Hot as Helles

It has been a hot as hell week in the Circle City. In spite of the heat, I opted to take my family to one of my favorite places in Indy: Victory Field. On this outing, the Indianapolis Indians fell to the Toledo Mud Hens, but I walked away a winner having had Sun King's Indians' Lager.

For years, Oaken Barrel's Victory Amber was the title tap. And it had always been a go to. It had more flavor than any of the Big 3 beers. I think it would have been better if it were just a little bit crisper, a little bit lighter. I think that's where Indians' Lager fills the gap.

The Sun King website calls it a Munich Helles. I'm not a beer judge, but I think it is a little darker and fuller than a Helles. But it is not a Munich Dunkel either. What it is is a copper colored crisp lager with a strong malt backbone that doesn't leave a full mouthfeel. It hints at hops without over-powering with them. A perfect summer beer for the ballpark without being light or fruity, but by just being a beer. I personally would love to see this in the regular lineup as I think it would be successful. It is more enjoyable than the Sunlight and Wee Mac. I think fans of both would really get into this.

Random Beer Roundup - The All-American Edition

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Steve at Black Acre Brewing in Irvington, Indianapolis:

Black Acre Brewing Company and Distelrath Farm Hog Roast, 7/7/2012

On Saturday, July 7, 2012, Black Acre Brewing Company will be hosting a hog roast in conjunction with Distelrath Farms. Black Acre Brewing Company is a nanobrewery located on the historic Irvington strip at 5632 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN, 46219. Distelrath Farms is an urban farm located at 6302 E. Raymond St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203.

The event is a limited, ticketed event. The cost is $30 per individual ticket and includes unlimited pork and sides from Distelrath Farms, and two beers of the ticket holder’s choosing from Black Acre’s Selection. The event is exclusively 21+, will run from noon until 4:00 P.M., and will be hosted at Black Acre Brewing Company’s location. Tickets are available on location at both Black Acre Brewing Company and Distelrath Farms, as well as online through Brown Paper Tickets (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/255664). The hog featured has been fed spent beer grain created by Black Acre Brewing Company.

Any questions about the hog roast can be addressed by contacting the brewery at 317-602-3281 or contacting Stephen Ruby via email, steve@blackacrebrewing.com.

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

• Saturday the 30th. The Beer is Good at Fiddler's Hearth. Three taps. 
• Saturday the 30th. Greenwood Freedom Festival. 
• July 6th. "Merk-uh" tapping and Picnic at Flat 12. Details to come at www.flat12.me.
• July 8th. Shoreline Brewing Co. Red White and Brews. Details to come.

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

http://web.newalbanian.com/blog/2012/06/28/25-years-beer-loathing/

From Clay at Sun King Brewing Co. in Indianapolis:

We've got a lot going on at Sun King these days... Most importantly, the Tasting Room will be CLOSED from July 4th to July 18th so that we can make some brewery improvements, do a little deep cleaning and some much needed maintenance.

In beer news, our 3rd Anniversary is rapidly approaching and we'll be releasing 3 (black lager) in the Tasting Room next week. We're brewing Cream Dream 5 on Monday for release on July 12th. Replicale for this year will be an English Mild and will be released at the Indiana Microbrewers Festival on July 14th. Big H Hefeweizen will be making its return on July 19th at Victory Field and on July 26th we'll be tapping our WTTS 20th Anniversary Beer: Hazy Daze Summer Wheat!

Visit our website, check out our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter for updated event information...

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Thr3e Wise Men has added two new beers to its list of full time house beers for a total of six. We have added our Hubbard & Cravens Porter & @Brewhouse Brown #AweseomeSauce! Come by and try these very tasty new brews!


From David at Triton Brewing Co. in Lawrence:

Here's our weekly update.  Have a great 4th! Cheers!

Taps:

Triton Beers:

Fieldhhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter IPA, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale, O'RyeN Galaxy Pale Ale, I-65 Baltic Porter and B-Java I-65 Coffee Baltic Porter.

Guest Beers:

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Magner's Irish Cider (bottle), Redbridge (Gluten Free-bottle), Stone 11.11.11 Epic Ale, Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard and Tyranena Down 'N Dirty Chocolate Stout.

Events:

Lawrence 4^th Fest June 29-July 1 and July 4^th

Come see us at Lawrence’s big summer festival! We are the Official Beer Sponsor of the Festival!

4^th of July

We are open 3-10pm with West Coast Tacos!

Clustertruck at Triton Brewing July 18 and August 22 5-9pm join 7-8 of your favorite food trucks for our 2^nd #Clustertruck at Triton Brewing Company.

Triton Brewing Sprint Triathlon September 22 hosted at Triton Brewing Company. For more information, contact munciemultisport.com.

From Charles at Upland Brewing Co in Bloomington/Indianapolis:

Upland Brewing Co. is bringing international touring act Okkervil River to Bloomington, IN on August 31st, 2012 for an outdoor concert to benefit Sycamore Land Trust. The bill will also feature local favorites that have not been announced yet. Doors open at 5pm, and music starts at 6. 

Tickets for the Okkervil River concert go on sale Friday, June 15th. They are $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the show, and are available at Upland’s Bloomington Brew Pub and Indy Tasting Room, as well as the Buskirk Chumley Box Office, and online atwww.hillbillyhaiku.org. 

At Bars and Restaurants
From Jon at LaMargarita in Fountain Square, Indianapolis:

July 5th, La Margarita will be hosting Bell's Brewery, as well as the music of The Reach Arounds.

Two Hearted Firkin tapping at 6 p.m. followed by music on the patio at 7 p.m. 

Also available on tap will be:

Bell's Oberon

Bell's Double Cream Stout

Bell's Amber

Bell's Oarsmen Ale

We will be giving away some Bell's goodies and should have a few food specials.

