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Brewers of Indiana Guild Newsletter - December, 2008

Upcoming Events

Lots more events at http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/events.shtml.

B.I.G. News

The Brewers of Indiana Guild has information up now about the Winterfest.

Indiana Brewery News - First all the good news.

Following Indiana's triumph at GABF (have you heard we swept the Wood- and Barrel-Aged category?) we did well also at The Illinois Craft Brewers Guild Festival of Barrel Aged Beer in November.

• Porter/Stout - Silver - Ram Indy - Old Jack Stout (the GABF Gold)
• Barleywine - Gold - Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine
• Barleywine - Bronze - Three Floyds Hvedegoop Wheatwine
• Strong Dark Beers - Bronze - Rock Bottom Downtown Indy Naughty Woody
• Wild Beers - Silver - Upland Blackberry Lambic
• Plus Best Of Show - Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine

And now for the bad news

The second oldest brewpub in Indiana is closing. But their other tap house, The Pub, and the new brewery in Elkhart will continue business as usual. The following press release has the details.Yes, the Mishawaka Brewpub is closed*. The last night on Dec 3rd was a quiet party with loyal customers looking wistful as they wandered the barren-walled rooms, sipping the new Russian Imperial Stout.

The Schmidts were nice enough to put most of the pictures, posters, memorabilia, and even potted plants up for grabs as souvenirs as thanks for the good times.

*This isn't the end of the Mishawaka Brewery. The Pub on Grape and Cleveland isn't closing, far from it, and the production brewery in Elkhart will still be going strong. In fact, they have just come to an agreement with World Class Beverages for their bottled beers to be distributed state-wide - saving Tom lots of self-distribution mileage. Look for Four Horsemen Irish Ale, INDIAna Pale Ale, 7 Mules Kick-Ass Ale, Hop Head, and more in more stores starting next year.

The brewing equipment at the pub will be moved to storage at the Elkhart brewery. The last batch, Resolution Strong Ale, will be at The Pub in January.

Tami and Rick after last last call.

Articles about the closing: WSBT (with bonus smoking vs non-smoking thread and inane comments such as "the fact that is used to be a Fitness USA workout facility. Sweaty gyms are not a place I'd want to eat sorry."), South Bend Tribune, WNDU.

Sadly, we're back down to 27 breweries. The Brass Monkey in Kokomo has also closed. This one is even more of a surprise than Mishawaka's short-notice closure. In fact, it was a surprise to owner Andrew Lewis.

This time the problem wasn't with the beer or the costs, but with the closure of the Sycamore Marketplace food court. Andrew brewed in the basement with his beer being sold upstairs. Whoops. No upstairs. And after he'd just made a major upgrade to the brewing system.

The last batches of BM beer will be tapped at the Half Moon starting Dec 5th. Two kegs of Green Tea Pale Ale and a keg of Ill Intent Imperial Stout are the first to go on tap. Hopefully Congregation Winter Dubbel will follow later.

Phillip Funaria reports in BeerAdvocate that Jim Cibak has left the new Crown Brewing. discussion

We now take you back to our regularly scheduled program

Meanwhile Mad Anthony's new tied house in Elkhart is set to open soon. They'll have a soft rollout with a Grand Opening celebration in January. You'll be able to find it easily. It's on Main Street in the old State movie theater. A block from the Amtrak station.

We'd like to introduce Rachel Dessenberger. She's moved from Maumee, OH to be the brewery manager at the Mishawaka Granite City.

News shorts from Jim Herter (thanks):

• Alcatraz Brewing now has a Mug Club.
• When Mad Anthony unveils this year's Old Crippled Bastard barleywine, all three locations will have some from previous years for comparison.
• Shoreline's new brewing equipment is up and running and all 12 taps are full again.
• Three Floyds is working on two collaborations. Oatgoop with Mikkeller, Copenhagen, will be similar to Hvedegoop but with oats. The second is with Dogfish Head and is further in the future. They are installing a 30-head bottling line to increase production.

