Random Beer Roundup - Spring Training edition

Sports and beer go together well, like bourbon and stout. It shouldn't be a surprise that the Knights of the Beer Roundtable are fans of various sports and teams. The upcoming Beer Geek Breakfast (details below) will have English Premiership soccer playing on the tele. And my football tailgate sessions always includes craft beer.

But no where is beer more strongly tied to a sport than it is with baseball. The 1882 founding of the American Association of professional baseball teams is where beer made its first break into modern professional sports. The league was formed to compete with the National League, which had silly rules like no booze at the stadiums and no games on Sundays. In fact, the Cincinnati Reds were expelled from the National League for those reasons.

The National League referred to the American Association as "The Beer and Whiskey League", meaning this to be an insult. But they rolled with it. The league lasted through 1891. Four teams from the AA moved over to the NL, including the Cincinnati Red Stockings (later shortened to the Reds), the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Browns (later named the Cardinals), and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

And with them, the tradition of beer in the ballpark. Which is why you will find Mike and Gina drinking Bud at Busch Stadium (not really, Schlafly would be more like it), Jess drinking a German brew at Great American Ballpark, Jim, Matt R., Rod, and myself drinking Old Style in the bleachers of Wrigley Field, and Chris drinking... well, I don't know what they drink in Yankee Stadium.

But it is all thanks to the drunk Cincinnatians of 1880. As the 2009 season begins, we toast 129 years of drinking beer at baseball games.

Play Ball! Here is your weekly Random Beer Roundup. Remember, if you have any beads or beer news that you want to share, drop us a line at hoosierbeergeek@gmail.com.

Beer Events:
From Jon at Power House Brewing Company and the Columbus Bar in Columbus:

We will be tapping our Million Mile Stout, an 8% abv stout aged in a Jack Danile's Barrel on March 7th. We will have some Jack Daniel's specials, and some t-shirt give aways.

From Sam at Buffalo Wild Wings Bar and Grill in Downtown Indianapolis:

I have got the next date for a keg tapping at our store: Wednesday March 4 at 7:00. I told people that the next beer up would be Palo Santo but I actually came across a keg of Dreadnaught. This 6th barrel was kegged on the 11th of this month so it is very fresh. I think it will be a good opportunity to try Dreadnaught very fresh and on draft.

From Cari at Kahn's in Indianapolis:

Monday, March 2, Achouffe Brasserie tasting, 5-7 p.m.

From Rob at Big Red Liquors in Bloomington:

Don't forget about our free beer tasting every Thursday from 6-8pm at our big downtown store!

From Jerry at Rock Bottom in Downtown Indianapolis:

Next Tapping: March 12, 2009
St. James Irish Red

Next Brewer’s Dinner: May 2009

And mark your calendar for a Beer Geek Breakfast (or Beer Geek BreakFest) at Brugge Brasserie in Indianapolis on Saturday, March 14th at 10am. Breakfast, lots of beer, and soccer. What more do you want? Tickets are on sale at Brugge Brasserie - PRESALE ONLY. $25, limited to 50. And they are going fast! Last we checked, there was less than 20 left. There will be no day of event tickets sold, so buy now. Or soon. And when they're gone, THEY'RE GONE. More details here.

News and Rumors:
From Three Floyd's Brewery in Munster:

Just wanted to let you know that we've just posted the
Frequently Asked Questions to the DarkLordDay.com website.

You can check it out by visiting the following address: http://www.darklordday.com/faq/

We've tried to do our best to include answers to all of the
questions we've been getting and we've thrown in some answers
that we're guessing someone might ask down the road.

Keep in mind that some of these details may change without
notice. We'll try to keep you posted on changes that we make
to this FAQ as we nail down the final specifics of DLD '09.

Thanks again for all your interest and support and we look
forward to seeing you at Dark Lord Day on April 25th.

Craft beer industry sales numbers were released at Beer Town.

Now on tap:
Price and availability are subject to change

From Sam at Buffalo Wild Wings Bar and Grill in Downtown Indianapolis:

Thursday I tapped a Founders Imperial Stout keg.

From Linda at Barley Island Brewing Company in Noblesville:

Our first try at an Imperial Stout went on tap. We are serving it in a 11 oz brandy snifter.

Six bbl of this beer also went into whiskey barrels for aging. We are using 3 Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels that had Beastie Barrel Stout and then 1 Jack Daniels barrel that had the 2008 Replicale for Winterfest. It will then get blended together.

From Patrick at Patrick's Kitchen and Drinks in Zionsville:

We have HopSlam on tap. It's our third keg doncha' know? We also have Mojo Rising on tap.

Arriving today is an Imperial Stout from Two Brothers that is their Winter Seasoal Release...it is called Northwind Imperial Stout. We push it with a 75% Nitrogen blend so it will cascade and have that lovely creamy head that our stouts do around here.

WHATEVER WEDNESDAY
PKD BARGAIN BEERS!

BOTTLES
Harpoon Hibernian Red Ale 2.00
Shock Top White Ale 1.75
Czechvar Lager (the original Budweiser!) 1.50
Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Style Ale 1.75
Karmeliet Tripel 4.50
Goose Island Mild Winter Ale 1.75
Left Hand Milk Stout 1.75
Avery The Beast Grand Cru 5.25
Goose Island Matilda Belgian Style Ale 2.75

DINNER BOTTLES
Boulder Brewing Obovoid Empirical Stout (22 oz) 7.00
Stone Brewing Smoked Porter (22 oz) 5.50
McChouffe Artisanal Brown Belgian (750 ml) 7.75

From Knight Chris, a note about Harry and Izzy's in downtown Indianapolis:

Harry and Izzy’s, the relatively new sister restaurant to 107-year Indianapolis institution St. Elmo’s, features a large circular bar area at the center of the restaurant. There you’ll find plenty of comfortable seating and six beers on tap at any given time. They must have a special contract with InBev because, as of last weekend, they had Budweiser American Ale, Red Hook IPA, Michelob Ultra, Stella Artois, Goose Island 312 and Goose Island Mild Winter. Stella Artois has been an InBev product for some time and remainder of those beers were produced or distributed by Anheuser-Busch before they were absorbed by InBev. If you’re going to go that way, that selection could certainly be worse, but maybe a little variety guys?

