Kokomo Temporarily Loses a Gem

It is with a heavy heart that we bring news from the folks at Brass Monkey Brewing Co. in Kokomo. The following statement was recently found on their website:

Due to the recent closing of The Marketplace, Brass Monkey is forced to take a hiatus. Plans are currently in the works for a reemergence in '09. Till then, stay tuned and stay thirsty!

For those of you not familiar with Brass Monkey, they are probably best known for their interesting and stylistically varied small batch brews, many of which have been showcased at Indiana brewfests. Many of the knights have visited Brass Monkey before, and there's always been a crowd, so this news came as quite a shock.

The good news is that Brass Monkey will be back.

In order to get a better understanding of what happened, I sent Brass Monkey brewer extraordinaire Andrew Lewis an email, and he was pretty quick with answers.


The former home of Brass Monkey Brewing Co.
Is this the case (sort of like they recently had at Goose Island Clybourn) where you're just leasing the space and have no control over what they do with the building? How was business before this happened?

Andrew: The Marketplace was a restaurant that had been in business for 4 years. This past May, we moved in and began renting space and selling our beers exclusively through them. This was a win/win because it allowed me to open on a shoestring budget and it gave them the opportunity to advertise that they had an on-site brewery.

Business was always good for us and I would frequently brew up to 10 times a week or more just keep our regular lineup on tap. This wasn't helped by the fact that I was literally brewing on my homebrew setup and was only turning out 10 gallons a brew. Mid-November I actually upgraded to a 40 gallon system, but only got to use it twice before receiving the news that The Marketplace was closing (sadly, they are currently closed). It does sound similar to the Goose Island incident in that sense.

Are you looking at staying in Kokomo? (And if not, there are plenty of open spaces on the south side of Indy...)

Andrew: We've got a lot of options we're looking at right now and most of them would involve staying around Kokomo. My wife's pregnant with our first baby due in Jan. so I'll probably lay low until then. In the meantime, we may have some of our surplus kegs on tap at The Half Moon in Kokomo.

I definitely appreciate all the support we've received from you guys up until this point and will certainly keep you up-to-date on future plans.

Random Beer Roundup - Early Edition

It's been a little crazy this week so I thought I'd put this together a day early...

Bars/Breweries/Brewpubs/Restaurants:

Andrew at the Brass Monkey Brewing Company in historic downtown Kokomo drops us a line:

Flagship beers we always try to have on:

White Flag Belgian Wit

See No Evil American IPA

Green Tea Pale Ale

Tenacious Apple Tripel

Silver Back Stout

Double Down Brown

Rotating High Gravity Beers (we always try to have at least one of these on):

Speak No Evil Belgian IPA (on now)

Hear No Evil Imperial IPA (on now)

Ill Intent Imperial Stout

Belligerent Barleywine (Coming late fall)

Upcoming seasonals:

October-Horseman's Reserve Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Nov&Dec-Congregation Holiday Ale

One & Done line (One beer, one batch, one chance)

Current-Double Hopped Double Down

Upcoming-Swampwater Dunkleweizen, Blue Lou Blueberry Ale, Conspirator Belgian Blonde, 9th Wonder Dry Hopped Porter

Since batch sizes are only 10 gallons the selection can vary greatly from day to day. In addition We also have 20 other craft beers on tap that are constantly rotating.

Mike at J. Gumbo's checks in:

Here's our latest:

Draft:

Leffe Blonde

Dogfish Head 60 Min. IPA is finally back

Bottles:

Stone Vertical Epic '08

Stone Russian Imperial Stout '08

Stone Double Bastard '07

Stone Old Guardian '04

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot '00 & '03

Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout '02 (this is the one that is 23.4% ABV)

Our crawfish boil this Sat. has been canceled due to the hurricane. We'll send out an announcement for the next one. It depends on the status of our farmer on the bayou.

Thanks, Mike

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Homebrew/Beer Travel/BJCP/Hammerdancing:

Uber-Beer Geek Ron Smith with a list of things to know:

There are still seats remaining for next week’s start of the Thursday night Beer MBA class series (Sept 11, 18 & 25, 6:30 - 9:30), but I need to hear from you very soon. Please let me know asap if you will be attending (see all details below).