It's reported Three Floyds has found a new distributor and will be back in Wisconsin shortly.

There's a steakhouse in Batesville called Lil' Charlies that has bought the house next door to hold the 20bbl brewery equipment to become a brewpub. Hurrah. Owners Kip and Tricia Miller and Adam Israel have a target date of June, 2009 and their plan includes a complete overhaul of the restaurant, the addition of a bar area, increased seating, etc. etc. Adam will be the brewmaster along with his chef title - he's a CIA grad.

Not yet sure if this is 100%, but Mark Havens was informed that Oaken Barrel got some ink in NFL Gameday Cookbook. The cookbook takes each city with an NFL team and pairs a food that is historically common from that city with a local brew.

Mad Anthony gets ink in the Journal Gazette with a notice that their prices haven't gone up even though their costs have. But they did switch from disposable sauce containers to reusable ones.

Indiana Retailers News

Keg Liquors in Clarksville has opened the new 5,000 sq ft building. Here's a picture of the warm and wild section.

Keg Liquors gets ink in the Louisville Courier Journal. "The shelves include such rare finds as Thiriez, a superb French farmhouse ale; Etienne Dupont's Cidre Bouche Brut, a vintage apple cider from Normandy; and Nikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, a coffee-oatmeal stout created by legendary Danish home brewers."

The Hop Shop in Carmel is reducing their inventory. More than a dozen titles have been dropped about $2. These are "normal" beers such as Spaten Optimator, Harpoon UFO, Bell's Oberon, and Wabash Valley beers.

Another article in the Indy Star about Sunday sales. With input from Jim Arnold of Kahn's. "It's an absolute loser for the package liquor stores. There is no win. I hope it fails."

Michigan City News-Dispatch editorializes for Sunday sales - sort of. article

Indiana Pub News

J. Gumbo's downtown Indy has a bargain for you, and me, and everybody. From now through the end of the year all their pints will be $2.50. Most are normally $4.25. This includes (right now) Victory Hop Devil, Brugge Black, Alpha King, Breckenridge Xmas, Harpoon IPA, Magic Hat No. 9, Three Floyds Gumball Head and Schlafly Hop Harvest. The hi-end stuff that's served in goblets aren't included of course.

Maybe your stocks are up. Maybe you can put off the tune-up on your XKE until spring - after all, you won't be driving it this winter anyway. So maybe you have some extra cash. Mike DeWeese of J. Gumbo's in downtown Indy has the answer for your investment needs. He's selling his cellar built up over long years at BW3. All rare beers suitable for improvement through aging. Buy one, buy them all. Perfect for Christmas presents (hint hint). Contact Mike via email to make him an offer. There's a big table of what's available here.

Indiana Homebrew News

Zymurgy Magazine interviewed Anita Johnson about the State Fair Brewers Cup and the extensive report is in their Holiday issue.

Indiana Events

Fred Scott won the 2lbs of wings eating competition at the Hot Shotz grand opening for cash and Butler basketball tickets.

Ram and Jack Daniels teamed up to give their Mug Club members a special evening. The highlight was the availability from Dave's dwindling stock of both Old Jack Stout and Buffalo Bock (Silver medalist at GABF). Old Jack will, of course live on in legend for winning Silver at the Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup, Gold at GABF, and Silver at the Festival of Barrel Aged Beer. Here are the medals to prove it.
 

Indiana Beer News and Reviews

Barley Island has Beastie Barrel Porter aging in whiskey barrels right now for a late December release on tap and in 12oz 4-packs. It will join, not replace, their GABF medalist Beastie Barrel Stout.

Upland's and Ken Smith's Bad Penny Imperial IPA is flowing at the taphouse. This was the winner of the UpCup homebrew contest. It's over 10% ABV and nearly 100 IBU. They've also made a big update to their food menu - it's on their website.

