HBG4 featuring... Bell's and Dark Horse

The lineup of beers at Hoosier Beer Geek's Fourth Anniversary Party continues. And while we are working hard to bring in as many Indiana beers as possible, we couldn't help but have some out of state guests. The next guests come from Michigan...



Bell's Brewery
Kalamazoo, MI

Java Stout
Style: American Stout

From the brewery: Bell's Java Stout lets the satisfying elements of both stout and coffee come together in this full-bodied treat. A marriage of Sumatra's best with rich chocolate and roasted malt provides for a truly enlightening beer.



Dark Horse Brewery
Marshall, MI

Fore Smoked Stout
Style: Oatmeal Stout

From the brewery: Number Fore - Brewed with all malted barley and peat malt (smoked malt). This beer is full bodied with chocolate, roasted barley flavors, and a smokey almost BBQ finish.

Tickets aren't sold out yet - they are available here and at Sun King Brewery (in limited quantities). Here's that beer list again.

Draft:
Sun King Wee Mac Scottish Ale
Sun King Bitter Druid ESB
Sun King Osiris Pale Ale
Sun King Sunlight Creme Ale
Upland Wheat
Ram Big Horn Oktoberfest
Rock Bottom Downtown The Hammer Baltic Porter
Brugge Pooka
Brugge Spider
Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
Rock Bottom College Park Happy Pils
Broad Ripple Brewpub Monon Porter
Bell's Java Stout
Dark Horse Fore Smoked Stout

Bottles:
Lafayette Brewing Co. Tippecanoe Common Ale
Great Divide Double Wit
Stone Brewdog Bashah
Heavy Seas Smoke on the Water
Tyranena La Femme Amere
Schlafly Bourbon Barrel Ale
Schlafly Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
Anchor Humming Ale
Lindemans Faro
Avery Maharaja

Firkin:
Upland Dragonfly (Dry Hopped)

Tamales:
-beef in red sauce tamales (mild)
-chicken in green sauce tamales (mild)
-black beans & cheese in green sauce tamales (vegetarian)
-veggie tamales (potatoes,
zucchini, mushrooms, corn, peas,
onion, tomato, garlic, light jalapenos)
-spicy chipotle beef tamales (hot)
-spicy chicken in green sauce tamales (hot)
-poblano chili and cheese tamales (vegetarian, sometimes hot)
-hot & spicy pork tamales (hot)

Homemade chips, salsa, and guacamole

About HBG4:
It will be held Saturday, August 28th, starting at 6pm. Sun King Brewing will again be hosting us at their brewery at 135 N. College Avenue, Indianapolis. Tickets are $30 (plus $1.99 for online fees) for regular tickets and $20 (plus $1.99 for online fees) for designated drivers. Tickets are available online and at Sun King Brewery and are in limited supply. And yes, the tickets are on sale now.

If you didn't attend last year, you can see what you missed here. But if you did attend last year, you'll find it to be similar. Here is what we have so far (please note that all of this is subject to change).

Regular attendees will receive a commemorative tasting glass that can be used to sample various quality beers from our favorite Indiana breweries as well as a few other breweries. Additionally, you'll be able to select a few larger pours of your favorite beers. Designated drivers will have a selection of non-alcoholic beverages such as soda, pop, cola... whatever regional term you like. And bottled water, of course.

All attendees will get to enjoy food from The Tamale Place. Those of you who have been know how good their food is. And those of you who have not been are in for a treat. There will be a variety of tamale flavors to sample, including vegetarian friendly options.

There will also be chips and salsa and such for your enjoyment all night as well.

And what's a party without gifts? And by gifts, I mean us giving stuff to you! That's right, prizes and giveaways and all sorts of stuff.

We're still filling in all the details, but if you've been to our events, you know it is a good time. And all tickets will be sold online. Tickets are not available at Sun King nor will they be available at the door. So don't miss out.

We appreciate that you follow us for the latest and craziest in the Indiana craft beer world. And we hope you'll come out and celebrate with us our fourth year of tomfoolery.

Greetings From Michigan, A Great Beer State: Stop #1 - Dark Horse Brewing Co.

This past week Gina and I took a couple days off to visit family in Michigan. Of course no vacation is ever complete without enjoying a beer or two, so we also visited a few of Michigan's finer craft beer establishments.



Our first stop was Marshall, Michigan's Dark Horse Brewing Company. You may know of Dark Horse from their distribution in Indiana - beers like Crooked Tree IPA, Reserve Special Black Bier Ale, and Perkulator Coffee Dopplebock.


One thing we've never understood was Dark Horse's scattershot beer packaging. A stop in to their brewpub was all the insight we needed to figure out their marketing philosophy.

Dark Horse's brewpub is the sort of place where bathroom graffiti is appreciated - a Bert's Peppy Grill sort of cobbled together space that is one part Three Floyds, one part biker bar, and one part hunting cabin.


The tap handles are a collection of cast off idols and knickknacks - half a toy horse, what looks like a soft soap dispenser, an idol of Lenin, a Dryad's dildo, a bloody hand in wood, and their more commonly used double barrel shotgun - that pour a varied collection of brews. An Oktoberfest, scotch ale, amber, harvest pale ale, oatmeal stout, and smoked stout joined the aforementioned Crooked Tree IPA and Special Black Bier on tap.


It's obvious that Dark Horse's mug club must is widely supported - you'll notice rows and rows of custom made mugs lining every available space in the bar. Before we left, we noticed a group of folks sitting down at a table towards the back. The waitress walked up and said "the amber?", giving away their "regular" status at the bar. The fact that they were elderly women didn't seem strange at all.


