September and October Beer News:
Most recent at top

10-31 Happy Halloween!

10-30 Want the skinny on how beer is made? Check out this great website.

10-29 Tickets are now on sale for an outstanding charity event coming up on Thursday, November 16 (one week before Thanksgiving). The Hop Shop (www.indyhopshop.com) is hosting a good beer and fine wine tasting, with a silent auction, to benefit my non-profit organization, Dads, Inc. (www.dadsinc.org). Tickets are only $10, which includes the alcohol and food. All proceeds from ticket sales and the silent auction items goes back into supporting programs to build better dads in Central Indiana. The event begins at 6:30 at The Hop Shop. We have some amazing silent auction items, including a private beer tasting in your home conducted by Courtney (owner of The Hop Shop), gift certificates for an Indiana Pub Crawl, overnight stays at Belterra Resort & Casino with free golf, and a great Colts pack, just to mention a few items. Like I said, tickets are now on sale, and you can purchase them directly at The Hop Shop, or you can purchase them from Dads, Inc. For more information, please call Chris at Dads, Inc. at 317-506-8499. (click on the picture for the flyer)

10-28 When Jeremy Cowan founded Schmaltz Brewing he had no idea he'd be celebrating ten years of delicious beer and delicious shtick. Jeremy will be here to host a free tasting at the Kahn's Keystone location for free from 5-7pm on Monday Nov. 6th.

"We will be featuring at least four beers from Schmaltz Brewing and possibly the newest batch of Jewbelation. I will definitely have the Messiah Bold, Genesis Ale, Genesis 10:10 & Lenny's RIPA. Let's hope the Jewbelation will make an appearance and we can toast to Jeremy's success. I hope to see everyone in Indy attend and not miss this opportunity to meet one of the coolest guys in the industry.

"L'Chaim"

Brennan

10-27 Beer truck crashes into potato chip truck. Don't get too excited, it was in Australia. Took 12 hours to clean up. Four sessions at Weight Watchers for the clean-up crew.

Apple Buzz and Brown Ale are on tap at Oaken Barrel in Greenwood.

Latest Wi-Fi hotspot? Rich O's has joined the Broad Ripple Brewpub, Brugge, Mishawaka Brewing, Indy's Downtown BW3, and the Columbus Bar.

Lupulin Land continues at Rich O's. Now on tap: DFH 90-Minute, Great Divide Fresh Hop PA, Hitachino Nest Classic, Houblon Chouffe, Poperings Hommel, Rogue I2PA and Morimoto Imperial Pilsner, Shmatz RIPA, SN Harvest Ale, and NABC's own Hoptimus.

Randall the Enamel Animal will stick his head out Friday the 27th at Rich O's to work it's extra-IBU magic on BBC's Alt while filled with Hallertauer hops. Although the inventors at Dogfish Head claim it works best with highly hopped beers, it will be interesting to see what happens to a moderately hopped Alt.

Sapporo of Japan has bought Sleeman of Canada, owners of Unibroue.

Thailand's alcohol consumption is up 67% from 10 years ago. Thais now annually drink 41.6 liters each - ranking 5th in the world. No wonder all alcohol advertising will, by law, disappear on Dec 1. The minimum drinking age will also go from 18 to 25. Not a happy ending.

Somebody asked recently if Zima is still sold. Well, yes, in lemon/lime, punch, orange, and cherry ("attention-grabbing colors"). BUT Coors has a plan to relaunch it in April with new packaging and a new, higher 5.9% ABV. For the record, malternative sales peaked in 1994.

Warbird Brewing has lots of news. For details see the letter below: Warbird Brewing to Bottle Expanded Beer Range.

  1. Out now, in kegs: Lightning Ale - a German-style Kölsch. This was served at their Oktoberfest charity fundraiser.
  2. The "P-47" has been dropped from Warbird Wheat's name.
  3. Bottling will happen
  4. More beers are planned.

WARBIRD BREWING TO BOTTLE EXPANDED BEER RANGE

We've received this report from Dave Holmes, Owner and Operations Group Commander of Warbird

This has been an eventful year for Warbird Brewing Company and I am happy to provide an update going into the holiday season.

In April, the Warbird brand was acquired for distribution in Northeast Indiana by Five Star Distributing, based in Huntington, Indiana. Simultaneously, Warbird was also picked up for distribution in Northwest Indiana by North Coast Distributing in Valparaiso, Indiana. Warbird distribution and sales have steadily increased. We are very pleased with the efforts of our distributors in Northern Indiana. We continue to self-distribute in a limited fashion in Indianapolis. For 2007, we anticipate developing distributor relationships in central and southern Indiana.

Matt Hill continues to make exceptional quality beer for us, and we were happy to receive a Gold Medal at the 2006 Indiana Brewer’s Cup for our T-6 Red Ale. Our T-6 Red Ale has done well on draft, as has our P-47 Warbird Wheat. A month ago, we released a special small batch edition of our Lightning Ale, named after the fabled P-38 Lightning. The Lightning Ale is a soft-bodied kolsch-style ale with enough hop to be flavorful but subtle enough to be drinkable. If you ever had Matt’s kolsch at the Oyster Bar, this is essentially the same beer with a few tweaks. It is destined to be a favorite of craft beer connoisseurs.

The big news at Warbird is our expansion into bottles. Rumors circulated this summer that we were “having problems” with our wheat beer in cans. To the contrary, we canned a couple of cases and they did fine. We simply did not have the cash or floor space to purchase enough pre-printed wheat cans to make that a viable effort. After much consideration, we decided that we could not survive as a business in cans alone. The business volume was simply not enough. It is an absolute fact that cans protect beer better than bottles. It is also an absolute fact that the majority of people who want to buy craft beer want to buy it in a dark brown bottle. So, we are now in the process of putting Warbird beer in bottles. For those of you who “get” cans and want a great portable beer, we will continue to can our T-6 Red Ale. Perhaps some day you will see other Warbird beer in cans. Today, our big effort is to get our beer going into bottles.

The good news about bottles is that we can make relatively small quantities of different styles of beer. You will notice that, except for the T-6, we have stopped numbering our beers. The numbers are confusing to most, unless you really know airplanes, and some people thought we were selling chemicals. All of these beers will be available in 12 oz brown bottles. Here is our lineup:

T-6 Red Ale (named after the North American AT-6)

This is our flagship and has kept us in business in cans for 2 years now. This is the same beer that we put in the can, so the cans are really a bargain. We obviously pay more for the glass, labels, cardboard carriers, etc. Still, if you enjoy the feel of a glass bottle at your lips, this is for you…and all the restaurants and bars who refuse to serve “canned beer.”

