Opponents stated "What's next? Let baseball players drink during games?" They evidently don't have sand lot softball in Maine.

May 1 - Lafayette
May 15 - Fort Wayne
June 5 - Sellersburg
June 12 - Muncie
June 18 - South Bend
July 10 - Indianapolis << NOTE NEW DATE >>

The WCB events also include something special for homebrewers - The Beer Geek Challenge where the best Northern English Brown Ale will be brewed and bottled at Upland and distributed throughout Indiana. That's bragging rights for sure.

Rules and Regs (Word DOC) with entry deadlines.
Entry Form (Word DOC)

In England a handful of pubs are trying out a machine that lets you "inhale spirits" called AWOL (alcohol without liquid). You get the taste and aroma and is used mainly with flavored vodkas. It takes about 30 minutes to inhale a 25ml (.85oz) shot. article

Tuesday: Lafayette Brewing Company will release their Equinox celebration ale. Massive Centennial and Amarillo hops.

Thursday: Bell's Oberon release day. The official Indiana party is at Neon Johnny's 5-9pm. All Bell's beer specially priced. Door prizes. It will be on tap at all the usual suspects in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Thursday - Mishawaka: Vine Liquors Scotch Club Meeting 7-9 pm.$20.

Friday - New Albany: RichO's continues Gravity Head with a tapping of two J.W. Lee's cask conditioned Harvest Ales. One has been aged in a Willoughby’s Crusted Port barrel, and the other in a barrel previously the home of Lagavulin Scotch.

Sunday - Indy: Great Fermentations beginning brewing class. 1pm. $15. With style tastings and, if the weather is good, brew a batch outside. Reservations needed by Friday.

Gravity Head at RichO's continues unabated. We wandered in yesterday and saw Karen Bujak of the Great Lakes Brewing News. She came down from Cleveland for big beers and big blue-grass at BBC in Louisville. Also met many FOSSILS who occupy the couches almost every Saturday evening. Good times. Thank you Roger and Michael.

• Uerige Steike - The "secret" alt brewed twice a year.6%. Big copper transparent beer. Big malt. Complex. An Imperial Alt. First tap from the last barrel. Balanced with some toasty.
• Rocky River Kohlminator Smoked Bock from Cleveland - Dark brown. Creamy. Not much smoke but noticeable. Alcohol is well hidden behind big malt.
• DeRanke Père Noël - Copper gold. Strongly bitter - almost tart. Grows on you. Sweetish and mild.
• Fantome Saison - 8%. An imperial Saison. Wonderfully thick. Malty Golden colored. All the Siason qualities and more. An instant favorite. Contemplative. Sipped it for quite a while.
• Brasserie à Vapeur Cochonne - 9% Ruby brown. Sweet and spicy. Smooth and sweet. Grapes, flowers, fruit. Did I mention sweet?. Sip like a brandy.
• De Dolle Dulle Teve - "Mad Bitch" 10%. Abbey Tripel. Golden. Quite a bit of bitter to balance the sweet orange/peach/fruit. Very strong with alcohol quite noticable. Thick to cough syrupy.
• Brasserie St-Feuillien Noel - 9%. Burgandy color. Spicy, roasty malt sweet finish. Thick. Pine? Some candied fruit. Alcohol is noticeable.
• Brownings Hercules from Louisville. 7.6%. A old ale masquerading as a barley wine. Chewy candy like a caramel or vanilla tootsie roll. This may be the result of palate burn-out by this time.

Gravity Head rolls on for at least another week. Roger has made an 8-page program of the 44 casks to be served. There's even an event T-shirt. Check the board on your way in and immediately make a list of what you want to try. This will keep you more to the straight and narrow. Enjoy.

By the way, the service from the wait staff is impeccable. Quick, unobtrusive, knowledgeable, patient, helpful, and accurate.