Also, let me know if you are interested in any of the following:

--- INDY OKTOBERFEST – No need to let me know about this one, but just as a reminder, this weekend is the last weekend for the annual Indy Oktoberfest. It has been moved to the state fairgrounds this year and is bigger and better than ever. It is open from 4:00 – Midnight on both Friday and Saturday. There is a lot of great German food, music, dancing, and of course, Beer! There is also a full carnival with rides and traditional fair food, there is a rock and roll music tent, and more. I have a booth there, so stop by to say hello. More details are at www.IndyOktoberfest.com.

--- HOMEBREWING – If you brew or are interested in starting, let me know and consider joining the club I’ve been active in for almost 20 years, the Foam Blowers of Indiana (FBI). Visit www.FoamBlowers.com for an application, links to our Yahoo Group site and more info about the club and our meetings. We just nailed down our calendar for the upcoming year (Sept to Aug) and our meetings are starting very soon.

--- BJCP STUDY GROUP (Beer Judge Certification Program) – This study group is much more intense, technical and serious than the Beer MBA classes and is designed for people wanting to become beer judges. This will mark the 4th year for this study group. The dates are not set, but it will probably start in late January 09 (and run through Feb, with the Exam in early March). I’m doing something a little different this year. Instead of 11 weeknight sessions, it will be conducted in 3 or 4 long Saturday sessions. This will give people from outside the Indianapolis area, as well as people that can’t meet on weeknights, a good opportunity to receive this education. If you are interested in this, I can send you an outline to start studying, plus you should strongly consider taking the Beer MBA classes as well. They would be a great way to get started.

--- BELGIUM BEER TRIP – I’m coordinating a trip next summer (09) to Belgium to visit many of the famous cities and breweries. This will also include a side trip to Germany to visit Cologne (Kolsch) and Dusseldorf (Altbier). The likely dates are in the range of July 16 – 29 or so. There will be a group of us from Indiana going. It will be a well coordinated beer-focused trip, but there will also be plenty of time to see the sights, and do your own thing. If you are interested, let me know.

That’s all for now. Please sign up for the Beer MBA classes today. They start next week and with all the people I spoke to at the Oktoberfest, they could fill up quickly.

Thanks,

Ron Smith
- National Ranked BJCP Beer Judge
- Certified Beer Server
- National Award Winning Homebrewer
- Beer and Brewing Educator
- RonSmith@MarketWiseSolutions.com
- Ph: 317-873-6976, ext 1

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Elsewhere in beer in Indianapolis and beyond:

Upland's Lambics are now available for reservation - I've heard nothing but good things about last year's run of lambic. This year they've added a bunch of new flavors - cherry, peach, and kiwi - which join a repeat of last year's varieties - strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry. $15 per bottle.

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Interested in having your events, taps, or new beer inventory listed on Hoosier Beer Geek? It won't cost you anything. Drop us a line at hoosierbeergeek@gmail.com.

Beer Run - Kokomo's Brewpubs

Friday night Knights of the Beer Table Kelly, Gina and Mike made a jaunt up to Kokomo to check out the opening of the Brass Monkey Brewpub. While it was certainly too busy for a full HBG review, we did get to sample the beer.



Left to right: Tenacious Apple Tripel, Double Down Brown, Green Tea Pale Ale

Mike, with the Green Tea Pale Ale: On first look I got a sweet but not cloying nose, with hints of green tea ice cream. After sipping a bit the beer seemed to open up to reveal... strawberry milkshake? To be sure I had Gina and Kelly both sample the beer - they didn't pick up the strawberry hints to start with, but after I mentioned it they both saw where I was coming from. A smooth and creamy mouthfeel didn't shake my shake impressions. Thank you, may I please have another. Kelly: "I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE! I DRINK IT UP!"

Gina, with the Tenacious Apple Tripel: Extremely cloudy with a lot of apple-bit goodness floating around. Couldn't think of a good color match, but camel (like the animal) comes to mind. Head was off-white, and not lingering. Mouthfeel seemed lighter than a typical tripel, and with less of an alcohol punch. Enjoyably drinkable.

