Random Beer Roundup - The End of Summer Edition

We are excited here at Hoosier Beer Geek for KOTBR Chris, who became a brand new father this week to a baby girl. Welcome Alanna!

How's everyone doing? I feel like we did this Roundup thing just yesterday. A good thing for me because that means it must be close to the weekend. What's everyone looking forward to drinking?

If there is something coming up that is not listed, we would love to hear about it! News, reviews, info, etc., to share for our next Random Beer Roundup can be submitted to hoosierbeergeek@gmail.com.

So, get out and enjoy some fall beer. This is the Random Beer Roundup.

Hoosier Beer Calendar
Events are subject to change

Friday, September 18th at 6:30 at the Aristocrat in Broad Ripple: Sun King Tapping Party

Saturday, September 19th at Mad Anthony Brewing in Fort Wayne: Octobeerfest. $25 in advance and $30 DOE.

Saturday, September 19th from 1 - 5 PM (CST) at Back Road Brewery in LaPorte: Fall Fest, ages 21+ only, $20 to sample beers from Back Road, Shore Line Brewery (Michigan City), Crown Brewery (Crown Point), The Livery Brewery (Benton Harbor MI), and Three Floyds Brewery (Munster).

Saturday Sept. 19^th from 11am-1am at Upland in Bloomington: Oktoberfest (see details below)

Tuesday, September 22nd at Old Town Ale House: Tapping - Sun King 1st Waltz Imperial Rye Pale

Thursday, September 24th at New Albanian Brewing Co (Public House) - Sandkerwa (see details below)

Saturday, September 26th at Crown Brewing: Crown Challenge Pro-Am Competition (see details below)

Saturday, September 26th at Mad Anthony Brewing in Fort Wayne: Beer Dinner - Limited tickets @$75.00/plate. Advance tickets only. Reserve your tickets at www.HOPECSA.org or call 260.982.4961
(See details below)

Saturday, September 26th at Opti-Park in Broad Ripple: Festivale to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Tickets: $40/Advance, $50/DOE

Saturday, October 3rd at 6:00 at Broad Ripple Tavern: 6 Sun King Beers on Tap - $25 includes beer and food.

Saturday, October 3rd from 2-5 at the Rathskeller Biergarten in Indianapolis: Ale Yeah!, a microbrew festival to benefit Giving Sum - Cost: $25 in advance , $30 DOE

Friday & Saturday, October 2nd & 3rd, 6pm - ?, and Sunday, October 4th, noon - 6pm at the Blue Heron at Blackthorn, 5440 W. Nimtz Parkway, South Bend, IN 46628: Moser's Traditional Oktoberfest. Tickets $5 advance/$6 door For more information call Moser's Austrian Cafe at 574-654-0086

Thursday, October 8th from 5 -8 p.m. at Agio in Indianapolis: Ales for Adoptable Tales - a microbrew and hors d’oeuvre pairing benefiting the Humane Society of Indianapolis. $50 in advance / $75 DOE. Purchase a VIP wristband for an additional $20 and enjoy the VIP Patio area featuring special food and more beverages. Wristbands may be purchased at the same time as advance registration or at the event.

Saturday, October 10th at Upland in Bloomington: Schwarz Tag event and Schwarz release (see details below)

Monday, November 9th at Upland in Bloomington: Winter Warmer Release

What's Brewing

From Adam at Crown Brewing in Crown Point:

- Crown Brewing in Crown Point will be having its 1st ever Crown Challenge Pro-Am Competition on September 26th.

The Crown Challenge is an AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition and provides an opportunity to have your homemade beer evaluated by BJCP (www.bjcp.org) ranked judges and/or judges with experience in evaluating beers. The winning beer across all categories (Best of Show) will have the opportunity to be scaled up and brewed in Crown Brewing’s 7-bbl system. Beers placing first, second, and third in each flight will also be recognized.

The competition will be held on Saturday, September 26th at the Crown Brewery (www.crownbrewing.com), in Crown Point, Indiana. Judging will take place in two sessions (9am-NOON and 1pm-4pm). Winners of each category and Best of Show will be announced at an awards ceremony at the conclusion of the competition. Entrants and a guest are invited to attend the awards ceremony, which will follow the conclusion of the Best of Show judging, or as soon as possible after 5pm. Entrants and guests wishing to attend the ceremony will register upon arrival at Crown Brewing on the day of the competition. Everyone attending the awards ceremony will be given a raffle ticket for a free chance to win door prizes.

An Oktoberfest event is scheduled to take place at Crown Brewing after the Challenge.

