Beer and Cheese Club - May 2012

Beer and Cheese Club for May?  Isn't it June?  This is surely what you're asking yourself if you are paying attention, and you would be correct.  Goose the Market actually did us one better this year and released May's Beer and Cheese Club during American Craft Beer Week.  Perfect plan, right?  We thought so, but unfortunately most of us were out of town or preoccupied when it was released!  So here we are in June, reviewing May's selection.  Surely you can find it in your beery hearts to forgive us?

New Albanian is a brewery that most Indiana beer connoisseurs are familiar with.  The brewers of fan favorites such as Hoptimus, Beak's Best and Elector also produce a good number of new beers.  A quick stop by their website or a beer review website will reveal dozens of options.  The latest of their beers to make it into bombers are a pair of brews referred to as Hoosier Daddy (Crimson and Cream) and Black and Bluegrass.  I couldn't fairly review the Crimson and Cream option (Boiler Up), so it's a good thing this month's Beer and Cheese Club pairs nicely with Black and Bluegrass, and interesting beer that is neither black, nor brewed with bluegrass.  Instead, it is brewed with blue agave nectar, black peppercorns and lemongrass -  hence, Black and Bluegrass.

Much as New Albanian is a household name when it comes to Indiana beer, Capriole Farms is equally as familiar in the Indiana cheese world.  The famous producer of chevre can be found in most supermarkets across the city.  Sofia, however, is not your run of the mill soft goat cheese.  This cheese features a soft brie-like rind that encases a thin layer of liquidy goat cheese before giving way to a dense and creamy body.  The marbling is actually ash, and not mold as you might expect.  One taste of this cheese and you'll immediately recognize that this is something special.

If you're a member of the Beer and Cheese Club at Goose the Market, your May installment is ready for you to pick up right now if you haven't already. If you're not a member, the club is $99 for 4 months. This month's delivery includes 2 bottles of Black and Bluegrass and about healthy chunk of Sofia. Either of these items would be great experiences on their own, but we feel they are even better when consumed together.

New Albanian Black and Bluegrass: If I told you that my first sniff of Black and Bluegrass reminded me of lemon pledge, you'd immediately think that was a bad thing. So I won't. But B&B brings some interesting and unique flavors to the beer table. The label says "Ale with blue agave nectar and spices", and those spices - toasted black pepper and lemongrass - really make for an interesting beer. It's not unbalanced, though, as the pale malt provides enough backing to fill out the flavors.

 I forgot what the cheese was called Cheese: Although I don't consider myself a "cheese guy", on occasion we have one that really works for me, and I end up eating more than my fair share. This cheese was one of those. Sliced and smeared onto bread, this creamy capriole was slightly funky, but also really grassy and completely agreeable.

 The beer and cheese in pair provide an earthy/herby melding experience with the beer complimenting and bringing out the creamy elements of the cheese. It's a complimentary pairing for both, as the cheese cuts a bit of the spiciness out of beer.

May's pairings both hail from about 10 miles apart in Southern Indiana. The cheese, Capriole Farms Sofia is a soft goat cheese with a vegetable ash coating. It is tangy, yet subtle and melts in your mouth. It was perfect on bread and none of us could stop eating it, as it was so tasty.

 New Albany's Black and Bluegrass is a saison with worldly influence. Belgian yeast and German hops meet Blue Agave Nectar, lemon grass, and black pepper to form an interesting brew. The flavor reminded me so precisely of how a brewery smells at mash in. It was not as lively as other saisons and it seemed to have a heavier malt influence (at least for a saison), which was perfectly fine by me. A peppery spice finished the drink.

 The beer and cheese were very nice together. I feel like I say it a lot, but pairing was harmonious, the best qualities of each brought out.

I was actually a little bewildered by the presentation of this cheese.  It appeared that it would give way to a blue funkiness, but the aroma suggested otherwise.  Similarly, with a name like Black and Bluegrass, I expected this beer to be black in color.  Instead, Black and Bluegrass poured a deep copper and greeted with with sweet aromas of agave nectar, blueberries and basil.  Blueberries?  I honestly thought that's what the "blue" in this beer was, and even after I learned it was named after blue agave nectar, I could still smell blueberries.  Odd.  The flavor continued this pattern of blueberries, matched with lemon and chamomile that made me think of saison.  A bit of neutral sweetness complimented by brown sugar filled out the body.  There was a soapy characteristic that had me a bit puzzled, but after reading the ingredients I began to associate some aspects of this flavor with lemongrass.

Returning to Sofia, the cheese spreads like you would expect from a nice chevre.  Super creamy and smooth.  My first bite didn't contain any rind, so it quite simply was a rich, creamy goat cheese with a less acidic tangy flavor and more of a cream note.  After sampling a bit with the rind, the oozing exterior brought to mind warm brie complete with everything that implies, but it quickly gave way to more of the creamy goat cheese.  Spreading this on slices of baguette is a simple pleasure that should not be overlooked.

Both the beer and the cheese are incredibly complimentary.  Sofia pulls some of the soapiness out of the beer and makes the lemongrass more obvious.  The spices in the beer transfer seamlessly to the cheese and leave behind an amplified sweetness in the beer.  While the cheese is rich, the effervescence of the beer helps break things up.  Overall, this is definitely one of those combinations that may not slap you in the face with bold flavors, but both delicately balance each other.  I certainly enjoy the beer more with the cheese, and the cheese more with the beer.