More info on the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/448535345170306/

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse in various locations:

All Scotty’s location around the state are now serving Thr3e Wise Men Beer! At all of our Brewhouse location you can get a growler filled up Monday – Saturday for $14 or on Tuesday & Friday it is only $12!

Scotty’s Brewhouse Bloomington is now serving House of Shandy Curious Traveler! You can come by every Thursday and get a pint of this very tasty beer for only $3.50!

Scotty’s Brewhosue Downtown Indianapolis is now pouring Fountain Square’s Tri-IPA! You can come by on Wednesday and get a 48oz. Pitcher of this amazing local beer for only $9.00! 

From Adam at Trion Tavern in New Haven:

Events:
Brew Haven 2012
Saturday, August 4 • 2pm-6pm • Downtown New Haven, Indiana


Brew Haven 2012 is going to be even bigger and better than last year's event! We're adding lots more space for a second tent full of breweries. We already have more than 30 breweries on board and that number is sure to steadily increase. Check out our BeerFinder for an updated list of the breweries (with beers to be added) and an evolving interactive map of the festival to make it easy to find the beers you want to sample. We are currently expecting 43 breweries to be pouring draft beer at the fest and that number only continues to increase! Watch as the number of beers grows and is sure to exceed 200. Then, there's the Homebrew...our talented local club will be pouring 50 of their tasty concoctions and have invited their contemporaries from around the region to add theirs. Make sure you're following Brew Haven on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.

From Mike at Yogi's Bar and Grill in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog/104-62812 

From the Distributors:
From Jen at Cavalier Distributing:

NEW TO THE CAVALIER WAREHOUSE

Peoples Famers Daughter Wheat - American Wheat Ale; seasonal offering; 6 packs and draft

Moretti Lager - Italian Lager; everyday item; 6 packs and draft

Moretti La Rossa - Italian Dopple Bock; everyday item; 6 packs and draft

Southampton;

    Biere de Mars - French farm- house style; limited seasonal release; 6 packs

    Double Wit - Belgian white; everyday item; 6 packs

    Grand Cru - Belgian Strong Pale Ale; everyday item; 750ml bottles

    IPA - India Pale Ale; everyday item; 6 packs

    

Hoppin Frog;

    BORIS the Crusher Oatmeal Imperial Stout - Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout; everyday item; 22oz bottles

    Barrel Aged BORIS the Crusher - everyday item; 22oz bottles

    Bodacious Black & Tan - Blended Hoppin to Heaven IPA and BORIS Stout; everyday item; 22oz bottles

    Hoppin' to Heaven IPA - India Pale Ale; everyday item; 22oz bottles

    Hop Master's Abbey Belgian Double IPA - Belgian Style Double IPA; everyday item; 22oz bottles

    Mean Manalishi Double IPA - Imperial IPA; everyday item; 22oz bottles

    Outta Kilter Scotch Red - Scotch Strong Ale; everyday item; 22oz bottles

    Silk Porter - American Porter; everyday item; 22oz bottles

    Doris the Destroyer Double Imperial Stout -  Double Russian Imperial Stout; everyday item; 22oz bottles

UPCOMING EVENTS

  

6/30 - Southern Indiana Uncapped; Craft Tasting @ 341 S Capitol St. Corydon, IN; 1pm-7pm

7/3 - Sahm's Place / NABC Tap Takeover/Trivia Night; 6pm

7/6 - Craft Tasting @ Cap N Cork on Broadway in Ft. Wayne; 5pm-7pm

7/10 - Staropramen Pint Night @ Rocky's in Jeffersonvile; 5pm-8pm (Keep the Mug)

7/12 - Craft Tasting @ Belmont LQ on Illinois St in Ft. Wayne; 5pm-7pm

7/15 - Founders Pajama Party @ Twenty Tap; 11am; RSVP at Twenty Tap

7/19 - Craft Tasting @ Belmont LQ on Bluffton Rd in Ft. Wayne; 5pm-7pm

8/4 - Brew Haven Craft Beer Festival; Downtown New Haven; 2pm-6pm; $35 general admission

10/13 - Porter Beerfest 12pm-4pm

11/16 - Celebrate Election Day with Elector at Yogi's; Bloomington; all day event

Upcoming Events
From Kyle at Kahn's Fine Wines in Indianapolis:

Indiana Beer Tasting : Friday, July 13th : 5-7p
This one is at Keystone and will obviously be focused on Indiana craft. Rita Kohn from NUVO will also be in attendance promoting her book on Indiana beer. And as some of you may have heard, I will be leaving the company. Next week will be my last full week, but this will be my last event here so it'd be great to see as many of you as possible.

Hoppy Birthday : Saturday, July 28th : 5-7p
This was our most highly attended beer event ever. It seems that people enjoy hops... Well, we're doing it again and this is open to any and all interestingly hopped beers or any style. We'll obviously rely heavily on pales and IPAs, but everything is welcome if it has any sort of unique hop-related attribute. Last year we tried to get as nerdy with it as possible by listing the hop varieties and educating people as much as we could.

From Brandon at Midwest Sports Complex:

We at Midwest Sports and Social Complex are putting together a craft beer fest scheduled for July 21^st. We are selling tickets for $35 per person for unlimited sampling. Additionally there will be a professional beach volleyball tourney running adjacent to the beer fest.  Additional information will be available soon.

Microbrewers Festival Volunteer Signup

We're looking for a few more volunteers for the Microbrewers Festival this year.  The festival takes place on July 14 and we're accepting volunteers for both the day-of the festival and setting up the grounds on the day before.  There is only one shift on Saturday and it lasts all day, so please only sign up if you're available to work the whole day.  Many of our volunteers have been helping us for years, which we think shows that volunteering with us is a pretty good time.  And as our readers, we think you'd make pretty good volunteers as well.

