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Brewers of Indiana Guild Newsletter - January, 2009

Upcoming Events

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

B.I.G. News

Just a reminder, the B.I.G. Winterfest is in 3 weeks. Sat, Jan 24. Indiana State Fairgrounds. See you there. Once again:

1st Annual Indiana Microbrewers Winterfest Presented by the Brewers of Indiana Guild and World Class Beverages January 24, 2009 3:00pm - 7:00pm (Eastern Time) Indiana State Fairgrounds, Champions Pavilion, Indianapolis 38th St & Fall Creek Pkwy $15 advance Barley Island, Broad Ripple Brewpub, Brugge, Lafayette Brewing, Upland (Online Tickets) $20 at the door Cask Conditioned table. 16 firkins served on gravity. Including Indiana's ReplicAle 70-shilling Scottish Ale aged in Jack Daniels barrels. The Winterfest will use a token system. Your entry includes 10 tokens for 4-oz pours. Extras will be available ($5 for 5 tokens) until 6:30pm. Designated Driver entry: $5. Includes complimentary water and soft drinks. Available at the door. Info at www.IndianaBeerFest.com or 317-856-6092

Bob will be calling each brewery to find out what you are bringing. Or you can email him that information now. Thanks.

Any publicity you can put out about the Winterfest will be appreciated.

Indiana Brewery News

The second floor at Brugge Brasserie is open. The taps downstairs are all upstairs also plus a couple of extra taps that will revolve and grow. Oh, and bottles also.

Turoni's Main Street is adding a 5th fermenter so Jack Frey can brew more beer for the 3rd location (in Newburgh) they will be opening in March. They're erecting a new building which by now has walls and roof.

There's a building permit on the new NABC brewery/taphouse site in downtown New Albany but that's it so far. Roger hopes to have a housewarming and birthday party for Ben Franklin on Jan 17th, open the taproom in February, and start brewing there in April.

First look at the New New Albanian Brewery and Tap House.

The Broad Ripple Brewpub and Lowes Theaters have been collecting for a United Christmas Service family and will continue to take donations. "visit the Brew Pub and ask your server about donating for the family." Picture from Broad Ripple Gazette.

From DC, "Extreme Obsession: Three Floyds Beer at Pizzeria Paradiso". article Bonus backhanded compliment: "Munster, Indiana is an unlikely place for a great brewery."

Trip Sevens is coming to the Ram soon. For their 777th batch, Dave made a Belgian Tripel at 1076.
 

Indiana Retailers News

The new Keg Liquors building.

Indiana Pub News

Mike DeWeese's J. Gumbo's closed in late December. No immediate replacement is expected. Mike still has a bunch of vintage beer that he is willing to part with. List here.

The Fiddler's Hearth in South Bend has added a LOT more taps and is the best place around for Irish and Welsh Single Malt whiskeys. They have also opened another Public House in Austin, TX.

Indiana Events

Saturnalia is still in full swing at Rich O's. Or should we now call it the New Albanian Public House? Here's the starting lineup.

On opening day most were ordering halves which kept the taxis from the door. We, had a Bonfire of the Valkyries, Naughty Claus, Baladin Nora, Two Brothers Oh Brother Tripel, Conesmoker, and a Schlenkerla Urbock to finish the night.

Also have to mention the always imperturbable service with Dan's quiet and efficiency of Anthony Hopkins playing an English butler.

Saturnalia is officially ON.

The official Hoosier Beer Geek New Years Eve party at Deano's Vino ended sometime in the early AM. With Dogfish Head 120, Delirium Tremens, and Brugge Thunder Monkey on tap, no telling exactly when the last dog was hung. pictures