From Elizabeth at The Old Town Ale House in Fishers:

3 Floyd's Behemoth Barleywine is now on the draft line-up. We also just tapped Dogfish Head Red & White...More changes likely by the weekend.

From Roger at New Albanian Brewing Company in New Albany:

Gravity Head: It's that time. Pertinent information here.

From Jerry at Rock Bottom in Downtown Indianapolis:

These beers are in addition to our normal lineup:
Seasonal Wheat: Hefeweizen-German Wheat ale.
Banana aroma with spice and citrus flavors.
Hops: Mt. Hood
Malts: Canadian Pale, Winter Wheat
ABV. 5.3%
O.G. 12°

Hoosier Ma Stout: Imperial Stout
Big, rich and roasty strong ale.
Hops: Golding
Malts: English Pale, Chocolate, Roasted Barley, Rolled Oats
ABV. 9.7%
O.G. 22.4°

Trouble: Golden Belgian Strong Ale
Rich and full mouthfeelwith wonderful fruit and spice character.
Hops: Golding
Malts: English Pale, Munich
ABV. 8.7%
O.G. 20°

Hop Bomb: American I.P.A.
Grassy bitterness and wonderful floral and ruby grapefruit aroma.
Served Nitro style!
Hops: Simcoe, Crystal
Malts: English Pale, Munich, Crystal
ABV. 7.25%
O.G. 15.8°

Now on the shelf:
Price and availability are subject to change

From Greg at Cavalier Distributing in Indianapolis:

In just in time for March Madness is Serious Madness Black Ale from Mad River Brewing

Serious Madness Black Ale is a high gravity black beer built on a foundation of Mad River's house Two-Row Pale Malt augmented with North American Specialty Malts & German Carafa, fermented with our signature ale yeast. This black ale is bittered with Magnum hops, flavor and aromatics are enhanced by Hallertau and Tettnanger with Willamette hops utilized for added aroma in the hop back. This beer is inky black with amber edges, light bodied, silky smooth, complex, delicious, and dangerous... Not for the meek and timid this beer ferments out at a gratifying 8.6% ABV and 75 IBU's.

Shiyard Brewing Co. proudly introduces its new series of specialty beers, Pugsley's Signature Series. The first two releases of this series are Pugsley's Barley Wine & Imperial Porter. Both are named after Shipyard's renowned brewmaster, Alan Pugsley and both exhibit his brewing prowess and excellence. The Barley Wine is crafted with 6 differenct malts and 3 hops. It's a deep reddish brown color with a complex fruity nose, full body and balance between the grains and hops. This Barley Wine weighs in at 8.5% and is drinkable now. Imperial Porter is a full bodied, very dark, malty beer with a good roasted character coming from the Crystal, Chocolate and Black Patent Malts used in the mash. Warrior, English Fuggles, and East Kent Goldings Hops balance the malts with a good hop bite. The beer has an OG of 1.070, rounding out after fermentation with just a slight residual sweetness and cutting dry at the finish. 7.1%

The 2009 release of the Lakefront Bock is also in stock, Lakefront's Spring Seasonal. This beer is very limited this year, so get it while it's available.

Do you think the 40th anniversary Thomas Hardy's is all gone and you missed out? Well we were able to get another pallet and have plenty in the warehouse so feel free to stock up as this one will age for a good long time.

From Mike at Crown Liquors with locations around Indianapolis:

We have recieved a few of our items from our special order. Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel and Its Alright Wild Ale, Saint Somewhere Lectio Divina and Saison Athene, Struise Black Albert, Nogne Dark Horizon Batch 2, Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA and Bigfoot, Founders Double Trouble and Imp. Stout are re-stocked. Fresh Dreadnaught with a new label has arrived as well.

From Big Red Liquors in Bloomington:

New at Big Red Liquors this week:

Mad River Black Ale
Moylan's IPA
Moylan's Double IPA
Magic Hat HIPA
Sam Adams Imperial White
Sam Adams Imperial Stout
Sam Adams Imperial Double Bock
Spaten Dunkel

From Cari at Kahn's in Indianapolis:

Sales:
All Kegs 15% off from now through Tuesday, March 2.
Chouffe Brasserie Beers: La, Houblon, Mc : $6.99 each, N'ice : $7.99
Breckenridge Christmas Ale : $5.99 6-pk
Two Brothers Ebel's Weiss : $4.99 6-pk

New In This Week:
Schlafly Extra Irish Stout
Schlafly Scotch Ale
Magic Hat #9 (back after a a hiatus)
Magic Hat H I.P.A.
Magic Hat Spring Fever : 12 pack with 3 each of the following: #9, H I.P.A., Circus Boy Hefeweizen, and Odd Notion.
Anchor Bock
Three Floyds Behemoth
Stone Old Guardian Barleywine
Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
Mikkeller Simcoe
Mikkeller It's Alright
Two Brothers Red Eye Coffee Porter
Mad River Serious Madness Black Ale
Scaldis 12 Refermente