The Russia House has some interesting Eastern European beers you won't find elsewhere (except maybe City-Wide Liquors in South Bend). 12 or 16 oz bottles are uniformly $4. Entrees range from cutlets at $9 to Mondovian Beef at $15 and full spreads for two at $40-$50. And, of course, borsch.

• Cristal Lager - Czech Rep
• Alderis Zelta Lager and Porter - Latvia
• Stary Melnik - Moscow
• Kozlak Porter - Poland
• Obolon Lager - Ukraine
• Golden Pheasant - Slovenia
• Plus, tada, Old Rasputin.

1475 W. 86th St. is the nominal address. It's behind (way behind) the Half Price Books. Open 5:30 pm Mon - Sat.

From this morning's email. My mouth is still slightly open and I'm running right out.

Southport Liquors just received a case of J.W. Lees 1988 Vintage Harvest Ale. It, with 1999 Aventinus, Traquair House Jacobite, Samiclaus, Orval and Dogfish Head's Worldwide Stout make up Rich's ultimate 6 pack (about $30). Also find all Rogue, Stone and Three Floyds' 22 oz. at $3.99. Arcadia, Shipyard, Flying Dog, Great Lakes and Mactarnahan's variety 12 packs $13.99. Mix & match your own, over 70 great beers (only) $6.99. Many other beers on sale.

12/31 Follow up: Yep. It's true. All Rogue, Stone, and 3 Floyds' 22ozers are indeed $3.99. And I left some for you'all. No Double Bastard but Arrogant Bastard, Ruination, Morimoto, Imperial Stout, Santas Private Reserve, Dreadnaught. 

Trois Pistoles 750ml, Lindeman's Kriek: $5. Unibroue is $1 off. The mix-n-matches include Anchor 2003 Xmas, Great Divide Hibernation, Pride and Joy, Hell for Certain, Pyramid Snow Cap, 2 Bros Northwind, Youngers Special Bitter.

Go out of your way to get there.

Ace Discount Liquors has a couple of packages worthy of Christmas gifts for wives and friends of procrastinators.:

• Belzebuth - French 13%. 4 bottles. 2 glasses. $23
• La Binchoise - Belgian 6.5%. 750s of Blonde and Brune. 1 glass. $23.

Also spotted:

• Great Lakes Anniversary - Belgian trippel.
• Belhaven Wee Heavy - exclusive to Ace - about 5 casestotal. $40 / 12-17oz bottles.
• A full shelf of Rogue beers.
• Coors Light Super Bowl commemorative 5-liter can. $16. Don't laugh, there's one with a bid on eBay for $20.

Harder to spot - and getting rarer by the day: This year's versions of SN Celebration, Delerium Noel, Pyramid Snow Cap, Young's Winter Warmer. And for some reason Paulander hefe is tough to find right now.

Yep, a third story about one beer. That's the Pearl Street Porter tapped at Chalkies last night. Hey, it's the gold medal porter at this year's GABF. It's big, bold, roasty, huge-mouthed, and easy-drinking - just like you'd expect for the nation's best in a crowded category. Fred claims this 5-gallon is thicker and roastier than he remembers in Boulder.

Note the PBR glass that's holding the porter. Yep, Chalkies now has PBR and PBR light for the discerning nostalgic Milwaukeean. Speaking of nostalga, Chalkies also now has TNT trivia TV.

Coming up: Arcadia London Porter - 7% with Fuggles and Goldings.

FLASH - Chalkies will tap a 5 gallon keg of Mountain Sun's Pearl Street Porter at 5pm Monday, December 29th. MS Head Brewer and former Indy Foam Blowers of Indiana member Dave Chichura won't be there but a lot of other beer geeks around town will be.

We're told the porter is nice with medium body and a bit of raisin. RateBeer says it's black, dry with roasted nuts and grapefruit. It would be interesting to compare with Three Floyd's Alpha Klaus side-by-side. See you there. Thanks Fred

At the Gambrinus Society meeting last night, about a dozen people tried some very interesting beers that we can't get here in Indiana (yet). Including:

• Trailhead Quarter Bock - Deep ruddy. Malty. Strong like double.
• New Belgium 1554 - Brussels style black ale. Quite like a British mild with a touch of spice.
• Duinen Tripel - Big white Abbey ale in a big white bottle. Quite alcoholic at 9%.
• Melbourn Bros Cherry - By Sam Smith. Bright maraschino red with a bright maraschino taste. Think Ludens.
• Bell's Sparkling Ale - an "American Tripel". 8.2% from two Belgian yeasts. Light orange and very fresh. (Not to be confused with Coopers' Sparkling Ale).
• Marvin Keenan's homemade tripel may have been the hit of the night.

