Andy and Chad Baker of Indoor Signs in Bloomington, have won the Indiana Small Business Administration's Young Entrepreneurs Award. Their new product is called the Drink Tower. It's an 84 ounce, 32 inch high dispenser designed to be served instead of pitchers. It sits on the table and customers can refill their own glasses, just like a pitcher. The difference is a spigot, a lid, and the coolness of having a tower of beer on the table.

Careful, it's way bigger inside than a yard of beer. Also available in 168oz drunk tower size. Order yours today for the pool. Logoed versions and quantity discounts also available.

The top three shelves of the back wall in the Carmel store are 36 feet of Belgian beers. Of the lambics alone, there are 11 Cantillons, 4 Lindemans, 3 Tre Fonteinen, 3 Hanssens, and a Liefmans and a DeRanke Kriek. Also four from Fantome - Babillard, Saison, Printemps (spiced saison), and Black Ghost (a Flemish sour red ale).

Thursday - Indianapolis: Rock Bottom mug club unveiling of an American IPA using Amarillo, Cluster, and Simcoe hops. 95 IBU before dry hopping with Amarillo. A pre-taste confirms the adventurous bitterness.

Sunday - Greenwood: Oaken Barrel's 10th Anniversary party. $10 BBQ buffet. Wear your oldest OB T-shirt. Noon - 4pm.

This month they are one of the few places where you can get copies of the Mississippi Valley Brewing News.

Stuff we found out at the BrewHaHa:

If you're keeping a Smithwick's watch, add the Rathskeller and RichO's. It's being imported by Guinness as a replacement for Bass so expect it to become a big, big, seller in the States. Yes! (insert small arm pump here)

Bloomington Brewing's Java Porter will be back in October. Meanwhile, Floyd's Watermelon ale went on tap on Friday - Yep, watermelon.

Distributor, Pure Beverage, reports CzechVar will be coming in on draft in a month as well as Harpoon's IPA and Hefeweizen.

Berghoff has new packaging and a seasonal Solstice Wit for the summer - just a touch of orange.

Marv signed up over 40 people for the Chimay tasting on July 28th at Chalkies. It may be stretched to two days.

Some tastings:

• Grant's Perfect Porter - Dark brown using peated malt. A bit of vanilla note that gives it some sweetness. Mild by comparison to - - 
• Sea Dog Riverdriver Porter - (found at Trader Joes). Dark red. Tasty, toasty, sweet caramel, filling.
• Czechvar - Crisp just-a-big-skunky East European lager. The legendary Budvar but no longer lagered in wood casks. Plenty of hoppy bitterness.
• North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout - Super black brown. Robust glass-coating thickness. Intense blackness of roasty and toasty. This is the classic representation of the style.
• Bell's Consecrator Dopppelbock - Non-raisiny and non-harsh unlike many of the style which shows the mature nature that Bell's puts into the bottle. Very nice - recommended.
• Bornem Triple Ale (in bottles at Chalkies). Belgian Abbey Tripel by Brouwerij Van Steenberge. Golden. Soft, balanced between sweet and sour. Yeast comes through. Good carbonation.
• Augustijn - Another Belgian Abbey Tripel at Chalkies by Brouwerij Van Steenberge. This one more warming and malty with a creamy mouthfeel. Maybe some straw/grass and some sour citric yeastiness if that makes sense. Lovely stuff.

Today's random news.

• A major Czech company, Drinks Union, has launched a 16% ABV marijuana flavored vodka made from hemp seeds. Just thought you might want to know. article
• The Robert-Thomas Brewing Company of Grand Rapids is for sale. Price: $25,000 - $30,000 down on a contract sale. They haven't been able to find a cash purchaser and don't want to see what has been a part-time operation closed or sold just for the equipment. article
• The British National Hop Association has produced a dwarf hop variety, Bodicea, that is naturally aphid-resistant. They've produced enough for tasting batches and by next year may be available in sufficient quantities for small brewing batches. article
• The Bar Show in London debuted dark lagers from both Budvar (“complex, engaging and a great pleasure to taste”) and Asahi (“refreshing, interesting and authentic”). article

Both German and American wheats are also on tap.

July 1st is a mug club unveiling of an American IPA using Amarillo, Cluster, and Simcoe hops. 95 IBU before dry hopping with Amarillo. A pre-taste confirms the adventurous bitterness.