To join the Beer and Cheese Club at Goose the Market (in conjunction with Hoosier Beer Geek), check out this PDF and then either call Goose the Market at 317-924-4944 or stop in the shop at 2503 N. Delaware St.

cocktALEs in Retrospect

On April Fools Day, The Ball & Biscuit and its head bartender/operating partner Zach Wilks hosted us and 21 friends for cocktALEs. cocktALEs featured a flight of five beer cocktails, which Zach created with our input on the beer additions.

Our objective in teaming up with Zach was to show other craft beer lovers that beer and liquor are not strange bedfellows. The event made me realize how much I miss having a well-made cocktail. Before I became a beer geek, my drink of choice was usually a Bloody Mary or a dirty martini. But over the past six years, I've become so accustomed to having a good beer in my hand that I usually give no consideration to having a cocktail when I'm out drinking. Yet there I was at cocktALEs, downing each cocktail in the flight quicker than Don Draper swilling highballs at a Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce client meeting gone bad.

Our cocktALEs flight proceeded in the following order:

Mass Ave French 75
Cider Sangria
Mezcal Michelada
HopHattan
Stout Dessert Cocktail

Zach's styling of each cocktail was impressive. He even surprised us by changing the beer ingredient in the French 75, which was supposed to be Sun King Sunlight Cream Ale but was instead New Albanian's Elsa Von Horizon Imperial Pilsner. While the cream ale version that Gina and I tested before the event was delicious, the hop zing of the Elsa added extra sass to the drink's citrus and sugar notes.

I found it difficult to choose a favorite from the flight because all of the cocktails were flavorful. But as a Bloody Mary fan, I had to go with the Mezcal Michelada, which included mezcal, Hoosier Momma Spicy Bloody Mary Maker, and Sun King's Million Dollar Brewski Vienna Lager. This drink is the Mexican cousin of the Bloody Mary; it hit my palate with a peppery and tomatoey kick that mingled well with the smokiness of the mezcal and the malty sweetness of the lager.

When drinking a beer cocktail it's important to remember that beer usually plays a supporting role, very rarely taking a turn as the star. For our menu for cocktALEs, stronger liquors led the way, with the beer giving added dimension to the drink.

Each drink provided an entirely different flavor than the last, but the HopHattan - featuring New Albanian Hoptimus - was perhaps the most surprising, as the aggressive hop flavors of the Imperial IPA were matched by the bold flavors of the accompanying rye. Instead of an overpowering experience, the HopHattan was balanced while still being full-flavored. It's a drink that will make its way to my kitchen often.

I've seen some very recent negative press about beer cocktails and how much people didn't like the idea of them. I'm willing to try anything once, and the Ball and Biscuit set the bar extremely high. I didn't know what to expect, but I've been enjoying really fantastic cocktails at the Ball and Biscuit since they opened, and I went in with an open mind. All of the cocktails were really excellent. My personal favorite was the HopHattan. I already enjoy rye whiskey, and the combination of the rye and Hoptimus paired wonderfully together. The flavor complemented each other and never dominated each other. My other favorite pairing was the cider sangria. It will be perfect for the summer months coming up.

I will always be beer guy, but sometimes you just need to change things up a little bit. All of the drinks were well done and very surprising.

Title: I'll Be Back Zach, or The Ball & Biscuit Haiku

Beer before liquor?
Liquor before beer? Neither.
Beer cocktails instead.

We thank Zach and The Ball & Biscuit for hosting the event and being eager to experiment with these cocktails. We hope we can team up again for cocktALEs 2.

If you'd like to try some of these cocktails at home, Zach was kind enough to put together recipe cards for 4 of the 5 cocktails:

Mezcal Michelada

1.5 oz. Los Nuahales Mezcal
1.5 oz. Vienna lager (Sun King Million Dollar Brewski)
3 oz. Hoosier Momma Spicy Bloody Mary Maker

Mixology: Combine all the ingredients in an ice-filled shaker. Shake well and strain over ice. Top with beer and garnish with lime. A glass with a salted rim is great for this one.

Cider Sangria

.5 oz. Grand Marnier
.5 oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
.5 oz. Applejack (from Huber Winery)
Squeeze of lemon and lime
3 oz. hard apple cider (Magners Irish Cider)

Mixology: Combine all ingredients besides the cider in a shaker with ice. Shake to mix and strain over ice. Top off with cider and stir. Garnish with a wedge of apple. This recipe works best scaled up and served punch style; be sure to add lots of apple, lime, orange and lemon slices.

Mass Ave French 75

1.5 oz. Death's Door Gin
3 tsp. powdered sugar
1 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1.5 oz. Imperial Pilsner (New Albanian Elsa Von Horizon) or Cream Ale (Sun King Sunlight Cream Ale)

Mixology: Combine all the ingredients in an ice-filled shaker. Shake vigorously and strain over ice. Top off with beer and garnish with lemon.

HopHattan

2 oz. Willet rye whiskey
1 oz. sweet Vermouth
1 oz. New Albanian Hoptimus Imperial IPA
3 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 dash of Grenadine.

Mixology: Combine all ingredients in an ice-filled mixing glass. Stir for 30 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with Maraschino cherries.

Unsung Heroes of Indiana Craft Beer - Miscellaneous Session Beers

On January 28, the Brewers of Indiana Guild will stage the fourth annual Winterfest, which will of course feature offerings from Indiana's craft breweries. In honor of Winterfest, we've decided to focus most of our posts this month on Indiana beers.

As part of this focus, we thought it would be a good idea to shine the spotlight on Indiana beers that are overlooked or underrated--the unsung heroes of Indiana craft beer, if you will.