• Coors Aspen Edge - Our 4 oz taste disappeared immediately as after one sip we emulated The Fox and downed it. Well carbonated.
• Grimbergen Double - Fruity with subtle alcohol notes. Also roasty overtones and brown sugar. Complex.
• Utenos Porter - Transparent walnut with a tan head. Light bodied. Lightish taste for a porter. Would classify as a schwarzbier if it were a lager and maybe it is. Plenty of character.
• Bell's Harry Magill's Spiced Stout - Thick stout. Bell's has a long line of stouts and this one is nice but spices don't come out.
• Bell's Consecrator Doppelbock - Big red brown. Rich and thick. Sugary sweet. 8% ABV.
• Brouwerij der Trappistenabdij De Achelse Kluis Achelse Bruin. 9.5% ABV. Tongue tingling carbonatoin offsets the thick sweet malt to make a refreshing drink. Properly brown. Not necessarily a beer drinker beer but a thinking drinkers beer (if you know what we mean).

50 breweries, importers, and distributors were serving samples of at least 300 different beers from Abita to Zywiec. Breweries in attendance personally included Arcadia, Back Road, Barley Island, Bloomington, Duneland, Oaken Barrel, Sprecher, Terre Haute, and Upland.

• Bloomington Brewing just unveiled this year's Vision Weiss. Yell, cloudy, small (for a weiss) head. Made with Weihenstephaner yeast. The wheat character comes through strong with no German cloviness. Very quenching.
• Back Road's Aviator Dopplebock is available in bottles again. It's 9.1%ABV. Big and thick. Dark, dark brown. Lots of malts and hops including Tetenang.
• Barley Island's Barrel Aged Rust Belt Porter will soon be replacing the Barrel Aged Scotch on tap now. The BA Porter will be bottled very soon. After the Porter comes another batch of Oatmeal Stout, then they will put their Brown in the whiskey barrels for aging. All will end up bottled.
• Oaken Barrel's Superfly is destined to become a regular offering. It's in its third batch and Ken Price feels the latest minor changes to the recipe have this strong IPA dialed in.
• Oaken Barrel will have Ken's Belgian Wit on tap next week. Mahogany Rush Brown is on tap now. It's an American brown with some chocolate and wheat malts using East Kent Goldings and Yakima hops. It's a dark brown, rich ale.
• Duneland Brewing has a signature Mount Baldy Old Ale on tap. It's dark brown with a caramelly head. Winey with pine notes. Massively malty. Get it tomorrow or at the Michigan City restaurant.
• Duneland annually brews the winner of the Duneland Homebrewers Association brewing competition. This year it will be a Dunkel Weiss. Barb says this competition is open to all homebrewers, not just club members. Last year's winner was Dan McBride's Belgian Pale Ale which went on to win the State Fair.
• Coor's low-carb Aspen Edge will hit the stores as soon as today.
• Grolsch Amber Ale has a big creamy white head. Light and quite drinkable. Suggest it to your Budmillercoors friends.
• Xingu is a dark black lager with an extremely dry finish.
• CzechVar should be in the state by the end of April.
• Little King's Cream Ale will be back in the state in a couple of weeks. As should Blackened Voodoo and Crimson Voodoo. All three are 

On a separate note, a pub chain is promoting three new Guinness half-and-halfs. Thankfully in England, not here: Guinness with a shot of Tia Maria. Guinness with Smirnoff Black Ice. Guinness with a can of Red Bull (known as a Black Bull). Shudder.

• Recent Coors ads say Coors Light has only a gram more carbs than the low carb stuff - and you can work that off just sitting on a stool. But they already have Aspen Edge in the northeast and Texas which will be nationwide this year.
• Bud Light ads say all light beers are low in carbs but, since their 2nd quarter earnings were up 7.9% on the back of Mich Ultra, they are reported to be looking to planning a Mich Ultra competitor under the Budweiser banner.
• Heineken has Touché out in Singapore that is brewed with champagne yeast. "Sweet, has an alcohol content of 5.5 percent, and supposedly carries a distinct whiff of Chardonnay grapes". About $3.50US per bottle.

On a sillier note, see Beer Hats.com

And - - - Andreas Benz won the election for mayor in Ballendorf, Germany, but a new election has been mandated because he bought beer that day for 21 of the town's 660 residents. article

Monday: Taste of Auburn. 5 - 7pm. La Quinta hotel - Auburn, IN.. Mad Anthony beer will be served.