Drop off Locations

Crown Brewing
211 S East St
Crown Point, IN 46307

Alternative Drop Off:
Kahn's Fine Wines & Spirits
5341 N. Keystone
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 251-9463

From Clay at Sun King Brewing in Downtown Indianapolis:

Tuesday, September 22nd • Old Town Ale House • 1st Waltz Imperial Rye Pale Tapping / Old Town Ale House 1st Anniversary

Saturday, October 3rd @ 6:00 p.m. • Broadripple Tavern • 6 SUN KING BEERS ON TAP AT ONCE • Help decide which beer goes on tap • $25 includes food and beer

From Kwang at Oaken Barrel in Greenwood:

Razz-Wheat is only $2.00 per pint on Wednesdays.

From Scott at Schlafly in St. Louis, MO:

Hey Indiana and Tennessee, Schlafly Pumpkin Ale and Saison will be in your local stores in the next couple days. Enjoy!

From Roger and Mike at New Albanian Brewing Co. in New Albany:

We have a few treats this weekend at the New Albanian Pub

This week we released Wet Knobs Hop Harvest Ale brewed with hops grown in Floyd Knobs.

Friday around 8:00 pm the New Castle girls will be coming by to visit, New Castle and New Castle Summer will be on special.

A few new guest beers pouring this weekend:

Two Brothers & Urthel Breweries Moaten Flemish Sour
Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus
Cantillon Gueuze

Sandkerwa starting September 24 (at the Public House)
for a full draft list and Sandkerwa report go to www.newalbanian.com

You can read more about Sandkerwa and other New Albanian events on Roger's blog, The Potable Curmudgeon.

From Charles at Upland Brewing Co. in Bloomington:

Currently on tap (in addition to our year-around beer selection)

Oktoberfest

A Bavarian-style lager with a rich, amber hue and a malty sweetness. All-German malts with rare German hops are used to make it authentic in style. The crisp, hop finish tops off this delicious brew. Our best-selling seasonal. Available in bottles and draught. 6.8% ABV, 16.5 IBUs, 15.8 Starting Gravity

Weizenbock:

A powerful dark wheat beer in the German tradition. Draught only, limited availability. 7.5% ABV

Double Dragonfly IPA

The big brother of our Dragonfly IPA. The IBUs in this brew pack a powerful punch (not to mention the ABV), but likes its little sibling, the Double Dragonfly is very well balanced by a strong malt character. 9.1% ABV, 80+ IBUs, 21.0 Staring Gravity

Upcoming beers

Schwarz (black lager)

Release: Oct. 10

Description: Our German-style schwarzbier, or black lager, is dark in color; but you shouldn’t always believe your eyes, as it is unexpectedly light in body. This brew has very light hints of chocolate and coffee from the dark malt, making it perfect for the fall and winter months. Available in bottles and draught. New for 2009. 5.0% ABV, 25.3 IBUs, 12.0 Starting Gravity

Winter Warmer

Release: Nov. 9

Description: A barleywine with a very dark color achieved through a long boil. The finest British and American malts are used to create a large malt character. Rich fruit flavors and aromas are balanced by a hoppy taste and lingering finish. Silver Award Winner 2008 World Beer Cup “Old Ale” category. Available in bottles and draught. 9.0%ABV, 46.7 IBUs, 20.4 Starting Gravity

Upland Events

Oktoberfest

Upland Oktoberfest is Saturday Sept. 19^th, 11am-1am. Join us for live music, traditional German dishes, and of course, our Bavarian-style Oktoberfest lager. Music will be provided by Jazzy Grass, Better Bidness Bureau, and King Bee & the Stingers. Bloomington

Lotus Festival

Upland will be pouring beer outside the tent at 4^th and Grant St. on Sept. 25^th and 26^th. If you can’t make it to Denver for the weekend, there are still good times and good beer to be found in Bloomington.

Festivale

You’ll also be able to find Upland at Festivale in Indianapolis on Sept. 26^th

Schwarz Tag

Join us October 10^th for live music and the release of our German-style schwarzbier. A portion of the proceeds go to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center—and one of the exotic felines will even be joining us for part of the event!

From Mike at Granite City Brewing Co. in Carmel:

Granite City taps Oktoberfest Mon. Sept. 28 at our Mug Club party. The beer is available to the public at 5pm. There is a complimentary buffet for Mug Club members and 1 guest. Live polka music starting at 5:00.

At the Bar

From Sam at Buffalo Wild Wings in Indianapolis:

On tap:

Stone Arrogant Bastard

Schlafly Pumpkin Ale

Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale

Sam Adams Imperial White

Dark Horse One Oatmeal Stout

Dogfish Head 90 Minute

Bells Oberon and Two Hearted

Three Floyds Alpha King and Gumball Head

Founders Reds Rye

Also coming soon will Sierra Nevada Estate Harvest Ale. Very limited release and 1/6bbls only. Made entirely from ingredients from their fields. Should be pretty tasty when we throw it on. I will keep everyone posted.

