Random summary of beer

I recognize that I'm not so good about posting much anymore. When work and school doesn't have my attention, it goes to my family. And rightfully so. But I still love beer, and bringing you news about good beer. I have to apologize to my fellow Knights for not being so prompt on stuff these days.

So this is my summary of what should be several different posts.

1. Muncie rocked. We had a great time hanging out with our friends on the Good Beer Show. We're show #128, which I'm guessing will go up sometime this week. We drank a lot of high ABV beers, none of which I thought were bad. Mike told you what they are in his post. The Fickle Peach and the Heorot are both cool, and you have to check em out. Thanks Jeffrey T., Traci and the Gang! And thanks Mike for driving home!

2. I'm not too sad that I didn't get to participate in the Retro Beer Challenge Round 1. Although, Rolling Rock was the very first beer that I liked enough to finish. 11 years ago - how's that for retro? How sad is that? Dos Equis was the 2nd. Thanks Old Latrobe, PA!

3. BadaBoomz has almost free valet parking now. It's free if your bill is $30 or more. Otherwise, it's only $2. Thanks Mike!

4. Deano's is hosting Brat-toberfest on Saturday, September 15th. Music, beer, brats. What more could you ask for? Oh, yeah, we'll be there, too. On a side note, I've now hung out a Deano's the last two Friday nights, and I've just come to re-appreciate what good shits they are there. Thanks Deano, Jody, Nick, Laura, and Michelle!!

5. The Hop Shop has Bell's Batch 8000 in six packs for $13.49, Two Brothers Heliocentric Bragot in a 22oz. for $6.49, and Upland Lambics in 750 mLs for $14.99. If you don't know, The Hop Shop also has free beer tastings every Saturday until 8pm. Thanks Courtney!

6. When Jason and I were in Chicago on Monday for a Cubs vs. Cardinals, White Sox vs. Royals double header, we first stopped at this fantastic beer store in Wrigleyville. It was awesome! My favorite purchase was something I can't get in Indiana, but is one my new top three favorite beers in the whole world - Racer 5 IPA by Bear Republic in Healdsburg, CA. I bought a lot of beer. So did Jason. We now have a lot of beer. Thanks Binny's and Bear Republic!

7. My very favorite beer of all-time is the Optimator. Thanks Spaten!

I think that's all for now.

Hops for Pops

As I mentioned last week, The Hop Shop and Dads Inc. were planning to team up to offer a large charity beer festival in the spring, with all proceeds going to Dads Inc. Courtney and I met on Monday to finalize some ideas and start some others.

Hops for Pops (only the working name - please, please suggest some others!) will take place on the afternoon of Saturday, April 19, 2008, most likely in the outlots of where The Hop Shop is located. We know this is the same day as the Race for the Cure, but their thing is in the morning, so we're hoping that after all the walking and running, those people will want to come up and drink some good beer! We're going to try for all the in-state breweries, and some of our favorites from the midwest, the nation, and one or two foreigners.

We want to do a few things differently than most beer fests - we really want to use this event for good beer education, too. One idea we're kicking around is having a Brewers Roundtable, and some other events that highlight the craft beer industry.

Tickets for the event will probably be $25 in advance, $30 at the door, with a special low price for DDs. We will also probably do I VIP ticket that will get you into the Roundtable and few other things. Just put it on your calendars, and as I get more info, I'll pass it on.

Clipper City Brewing Co. Tasting at The Hop Shop

If you're not making it out to the Brew-Ha-Ha, and perhaps even if you are, you've got an opportunity to get some Northside daytime drinking in on Saturday. From 11am - 1pm, representatives from the Clipper City Brewing Co. will be at The Hop Shop to sample some of their fine brews and answer any questions you may have.

The Knights of the Beer Roundtable reviewed Clipper City's Red Sky at Night for our session with INTake, and we all liked it, so this tasting comes recommended. Tell Courtney that Hoosier Beer Geek sent you for absolutely no discount whatsoever.