Mustang Gold Ale (named after the North American P-51 Mustang)

This is a mild golden ale, made with our standard 2-row malt, Hallertau hops, our house yeast, and charcoal filtered water. It is a light-bodied easy drinking beer that is another entry point for people who have not yet found a craft beer that is enjoyable to them. This strategy of “growing the category” with an approachable beer has done very well for us with the T-6 and is actually intended for people who don’t drink our T-6 because it is a “dark beer.” At an SRM of 15, we don’t really see it that way, but we understand where they are coming from.

Warhawk Pale Ale (named after the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

This is our first entry into the American Pale Ale category. I am not a big personal fan of American Pale Ales, so I am relying on Matt to make it so that craft beer drinkers will appreciate it. I know he won’t disappoint you. We use a more complicated malt bill for this beer and it is also our first beer to use 3 different hop varieties. I’m going to leave it to you beer geeks to guess all the ingredients. We have to leave a little mystery, don’t we?

Thunderbolt Wheat (named after the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt)

This is our traditional unfiltered German-style hefeweizen that has done very well on draft for the last year. Bob Ostrander and others have had some very nice things to say about this beer. We believe we have tremendous demand for this beer in bottles and we hope we are right. If you haven’t tried Thunderbolt Wheat, it is a fragrant (clove, banana, and vanilla) hefeweizen brewed with German Pilsner and wheat malt and Hallertau hops. It is a beautiful and refreshing beer. Traditionally, this is a summer beer, but we see a lot of people drinking it, even though the weather is cold now.

We hope to have all these beers in stores by December 15, 2006. We look forward to having an exciting and successful 2007.

Cheers and tailwinds,
Dave Holmes
Operations Group Commander
194th Brewing Wing
1st Brew Force
Warbird Brewing Company

10-26 A look behind the Bars and Beers at Alcatraz Brewing Company

10-25 Public Service Announcement. Don't toss a beer keg into a fire. If you learn nothing else today, class, please learn this. Headline: Man Killed When Beer Keg Explodes

The Payless Superstore at 96th and I-69 is offering Meantime's IPA in 750ml bottles for just $4.99. It's Greenwich's serious 7.5% ABV English IPA with lots of Fuggles and Goldings with still some citric goodness. Enjoy an IPA in the authentic London style.

Ram's new DoppleJack is surely a big dopple. Bold and thick for style. It's been sitting in a Jack Daniels barrel but little of the whiskey notes have come over, at least not until your glass warms up.

On October 28th, is Super Cider Saturday at Great Fermentations in Indy. Order your cider for this autumn's fermentation. $4.75/gallon.

KevinG of Dever Distributing updated and corrected us about Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat.

"312 Wheat was not designed with Anheuser-Busch in mind. 312 was first brewed years before Goose Island Brewing ever became involved with a distribution agreement with AB. After the distribution agreement was signed no changes where made to any GIB beers. It is amazing how some educated palates can show their bias when they judge anything connected with AB."

312 was first brewed back in 2004. My statement "This new beer was obviously designed with new part-owner Anheuser-Busch's help." was more hyperbole than fact. Sorry. Bob.

I will, however, stand behind my opinion that Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss as well as Redhook's and Widmer's Hefe are more fulfilling beers in the same basic style and marketing strata.

A Buffalo Wild Wings is trying to get a 3-way permit in Marion, Indiana. Local hearings in November. Elsewhere, in northwest Indiana the Post-Tribune suggests a Buffalo Wild Wings is looking to locate in Porter.

10-24 The ad reads: "Partial to Full Ownership Opportunity in South Bend, Indiana Microbrewery. NINE G Brewing Company is searching for individuals interested in owning (partially or fully) the only microbrewery in South Bend.  We are close to downtown and Notre Dame.  You must be interested in taking an active role in the business. We introduced 3 brands of beer in December, 2005.  Since then, we have added 1 brand and have experienced a 231% growth rate in the last three months.   Our distribution includes the majority of Michigan, and we self distribute in Indiana .  We operate a 15 barrel Pub brewing system with 6 fermentation tanks and 5 brite tanks.  We also operate a 6-head Meheen that was purchased new last year.   We offer all of our beers in bottles, ?, ?, and 1/6 barrel kegs.  Our facility is 8000 square feet and is designed for growth.  There are 2 roughed in offices, a roughed in conference room and a roughed in tap room.   We also have a full lab, locker room, and a large cold room. Contact Tim Rusch at inquiries@ninegbrewing.com and expect a prompt reply.  All inquiries will be handled in strict confidence. Our website address is www.ninegbrewing.com"

10-23 Great Fermentations will have a Grand Opening at their new northeast Indy location on November 4th. Samples all day. Bring your own to share. Brats. Etc, etc. Oh, they have genuine Rogue Pacman yeast available now.

On top of the northwest hop crop's flaming loss of 40% of the crop (reported earlier), the British harvest was hurt by the dry winter and hot summer of 2006 and not only is the crop down in volume, the alpha acid content of Fuggles, Goldings, and Northdown hops is down as well. If that isn't bad enough, Styrian Goldings and Saaz hop cops are down 25% as the irrigation systems used couldn't keep up with the drying heat.

Congratulations to one of my favorite pubs. The Norman Knight in the Cotswolds has been named the Shakespeare Branch CAMRA Pub of the Year. Owners Mike and Carole Garner have been there 11 years and Mike's been brewing his own Wizard Ales in the 5bbl brewery in the garage for 4 years now while 21-year-old son David runs the pub. Wizard Ales are hand-delivered to about 25 pubs in the area but they are, of course, freshest right there an the tiny town of Whichford.

The 14th Annual Big Red festival in Bloomington was probably the best yet. The attendance on Thursday was lighter than previously due to the rain and cold weather and that might have made it seem nicer but the entire atmosphere was jollier and the public seemed to be much more interested in the beer rather than the alcohol. Hurrah to the IU students. Hurrah also to Big Red.

There were lots of new beers at the 52 (!) tables that served an average of 5 beers each.