J.R. Dawson has moved up the RB ladder to become Tim Marshall's Assistant.

They also have Thomas Family Winery's Scrumpy Cider on the hand pull. It's dry. Very dry. Dry to tingling. Clear to yellow. Served by the half pint.

Kevin Matalucci is getting two more serving tanks and wants to have 8 beers on tap soon. This fall he plans a Czech Pilsner.

The cask conditioned offering on the counter is Adnam's Best Bitter tapped yesterday. It's very still and a bit fruity. Get it quick.

Marv has introduced a new menu by the way.

On July 28th at 6:30pm Marv (and IndianaBeer) will host a Chimay tasting. Experience both their beers and their cheeses.

Also at MacNiven's: Rock Bottom's Brickway Brown.

They hope to have a rep from The Macallan in town for a tutored tasting sometime in July - mark your calendars.

Other news.

• Headline: Red Key owner settles into new role at vintage tavern. Russ is 86 and doing well and there's now outside seating. article
• Headline: Slow-cooking barbecue leads to fast growth. Dick's Bodacious Bar-B-Qs have Upland, Three Floyds, and Mad Anthony's beers. article
• Oaken Barrel will have a 10th anniversary party on July 4th. They've brewed 13,236 bbls of beer and served 74,820 lbs of BBQ ribs.
• Headline: Elevator's new brewmaster to introduce its signature beer. Matt Hill's making a Kölsch. article
• MADD founder Candy Lightner thinks the organization has become "become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned". Want to see what one consumer organization says about Mothers Against Drunk Driving?
• Advance tickets ($25) for 9th annual Microbrewers Festival are on sale now at all Indiana brewpubs. This is the biggest festival in the state - July 31st in Broad Ripple on the north side of Indianapolis.

We heard a rumor of a new brewery being planned in Ellettsville.

Moscow partiers can have their car towed home while they ride in comfort with a bottle of champagne. About 280 rubles ($45) base but the companies charge almost twice that much if you have a foreign car. Police there made about 1,200,000 stops last year for drunken driving - no exact number is known because they often extort bribes. article

Saturday - Indianapolis: The Phoenix Theatre's annual Brew-Ha-Ha fundraiser. 3pm - 7pm.The finest craft brews from Indiana breweries, as well as live music in a street party atmosphere. $20 in advance and $25 at the door. On New Jersey St. between Massachusetts Ave. and St. Clair St.

Saturday - Dyer: Finnegan's Wake car show. 4pm - 8pm.

• Cantillon Gueuze - Tart, tart apple pear with no hint of sweetness. A classic. Blend of 1, 2, and 3yo lambics. Well carbonated. Cheek cramping then drying. A gray tint.
• Cantillon Lou Pepe Gueuze. Less gray, more cidery orange color. Stronger across the board with same characteristics a maybe a touch more sourness. A bit less agreeable actually. Blend of 2 aged lambics.
• Lindeman's Cuvee Rene Gueuze. Bland of "various lambics". Milder and fruitier. Less pucker power.
• Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze 2000. Blend of 1, 2, and 3yo lambics. These are other breweries lambics although the Drie Fonteinen house is now brewing their own. Good carbonation. Very sour, very drying, very cidery.
  
  If you put these 4 under a taste blanket it would only need be the size of a handkerchief. They are very very similar.
  
• Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus. Fresh raspberries added to a 18-month old lambic. Tart with sour finish. Pink with pink head. Raspberry is restrained.
• Lindeman's Kriek. Ruby red. Restrained sweetness. Aroma like a Jolly Rancher.

Rich O's had a write-up in the Courier-Journal on Thursday for, of all things, their chef's salad. It did advise to not ask for a Bud.

The New Albanian Brewing side of the house has entered 5 beers in the GABF - Oak Aged Silent Oath, Bourbon Daddy, Elector, Beak's Best, and Stumblebus.