Omar's latest secret at Alcatraz is a strong American Pale Ale that has had a secondary fermentation with maple syrup and a dry-hopping with Cascade and Amarillo. It's not on the menu so you have to ask for it. Only those reading IndianaBeer (or Nuvo) know about it.

Mad Anthony have several December beers. On the 3rd, they tapped the Snowplowed Winter Ale at a Mug Club party. The 2008 OCB (Old Crippled Bastard) Barley Wine will go on tap Dec 10th. And a Bourbon Barrel Imperial Porter is to be released in the coming weeks as well.

Floyd released Bloomington Brewing's Java Porter on Nov 19. It's "brewed with roasted barley malts for sweetness, and German Select hops for bitterness. A special addition of dark roasted Sumatran Blue Lingtong coffee from local coffee roaster Partridge and Quigley is added to the boil kettle to give Java Porter its unique coffee aroma and flavor."

Recent tastings:

• Broad Ripple Brewpub Bigger Boy - A Strong Ale that has been dry-hopped within an inch of it's life. Think of it as a bold 8.4% IIPA. Quite dark as you'd expect. Plenty of alcohol and plenty of initial malt balance that is quickly overwhelmed by hops, hops, hops.
• Broad Ripple Brewpub Marzen - Pretty sweet and thick for the style. 5.2%
• Broad Ripple Brewpub Traveling John's Best Bitter - Cask Conditioned - A true British Best Bitter. Caramel comes through with about 40 IBU of dry finish. Always an A+
• Barley Island Dry-hopped barrel-aged IPA on the handpull - Deep brown. Lots of American hop IBUs almost masked by the massive wallop of malt. Sliding into Barley Wine territory here.
• Barley Island Java The Stout - Pure black with thin brown head. Aroma is of mild coffee. Taste is pure mild coffee, maybe with cream. There is a long coffee aftertaste. This simple approach just cries for a dollop of heavy cream.
• Barley Island Porter - Had the 2nd glass from a new batch. Almost opaque black. Spritely carbonation interferes with the beer but I bet Jon gets that straightened out.
• Barley Island Beastie Barrel Stout - On tap at the brewery is always the best way to drink even aged beer.
• Barley Island Single White Friar - Belgian Dark Ale brewed as a Pro-Am entry to GABF with Mark Schiess. Pure black with red tinges if you hold it under a tungsten bulb. Perfectly balanced, strong, spicy. Drinkable in alarmingly large quantities.
• Granite City McK's Scottish Ale - Very malty 70 shilling. Dark, almost muddy brown. Sweet-lovers dream but does dry out at the end.
• Half Moon Bry-Pa - Bryan Culbertson's recipe for an 85 IBU 7.7% IIPA. The first note is the dryness that goes throughout, not overwhelming the bitterness from Columbus, Magnum, Northern Brewer and Glacier hops - all high alpha.
• Half Moon Cannon Shot Cream Ale - Fairly boldly hopped and quite satisfying for an intro beer. Will pique interest in the casual customer. 5.4%
• Half Moon Sycamore Stump Stout - Pure black, pure thick, Export Stout. 6.6%
• Mad Anthony Apple Ale - Bright golden. Apple is predominant. Pale Malt gives a brooding mal background.
• Mad Anthony Snow Plowed Winter Ale - An Amber Ale that acts like an ESB. Quite dark brown. Unspicey. Earthy.
  Cindy says: This beer poured a medium head with small bubbles. The hue of this beer was dark brown and the lacing was fair on the sides of my glass. The nose of this beer was malty. I enjoyed this winter ale fairly well as it had a nice, smooth taste to it in my opinion. I would definitely drink this beer again.
• Power House Black Hole Porter - Very thick. Very Black. Seriously thick. Malt. Roasty. Toasty.
• Ram Old Jack's Blizzard - Big ESB with reddish copper tint. Cascades and Glacier hops give it the expected American flavor.
• Ram Nutcracker Porter - Take their excellent Total Disorder Porter and hit it with a shot of Hazelnut syrup and you have an idea we were told came from corporate headquarters.
• Rock Bottom, Downtown Indy Blitzen Ale - Excellent ESB, big and malty with a balanced finish.
• Rock Bottom, 86th St Honey Wheat - Dull light brown of oak furniture. Dead head. Hint of honey without being sweet. 4.7%. One in the kegerator will be great for the relatives over Christmas.
• Rock Bottom 86th St Wheat Wine - Yep, Pilgrim's Dole. Big beer. Bright rum-colored. Thick mouthfeel. Strong and spicy with alcohol plainly evident. Beautiful. 9.7%. Got a growler.
• Rock Bottom 86th St Blitzen - Dark copper. Big malty ESB. All-brit. 5.8%. Liz, put this on the handpull.
• Rock Bottom 86th St Dry-hopped Imperial Stout - Thick, rich. Doesn't seem to be big alcoholic but it's 7.2%.
• Upland Schwartz - Solid malty Germany noble hopped black beer that will stand up to spicy chili. The chili prevents more detailed comments, sorry.