Thursday and Friday: Big Red Liquors Beer Festival. Thursday: $20. Friday: $25. 6pm - 9pm. Bloomington Convention Center.

Sunday: March Madness Beer Can and Breweriana Trade Show in Logansport. 9am - 3pm.

All week: RichO's Gravity Head continues in New Albany. (see 3/19 below for lineup). On Saturday, some beer geeks from the Brewing News papers may enjoy the planned Belgian lineup.

Saturday and Sunday: Make an Ohio road trip to Barley's Smokehouse's 2nd Annual Mini Real Ale Fest on Saturday (Three of their beers and three guests on the handpull. $15 includes tasting glass). On Sunday, head north to the Cleveland area for the Beer Can & Breweriana Blast at Willoughby Brewing Co. 9am-1pm.

Chalkies lineup right now includes Goose Island's Killgubben Red. More copper than red. Tastes like a Honkers ale with a touch of darker malts. They use some chocolate malt and some rye in the grain bill. Oaken Barrel's Superfly IPA is also on tap. Superfly is a very hoppy IPA worthy of the the name.

There's also a bottle of St. Feuillien Triple sitting on the bar. Presumably for sale but we don't yet know a price. Jessica Rollins is a personal trainer, weight lifter, and waitress - the only one at Chalkies we trusted to heft this 9 liter (2.4 gallon) salmanazar of 8.5 ABV bottle conditioned beer. RateBeer gives it a very good review and it should make a great gift for a very special occasion.

• Burgerbrau Roggenbier - Very wheat-like right down to the foaming head. The 60% rye grain content doesn't come through very strong - ryes often don't assert themselves so don't expect any to come on like rye bread. This is a dark hefe with bottle fermentation. Quite quaffable.
• Edelweiss Dunkel Weissbier - A hard-to-find crisp walnut-colored beer that is rich and true to style.
• Avery The Beast Grand Cru 2004 - Clear black cherry color. 15.7% ABV. Yike. We don't think this beer is ready to drink yet. Keep it upright in a dark place for a few years and it will be very interesting.
• Avery Hog Heaven barleywine - Seems even stronger than the 9.2% ABV suggests. An American style barleywine. Not overly bitter but does hit you on the back of the throat. It will also age until, say, 2007.
• Dogfish Head Aprihop - 7% ABV. An IPA made with apricots in the mash. Dark oak - darker than expected of an IPA. A bit of the apricot comes through in the taste, more in the finish. It certainly doesn't hide the bitterness. Quite pleasant.
• Palma Louca Wild Palm Lager - "Brazil's premium Pilsen". Made by Molson's Brazilian arm, Kaiser. A solid European Pilsner  Think EKU with a twist top. Worthy. A good one to add to your bottle collection.

Coming up: De Dolle Dulle Teve (“Mad Bitch”), De Ranke Pere Noël, Fantôme d Été, Fantôme Saison, Gouden Carolus Noël, St. Feuillien Cuvée de Noël, Vapeur Cochonne, Schlenkerla Urbock, J.W. Lees Vintage Harvest Ale *Lagavulin-primed cask*, *Port-primed cask*, BBC Brewing Company Monk’s Pale Ale, Bell’s Consecrator Doppelbock, Sparkling Ale, Rocky Rover Kohlminator Smoked Bock, Rogue Imperial Pilsner, Russian Imperial Stout, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine (Vintage 2003), Two Brothers Bare Tree Weiss Wine (2004), Two Brothers NorthWind Stout, Upland Winter Warmer.

• Aberdeen Brewing will have a hefeweizen on tap in early May.
• Back Road's spring seasonals include Koza Brada Bock (Slovakian for goat's beard). In a month look for Blueberry Ale which always goes fast. By Memorial Day a Belgian Wit will be out.
• Duneland Brewing will repeat Mount Baldy Belgian Pale Ale in early April. Homebrewers are invited to enter their contest for the best Bavarian dunkelweizen - the winner will be brewed at Duneland. Oh, and it looks as if the brewpub is for sale.
• Lafayette Brewing plans Maifest beer in May. The Waifs will perform upstairs on April 15th - they've toured with Dylan. Brewer Chris Johnson is engaged to be married on May 29.
• Mad Anthony is repeating their Russian Imperial Stout and Barr Street Bock (which is on tap now). Also look for Gold Rush Lager - a steam beer.
• Three Floyds has Dark Lord Imperial Stout for sale only at the brewery (22 oz bottles). Brewed with coffee, vanilla, and molasses. 13% ABV. There's also some Brian Boru Old Irish Red Ale. Gumball Head Wheat Ale will be back this year. They have destroyed the corporate offices to build the brewpub.