  • Atlantic Mount Desert Island Ginger - Nice wheat ale with, er, wheatiness.
  • Bell's Lager of the Lakes - Approachable new lager that will be available year-round.
  • Bell's Hell Hath No Fury - Billed as a "dubbel" but it really seems more like a baltic porter. 4 malts, 4 hops, black, fairly thick, with a hint of spice.
  • Breckenridge Christmas Ale - American Strong Ale with 7.4% ABV. Chinook and Mt Hood hops. At 22 IBU it's quaffable and could be a session ale except for having twice as much alcohol hidden away. Available through December when their Vanilla Porter will come back.
  • Bud showed off their new aluminum bottles which will be sold in 4-packs.
  • Christian Moerlein was there with their Lager and Dunkel regulars and seasonals Oktoberfest and Hefe. Next seasonal, a doppelbock. A group or 3 guys re-started this old Cincinnati name last year and are selling very well there. They've also bought the Hudepohl name wish will be making a comeback.
  • Clipper City Loose Cannon - American IPA or more.
  • Dark Horse Scotty Karate Scottish Ale - Will be available about Nov 1. Uses some hardwood smoked malt rather than peat-smoked. Served from growlers on Thursday night. Very much to style. One of the favorite new beers.
  • Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat - "Summer quencher" would be a nice way to describe what is basically the Budmillercoors of American Wheat. This new beer was obviously designed with new part-owner Anheuser-Busch's help. Some local BCJP folks (beer judges that is) say their educated palettes detect DMS indicating corn being used in the grain bill.
  • JW Dundee American Pale Ale - Not bad once it warms up.
  • JW Dundee Amber Lager - Much bolder than expected. A value beer.
  • New Holland's Blue Goat Doppelbock - Complex, malty, clean, still a light body. Spice comes through. A+
  • Red Hook Winter Hook - Back again this year, it's available now. Same recipe as always.
  • Spanish Peaks Honey Raspberry - Mellow raspberry in the background. They've re-booted the whole business, keeping only the bottle caps. Right now they have just two styles.
  • Spanish Peaks Black Dog Ale - The other style. An Amber Ale with medium hopping (36 IBU) that comes in late. They'll add an American Pale Ale in January and a Seasonal Belgian Wit in April.
  • St. Peters IPA - This English brewery is expanding their range again after cutting back to just 2 titles. Unfortunately for us, this IPA is of the current British style which means it needs more hops.
  • Wychwood Wychcraft - Thrice hopped.
  • Wychwood Bah Humbug Christmas Ale - Too little available to give a good taste, rats.

Broad Ripple Brewpub's Pumpkin Ale is pumpkin, not pumpkin pie. By resisting allspice, nutmeg, etc, Kevin has produced a decidedly orange colored ale where the bitterness adequately balances the sweet pumpkin. Also try the Xtra Pale on the handpull - Golden and innocent looking but it packs a very bitter Fuggles punch of an strong IPA with some nice fruit tinge.

Bell's has pulled out of Illinois for a year due to conflicts with a distributor that bought the Illinois business from another distributor without (and without needing) Bell's permission. Probably won't affect Bell's sales much as there will now be more for the MI/IN/OH/PA/KY/MO market and they might move into the Carolinas. Meanwhile, more cross-state-line traffic to The Liquor Stop in Highland for Bells and Three Floyds combined shopping will add to its gold-mine economic status.

The JD Wetherspoon chain of 657 pubs throughout Britain have experimentally made 92 pubs non-smoking to see what the results of government bans will be. After one year at these test pubs, total sales were down 6.5%. Beer sales were down but that income was balanced by increased, although lower margin, food sales. One other effect was on "machine sales" - fruit machines, gambling devices - where a 8.4% drop in income was enough to be noticed on the bottom line.

Congratulation to some of our favorite spots for being named "Best of Indy" in this year's NUVO public voting:

Butler Winery in Bloomington is having their fall sale through the end of October.

  • Brewing & Winemaking Equipment: 20% off
  • Fruit Flavorings for Beer or Wine, Soda Extracts and Liqueur flavorings: 15% off
  • Oregon Fruit Purees for Beer or Wine: 10% off
  • Beer & Wine Additives (ie Acid Blend, Gypsum,etc.): 20% off
  • Yeast (liquid & dry, beer & wine):  20% off
  • Brewer's Best Ingredient Kits:  15% off
  • Malt Extracts (Dried & Liquid):  10% off
  • All Grains (Black Patent, Crystal, English 2 Row, etc.): 20% off
  • Hops (Pellet & Leaf):  20% off
  • Sugars & Adjuncts (Corn sugar, Flaked Rye, Malto-dextrin, etc.): 10% off
  • Books: 10% off
  • All Glass Items (Carboys & Bottles): 10% off
  • Kegging Equipment & Accessories (Kegging systems, Kegerator Faucets, Sanke taps, etc.): 10% off
  • Miscellaneous other items: up to 50% off

What's happening:

  • Mon, Oct 23 - Kahn's Carmel tasting. Broughton Brewing beers. 5-7pm
  • Wed, Oct 25 - Arcadia Big Beer Release Party, HopMouth, Triple Chocolate Stout, Barleywine, Old Ale. Battle Creek, MI
  • Thurs, Oct 26 - Barley Hop Academy Beer Tasting - Indianapolis - Contact Courtney Hall for details - Robust Porter, Irish Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Imperial Stout
  • Thurs, Oct 26 - Keg Liquors Beer Tasting. Clarksville. Halloween special. Hobgoblin, Dead Guy, Gnaw Bone, Gonzo, Mad Hatter, Old Rasputin. 5-8pm
  • Fri, Oct 27 - BW3 Indy 3-beer Vintage tasting. 5-7pm
  • Sat, Oct 28 - Three Floyds Not Normal Halloween Party
  • Sun, Oct 29 - Broad Ripple Brewpub Pumpkin Carving contest. Winner gets a keg of barleywine.
  • Mon, Oct 30 - Kahn's Keystone tasting. Gales Hard Cider (from Thomas Family Winery) beers. 5-7pm
  • Tues, Oct 31 - Aleoween
     
  • Make plans for Sat, Nov 4 - Festival of Barrel Aged Beer - Goose Island, Wrigleyville, Chicago. 1-5pm

10-22-06 Big News!

Rumor has it, that Nine G Brewing Company is for sale!  Anyone who might have more info on this, please drop me a line.  --Mark

10-19 Jerry Sutherlin talks beer at the Fall Brewer's Dinner, downtown INDY

10-18 The Broad Ripple Brewpub's annual Pumpkin Ale may lack a certain, well, pumpkin punch, but we were delighted with the roasted goodness of Finneen's Auld Sod Stout. This dry stout has pleanty of body and just the perfect strength (4.8%). Thank you, sir, may I have another?

10-17 Wow. Brennan Corder can throw a party. Monday night's Belgian Tripel Tasting at Kahn's had 34, count 'em, 34 to try. Affligem to Westmalle, Allagash to Unibroue. 26 Belgian and Dutch. 8 US and Canada. That's astounding. About 80 people who were there agree. Everyone was blown away.

Brennan's idea was to have a blind tasting, therefore 34 paper bags were utilitized with score sheets to keep track. Then 80 people show up. Whoops and Whee. Tough to get to the two serving tables.

The "winner" was really Ryan Moss (above at left), he came over from his job at the Broad Ripple Brewpub and had 32 of the offerings. His favorites: Chimay Cinq Cents, Westmalle Tripel, and Unibroue La Fin Du Monde.

Miller's Classic Chocolate Lager will be sold in Indiana through December. $6 per 4-pack according to the WSBT TV web site in South Bend picked this AP news up.

This is a bit odd but there's an opportunity for a brewer in Costa Rica. VolcanoBrew is looking for someone who is: an expert brewer, capable of running a small business, interested and capable of living outside of the US for most of the year, and able to invest approximately $92K in the first year to get started in Costa Rica, ($57K for brew business start up costs, $25K for your own 4X4 [there is a 50% car tax in CR], $10K spending money for the first year). Let us know how your interview turns out.