From Lauren at Scotty's Brewhouse (various locations):

Scotty's Brewhouse is rolling out a new menu at all locations on October 5, 2009! Come check it out!

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

Currently on tap is Brooklyn IPA with Clipper City Big DIPA (we are told it is the only keg of big dipa in the city....Sun King Cream Ale is soon to be replaced with their IMPERIAL IPA. Also is Bell's Amber and Gaffel Kolsch which will be replaced with Brooklyn's Lager....also have a keg of Victory Brewing's HOP WALLOP standing by. More to follow on our Octoberfest food..........

Carry Out

From Big Red Liquors in Bloomington:

We have added a few more great fall selections...
* Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale
* New Belgium Hoptober Fall Golden Ale
* Berghoff Octoberfest
* Breckenridge Autumn Ale

And also two beers beer geeks everywhere salivate for...

* Stone Vertical Epic 09-09-09
* Founders Breakfast Stout

From Patrick at Crown Liquors:

New this week: The new Founder's Breakfast Stout, the new Three Floyd's Behemouth, Schlafly Grand Cru, Victory V12, Harpoon Leviathan Saison, Dogfish Head Punkin, Fantome Pissenlit, Sam Smith's Yorkshire Stingo, Brew Dog Dogma, Brew Dog/Mikkeller Divine Rebel, and Brew Dog's Paradox series which are stouts aged in whiskey barrels. These include Isle of Arran, Port Dundas, and Smokehead. We anticipate getting new beers from Boulevard Brewery in the next couple weeks.

Distribution News, Reviews, and Gossip

From Mat at Cavalier Distribution:

Cool link to good press about Boulder Beer Co.
Craft Beer in a can

New Beer:

Primator Four new Czech beers
- Lager
- Dark Lager
- Mai Bock
- Dopple Bock (10.5% ABV)
Yes that is correct this is really Czech Mai Bock and Dopple Bock (not German)

New in from Breckenridge CO in this week.

- The Fall Favorite Autumn Ale! A fresh take on Oktoberfest beer! Combines the malty goodness of a German lager with the clean crispness of an American ale. Brewed with Munich malts and delicate blend of Bavarian hops, our Autumn Ale is a full-bodied treat with a nutty-sweet middle, a warming alcohol level and notes of toasted grains. A pre-winter winner.

- Avalanche Ale in cans The Same beer good beer only now available in 12 ounce cans as well as 12 ounce bottles - Subtlety. That's what makes our Avalanche amber ale such a treat. We blend pale and caramel malts – and just a kiss of bittering hops – to create a refreshing-but-flavorful, any-time beer. Aromas of pale grains, a semi-sweet middle and a clean-as-Colorado-snow finish make this our best-selling beer.

- Lucky U IPA this is the Brand new IPA currently available on draft - First kegs of it delivered to Sonka's in Terre Haute and the Old Town Ale House in Fishers. Bottles due should be in some time in October!

More Fall Favorites from Lakefront Brewing

- Lakefront Oktoberfest - This traditional lager is brewed with generous amounts of Munich malt, giving it a wonderful orange hue with a rocky, off-white head. Light hop aromas balance out a slightly floral nose from the German lager yeast. Balanced hop bitterness offsets the substantial malt body, while the lager yeast adds a subtlety of flavor that makes this a great rendition of a German classic. Prost!

- Lakefront Pumpkin Lager - Pours a light orange with an off-white head. Flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves meld well with a slightly sweet background that actually does taste a bit like pumpkin. Caramel and Munich malts reinforce this beer's mouth feel and lend to the malty sweetness.

Witches Brew - new beer from Belgium - This beer is brewed and bottled in Belgium by Van Steenberge, one of the most prestigious breweries in the world! The brewery is located in East Flanders, Belgium. 750 ml in a champagne style bottle with a natural cork and has an Alcohol vol. of 9.3%. Bottle conditioned, triple living Ale. Its pleasant hoppyness is masterly balanced with full, yet round flavors, rich and wonderful, with a hint of sweetness on the finish. Great with food!

A lot of Founders Breakfast Stout has gone out this week and we already have more headed to Indiana! So drink up there is plenty to go around!

Stone Vertical Epic Ale is getting rave reviews. Not so much of this to go around - get it while you can.

Founders has switched to pry off bottles and is no longer using twist off caps. “Sometimes it’s good to pry”

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