Bloomington Brewing has some of their Vision Weiss German hefe set aside to be opened as cask conditioned beer sporadically over the summer. If you drop in you might find it on.

Main Street Brewery will have their Uptown Rye Brown on line all summer. This Maris Otter with chocolate rye malt and Cascade hops is a smooth and bittersweet porter.

Terre Haute Brewing has worked the kinks out of their bottling line which mean CV Gold Label bock will hit the streets from Evansville to Indianapolis by July. A post-prohibition bock label from the original Champagne Velvet bock will continue THB’s antique theme. CV Gold Label uses caramel and chocolate malt and is fermented for 28 days to give a 7.5% ABV.

Seasonals right now at the Ram include Marley's Stout and a new Maibock - Copper with a nice tingle on the mustache. We need to reevaluate this one since ours seemed a bit oxidized and lacked carbonation. Sorry.

We noted that there are 31 vodkas lined up on the shelf.

• Red Lager - Now without Maris Otter. Crisp and sharp.
• IPL (Indiana Pale Lager) - Copper lots of carbonation. Lots of Cascade hops (with some Simcoe). This is the beer Sean Tucker helped make.
• Maibock - More golden than traditional copper color. 1076 OG gives it lots of alcohol. Mt. Hood hops are also a bit unusual for a bock. This is the beer Aaron McMurchy helped Omar produce.

On May 19th Tim will unveil Heartland American Wheat which will join his German Wheat for the summer. The Swarzhacker black lager is still on tap - also yummy.

On the hand pull is a cask conditioned Pale Ale. Tim is trying an innovative idea from Hopunion in this beer - Hop Tablets. These alka-seltzer-like pale ale pills are dropped in the cask and release their bitterness  He calls it dry hopping for dummies. Just kick the keg every couple of days for more effect. Sounds strange.

• Broad Ripple Brewpub has expanded their outdoor seating to the parking lot so don't cruise into what was the prime parking spaces. June and July will see a return of the Kölsch and American Brown.
• Kahn's has Rogue Morimoto Chamomellow Ale. It's made with Chamomile tea. An alternative to Java Stout maybe? It's reported to really taste like tea but we haven't had a chance to try that claim. Got a gold at the 2003 GABF in the Herb and Spice category.
• John's is going to match their weekly wine tastings with beer tastings starting in July (when it will be legal). They are also talking about a beer-of-the-month club.
• Look for Adnam's Broadside and Three Floyds' Dreadnaught and Gumball Head to show up on the handpull at BW3 in the next month or two.

• White Rascal - Belgian white
• IPA - Non-grapefruit American IPA. Columbus, Goldings, and Centenial hops.
• 14'er ESB - British ESB with Fuggles hops.
• Redpoint - American Amber with Cascade hops.
• Out of Bounds - Roasty Brit stout with Fuggles.
• Ellie's Brown - Sweetish southern brown with Fuggles and Cascade hops. (This one won't get to Indiana until June).

These 10 account for 75% of the total import market.

Note the big decline in Malternative advertising bucks. Most budgets were down but it looks like the ZimaEtc sales folks have given up.

Had a glass of the latest batch of Three Floyds Alpha King there yesterday. It's a deep copper and just as hoppy as before but seems to have some of the harder edges shaved off. Still has the big finish and terrific burp factor.

Also on tap right now are Bell's Oberon and 2-Hearted (which looks to be a permanent fixture) along with Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen.

The all-Fuggles Best Bitter is back on the handpull. Yet another reason to get to the north side.

After searching high and low, the Upland Brewing Company of Bloomington, Indiana has announced the addition of Charles “Chuck” Watts as the brewery’s Distributed Product Representative. Chuck was hand-picked out of the throng of qualified applicants jumping for a chance to represent Upland at retail and pub accounts throughout the state of Indiana.

In his new position Mr. Watts will use the breadth of his skills acquired while representing various companies in Indiana, as well as the ever important life-long skill of beer drinking. “I love great beer,” says Chuck, while wiping tears of joy from his eyes, “I really do. And I am looking forward to representing Upland and meeting more people who enjoy fine hand-crafted beer.”