If you have any questions, post them in the comments.  Otherwise, sign up using the form below.

http://bit.ly/mf12volunteers

Commentary/Conversation: Who's to Blame When Your Beer is Bad?

We were recently in a bar that was serving a popular rye beer from a well-known brewery, and there was obviously something very very wrong with it. A rye beer should not smell like feet. Gina brought the issue to the staff's attention, and they replaced her beer. But the proprietor also said something along the lines of "I don't think that's right, but I don't (drink/like, I forget which) that beer".

After taking a walk to the back to look at the keg(?) they continued to serve the beer.

On one hand I can understand that a bar can't just pull a beer because someone has a problem with it, but on the other hand I wonder if a bar has a responsibility to know what a beer is actually supposed to taste like. Where's the line?

And why were we the only folks to notice? All four folks in our party noticed immediately.

in my experience in talking with bars and liquor stores, they say that many distributors will not accept returns of their beer upon delivery. Even if it is bad, they won't take it back. So another curious question is "who pays for bad beer?" The brewery doesn't want it back and the distributors don't either. I really applaud Stone for their bad beer reporting feature on their website. That bar is going to serve that beer, and not take a $150 hit on the price tag.

My first thought (and I admit I have no experience to back this us) was "that line must be bad". I can see where the distributors are coming from - sort of. Whose responsibility is the line? I know that at least some of the local guys clean the lines they use..

It's a back and forth. "The keg you sold me was bad." "No, your lines are dirty." Where does it stop?



I guess the thing is that it doesn't do anyone any favors to keep that beer on - Except that people apparently are willing to drink it and either not notice or not complain.


It hurts better beer as a whole, and those brands. If someone new to better beer or new to that brewery had that beer, they are not coming back to it. They don't know what they don't know. They might think that is how it should taste. Most people don't say anything, and I am one of them. I just don't drink it, and the waiter asks and I will say the beer is off. We have a minority beer drinking population and an even smaller minority of people saying anything about it.

I wouldn't necessarily say the brewery doesn't want it back. Many breweries will buy back kegs that are out of date or found to be "bad." A lot of those breweries are fairly large, though, so they can afford to do that. The entire situation is certainly a difficult one.

The proprietor can choose not to sell the bad beer and take the price hit (or try to return or swap it). This is certainly the more admirable option, but also the more expensive one. In this case, it may very well have been a bad line, which is definitely the responsibility of the proprietor, but also more expensive than simply replacing a keg.

Of course if you're the only table that has registered a complaint, and others are still purchasing the beer, that makes the proprietor's job even harder. You might be soured on the transaction, but he/she is still making money off the beer. While every customer is important, you have to weigh the impact of telling all of the customers currently buying the beer that they could no longer purchase it because some other customer didn't like the way it tasted, right or wrong.

So what would I do? I would offer to replace your beer with a different one, and offer samples to people who order future pints to let them know that a customer earlier in the evening said they detected an issue with the beer. At the end of the night / the next day, I would contact the distributor and set up an appointment to clean/inspect the line and verify the beer. If the beer was bad, I would work that out with the distributor and stop serving it. If cleaning the line fixed the issue, I would put the beer back on. But I guess all of that is with the assumption that I could tell what was off about the beer in the first place. If you're clueless as a proprietor then it's going to be hard to fix a problem like this.

KOTBR #142: Two at La Margarita Fountain Square

Does this sound familiar: Mike, Gina, Jim, and I... Sitting at a bar in Fountain Square... Being (playfully) harassed by the bartender... Poring over a beer menu, trying to figure out what to review. If we were five years younger, 500 feet south, and there was a chihuahua humping the taps tower, it would be like the old days at Deano's Vino. Except Mexican. So La Margarita de Deaño?

We selected two draft beers that I had not had before. Victory Headwaters Pale has a nice collection of hops, is very clean and crisp with a thin mouthfeel and no lingering flavors or feel. I would order this again, especially when it is the beer special of the day. 3.75 Mugs.

Brooklyn Gold Standard Export is effervescent and light yellow with a sweet nose from the malts, a light mouthfeel and subtle flavors. It is fine but not anything I would search out. 2.71 Mugs.


At the risk of sounding like your grandpa, I'd like to bring up that there was a time before you could get good beer everywhere in Indianapolis. We started this site with the quest to find great beer among our goals, and back then we'd be happy to find a tap or two to work with.

Now better beer is everywhere. If you're eating at an Indianapolis restaurant that doesn't have a beer that makes you happy, leave, and never come back. A restaurant without any decent beer choices is willfully ignorant, and doesn't deserve your money.

Yet with the proliferation of better beer comes stagnation - you can count on the same 3 styles (cream ale/lighter beer, pale ale, something darker) pretty much everywhere. Don't get me wrong - I love our locals. I love pale ale. But variety is why we started drinking craft beer.

Give us variety!

Variety isn't easy. Variety takes knowledge. If you're already selling all the Sun King or Flat12 you can buy, why buy anything else?

Luckily there are folks that just love beer. Jon Carlos Rangel at La Margarita is one such individual. Despite being a fan of Mexican football, Rangel knows his stuff, and keeps a steady but varying supply of styles and breweries flowing through La Margarita's taps.

After my minor tirade, you might be surprised to learn that you're about to read a review of a pale ale. But it's not one you'll stumble across everywhere. Victory Headwaters Pale is a summer-weight, easy drinking pale that you could pound if you wanted to. I'm not advising pounding beer, but it's nice to have the option. It's a pale ale that has everything you're looking for, with a bitterness that bites the middle of the tongue and doesn't let go. The flavor lingers with a spicy sort of kick.

