Scenes from a Tapping: Alcatraz Cherry Stout

Where: Alcatraz Brewing Company (Circle Centre Mall, 49 W. Maryland St. Suite 104, Indianapolis, IN)


Who: Alcatraz head brewer Omar Castrellón, and assistant brewer Skip DuVall


What: Alcatraz Cherry Stout - A milk stout aged on 250lbs of cherries

When: Tapped 11/17/09, until supplies last

Why: You'd expect anything aged on 250lbs of cherry to be overpowering, but in this case you get all the normal full and tasty flavors of a milk stout with a sweet and subtle cherry finish.


Also worth noting: Alcatraz's 1 & 3/4 Belgian has been on tap for a while and may have benefited from the age - it's makes for a sweet and smooth easy drinking pint.

Let's Support Beer Champions

Once upon a time, Indianapolis had a Buffalo Wild Wings unlike any other. Thirsty travelers knew that upon arrival, 30+ taps of craft beer awaited them. One day that Buffalo Wild Wings went away, and in its place stood a new and apparently less desirable restaurant. Still - thirsty travelers knew that 30+ taps of craft beer awaited them. A year or so passed, and then the new restaurant went away and took its 30+ taps with it. Forever.


Well, in case you haven't heard, Buffalo Wild Wings (7 East Washington / (317) 951-9464 / no smoking) is back in downtown Indianapolis. This time around it's in a new building - which people LOVE - and you won't find 30+ craft taps, but you will find at least 10 - and a beer buyer who's pushing for more.


Meet Sam. Sam is a beer geek, just like you and me. And Sam knows that in order to convince his bosses that bigger and better beers are a good idea, he's got to show them that they sell. Are the 10 taps in danger? Probably not. But Sam wants to do more. He wants to have rarer beers on - beers like Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine, for example.


So this coming Thursday, at 7PM, you'll find Sam behind the bar, tapping a 1/6 barrel of one of Three Floyds' biggest. 12 ounce pours will be priced at $8.50, and when it's gone, it's really gone. Think of it as a trial run - Does it make sense to have on a barleywine at a BW3s? Do we support those who aim to please us? Will you answer the call?


Along with Behemoth, Sam will have on tap: Dogfish 90 Minute IPA¹, Three Floyds Robert the Bruce and Gumballhead, Brugge Tripel, Bell's Amber, and a few other beers you're familiar with. And since many of you are probably already attending the Fire Chief tapping at Rock Bottom, you have no excuse.

See you there?

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¹You might remember this one too.