• The soccer World Cup in Germany has actually signed with Anheuser-Busch for $47m to be the exclusive beer supplier. They also made a similar food deal with (wait for it) McDonald's. Needless to say, there's a bunch of unhappy Germans.
• Norway has ordered higher beer prices after a price war had beer being sold in some places for less than the national tax imposed on the beer - about $1 per 11 ounces! A bunch of unhappy Norwegians are now hoarding beer.
• Corona Extra sales in the UK have doubled in the last year. It's being marketed as a "unisex" brand that everyone can enjoy.

• Hilton Head Brewing remains a little bit of Key West at the very end of US 278. It rocks a night with the support of two other bars within crawling distance from the door. An extract brewery using a Safeale yeast strain in all brews. Their beers are $3.50/pint and include Pub Light, South Atlantic Pale (floral Cascade-hop aroma), and Colibogue Amber. We tried:
  • Blueberry Wheat - Hints of blueberry in a copper ale with only slight wheat notes. 50% Bavarian wheat extract.
  • Heritage Scottish Ale - Black and chocolate malt. Earthy and clean at the same time but not impressive.
• Aikens Brewery, Grill and Bar in Aikens, SC is a nice chatty bar in a restored downtown. Tablecloths are unexpected as is a beautiful mantle clock behind the bar and especially iron pipes connecting the vessels. $2 beers. Their chalkboard lists Honey Wheat, raspberry wheat, West Coast pale ale, and an oatmeal stout. We had:
  • Red Ale - A typical solid American amber.
  • Grand Cru - Orangey brown with a small head and plenty of carbonation. Fruity notes of subdued orange or tangerine. Not sweet and not strong flavored. Very drinkable. A good attempt at a Belgian style considering the 6% ABV limit.
• In Columbia, we got to revisit one of our favorite bars/brewpubs - the Hunter-Gatherer. It gets just a bit stranger every year - this time it was a painting of two people. One looked like a cross between Michael Jackson (the singer) and James Brown, the other a cross between Yoko Ono and Grace Slick. Turned out to be a Hindu holy man and Yoko Ono.
  Anyway, H-G is a college hippie hangout, even today. Only three of their beers on tap - an IPA, a Wheat, and:
  • ESB - properly deep copper but a bit soapy which didn't stop me from having two.
• Greenville, SC's Blue Ridge Brewing Company is a cozy, tall-ceiling, fancy restaurant on a renovated main street. Their 7bbl copper-clad vessels are in the front window in the open air. The mug club is a massive $75/year but you get an individually crafted mug like those below.
  Offerings include Colonel Paru Pale Ale (American), Kurlie Blonde Ale (an American wheat), Hurricane Hefeweizen, Torch IPA plus:
  • Rainbow Trout Amber ESB - Red copper. An English amber with an big extra hop kick.
  • XXX Total Eclipse Stout - Black and headless. Thinish but  full flavored.

• The Sophisticated Otter in Johnson City, TN is hosts the college pint crowd in an old railroad warehouse. The music out back this night was a tribute to the Eagles with a $10 cover and a 10¢ band. Doesn't open until 4pm, 5pm on weekends. They had $2 pints during April including Honey Blonde, Raspberry Wheat, an American pale ale, and a British pale ale coming up. We had:
  • Amber - Immediately malt and loud butterscotch in the nose. Balanced with British hops but the dactyl never grew on me.
  • Porter - Big toasty taste, chewy. Not a bad beer at all.

• Chumley's from 6:30 - 7:30.
• Shallos from 9:30 - 10:30.

Upland's Maifest on Saturday has been extended to some Indianapolis locations: The Aristocrat at 52nd and College, Chalkies, Union Jack in Broad Ripple; and Dick's BBQ in Avon, 96th St. at Gray Rd, and in Broad Ripple.

RichO's has some Adnams Special Suffolk Bitter on the hand pull and will open an Adnams Broadside Original Ale this next Friday. A new batch of Bourbondaddy will come out on Thursday. NABC brewer Michael Borchers' next release (mid May) will be Stumble Bus - a 10% 100 IBU IPA. Also, Roger Baylor doesn't want you to forget about his planned 13-day September European brewery odyssey.