Indiana Beer News and Reviews

• Alcatraz Bock - This is replacing the Brown in the permanent lineup. It's dark-toast brown with a white head. Turbo-dark taste with big hop bitterness to match. The antithesis of a wimpy light Maibock.
• Alcatraz Belgian Dupple - Candi sugar, honey, and lotsa malt.
• Alcatraz Pelican Pale - Copper color. Big Cascade IPA with about 60 IBU.
• Broad Ripple Brewpub Wee Alec Heavy Scottish Ale - Big malt strong, served appropriately flat. No foo-foo nothing, just solid malt, dark fruits, raisins. Bright notes. Sweet slow-fading finish. Brings up thoughts of comfortable armchairs.
• New Albanian Naughty Claus - Thick and black. Brewed with Dutch cark cocoa and fresh mint. The mint doesn't assert itself but the beer seems very bright for a big, thick Chocolate Porter.
• New Albanian Bonfire of the Valkyries - Big Rauchbier on a Black Lager base. Perfect.
• Power House Black Hole Porter - Very thick. Very Black. Seriously thick. Malt. Roasty. Toasty.
• Ram Steam Stack - California Common with Cascade and Japanese Sorachi Ace hops. This new variety, developed by Sapporo gives a lemongrass aroma and this may be the first use of it in a Steam beer.
• Rock Bottom, Downtown California Common - Aromatic floral hops and a nice quenching finish.
• Rock Bottom Downtown Cask Conditioned Amarillo Pale Ale - With an Amarillo dry-hopping, this Real Ale seems more Brit than American (even though Amarillo is more similar to Cascade than Fuggles). Dry, dry finish.
• Rock Bottom Downtown Old Curmudgeon - Brassy Winter Ale. Dark, dark copper. A fireplace sipper.
• Rock Bottom, 86th St Old Curmudgeon - An Imperial IPA. Hop Juice with a strong malt base. 8.6%. And they're selling it by the pint.
• Rock Bottom, Rock Bottom 86th St 2007 Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout - Big, big whiskey nose. Sweet whiskey vanilla. This is secretly on tap now and is scheduled to be poured at the B.I.G. Winterfest.
• Upland Schwartz - Solid malty Germany noble hopped black beer that will stand up to spicy chili. The chili prevents more detailed comments, sorry.

Notes on Dave Colt's Ram's Java Stout - Mild coffee stout. Great oaty thickness. Balanced. Coffee enhances the roasty bitterness. 10 gallons of cold-infused Seattle's Best Holiday Blend coffee makes for a better Winter Ale that you can enjoy in quantities of more than one. 4.8% Dave and Jon recommend

Entree - Coconut Pawns and loaded mash potatoes with a Java Stout.
Desert - Mile High Mud Pie with a second Java Stout. What desert doesn't go good with coffee and this is just way too obvious a choice to pass up.

Brugge Brasserie Thunder Monkey is on and there's plenty of it, being a 20-bbl batch. Very dark brown. Oooh, Brett. Brown fruits. Alcohol is noticable. Wheat. All overlayed with cinnamon and nutmeg. 6.5%. Yep, it's a Belgian Brown Holiday beer.

Upland Winter Warmer is in bottles and will be at many pubs on tap. Dark cordovan with a small white head. Belgian lacing. Thick body. Tastes of bittersweet chocolate with a very bitter finale. 9% ABV

Beers to find in Indiana

Breckenridge Christmas Ale is out and Indiana got 150 1-liter bottles, about 10% of the total production leaving the brewery.

Interesting stuff we spotted at the Hop Shop: Rogue Morimoto Black Obi, Warsteiner Radler, Bierra Artigiale Quarta Runa, Mikkeler Jackie Brown, Boulder Killer Penguin Barleywine.

There's a bit of Moylan's IPA and Moylander Imperial IPA out in Indiana stores. Victory Storm King and Old Horizontal will hit stores in the next couple of weeks. You can find out where at World Class Beverages Beer Finder. We're also told Goose Island Mild Winter is also here.

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)

New Holland Brewing's distilling has finally come to fruition and they have come to terms to sell their Artisan Spirits throughout Michigan. Look for Zeppelin Bend straight-malt whiskey, Huron White Rum, Michigan Amber Rum, Superior Single-Barrel Rum, Knickerbocker Gin at the brewpub starting January 9th and in liquor stores up north. Prices range from $30 to $65.

Beer Advocate has discussion groups including their Great Lakes Group. They have now started a Chicago Group.

The Michigan Brewers Guild has a article about the Winter Beers from their member breweries.

The Hoosier Beer Geeks have put up a best-of poll. You're invited to put in your 2 cents.

Hoppin' Frog is looking for your beer ideas. email

Bell's will team up with De Proef for collaboration beers in 2009. article

You might remember the Treasurer of the BJCP when all the money disappeared. He's pled guilty. article

To celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Prohibition, here's The Hot Women of Beer. article with pictures of course.

Vinophiles, does your 2007 D'Aquino Pinot Grigio delle Venezie seem a little thin? It is. article "Basically, the chemical testing we have done . . . shows it is just tap water." In the right hands, it goes good with fishes and loaves.

The venerable Penn Brewing in Pittsburgh is moving. They're closing down the brewery now and contracting with the Lion brewery in Wilkes Barre and will close the restaurant in February. Hoping to reopen both next year. article

Michael Jackson's final book, the 6th Edition of the Great Beers of Belgium series is available now. 520 pages. The BA is selling it for $37. link

Wikipedia says "Different tastes can be detected on all parts of the tongue^[27], with slightly increased sensitivities in different locations depending on the person, contrary to the popular belief that specific tastes only correspond to specific mapped sites on the tongue.^[28] The original "tongue map" was based on a mistranslation by a Harvard psychologist of a discredited German paper^[29] that was written in 1901."

