My wife and I are heading off to a European vacation for the year and will be posting some notes and reviews of brewspots from Barcelona to Brugge. It'll be as fun as editing IndianaBeer was. - Bob Ostrander

Flour City Brewing in Rochester, NY has closed. article

Fort Street Brewpub opens in Detroit. "Five years ago, only 75 licensed brew pubs dotted our state, a number that has skyrocketed to more than 1,000." Huh? article

Penn Brewery in Pittsburgh is out of hefeweizen. Told you it's a slow news week. article

All week - New Albany: RichO's Gravity Head continues. Check this page for the current Gravity Head selections.

Monday, Mar 28 - South Bend: It's Dyngus Day. Polish-oriented bars and clubs celebrate with beer, kielbasa, and kapusta.

Wednesday, Mar 30 - Castleton: Bells Oberon release party. 5-9pm at the Beer Sellar. Larry Bell will be attending the festivities this year. Prizes such as Bell’s wearables, a Bell’s afghan and two pair of Cub’s tickets (in the Bell’s seats) at Wrigley Field.

Upland's Gold, released in June, will be a pilsner this year.

Did you know you it's illegal to possess more than 30 beers in a dry county in Arkansas? article

Do you know how to throw a beer dinner? article

1 Anheuser-Busch Inc. St Louis MO
2 Miller Brewing Co Milwaukee WI
3 Coors Brewing Co Golden CO
4 Pabst Brewing Co. San Antonio TX
5 City Brewing Co LaCrosse WI
6 D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc. Pottsville PA
7 High Falls Brewing Co Rochester NY
8 Boston Beer Co Boston MA
9 Latrobe Brewing Co Latrobe PA
10 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co Chico CA
11 Pittsburgh Brewing Co. Pittsburgh PA
12 Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co Chippewa Falls WI
13 New Belgium Brewing Co Fort Collins CO
14 Spoetzl Brewery Shiner TX
15 F.X. Matt Brewing Co. Utica NY
16 Redhook Ale Brewery Woodinville WA
17 Lion Brewery, Inc. Wilkes-Barre PA
18 Widmer Brothers Brewing Co Portland OR
19 Pyramid Alehouse/Breweries Inc. Seattle WA
20 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR
21 Alaskan Brewing and Bottling Co Juneau AK
22 Boulevard Brewing Co Kansas City MO
23 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA
24 Anchor Brewing Co San Francisco CA
25 Full Sail Brewing Co Hood River OR
26 Mendocino Brewing Co Ukiah CA
27 Gluek Brewing Co Cold Springs MN
28 August Schell Brewing Co New Ulm MN
29 Gordon Biersch Brewing Co San Jose CA
30 Carolina Beer and Beverage Co Mooresville NC
31 Summit Brewing Co St Paul MN
32 Shipyard Brewing Co Portland ME
33 Goose Island Beer Co Chicago IL
34 Stevens Point Brewery Co Stevens Point WI
35 Kalamazoo Brewing Co Galesburg MI
36 Magic Hat Brewing Co South Burlington VT
37 Long Trail Brewing Co Bridgewater Corners VT
38 Abita Brewing Co Abita Springs LA
39 Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn NY
40 Rock Bottom Restaurants Inc. Louisville CO
41 BridgePort Brewing Co Portland OR
42 Pete's Brewing Co San Antonio TX
43 Firestone Walker Brewing Co Paso Robles CA
44 Rogue Ales Newport OR
45 Straub Brewery Saint Marys PA
46 Stone Brewing Co San Marcos CA
47 Joseph Huber Brewing Co Monroe WI
48 Kona Brewery LLC Kailua-Kona HI
49 Flying Dog Brewery Denver CO
50 Otter Creek Brewing Co. Middlebury VT

Report by Matt Dunn

Twenty members of the online beer community, BeerAdvocate.com , made the trip to RichO's Public House for the first annual Indiana/Kentucky BeerAdvocate Gathering. And there is nary a more important time to be in Indiana's premiere beer  bar than the thirty days nestled otherwise undisturbed between the 11th of March and the 8th of April. Sure, there's St.Patrick's day, the Ides of March, April Fool's Day, but these otherwise important and memorable events can't hold a candle to Gravity Head, one of Rich O's truly world class beer events held each year in New Albany. Gravity Head brings together over forty of the world's greatest strong beers and puts them on tap. For the seventh year in a row, beer lovers everywhere have not been disappointed.