Mad Anthony will have a succession of low-volume specialty beers at their Ft. Wayne brewpub. Usually only 1 keg will be made for sale by the glass only. No dates are announced so have to catch them as you can. The first three lined up will be 

• Java Porter - Old Fort Porter infused with Starbucks coffee.
• Old Ale - last season's Winter Strong Ale aged an extra three months.
• Plum Porter - Old Fort Porter with Italian plums added before a secondary fermentation.

All the Buzz in Columbus is now making their own root beer (a bit sweet). Can a fermenter be far behind?

Monday: Monthly beer tasting at Dick's BBQ in Avon. 7pm. $20 includes sandwich and 8-10 samples. Call 317-272-4400 to sign up.

Tuesday (new addition): Eric Wallace of Left Hand will be at 2 tastings in Indianapolis.

• Chumley's from 6:30 - 7:30.
• Shallos from 9:30 - 10:30.

Saturday: World Class Beverages Ale Fest at Maize Catering, 625 Columbia St in Lafayette. (AKA Buon Appetito Italian Eatery). 2 - 4pm. Includes homebrew contest.

Saturday: Upland Maifest in Bloomington. Polka bands, German menu, and release of their Maibock. Also in Indianapolis at The Aristocrat at 52nd and College, Chalkies, Union Jack in Broad Ripple; and Dick's BBQ in Avon, 96th St. at Gray Rd, and in Broad Ripple.

• Southend is in the heart of the historic district across the street from the Exchange customs house, jail, and dungeon. Fully opening doors give it a real southern feel. Their beers include Southend Blonde, Southend Light Blonde (yike), Bombay Pale Ale, O'Ryan's Oatmeal Stout (with "8 varieties of malted barley"), Ironman Wheat (an American hefe), and Scarlet (an American Amber Ale). Until last week, their seasonal was a Pumpkin Ale that the bartenders got tired of explaining. $3.50/pint. 4-7pm every day is happy hour with $2 pints. We had:
  • East Bay Brown -  Dark with a tan head. Fairly light body and plenty of carbonation.
  • Scottish - Their new seasonal. Quite dark read and very very, peaty. It seems every brewpub on the coast has a brown and a Scottish right now.
• Palmetto Brewing has been in Charleston for some time. We had a draft Pale Ale at a local chain BBQ shop Sticky Fingers. Ehhhh. A medium copper American IPA adequately hopped and sharp edged. All the subtlety of George Kennedy chomping on a cigar and extricating a 707 stuck in the snow.

• Aberdeen Brewing - Hardworking brewer Sam Strupeck is moving from Valparaiso to a South Chicago suburb to open his own brewpub. Thanks Jim.
• Butler Winery in Bloomington is having a 20% off sale on equipment from Apr 24 through May 2. This includes yeast, grains, and hops. There's also some dented cans of malt extract at 30% off.
• Oaken Barrel has opened their out-back beer garden. They've also started a new "frequent diner" club - it's free to sign up and when you do they'll serve you a free pint. We doubt they'll allow frequent sign ups though.
• Guinness says it will close its plant in West London next year and finally make Britain's stout at the St. James Gate brewery in Dublin (where they brew it for Ireland and worldwide - including the U.S.).

Spent 4 days in Myrtle Beach - the place Dan and Rosanne dream about taking their pre-teen kids for vacation. Sigh. Golf is rather structured here as they only have tee times from 6am to 8am and then again from Noon to 2pm - they start people on both hole # 1 and 9 both times. Afternoon rounds can be slowed down by the morning people and 5-hour rounds are common.

• North Myrtle Beach hosts the Mad Boar Restaurant and Brewery in a tourist plaza next to the House of Blues. Nice English hunting decor. The big bar is directly inside the front door which guarantees a distractive, busy, atmosphere. I seem to be a kid magnet and a succession of screaming 4-year olds ended up sitting next to me at the bar. That just isn't right.
  