New Beer Festival on the Horizon

This isn't official yet, but both parties will be meeting next week to talk logistics and are interested in moving forward. It looks like Dads, Inc. - as you all know is my non-profit - is going to team up with The Hop Shop again, but this time to host a microbrew festival sometime in the early Spring of next year. This would be a charity event, similar to this Saturday's Brew-Ha-Ha is for The Phoenix Theater, with proceeds from the event going to Dads, Inc. Again, I don't have many details as of right now and it isn't official, but as soon as it is, I'll post the specifics.

Eight Beers. Four Words.

Since our Tuesday night roundable has been discussed in depth below, and since I have the unenviable position of following the brilliant haiku reviews, I give you (at Jim's request) the four-word beer review:

Brooklyn Summer Ale -- Sigh. Disappointed. Pretty gross.

Dogfish Head Burton Baton -- Campfire smoke. Alcohol burn.

Fraoch Heather Ale -- Light! Flowery! Girly! Good!

Clipper City Red Sky at Night -- Yeasty, peppery. Butt kicker.

Dogfish Head Aprihop -- Delicately fruity. My favorite.

Warbird Thunderbolt Wheat -- Hometown love. Okay taste.

Unibroue 16 -- Complex but not overwhelming.

Black Dog Ale -- No thanks. Sobering up.

Thanks again to the Hop Shop for the hospitality and to Jim Walker at INtake for the company.

Back by popular demand, a beer review done in style of haiku

It takes many cells
of brain to write in haiku.
I have so few left.

But will try my best
to give you, the reader, eight
good haiku reviews

If Brooklyn in the
summer tastes like this, I am
staying home this year.

Burton Baton is
a good scotch; incognito,
disguised as a beer.

What the Fraoch? This is
beer? More like a stroll through the
Highlands in the spring.

What does a sailors
delight have to do with a
farmhouse saison ale?

You can sip it; you
can swig it; you can gulp and
swig it: Aprihop.

Off we go to drink
the Warbird Thunder; high on
wheat, tastes like the sun.

Unibroue sixteen:
the real champaign of beer.
So sorry high life.

Black dog ale is not
a bad dog ale; be no bad
dogs, just bad owners.

Last review was lame;
so were my taste buds after
seven beers were gone.

Used chance to make a
social statement; like Bob said
"Spay or Neuter Pets."

Little glasses o' beer - The Hop Shop

I'm not going to rehash Mike's post about our roundtable at the Hop Shop. Suffice it to say that, like Mike, I thank Courtney of the Hop Shop for his beer sagacity and Jim Walker from INtake for hanging out with us to see how we do things. And wouldn't you know it, for this roundtable, we did things completely differently from the way that we normally do them. Sorry for switching up on you, Jim. I hope you had a good time and were enlightened nonetheless.

Mike's four-word review method was indeed my idea, but I have to confess that it was an idea that I stole from the music industry website Coolfer. So while I'm not completely original in my thinking, I stole the idea because I thought that it would be an easy way to review the murderer's row of beers that we plowed through last night.

Before I hit the four-word reviews, the "Little glasses o' beer" in the post title refers to the way that we drank last night. Normally, we each consume at least one full pint of the feature beer. But since we sampled so many last night, Courtney was kind enough to break out beer sampler glasses for us. We did things in small doses, which was a great way to go.

On with the show . . .

Brooklyn Brewery Summer Ale - You ain't no Oberon.
Dogfish Head Burton Baton - A perfectly peppery finish.
Fraoch Heather Ale - S***, I'm drinking grass.
Clipper City Red Sky at Night - Delightful Belgian farmhouse ale.
Dogfish Head Aprihop - Wow, this stuff rocks!
Warbird Thunderbolt Wheat - A good summertime choice.
Unibroue 16 - Stupendous, mysterious Belgian-style ale.
Black Dog Ale - Dark, smoky, altogether malty.

Hop Shop Publicity Stop

Last evening, the beer geeks met up at The Hop Shop for a beer conversation with owner Courtney and Jim Walker from INtake. Knowing that this had the possibilities of being my new five minutes of fame (replacing the time I made it onto the field at a St. Louis Steamers indoor soccer game at the age of 10), I made sure to wear a nice shirt.