The draft selections on Saturday inspired extreme fits of beer geekery...and many headaches. The selections were as follows with tasting notes for the ones I managed to sample. Kegs are replaced as they are finished. Numbers 1-12 had already gone the way of light beer (at least at Rich O's). Here are numbers 13-27.

• Adnams Tally Ho Barley Wine (7% abv), a very rare and very traditional cask conditioned barley wine from Southwold, England; quite sweet and very full bodied, vinous, and extremely rich with notes of ripe fruit and caramel, a true sipper.
• Avery Hog Heaven Barley Wine (9.2% abv) from Boulder, Colorado; big malt backbone, but what stood out were the big, brash, bold hops; they just made me want sip after sip after sip; I just can't put this one down.
• Bell's Batch 6000 Old Ale (10.5% abv) from Kalamazoo, Michigan.
• Bluegrass Brewing Company Mephistopheles Metamorphosis Tripel (10.7% abv) from Louisville, Kentucky
• De Dolle Boskeun Strong Pale Ale (7% abv) from Esen, Belgium; while this beer is a bit on the dark side for a Strong Pale Ale, I'm not sure you could call it dark. Quite a sweet beer with just a touch of tartness in the finish, a fruity, spicy Belgian beer with a complex malt and adjunct character.
• De Ranke Guldenberg Tripel (8.5% abv) from Wevelgem, Belgium.
• De Rulles Tripel (8.4% abv) from Rulles-Habay, Belgium.
• Kulmbacher EKU 28 Eisbock (11% abv) from Kulmbach, Germany.
• Fantome Saison (8% abv) from Soy, Belgium; this was easily the stand out beer of the night for me. It can be quite difficult to get, but Kahn's in Indianapolis regularly carries several of their labels; a unique artisanal beer, its 8% abv is barely noticeable in this light, crisp and refreshing brew; the effects of 'wild' strains of yeast, at least Brettanomyces, and possibly some lactic acid bacteria, make this beer remarkably funky, tart, and citric; truly a wonderful beer.
• Geants Goliath Tripel (9% abv) from Ath, Belgium.
• New Albanian NobleSmoker Smoked Beer (7% abv ??) from New Albany, Indiana. Reportedly an amped up version of their Conesmoker, this bock-style brew is big on flavor. Rich caramel and Munich malt flavors are thoroughly permeated with a warm, spicy smokiness that makes for a truly wonderful interpretation of this unique style. Challenging, yet super clean and rewarding.
• New Holland Pilgrim's Dole Wheatwine (10% abv) from New Holland, Michigan.
• Ringneck Brewing FOTB Barley Wine (abv ??) from Strongsville, Ohio.
• Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine 2004 (10.06% abv) from San Marcos, California. A year's aging didn't manage to tame this beast as much as one might think. The hops are still the dominant character here and they are rough and tumble pungent. Another one that I just can't put down.
• Weihenstephaner Korbinian Doppelbock (7.4% abv) from Freising, Germany. This beer is able to be two things at the same time. The Munich malt notes are incredibly rich, warm and pleasing, yet this beer is also impeccably clean and easy drinking. It's a little scary to be honest.

s if 15 world class strong beers on tap weren't enough, there was an equally impressive list of bottle specials. De Dolle export stout, Uerige Sticke, Alaskan Smoked Porter, Jenlain Noel, Carnegie porter among others. Not bad!