Oh, Time Warner owns "Frosty the Snowman" but "Santa Claus" is public domain.

• Seldom seen beers:
  • The Rock Bottom in Braintree, MA won a bronze at the GABF for Scott Brunelle's Cinco de Mayo Jalapeno Lager.
  • The Boston Beer Works has a Peanut Butter Ale.
• Trademarks:
  • AB has forced Caught-On-Blue of Franconia NH to stop using the name Billy Bud 
  • Miller tried to stop Waterloo, IA mayoral candidate Doug Miller from using "It's Miller Time" as a campaign slogan. He lost - the election, that is.

The Main Street Brewery's current seasonal is Rudoph's Revenge - a Belgian strong ale - maybe a tripel. It has Maris Otter malt, dark Belgian candy sugar, and almost 2 months aging. 1090 OG, 9.5% ABV. It's reddish gold with a thick mouthfeel. Really good stuff.

In Mid January Uptown Rye Brown will be out. It uses Chocolate Rye Malt (did you know there was a chocolate rye malt?) along with caramel, toasted, and Maris Otter malts and good old Whitbread Ale yeast. Brewer Eric Watson then added all cascade hops. We were fortunate to get a taste from the (open!) fermenter and it's smooth already and the hops will not dominate the rye.

In March, a 80 shilling Scotch. Eric is also trying a champagne bottled beer (being a fellow Pierre Celis fan). He say's "Check back next year."

Main Street regular, Old 23 Stout has a bit tan head that leaves quickly. It's sweet with a great mouth feel.

Did you know Main Street's brewery operations opened in 1996, a couple of months before Sterling closed down? That means Evansville has the oldest continuous brewing history in the state.

On a separate note? The Cape Grace Hotel in Observatory, South Africa had 23 cases of Lagavulin stolen last week. This supply was from the last shipment ot SA - back in 2002. Sniffle.

We got to try New Albanian Brewing's Silent Oath, a regal Flemish brown (A+). A strong saison w/cascade citrus, Hallertauer hops, has 4 different yeasts. No coriander in this one.

Bourbondaddy has rested in a cask for 4 months. Think of a nip of whiskey in your coffee but 7.4%.

Late February will see a hoppy (53 IBU -  6.5% ABV) Pre-Prohibition Pilsner using about 25% corn. They'll also unleash a oak barrel aged brown that's sitting in a scoured bourbon barrel right now. By March, brewer Michael Borchers'  Solidarity Baltic Porter will be out. Mucho malt with a light body. Gravity Head starts on the 12th of March.

We stopped at The Buzz west of I-65 at Columbus the other night and enjoyed both the beer and the food. It was opened earlier this year by some real enthusiasts. A small bar, it seats only about 50 - with a TV for every 6 people.

20 taps and 50 bottles selected by Jon Myers. Probably 70 different martinis concocted by Rob Rhodes.

Veronica makes really tender rosemary-garlic prime rib on the weekends along with crab stuffed mushrooms, stuffed shrimp, frog legs, and a hand-cut filet. Sandwiches during the week at only $5 - $6.

At the Buzz, we had an Upland Chocolate Stout (on CO₂ - it's on nitro at Upland). Big, black with a small tan head. Lots of chocolate but balanced so not sweet. No roasty/toasty in the front end. Slides well.

Rockies Brewing's Planet Porter is not overly thick and a nice companion to the Upland CS - roasty and coffee bitterness with hops just for balance.

BW3 downtown has some outstanding beers on tap. Kronenbourg 1664 is a clean German lager with a light hop finish to balance the bit of sweetness. Instant lager belch. We're not sure whether this is brewed in Strasbourg, in France, or in a Scottish and Newcastle plant in England.

Also Old Rasputin, Great Lakes Dortmunder, Ringwood Old Thumper, SN 2002 Big Foot, and Rockies Copper Single Track - brilliant copper American Amber with caramel malt.

The star, though, is Samichlaus 2001. At 14%, this beer has taken aging very well. It's butter to the mouth. Thick, bold, very agreeable desert beer. Have a touch of this to end the day's downtown pub crawl. It has an aroma stronger than cigars. Way past delicious. Wine, raisins, mellow, and married. A cordial truffle of a beer.

They have some kegs of JW Lees Harvest Ale from 1997 that will occupy one of the handpulls for the next month or so. These 11.5% beers have been aged in and are served from oak casks previously used for Calvados brandy, Sherry, Port or Lagavulin. Interestingly, the kegs have lost their designations so you are invited to guess which is on tap now. Jason and I think the Brandy keg is on tap right now.