Beer Keg Halloween Costume

Men's Journal's list of 25 best American beers - 2006 edition.

10-14 A report from R bistro's beer dinner featuring Unibrou beer

10-13 Both Rock Bottoms in Indy unveiled their Pumpkin Ales on Thursday. Jerry's downtown has plenty of pumpkin pie but isn't overblown. Haven't tried the other yet (nor Broad RIpple Brewpubs'). Your comments are welcome, as always. Oh, and Jerry's Weizenbock is coming along nicely at 7.6%. Quite dry.

The Sidehatch Nut Brown at the Ram in Indy is dark but still acts a bit like a Northern Brown in that it is a bit crispy but it really is a Southern Brown. Tasty.

Rich O's Lupulin Land mightl start off this Friday with BBC's Ultra on the handpull and a lot more tap assignments to be determined by Roger's whim that day. Randall the Enamel Animal won't come out until October 20th. More than a dozen hophead-rated beers should be on at all times until they start to run out. Also available in bottles: Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu, Podkovan Dark Lager, Founders Bad Habit Belgian Quad, etc. etc.

Lafayette Brewing will extend the range of their in-house pops and have given them a brand name, Tecumseh Brewhouse Sodas. Coming up: Tecumseh Birch Beer.

From the Oct/Nov issue of Great Lakes Brewing News.

  • Indiana: Shagbark Hickory Syrup is made from boiled bark rather than sap.
  • Indiana: Back Road cold season seasonals, No. 9 Barleywine and Christmas Ale, will both be out around Thanksgiving. This year's Christmas ale is a smoked mocha vanilla Baltic Porter.
  • Indiana: Broad Ripple Brewpub's Pumpkin Carving Contest this year will feature a "barrel of barleywine" as first prize. Oct 29th.
  • Indiana: Shorelines seasonals coming up are Big Bella heavy Scotch Ale, Discombobulation Celebration Ale (by Thanksgiving), Imperial Stout (early December).
  • Indiana: Three Floyds will bottle their Oktoberfest beer this year. They will host a Not Normal Halloween Party on October 28th.
  • Illinois: Tim Marshall has put some Chi-porter on wood at the Warrenville Rock Bottom. Could be out by November. Also Demon Sweat Imperial Red Ale. Sounds suspiciously like some of his Indianapolis concoctions.
  • Michigan: The Livery in Benton Harbor has tapped their Bourbon Cask Aged Tripel Weizenbock. 18%. Ranked #1 at Ratebeer.com.
  • Michigan: Founders Breakfast Stout will be released this quarter on November 25. 300 cases. Get there early.
  • Michigan: New Holland has a Library Menu now at the pub which has aged beer from their cellar. October is 2003 Pilgrim's Dole, 2002 Barrel Aged Dragon's Milk, 2001 Anniversary Golden Ale, and 1999 Barleywine.
  • Ohio: Christian Moerleinn bought the Hudepohl-Schoenling brand.
  • Wisconsin: Huber has been sold to Mountain Crest Brewing of Clagary. Berghoff has been split off as a marketing company which will contract back to the same brewing plant in Monroe.
  • Industry: Craft beer sales in America rose by about 10% in the first half of 2006.
  • Industry: Sleeman's (including Unibroue) is being sold to Sapporo.
  • Industry: Hopunion and Yakima Chief have merged.

And there's a very interesting article on Gout. Have you ever had a toe or joint that feels like it's broken? A really sharp pain. Might be Gout. Cause: red meat, red wine, beer. Sigh. Pick up a copy of Great Lakes Brewing News at your favorite brewpub and read all about it. Maybe you'll have to cut out those half-pound corned beef sandwiches.

Thanks go to publisher Bill Metzger and Indiana Governor Jim Herter.

Lessee, what else?

  • Auggie Busch IV will take over the reins of both President and CEO on Dec 1.
  • Weezer and Audioslave have both filed suit against Miller for using their names in print ads. If you know who Weezer and Audioslave are, you probably care about this. Or not.
  • Beginning in January, Miller will import Aguila from Columbia, Tyskie from Poland, and two beers from Peru, Cristal and Cusquena. Distribution will be limited to big cities with big ethnic populations.

10-10 Press release we did read:

"Hot Shotz Ale & Grill, opening in November at 4705 E 96th St. in Indianapolis (at Gray Rd, ed), promises to heat up the suburban restaurant and bar scene with their casual dining, complete sports viewing, and of course, their unique spin on food personalization.
Along with offering signature margaritas and the best north side craft beer selection that includes 80 plus bottled beers and 11 interesting and unique drafts, Hot Shotz will allow guests to fire up their food orders with over 50 varieties of hot sauces featured on their prominent “Wall of Flame,” a focal point of the restaurant.
(Here's where it gets mundane) "With main course favorites such as Turkey Club Wrap, Salmon Salad, a Cuban Sandwich, and the tender 9 oz. Hanger Steak, along with popular appetizers like wings and fire cheese, the food selection is sure to please every palate."
(But it comes back to life with) "Hot Shotz Ale & Grill founder and General Manager, Brian Graham, has experience working with several different food concepts as an owner of a Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Q . . ."
(emphasis added)

Correction about the 2006 GABF results.: Great Divide Hibernation Ale not currently in Cavalier Distributor's warehouse but will be back soon. Their Old Ruffian Barley Wine (Gold Medal) and Denver Pale Ale (Bronze medal) are available in Indiana right now. Just look at the better beer stores.

While the season and the supply lasts, The Hop Shop in Indy has Spaten Oktoberfest at $13 per 12-pack.

The Lupulin Land Hop Festival at Rich O's will feature Roger's current choice of tongue-scraping beers. He reports the following are in and ready to pop on the 13th: Avery Maharaja IIPA; DFH 90-Minute; Great Divide Hercules; Rogue I2PA, JLS Integrity, Morimoto Imperial Pilsner, Juniper PA; Lenny's RIPA; Stone RUination; Hitachino Nest Classic; Houblon Chouffe; Jever Pils; Poperings Hommel Bier; St. Georgenbrau Kellerbier. New Albanaian Brewing's Hoptimus will be joined by Oaktimus. Plus the usual suspects: Alpha King, Arrogant Bastard, 2-Hearted, etc. including Croupier and Elector.

No British pub can go without crisps. The popular Kettle Chips in the UK comes in "Mature Cheddar with Adnams Broadside Beer" flavor.

Beer head is protein molecules. Just ask (or watch) the History Channel American Eats  (after the 15sec commercial).

Pub Crawlin' reviews Three Floyds (last July).

Mad Anthony has freshened, nay, completely redone their web site. And The Heorot has a start on a web site now.

Through the weekend of October 21st, Arcadia will release the 2nd batch of HopMouth along with a barleywine and an old ale. They will be available at the brewery in Battle Creek. Then they will be available in Cincinnati on the evening of the 25th at the Dilly Deli, 6818 Wooster Pike.