InBusch has announced their first layoffs - 1,400 salaried positions plus 415 contractors in the next two weeks. article

SAB Miller is going to open a brewery in Sudan. This should turn out well. article

Good article on Thomas Jefferson and Beer. Did you know?

• Before the Revolutionary War Martha was the brewer of the family, making 15gal batches of small beer every other week.
• He had a POW during the War of 1812 moved to Monticello to teach the slaves to brew.
• His neighbor, William Meriwether, was his malt supplier.
• By 1814 there was a 60gal brewery and malt house at Monticello.
• Still, Jefferson himself never brewed in any quantity.

Bad article in some guy's blog on 12 Most Common Beer Myths. Myth #1: "The Guinness served in Ireland is different to the rest of the world". Myth #2 is even dumber.

A quick investigation shows there are almost 20 variations of Guinness brewed in 50 locations. These include:

• Draught Guinness (Dublin) - Pasteurized. Served on tap under nitrogen pressure. Very mild. 4.4%
• Pub Draught Guinness (Dublin) - Pasteurized. Canned smoothflow of Draught Guinness. 4.2%
• Bottle Conditioned Guinness (Dublin) - Not pasteurized. Similar to Draught Guinness but bottled with a dollop of sugar and yeast added. For U.K. and Ireland sales.
• Bottled Guinness (Dublin) - Pasteurized. For U.K. sales.
• Export Draught (Dublin) - For export to Continental Europe. Uses roasted malt instead of roasted unmalted barley. Pasteurized. Served on tap by nitrogen pressure and the same beer is bottled for that market. 5.1%
• Special Export (Belgium, John Martin Brewery) - For the Belgium and Netherlands markets only. Sweeter and stronger. Pasteurized and filtered. 7.5%
• Extra Stout (Dublin and worldwide locations) - Bottled. Also labeled Guinness Original. Usually pasteurized but some are bottle conditioned. Uses more roast unmalted barley and more hops. Sharper flavor. 4.3%
• Foreign Extra Stout (Brewed in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean) - Blended from fresh Guinness and one aged for 3 months at the brewery. 7.7%
• Extra Cold Guinness (Dublin) - Poured from refrigerated taps to bring the temperature down a couple of more degrees.
• Nigeria (Lagos) - Nigeria has banned beer made from barley so this version is made primarily from sorghum and corn. This is a love-it or hate-it beer. The brewery there opened in 1962 and Nigeria is the third largest market - after Ireland and the UK.
• Other breweries include Antigua, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Belgium, Belize, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Congo, Dominican Republic, Gabon, Gambia, Grenada, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, New Zealand, Panama, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Spain, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Togo, and Uganda. Guinness is no longer brewed in London. They closed that plant in 2005.

We get letters:
I should point out that the first thing on their "article" is inaccurate.

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy
     –Benjamin Franklin

Actually, old Ben never said that, though I wished he had.
From WikiQuote:

The quote, and its many variants, has been widely attributed to Franklin; however, there has never been an authoritative source for the quote, and research indicates that it is very likely a misquotation of Franklin's words regarding wine: "Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards; there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy." (see sourced section above for a more extensive quotation of this passage from a letter to André Morellet), written in 1779.

I propose, in the future, that we site the quote as follows:

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy
    –not Benjamin Franklin, but who cares? Because it's true!

Sincerely,
Jason
HoosierBeerGeek.com

Magic Hat is giving away a trip for 4 to Mardi Gras. The one in Burlington, VT. 3 days, 2 nights. Airfare. Brewery tour. Plus a bunch of Ben and Jerry's. Enter at their web site before Feb 12.

"Nine 'absolutely impossible' phrases for drunks" published by Ipswich police. article Bonus, first is "Thanks, but I don't want to sleep with you". We're just surprised one of the phrases isn't "Ipswich".

"So a guy walks into a pub with a reindeer." No really. article

Not to be outdone by Sam Adams, New Belgium has also created the perfect beer glass.

Asinine: Iowa City will consider a happy hour ban. Assinine: Drink prices to be filed with city clerk and to last a week. article

It's a typical story of a beer judge tasting 100 entries in 6 hours. Eh what?. article

"It took an hour to clear the intersection". You know where this is headed. Frozen beer lake story.

Recession and deflation combine for the 99p pint. JD Wetherspoon's real ale at their 713 pubs becomes the cheapest on the planet? article

Stolen directly from Fark: "If you ever wanted to smell, taste, and feel the need to use the urinal all at once, the 'Heineken Experience' reopens in Amsterdam" article

Denver guy with 15,569 bottles of beer on the wall. But they're all Bud. sad guyBelgians should be ashamed for producing that yellow, fizzy water they claim to be beer.

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 . Corrections, additions, new news, old news, should be submitted written in dark blue or black ink on the back of a $20 bill.