There's a new BW3 in town at Stop 11 and US 31 on the south side.

Rock Bottom's handpulls have the Brickyard Brown dry hopped with Hallertauer and a Cherry Stout. Not to be confused with Bell's Cherry Stout, this is black with a big, long head lasting until the glass is empty. It's not overly fruity with just a bit of cherry in the aroma. At 8.3% ABV, it's strong, dark, thick, solid, and the cherry just adds some smoothing.

Coming up: January - Sub Zero Winter Ale. February - Schwarz Hacker - a German black lager. March - Fire Chief Irish Red, brewed annually for the Fire Chief's convention.

The Ram's seasonal is Old Jack's Blizzard - an American Imperial ESB - in the SN Celebration mode. It's medium copper with massive hops and noticeable edges. 7% 1070 OG. Uses Simcoe, Horizon, and Cascades hops.

AND right now there's the last keg of last year's Spinal Tap (now with 2 years of aging). You need to ask as it's on a stealth tap. This is reason enough to brave the snow to go downtown!

Late January will see a Carribean Stout - 30 IBU and 6.5%. Following with be a Scotch Ale and, in late March, a Maibock.

Alcatraz's new Frost Bite Ale is a darkish copper, clean 8%ABV pseudo Scotch ale. Malty-strong, hoppy-balanced. Little aroma but a good malt base. Omar doesn't stick to "styles" (in quotes) but prefers to make fun beer that's drinkable.

Late next month a Red will be tapped that's made with a California Common yeast and a 2-hour boil. Munich and chocolate malts with Chinook and Goldings hops will make it interesting. Normally Alcatraz's Red has Chinook and Willamette hops.

New Albanian Brewing will unveil 2 beers on the 20th (NABC Bourbondaddy will on tap at RichO's  Also possibly an East Flanders Brown called Silent Oath.). A yet-to-be-named pre-Prohibition pilsner with six-row barley, corn, lots of hops, and using lager yeast, has been brewed and will be ready in February. Solidarity, NABC’s Baltic-style Porter, has been brewed. It will be aged for at least three months.

Either the 26th or Jan 2 will see some cask-conditioned ciders and perry on tap.

Current guest list: Alpha King, Arrogant Bastard, Aventinus Weizen Doppelbock, Bell’s Java Stout, Two Hearted Ale, Winter White, Goose Island Christmas Ale, Guinness, La Chouffe, Lindemans Cassis, Pilsner Urquell, Rogue Yellow Snow, SN Celebration (2003), Pale Ale, Spaten  Lager, Spezial Rauchbier, Three Floyds Behemoth Blonde Barley Wine, Upland Wheat Ale.

Starting January 2nd is RichO's Real Cider weekend. Naturally carbonated products from the Moorhampton Park Farm in Herefordshire U.K. Aged in oak barrels previously used by Scotch whisky and rum distillers. A very small amount of three Gwatkin products has been kegged in 6-gallon polypins and brought to America and they’ll be tapped at 11am.

Gwatkin Yarlington Mill: medium cider, 7.5%. Yarlington Mill variety of bittersweet apple, preferred by cider makers for its flavor.

Gwatkin Scrumpy: dry cider, 7.5%. Sharp and dry cider named for a small area in Herefordshire where cider has been made for centuries.

Gwatkin Blakeney Red Perry: medium perry, 7.5%. Traditional full-bodied, single varietal farmhouse perry. (Oh, perry? That's pear cider. Yummier than even apple cider).

Plus tap cider from Domaine Dupont in Normandy.

The Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout (without barrel aging) will be out in 12 oz bottles as Barley Island's third offering in liquor stores and Hamilton Co. Marsh stores.

Oaken Barrel's seasonals are the IPA and the Winter White. Well, the IPA is really on the edge of a SN Celebration at 6.6% with three northwest hops.

The Winter White is a Belgian Wit (very popular this year all over Indiana). 5.9% with some holiday spices in addition to the coriander and orange peel. Ken wants you to come down and identify the spices for yourself. "It's a little stronger than a typical wit - the warming result of another secret holiday twist."

On deck, a Tripel to come out yet this month. "It's currently conditioning and we're excited with its progress. A deceptive 9.4%abv, thanks to high attenuation, lot's of fruity esters and malt character, warming - but with little alcohol flavor."

Ruination threatens the lambic brewers

Algemeen Dagblad, 9 december 2003 - Pag. 15 (Economie) Door onze correspondent Joris van Poppel

Belgian brewers are very concerned about the very severe European hygiene regulations. Brewing in old farmers barns, stocking in oak wooden barrels and yeasting in open air can become impossible. Recently the first brewer has imposed a brew prohibition.