Admittedly, our methods in picking these beers were not scientific. Indeed, some of the beers that we'll talk about have won awards, so calling these beers "unsung heroes" might be a bit of a stretch. Moreover, our list is going to focus on only one beer from each Indiana brewery we discuss, and we may have omitted breweries who brew beers worthy of unsung hero status. So leave us a comment noting any beer that you think should have been included in the list.

In our last installment of this series, we reveal our picks from Indiana's session beers of miscellaneous styles.

Brugge Brasserie White. In our opinion, there's nothing quite like a well-crafted Belgian witbier. Brugge Brasserie's White exemplifies the style, with its melding of citrus tartness and coriander spiciness. We wish the brewery would have this beer on more often, particularly during the summer months when the heat calls for a crisp, thirst-quenching beer. Forget Hoegaarden--Hoosiers have Brugge White.

Lafayette Brewing Tippecanoe Common Ale. If you're looking for a hoppy session beer, Lafayette Brewing's Tippecanoe Common Ale should be high on your list of Indiana beers. We reviewed this flagship brew when we visited the brewery a few years ago. In short, we were quite impressed:

"The Tippecanoe Common Ale is LBC's best selling beer, and it's easy to see why. Hints of grapefruit-like hops are nicely balanced with a tasty caramel back, giving you a hoppy yet complex and extremely sessionable red ale. We all liked this one, and luckily it's bottled, so we were able to bring some home."

"There is a reason why Tippecanoe Common is so popular: it is delicious. This is one of those beers that is well balanced between hops and malts. But it isn't lacking in Amarillo hops, even in the bottle."

New Albanian Community Dark Mild Ale. Not many American breweries are doing an English dark mild ale. Fortunately for Hoosiers, New Albanian is with its medal-winning Community Dark. This is a true session beer, clocking in at 3.7% ABV. What's more, Community Dark does not lack for flavor with its malty chocolate, nut, and molasses notes. Along with Beak's Best, this is one of our go-to beers when we visit the Bank Street Brewhouse. If only NABC sold this beer in bottles.

Previously:
Unsung Heroes of Indiana Craft Beer - Porters and Stouts
Unsung Heroes of Indiana Craft Beer - Brown Ales
Unsung Heroes of Indiana Craft Beer - Pale Ales & IPAs
Unsung Heroes of Indiana Craft Beer - Lagers

Beer Diary #23 | Jim - A Tale of Two IPA's

Date: 10 October 2011
Location: Twenty Tap
Meridian-Kessler/South Broad Ripple

Autumn is here, and the warm weather is soon to depart. This means that at taps all over town, hoppy beers are starting to make way for malty beers. So on a recent visit to Twenty Tap for my monthly book club meeting, I decided to delve into a few hoppier ales before the beer menu there becomes dominated by hearty, maltier offerings.

A quick word about the book club -- it's composed of lit nerds who are also beer geeks. Therefore, we meet each month at a different craft-beer-centric establishment to discuss the book selection for that month. Beer consumption + lit discussion = a fun combination, especially when we talk about a book like The Sparrow, which was our latest selection. If you dig books that focus on the theme of "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People" and you don't mind weird and disturbing twists, you'll like The Sparrow. The book certainly generated some of the liveliest conversation the club has had to date.

Back to the beer. Twenty Tap has two great IPA's on at the moment (well, as of Monday 10/10), both from Indiana brewers, and both of which represent two ends of the IPA spectrum:

People's Space Cowboy: 9.5% ABV if I remember correctly, hopped with Galaxy among a few others. Copper/amber in color. This double IPA stands on the sweet end of the style, with a resinous mouthfeel and huge pineapple notes in the nose and flavor. The sweetness, however, was not cloying and balanced out the hops well. Heavy but amazingly drinkable.

New Albanian Yakima Rye IPA: 7.5% ABV, hopped with Cascade, Centennial, and Columbus. Golden in color. In contrast to Space Cowboy, Yakima is on the dry end of the IPA spectrum. The grapefruit and pine attributes present in the nose and flavor are striking. My notes say "angular" in reference to the flavor. That's the best adjective that I was able to conjure up at the time, but I'm not even sure now what "angular" means. I suppose "bitter" might have been better adjective. But yeah, Yakima carries a powerful hop bite and is delicious. If you miss this beer at Twenty Tap, bombers are still available in town.

HBG5 featuring New Albanian Brewing Company

The lineup for our fifth anniversary is a closely guarded secret. Why? Because we're bad salespeople. NO! Because we like to build anticipation. It's fun watching people freak out. And we think we've got a freak-out worthy lineup coming together. Next up:


New Albanian Brewing Company


Naughty Girl (Struise Colab / Blonde India Pale Ale)
In May of 2011, Urbain Coutteau of De Struise Brouwers (Oostvleteren, Belgium) visited Louisville as the guest of Lori Beck and Tyler Trotter, the founders of Louisville Beer Store and Holy Grale.

After numerous liquid discussions between Urbain, Lori and Tyler, a plan arose for collaboration brews, one at each of New Albanian Brewing Company’s two locations, as described below.

Overview: Brewed at Bank Street Brewhouse (May 8, 2011) by Urbain, David Pierce and Jared Williamson, Naughty Girl is a Belgian India Blonde Ale brewed to a dry finish, with medium body and a very aromatic American hop profile. 74% of the IBUs are from the mash hops and later hop additions.