It's not the most balanced pale ale, but the bitterness isn't overwhelming. While hops can amplify spicy dishes, in this case these meld nicely with La Margarita's complimentary salsas. 3.75 mugs.

As proof of La Margarita's dedication to beer, our second selection was a bit more rare. Brooklyn's Gold Standard is from the New York brewery's Brewmaster's Reserve Series - a lager in the German Kellerbier style.

Beers in the Kellerbier style are generally not filtered, allowing the yeast to remain suspended in the beer. Gold Standard has a light front, bitter middle, lingering but light bitterness, and a finish on the dry side. To be honest, there's not a lot going on there.

But it was different. 2.79 mugs.

And now, a message from our sponsors...

Hey Parrotheads! Jimmy Buffett here. You probably weren't aware of this, but when I'm not busy peddling my music, books, and restaurants through various avenues that are edging us closer to the downfall of Western civilization, or making sure that the tunaburgers offered at my Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurants are not only dolphin safe but manatee safe, I like to enjoy a good beer or two.

So let me tell you about this little watering hole in Fountain Square called La Margarita. The name of the joint made it rather obvious to me that I needed to stop there during my last tour date in Indy. Not only did I find my lost shaker of salt at La Margarita, I found some great suds there as well. They have this tasty pale ale called Victory Headwaters. You know I'm a citrus expert because of my copious consumption of limes. Well, Victory Headwaters is loaded with citrus flavors, I think due to the hops, rounded out by a nice malty sweetness. I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I urge you to chuck that Landshark Lager and take one of these puppies to the beach with you!

Now I ain't no Kraut, but I do enjoy a good German style beer from time-to-time. So that's where Brooklyn's Golden Standard Export Kellerbier comes in, which is also on tap at La Margarita. This baby is smooooooth, let me tell you. It's nice, light, and a little sweet, kind of like the royalty checks that still roll in every month from the sales of my book Tales from Margaritaville. So the next time you're relivin' the 'late 70s and early '80s on your catamaran in the Gulf of Mexico, you won't go wrong with a Brooklyn Golden Standard Export.

Folks, the next time you're in Indy, get on down to La Margarita. And don't forget to pick up a brand new copy of my second autobiography, A Pirate Looks at Fifty Shades of Grey.

Victory Headwaters Pale: 4.25 mugs.
Brooklyn Gold Standard Export Kellerbier: 3.60 mugs.

Beers are always better when shared with friends. Even more when soccer is on TV. Exponentially so when chips and salsa are involved. So, thanks to Euro 2012, Mike and I have been at La Margarita three times in the past week. The food is great, the tequila selection is amazing, and Jon always keeps a stellar craft beer list.

Let me talk about those chips and salsa for a minute. There is something about tortilla chips at a restaurant. Something about these warm and crispy chips can not be replicated at home. Maybe it shouldn't be. It seems like the whole basket is gone before we know it, which is easy to do with the THREE salsas provided. Because I am a huge wuss when it comes to spicy heat, I usually hoard the avocado loaded pico de gallo. Not to say the other two aren't good, but I can't say no to avocado.

Now, the beers.

Sometimes it is hard to give words to beers. Sometimes you are just sitting there, drinking and chatting and the next thing you know is that the beer is three quarters gone. You drank it without thinking about it, without processing what you tasted. I kind of love when that happens even though it makes it difficult to write about. Every beer doesn't have to be earth shattering. Victory Headwaters Pale was good, balanced, and obviously had a pleasant flavor. I'm more than OK with that. 4.3 Mugs.

Now, juxtapose that with the next beer, Brooklyn Gold Standard Export Kellerbier. I felt that I had to work for this one, dissect it, break it down by its components to figure out how the different flavors and textures mingle together. In the end, I liked it. There was a sweetness sandwiched between a herbal bitterness. Maybe I should have had the beers in reverse. 3.0 Mugs.

Final KOTBR Scores
Victory Headwaters Pale
Jason: 3.75 Mugs | Mike: 3.75 Mugs | Jim: 4.25 Mugs | Gina: 4.3 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 4.01 Mugs

Brooklyn Gold Standard Export Kellerbier
Jason: 2.71 Mugs | Mike: 2.79 Mugs | Jim: 3.6 Mugs | Gina: 3.0 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.02 Mugs

CBMTCBL4: The Recap

Going into our belated fourth edition of the Craft Beer Meal That Comes Before Lunch, we looked back at previous editions, and tried to come up with a theme. Nothing really jumped out at us, so we decided to dedicate this one to some of the highlights of the previous editions, along with picking out a few of our own personal favorites to fill out the lineup.

Our first selection came from St. Louis' Perennial Artisan Ales. Saison de Lis is a light-bodied 5% ABV Saison brewed with Chamomile Flowers that served as a perfect starter for the day's activities.

For our second beer of the day, we went with Brasserie Dupont's Monk Stout, a lower ABV (5.2%) stout that packs light but full flavor.

Our next beer was Brugge's Black - with a twist. Our special edition was aged on plums, providing the Black flavors you've come to know and love with a plummy finish. Look for further developments on this recipe in the future.

Next up was this year's smokebeer, Schlenkera's Marzen. For those of us usually overwhelmed by smokebeer, this was a pleasant surprise. While the usual bacon-like elements were easily found in the beer, it was perhaps a more balanced or lighter smoke beer than we might have expected.

Beer five was one of the hopheads. Many of us at HBG feel that the entire He'Brew lineup is overlooked, and Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. is a perfect example. This double rye IPA provides big hop bitterness, complimented by the rye malt, which provides the balance of caramel and bread flavors.

For our sixth beer we went sour. Hanssens Oude Kriek, a cherry lambic, balanced cherry sweetness with Belgian funk.

Keeping the fruit train rolling, beer seven was New Glarus' Raspberry Tart. Syrupy raspberry flavors dominate the beer, providing a perfect dessert.