Some tastings:

• Stone Smoked Porter - Yummm. Deep brown porter with typical chocolate/coffee and adds some smokiness balanced with sweetness. Classic.
• Two Brothers Dog Days Dortmunder Style Lager - Bright lemon yellow with a way big foaming head (think ice cream soda head). Beneath that lies a clean all-malt lager worthy of our grandfathers. Noble hops. Recommended for anyone who likes lagers and laments the state of today's mass-market beers.
• North Coast Old Stock Ale 2002 - 11.4% ABV is the second item of note. First, is it's relationship to North Coast's Old Rasputin. This is on the barley wine end of old ales (or maybe the mellow side of barley wines). Deep red brown. Grainy barley taste. Not raisiny like many barley wines. A drink for strong cheeses.
• Sterkens White Ale - Little aroma. Tart citric taste. Very cloudy. Balanced sweet finish.
• Alba Scots Pine Ale - "'triple' style ale, brewed to a traditional Highland recipe using the sprigs of spruce and pine collected in May 1997." Huh? Dull brown. Fruity smell. Don't get a pine smell. You expect some earthiness and it does have some but is mostly a bland british ale.
• BBC Dark Star Porter - Strong malt. Unhoppy but somehow balanced. Hints of chocolate and coffee are probably what are balancing each other.

• Chalkies will take delivery of a second keg of Stone Ruination today. Their first went down this week. The kegs at BW3 and the Heorot are going fast.
• Weihenstephaner Hefe is now on tap at Dunaway's Palazzo Ossigeno on East St. Arrogant Bastard is still selling well for them and is back on tap at the Beer Sellar.
• The Melody Inn has CV Pils on tap.
• The Heorothas some Cases of: Cantillion, Alchel, De Ranke, Inveralmond and De Block.
• The display of Cantillion on the top shelf at the Kahn's in Carmel is quite impressive. They also have a good selection of beer from Fantome (including Black Ghost & Sasion), Alchel, De Ranke, Drie Fonteinen, Jopen, La Choulette, Mahr's,
  Inveralmond as well as others.
• The Parti-Pak has cases of: Rochefort, Cantillion, Fantome Sasion, Alchel, De Ranke,  Jopen, Inveralmond, Kulmbacher Eisbock as well as De Block Saten Gold & Saten Red.
• Deano's Vino has some cases of Cantillion and Drie Fonteinen.
• City Wide Liquors in South Bend (on Jefferson St.) has some cases of: Cantillion, Inveralmond, De Block, Christoffel Hop Back & Camerons.
• Village Bottle Shoppe in West Lafayette has cases of: Spezial Rauchbier, Fantome Printemps & Black Ghost, Brasserie Duyck Jenlain Farm House Ale, Hop Back Summer Lightning and Isle of Skye Wee Beast.
• M. Mogger's in Terre Haute has some Cases of: Rochefort, Alchel & Kulmbacher Eisbock.
• Bridge Liquors in New Albany has cases in: Mahr's Weiss, Cantillon Rose De Gambrinus & Geueze, La Choulette Les Sans Culottes & Camerons Strong Arm.
• Big Red Liquors in Bloomington has some cases of: Coniston Old Man Ale & Blue Bird Bitter.

But now one house of the New Jersey legislature has passed that specific law and the other is expected to approve it by the end of June and the Governor is expected to sign it. These after 20/20 and Jay Leno picked up the cause. "I'm very angry about it," said Gillespie. "How else could I possibly feel?" article

The also report Latrobe Brewing (PA) offers free tours on Mindays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

We were impressed by the number of people who, early in the festival, asked for "just a bit". so they could taste all of the 40+ beers offered before coming back for larger samples of those they wanted to re-try. Lots of knowledgeable punters.

The 16-page program listed the breweries in great detail including awards garnered and had a list of the beers offered for sampling sorted by style. The self-rinsing stations located between sampling stations worked very well - a coffee urn of water with a slop bucket underneath. Saved the pourers time and kept spilled water from pitchers off the tables. Future event organizers should take note.

This was the first time for this festival and the organization was excellent - congratulations Eric. The venue was well air conditioned, decorated, big enough, airy, bright. The band, Blues4U, wasn't too loud to talk (usually), were great, and played almost continuously. The volunteers from the South Western Indiana Regional Council on Aging (the event's charity) were efficient and the meal they supplied to each attendee was certainly good.

But most of all, the volunteer labor from more than 20 folks of the Ohio Valley Homebrewer's Association was superb. In addition to manning their own table and serving 8 beers their members handcrafted, they helped serve at the brewpubs' tables, transported kegs, lugged ice, kept the rinse water and buckets going, plus those 100 other things experienced beer people need to do to make a major event like this successful . Huzzah.