Malts: Rahr 2-Row, Rahr Premium Pils, Castle (Belgian) Aromatic, CaraPils

Hops: Cascade in the mash (13 lbs whole), two bittering additions of Galena, two middle additions of Golding, late addition of Cascade, Cascade hops (15 lbs pellet) for warm dry-hopping

Yeast: De Struise House Ale

ABV: 6% IBU: 69

This one isn't the easiest beer to get. Luckily I asked way back in May.

You may recall that we interviewed former New Albanian (now Schlafly) brewer Jared Williamson about the beer back then. Here's that interview.



Please remember that this list is tentative and subject to change based on availability. We will keep you updated if anything changes.

About HBG5:
It will be held Saturday, August 27th, 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 $15 (plus $1.99 for online fees) for designated drivers. Tickets are available online only and limited to just 150 paying customers. Like beer festivals? Don't like crowds? This is your event. 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. We can't promise that Jason will be performing from Cats (or will have a mustache). But 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 Papa Roux. Menu coming shortly. There will be vegetarian options.

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.

There are more details coming soon, but here's a reminder of the participating breweries/distributors to wet your whistle -

Barley Island Brewing Company - Barrel-Fermented Rust Belt Porter
Bee Creek Brewing Company - Alien Abduction Wheat
Bier Brewery
Broad Ripple Brewpub
Brugge Brasserie - Superkitty Fantastico!
Cavalier Distributing
Crown Brewing Company
Flat12 Bierwerks
Lafayette Brewing Company
New Albanian Brewing Company - Naughty Girl (Struise Colab)
People's Brewing Company
RAM Brewery
The St. Louis Brewing Company aka Schlafly
Sun King - House Lineup (Osiris, Bitter Druid, Cream, Wee Mac)
Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Company
Upland Brewing Company

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 fifth and perhaps best year of better beer buffoonery.

HBG4 featuring... New Albanian

The lineup of beers at Hoosier Beer Geek's Fourth Anniversary Party continues. We are please to announce that the next brewery at HBG4 is...


New Albanian Brewing Company
New Albany, IN

Jenever
Style: Rye beer...sorta

From the brewery:
Jenever
The horse of the hanged
Hop-free Spice Series

No hops are used in Jenever, recalling the days before the magic cone was the chosen bittering agent in beer. A touch of rye completes the bucolic scene.

Current Recipe:
Malts: Simpsons Golden Promise, Flaked Rye
Spice: Juniper Berries
Yeast: House Ale
OG: 1.056 or 13.84 Plato
ABV: 5%
IBU: 0
Color: 5.0



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
New Albanian Jenever

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.

KOTBR #105 - The Zoo That Is Fountain Square

There are a number of locations around Indianapolis where you can do some serious craft beer drinking. Broad Ripple comes to mind. Downtown. Mass Ave. But a favorite neighborhood for my drinking pleasure has been Fountain Square. While we recently lost our beloved Deano's Vino, several other restaurants and bars have come in with craft beer lists. The majority of joints enjoyed by the artistic and bohemian population have forgone the traditional B/M/C for craft beers from Indiana and from all over America. I would almost nominate Fountain Square as the beer capital of Indiana, except there are no breweries to be had here. Though from what we hear, that will be changing very soon.

But to take a page out of the Mark McGwire playbook, I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to talk about the zoo that Fountain Square has. In particular the lion and rabbit exhibits.


The Red Lion Grog House is the latest British Isles-themed restaurant in Indy. The venue is a long narrow space with high, pressed tin ceilings and a long line of booth spaces along one side. The place was about 3/4 filled but the sound was very lively (i.e. I had a hard time holding a conversation with my companions). The waitresses wore plaid skirts and seemed very attentive. For food, we were only in a munching mood so we just ordered the Scotch eggs (which aren't as good as others, but still damn tasty; it's sausage around an egg, so how could you go wrong?) and the chips and spicy curry sauce (the fries were outstanding and the spicy curry sauce was top notch; if the rest of their food is as good as the fries, this place will be great).

On this night, we opted to go with Indiana beers. And the Red Lion, with their 8 taps, has 5 Indiana beers flowing: 3 Sun King and 2 Upland (plus Jenkins' Ear, which may be from Indiana, or it may not; depends on the day). We opted for the Indiana beer that went best with the Grog House's theme: Sun King's Wee Mac Scottish Ale. The clear copper/amber beer has a malty nose (I get hints of coffee) with a roasted malt flavor. Because the Sun King boys like their hops, you end up with a slight bite in the back of the mouth and throat. It has a clean mouthfeel, so it is an easy beer to drink. There are not a whole lot of Scottish Ales from Indiana readily available. The most well known is probably Three Floyds Robert the Bruce, which Hoosier Beer Geek reviewed early on. It did not rate favorably. And honestly, it is not a favorite beer of mine. Or a favorite style for that matter. But this is probably my favorite Scottish Ale.


This is the first of the four regular Sun King beers we have reviewed. Of the four, this is my least favorite. But it is still enjoyable, especially with the fried foods of the Red Lion.

The next stop of the evening is the petting zoo of Fountain Square, where interaction with others is a requirement, along with an ID that states you are 21 years of age. The White Rabbit Cabaret is, in fact, a functioning performance venue as well as a bar. The wide space has some comfortable chairs and couches as you enter, followed by a couple dozen round tables with chairs, and then a stage. There is a bar along one wall. We just so happened to arrive on Burlesque Bingo night, which adds even more to the zoo theme we had going. Bingo was called by a dirty clown with a Beetlejuice vibe. He was assisted by his brother, a mime, and between songs, a burlesque dancer did her thing. I could go on and on about how funny this shit was. But again, to paraphrase the Big Mac, I'm not here to talk about that.