But because one dessert is never enough, we finished with New Glarus' Wisconsin Belgian Red, a fruit beer packing a pound of cherries in each bottle. A pie in a glass.

Random Beer Roundup - The CBMTCBL Edition

A few tickets for our CBMTCBL event at Brugge tomorrow are available.  $35 for great food and beer.


Homebrewers:  Today, June 22nd, is the deadline for entries to the Brewer's Cup.  Entries will be accepted at the Sun King Tasting Room and you can register online (Tom says "for the system's sake, please don't wait until the last minute!").  Find more information and links to registration at brewerscup.org.

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Darren at Bier Brewery in Indianapolis:

Here's the lineup for this week:

Cream
Delta
Weizengoot
Bier d'Garde
Redrum
Belgian Dubbel
PDG Pale
Chinookalicious IPA

Saturday Releases at 1pm:
DFGIPA
Wee Fatty

Friday Pint Night from 3-9pm,
10% of pint sales goes to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation,New York Slice will also be serving up some good grub.

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

• Saturday the 23rd. Brew Ha Ha at Chatham Arch. 
• Thursday the 28th. Collaboration Day with New Albanian. Tap takeover at Rich O's. 
• Saturday the 30th. The Beer is Good at Fiddler's Hearth. Three taps. 
• Saturday the 30th. Greenwood Freedom Festival. 
• July 6th. "Merk-uh" tapping and Picnic at Flat 12. Details to come at www.flat12.me.
• July 8th. Shoreline Brewing Co. Red White and Brews. Details to come.

From Clay at Sun King Brewing Co. in Indianapolis:

We've got a lot going on at Sun King these days... Most importantly, the Tasting Room will be CLOSED from July 4th to July 18th so that we can make some brewery improvements, do a little deep cleaning and some much needed maintenance.

In beer news, our 3rd Anniversary is rapidly approaching and we'll be releasing 3 (black lager) in the Tasting Room next week. We're brewing Cream Dream 5 on Monday for release on July 12th. Replicale for this year will be an English Mild and will be released at the Indiana Microbrewers Festival on July 14th. Big H Hefeweizen will be making its return on July 19th at Victory Field and on July 26th we'll be tapping our WTTS 20th Anniversary Beer: Hazy Daze Summer Wheat!

Visit our website, check out our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter for updated event information...

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Thr3e Wise Men is still pouring its newest creation, Children of the Corn Cream Ale. Come in on Wednesday and get a pint of this very refreshing Summer beer for only $3.00!


From David at Triton Brewing Co. in Lawrence:

Taps:
Triton Beers:
Fieldhhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter IPA, Sin Bin Belgian Pale Ale and O'RyeN Galaxy Pale Ale.

Guest Beers:
Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Magner's Irish Cider (bottle), Redbridge (Gluten Free-bottle), Stone 11.11.11 Epic Ale, Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard, Tyranena Down 'N Dirty Chocolate Stout and Victory Hop Wallop.

Events:
‘Eat Street’ taping at Triton Brewing Company with West Coast Tacos, Monday, June 25th
Watch our Facebook and Twitter for more information! This is a special event which will feature the taping of a part of an Eat Street episode for the Cooking Channel, as well as the debut of two new menu items for West Coast Tacos and the tapping of two new beers: a Baltic Porter and a Coffee Baltic Porter. 

Lawrence 4th Fest June 29-July 1 and July 4th
Come see us at Lawrence’s big summer festival! Choose from three of your favorite Triton Brewing Company beers! 

#Clustertruck at Triton Brewing July 18 5-9pm join 7-8 of your favorite food trucks for our 3rd #Clustertruck at Triton Brewing Company.

From Charles at Upland Brewing Co in Bloomington/Indianapolis:

Upland Brewing Co. is bringing international touring act Okkervil River to Bloomington, IN on August 31st, 2012 for an outdoor concert to benefit Sycamore Land Trust. The bill will also feature local favorites that have not been announced yet. Doors open at 5pm, and music starts at 6. 

Tickets for the Okkervil River concert go on sale Friday, June 15th. They are $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the show, and are available at Upland’s Bloomington Brew Pub and Indy Tasting Room, as well as the Buskirk Chumley Box Office, and online atwww.hillbillyhaiku.org. 

At Bars and Restaurants
From Stuart at MacNiven's on Mass Ave, Indianapolis:

Just Tapped  Sun King Bitch'n Camaro and our first of our New Holland Mad Hatter Days, Black Hatter Black IPA!

From Eddie at Sahm's Place in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Tuesday night trivia will feature People's Brewery this week. $3.50 pints of some delicious Lafayette brew will be available! Upland did a fantastic job for us this past Tuesday and we always enjoy having their beers here. There are only two weeks left this season for trivia, so make sure you get studying to win some of the big end of year cash prizes.

We have a lot of good beer in stock right now, and a lot of great weekly specials to help you drink them! So make sure you stop by and enjoy some local food fare and craft brew.

In Stock:

Brooklyn Mary's Maple Porter

New Holland Dragons Milk Stout

Urban Chestnut Zwickel

Brooklyn Pennant

Bells Two Hearted

Bells Oberon

Sun King Wee Mac

Victory Golden Ale

Fountain Square Amber

Fountain Square Big Nugs IPA

North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner

North Coast Brother Thelonious

Upland Tripel

Upland Schwarz

Upland Weizen

Bier Brewery Bier de Garde

Bier Brewery Weizengoot

Founders Reds Rye

Peoples Amber

Peoples Mr. Brown

Peoples Flying Duchess

New Day Meadery South Cider

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse in various locations:

Come get a carryout Growler of Thr3e Wise Men beer at any of the 5 Scotty’s Brewhouse location across the state. We can sell them Monday – Saturday. You can get a carryout Thr3e Wise Men Growler for only $12 every Tuesday and Friday.