• Abita Bock - Brewed with Perle hops and British pale and caramel malts. Similar to a German Maibock with a high malt content, full body, and slightly higher alcohol content.
• Buffalo Bill's Orange Blossom Cream Ale - Pour into a glass and enjoy the wonderful fragrance of freshly peeled orange. Take a sip and the smooth, bright flavor of an orange wedge refreshes your palate.
• Dogfish Head Aprihop - A strong IPA brewed with real apricots and finished with whole-leaf Amarillo and Warior hops.
• Einbecker Mai-Urbock - Designed to have a more refreshing, bubbly, and soft character than its fall sibling. Perfectly suited for a new spring day.
• Great Lakes Conway's Irish Ale - A malty beer with a notable toasty flavor derived from lightly roasted malt. Slight fruit and hop accents add to the overall complexity.
• Pyramid Tilted Kilt - Brewed with 7 varieties of malt including a wee amount of smoked malt. Rich full-flavored ale with a deep red color.
• Spaten Maibock - Pale yellow, very clear and filtered. The flavor is well balanced with a crisp hoppiness and mild pils malt.
• Summit Maibock - A grassy hop aroma while the taste is crisp and dry and reasonably hopped. An interesting maltiness emerges that is toffee-like and includes a taste of bitterness.

Tuesday: Ram Brewer's Dinner featuring Marley's Stout.

Wednesday, March 17th is St. Patrick's Day and beer has always been the focus of celebrations

• Deano's Vino in Fountain Square will have a stout tasting 5:30 - 6:30. Free.
• Sonka's in Terre Haute will have live Irish music at 8:30. No cover.
• Yogi's in Bloomington - Guinness 20 oz. imperial pints will be $4.50 (you keep the glass) while supplies last. Green beer will be available for $1.25 a pint,
• Upland will have a cask conditioned Winter Warmer online at 5pm. Should go fast.
• Oaken Barrel will have green beer.
• RichO's is bravely ignoring St. Patrick's Day and continuing Gravity Head.
• Barley Island will have radio folks from FM97.1 from 8pm - 11pm. Live broadcast and live music. And 97¢ Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout, 97 ¢ pizza slices.
• Rathskeller will have music, Irish dancing, from noon to midnight. 5pm - the Gordon Pipers. 6pm - Polka Boy. No cover. For some reason their food special is Creole Beef.
• Mishawaka Brewing will have $1 draft green beer (although their own beers won't be dyed green, they will be available at $2.50 / 20oz pint). Live radio broadcast.
• Lafayette Brewing will bring out their annual Digby's Irish Stout. Cask conditioned. $4.25 and keep the glass with $3 refills. Irish food specials and maybe bagpipes in the evening.
• Mad Anthony will host the Kiwanis Chili Cookoff.
• We will bet Legends of Notre Dame and Fiddler's Hearth will have some Irish celebration but haven't been able to confirm.
• (ADDITION) Actually Legends of Notre Dame will have green beer and Three Floyds Brian Boru Old Irish Red along with 4 stouts.

Thursday: Rock Bottom has a national roll-out of Fire Chief Red (including Indianapolis).

Friday: RichO's will two kegs of Uerige Sticke Altbier. Sticke, or “secret” Altbier is the twice-yearly version of the Zum Uerige brewpub’s elegantly complex ale, brewed to a higher gravity and dry-hopped.

Saturday: Lafayette Brewing Company will release their spring celebration ale, Equinox. Centennial and Amarillo hops aplenty.

Saturday: Mad Anthony releases their Spring Bock. Available for Mug Club members 5pm - 7pm; to the general public after 7pm.