The BeerAdvocate.com members organized a silent auction raising $140 to be donated to their website. The auction included several world class brews, a shirt and glasses. Here's the full list: Chouffe Bok, two, count 'em, two Westvleteren 12s (these are quite rare and actually imported against the wishes of the monks who brew the beer), 3Floyd's Alpha Klaus and Dreadnaught, New Glarus' Tripel and Blackwheat, 1997 Samichlaus, Brooklyn's 2003 Monster, Stone's 2003 Vertical Epic, Anchor's 2002 Our Special Ale, La Trappe Quadruple, a homebrewed Hefeweizen, 4 large Tucher wheat beer glasses, 4 Ayinger 0.5L glasses and a Warsteiner polo shirt.

You have at least another couple weeks to catch Gravity Head, and the beer selection isn't exactly shabby the rest of the year. So get down to Rich O's. You'll be glad you did. Check this page for the current Gravity Head selections.

This teaser is the start of an article in the current Indianapolis Business Journal.

To be tapped Friday: Cask Conditioned Bells Two Hearted.

South Bend

Plus Oaken Barrel Gnaw Bone Pale Ale, Mad Anthony Blond, and Bells Brown.

Irish Red is also on tap at Fiddler's Hearth and the Legends of Notre Dame in South Bend. Thanks Jack

History: City was G. Heileman, the folks who bought up everything from Falstaff to Falls City. They were bought by Stroh's in 1999. After selling most of the brands to Pabst and Miller, they now concentrate on Grain Belt, Knickerbocker, National Premium, Otlieb's, Schmidt's, and Wiedemann along with contract brewing.

FYI, Pabst got Black label, Blatz, Lone Star, National Bohemian, Old Style, Ranier, Rheingold, Special Export, and Stag.

All week - New Albany: RichO's Gravity Head continues.

Next week there's another event:

Wednesday, Mar 30 - Castleton: Bells Oberon release party. 5-9pm at the Beer Sellar. Larry Bell will be attending the festivities this year. Prizes such as Bell’s wearables, a Bell’s afghan and two pair of Cub’s tickets (in the Bell’s seats) at Wrigley Field.

Some aged beers, some aged too long

• George Gale's Mellennium Brew "Ale brewed for the year 2000". Whoops, this is 2005 and these are way past their prime. One had serious white flecks, another was basically undrinkable.
• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barley Wine 2004 - Solid but a bit raw-edged still. Another year will improve it.
• Old Foghorn 2001 - Solid malty dark fruit is married to aromatic citrus. Time to drink and very drinkable.
• Harviestoun Old Engine Oil 2003 - Strong, mellow. Some coffee, nicely married. Rich. A+
• JW Lees Harvest Ale 1988 - Always a favorite. The house style still dominates. Some notes of wood bark. A+

Lafayette Brewing will serve a new recipe in April - Groaning Ale. It's a strong ale made with Maris Otter and crystal malts. Fermented with German ale yeast. This ale is traditionally part of the birthing process - served to the mother and midwives. The release is to coincide with Greg and Nancy Emig's first child, due late April.

In early May, look for Maifest with pilsner and Munich malts and Hallertauer hops.

Back Road's Hop Monster Ale is due on April 1st with Millennium, Centennial and Chinook hops. This one won't be bottled but will be available at the usual bars and at the brewery on Saturday afternoons.

Blueberry Ale will be bottled for the first time in April

WarBird is gaining shelf space and tap handles.

Mishawaka Brewing will release Seven Mules Strong Ale in April. 9% ABV along with a Belgian Dubbel at 10.5% ABV.

They hope to have the new production brewery completed in Elkhart by June using the equipment bought from Duneland. Bottle and keg beer will be made there including a full-time Hop Head Ale and Seven Mules.

Mad Anthony's bottled IPA and Old Fort Porter will be on the shelves by May. Barr Street Bock will be the early April seasonal.

Finally, the Brewers of Indiana Guild festival will be on July 30th this year. and breweries outside of Indiana will be invited to pour.

Some Bob’s Barrel-Conditioned 15 B will be tapped next Tuesday.

Here's a link to a page that lists what's on tap for Gravity Head. Roger promises to keep this current unless the penicillin gets in the way.

On the handpulls right now are Bell's Oatmeal Stout from 2003 and JW Lee's Harvest Ale from a Calvados cask - The apple comes through, accenting the thick beeriness. We love JWLHA from the Lagavulin cask but this is really great also.