Dark Horse Harvest Pale Ale - This is a cloudy, copper-colored beer, with a milky head and light lacing. The nose is citrusy hops - mostly orange, with a slightly footy note mixed in. The front is bitter but light, backed up with a nice malt balance. The highlight of the beer is the creamy mouthfeel - an element that reminds me of Three Floyd's Apocalypse Cow.


Dark Horse Oktoberfest - The nose on this one is light and bready, and comes from a deep red/almost purple colored brew. The front is grapeish and fruity, but the beer balanced out with a cereal-like malt flavor. This beer has a sugary sweetness that isn't present in most of the oktoberfest beers I've had, which I can appreciate since I'm not the biggest fan of the style.


Dark Horse Black Bier - The beer has a nose of BBQ meat, but the beer is smooth and subtle - a little smokey, a little meaty.

Dark Horse is only 3 and half hours from Indianapolis, and is the perfect start for a weekend Michigan beer trip. Stay tuned for more stops along the way in the next few days.

KOTBR Review #1: Dark Horse Brewery's Sapient Trip Ale

Sapient Trip Ale is belgian tripel (three times the amount of malt used in a regular beer) and a summer seasonal from Dark Horse Brewing Company, located in Marshall, Michigan.

Interesting fact: Sapient means wise & intelligent. Also, it is made with a trappist yeast strain (which means the yeast originates from one the six remaining Trappist - monk - breweries in the world).

The following are the reviews given by HBG's own Knights of the Beer Roundtable:

Chris: This beer has a rather deep amber/golden color, though certainly not opaque. It presents a fresh, fragrant bouquet – something of competing hints of apple/cherry/wood/clove. It appears to be lightly carbonated, though definitely effervescent.

The first taste is very sweet, very fruity, and just a little bit spicy. It has a potent cherry taste to me, giving it a passing resemblance to Unibroue’s Quelque Chose, though not as strong of as that one. The aftertaste is still sweet & fruity, and lingers somewhere in the middle taste buds of my tongue. It feels thin & watery in the mouth, and it is an easy drink.

I must admit that I’m not a big fan of “fruity” beers, so while I wouldn’t put it high on my list, that comes from a personal bias. For someone who likes the sweet and fruit, I would recommend it. I am most intrigued by the label design - what is that? A monk wielding a mailbox like an axe?

Jason: When it comes to beers, I tend to prefer them light and crisp or dark and malty. When it comes to wheat beers, I tend to turn them away on account of the often fruity hints that I find. Banana is my least favorite fruit in the world and it seems to be the most common fruity flavor I find in wheat beers.

While a Tripel isn't necessarily a wheat, it tends to have some similar characteristics, mainly the fruity aroma and taste. The Sapient Trip Ale from Dark Horse Brewing Company is no exception. In the aroma, you find a bit of citrus and a bit of banana. The taste, however, is a little surprising. While I could definitely find some fruity flavors hiding in the back, the taste of clove really overwhelmed them. There is a spiciness found in the back of the throat when you drink it. I also found a great deal of bitterness. Both senses were left as part of the aftertaste, which I did not find appealing.

What I also found was a sweet, sugary flavor left on my lips. The sweet finish isn't surprising since Tripels use Belgian candy sugar in the brewing process. This sweetness balanced out with the spiciness and bitterness. All together, it creates a beer that slightly more light than heavy, slightly more chewy than watery, and slighty more smooth than coarse. Really, and surprisingly, a very balanced beer.

Visually, it was reddish gold in color with a bit of cloudiness to it, a kind of visual mix of wheat and a red ale. It did not have much head or Belgian lace to it though Tripels normally have plenty of both. The label had a monk (makes sense with it being a Belgian style beer) carrying a mailbox (which makes no sense to me).

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good Belgian beer. It harmonious mix of flavors creates a great balance for the beer drinkers palate. While I prefer porters, stouts, and lagers, I wouldn't turn this beer down if it was offered to me again.

Of course, it wouldn't be wise to turn down any beer that's offered to you.

Please note before reading Colleen's review that Jason and I respect the beer. That's Rule #1 of the Hoosier Beer Geek - Respect the Beer. Colleen, obviously, does not respect the beer. Therefore, Colleen is, from this point forward, banned from Roundtables.

Colleen: It tastes good. It tastes like chicken. Chicken is good.

Holding Court

The Knights of the Beer Roundtable held court for the first time yesterday evening, and we rated Sapient Trip Ale from Dark Horse Brewing Company, located in Marshall, Michigan. I'll post our reviews once I receive the final review from Jason. Our first guest 3rd judge was my wife, Colleen. After you read her review, you'll understand why we have decided to nullify her comments, take her out of the guest 3rd judge rotation, and generally ban her from all future Roundtables.

As you can see from the picture, we "warmed up" (a term used by the folks on The Good Beer Show) quite a bit before judging. The milk bottle, alas, was not ours, but was my son's. I started with three Blue Moons before dinner while Jason worked on the remainder of the Mocha Porter I reviewed earlier, then we split a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from 3 Blind Moose over dinner, I continued with an Oberon for desert and I think Jason continued with the Mocha Porter. At this point, Colleen joined in with a Guinness. I think at some point in there, I also had a Sam Adams Scotch Ale & one more try of the Mocha Porter (this time, it had a distinct smoky taste, almost like smoked gouda). Our tastebuds well-lubricated, we drank some water to clense our palates, then moved into the Sapient. Amazingly enough, I didn't have a headache this morning.