The Belgian Food inspection FAVV demands that lambic producers satisfy the severe standards provision industry, which begins per 1 January.

This means that the brew room walls have to be washable and the granular bricks and wooden supporting beams are from now on forbidden.

"An impossible demand" says Armand Debelder, chairman of de Hoge Raad van Lambiekbrouwers (HORAL). "We use wilde yeasts, which need a certain living environment. In wooden stakes the right micro-organisms developes. On a sterile surface this will not work". Traditionally, these brewers are established in old farm-houses, in the Zenne valley, south of Brussels. Only there you will find the right yeast cells in the air, which give spontaneous fermentation and gives that beer it's typical harch taste.

For having the yeast cells in the beer, the brewers are putting the beer in open air. Also this will be forbidden are fearing the lambic brewers, who next week will come together in an urgent meeting. "Belgium should have for these beers an official exception on the European rules", says Flemish member of parliament Sven Gatz, who advocates tradtional beers. "France has also arranged this with their Camembert cheese."

According Gatz the food inspection will probably not handle very strict/severe towards lambic brewers. "Brewing in the open air is tolerated, they told me", according Gatz. But for certainty, all of the brewers should make arrangements with the food inspection organisation".

"One would think that, given the failure of Prohibition, Americans wouldn't need to worry about its return. That may not be the case. A well-funded movement of neoprohibitionists is afoot, with advocates in media, academia, and government."

"The 2000 federal law that encouraged local officials to lower the legal threshold for drunken driving, for example, will have little effect on public safety. Instead, it shifts law enforcement resources away from catching heavily intoxicated drunk drivers, who pose a risk, to harassing responsible social drinkers, who don't."

"In Bloomington, Indiana, cops began arresting of-age college students for walking home from off-campus bars while intoxicated."

• Budvar has a new Premier Select available in Europe. It's a 7.6% beer using the same recipe but fermented for 200 days rather than the normal (!) 90 days. Only in bottles.
• Folks in Britain are quite disgruntled that virtually all of the new Thomas Hardy Ale is earmarked for a container to the States. They promise to up production next year so some can stay in England.
• Great name for a beer - but it's being used in England so you can't export it: "I Can't Believe It's Not Bitter".
• Ya gotta love this description of a 1993 Courage Imperial Russian Stout "It had an intense sweet malt-loaf, coffee and leather aroma, a shockingly full-bodied but not oversweet gravyish malt palate with hints of coffee, orange juice, soft fruit, red wine, black treacle and mincemeat, and a tangily fruity finish with liquorice, blackcurrant, a flourish of hops and a late smokiness."

"Because the absorption rate is slower than metabolism, intoxication occurs when alcohol accumulates in the body."

veisalgia: The scientific term for alcohol hangover (from the Norwegian kveis, or "uneasiness following debauchery," and Greek algia, or "pain")

The Oyster Bar's Oyster Stout is very rich, black, roasty, and a bit sweet. No burnt edges. Maybe a bit of licorice. Calming.

The IPA is very effervescent with large, clinging bubbles. British style with East Kent Goldings.

On Sundays they have a 4-course dinner paired with 4 beers for $17. 5pm. Reservations necessary.

23 taps, a cider, and 80+ bottled beers. Their "Legends' Own" selection is fully explained in the menu to be Upland's Pale Ale, Mad Anthony's Blonde Lager and Ruby Raspberry, and Three Floyds' American Mild.

The unassuming exterior is matched by a Spartan (sorry) decor - plain walls decorated with ND mottoes. You will find goodies such as the center circle from the old ND fieldhouse (left) but emphasis is on quality food and drink.

By the way, the beer consultant who started Legends, Jim Herter, is the Indiana reporter for the Great Lakes Brewing News. The General Manager is Jeff Crotty, formerly the GM at Mishawaka Brewing  Yep, more Hoosier restaurateurs who know what we want.

Mishawaka Brewing calls their current seasonal Beer Garden Ale for good reason. For this annual brew, they use hops from the vines in the beer garden out front. It's a darker-than-pale 6% ale that isn't quite an IPA. Coming up in a week or so is a Russian Imperial Stout that should top 9%. Later this winter look for a barley wine, and a cream stout - plus a strong ale which will go on tap right after Christmas.

The Founder's Stout tastes creamy and rich with a delicate (for a dry stout style) mouthfeel. It won a gold at the World Beer Cup.

The Double Bastard on tap at Chalkies seems greener and rawer than some we tried back in November in bottles. It's strong and raisiney with lots of old ale properties. In bottles it seems more like a really alcoholic really big meaty brown porter.