Beers to find in Indiana

The World Class Beverages Winter 12-pack Holiday Taster contains one each of Samichlaus, Anchor Our Special Ale, Delirium Noel, Black Chocolate Stout, Gouden Carolus Noel, Avery Old Jubilation, Wychwood Bah Humbug, Sam Smith Winter Welcome, Rogue Santa's Private Reserve, Young's Winter Warmer, Bell's Winter White, Petrus Winter Beer. Should be priced about $18 at retail.

And next year WCB will be bringing in limited, very limited, amounts of beer from breweries we don't usually see around here. They've made agreements with the Boulevard (Smokestack Series), Rubicon, 21st Amendment, Moylan's Oskar Blues, and Ska. Talk to Bob Mack if you want some for your pub.

Beers coming to Indiana: Struise Tsjessas Belgian Strong 10%, Two Brothers North Wind Imperial Stout, Thirsty Dog 12 Dogs of Christmas, Thomas Hardy's 40th Anniversary, Boulder Obovoid Oak-aged Oatmeal Stout, and all the Elfs (Very Bad, Seriously Bad, Criminally Bad, and Insanely Bad).

If you're an Imperial Stout fan, look for De Struise Black Albert. It's in the pipeline and has been seen at Kahn's and other places.

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)

Goose Island's brewpub on Clybourne St, Chicago has been evidently spared the closure axe. Their lease on the place is up at the end of the year and was not going to be renewed as another company would pay more. BUT in the first of probably three good things that will come out of this recession, the owners can't find anyone and will extend the lease. Hurray. article

Purdue's Exponent has Patrick Cantwell's excellent analysis of the "higher taxes will cause less beer drinking" theory. article Bonus quote: "I had always naively assumed that the death rate, even in Indiana, is a constant at about one death per person."

Steve Beaumont's Top 5 Holiday Beers - with pairings. article Brasserie Dupont Avec les Bon Voeux, Sam Smith Winter Welcome, Rogue Santa's Private Reserve, He'brew Jewbelation, and Mahr's Christmas Bock

Headline of the day which doesn't really relate to the story: "Radioactive Beer Kegs Menace Public, Boost Costs for Recyclers". article Actually the kegs are used to hide cesium scraps - the real radioactive danger is, wait for it, elevator buttons.

Courtesy New York Public Library, here is George Washington's recipe at Mount Vernon.

"To Make Small Beer
Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. -- Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea[s]t if the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask -- leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working -- Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed."

Headline: "Diamonds Produced from Tequila". article "The scientists found that even the cheapest of tequila brands, averaging at $3 a bottle, are good enough to make diamonds." My last $3 bottle of tequila was no gem. Or insert your own joke here.