  They have a Raspberry Wheat, Golden Pilsner, Pig Tale Ale ("our lightest offering"), Indian Pale Ale (American style), and an oatmeal stout named Boar Snout Stout. They also list blends on the menu - Pig Tale Ale with Scottish, IPA, and Stout; 75% Scottish and 25% IPA; Stout and Scottish or Raspberry Wheat; and a Shandy with pilsner and 7UP. We had:
  • Porter - Dark, almost creamy, good malt. True to form. A good choice.
  • Scottish Ale - Using peat-smoked barley, the smoke does come through strongly. Lighter body than the porter but way darker and thicker than an amber ale.
• Near a square mile of tourist dollywood called Broadway at the Beach, TBonz steak house sits on a busy corner with a tiny parking lot. In the afternoon it's a fine respite from tourism but you can't get inside in the evening as it deals with the overflow from Planet Hollywood. The beers are brewed in their Charleston location and include a mandatory raspberry wheat, Low Country Lite Lager, and a seasonal Irish stout. I ordered a brown which came in an iced mug. So I did the reasonable thing and ordered a red in a warm mug to drink while the brown warmed up. They apologized and the brown was on the house. Nice touch.
  • Cooper River Red - Dark cordovan with a small head. Obviously some crystal or black patent malt. Nice, smooth, quaffable beer.
  • Nut Brown Ale - Very dark American style with a long lasting foamy head. Thicker and almost porterish. Quite good.
  • Market Street Wheat - A hefe light American wheat that was full bodies and sweet. Maybe not fully fermented - there's a 6% ABV rule in South Carolina as well as NC.

When you're in Myrtle Beach (make that IF you're in Myrtle Beach), on weekend, head 10 miles NW to Conway and then south on 701 to Robb Dew's BBQ. It's only open Fri and Sat from 5pm - 9pm but a better BBQ buffet cannot be found anywhere. Superb NC vinegar-mustard sauce, all the trimmings, and includes the best fatback anywhere - think of it a bacon with a serious attitude.

In Charleston be sure you get to the Wreck - possibly the only restaurant in the world without a sign or any outside indication that food is served. Killer battered shrimp, killer grilled fish, killer cole slaw, expensive, small portions (spring $17 instead of $13 for the "Richard" size - you'll be stuffed but happy). Here's the directions: Cross the bay east on US 17. Take Coleman Blvd. After crossing Shem Creek head right on Live Oak (2nd street). Go west and north as far as you can through this residential neighborhood and you'll see a shack just east of the Wando fishery - that's the place. Walk around to the seaside and someone will ask you if you want to eat - in a while they'll call you up to the porch. Opens at 5pm daily. Right up there with Does Eat Place in Greenville, MS.

Monday: RichO's in New Albany welcomes Dan Shelton, founder and co-owner of the specialty beer importer Shelton Brothers.  Dan imports marvelous beers like Fantome, Kulmbacher and Cantillon, and we'll be tasting some of these beers with him.  Seating will be limited. http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/rants.asp

Friday: BW3 in downtown Indy has a beer tasting at 7pm. $25 includes food and 10 beers. Register by Thursday. Features spring brews and some barley wines and strong ales.

Saturday: John Hill, landlord of the Broad Ripple Brewpub, turns 60.

• Front Street Brewing is in a narrow renovated downtown site with the brewery right up front and a restaurant on a mezzanine in back over the kitchen. In the saddle is a big 3-arch bar that seems ancient but is made of some old and some new pieces. Also a 2nd floor banquet area. They sell 22oz bottles for $3 as well as growlers and kegs and have accounts all over town. Beers include Plantation Pilsner, River City Raspeberry Wheat, a nitro oatmeal stout, and American wheat, and Moonlight Lager for the Budmillercoors drinkers. We had:
  • Cacklin' Goose - A seasonal schwartz lager with some wheat addition to lighten the attack and the ABV. Has a foamy white head (all their beers were over-carbonated which 2 `tenders said is not normal). Good hops balance.
  • Terry had a Black Raspberry - A half-n-half with their raspberry wheat and their oatmeal stout. Subtle rasp aroma and the stout absorbs the tartness / sweetness.
  • IPA - Dry hopped with Fuggles. Golden clear. Intense carbonation is annoying in this one. Not a hoppy IPA but plenty of Fuggles comes through - puts it at the near bitter end of a British bitter.
  • Helles Bock - Properly dark (Helles means bright). Very neutral (which means balanced or could mean going nowhere for a while).
  • Dramtree Scottish Ale - A pleasure to have a brewer use the word Scottish correctly. It's big with dark malt but not a big sweet Scotch Ale - that's something different altogether. Tan head and enough hops. Good stuff.