The White Rabbit has four taps pouring three craft beers and PBR (at damn fine prices, I might add; the bottle list is great too). Sticking with Indiana beers (and continuing the zoo theme), we opted for a New Albanian Beak's Best (you know, beak... bird... birds have beaks...okay, I'm reaching. So what?). This American take on the English Bitter style has become one of my favorite go-to beers. It has a clean nose, a sweet first taste, and a hop punch that follows. Much like Sun King's Wee Mac, it is a highly sessionable beer. Especially if you drink like an elephant.

No, I don't even know what that means.

Although I consider myself an equal opportunity neighborhood visitor, it seems that more often than not, when sitting down for a beer, I'll find myself in Fountain Square. The impending death of Deano's pushed Gina and I across the street to Imbibe, a perch from which we regularly discuss the further development of the neighborhood and the ongoing influence of craft beer in the area.

On such development is/was the Red Lion Grog House - first noticed back in October of 2009 - a bar/restaurant that now has a few months under its belt. Previously known as the Red Lion Grog-less House due to a liquor license mix-up, the Red Lion now has a fully filled-out beer menu that focuses mainly on the typical suspects from across the pond.

The prospect of a god-knows-how-old Newcastle isn't enough to draw me into a place, and although Fountain Square's English pub box was previously unchecked, the Red Lion has plenty of worthy competition throughout the city - MacNiven's, Chatham Tap, Union Jack, and the Broad Ripple Brewpub all come to mind. Nevertheless, the formula has proven to be a good one, and I'll never complain about having another place to watch the English Premier League.

Does the Red Lion stand out? I'm not sure. The food was fair (though we didn't eat much), the beer menu is true to style but lacking in variety or creativity, and the space seemed loud. On the plus side, our server was more than attentive and the beer from Sun King hit a sweet spot. As a Fountain Square regular, I will revisit the Red Lion. I just don't know that I'd go out of my way for it.

As for the beer, if you're reading this site you've heard plenty about Sun King already. There's even a pretty strong chance that you've had SK's Wee Mac Scottish. The beer is the color of sweet tea, with very light lacing and a minimal head.

I picked up elements of tootsie roll sweetness from the nose, which was followed up with a malty sweetness throughout. The beer is highly drinkable - I'm not generally a fan of Scottish Ales, but I am a fan of this beer. 3.91 Mugs.

From the Red Lion we headed across the street and around the corner to The White Rabbit Cabaret. Going in, I knew nothing about the Cabaret, apart from the fact that I thought, "I don't like Cabaret". So once we settled in and realized that we were about to see an act, my first thought was "let's drink this beer and get the hell out of here."


But before we knew it, Burlesque Bingo started.

My notes aren't extensive, but feature the line "this is the most bizarre thing I have ever personally witnessed, and that's a good thing." Gina and Jason will cover the evening's events further than I will, but it's safe to say that I won't miss the next round of bingo at White Rabbit.


To accompany the entertainment we settled in for a pint or two of New Albanian's Beak's Best. The beer features a sweet malty front that's immediately chased off by a bitter bite. The nose is malty grainy goodness, and the beer tastes like a good brewery smells. It's a beer that's bitter in the best way. 3.99 Mugs.

I have a confession. I am head over heels in love with Fountain Square. You might even say that I am happy as a lark to be talking about it. It has an amazing collection of cool bars, super-friendly people, and an extremely cool art scene. We experienced all of that in our most recent trip.

At the Red Lion Grog House, none of us were hungry as horses so we grabbed a few appetizers and settled in to pick our beer for review. We decided that it was time to review a beer from our friends at Sun King Brewery and this time, we picked the Wee Mac. This beer holds a special place in my heart not just because it is the base for the Java Mac, but because I had the most awesome opportunity to brew a batch of this beer with Dave Colt one day last December.

The Wee Mac is a deliciously sessionable Scottish ale that is easy to find around town and is pretty consistently found in the tasting room at the brewery. The flavor is rich and malty with a sweet zing. It makes me proud as a peacock to be friends with the wonderful people behind this brewery. 3.45 Mugs.


After the Grog House we made our way over to the White Rabbit Cabaret. I didn't know a single thing about this place before we set foot in the door. To be completely honest, I felt meek as a lamb in there, a little uncomfortable even. If we had drunk our beer and got out of there as quick as a fox, it wouldn't have bothered me at all. The first thing I noticed as we sat down was that there was going to be an event starting any minute. Something called Burlesque Bingo.

By the time the show was less than an hour in, the crowd was getting wild and the host was being mean as a snake! If you told me he was somehow the bastard child of Emmett Kelly and Beetlejuice, I wouldn't be surprised. The show continued on and I found myself completely in love with the atmosphere. Seriously, like shout it from the mountaintops kind of love. I can't wait for the next Burlesque Bingo. If you're as wise as an owl, you'll join us next Wednesday (6/9 at 9pm) and see for yourself!


The taps at the Cabaret were as impressive as the show. A small group of taps, but enough choices available for any need. We chose Beak's Best from New Albanian Brewing Co. Another brewery that we Hoosiers can be proud to call our own, NABC regularly serves up one of the best collections of beer in the state.