.56 - that's BAC. It's Wisconsin of course. article

Wimp. .767 - that's real BAC. It's Germany of course. article

The New Yorker visits Dogfish Head in amazing detail. Prints to 12 pages.

Bad headline of the week: "Bottles of Wine and Beer Could Carry CALORIE Warning Labels to Stop Women Drinking" article Bonus quote "Drivers under 21 are already banned from drinking in Europe, as well as in parts of the U.S., Canada and Australia."

Good headline of the week: "The Boons of Beer" article Bonus quote "Unfortunately, the dose used in the study equals 17 beers".

With Sunshine Vitamin-D. Beer was good for you back in 1936.

Headline "Drink the Beer, Lose the Gut" article with bonus workout video

Around the world in 116 beers. pictures If you've had 34 of them, you might be a beer geek.

New Belgium is making Elysian's beer and vice versa. article "By tweaking Elysian's recipes to account for differences in equipment, altitude and brewing styles, New Belgium was able to make beers so similar to the Elysian originals that only professional brewers could tell even the slightest difference".

Recession? You know it's real when the largest pub chain in Ireland goes into bankruptcy. article "Traditionally, pubs are among the most surefire businesses in Ireland's famously sociable economy". Bonus: The creditors include four Irish banks, Guinness parent company Diageo and two other Irish brewers, and Ireland's tax collection agency.

SABMiller and Coca-Cola (Australia) have gone into a joint venture, Pacific Beverages, to distribute Pilsner Urquell and others. They bought the Bluetongue brewery in NSW and a 50M liter plant is scheduled to be up and running in 2010. The stated goal is to become the #3 Australian brewery in the premium division by 2012.

Compassion? Drunk women wearing high heels in Torquay, England will be issued flip-flops for safety. article

Transportation? Anita Schwartz carries 19 mass 40 meters to get a handle on a Guinness record. video Was that a dropped glass at 9 seconds?

♪♪ It's the most wonderful time of the beer ♪♪ article "Winter beers account for 26.3% of the brewing industry's total annual seasonal sales volume." Evidently Spring, Summer, and Fall average 24.6% each.

The famous Eat Here Get Gas sign in Tipton has a new twist. Now with less gas.

Brett Canaday and Tia Agnew, the owners of the New Day Meadery in Elwood, are featured on the cover of the Purdue Alumni Magazine. Tough to Google ever since Dr. Elwood Mead graduated from Purdue in 1882.

Space beer. video Made by Sapporo from barley sprouted on the Space Station.

The Nanny State might catch up with Nannyiana and outlaw happy hours, free drinks for women, etc. article Heck we did that back in 1985.

Got a GPS that takes POI files? POI Factory now has a bunch of pub and brewery locations available by state.

Latest scheme to prevent us Hoosiers from collecting the 10¢ Michigan deposit: Ink-jet printing on cans at time of sale. "Let's open that case and spray your beer". article

MillerCoors just had a grand reopening for the Miller Caves and Miller Visitor Center. "The Miller Caves, created in 1849 to keep beer cold before it was distributed, sit 60 feet below ground. A $1million renovation was completed to the caves and the visitor center. Cave improvements include a new cave tour video where the ghost of Frederick Miller emerges from a mural on the wall and explains the use of the caves in the beer-making process. Other improvements include renovations to the King Gambrinus fountain, a tribute to the patron saint of beer, and improved acoustics. Renovations made to the Visitor Center include a new historical timeline, a signature photo wall used for a backdrop for souvenir photos, a new bar and sampling station, a welcome desk and counters made of recycled beer bottle glass, and an enclosure and addition of a Miller Lite motorcycle."

News compiled by Bob Ostrander, Webmaster. It's probably fairly accurate but then Bob has been known to have a drink or two while hacking this stuff out on a computer that is also a magical porn machine. Didya hear the one about the Rabbi, the Priest, and the Kangaroo that walked into a bar and the bartender said "What is this, a joke?"