• Ham's Restaurant was open and we had some decent food. Got marinara sauce instead of alfredo sauce but what the heck. The wait staff, though, needed to show their superiority by taking well over 5 minutes to bring change to the people seated behind us and after being asked twice by us for the check, decided chatting up a waitress was more important. We left some money and we left. Walking out of a restaurant agitated is a sure way to pan the whole place. We could go on about the beer menu at the table that details lots of micro and import bottles but doesn't even acknowledge their own beers but we did get a beer list when we asked. Two light unbitter beers, an "old world pilsner", and American IPA, and an Irish dry stout show the brewer is trying. We had:
  • Charlie's Barley - A nice American Amber with Munich, Pilsner, and Crystal malts with some Willamette hops. 5.0% ABV. Right to style.

• Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling Co. has a free tasting every Friday in Fairbanks, AK. They get 125 people - and sell lots of cases and kegs. Good idea. articles
• Peter Coors, CEO of Coors is running for the Senate in Colorado.
• 80,000 bottles of Castlemaine beer were burned (well, boiled) Saturday in a truck fire in New South Wales, Australia.
• The ATT&TB (ATF) said it will set guidelines for calling beer "low carb". It's expected to be at 7 grams per 12 oz beer - thus including Miller Lite and Bud Light. article

Monday: Dyngus Day. The day after Easter is traditionally a Polish feast day. South Bend, Ind. and Buffalo, N.Y. have the biggest parties in the country but many cities in the midwest have festivals or unofficial pub crawls. Traditions include caroling, and (honest) boys drenching girls in water. In South Bend, hit the bars on the west side and meet the politicians who are buying beer. Yogi's will have polka music, sausage, sauerkraut and hard-boiled eggs just to name a few delicacies. Slivovitz plum brandy specials.

All this week: Indianapolis: Chalkies plans to have strong beers on tap including Goose Island Epidural Ale, Bigfoot, Foghorn, Old Crustacean, Three Floyds Behemoth Blonde, Stone Guardian, and a 2yo Bells 3rd Coast Old Ale.

New Albany: RichO's continues Gravity Head is winding down but still has more strong tappings.. The  J.W. Lee's cask conditioned Harvest Ales in a Lagavulin Scotch barrel is on route and will probably be tapped Friday. The other won't appear this year. The Rogue Imperial Pilsner arrived with off notes and has been sent back. The latest tapping list is here.

• Chapel Hill, NC. The Top of the Hill is a block from the UNC campus and offers great views of the horizon and a downtown intersection from their large rooftop veranda. Wonder why people don't have beads to throw? They've expanded the menu with Kuralt Ultra Low Carb, Kenan's Summer Lager, Davie Poplar IPA, and Frank Graham Porter. $4/20oz but $2 on Mondays. We with the wait staff would lose the stained white shirts and ties - is this a Carolina thing? Had 2 beers:
  • Old Well White - A Belgian wit. Cloudy yellow. Good but very light.
  • Belgian Ale - A seasonal. Clear light brown. Well balanced with a strong malty aroma. Not a Brown, not a Red, not a Strong, not an Abbey, don't know the style but it was a decent beer.
• Raleigh, NC. Greenshields Brewery has seen an entire city block of party central grow up around it. The cozy pub up front still has couches by the fireplace. Big restaurant area in back. $3.75/pint mug. We were dismayed to ask 2 waitresses and the bartender for the brewer's name to be told "Robert something" - no respect. In addition to the Hefeweizen and a Stout there are two beers we had:
  • Nut Brown - Dark with a strong malty aroma. Very mega creamery buttery flavor - mucho dactyl. Exactly to Terry's taste.
  • Amber Ale - Dark brownish red from lots of Vienna malt. Nice and smooth. Balanced to style.