Chocolate Stout is still the cask-conditioned specialty on the handpull.

Some strong beers.

• Eggenberg Urbock Dunkel Eisbock - Very powerful taste  Dark oak color with intence malty perfumey nose. 9.8% ABV. Spicy, peppery.
• New Glarus Eisbock - Dark oak with plenty of carbonation. Malty aroma with orange notes. Concentrated tastes that include plum and malt.
• New Glarus Imperial Stout - A big, black stout. Worthy of the name.
• Goose Island Pere Jacques - Big malty Belgian abbey ale. Nice, thick, big, A+, but not distinctive.
• Goose Island Demolition - Strong golden ale. Somehow the Belgian character is lacking. It's a worthy beer but not in the class of La Fin Du Monde for instance. 

Molson's Kick (with caffeine and guarana) and Labatt's Shok (6.9% ABV) are the newest caffeinated beers from north of the border. article'

Stevens Point of Milwaukee has bought 4 brands, Iron Range Amber Lager, Burly Brown Ale, Boundary Waters Golden Lager and Voyageur Extra Pale Ale, from James Page Brewing of Minneapolis. article

Plus an article about the Peoria International Beer Festival.

A: Sure. Here's the handpulls we know of.

Brewpubs

• Barley Island - 1 handpull, often a barrel-aged stout or scotch ale
• Bloomington Brewing - 1 handpull, often a pale ale or a stout, sometimes not cask conditioned.
• Broad Ripple Brewpub - 2 handpulls, ales, porters, stouts. Strong ales and barleywines in the winter.
• Lafayette Brewing - 1 handpull, ales, porters, stouts.
• New Albanian - 2 handpulls plus gravity fed beer sometimes, often commercial British beers from B. United, sometimes very rare casks.
• Rock Bottom - 2 handpulls, chances of one in use about 50% right now.
• Three Floyds tap room - Thurs, Fri, Sat. A gravity feed is
  sometimes used for special limited releases.

Bars

• BW3- Downtown Indy - 2 handpulls, JW Lees Harvest Ale is usually on one, the other tends toward an IPA (probably not cask conditioned).
• The Heorot - 1 handpull, often empty. 1 or two casks of strong ales are sometimes on the bar served by gravity, JW Lees Harvest Ale is a staple.

We missed out on the latest keg of Dopplebock. It was tapped Friday and gone Saturday. Next up, an Export.

The Porter is quite thick and roasty. Oh, and almost all the IPA is going into bottles nowadays.

Right now the wooden keg of JW Lees Sherry-cask has a sign on it saying:

6 oz - $22.5
12 oz - $4.25
16 oz - $5.50

There's also Ridgeway Lump of Coal and Santa's Butt; Camerons Xmas ale, and Satan Belgian red ale. We also had a Bamburg Spezial rauchbier - not very smoky but nice.

Some of the club members brought beer to taste also. The hit was Chet Noonan's Bourbon Barrel Iced Abbey Ale. He has three bottles set aside for the State Fair.

• Encore Cafe in Bloomington has Arrogant Bastard on tap.(the only Stone-equipped bar in Bloomington).
• S&V Liquors on DuPont in Fort Wayne now stocks Stone, Schmaltz, Rockies, and Founders beers.
• Parti-Pak on the south side of Indy has put in a large order of B.United beers. Don't have an exact list yet or a delivery date. Check back.

Speaking of B. United, they have some new offerings coming soon. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (stone smoked beer) and JW Lees Manchester Star (strong porter).

"This is a big, fruity, spicy Belgian beer. Very big banana esters; maybe too big honestly. Served in a tulip glass. Quite cloudy, maybe too sweet - toward cloying, and under carbonated. Floyd makes great English style draft beers and this is a rare foray into a cross-the-channel style."

Their Barrel-aged Stout is on the handpull.

The next seasonal is a Belgian Dubbel and a Belgian Wit is being brewed even as we speak.

Hercules has massively complex, almost tongue-numbing, spicy, floral, citric bitterness. 9% ABV. Dark copper.