If you've heard of the list of 1000 beers available at Jungle Jim's in Fairfield, OH (near Cinci) and want to check it out. Head over on November 10th at 7pm when Garrett Oliver (Brooklyn Brewery) will host a tasting. $30.

Coming up:

  • Wed, Oct 11 - Rock Bottom Fall Brewers Dinner. 6:30pm. $35/person. Reservations needed.
     86th St, Indy
  • Thurs, Oct 12 - Rock Bottom Both 86th St and Downtown Indy Tapping party - Pumpkin Ale - 6-6:30pm
  • Thurs, Oct 12 - Sat, Oct14 - New Albany Harvest Homecoming - New Albanian will be pouring at Bistro New Albany - Oct 12 - 14
  • Fri, Oct 13 - Lupulin Land Hop Festival starts at Rich O's
  • Fri, Oct 13 - BW3 Indy 3-beer Vintage tasting. 5-7pm.
  • Sat, Oct 14 - All Fest Columbus, OH - 2-6pm - $35
  • Sat, Oct 14 - Granite City Craft Beer Festival - Granite City, IL (St. Louis). 1-6pm. $15. Contact Brownsstl@aol.com
  • Sat, Oct 14 - Clifton Beer Fest, Cincinnati. 4-8pm
  • Mon, Oct 16 - Kahn's Keystone tasting. Imported vs Domestic Belgian Tripels beers. 5-7pm
  • Tues, Oct 17 - Rock Bottom Brewer's Dinner - Downtown Indy. 6:30pm. $35/person. Reservations needed.
  • Thurs, Oct 19 - Fri, Oct 20 - Big Red Liquors Beer Festival, Bloomington, 6-9pm - Oct 19-20
  • Sat, Oct 21 - Warbird Benefit Octoberfest - $20 - 4:30-11:30pm German dinner, beer, tour.

10-9 Plan your next brewpub crawl with pinpoint accuracy using this Google Earth tour of Indiana Breweries! Google Earth is a free application that uses sattelite imagery with GIS data in an easy to use browser. Download the application here.

10-6 R Bistro in downtown Indianapolis will be hosting a beer dinner on Monday, October 9th that will feature Chef Regina Mehallick's renowned cuisine paired with beers from Canadian craft brewer Unibroue. Located at 888 Massachusetts Avenue, R Bistro will be taking reservations for the first 50 people only for this event! Dinner, including beer, is $65 per person. Make your reservation now by calling R Bistro at (317) 423-0312.

also, "The Hoosier Hash House Harriers in Lafayette will hold its fall brewing session next Saturday, 14 October, in West Lafayette. We'll be brewing roughly 40 gallons of ale, starting from grain. Visitors are welcome. Learn the process from start to finish, and have a bit to drink while doing it. Exact starting time hasn't been decided, but for non-brewing visitors it isn't really very important. Sometime around 9 AM, most likely." Contact Tom Hess for more info themess0@att.net

10-5 Barley Island Brewing Company is proud to announce that Black Majic Java Stout won a silver medal in the coffee flavored beer category at the 2006 Great American Beer Festival Competition." Read the full press release here

10-4 4% of US hops burns in tragic fire

10-2 The Heorot now has a website. Hurrah. They've even included the full tap and bottle menu. That's all 56 taps. But be aware it's like many web sites a little out of date. For instance, don't rely on the Tub Beers list. Right now they have Phucket, Arcadia Whitsun, and Mad Anthony Porter in the cooler for $2.50 each.

Taps include Monty Python's Holy GrAle. Spaten Optimator, Popering's Hommelbier, and Grotten.

And an aside to the person who asked - the sword through the cans of budmillercoors is still on the wall.

Brennan says the October 16th tasting of Belgian Tripels (Import vs Domestic throwdown) may have 15 delights available for trying. Free. 5-7pm. Kahn's on Keystone.

GABF winning beers we can get in Indiana - A quick and possibly inaccurate list.

Allagash Tripel Ale Gold Belgian-Style Abbey Ale
Barley Island Black Majic Java Stout Silver Coffee Flavored Beer
Ommegang Hennepin Farmhouse Saison Bronze French- Belgian-Style Saison
Dogfish Head World Wide Stout Bronze Aged Beer (Ale or Lager)
Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat Hefeweizen Bronze South German-Style Hefeweizen/Hefeweissbier
Great Divide Hibernation Ale 2005 Silver Aged Beer (Ale or Lager)
Jacob Leinenkugel Leinenkugel's Creamy Dark Gold American-Style Dark Lager
Lakefront New Grist Gold Experimental Beer
Miller Mickey's Malt Liquor Gold American-Style Specialty Lager
Miller Red Dog Gold American Cream Ale or Lager
Miller Miller High Life Silver American-Style Lager
Miller Icehouse Silver American-Style Specialty Lager
Miller Milwaukee's Best Light Silver American-Style Light Lager
Miller Henry Weinhard Private Reserve Bronze American Cream Ale or Lager
Pabst Old Milwaukee Light Gold American-Style Light Lager
Pabst Pabst Blue Ribbon Gold American-Style Lager
Pabst Lone Star Silver American Cream Ale or Lager
Pyramid Pyramid Crystal Weizen Gold American-Style Wheat Beer
Redhook Sun Rye Silver Rye Beer
Stone Stone Pale Ale Bronze Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter
Boston Beer Co. Samuel Adams Octoberfest Gold German-Style Märzen / Oktoberfest
Thirsty Dog Siberian Night Bronze Imperial Stout
Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen Gold American-Style Hefeweizen
Widmer Brothers Widmer Export Lager Bronze European-Style Pilsener

While Mark and seemingly half the brewery folks in Indiana were at Denver, Mike Sprinkle of Crown Liquors called a RateBeer meeting at the Sleepy Bear Campground across from Deer Creek during the Roger Waters concert. With both Mike and Brennan Corder of Kahns bringing huge coolers of rare beers, seven of us enjoyed quite a power-tasting before the music started.

RateBeer (and also Beer Advocate) is a thriving international community that has personal ratings of just about every beer ever brewed. On RateBeer, beer trading has become a major pastime. Many of the beers the 4 active RB folks bought were from the east coast, west coast, NY, etc. Stuff you can't get here. If you want to get really, really serious about your beer hobby join one or both of these sites.

If you stayed awake to read through the GABF table above, you might like the page on RateBeer that lists the highest rated beers available in Indiana. It's not 100% accurate but a good shopping list. The thrill is in the hunt.

10-1 Here's the results from the GABF

9-30 From Mark at the Great American Beer Festival...

"Barley Island won the only medal for Indiana breweries.

They took a Silver for Jon's Black Majic Java Stout!

I called Barley Island right after they won and passed on the good news to Jeff and his people. Unfortunetly Jon had to leave before he found out.  I've sent him an email congratulating him on a job well done!