This 6% ABV limit must put a heavy strain on brewers' imaginations.

• Aurora, IN. The Thomas Gaff house is a very nice tour of the home of the fellow who started a brewery back in 1865. They actually exported beer to Germany around the turn of the century. Son James Gaff worked unsuccessfully with Fleishmann's to perfect a brewer's yeast.
• Newport, KY. The HoffBrau House is just what you expect; big open space with lots of long tables. $7/liter. (The Las Vegas one is a different bunch of venture capitalists and they are getting their beer from Munic (at $12/liter). They should have a Dunkelweiss on tap right now and Marcus was brewing their Maibock last Tuesday. Neat fully electronic touch screen panel to control the brewing vessels. We had:
  • Weizen - German clear wheat. Banana and clove touches with a long after taste.
  • Dunkel Lager - Smooth, malty, with a big creamy head. Metallic CO2 notes. Very little hops.
• Portsmouth, OH. Portsmouth brewing was closed on Tuesday. Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri happy hour prices are $2 for Pilsner, RedBud, Hefeweiss, and Export. (Cans and bottles are $1.50 which doesn't compliment the brewer very much).
• Hickory, NC. Old Hickory Brewery has a tied house restaurant west of town serving the beers brewed downtown. Some interesting touches like an ultra-efficient bar layout that seats 12, mug club glasses hung in sacks, and 4-seater booths in California redwood wine barrels. We had the sampler platter:
  •  Hefeweisen - Seasonal. Blue yellow almost clear. light and watery.
  • Brown Mountain Light - American wheat. Light and lemony. Good carbonation.
  • Piedmont Pilsner - "Our lightest".
  • Ruby Lager - no noticeable malt or hops.
  • Crawdad Red Ale - Creamier. Obvious that aging has taken place in record time.
  • Table Rock Pale Ale - A copper-colored APA tending past many IPAs in northwest hops. Very northwest. A hophead's delight. More hops in taste than smell but has a long bitter aftertaste.
  • Nut Brown - Transparent northern brown. Lightish. A Newcastle Brown on valium.
  • Oatmeal Porter - Infected? Bad line? We didn't finish the 4oz taste.
  • Hickory Stick Stout - Dark brown. They say "Imperial" and it has much malt with good balance. Uses Irish Stout yeast.
• Charlotte, NC. South End Brewery and Smoke Room #1. Big industrial-decor restaurant with wait staff in white shirts and ties. 7bbl brewing, fermenting, and serving tanks literally behind glass. We later found out they are not brewing beer (never trust a brewery with a dry floor) but are contracting to Carolina Brewing in Raleigh. $3.55/20oz pint. We had:
  • $Bank Street Brown$ - Dark. Headless black. Sweet - and we don't mean sweet in the South Park Cartman sense. Yike. One was enough.
• Charlotte, NC - Rock Bottom Brewery. Downtown typical RB. Actually one of the Big Rock brewerys - they bought the RB but couldn't change the name for license purposes. Note all beers in NC must be under 6% accounting for ABV statements ranging from 4.0 to 4.7%. They honored my RB Mug Club card for a 20oz mug instead of 16oz glass - thanks. Had:
  • Brown - American version of northern brown. Big creamy head and plenty of body. Well balanced. 4.1% ABV. Rich. Mt. Hood hops.
  • Irish Red Lager - Not called "Fire Chief". Red orange. Frothy head. Well carbonated. Good stuff.
  • Red Ale on the handpull - Super creamy and malty. Not dry hopped. Excellent.
• Greensboro, NC - Red Oak Brewery. Multi-room restaurant with big square centerpiece bar. Lots of memorabilia including trays and a genuine 1950's Burgie In The Spacship from Fort Wayne and a shuffleboard table. This could be home. We had:
  • Battlefield Black - Very black opaque lager. Creamy and malty. Don't know what official style this is but it was good.
  • Vienna - Seasonal. Slightly cloudy red copper with good lacing. Very aromatic and fairly thick. Excellent.