Scotty’s Brewhouse Muncie is now pouring Founder’s Old Curmudgeon! You can get a pint of this amazing beer everyday of the week for $7.00!

Scotty’s Brewhouse Downtown Indianapolis is now serving Urban Chestnut Winged Nut! Come by on Thursday and enjoy a pint of this delicious brew for only $3.50!

From Adam at Trion Tavern in New Haven:

Events:
Brew Haven 2012
Saturday, August 4 • 2pm-6pm • Downtown New Haven, Indiana

Brew Haven 2012 is going to be even bigger and better than last year's event! We're adding lots more space for a second tent full of breweries. We already have more than 30 breweries on board and that number is sure to steadily increase. Check out our BeerFinder for an updated list of the breweries (with beers to be added) and an evolving interactive map of the festival to make it easy to find the beers you want to sample. We are currently expecting 43 breweries to be pouring draft beer at the fest and that number only continues to increase! Watch as the number of beers grows and is sure to exceed 200. Then, there's the Homebrew...our talented local club will be pouring 50 of their tasty concoctions and have invited their contemporaries from around the region to add theirs. Make sure you're following Brew Haven on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.

From Mike at Yogi's Bar and Grill in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog/97-61912

Upcoming Events
From Brandon at Midwest Sports Complex:

We at Midwest Sports and Social Complex are putting together a craft beer fest scheduled for July 21^st. We are selling tickets for $35 per person for unlimited sampling. Additionally there will be a professional beach volleyball tourney running adjacent to the beer fest.  Additional information will be available soon.

A shout-out to Chi-town Jimmy

I dedicate this writing to fellow Knight of the Beer Roundtable Jim. Or, as he is known to his family and friends, Chi-town Jimmy.

Most people know Chi-town Jimmy as a professional of the legal arts and a Hebrew philosopher. But once upon a time, Chi-town Jimmy was a notorious bootlegger that transported craft beer between Chi-town and the Circle City. Of course, he would always stop in his hometown of Valparaiso to visit his mother. However, Chi-town Jimmy's mother didn't know that her sweet, dear boy was involved in organized crime. The boy that she raised and took to ballet was a beer distributor on the down low.

After visiting his mom, Chi-town Jimmy would say hi to the bootleggers left in the slamma, from St. Louis to Memphis, from Texas back up to Indiana, Chi-Town, K.C., Motown to Alabama, L-A, New York Yankee bootleggers to Hotlanta, Louisiana, all his bootleggers with "Country Grammar", drinking bombers in Savannah.

But Chi-town Jimmy got out of that racket. He went straight. And became a law abiding citizen too. He traded in his gangster garb for skinny jeans, tshirts with graphics from bands of yore, and a denim jacket.

Now that Chi-town Jimmy isn't hooking me up with Chi-town beer, I have to travel to Chi-town myself and purchase Chi-town beers at a Chi-town beer store. So that's how after a visit to Binny's Beverage Depot I came to have a bottle of Dynamo Copper Lager from Metropolitan Brewing in Chi-town.

I have been on a lager kick recently. And after sweating my ass off while doing yard work, a lager sounded about perfect. Dynamo is a full bodied lager with a great malt presence and a hint of hops. This dark gold beer was exactly what I was looking for: a non-lame lager with enough power to satisfy the better beer fan while crisp and clean enough to satisfy my summer beer desires. A perfect beer for sitting on a Hoosier front porch. Or on a Lake Michigan beach in Chi-town.

So tip one back and remember the greatest vegetarian bootlegger to do the sixty-five route in under 12 parsecs: Chi-town Jimmy.

Discussion: 32oz Growlers

32oz growlers are nothing new.  Resealable containers of less than 64oz have been a fixture of many tap rooms and breweries long before 2012.  But the Super Bowl changed everything in Indianapolis.  Suddenly the requirement to drink beer outdoors created a new market for tap rooms.  A market that could not be catered to with an unwieldy 64oz glass jug.  Seemingly overnight, every tap room within a stone's throw of downtown was offering 32oz cylindrical containers of beer.  Many of them plastic so that drunk party people couldn't turn Georgia Street into a wasteland of shattered glass.  Now almost every tap room carries them.

Where did this idea originate?

The Super Bowl didn't create these containers, breweries have been using them for a long time.  But who came up with this idea?  And more importantly, who came up with the container shape?  A trip out to Portland this past spring revealed that the 32oz container was the preferred to-go vessel for Cascade's beer.  But how long had they been doing it?

What are they called?

Before the Super Bowl, the name "bullet" seemed quite common.  This is almost surely derived from the shape of the container.  The term "howler" is also seen frequently.  Howler appears to be short for Half Growler, which makes a lot of sense.  Other names have been seen around as well, but I don't know if there is a definitive one.  What is your preference?

Do you buy them?

The 32oz size seems a lot more practical for high alcohol beers that might be more difficult to drink 64oz of, or perhaps uniquely flavored beers that are good in small quantities but get tiresome after too much.  The trade-off of a smaller package is often a higher cost per ounce than that of a growler.  Do you see 32oz growlers as a welcome addition to the carry-out beer scene, or were you happier with a single refillable option?

DISCUSS.

A toast to better beer drinking dads

I'm not sure what my father drank before Coors crossed the Mississippi, but the first brand I remember my dad drinking was Coors Light. Thankfully, he's a smart man and wised up. It only took one business trip to Germany to push his tastebuds towards better beer. Imports led to microbrews and, well, the family thank drinks together stays together!

So I raise a toast to all the better beer drinking dads. For the toast, I opened up a tall boy of Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA. I had purchased the Torpedo at Stoney's Liquors on East 10th just east of Emerson, which is where I make most of my beer purchases. This particular purchase was in preparation for the Indy 500.