Jim asked us to behave as we normally do at a meetup, and this proved to be a little difficult; We don't have a very specific formula. We all decided to chose a warm-up beer and go from there.

If you haven't been to the Hop Shop, then you're in for a treat - shelves upon shelves of brews from all over the place, with individual samples available for each beer. Want to try six different beers? Make your own six pack and receive a 7% discount on the price of the six individual bottles.

The very expansive selection made choosing a warm up beer quite a task, but eventually I settled on Spaten's Optimator, a highly regarded beer that I had yet to try. Into the cooler it went, along with the following:

Brooklyn Summer Ale
Dogfish Head Burton Baton
Fraoch Heather Ale
Clipper City Red Sky at Night
Dogfish Head Aprihop
Warbird Thunderbolt Wheat
Unibroue 16
Black Dog Ale

As it turns out, I didn't make it to my warm-up beer until the end of the night; Courtney took the lead and led us on a beer tour de force, with lessons in history and chemistry along the way. It was quite the learning experience.

Normally, we try to at least pretend we're accomplishing something. But last night we were basically just drinking. Once we had reached the end of our samples, we decided to write what stuck with us. HBG Jim (I think...) suggested four word reviews. I'll give that a shot.

Brooklyn Summer Ale: I've certainly had better.
Dogfish Head Burton Baton: See also Conquest Ale.
Fraoch Heather Ale: This one? Mashed Potatoes.
Clipper City Red Sky at Night: So.. was this red?
Dogfish Head Aprihop: I'd try this again.
Warbird Thunderbolt Wheat: Airplanes! Indiana! Sheet-Metal Blonde!
Unibroue 16: Nice work, Uni Dudes.
Black Dog Ale: I now remember nothing.

So there you have it. 4 word reviews (almost). Hopefully you can make out which beers I liked.

Thanks to Courtney at the Hop Shop for the beer lessons, and to Jim at INtake for the exposure.

Oberon is coming (just not soon enough)

Ah, I know you all felt summer in the air this week. On Tuesday, it was so nice that Jason hosted a cook-out. And definitely in the mood for summer, I called Courtney to see if he had any Oberon in yet. Unfortunately, The Taste of Summer won't ship until March 25. So if this wonderful warm weather has you smacking your lips, you have to wait a couple more weeks.

Drink Hoosier Brews for the Colts

OK, we had to find some way to bring our love of football into our writing about beer. So I just want to tell you about the special this week at The Hop Shop. In honor of the ass-beating that the Colts are about to lay on the Patsies, Courtney is offering the following:

10% off Mix & Match any 6 Indiana microbrew 12oz singles
take 10% off regular price (normally 5%)

Mix & Match any 12 Indiana microbrew 12 oz. singles
take 15% off regular price (normally 10%)

KOTBR Review #9: Rogue's Santa's Private Reserve Ale

OK, it's pretty much official. Deano's has become the official watering hole of the Hoosier Beer Geek and the Knights of the Beer Roundtable. We feel completely at home. We like it. We love it. We want some more of it. Now, I will still buy my six packs at The Hop Shop. And I'm waiting on Courtney to invite us to belly-up to the tasting bar one night, and when he does, we'll sure go. But until then, I think our reviews will be coming to you from Deano's.

Now that's out of the way.

We met up last week to do our first annual Holiday Review. We say "holiday" because we had also planned on some Hanukkah beers from Schmaltz, but, alas, Nick the Bartender was out. So we just stuck with a Christmas beer - Rogue's Santa's Private Reserve Ale.

We also were joined for the first time by Braingirl (not sure she want's me to use her real name or not). She is the newest KOTBR, and she fits right in to our ecclectic group of drunks.

Chris: I was going to try to keep with recent HBG tradition, and write my review in the tune of a Christmas Carol. But I'm just not feeling all that creative. Deal.