Having met many of the OVHA people and having attended one of their monthly meetings, we can confidently say every other homebrew club in the Indiana can learn a lot from these folks. Their meetings are organized with a yearly schedule set far in advance, they constantly want to find out more about the brewer's art, and they are a great bunch of folks.

All of their 12oz bottles in stores will be matched soon by 22oz bottles so people can try "just one" before coming back for a full 6-pack.

Today - Evansville: Main Street Brewery's Beer Fest - At the South Western Indiana Regional Council on Aging headquarters, 16 West Virginia Street, just north of the brewery. 3pm - 7pm. $25 includes samples and buffet. Exhibits and samples from many Indiana and Kentucky Brewers. Live blues. To benefit the SWIRCA. info (email). Exhibitors include Main Street, Upland, Lafayette Brewing, New Albanian, Three Floyds, Alcatraz, Barley Island, Broad Ripple, Oaken Barrel, Mad Anthony from Indiana. Brownings, and Blue Grass from Louisville. Vino's Brewpub from Little Rock, Arkansas.

Thursday - Mishawaka: Vine Liquors Tequila tasting (with a little mezcal). 7pm. $20. Reservations suggested.

Thursday through Saturday - Las Vegas, NV: AHA National Homebrewers Conference

Friday - Indianapolis: Rathskeller Schnieder Weiss promotion with free T-shirts and glassware. That's really all we know for sure. Probably an evening thing.

Friday and (maybe) Saturday - New Albany: RichO's will have 20+ lambics on tap. That's a little chill you just felt down your spine. Cantillon Grand Cru, Gueuze, Iris, Kriek, Lou Pepe Gueuze and Kriek, Rose de Gambruinus, St. Lamvinus, and Vigneronne. Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze 1999, 2000, 2001. Hanssens Gueuze, Kriek, and Oudbeitje (strawberries). Lindemans Framboise, Kriek, Cassis, Peche, and Cuvee Rene.

Saturday - South Bend: World Class Beverages Ale Fest at Legends of Notre Dame. 1 - 3pm. Includes homebrew contest.

Saturday - Lafayette: Taste of Tippecanoe. 4pm - midnight. 2nd, Main, and Ferry Streets, etc. $8 tickets. Lafayette Brewing beers along with many local foods, 21 bands, arts, fireworks.

Saturday - Bloomington: Taste of Bloomington. 3pm. Showers Plaza on Morton St.. Food, beer, and wine from Bloomington's best brewpubs, wineries, and restaurants. More info: 812-336-3681.

Sunday - Indianapolis: United States Grand Prix.

Stan Stephens will tap a new keg of J.W. Lees later this week (he has 2 in the basement). He also has 2 kegs of Smithwick's in the basement to be tapped.

Saturday, Center Stage hosted the World Class Beverages Ale Fest.

Center Stage, opened with a couple of well-received concerts. It's a block south of the Heorot and owned by Stan. Decorated in minimalist (cave) style rather than minimalist (viking long house) style. Think Broad Ripple's Patio in the old days - but with a good stock of good beers and very reasonable bar (and ticket) prices. This is going to become a very hot spot when Ball State opens again in the fall.

• Goose Island Summer Kölsch. Same as last year's. Not a bright, crisp Cologne kölsch but rather more substantial.
• Samischlaus on tap at the Heorot. Mellow raisin wine spicy tingling. Dark red.
• Hitachino Nest White Ale. Crisp Belgian wheat with subcued coriander/orange. Lemony. A bit cloudy. Plenty of cargonation.
• Upland Gold. A kölsch seasonal offering that is being bottled. Sharp and crisp. It's on tap right now at the Melody Inn in Indianapolis.

• Transit of Venus Sunrise Ale. An aggressive Centennial hop IPA of 6.1% ABV. Some was bottled in a "collector" series of 8 labels, each with a bit of history about Venus's meetings with the sun. Buy your set online at Mishawaka Brewing's web site - $18.
• Jack, Shelli, & Bruceski Wheat Ale. 5.4% ABV. An American wheat with Sterling hops. A bit sweet on the attack with a drier finish. Named for TV people of a local morning show.
• Their current official specialty beer, though, is a Belgian Abbey ale that comes in at 7.7% ABV. It's a bright copper with a little candi sugar aroma. Thickish, balanced, malty at first taste that goes to a long sweet finish and a neutral belch. A bit out of the ordinary. Inoffensive yet tasty.