Local homebrewer, Aaron McMurchy (left) helped Omar Castrellón brew a maibock to be released about the first of May at Alcatraz. 986 pounds of malt gives it a very high 1076 OG. It should be a killer.

On tap now is a Red Lager with Maris Otter and a touch of chocolate malts. Simcoe, Willamette, and Mt. Hood hops give it a distinct bitterness.

Omar's Pilsner uses Mt. Hood and U.S. Goldings for a crisp but not overly bitter taste. The ESB is delicious, creamy, and almost bready.

If you are a confirmed hop-head, the IPL (India Pale Lager) will be your choice. The mahogany color matches the trim on the bar and is topped by a nice head. Simcoe and Cascade hops give it a grapefruity bitter aroma that is matched in the taste. This is the beer that homebrewer Sean Tucker helped make back in early February.

• The Ram still has Wee Heavy and Marley's Stout.
• Rock Bottom's handpulls have cask conditioned Brickway Brown dry hopped with Goldings and the Sweet Stout dry hopped with Northern Brewer.
• BW3 downtown has Left Coast Downtown Brown, Bell's Consecrator dupplebock, Stone Old Guardian barleywine, BBC barleywine, Piraat, N'Ice, and still has the JW Lees on the handpull.
• At John's Liquors we spotted a few bottles of Green King Old Suffolk strong ale and Unibroue's Don-De-Dieu.
• Oaken Barrel has a new batch of IPA coming on Monday.
• Upland has run out of Winter Warmer 6-packs but there are still 7 kegs left to tap at the brewpub. We bet they will save a couple back to age for a year though. 6-packs of Chocolate Stout will be available after March 22nd and cases of Dragonfly IPA are available at the brewpub for $22.

Cream Stout at 6.2% ABV. Brewed using seven malts and a high percentage of lactose (milk sugar) to give it a rich cream like taste to counter the acidic sharp taste of the black malts. Currently on tap.

JSB-ski ESB 6%. Brewed using three malts and only one hop variety (Centenial) it is an E.S.B. with a amber color and a nice hop flavor. Look for this ale to become a regular in the line-up.

Dominator Dopplebock at 9.3% will be on late in March.

• Nostradamus. Cidery. Malty without being sweet. Medium brown. Effervescent. Very agreeable. A+
• Barley Island Bourbon Barrel Oatmeal Stout in the 22oz bottle ($4.49 at Kahn's and available in many other north Indianapolis outlets.) Dark brown head. Serious stout that has whisky coming out when warm. Seems quite different from that on tap at the brewpub which has more whiskey in the aroma and less on the tongue.
• Avery Reverend quadrupel bock. Bright brown. Virtually headless - and at 10% ABV will leave you legless if you try an entire 22oz bottle. Spicy hoppiness. Good evening beer for a roaring fire or a ball game on TV.
• Terre Haute Brewing has added an extra pound of chocolate to their Amber recipe (for a total of 24 pounds per 20 bbl brew). This beer has less edges than their CV lager or CVar pilsner. Actually very smooth. A+.

Mishawaka Brewing's beers are poured at the Silver Hawk's baseball games at Coveleski Stadium in South Bend.

Traditionally, in about 2 weeks the Belgians start to come on line.

Coming up at Chalkies: kegs of Oaken Barrel's Superfly IPA and Belgian Triple (see 2/24 for our tasting notes). Also Nostradamus Brown and St. Bernardus Blanche Witbier.

April 11 - 17th Marvin plans to have strong beers on tap. Goose Island Epidural Ale, Bigfoot, Foghorn, Old Crustacean, Three Floyds Behemoth Blonde, Stone Guardian, and a 2yo Bells 3rd Coast Old Ale.

The first Great Taste of the Legends scheduled for tomorrow was in our calendar but has been canceled. Sorry for the confusion.