Also on tap: Dentergem's Wit - Tasty, hazy wit. Light on coriander, heavy on earthiness. A+.

Some that we can't get in Indiana.

• Fort Garry Pale Ale. - a pretty typical pale that could use more hop character.
• Fort Garry Dark Ale - Clear cordovan color and equally bland.
• AleSmith IPA - Hoppy bitter American IPA. Bright yellow-gold. From one of the US's best breweries but this example is very one-dimensional.

Right now their Bourbon Barrel-Aged Oatmeal Stout is being served from the handpull.

Not being able to resist a Black Rye "Dry hopped dark ale made with rye", we found it porter thick and stout toasty. Opaque deep brown. Balanced well between bitter initial attack and malty but not sweet finish. Some drying rye character came past the toastyness. 6.6% ABV.

Friday, Mar 11 - New Albany: RichO's Gravity Head starts. A cask of JW Lees Vintage Harvest Ale (Lagavulin; 2003) will be tapped on the 12th.

In the next month RichO's will serve Samichlaus; De Dolle Arabier, Boskeun, Teve, Oerbier; De Ranke Guldenberg; Fantome Ete, Saison; Geants Goliath Tripel; N’Ice Chouffe; Rulles Tripel; EKU 28; Mahr’s Weisse Bock; Weihenstephaner Korbinian Doppelbock; Hitachino Japanese Classic Ale, Celebration Ale 2005; Adnam’s Tally Ho Barley Wine (cc); Gales Millennium Ale, Prize Old Ale 2003 (keg and cc); JW Lees Vintage Harvest Ale (Lagavulin cask); Anchor Old Foghorn Ale; The Beast, Hog Heaven, Maharaja Imperial IPA; BBC Mephistopheles Metamorphosis; Bell’s Batch 6000, Expedition Stout; Great Divide Hercules Double IPA, Oaked Yeti Imperial Stout; Great Lakes Blackout Stout; New Albanian NobleSmoker; New Holland Black Tulip Trippel Ale, Pilgrim’s Dole; Ringneck Brewing FOTB Barley Wine; Rogue Fresh Hop Harvest Ale, Imperial Pilsner, Old Crustacean 2000, Roguetoberfest; Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2004; Stone Double Bastard Ale, Imperial Russian Stout, Old Guardian Barley Wine (2004); Two Brothers Bare Tree Weiss Wine

Friday & Saturday, Mar 11, 12 - Peoria, IL: 13th annual Peoria International Beer Festival. Friday 6-9pm and Saturday 1-9pm. Friday is a private charity affair with 500 tickets. Saturday expects 6,000 people.

Next Sunday, Mar 13 - Fort Wayne: Fourth IndianaBeer Bad Beer Seminar. In conjunction with the Mad Brewers, Brewer's Art Supply, and Mad Anthony. In the brewhouse at Mad Anthony at 3pm. An optional $10 donation to the MS Society will be collected but not required.

Next Sunday, Mar 13 - Milwaukee, WI: Blessing of the Bock & Milwaukee Beer Festival. Noon-3:30pm. $40. American-Serb Hall.

Dave will put some Kingston Stout on cask for St. Patrick's day.

Mid-April will see a Maibock and a Kölsch will appear in May.

Coming up, the new batches of the Red and Brown are a bit de-hopped to meet demand from the customers. But on the positive side, Hoosier Honey malt liquor will be back in a couple of weeks.7% ABV.

Alcatraz also has a new General Manager. Shane Rushman comes from Granite City Food & Brewery in St. Cloud, where Double Vision, Imperial Pig, and Pride of Pilsen are proudly served.

Our article from April, 2004: The Indiana Appeals Court ruled that tongue studs need to be removed before taking a breathalyzer test. Guidelines in place call for people to not eat, drink, smoke, or have any foreign substance in their mouth or respiratory tract for 20 minutes before a breathalyzer is used. Judge Robert Staton, not understanding this at all, dissented, saying the tongue stud was "part of her persona". Yike.

But this month the Indiana Supreme Court changed the conventional reading of the law.