• American Red. A very hoppy amber ale. Northwest (but not Cascade) hops.
• Summer Wheat - unveiled earlier this week. Fresh grassy notes abound. Drool. Hop bitterness is subdued but balanced. It's being received very well - maybe Todd will make it a regular, please, please. Or think about bottles, please, please.

• Abbey Val Dieu Blond. 6% Belgian golden ale. Rocky head with plenty of carbonation. Subtle, salvating, sweet grass aroma perfectly matched by the taste. Mild bitter overtone and a long finish.
• Moscova Stry Melnik. Yet another skunky-style East European Lager. Go for it if you like this style but we think you need to be raised in Poland or points east to appreciate it.
• Pulque. Nectar del Razo. Fermented agave juice. OK it's not a beer. Made in Mexico. "Sacred to the Aztecs". My sweet patoot. We like Tequiza better. Actually, Tequiza is pretty good, refreshing, a lawnmower beer of choice.

News from Northern Indiana in capsule form.

• Three Floyds has the serving tanks in place for their upcoming brewpub but construction of the new facility in the front part of the brewery is not far enough along to even take pictures for you to look at.

• We found a new good beer bar just down the road from Three Floyds - Charlie's Ale House at Calumet and Fisher St. We'll have more info next week once we get back to our full-sized computer. It's a cozy new dinner bar chain-style with 25 taps and 45 bottles. Beers are a bit high-priced but don't let that stop you. Opened in April.

• Another new find we'll add to the list is Anthony's Cafe in Highland. An established Italian restaurant with 60+ bottles in their changing beer menu. A good place for a classy lunch or a leisurely dinner.

• Aberdeen Brewing is officially out of the brewing business - at least until they can sell the equipment they have and buy a smaller system more suited to the volume of traffic. They say they may be brewing again in a year since the owner is a beer fan and the restaurant is noted for homemade ales. In the meantime Back Road beers will be on tap along with interesting micros/imports. Sam left enough beer to last a couple of months so you still have an opportunity to experience Queen Mum IPA and the rest.

• Aberdeen's ex-brewer Sam Strupeck says construction on his new brewpub in southwest Chicago (on Western Ave) will start in August and he hopes to have beer out by Christmas.

• The Beer Guy (distributor in Elkhart) evidently has the Czechvar supplies coming. We found good stocks at both City Wide Liquors in South Bend and the Chalet in Elkhart ($9 / 6-pack).

• Stone's Vertical Epic seems to be gone. If you find any grab it now.

• Chalet has a box of 100 various beermats on their shelves. Mostly Brit. Mostly stuff we don't see here. $22.

• Cooperstown Brewing has a Dugout Pack. 2 each of 6 different ales. Old Slugger pale ale, Nine Man golden ale, Benchwarmer porter, Strikeout oatmeal stout, Backyard IPA, and Pride of Milford strong ale. About $14.

We haven't confirmed yet but it seems Duneland Brewing will also be out of the brewing business shortly. Barb Kehe has been brewing only about twice a month and the owners are no longer interested. Whatta ya bet Barb ends up at Aberdeen? Hmmmm.

Rumor 2: We hear Warbird Brewery has bought Oyster Bar's equipment. Warbird, you may recall, is a new micro being started by a doctor and aviation enthusiast in Ft. Wayne. It will be located near the Ft. Wayne airport. This gives him a 15bbls system with 30bbl conditioning tanks. He also has a canning line and might be brewing by late summer.

Brewer's Art in Ft. Wayne has a new bottle cleaner - the Turbo Scrubber. It's like a chamois on a stick that attaches to an electric drill and cleans the inside of carboys at 1700 RPM. Dry and reuse - pretty sturdy. About $35 with replacement cloths at $15 for a pack of 2.

6/11

On the flip side, another British brewery will be moving back to it's home county. Brakspear's Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, brewery was closed in 2002 and moved to Burtonwood in Cheshire after a sale of the company to Refresh. Now Refresh is going to move production back to a plot of land next to their Wychwood brewery in Witney, Oxfordshire. Not only that, they are going to resurrect the original Brakspear equipment to put in the new plant.