The bitterness in Beak's Best reminds me of a refreshing glass of iced tea. The citrusy hops dance with the caramel malt, and the beer finishes with a balanced mix of the two. At 5.5% ABV, it's sessionable like Wee Mac, but it's so tasty that it could get you drunk as a skunk if you're not careful. 3.3 Mugs.

We didn't though. It was late, but we were enjoying the night. The only thing that would have made me as mad as a wet hen would be if we had left without stopping to see Brian at Imbibe. We took a spot at the bar and sipped our last nightcap as slow as a snail.

Sun King Wee Mac Scottish
Mike: 3.91 Mugs | Gina: 3.45 Mugs | Jason: 3.65 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.66 Mugs

New Albanian Beak's Best Bitter
Mike: 3.99 Mugs | Gina: 3.3 Mugs | Jason: 4.3 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.86 Mugs

KOTBR #100: Many Thanks

It all started three and a half years ago, when my good friend Christopher posted this:

“Welcome, fellow beer geeks! I've decided to create this blog to advance the good taste of beer drinkers everywhere! Headquartered in the Circle City, we will strive to educate the masses on what good beer really is! Or, we can just say screw all the "Lite" piss drinkers, and keep the good stuff for ourselves!”

At the time, Hoosier Beer Geek was going to be a personal beer diary. One man’s journey into craft beer. But when I suggested that we could invite other bloggers out to drink craft beer, or as I put it, a gathering of the “Knights of the Beer Roundtable”, we had no idea the path we had laid out for ourselves.

Our first roundtable was at Chris’ house. It was Chris, his wife, and myself. Neither Chris nor myself were beer experts, so we stumbled our way through a review of Dark Horse’s Sapient Trip Ale. His wife Colleen, however, didn’t try very hard.

“It tastes good. It tastes like chicken. Chicken is good.”

She was promptly demoted from Knighthood.


We had put out feelers for others who would be interested in becoming knights. The first to answer the higher calling was an author of a favorite blog of ours, “11 a.m. Air Raid”, still one of the best names for an Indianapolis blog ever. His name was Jim. So Chris, Jim, and myself went to the Rathskeller, where we reviewed Spaten Optimator, which was one of Chris’s favorites.

At roundtable #3, held at MacNiven’s, Chris and Jim decided to add a mug rating to their beer reviews. So Three Floyds’ Robert the Bruce has the distinct honor of being the first beer that Hoosier Beer Geek has rated.

Roundtable #6, I introduce some very creative writing to Hoosier Beer Geek: a very long haiku poem in honor of HopSlam, the beer that turned me into a hop head.

It was around this time that the young website started to receive attention. We made it on Indianapolis Monthly’s list of Indianapolis blogs. One of the weekly papers included us on their list of blogs. We were on a podcast. In short, we were on a roll. A bunch of know-nothings being cited by others for our reviews and knowledge on craft beer in Indiana. We had them fooled.

We added Mike at roundtable #15: Bell’s Oberon. It wasn’t too long after this that Mike created our iconic Hoosier Beer Geek logo. A logo that would later lead to dealings with lawyers and a summons to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Gina was officially installed at roundtable #23: New Belgium Brewery. And then we had our first anniversary party. And were shocked to see who all came out. Nearly fifty people. We had no idea that we had that many readers. We gave Dogfish Head 90 minute a perfect 5 mug rating. We’ve received some grief from others since then, but I have no regrets. But it explains why we don’t normally rate beers during anniversary parties: we’re having such a good time, we’d probably rate everything 5 mugs.


We were having fun. We were enjoying the company. And then in January 2008, we lost our founder Chris. He didn’t die or anything. But life was pulling him in multiple directions and he had to let go of something. At that point, what little bit of “Chris’s personal beer blog” that was left was now gone.

From that point forward, Hoosier Beer Geek was its own thing. A Voltron-like creature made up of many, but acting as one, with the sole purpose of slaying macro-brews and defending craft brewing in Indiana.

Our often imitated but never duplicated Six Pack interviews have been around since July of 2007. The first Random Beer Roundup came around in January of 2008. And we helped the Brewers of Indiana Guild with their first Winterfest.

We’ve had other Knights come and go, including Kelly and Matt #1. But we added four more to our group over the summer of 2008: Chris (formerly New Chris), Matt (formerly Matt #2), Rod (formerly, and currently, the weird bearded guy), and Jess (formerly, and currently, the gal with the weird bearded guy).

So now there are eight. And anymore, I see it less as eight individuals making up one being as it is one being controlling eight lives. Hoosier Beer Geek is like an octopus with hand puppets.

I find it amazing to think that three and a half years later, we’ve had 100 roundtables. 100 opportunities to hang out with friends. 100 opportunities to drink different beers. 100 opportunities to share with everyone else.

It has been an incredibly fun ride that shows no signs of stopping. And I’m looking forward to seeing what will change during the next century of roundtables. I want to thank everybody who has ever read our website, attended our events, or volunteered at a festival. I want to thank everybody who has invited us into their home, into their work, into their bars, into their breweries, to share their beer and their stories. And I want to thank my fellow Knights, active and retired, for their hard work and their friendship. You have no idea how much all of this means to me.

So…what are we drinking at roundtable #101?


A little less than 10 years ago I jumped in a car with a buddy and picked out a southside apartment in Indianapolis, a city I knew absolutely nothing about. A month or so later my girlfriend joined me. And for something like six years after that, we spent weekends either driving back and forth between St. Louis and Indy to hang out with old friends, or in the aisles at Target. That was our social life.