• Sunday sales may start at 10am (instead of 11am).
• Closing on Sunday night stays at 12:30am including New Years Eve if that is a Sunday (we'll worry about that in 2006).
• Liquor stores and bars may provide samples of beer - up to 6oz. (Previously only wine and liquor samples were allowed).
• Suites at sporting events, halls, convention centers, theaters, etc. may have self-serve alcohol. The renter of the suite is responsible to see all drinkers are over 21 or they may have a supervisor or bartender on hand.
• Breweries that are organized as Partnerships and LLC may have members who are not residents of Indiana if the brewery makes less than 20,000 bbl of beer annually. (Indiana's largest brewery, Upland, makes about 3,000 bbls annualy).
• Breweries may sell by the glass on premises if they also sell food. This seems to only affects Back Road but may also eliminate the need for a temporary permit to have a beer festival outside the normally licensed premises, say, in the brewery itself.
• Allows people with a retailer's permit to also hold a brewer's permit (up to 20,000bbls annually).
• Liquor licenses can be issued for property within a municipal riverfront development project.
• 1-way beer wholesaler's permits can be issued to people who have been Indiana residents for 1 year. (Previously there was a 5-year residency and 1-year in the county). AND Beer wholesaler's permits can to go corporations and LLCs 60% owned by 1-year Indiana residents.
• Allows minors to be where alcohol is sold in licensed areas of a college or automobile race track. (There are many other such places in Indiana Code 7.1-5-7-11 such as bowling alleys, grocery stores, and restaurants.)

Back to 3/19

• The World Class Beverages web site now has a "Find Local Seller" function. Once you've found your beer via the Search form, you can find the liquor stores or bars that have it within a 20-mile radius of any given zip code. Hint: If you choose, say, a 15.5 gal size you'll find where it's available on draft (or at least which bars have had a barrel delivered recently).
  
• We're told Mad Anthony's Barr Street Bock, released yesterday, is possibly even better than last year's.
• Founder's Ales of Grand Rapids, MI, is ready to bring their beers into Indiana.
• New Holland of Holland, MI, is also exploring Indiana distribution. (see 3/6 for some tasting notes).
• 12 cases of this year's Thomas Hardy's made it into Indiana. Good luck finding some.

• Customers at the Litten Tree pub chain in England are charged about £1.75 for a pint of cask conditioned Courage Best and 99p for a pint of the Litten Tree Ale. Both beers come from the same cask in back through side-by-side handpulls.
• Sam Smith is praised for not raising the price of their draught beers - for the last 12 years.
• Boddington's has reformulated it's cask conditioned beer to have more flavor. Once this was a well-respected beer but after changing brewers and owners a few times it has become similar to the weak widget-cans we get here. Hopefully our version will improve eventually.
• Moorhouse's Black Cat mild won CAMRA's Champion Beer of Britain in 2000 and it nearly bankrupted the brewery. Houses that stocked Moorhouse's popular Pride of Pendle bitter switched to the mild after the win. Unfortunately mild is less popular overall so total sales for the brewery went down almost in half.
• The Black Sheep brewery is adding equipment to double production from 45,000 bbl to a 80,000 bbl capacity.

The construction company that built the Hofbauhaus in Newport, KY won an award for historical restoration in the Associated Builders and Contractors' annual Excellence in Construction Awards. They transformed a derelict building into the large brewpub last year.

The Edgewater, 5600 Ashland Ave, in Chicago gets a special keg from Rogue for opening on the 15th of each month. Sometimes a new brew or sometimes a tweaked version of an existing beer.

Bell's sales in 2003 were up 21% over 2002.

Here's a Grolsch offer for a free "swingtop bottle opener". That reminds us, we don't think we ever received that Guinness towel last year.

And he's going to try knocking $1 off all 12oz and bigger drinks on Sunday and Monday. If nobody complains it will probably be permanent.

David, 43,  is a homebrewer and a  psychiatrist who will keep his practice. Kristine is a commercial pilot. article

• Bell's Oberon release day is April 1st. The official Indianapolis party is at Neon Johnny's 5-9pm. All Bell's beer specially priced. Door prizes. It should also be on tap at the better beer bars around town and in bottles also.
• The Fox & Hound in Indy has re-opened their Mug Club. $25 lifetime membership gets you a numbered 23oz mug on the rack with fill-ups at 16oz prices. Also 1/2 price wings.
• Another Fox & Hound is being planned for the Carmel area this fall. It will have a completely different architecture and feel.
• Guinness USA is going to import Smithwick's Irish Ale to the US. It has been available in bottled, draft, and cask conditioned from in Canada for years. It hits St. Louis first - must be a big Irish population in St. Louis.
• Michael Jackson's 4th edition of the Malt Whisky Companion (AKA Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch) is out. We saw some at the Half Price Bookstore near 86th and Ditch for about $13. Also at Kahn's for $15.
• Kahn's also has Left Hand Widdershins Barleywine and Barley Island Whiskey Barrel Stout in 22oz bottles for $4.49.
• Oh, and Mike Sprinkle is back as the beer guy at the Carmel Kahn's.