Kelly, with the Double Down Brown: Notes coming soon...


Notice that the tap handle mounting holes (technical term) continue off into the left of the picture - plenty of room for more beer on tap

A big crowd for opening night

Since we were in Kokomo anyway, we thought it best to also visit Half Moon Restaurant and Brewery on Kokomo's south side.

Despite both Brewpubs being what you might consider "the little guy", Half Moon has the feel of a business looking to grow into the same sort of chain brewpubs as Rock Bottom or Ram in downtown Indianapolis. Everything from the very professional and laminated menus, to the 14 televisions in my direct line of sight, to the furniture seemed to say that this was the sort of place that could grow into something bigger. The only thing that really said "Kokomo" was the names of the beers - particularly the Kokomonster, which I felt had a slight Oreo cookie/chocolate finish. Could have just been the name reminding me of Cookie Monster, though.



A flight of beer: Pre-Prohibition Pilsner, Wildcat Wheat, Stoplight City Red, Old Ben Brown, Elwood's IPA, Cole Porter - plus two bonus beers: the Hefeweisen, and Kokomonster

Shiny laminated beer menu



We shared the flight of beer amongst the three of us, with us each taking in multiple drinks of each in an effort to determine which one stood out above the others enough to be our favorite. In the end, it was a toss up, as each of the beers were quite tasty. We also ate at Half Moon, and were served portions that left us with plenty of food to take home.

So if you've got a free evening or weekend day, and you want to be amazed by the sheer number of chain restaurants and stoplights that one city can have, a trip up to Kokomo's brewpubs is well worth your time. We hope to get back for a full Roundtable sooner than later.

The Hoosier Beer Geek 6 Pack - Andrew Lewis, Brass Monkey Brewpub

The Hoosier Beer Geek 6 Pack is a feature where we run six questions by the folks behind the scenes at breweries to get a little more insight into what they do and like and how they got their start.

Kokomo, Indiana is becoming another beer hotspot, and so with news that it's about to double its number of brewpubs - and just before their grand opening tomorrow (May 23rd, 4PM) - we've got a little more info from Andrew Lewis at Brass Monkey Brewing Co.

1) Who are you and where do you work?

Andrew Lewis, The Marketplace/Brass Monkey Brewpub

2) What inspired you to start brewing beer? How did you get your start?

I think the main thing that got me going was just a huge appreciation for good beer. I started with a really basic kit I ordered online; I think it was supposed to be a Fat Tire clone. I made it in my kitchen and not only did it taste horrible, but half of the bottles exploded.

3) What's your brewing mission? What are you trying to accomplish with your beer?

My brewing mission is to make unique beers that bring some serious flavor and are still enjoyable to drink. Making something unique is pretty easy to do, all you need is a crazy idea and some unusual ingredients, but that last part is where it gets complicated.

4) Was there a beer that you benchmarked your own against? How did you know your beer was good enough to take to the general public?

I don't tend to look towards just one beer as a benchmark for a style, or I think at best I would just make a good copy of that beer. The first thing I do when coming up with a new recipe is to gather together as many examples of that style as possible. Then I try to pinpoint what it is that I like/dislike about each one. This gives me kind of a starting point for the direction that I want to go in.

5) What beer are you proudest of? Which of your beers is your personal favorite? Why?

The beer that I'm proudest of is the Green Tea Pale Ale. It's got a green tea base and a late kettle addition of grapefruit zest. It goes back to being not only a pretty original idea, but it's also very drinkable.

My favorite beer is Double Down Brown. It's just a very balanced beer with plenty of flavor, my idea of a session beer.

6) Which beers outside of your own do you enjoy? What beer do you wish you came up with? Why?

Bell's, Three Floyd's, Dogfish, Smuttynose, Founders, Hair of the Dog, New Belgium, Dark Horse, Brugge, Barley Island, and tons of others. I tend to be more loyal to certain styles other than specific breweries.

I'd love to be able to say I came up with Three Floyd's Behemoth or Founder's Kentucky Breakfast.

Anything you'd like to add?

Check out brassmonkeybrewing.com.