Somewhere in that six year window I started blogging, found Jim's blog, and somehow we struck up some sort of regular online conversation. Eventually he invited me out to join him and a couple other blog people to drink some beer. I was apprehensive, but Jim had turned me onto Brugge Brasserie. He seemed trustworthy enough.

A little bit nervous, I decided to join he and his friends. Surprisingly enough, Jim looked nothing like Rafa Benitez.

A couple weeks later, I introduced myself to a small but growing audience:

Somewhere between the sort of reviews that the other folks write and "Man, I was so trashed last night" lies a sweet spot, where those of us who don't know hops from barley live. I'm going to attempt to write from that place, because I've really got no business writing about beer anyway.

Three years later I was interviewed by the Indianapolis Star about Super Bowl food and beer pairing.


A conversation that always sticks with me is one I had with Aaron Renn (otherwise known at The Urbanophile). Over a pint at BW3's downtown, he talked about the differences between Chicago and Indianapolis.

"You couldn't do what you guys are doing in Chicago," he said. "The culture is already created. You can live in Chicago and enjoy the cultural opportunities that someone else created, and there's nothing wrong with that. But in Indianapolis you can create the culture."

I don't know if we can create the culture, but we can shine a light on it. And maybe it's a naive thing to think you can enrich someone's life just by drinking and writing about beer. But I know that once upon a time I was on the outside looking in, and it sure as hell worked for me.

Thanks for the help along the way.


I wish I could express how much it means to me to be in this group. It wasn't supposed to be that way in the beginning, but the first sip of Oaken Barrel's Snake Pit Porter and conversation about 80's movies with Chris, Jason, and Mike and I was hooked. I couldn't (and still can't) get enough. I've learned so much about beer in the past three years, and I feel that for every new bit of information there are a hundred new things just on the horizon. I can't wait to spend the next hundred roundtables with the Knights learning about all of them.

Thanks to everyone who made these three+ years possible. Thanks to everyone who was kind, offered guidance, support, and the occasional beer, of course. Thanks to everyone who participates in and reads the Roundups on Fridays. Thanks for reading our content and laughing along with us.

Thanks to Colleen, Dani, Annie, Sarah, and Claire for not thinking we are nuts. At least not too often.
Cheers!


Digging up 11 a.m. Air Raid? Wow, I didn’t think we were on an archeological expedition, but thanks for resurrecting one of my many dead blogs. Oh, and five dollars to the first person who can tell me who Rafa Benitez is without consulting Google or Wikipedia.

Okay, I have no way of really telling if you Googled Rafa Benitez. But what I can tell is that these 3 ½ years of membership in the Knights of the Beer Roundtable have been a truly rewarding experience for two reasons. First, I know a lot more about craft beer than I used to. On that summer night in 2006 at the Rathskeller, when I first met up with Chris and Jason, I wasn’t conversant in beer topics like styles, hop varieties, IBUs, original gravity, firkins, hand-pulls, mouthfeel, etc. But I knew that I liked flavorful beer and enjoyed conversation with like-minded people. I was confident that my affinity for those things might lead somewhere interesting, valuable, and fun. And that it did.


Second, I’ve forged some wonderful friendships with all of the past and present KOTBR. These are friendships that I didn’t anticipate, but they are perhaps the biggest and best reward that’s come out of being part of Hoosier Beer Geek. To be sure, Jason likes Grover Washington Jr.’s music a little too much for my taste, and he thinks that The Breakfast Club is a chick flick, but I forgive him for both of those transgressions. And while Rod tends to frighten small children when we’re out at roundtables (just look at him in the background of this picture and you’ll understand why), we still like having him around. Thank you, my fellow Knights, for your treasured camaraderie. You bring this old man much laughter and joy.

So I suppose that one of us should say something about Roundtable 100, eh? Well, let’s just say that our bus trip to New Albany was a fantastic experience. And so, we come to the Oscar part of our program—


We had several benefactors for the bus trip down and back, and we owe them our thanks. First, a thank you goes to Clay Robinson and his comrades at Sun King, who supplied us with beverages to whet our appetites for the beer to come in New Albany. Second, thanks to the fine gentlemen from A Taste of Philly, who supplied us with delicious Philadelphia-style pretzels (lightly salted, in chains of three; in other words, pretzels done up the proper way). Third, thanks to auteur extraordinaire Simon Pegg, who provided us with the entertainment as we watched Shaun of the Dead on the way to New Albany and Hot Fuzz on the way back to Indy. And finally, a thanks to our bus driver Dale, who was a great sport through the whole trip.

For our New Albanian Brewing Company experience proper, we’d like to give a heart-felt thanks to Roger Baylor and the rest of the NABC crew, who treated us like kings and queens, providing us with delectable cuisine and NABC’s fine house brews at the Bank Street Brewhouse and high gravity home runs at the Public House (I suggest that you order the 2007 BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien while it’s still on tap). Roger and Co., your beers never disappoint! We also extend a very special thanks to our server at the Public House, Sarah, who had a heavy burden to carry with 50+ beer geeks to take care of, but she did it with aplomb.

Many, many thanks to my wife, Annie, for allowing and encouraging me to indulge in this little beer hobby of mine. While she may not have a love for craft beer to the extent that I do, she certainly understands my need to explore that world. Babe, I cannot thank you enough.

Thanks to all of you fellow beer geeks who accompanied us on this trip. We hope that you found the trip worthwhile and pleasing to your palates, and we hope that we can do similar events in the future.

Lastly, thanks to our readers, who help keep this HBG boat afloat. Without you, we'd be screaming our love for craft beer into the void.

