per gallon. Where are their priorities?

For only $460 plus postage from Cornwall you can have a Mikrocellar that keeps 36 pints of Real Ale fresh for "extended periods".

Claude Arkell, owner of Donnington's Brewery of Stowe-on-the-Wold, England has died at age 89 after running the family brewery for over 50 of its 184-year existance. Much local speculation has taken place over the last few years about the continuation of the brewery since Claude's only relatives were the family of the Arkell Brewery of Swindon - still real ale brewers but not notably revered.

Claude left Donnington's to cousin Peter Arkell and his son James rather than to the Arkell Brewery. James is now in charge and says the two breweries will continue as completely separate entities and no changes to Donningtons will happen (except one batch of commemorative bottled beer, Double Donn, celebrating Claude's life.

Residents of the Cotswolds are much relieved. Donnington's real ales, BB, SBA, and occasional XXX, will continue to be sold only in the breweries 15 tied houses including the Queens Head in Stowe and the Fox Inn in Broadwell (two of this writer's favorites).

At the brewery (below) Claude started each day at 6am with an inspection of the brewery workers. His beers were known to be the least expensive in the area at under £2 per pint.

Clipper City' Oxford label will be going organic in March. The first two will be an Amber and a Raspberry Wheat. Also the 2008 Holy Sheet Uber 9% Abbey Ale will be out soon.

March Madness Hops Championship starts February 23rd. Get your bracket here. Win a case of beer. Yep, that says Hops; it's for IPAs and done by Brewing News.

The largest liquor store is Daveco Liquors in Denver. 102,000 sq ft. Walk in beer cooler plus 66 doors. 800 beers. Guinness-certified - the world record book Guinness. Just thought you'd like to know.

At least the New York Times has found out burning ethanol in cars is an environmental bad bad. article

Two new beers may be coming to Indiana. Sierra Nevada's ESB (Early Spring Beer) is a British ESB from Maris Otter malt, Challenger and East Kent Goldings hops. Harviestoun Ola Dubh (Black Oil) is Old Engine Oil matured in Highland Park whisky casks. There will be 3 versions - aged in 12yo, 16yo, and 30yo casks. No doubt they will be pricey.

Liefman's is in bankruptcy. Jacubus Liefmans became the brewer in Oudenaarde in 1770. The history on their site says "The takeover in 1990 by Breweries Riva from Dentergem secured the future of this historic brewery and gave it a new aura." Let's hope the future is really secured since Duvel Moortgat has put in a bid for it. Oh, and this includes La Chouffe. article

SABMiller has made an acceptable offer to Grolsch and will become bigger than InBev. "We're Number 1".

Anheuser-Busch's U.S. sales were up 8%, now 48.5% of the market. Bud and Bud Light, though, are down. The rise was on the basis of imports and microbrews. Oh, and Grupo Modelo (Corona) sales.

From Prague Daily Monitor: "The Truth About Budvar". A response to CAMRA's Roger Protz. article

Lighter Beer News

We here in Indiana should get MGD 64 in March. It's a lighter version of Miller Genuine Draft Light with only 64 calories. That's about 15 M&Ms.

He drives around in a Miller High Life delivery truck, revoking snooty people's right to sell his beer. And he was in northwest Indiana on a promotional tour. article

Fake Whisky? Yep, just look on eBay. rant

Best bidding on whisky is at www.whiskyauction.com.

This week's "truckload of beer overturned on highway" story is enhanced by people stopping on the freeway to put a case or two in their trunk. Further enhanced by video. Ahhh, Carlsberg. Ahhh, Malaysia. article & video

Did you know Sangria is illegal in Virginia? article

Recipe for Bacon Vodka. Makes one pint.

1. Fry up three strips of bacon
2. Add cooked bacon to a clean pint sized mason jar. Trim the ends of the bacon if they are too tall to fit in the jar. Or you could go hog wild and just pile in a bunch of fried up bacon scraps.
3. Optional: add crushed black peppercorns.
4. Fill the jar up with vodka. Cap and place in a dark cupboard for at least three weeks. (No need to refrigerate)
5. At the end of the three week resting period, place the bacon vodka in the freezer to solidify the fats. Strain out the fats through a coffee filter to yield a clear filtered pale yellow bacon vodka.
6. Decant into decorative bottles and enjoy.

The Catholic church is asking members to celebrate St. Patrick's Day to March 15 this year. Pubs everywhere in mass confusion. article

The Pickled Few (at the Fox Inn in Broadwell).

Headline: "Booze Bra Gives Women a Wine Rack". Yes, with picture. $29.95

Irina Voronina is the 2008 St. Pauli Girl. You probably don't remember her from Epic Movie and Reno 911.

Alberta Krieg was 108 when she passed away Thursday morning at Heritage House, Wilkes-Barre, PA. "Krieg had frequently credited drinking Coors Light as the key to her longevity." article that doesn't say much more

This one has it all: "Vitamin B complex-fortified beer", "four ingredients are essential: ... grain (which has been replaced by organic rice syrup)", "Hops from flowers are expensive, but are more ideal than hops from leaves, stems and bark.", "He also created the K-9 chastity and incontinence belt for dogs", and "Sa Pilipino kasi, tatlong okasyon lang na pwedeng uminom siya—Kapag siya ay malungkot; kung siya ay masaya; at yung pagitan ng dalawa". Hint: It's Philippino. dumb article

With that, we'll be saying Kapag siya ay malungkot to you all until next month.

News compiled, written, or just made up 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.