I had warmed up on some Bell's Double Cream Stout. All I have to say is "YUM!" My kind of beer! Nick has it on draft right now, and I'm trying to be responsible for helping him to replace it. But this dark brown glass of joy got me in the Christmas mood, and by the time Braingirl joined us, I was ready to launch into our feature - Santa's Private Reserve Ale from Rogue.

Santa, when poured, had a brownish-amber color, a nice tan head, and made me think of chestnuts over open fires and a partridge in a pear tree. On a side note, I have a pear tree in my front yard, and I have never once seen a partridge in it. Hmmmm.

The nose was a little difficult for me to discern because I was still tasting the Stout. But I was able to pick out some gingerbread, maybe, and a good balance of hops. And I know this sounds crazy, but it smelled a little bit like a Christmas tree. Maybe that was just psychological.

It had a full-bodied taste, definitely had some hops to it, but not overwhelming. This was a well-balanced beer. I think I picked out a pinch of nutmeg, a little bit malty, but the beer was definitely moist. It wasn't overly carbonated, but it wasn't dull, either. It - as I'm learning with many good beers - gets better the closer to room temperature it gets.

All in all, it was a pretty good beer. Not my favorite, but pretty good. I'm giving it 3.75 Mugs.

Braingirl: Warm-up Beer: Bell's Winter White Ale. And what a perfect warm-up beer itwas. Perfect for the evening and also for my introduction to Chris and Jim!Thanks for the warm -- and tasty welcome. Now I just have to get over myintroduction to Humphrey the Humping Dog. It was the most traumatic part ofmy KOTBR initiation.

Back to the Bell's: This full tasty brew in the Belgian style was just upmy alley. I've outgrown a bit the full, sweet German style hefe-weissens,but love the smoothness of beers like this one. Not overly bitter or heavy,but not too light either. A clean taste unburdened by sticky, sweet ortangy wheatbeer goo.

And the main event: Santa's Private Reserve from Rogue Ale. Like Jim (orsomeone said), this was the first Rogue Beer I've had that I actually liked. I guess I'm just not cool enough to be a fan of the Pacific Northwestmicrobrew style with it's hallmark hoppy/bitter beers, but this one workedbecause of the toasted grains with enough body to hold it together. Perfectfor winter, this dark amber-colored brew started hoppy with what tasted likeflat-out burned grains to me, but mellowed as it warmed up a bit. A fewdegrees above frosty cold and it was a nice, comfortable winter drinker.And I, too, was a nice comfortable winter drinker. I give it 3.5 Mugs.

Jim: The Knights were back together at our home sweet home, Deano’s Vino, on the night before Chanukah (or Hanukkah or Hanukah or however you prefer to spell it) to do our first holiday themed review. Unfortunately, Jason was out sick, and Kelly was at Deano’s for dinner with friends but couldn’t join us for the review. But Chris and I were happy to be joined by new Roundtable member, Braingirl, who was able to add her own unique epicurean flair to our get-together.

We initially planned to review a Chanukah beer from Shmaltz Brewing Co., which is the purveyor of the He’Brew label. However, upon arrival at Deano’s, our trusty bartender, Nick, informed me that he was out of He’Brew. Nick couldn’t say why he ran out, but I’m pretty sure I know what happened. Rumor has it that Mel “Sugart*ts” Gibson is a secret fan of He’Brew Messiah Bold Ale and stopped by Deano’s on his way to that kooky Holocaust deniers conference in Iran to pick up the last six-pack of Messiah Bold. So that means that Knights are left to review He’Brew’s fine products for another time.

Not one to be disappointed by the He’Brew buzzkill, I started off the night with a warm-up with a local brew: Barley Island’s Barfly IPA. This well-balanced IPA was the first beer that I’ve ever tried from the Noblesville brewery, and I wasn’t disappointed. Since Braingirl did not join Chris and me until an hour after we arrived, Chris and I decided to go with a second warm-up. I chose the beer that Chris started with: Bell’s Double Cream Stout, which is a seasonal from Bell’s offered during the winter months. It’s a smooth, dry stout with a bit of a chocolaty taste. It went down just as easily as the Barfly IPA.