?? Nope. What the world needs most: CicadAle.

Also at RichO's is one from our what's rapidly becoming our favorite brewery - Brasserie Fantôme. Their dÉté is a summer seasonal that is magnificently complex, sweet and sour, with a sour apple cider finish. Light, almost fluffy mouthfeel. Tongue puckering if you can leave the beer there long enough. These guys know the art of brewing.

While we were in town, we stopped at the Come Back Inn for some good pasta and a bowl of cheesy crawfish soup. Next time we'll try the substantial crab cakes the guy sitting next to us had. Also try a shot of Tuaca, Chris's favorite liqueur.

World Class Beverages

The homebrew competition was won by Damon Smith of New Albany for his "Crazy Ale - It's Nutty".

Oh, and the homebrew winner at Ft. Wayne was Rob Cuputo from Indy. Congratulations to both.

Czar on tap comes in a proper, large, tulip glass. Black that you know is really brown. Massive malt and alcohol to put hair on your tongue - even more massive than in the bottle - an unsmooth Imperial Stout. Starts to get more agreeable about the 3rd sip but still overpowers the Buzz's bison burger.

• Anchor Small - This is the 2nd sparge of their Old Foghorn and is much more intense than what the English call a Small Ale (2nd sparge of a pale ale). It's a similar flavor to the Foghorn with less alcohol. Still with the molasses and liquorice notes.
• Arcadia Starboard Stout - Thick oatmeal stout with no sweetness at all, just roasty malt with a bit of nut.
• MacTarnahan's Black Watch - A cream porter. Quite roasty, smooth, chocolaty. Worthy.
• Flying Dog Snake Dog - A bright orange IPA with a nice white head. Not killer hoppy but not bland either. Uses Maris Otter malt, Golding hops. Dry hopped with Chinook. This combination leaves it confused whether it's an English or American IPA. We think it works.
• MacTarnahan's IPA - "Oak Aged". Somewhat fruity but not woody as the label suggests. Also known as Woodstock IPA. 6% ABV. Somewhat more hops than Mac's pale ale but not a full IPA.
• Unibroue Blanche De Chambly - Belgian white ale with a low, 5%, ABV. Tasty, middle of the road. Coriander comes through, robust effervescence. This should be listed as one of the style paradigms.

And a couple of other recent tastings:

• Rogue Imperial Pilsner - Light, clear, BMC-looking beer but in reality a thick floral beer with pure German bitter. One of the major ingredients Rogues adds is bitter.
  
  These next two canned beers from Oskar Blues brewery in Colorado probably won't be coming to Indiana unless there's an outcry for good canned ales - unlikely but we can hope.
  
• Old Chub Scottish Ale - Big, big malty sweet. Dark brown amber, Too sweet for the style but has plenty of balancing edgy roasty notes. 8% ABV.
• Dale's Pale Ale - This is one highly voluptuous, voluminously hopped mutha of a pale ale. A big British IPA. Pretty darned good stuff. 6.5% ABV.

Tuesday - Indianapolis: Rock Bottom Mug Club tapping of Heartland American Wheat. 6pm.

Wednesday - Ft. Wayne: Mad Anthony Mug Club Party for the release of Summer Wheat. 5-7pm. A German band will play in Ft. Wayne.

Thursday - Indianapolis: This year's Stone Ruination will be tapped at Indy's downtown BW3.

Saturday - Muncie: World Class Beverages Ale Fest at Center Stage. 2 - 4pm. Includes homebrew contest.

Sunday - Evansville: Main Street Brewery's Beer Fest - At the South Western Indiana Regional Council on Aging headquarters, 16 West Virginia Street, just north of the brewery. 3pm - 7pm. $25 includes samples and buffet. Exhibits and samples from many Indiana and Kentucky Brewers. Live blues. To benefit the SWIRCA. info (email). Exhibitors include Main Street, Upland, Lafayette Brewing, New Albanian, Three Floyds, Alcatraz, Barley Island, Broad Ripple, Oaken Barrel, Mad Anthony from Indiana. Brownings, and Blue Grass from Louisville. Vino's Brewpub from Little Rock, Arkansas.