I have not had Torpedo often, but I was interested in taking an IPA to the Speedway. Drinking it from the can, it was high on pine-like bitters. I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. Today, I poured Torpedo into a glass and the flavors and aromas blossomed. It was still big on pine, but some citrus came through as well as malt flavors. It's not as sweet as a double or imperial IPA. Not as boozy either. A super hoppy IPA. Great for those in a hoppy mood. Happy Fathers Day everybody!

Random Beer Roundup - The Father's Day Edition

Happy Father's Day this weekend to all the Dads out there!


A few tickets for our CBMTCBL event at Brugge on June 23rd are available.  $35 for great food and beer.


Homebrewers:  Next Friday, June 22nd is the deadline for entries to the Brewer's Cup.  Entries will be accepted at the Sun King Tasting Room and you can register online (Tom says "for the system's sake, please don't wait until the last minute!").  Find more information and links to registration at brewerscup.org.

Hoosier Beer Calendar

Events are subject to change

From the Brewers

From Darren at Bier Brewery in Indianapolis:

This week's lineup looks something like this:

Kolsch
Cream
Farmgal
Persephone
Happy Pils
La Puta Madre
Roggenschnizzle
John's Porter
PDG Pale

From Bob at Flat12 Bierwerks in Indianapolis:

It's a fun month to be involved in craft beer in Indiana. Here's a look at our line-up of events over the next two weeks.

Friday, June 15th: History on Tap

We'll tap Summer Cycle IPA, a big citrusy take on the Half Cycle, on the 21st. Brew Ha Ha on the 23rd. Bottles in July (more on that soon).

From Ryan at Thr3e Wise Men in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Thr3e wise Men now serves all of their beers in a 101oz. Table Top Tap every day of the week for $25!! If that does not make you excited then come in on Thursday and get one of these Table Top Taps for only $15!!!

From David at Triton Brewing Co. in Lawrence:

On tap:

House Beers:
Fieldhouse Wheat, Four Barrel Brown, Magnificent Amber Ale, Deadeye Stout, Railsplitter IPA, Sin Bin Belgian Pale and O'Rye'N Galaxy Pale 

Guest Beers:
Brooklyn Chocolate Stout, Down and Dirty Stout, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Stone 11.11.11 Epic, Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard and Victory Hop Wallop

Upcoming events:

#Clustertruck at Triton Brewing June 20, 5-9pm join 7-8 of your favorite food trucks for our 2nd #Clustertruck at Triton Brewing Company.
Lawrence 4th Fest June 29-July 1 and July 4th Come see us at Lawrence’s big summer festival!
#Clustertruck at Triton Brewing July 18, 5-9pm

From Lindsay and Charles at Upland Brewing Co in Bloomington/Indianapolis:

Here are a couple of things coming up! A Melting Pot dinner most of June and Father's Day 

Indy Beer and Wine Fest 

Also, here's a bit more to our expansion!  

Upland Brewing Co. is bringing international touring act Okkervil River to Bloomington, IN on
August 31st, 2012 for an outdoor concert to benefit Sycamore Land Trust. The bill will also feature local favorites that have not been announced yet. Doors open at 5pm, and music starts at 6.
Tickets for the Okkervil River concert go on sale Friday, June 15th. They are $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the show, and are available at Upland’s Bloomington Brew Pub and Indy Tasting Room, as well as the Buskirk Chumley Box Office, and online at www.hillbillyhaiku.org. 

For Carry Out
From Jake at United Package Liquors in Broad Ripple:

We have our Indy's Wine & Brew Fest on June 15^th 7-10pm at the Broad Ripple Strip Station. Attached are details about the event and a product list.

Early Entry tickets are available to allow patrons to get in at 6pm. They are limited to the first 200 people and will not be available at the door. 

From Denis at Vine and Table in Carmel:

Vine & Table in Carmel is looking for a beer geek, girl or guy to join our team. We have over 600 beers in stock with a particular emphasis on craft beers.

To apply please contact Denis Lynch at 317 817 9463 or email denis@vineandtable.com

At Bars and Restaurants
From Jordan at The Beer Sellar in Castleton:

June 15th 7pm

Hatter Day 2012

1. Mad Hatter Draft
2. Imperial Hatter Draft
3. Black Hatter Draft
4. Rye Hatter Draft
5. Farmhouse Hatter Draft
6. Oaked Aged Hatter Draft

From Eddie at Sahm's Place in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis:

Big thanks to Mike & Brandy from Triton for coming in to Tuesday Night Trivia last night and playing. We always enjoy having Triton on tap, but even more so when they show up to drink!

This upcoming Tuesday we will have Upland in with Cari and will be featuring some fantastic beers. Upland always has a few interesting things to throw at us (and hopefully this will bump me up in the Sour Reserve Lottery chances.) $3.50 pints of delicious Upland will be flowing until they pop.

Chowdown Midtown will be running until this Sunday. We are featuing a different craft beer flight every night to go along with our 2 for $30 deal. It's a great time to see what we are about and sample some delicious brews at the same time. Reservations are not needed and call ahead seating is avaialble....so don't make any weak excuses!

Beer Inventory:

Finch's Threadless IPA

North Coast Brother Thelonious

North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner

Bells Two Hearted

Bells Oberon

Bier Brewery Bier de Garde

Bier Brewery Persephone

Bier Brewery Cascadian Light

Upland Wheat

Upland Dragonfly

Upland seasonal (not sure which one yet)

Rogue Hazlenut Brown Nectar

New Holland Mad Hatter

New Holland Dragons Milk Stout

Crown Brewing Crown Brown

Bloomington Brew Co. Quarryman

Bloomington Brew Co. Vision Weiss

Boulevard Tank #7

Brooklyn Mary's Maple Porter

Fountain Square Preacher's Daughter

Fountain Square Big Nugs IPA

From Ryan at Scotty's Brewhouse in various locations:

Join us at any of our Scotty’s locations this coming Monday June 18th when every single location will start serving some amazing beer from Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Company! All of our Scotty’s Brewhouse location around the state will have the Snow Bunny Blonde, Golden Zoe IPA & Centennial Martyr Double IPA. Scotty’s Lakehouse & Scotty’s Burger Joint will have Snow Bunny Blonde & Centennial Martyr Double IPA.