And this is from me to them...I told you that the Black Majic was a medal beer!"

9-28 Look for the Indiana results of the GABF posted here Saturday night, or at the latest Sunday morning. Mark is on location in Denver to get you the results fast!

9-27 Going to Denver for the GABF? You might want a Hole-In-The-Wall Bar Tour review if they run out of microbrews.

The 25th annual Good Pub Guide comes out next week in Britain. Many of the listed pubs will drop the price of a pint back to 1982 prices in celebration. 2006 average = £2.33. 1982 average = 62 pence.

In the last 2 months Michigan authorities have arrested more than 30 people for redeeming cans bought in Indiana. Michiganders pay 10¢ deposit on aluminum cans and it's become big sport to take a few hundred north to the vending machines in Coldwater, Niles, and New Buffalo. Often troopers are waiting in parking lots for Indiana license plates.

Indiana has a quota on three-way liquor licenses; one for every 1,500 people in an incorporated city. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette says "he quota system is a throwback to Prohibition and is a disingenuous attempt to limit the flow of booze in Indiana." Fort Wayne wants to get more bars and restaurants in their Municipal Riverfront Development District but this quota is getting in the way. The city has 198 liquor licenses but the quota system calls for only 138. The extra 60 got grandfathered in during city annexations of surrounding territory. Since new licenses aren't forthcoming it's legal to sell your license. The new Club Soda bar paid $265,000 for it's license. Yike.

Lafayette, on the other hand has had 14 extra "riverfront licenses" issued and according to Greg Emig (in the same article) "It’s just a small piece of the puzzle that’s helped improve downtown Lafayette over time". The Lafayette Brewing Co. extended to a three-way license some time ago.

He'Brew's newest is Monumental Jewbelation. 10 malts, 10 hops, 10% ABV. Rated 4 Bunnies by Playboy.com.

The Good Beer Show went to Bell's and Larry did the podcast thing.

The Potable Curmudgeon is back in New Albany from the cycling/train trip to European pubs and the Roger is starting to publish the stories. Morovia, and trains so far.

Canadian Mountain Crest Brewing Co. of Calgary is in the process of buying Huber Brewing in Wisconsin and renaming it Berghoff Brewing Co.

Inbev news. They are closing the brewery in Hoegaarden, launching Hoegaarden Citrons (flavored with lemon and lime), and have been accused widely of dumbing down the original Hoegaarden (think Blue Moon).

BTW, Blue Moon sold 200,000bbl in 2005.

Oktoberfest was a 2-day village fair this year - in Taybeh, Palestine. Yep. There's a brewery in the West Bank and it's been there since 1994, making 600,000 liters a year. "Everybody thought I was nuts to build a brewery in a Muslim region." "We face a lot of difficulties getting the raw material from abroad because of the road closures, the checkpoints and the wall."

Oops. A beer festival to raise money for cystic fibrosis in Sheatown, PA, was a bust after it was busted by the Bureau of Liquor Enforcement because they forgot to get a temporary license.

A new dead tree glossy: Draft Magazine and an etherbits blog to accompany it. The first issue rated Left Hand Milk Stout as "quite possibly the best stout in America".

While the overall beer market shrank a bit in the USA, Russia increased beer sales more than 11% last year. Yep, they're drinking less vodka.

The Church of England is using a beer glass instead of a toasted cheese sandwich to attract members. But why do they have it on MySpace? <smacking forehead on desk>

Did you know Madonna's favorite beer is Timothy Taylor's Landlord? Did you care? Why is this news in Indiana? <smacking forehead on desk - repeatedly>

And now the rumors are that A-B will buy Absolut vodka. <grabbing two asprin before resuming smacking forehead on desk>

SABMiller bought the rights to Fosters in Indiana for $120,000,000. Oh, wait, that's India.

Aston Martin, BMW. Now Heineken has put up six figures to be promoted in the new Bond Casino Royale movie. It's the only one where James will drink beer.

Coming up:

  • Thurs, Sept 28: Lafayette Brewing Firkin tapping: Eighty-Five. 6pm onward.
  • Thurs, Sept 28: Keg Liquors Beer Tasting. Clarksville, Oktoberfest, pumpkin, and brown ales.
  • Sat, Sept 30: Fall Fest - Back Road, LaPorte. 1-4pm. $10. 5 breweries. Oompah band.
  • Sat, Sept 30: Lafayette Brewing Surplus Sale of equipment and furniture. 11am-4pm
  • Sat, Sept 30: Upland Oktoberfest
  • Mon, Oct 2: Kahn's Keystone tasting. Atlantic Brewing beers. 5-7pm.
  • Fri, Oct 6: BW3 Indy 3-beer Vintage tasting. 5-7pm.

Saturday is the awards ceremony at the Great American Beer Festival. This link will get you the results (slightly) faster than IndianaBeer.com.

9-25 Press release: "Bloomington Brewing Company signals the coming cooler months with its annual autumn brew, BBC Java Porter.  Scheduled for release on Sunday, October 1, Java Porter is served during the fall and winter, replacing Vision Weiss, which will hibernate during the cooler months until its return next spring.

BBC Head Brewer Floyd Rosenbaum’s Java Porter is brewed with roasted barley malts for sweetness, select hops for bitterness and a special addition of dark roasted Sumatran Blue Lingtong coffee from local coffee roaster Partridge and Quigley.

The Java Porter is a customer favorite at the Brewpub at Lennie’s and other dining establishments around Bloomington.  Visit bbc.Bloomington.com for more information."

9-23 The numbers are in. Last July's Microbrewers' Festival had 2200 attendees. $21,000 was raised for the Optimist's Club and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Next year's event is planned for Saturday, July 28th, 2007. This is the same weekend as the Brickyard, er, Allstate 400. The time of the festival may be moved back two hours to 4-8pm. This would get a bit cooler temperatures and, with daylight savings time, still end 90 minutes before sunset. Also, the race qualifying on Saturday ends at 3pm so people could conceivably get to both events.

The Broad Ripple Brewpub's Oktoberfest is a dark amber orange with some smoky sharpness throughout.

Press release shortened to 11 words: Boulder Beer will release this year's Never Summer Ale on October 6th.

9-22 In his latest article, Circumnavigator (part 2), Matt Dunn cheats death during his quest for craft beers in Chi-town. Click here!

9-21 We've added a link to the The Hoosier Beer Geek

9-20 Jeff Helms (right) has a new Assistant Brewer at Oaken Barrel; Mark Havens (left) is a local homebrewer that found a dream job that lured him away from the Johnson County Jail.

On the tap side, Jeff has deemed Ken's Shagbark Saison Replicale aged properly for consumption and it will come on line in the next few days when the Uberweizen season ends. Coming up in October: a Double IPA and (drum roll) it's Apple Buzz time again - the malt/cider/mead concoction will be back for another round of lip-smacking, tongue-tanging, mouth-tarting, crispness. This winter look for a return of Leroy Brown and a Stout.