Marv is back at work part time.

Rock Bottom has a bit of last year's Scotch Ale availalbe. A big, malty, sweet wee heavy. Mature. Burgandy notes.

The Cask Conditioned offering is was the Brickway Brown dry hopped with Hallertauer. Big, thick, creamy, smooth, and bold. A porter of a brown. German hopping is noticable but intermingled and balanced. Whoops. Looks like we got the very last draw. Sorry. But there will be another CC beer or two on tap almost immediately.

New on tap is "Chai Porter" with coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, ginger, and Tettnanger hops. A+

Barley Island has tapped their Barrel-Aged Bourbon Oatmeal Stout. The barrels came from Buffalo Trace Distillery and it's served on the hand-pull in brandy snifters. In January they hope to have some available in 22oz bottles.

Jeff Eaton writes: "A new Marsh store, a new concept/floor plan, opened December 8th at 146thSt and Hwy 37 in Noblesville. The Grand Opening ad in Sunday's Indianapolis Star has a beauty shot of Barley Island's bottled products: Dirty Helen Brown Ale, Blind Tiger Pale Ale and our new Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout. Special pricing of $5.99/6-pack at Marsh until December 13th.  Great to see Marsh supporting their local brewery!"

We recently had a chance to try Back Road Brewery's lineup. If you can find some, pick them up.

• Millenium Lager - Clean all-malt mainstream lager. A little sweet and bolder color than BMC.
• Back Road Ale - A bit of orange with American hops aplenty. Again, clean and crisp.
• American IPA - Somewhat more aggressive with northwest citric hops.
• Belle Gunness Stout - A dry stout of the Irish style. Not a Guinness clone. Named after a local mass murderer.
• No.9 Barley Wine - Like many fresh, super strong beers, it could stand some laying down to marry the tastes.
• Christmas Ale - A completely opaque porter. Nice and quaffable. Our favorite.

RichO's tells us their taps include Bell's Java Stout, Goose Island Christmas,  SN Celebration, Anchor Brewing Co. “Our Special Ale” 2003, Aventinus Weizen Doppelbock, Bad Elf Winter’s Ale, BBC Black Silk Smoked Porter, De Ranke Pere Noel, EKU 28Great Lakes Christmas Ale, La Chouffe, Lindemans Cassis, Mahrs Christmas Bock, N’Ice Chouffe, Spezial Rauchbier, Three Floyds Alpha Klaus, Three Floyds Behemoth Blonde Barley Wine, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. Plus, from Rogue, Hazelnut Brown, Imperial Stout, Chocolate Stout, Santa's Private Reserve, and Yellow Snow. And, of course NABC beers: Beak's Best, Bush Hog, Community Dark, Cone Smoker, Elector Ale, Merckx, Saison Scalawag, St. Alfonzo, and Turbo Hog.

NABC Bourbondaddy will go on tap on December 20th.

• The European drought this year will affect the hop industry - especially in Germany CzechRep and Slovakia. There are not only less healthy hops this year, their alpha acid content is way down.
• CAMRA launches latest book. "Fifty More Great Pub Crawls" Covers the UK, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Prague.
• Monday the 8th is a parade for England's Rugby World Cup victors. 25 pubs along the parade route will offer a free Bombardier Bitter to well-wishers.
• Britain's opening hours has been passed by Parliament but rules haven't been put in place yet for local authorities to sanction any extended hours - and might not be by next summer.
• Next week The Phoenix on Throgmorton will open its doors. It will be the first non-smoking pub in London.
• Glasgow bans happy hours and drinks promos. Glasgow, Scotland, has passed laws forbidding special promotions and discount prices on alcohol.
• A judge in Sydney, Australia tossed out a suit brought by a guy seeking damages for a wrist strain he experienced while trying to open a twist-top Tooheys Extra Dry beer.
• A guy in Norway was convicted of drunk driving even though he was a passenger in a car with a sober person driving and the car wasn't even running! The hapless drunk was left in the front passenger seat at a gas station and as he was putting a CD in the slot, hit the gearshift lever and the car rolled about 3 feet before he pulled the hand brake. Unfortunately for him that was enough for the judge to say he was the "legal operator" of the vehicle.

Three Floyds recently installed 3 more 80gal fermenters. The better to make more Christmas Porter which will hit the streets this week. It's a big, chewy porter - black with a light head. Lots of Simcoe hops give it a very bitter aroma and taste. They used raw Mexican sugar and English malts.

Most of the Floyds' production goes to Chicago and Madison, WI.

Their stock offering to build a brewpub will close in December. For $500 you can have a piece of a brewpub, or for $1000, a bigger piece and a free beer every day.