Scotty’s Brewhouse Downtown is now serving a great local beer from Fountain Square! We are now pouring their Tri-IPA! You can come in every Wednesday and get this very awesome IPA for only $9.00!

From Adam at Trion Tavern in New Haven:

Events:
Brew Haven 2012
Saturday, August 4 • 2pm-6pm • Downtown New Haven, Indiana

Brew Haven 2012 is going to be even bigger and better than last year's event! We're adding lots more space for a second tent full of breweries. We already have more than 30 breweries on board and that number is sure to steadily increase. Check out our BeerFinder for an updated list of the breweries (with beers to be added) and an evolving interactive map of the festival to make it easy to find the beers you want to sample. We are currently expecting 43 breweries to be pouring draft beer at the fest and that number only continues to increase! Watch as the number of beers grows and is sure to exceed 200. Then, there's the Homebrew...our talented local club will be pouring 50 of their tasty concoctions and have invited their contemporaries from around the region to add theirs. Make sure you're following Brew Haven on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.

From Mike at Yogi's Bar and Grill in Bloomington:

http://www.yogis.com/index.php/about/blog/beer-blog/95-glass6-12-12 

Beer School every Tuesday night at 7 pm

From the Distributors
From Jen at Cavalier Distribution:

NEW TO THE CAVALIER WAREHOUSE

New Albanian Struise Collaboration Naughty Girl - IPA; limited release; 22oz bottles and draft

Finch's Toasted Summer Kolsch Style - Kolsch; limited seasonal; 22oz bottles only 

UPCOMING EVENTS

6/15 - Craft Beer Tasting @ Crown Liquors on 106th St. 4pm-6pm

6/15 - UPL Indy's Wine and Brew Fest; Broadripple Station Parking Lot; 6pm-10pm; $30 in advance

6/16 - Craft Tasting @ S&V Lq on Illinois Rd in Ft. Wayne; 5pm-7pm

6/22 - Craft Tasting @ Cap N Cork on Lima Rd in Ft. Wayne; 5pm-7pm

6/23 - Brew HaHa; Downtown Indy; 3pm-7pm; $35 general admission

6/26 - Sahm's Place/ Peoples Brewing Tap Takeover/Trivia Night; 6pm

6/28 - Craft Beer Tasting @ Big Red on Walnut in Bloomington; 6pm-8pm

6/28 - Shmaltz Night featuring Jewbelation Quinceanera @ The Gerst Haus in Evansville; TBA

7/3 - Sahm's Place / NABC Tap Takeover/Trivia Night; 6pm

7/15 - Founders Pajama Party @ Twenty Tap; 11am; RSVP at Twenty Tap

8/4 - Brew Haven Craft Beer Festival; Downtown New Haven; 2pm-6pm; $35 general admission

10/13 - Porter Beerfest 12pm-4pm

11/16 - Celebrate Election Day with Elector at Yogi's; Bloomington; all day event

Upcoming Events
From Joe at Conner Prairie Horizon Council:

Friday, June 15th at Conner Prairie
Featuring Keynote by Douglas Wissing, author of "One Pint at a Time: A Traveler's Guide to  Indiana's Breweries." 

Craft brewing demonstrations by Tuxedo Park Brewers. 

An evening adventure  through 1836 Prairietown. 

1859 Balloon Voyage* 

Food will be available at an additional cost. 

Tickets 

This is a 21+ event. Ticket includes entry into Conner Prairie as well as a tasting from all breweries.
• $25 per person
• $12 for designated drivers
Information
• Call (317) 776-6006

From Charles at Story Brewhouse LLC:

Beer and Creative Writing Project Seeks Backers

The following is a press release from Charles Stanley, founder of Story Brewhouse LLC, and best known to the craft beer world as the Strategic Projects Manager for Upland Brewing Co.:

I recently founded Story Brewhouse LLC to explore the creative combination of beer and literature. My first project, A Six Pack of Stories, will be a collection of short fiction and creative non-fiction in which beer plays an important role in the plot or theme.

Initial funds for the project are being raised via a Kickstarter campaign, and I’m asking that beer enthusiasts help spread the word about this campaign, which seeks to raise $9,077 between June 14th and July 14th. The campaign page is located at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1522045241/a-six-pack-of-stories.

For those not familiar with Kickstarter, it is an online platform that allows creators to post projects to which benefactors contribute money in return for gifts related to the projects. Kickstarter uses an “All or Nothing” funding system: the creator sets a funding goal and a deadline, and if the project raises that money in the allotted amount of time, the creator keeps it. But if enough money isn’t raised, the creator gets nothing.

More about the project
The idea of A Six Pack of Stories came to me when I was combining two of my favorite activities: reading a novel and drinking a beer. (Don’t most good ideas seem to happen when a beer is involved?) It occurred to me that while the craft beer movement has integrated itself with visual art, music, and many other forms of creative expression, there has been little overlap with creative writing.

Once the project has been funded, I will solicit writers and beer enthusiasts to submit stories for consideration. I expect to receive wide range of story types, from the light-hearted and humorous to the thoughtful and heart breaking. The collection will reflect the wide variety of situations and feelings with which beer is associated in our lives.

The book will published for multiple e-reader platforms as well as in hard copy.