By the way, in case you were wondering, Rafa Benitez is the current manager of Liverpool FC (but probably not after this current English Premier League season given Liverpool’s current form).


I've been there since almost beginning following Hoosier Beer Geek, and I attended many events before I was asked to in HBG. All I knew was that I loved great beer, and I am very honored to have been asked to be in such a great group of like minded beer people. I really didn't think I would forge such great friendships with the other knights as I have, but once again the power of beer has brought us all together. It has been exciting watching more and more people come to craft beer events, and I am ecstatic over the success of Indiana brewers. The craft beer community has no where to go but up in Indiana, and watching craft beer grow with this group of people is something I very much look forward too.

I just want to say a huge thank you to the craft beer community in Indiana. They have been more than generous to us as a group, and it feels like everyone is on the same page to get more people into great beer.


Thank you to Clay Robinson and Sun King for the beer on our trip to New Albany, a big thank you to Roger Baylor for letting us come to Bank Street (get there if you haven't) and for taking great care of us at the Public House.

Readers of this blog, volunteers, and people who support craft beer in Indiana a huge THANK YOU! I hope to keep meeting more and more people that want more from their beer, and hopefully you will come and share a beer with us when you have the chance before Roundtable 200.

I don't even know why I'm here. My only blogging experience is writing for Jess and I's wedding blog, that just happened to include trips to GABF, articles on brewer's dinners and other miscellaneous beer happenings and news. In retrospect, I'm surprised that my Grandma kept reading it. I'm convinced that by attending the Neal Brown and Ted Miller Craft Beer and Food Symposium I defaulted my way into the group. Outside of being one of the few regular commenters on the blog, I think that was my first experience with the Hoosier Beer Geeks. By the way, you guys were totally anti-social. Luckily Chris and his wife Claire sat at our table and were very friendly. Surprise, Chris is a Hoosier Beer Geek now too! I like to tell myself that we're all slightly less anti-social today. Oh, and do I have to return my 2008 World Class beer calendar I won in the comments since now I'm a part of the group and technically ineligible to win our prizes?

I must say that I'm glad I'm here. I've been fascinated by craft beer ever since I turned 21, and I feel like I learn more every year. From homebrewing to food pairings, I strive to educate myself on every possible aspect of beer and Hoosier Beer Geek gives me the privilege of sharing that education with the rest of the internet. Plus the opportunity to hang out with a lot of brewers. I think the mix of personalities creates an incredibly dynamic group, and our diverse tastes prevent that 90 minute fiasco from every happening again; mostly in part to Jason hating sour beers. We have one of the greatest collection of readers I have ever seen and every time we meet up at events I am reminded of that. Beer really does bring awesome people together.

Now that we've hit 100 roundtables, I look back at the way the blog has evolved over the years and I don't think it's too arrogant to say that we've really created something unique. In a sea of beer blogs, we've struck some kind of weird balance between casual craft drinkers and geeked out beer nerds. It seems that we provide a little bit of something for everyone, whether you like long-winded reviews, weekly updates on the latest beer happenings in Indiana, or simply a nice bad haiku. I'm proud to say I'm a part of the greatest crap blog about beer I've ever read.


I think my experience is similar to Rodney's in that we were writing our wedding blog that somehow started being about homebrewing and all the beer dinners we were going to and then one day we got this e-mail from Mike asking us to be a part of that crap blog we commented on about beer.

Growing up my dad always had a keg of Hudy Delite (we're from Cincinnati) or Miller Lite on tap so it wasn't always about craft beer for me. As my tastes have changed though, I've gone from drinking Brigade Light from a can (and thinking a keg of Honey Brown was the "good stuff") in college to falling in love with Rauchbier at the source in Bamberg (Germany). I'm glad I've had this experience to join up with like minded individuals and try many more beers than what I would have had access to on my own.

Thanks to all the other beer geeks for broadening my horizons; to all of their significant others for putting up with all of our nights out and to all of our readers for putting up with this crap blog over the last couple of years.


My path to writing for Hoosier Beer Geek began at a Deano's Vino party. Hoosier Beer Geek was one of my favorite blogs and I was a frequent early commenter, so when they announced they were having a public party, I had to attend. At one point I finally got the courage to speak to Jason, whose Circle and Squares blog was also a must-stop for me. He asked what my posting name was and if I had my own blog. Sheepishly, I said no, as if that made me less of a geek than the rest. It didn't really matter -- Jason was just being conversational. But a seed had been planted. Why didn't I have a blog? If I started one, what the hell would I write about? I liked beer....I liked following construction projects....and I liked electronics....DIG-B was born.

I wrote about lots of stuff, almost daily for a while, and most posts were pictures of construction projects or about beers on tap at bars that I went to far too often. Somehow, people were actually interested in reading that combination. Eventually, Hoosier Beer Geek decided it was time to pull a Microsoft and kill off all the local beer blog competition by absorbing all the competition. For some reason, they were even interested in a blog that was only one-third-ish about beer. How monopolistic!


Thanks to my fellow Knights for the good times and their friendship. It's a funny thing that such a personal experience as logging thoughts on the web can produce such meaningful relationships with other people. Another strange power of beer.

Finally, thanks to everybody who puts up with our crazy, frequently long-winded posts. In marking this occasion, you'll have to forgive us this particularly long one! But how's about this: if you actually make it to this sentence, let us know in the comments if you have any favorite memories of past HBG events or posts and we'll give away a prize to one lucky commenter.