Once Braingirl arrived, we wasted no time getting to the feature beer – Rogue Ale’s Santa’s Private Reserve. I was a bit wary of this beer before we tried it because I’ve not had good experiences with Rogue products. On one previous occasion, I tried Rogue’s Chocolate Stout and American Amber. Once was enough for me. But the Santa’s Private Reserve was impressive stuff. The color of this beer was a deep brownish-red. The nose conjured up images of gingerbread cookies, which is not surprising considering that this is a Christmas beer. The flavor was gingerbread-like as well, and the finish was very dry and hoppy. I found this to be a good beer to hold in my mouth for a few seconds rather than swallow right away because of the pleasant taste.

In short, Rogue Ales has redeemed itself in my eyes with this beer. Four mugs easily!

Hopslam-less Holidays

No big surprise here, but Indiana is nearing the end of its supply of Bell's Hopslam. Only 300 cases came into the Hoosier State, over 30 of which went to The Hop Shop. Courtney tells me tonight that he only has two cases left. He said in all his years in the bidness, he's never seen a beer have so much buzz around it. The good news is that Bell's is going to brew another batch next week, but the bad news is that it won't hit the shelves here for about 5 weeks. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, fellow beer geeks, but that means no Hopslam for Christmas or New Years. Stock up now! If you know of a place with some stock left, please post it here.

From Jason: A Stop at The Hop Shop

I have great admiration for young adults who are not afraid of taking a chance and investing in themselves and their ability to make a concept work. My college friend Adam is 29 years old and has his own successful urban planning and design firm. My drinking buddy Chris is also 29 and has helped create a not-for-profit that focuses on fatherhood in Central Indiana . And then there’s my new hero, Mr. Courtney, who is 27 and owns and operates a specialty liquor store.

I’m referring to him as Mr. Courtney because a.) a success like this deserves the respect of being constantly referred to as “mister” and b.) Courtney is his first name and you should not mistake him for a woman. Mr. Courtney is the proprietor of the Hop Shop on 96th Street . And being the generous man that he is, the Hop Shop hosted a fundraiser for Chris’s not-for-profit Dads Inc. The fundraiser was a beer sampling event and silent auction. I’m hoping they make this a monthly event.

The samplings include 8 beers from Cavalier Distributing and World Class Beverages. These beers were: Founders Black Rye, Breakenridge Christmas Ale, Bison Gingerbread Ale, Cumberland Pale Ale, Bell ’s White Ale, Barley Island Black Majic Java Stout, Anchor’s 2006 Christmas Ale, and Avery Old Jubilation. My favorite were the Black Rye, the Java Stout, and the Anchor Christmas. Also at the tasting were fellow knights Jim and Kelly. We all agreed that events like there are great opportunities to expand your tastes in beer.

There were also wines and liqueurs to sample. I sampled the three whiskeys that were available: a California single malt, a blend scotch, and a single malt peaty scotch. The single malt scotch burned like hell, the California single malt was okay, and the blended scotch was my favorite. In general, I prefer bourbons and blends. I don’t have enough chest hair to drink single malt scotch, especially of the peaty variety.

The event was a success, beating attendance and dollars raised expectations. It is almost certain that we will see this become an annual event.

Chris and Mr. Courtney had invited the Good Beer Show to come down and do their show live from the Hop Shop after the event was over. GBS is an award winning podcast based in Muncie that includes beer reviews by a group of intelligent beer geeks and music. And Chris, Mr. Courtney, and I were invited to sit in, drink, and contemplate with them.