The Columbus Bar's little brewing system isn't yet in operation, lacking licenses, but test brews have been made by Jon Myers. The brewing operation is under the auspices of the Power House Brewing Company.

Two changes have been made recently to keep the Columbus Bar's customers happy: 1) all 20 taps are interesting beers, no budmillercoors at all. 2) Free wifi. The whole gang is really into beer. This is obvious from their employment application with questions such as "What three ways is beer packaged?", "Name four beer styles.", and "If you had your own theme music, what would it be?".

They are starting a Columbus homebrew club by the way. October 3rd is the initial meeting with 1st Tuesday meetings at 8pm.

Upland and both Rock Bottom's Oktoberfests are out. Jerry's at the RB Downtown Indy is a fine, fine beer. Quite dark copper. Excellent balance. Good hop selection and intensity. 6.2%. We had some of Upland's last Saturday - didn't take notes but remember at least that it was good beer also. Grab a bottle at your local store and make your own notes.

9-19 Bob reports that Upland changes owners, but not gears. Click here.

9-18 It does look like Warbird's excellent P-17 Hefeweizen will hit the liquor stores in bottles instead of cans. Since, obviously, the canning line they have can't handle bottles it will still be a while. Rats. Right now it's available only in keg form.

Coming to Indiana: Carlsberg Jacobsen Saaz Blonde and Original Dark Lager.

Mishawaka Brewing has two new bottled ales available (right) with some of the hardest-to-read labels we've ever seen.

  • Hop Head Ale comes in at 6.2% and we would estimate 80 IBU. They use 5 different hops and insert them with a sharp stick 4 times during the brewing process.
  • Their 7 Mules Kick-Ass ale pours dark copper with a big white rocky head. Burly. Malty. And 9% ABV. It's pretty strong tasting but the alcohol will still sneak up on you.

The 12th Annual U.S. Beer Tasting Championships are different from any other. Medals are given by beer style of course but they are also by region as well. In the Midwest, firsts were handed to New Holland Sundog, Lakefront Organic ESB, Schlafly Kölsch, and Two Brothers Dog Days. Some others we get in Indiana include Avery The Kaiser and White Rascal, Flying Dog In Heat Wheat, Anderson Valley Hop Ottin, Left Hand Sawtooth, and Rogue Younger's Special Bitter. OH, and Upland won for their Wheat in the Midwest Belgian category. Their Maibock got an Honorable Mention.

Four Oliver Winery wood casks of Caleb Staton's lambic base will spend the rest of the year resting in the back room at Upland before some fruit from Huber Winery gets added for a secondary fermentation. They plan to use Raspberry, Strawberry, Peach, and a combination of Blackberry and Grape. It will be ready for it's debutante ball late next spring. At taste of the maturing lambic reveals a happy life right now accumulating a soft tartness and other Belgian Brown notes. It's a little thin right now but that's to be expected. Our cheeks can't wait to try the final result.

9-16 The FBI goes on tour, a beer tour, in the latest edition of Mahon's Mash.

9-15 Barley Island has it's autumn/winter seasonals on tap. Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout is back as well as Black Majic Java Stout - brewed with Black Majic coffee from Noblesville roaster Noble Coffee and Tea. Both will be out in 6-packs ASAP. Get your genie in a bottle.

Ted Miller lets us know Brugge Brasserie's "The Black has poplar syrup in it as well. There is a beer and food book coming out by an author named Bob Skilnik and he contacted me about the combo of the Black and a cone of frites with the poplar syrup and french dijon dipping sauce."

Duvel Moortgat has bought Brasserie d'Achouffe. This might result in a little confusion in Indiana since they are represented by two different distributors (and two different importers). Right now stocks of Achouffe, MacChouffe, etc are substantial in stores and we don't expect shortages. In fact, Michel Moortgat of Duvel is quoted as being committed to doubling the brewing capacity at Achouffe from 35,000 hecotlitres (30,000 bbls).

9-13 Seasonals on tap in Indy and other beery news:

Alcatraz

  • Omar's Chibuku - 6% - Bright gold. Lightish ale that doesn't need to be shaken. Made with sorghum but those sugars don't come through. In reality, a very quaffable beer with plenty of knicker-dropper hidden alcohol.
  • A Belgian Double is aging and will be out around the end of October. It's made with Mt. Hood hops, sorghum, honey, and yeast from Brugge Brasserie.

BW3 Downtown

  • Ellie's Brown, Rogue Rye Stout and Integrity IPA. Redhook Late Harvest Autumn Ale, Augustijn Ale. Barley Island's Bourbon Barrel Stout is on the handpull. Oberon is gone.

Broad Ripple Brewpub

  • Lawnmower, ESB, IPA, Wheat, Red, Stout - the regulars.
  • The Pilsner now on tap will be replaced real soon now by an Oktoberfest.
  • The handpulls have the Stout and a dry-hopped American Amber.
  • Seasonal: German Hefeweizen
  • Pumpkin Ale will be out in October in time for the annual pumpkin carving contest.
  • Later, a Rye.

Brugge Brasserie

  • Pilsner
  • American Wit
  • Sacre Fleur Saison. Uses packaged wild yeasts to give cheek-tightening apple tartness. Ted let the fermentation choose its own temperature and it went up to 97°F.
  • The Black is back.
  • Coming up later is a 58IBU ESB to a Paul Edwards recipe.

Ram

  • Tulip Poplar Saison - 6% - Not satisfied to invent Hickory Saison, Dave has now invented a new beer using syrup from Indiana's state tree (also from the Trafalgar folks). Summit hops give some apricot hints. Lighter spicing than the Shagbark.
  • There's some Tangerine Cream Dream left. Assertive bitterness from lots of Summit. An IPA with oats for creaminess. Plenty of edges. 6.7%
  • Oktoberfest will be tapped at 6:30 Thurs, 9/14 at the Fishers restaurant.
  • In October, look for a Pilsner, Nut Brown, and and Oatmeal Stout.
  • November will see a Harvest Rye.
  • They are going through about 6 kegs of Buttface Amber at the Colts games in the main concourse during each Colts game.

Rock Bottom Downtown

  • Marky's Milk Stout - 5.3% - Lactoplenty floral nose goes to more roasty later. Also on the handpull.
  • Checkered Flag Pilsner - 5.1% - True Bohemian pilsner.
  • IPA-T-8 - 7.0% - 65 IBU of Willamette and Summit with Cascade dryhopping. A bit of Crystal malt for a solid base.
  • Tapping of Jerry's Rocktoberfest on Thurs, 7/14.
  • Next up: Irish Stout (1040og)
  • Look for a German menu in October with food such as brats and apple cider chicken. The Hefe will stay around for this and Jerry will release a Weizenbock.
  • Also in October, a Pumpkin Pie Ale.
  • They are getting two new beer engines to replace the aging ones on line now. The Pale will go on one with East Kent Goldings dry hopping.