Roger plans to have 20 lambics on tap on June 18th and 19th. Cantillon 1900 Bruocsella Grand Cru, Gueze, Iris, Kriek, Lou Pepe Gueuze, Lou Pepe Kriek, Lou Pepe Framboise, Rose de Gambrinus, St. Lamvinus, Vigneronne; Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueze 1999, 2000, 2001; Hanssens Gueuze and Kriek; Lindemans Framboise, Kriek, Cassis, Peche, Cuvee Rene. Wow.

And the cask ales yet to hit before the hot weather: Sarah Hugges Dark Ruby, Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody's Our Glass, and a JW Lees Harvest Ale from a Lagavulin cask.

Oh, and there's a Mug Club tapping of Heartland American Wheat next Tuesday (the 8th) at 6pm. HAW has a touch of caramel and honey malts.

While the HAW is on tap, we all will have a good opportunity to compare an American Wheat beer with the German Wheat bier that is RB's normal wheat offering.

Chalkies also has a cask of Adnams Bitter and BW3 has Adnams Broadside to be put on line sometime later.

There's also a Glass Museum at the public library to visit while you're there.

Chalkies has a cask of Upland's Dragonfly IPA tapped and sitting on the bar. This cask-conditioned Dragonfly is opaque dark orange with plenty of dry-hops - but not the enamel-scrapping kind. The malt comes through and it has strong flavor. Worth trying.

Upland Gold is patiently sitting in a tank getting ready for the kegs and bottles next week. Ed plans a Mug Club release party in about a week. Later this summer, a Kölsch.

On June 21st, they will receive another 100bbl conditioning tank that will be dedicated to their Pale and IPA. This is a twin of the tank currently in use for the Weizen.

The cask conditioned Scottish ale has mellowed like a fine wine. The edges are off but there are still notes of the barrel and the Scottish maltiness. Dry, complex, a fruity. Appropriate for a beer served in a snifter.

The Belgian Wheat is very yellow and very tart at first taste but it smoothes out with some warmth and some tongue conditioning.

Some beers, tasted.

• Orkney Skullsplitter. From the islands north of Scotland. Creamy, malty, with a fruity aroma and taste. Well balanced. 8.5% ABV comes through.
• Xingu. A Brazilian black beer. Sharp and crisp. Subdued roast. Pretty good stuff - we like it better than - 
• Warsteiner Dunkel. Roasted malt with a vague bitterness. Lots of body. Sort of the dotted line down the middle of the road of black lagers.
• Unibroue Quelque Chose. Very little carbonation. Strong dark cherry taste. Some cinnamony, nutmeggy, clovey notes. NOT a lambic. Cherries are steeped in the beer "for months".The neck booklet suggests drinking it on the rocks or mulling it.
• Widmer Hefeweizen. In the American style. Very cloudy (hefe). Very wheaty (weizen).

• Slippery Noodle. Downtown Indy and in an old building. There's been a bar there (supposedly) since 1850. See their web site. We're not going to refute their story: “Our compete title is: Indiana’s Oldest Bar in Continuous Operation in Original Building on Original Site. We were not the first bar in Indiana, but we have outlasted everyone else.”
• The Maywood Tavern (Tibbs just north of Kentucky Ave in Indy) received the first or one of the first liquor licenses issued after prohibition and has been owned by Ida Mae ever since. Her son runs the place but she lived in the back room until the 1990s.
• The Knickerbocker Saloon in Lafayette claims to be "Indiana's Oldest Bar" ("Oldest bar in same continuous location") and is quoted as from 1835.
• Not claiming to be the oldest, the Sherman House in Batesville dates back to 1852 as an inn. Except for an extensive renovation in 1923 it's been open ever since.
• Oh, the Varsity Lounge at 15th and Pennsylvania claims to be "the oldest gay bar still in operation in Indianapolis."
• Syd's in Noblesville is the oldest bar in Hamilton County (according to Nuvo).
• Nick's English Hut is thought to be the oldest bar in Bloomington.
• There's a bar (forgot the name) in Sunman, IN that dates to the mid 1800s but it has been closed for many years before re-opening in the 1990s. It also probably doesn't reach back to 1850. But the original bar and bar back are mostly intact. I gotta get back down there with a camera.
• BUT Nottingham, England has the Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem which is carved into the rock at the base of the castle. It was a gathering place for folks who were going off to the Crusades. The Crusades - that's 800 years ago. And we've been told about a few pubs in southern England that date back before the Norman invasion of 1066.