As a warm up, Chris and I started with 3 Floyd’s Dreadnaught, a hoppy IPA with a strong citrus smell and flavor. On the show, we reviewed six beers. Unibroue 10 and 11 were the first beers. These are anniversary beers that contained 10 and 11 percent alcohol respectively. Both remind me of good, sweet, bubbly wines with the 11 being the better drinking beer of the two. That was followed by Samichlaus and Olde Suffolk, both great old-world style beers that are better served at room-temperature. And it was followed with Bell ’s Hopslam and Devil Dancer. Quite a bit of time was spent comparing Hopslam and Dreadnaught. While some said they tasted almost the same, I argued that the Dreadnaught’s fruity taste and smell was more overpowering than the Hopslam’s. And the Devil Dancer was also a very hoppy beer, but with no overpowering fruit flavors or aromas. The last two beers consumed were my favorite of the six. Mr. Courtney was very generous with his beers last night (he did stop short of my recommendation that we open a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle’s 20 Year Aged Bourbon. Can’t say I blame him; it’s $139 a bottle).

I learned several things from last night. There are many people with more ambition and guts than I. There are many people who are more intelligent about beer than I (the crew from the Good Beer Show were great…we’ve been invited up for future broadcasts). I’m not anti-hop as much as I am anti-fruity. And when I go out for beer “tastings”, I should always have a D.D.

Last Chance For Beer!

This is the final reminder about tomorrow night's A Taste of Good Beer & Fine Wine (& a Silent Auction) at The Hop Shop. Tickets are only $10, and you can get them at the door. Included in the ticket price is the alochol you sample and some light snacks. All proceeds from ticket sales and the silent auction will go to benefit the programs of Dads, Inc. All Knights of the Beer Roundtable will be in attendance, as well as Jeffrey T. and the gang from The Good Beer Show. It's also a great opportunity to get a jump start on your holiday shopping with some very unique and interesting packages at the silent auction. Hope to see you there!

So Many Publications, So Little Beer

When it rains, it pours! Hoosier Beer Geek grabs a mention in yet another Indy publication in this week's InTake. The article is about how sometimes good taste and passion for a subject matter (ie, beer) is sometimes confused as snobbery. A part of the article focuses on Courtney Hall, owner of my favorite beer store - The Hop Shop, and his passion for good beer. In a sidebar to the article, Courtney lists his suggested resources for reading about good beer, and HBG rounds out his top three (following beeradvocate.com & indianabeer.com). Thanks, Courtney - we love you, too!

It's Not Too Late!

Tickets are still on sale, or you can purchase them at the door. The Good Beer Show is going to be doing an on-location show from the event, so if for no other reason, come out and meet Jeffrey, Traci and the gang!

We have some really kick-ass items for the silent auction, including an Indiana Pub Crawl package, worth over $250, that includes a homebrewing kit and some gift certificates to some of the best bars and breweries in the state, as well as a private, in-your-home beer or wine tasting for you and 9 of your friends conducted by Courtney, the owner of The Hop Shop.

A Taste of Good Beer & Fine Wine

This is a little bit of shameless self-promotion. I get to do that since I run the site :)

Tickets are now on sale for an outstanding charity event coming up on Thursday, November 16 (one week before Thanksgiving). The Hop Shop is hosting a good beer and fine wine tasting, with a silent auction, to benefit my non-profit organization, Dads, Inc. Tickets are only $10, which includes the alcohol and food. All proceeds from ticket sales and the silent auction items goes back into supporting programs to build better dads in Central Indiana. The event begins at 6:30 at The Hop Shop. We have some amazing silent auction items, including a private beer tasting in your home conducted by Courtney (owner of The Hop Shop), gift certificates for an Indiana Pub Crawl, overnight stays at Belterra Resort & Casino with free golf, and a great Colts pack, just to mention a few items. Like I said, tickets are now on sale, and you can purchase them directly at The Hop Shop, or you can purchase them from Dads, Inc. For more information, please call Chris at Dads, Inc. at 317-506-8499.

This is an excellent opportunity to get a jump start on your Christmas shopping, and you can get some unique gifts for the hard-to-buy-fors.

Mini-Kegs of Oberon

Yesterday, I found the perfect accompaniment to a hot summer afternoon spent by a pool.

I guess these mini-kegs (1.32 gallons) of Bell's Oberon are going like hotcakes. The keg equals out to about 14.5 bottles, and runs roughly the same price as two six-packs ($19.99).

I got mine at my favorite beer store, The Hop Shop, and there were a few more in stock.