Rock Bottom 86th St

  • The Wheat is a Hefeweizen.
  • The Stout is an Oatmeal Stout but it will be replaced any day now by an Irish Stout.
  • Happy Pils is an all-German pilsner (except for the Czech Saaz hops). 5.2% and plenty of bitterness.
  • The handpulls have a Vanilla Stout and the Amber masquerading as an ESB.
  • Iain's Rocktoberfest will be tapped this Thursday, 9/14.
  • Coming up: a Dunkleweizen and a Weizenbock (7.5%).
  • Later: a Pumpkin Ale.

CAMRA's Champion beer of Britain is, again in 2006, Crouch Vale Brewers Gold - truly an American IPA with lots of Cascades. This is the second consecutive year for BG to take the title, joining Timothy Taylor Landlord in 1982/83 as the only back-to-back winners. The only other two-time winners are Fuller's London Pride in 1979 and 1981 along with Thwaites Best Mild.

Crouch Vale expanded in the last year from 60bbl per week on the strength of last year's win but is a long way from being able to send their beer across the pond. Now if someone would explain why the CAMRA newspaper printed this picture of Crouch Vale assistant brewer Steve Watson - surely it won't help sales of Brewers Gold.

The only winners we can get (bottled) in the States are Hop Back Summer Lightning (silver, Golden Ales), Fraoch Ale (bronze, Specialty), and Worthington's White Shield (gold, Bottled Beers).

An online gadget company is selling double-wall glasses for better insulation and no sweating. Wonder why they photographed them on coasters? How much? $75 for 6. Fair enough.

In about 2 weeks Two Brothers is sending their Philosophers Stone black Saison to Indiana (9%, aged in oak barrels, spiked with Brettanomyces for mild tartness). They've started brewing this year's batch of Heavy Handed IPA - the one that uses "wet" hops, just a day after picking in Washington.

Nuvo has their "best of" contest voting online at http://www.nuvo.net/bestof. Vote for Best Restaurant, Wait Staff, Brewpub, Summer Festival, Charitable Event, Cheap Date Spot, Liquor Store, Bar, Dive Bar, Bartender, etc.

From Spencer's Stadium Tavern in Indianapolis: "Humble Apologies to Rock Bottom Brewing. We were recently the recipients of a cease and desist letter from a Ms. Courtney Mowry of Rock Bottom Restaurants Inc. all the way in Louisville, Colorado who took umbrage with the appearance of me in InTake Weekly serving a draft beer in a promotional Rock Bottom glass. With humble apologies we assure the upstanding people at Rock Bottom that we by no means sought to infringe upon their trademark. I just pulled the next glass out of the bin and poured a draft out for the camera. So such unintended promotion of their product can never take place again, I have since removed the offending picture from our website and destroyed their promotional glassware so as to never impugn their good name again. I sincerely hope this satisfies their wishes and serves as a lesson to us all that beer companies should never be promoted with out the express written consent of their ownership."

Keeping in mind Shakespeare's quote in Henry VI, Part 2, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" was really about how to gain complete tyrannical control over the country and its people, we don't have anything to add.

Cappuccino machine? Coffee maker? Nope, that's a DraughtMaster™ from Carlsberg. It holds 5 litres.

A pub owner is worried because thieves made off with 40 barrels of contaminated beer from his pub garden in Coventry, England. The kegs were stacked waiting to be thrown away after the ale was contaminated by water from a flooded cellar. The thieves had to climb over a six-foot wall to access them and then carry the kegs back over the wall to cart them away. Police have issued a warning to the thieves telling them not to drink the beer and have informed staff at nearby hospitals to be on the lookout for poisoning cases.

New Holland's 2006 Ichabod pumpkin pie ale is out and will get to Indiana in a week or so. This year's Pilgrim's Dole is barrel-aging in oak that previously held Dragon's Milk and will be released in November.

9-10 More new beers in Indiana next week: Green Valley organic beers. Wild Hop Lager, Stone Mill Pale Ale.

The brewhouse at Terre Haute Brewing is now open on Friday evenings, 5pm-midnight, as a Open Haus. Beer tasting, brewery tours, open stage (bring your instrument), and some scheduled bands.

Back Road's fall beer schedule is almost ready. The Midwest IPA has been tweaked with Chinook and Columbus hops and 7.3% ABV. This year's Autumn Ale is an Oatmeal Stout and should be out around the end of September. Chuck has some 6% Scottish Ale available only at the brewery - best time to pick it up is during the Saturday brewery tours. Oh, the Blueberry Ale season has ended - no more bottling of it this year.

But Shoreline is ready to quench your Blueberry Ale thirst with a new Stella Blue.

Not up north? Bloomington Brewing also has a Blueberry Pale Ale on tap. Floyd's Java Porter is coming back on October 1st.

Gas up the tank, there's plenty of things to do the next 2 weeks:

9-7 As hinted at last week, changes are happening at Upland Brewing.

  1. The new president/owner is Douglas Dayhoff. Marc Sattinger says "My goal was to retire at age 55, I missed it by one week."
  2. They will be adding 2 60bbl fermenters to up capacity by 50%.
  3. Once that's in place, Dayhoff wants to add distribution outside Indiana, specifically the Chicago and Louisville areas.

Now in the usual suspect stores: Stone 10th Anniversary - IPA with Summit hops. Founders Bad Habit - 9.8% Belgian Quad. Boulder GABF 25th Year Beer - British ESB dry-hopped with Saaz. Satan Gold and Red from DeBlock. Flensburger Pils, GOld, Dunkle, and Hefe.

Octoberfest season. Look for Ayinger, Flying Dog, Hofbrau, Left Hand, Paulaner, Spaten, Sprecher, Upland, and Weihenstephaner

Pumpkin Ale season. Look for Buffalo Bill's, Dogfish Head, and Shipyard

MacNivens has Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted on tap.


On Notice

9-2 Circumnavigator, Part 1: Matt Dunn heads North by Northwest in search of... what else... beer.

9-1 There are 4 beers from De Proefbrouwerij coming into Indiana - all in 750ml corked bottles. Left to right:

  • Zoetzuur Flemish Red - Fruity, sour, seems very much like a lambic-in-waiting. Cherry, apple, tannin. 7%
  • Saison Imperiale - First sip is quite nice then an acidic background hits. Hoppy. 8.5%.
  • Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale - Dull straw color. Lighter than Zoestzuur but similar character. Actually much lighter. No faults but blah by comparison. Surprising since it's 9%.
  • Lozen Beer Abbey - Dark oak color with tight tan head. Edgy strong, right on the edge of harsh. Still, quite nice. The 10% ABV doesn't hit you with alcohol.

6

Some links in the old news may now be "broken".
Newspaper articles disappear over time.
Thanks for your understanding.