Random Beer Roundup - Scatterbrained Beer Week Edition

There's a lot going on in Indiana Beer this week - and the fun just keeps coming.

If you won't be participating in Thursday's crawl:

Downtown Indianapolis 4-pub crawl. Alcatraz, Ram, Rock Bottom, J. Gumbo's. Special releases, prices, and nibbles. 6-10pm. Start at any of the four,

you've got a Broad Ripple option. From the Indy Star:

In cooperation with NUVO, Central Indiana Land Trust, and Chumley's, Upland Brewing Co. will release its Preservation Pilsner for the first time in the Indianapolis Metro area from 7 to 9 p.m. July 17 at Chumley's Beer House in Broad Ripple, 838 Broad Ripple Ave. The event is a benefit for The Central Indiana Land Trust.

Hat Tip to IndianaBeer.com on that one.

If you're not attending Friday Night's B+ART event at Big Car - currently titled A Requiem for American Beer (or at least as we know it) - wait, there's a poster!

So if you're not attending that - and we recommend you do - or the VIP Brewer's Dinner at OptiPark - wait, here's the menu for that event:

Chef Greg Hardesty will prepare the 7-course dinner:

Salad of Indiana tomatoes and sweet corn with basil vinaigrette paired with Brugge White & Half Moon Honey Rye

Wasabi scented fingerling potatoes with wilted Asian "slaw" greens paired with Upland Preservation Pilsner & Lafayette Tippecanoe Common

Seven bean summer ragout with applewood smoked bacon paired with Ram Buttface Amber

Grilled Fischer Farms beef sirloin with mocha ancho chili glaze paired with Lafayette Big Boris Barleywine '97 & Barley Island Beastie Barrel Stout

Grilled Fischer Farms pork loin with spicy salsa verde paired with Three Floyds Fantabulous Resplendance XI & Broad Ripple Brewpub IPA

Bittersweet chocolate fudge cake paired with New Albanian Thunderfoot Imperial Stout

Barley wine panna cotta with marron glacé paired with Broad Ripple Brewpub Wee Alec Heavy

Right. If you're not attending B+ART, or the dinner, or even if you are, you've got other Friday night options:

If you find yourself wanting a bit of a preview of what Saturday has to offer, there will be a couple of great opportunities Friday night.

Locals Only
2449 E. 56th Street
From 6p.m.-9p.m. there will be an informal reception/drinking/hang with representatives from Founders, Stone, Hebrew, Mad River, Left Hand, Warbird, Two Brothers & Mad Anthony. There will be some good specials and most likely a surprise or two in addition to hanging out with the folks from 8 outstanding craft breweries.

From there we will move on to:
Chumley’s
838 Broadripple Ave

Starting at 9:30, every hour we will tap one of four kegs that have either never been seen in Indiana or might as well have never been seen in Indiana.

9:30- Two Brothers Oh Brother Triple Belgian Ale
10:30- Stone Russian Imperial Stout
11:30- Founder’s Barrel Aged Porter (never before out of Grand Rapids)
12:30- Left Hand Chainsaw (double Sawtooth)

To be able to get into any of these kegs is a real treat…to be able to tap all four of them in one night in one place is certainly a rare and special opportunity if you are any kind of beer geek at all.

Hope to see ya’ll there.

Mark Kocher
Cavalier Distributing Inc.

YEAH! A cavalcade of beer options!

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Here's your State Fair Brewer's Cup Home Brewer Winner List. Congrats, winners. Congrats losers too.

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Lastly, were probably not going to cover the INBEV/AB merger here - or the SABMiller/MillerCoors thing - just know that Boston Beer Company (makers of Sam Adams) is (post-merger) now the largest American beer company. They're also a public company.

Speaking of AB, Indiana's Warbird gets mention in an AB article in the Washington Post. Neato mosquito.