We tried some beers from the New Holland Brewery (Holland MI) that may be headed for distribution in Indiana.

• Paleooza - A very hoppy, crisp American IPA.
• Sundog Amber - With biscuit malt and Fuggles hops. Thinish with sharp edges.
• Full Circle Single Malt Ale - The bottle says "It's made with a single malt, a single hop, and our singleminded approach to brewing". A singularly bland beer. Pale yellow fizzy water.
• The Poet Stout - Creamy lacing tan head. Pretty rich stuff with a roast coffee overtone.

Also a couple that can be found in Indiana:

• Black Sheep Ale - A complex bready English pale ale. This one's a winner from Masham.
• Avery Salvation - A middle of the style Belgian golden ale with plenty of candy sugar notes. At 9%, it's way more drinkable than it should be for your safety. Excellent.

Anderson Valley Brother David’s Belgian-Style Dubbel, Bell’s Third Coast Old Ale, Bell’s Batch 6000, BBC Brewing Bearded Pat’s Barley Wine (2002), Bluegrass Brewing Co. Mephistopheles Metamorphosis, Browning’s Hercules Ale, NABC Silent Oath (oak-aged) ,NABC Solidarity Porter, North Coast Old Stock Ale, Rogue Old Crustacean Barley Wine (1999), Stone Double Bastard (2003), Stone Imperial Stout, Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine, and Stone Ruination IPA. Also in cask conditioned: Aventinus Eisbock, Kulmbacher Reichelsbrau Eisbock G’frorns, Kiuchi Hitachino New Year’s Celebration Eisbock, and Samichlaus (2001).

But there is good news. The 4th edition of MJ's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch is at the publishers and should be out by June.

Florida, like Indiana, now allows tasting of wine and spirits in liquor stores, but not usually lower-in-alcohol beer.

Mitch Rubin of the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association said disingenuously, "You sip the other products. You drink beer." Another specious argument that came up is the inability to reseal beer bottles.

Terre Haute Brewing has a nice bottling line and is going to make their beer available in 6-packs at the tap room but they are waiting on parts from Italy. Once Champagne Velvet in bottles is available again, we bet collectors will want a few.

Right now their beers are available on tap at 30 locations around the city. Plans are also afoot to open the wall between the tap room and the Moggers good beer bar next door.

He said when he thinks of the store, cheap and convenient come to mind. "Do we want children to think of alcohol that way?"

In other news, a 3-way license has been approved for a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Hobart near the Intersection of I-65 and US 30.

And, you'll be able to find 22oz Barley Island bottles in liquor stores quite soon. Probably in Kahn's yet this week.

Still on tap: Russian Imperial Stout, Gold Rush Lager steam beer. Coming up: a British Pale Ale.

And there are still tickets available for their dinner on the 5th (see Calendar).

Lastly, Mad Anthony has a new web site up and running.

They suggest that city folks aren't big fans of Natural Light, Busch, or even Budweiser.

The same newsletter shows the biggest "specialty" brewers are:

Of these, only Boston, Leinenkugel, and Pyramid lost sales from 2002 to 2003 (and those by less than 5%). Pete's fell out of the top 10 with a loss of almost 40% of their volume. Boston's drop is attributed to Sam Adams Light's fall from favor.

New Belgium grew 11%. Widmer grew 20%. Alaskan grew 14%.

Pyramid's numbers now will include about 50,000 bbl of Portland Brewing's output.

So who's really the big guns on Americans' lips?

Budweiser's sales were down 4.5% from 2002. Coors Light and Busch down 2%  Michelob Ultra sold about 3,000,000 bbls.

John Lang is brewing their Maibock right now for release in early May.