Our visit to the Rock Bottom turned out to be very special as we met Ale (Allen) and Julie Clayson. He's the Operations Manager at Homebrew Advantures with the best URL around -  homebrew.com - and an avid member of the Carolina Brewmasters homebrew club (60 members strong). While it's not unusual to strike up a conversation with a homebrewer at a bar, it's unusual to talk to one who went on the 1999? trip to Belgium with Bill Friday! We toasted Bill's memory a few times and my wife forgave me for getting back to the motel later than promised.

Homebrew.com has a Sunday evening online chat. If anyone wants to get on and reminisce about Bill this week Ale would be very pleased.

• Hebrew Bold & Genesis Ales. From Shmaltz Brewing. Their motto: Good shtick, fantastic beer.
• Weihenstaphaner Korbinian dopple bock.
• Grants Mandarin Hefewiezen.
• Cavalier tells us Stone Vertical Epic should hit their warehouse today.
• Fantome Saison, Printemps, Black Ghost, Gourmande, BBBrrr in 750ml bottles. Belgians of course. Had the Saison at Gravity Head. Wonderful.
• Hop Back Summer Lightning and Entire Stout.
• Consiton Bluebird Bitter and Old Man Ale.
• Isle of Skye Wee Beast.

The Legends of Notre Dame has Left Hand Sawtooth on tap. Eric Wallace of Left Hand should be in Indianapolis the last week of April. This might cause a spontaneous tasting somewhere. Stay tuned.

Weihenstaphaner's President will be at the Rathskeller on May 8th.

And Dan Shelton of Shelton Brothers importers will be in Indy sometime in April.

Total U.S. beer consumption fell 0.6% last year to 103 million bbls.

Tuesday: Indianapolis - The Corner Wine Bar in Broad Ripple will have a Summer Beer Tasting that emphasizes wheat beers. 6:30pm. $15.

Wednesday: Chicago - WhiskyFest by Malt Advocate magazine. 250 whiskys and possibly the world's slowest-loading web site. $85.

Thursday: Ann Arbor - Arbor Brewing British Beer Tasting. 7pm-9pm. $25 incl sampling, appetizers, door prizes.

• In about a week Stone's Vertical Epic Ale 4/4/04 will be in town. Their web site has initial tasting notes and the recipe (uses unmalted wheat, Sterling hops, lime leaves, and Belgian yeast).
• Great Lakes Holy Moses will hit the streets in late April - their Belgian Wit back for this summer's enjoyment.
• Summit's Hefe Weizen will also be back this summer starting in June.

Judge Robert Staton, not understanding this at all, dissented, saying the tongue stud was "part of her persona". Yike. article

Some Avery beers will be on tap ASAP - Reverand, Czar, Hog Heaven, and Salvation.

NABC's Tunnel Vision is back as of today. Turbo Hog will be back in about 2 weeks. And Bob’s 15B Brown Porter is being brewed again.

• The Star reviews the Rathskeller today. Gives it "two steins way up".
• The governor of New Jersey wants to save the wetlands and gave an ecology lesson to reporters at a news conference held at the Anheuser-Busch brewery. "The finest barley and hops in the world wouldn't produce a good can of Budweiser if the water wasn't of the quality provided by the forested Highlands".
• Redhook Brewery (Nasdaq: HOOK) shares have fallen 20% this week after they released a statement from their auditor pointing out their distribution deal with A-B can be terminated at the end of the year. Maybe people don't realize A-B owns a big piece of the Hook.
• The AP posted this on April Fools Day so we're not sure this isn't a publicity stunt. Portland Brewing will stop selling Governator Ale because Arnold has asked them to. article

Hardman's company will market contract-brewed CM Select Lager and Select Light as early as May. The Frederick Brewing Co in Frederick, MD will do the brewing and packaging. They plan to distribute regionally - north to Dayton as well as Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky.