The End of Alcatraz Brewing Company

The downtown Indianapolis brewing scene may have received a big blow today. The Indianapolis Business Journal Property Lines blog reports that California Pizza Kitchen will replace Alcatraz Brewing Company.

I asked brewer Skip Duvall what this means for him and he emailed me:

I heard this rumor, but you just confirmed it. Have no idea what will happen.

It's certainly a shame that he heard this news from the media instead of his employer. Alcatraz was part of downtown's resugerance and the first of downtown's breweries. While it was a corporate brewery, the brewers had flexibility with their beers. It doesn't appear that any California Pizza Kitchens have in house breweries, so I can only assume that brewing will cease at that location. But hopefully we are wrong.

We wish Skip the best of luck, one way or another.

Metromix 2010 Local Brewing Guide: Alcatraz Brewing Company

Hoosier Beer Geek worked with Metromix to create their 2010 Local Brewing Guide. It was published in the November 18th issue and we are republishing the interviews we conducted. Enjoy!

Alcatraz Brewing Company, est. 1995
49 W. Maryland Street, Indianapolis
Website: www.AlcatrazBrewing.com
Ph: 317-488-1230

An original Circle Centre Mall tenant, Alcatraz Brewing Company is the third longest operating microbrewery in the Indianapolis area. They are owned by California-based Tavastock Restaurants, which owns over 50 restaurant locations. But despite being a corporate brewery, the beers are the result of local creativity. “To be honest with you, I have pretty much full rein on what I want to do,” says Skip Duvall, head brewer. “I do have to have certain beers on tap, but how they are brewed is up to me. “

Duvall became Alcatraz’s new head brewer in September. But he’s not just new to Alcatraz, but also new to professional brewing. “A little over a year ago, I was sitting at my desk in a corporate sales setting and realized that I hated it. I started talking to Omar [Castrellon, the previous brewmaster at Alcatraz]. After I gave my two week notice, I had an assistant job [with Omar]. I learned from him for about eight months. I moved over to [the Ram] as an assistant for four months. Then Omar’s position opened up.”

A lot has changed at Alcatraz recently. Not only is there a new brewmaster, but also a new general manager, chef, and sous chef. The changes are noticeable with a new menu and a sprucing up of the restaurant. There will be a change to some of the beers, like the Pelican. “We’ll keep the name, but I want to put my stamp on it. [Make it] a hoppier beer that I like, that I want to do. After that, I want to get into the seasonals.”

Other standard beers will remain, like the Rock Bock. “At first, I thought I was going to do away with it,” says Duvall, “but I’ve had too much feedback and I’ve seen how it’s moved; I need to keep the Bock.” Alcatraz is one of the few breweries in Indiana to feature a bock on their regular lineup of beers. Bocks originated in Einbeck, Germany, and are usually a dark lager beer that can have an ABV around 6.5% with a complex, malty flavor and very little hop spice.

Regular Beers (styles in parenthesis): Searchlight Golden Ale (American Light Ale); Weiss Guy Wheat (American Wheat); Pelican Ale (Pale Ale); the Rock Bock; rotating styles of stouts

Seasonals: To be determined; will likely include an amber ale, an India Pale Ale, and winter-style brews.

Events: Quarterly brewers dinners; tapping events.

Scenes from a Tapping: Alcatraz Cherry Stout

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


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


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

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

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


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

Indiana Beer Week Closing Ceremonies - Replicale Faceoff

What's the story behind the Indiana Replicale Faceoff? Scientists may never know. Legend has it that brewers Dave Colt and Clay Robinson from Ram provided a common recipe for 70 Shilling Scottish that the contestants then prepared in their own special way in a contest of brewing brawn and brainpower. Are there prizes? Who's judging? Who knows? At Hoosier Beer Geek, we don't sweat the small stuff. We just drink.

In case you missed it, there's ten of us now. Nine of us showed up at Spencer's Stadium Tavern (802 South West St. Indianapolis 317-916-8888) last Wednesday and sampled selections from five breweries. We had an added bonus - a flight of five samples only cost $2. Or you could have a full pint of any for that same $2 - and I suspect they'll remain that way until the beer runs out. Perhaps it's run out already? If you've stopped in to Spencer's lately, let us know.

Here's what we thought, complete with beer rankings:

Gina

1. RAM - sweet
2. Oaken Barrel - creamy
3. Alcatraz - hot
4. Rock Bottom - smoky
5. Broad Ripple Brewpub - feet

Jim

Gina's going with one word reviews. I'm going with two. My rankings and notes, with the clarification that all of these were good beers.

1. Broad Ripple Brewpub. Berries, herbs.
2. Oaken Barrel. Hops, caramel.
3. Rock Bottom. Sweet, drinkable.
4. (tie) Ram and Alcatraz. Balanced, mellow.

New Chris

Agreed that all were definitely drinkable.

4 words (mostly)

1. BRBP - hoppier, chocolate, lightly bitter
2. 'Traz - bitter, creamy (lactose?), balanced
3. Oak B - chocolate nose, marshmallow taste (s'mores!)
4. Ram - toasty malt, whitewash sweet
5. Rock B - passable dirty stinky feet

Matt

...and with a personal record turnaround time, I'm submitting my two word reviews.

1. Broad Ripple Brew Pub - pleasant lavender
2. Oaken Barrel - cloudy malt
3. Rock Bottom - pruny nose
4. Alcatraz - yay hops
5. Ram - malt light

Other Matt

1. Ram: Exactly what I wanted.
2. Rock Bottom: toffee and caramel
3. Oaken Barrel: Down in Fuggle hops?
4. Alcatraz - Orville Redenbacher Butter
5. BRBP - Fruity Esters

I was doing some more research on the style as well, and I found that the butter flavor I was tasting in the Alcatraz could have some from malt and might not be diacetyl. I am now really curious if it was from the malt or actually diacetyl.

Rod

1. Alcatraz: Dark Chocolate Baby Powder
2. Rock Bottom: Malty Brown Greek Cheese
3. Broad Ripple: Watery Roasted Hazelnut Bitter
4. Oaken Barrel: Blackberry Caramel Light Beer
5. Ram: Nutty Slight Malt Liquor

Jess

1. Alcatraz: chocolate
2. Oaken Barrel: berry
3. Rock Bottom: feta
4. Broad Ripple: dishsoap
5. Ram: blah.

Mike

1. Broad Ripple: Raspberry, Vanilla.
2. Ram: Grape bubblegum, A hint footy.
3. Rock Bottom: Bitter, Peppery.
4. Alcatraz: Caramel, Soap.
5. Oaken Barrel: Sulfury, Cardboard.

And so by combining all rankings and haphazardly doing some of that math stuff, we come up with final combined rankings that looks like this:

First Place: Broad Ripple Brew Pub
Second Place: Oaken Barrel
Third Place: Alcatraz
Fourth Place: Rock Bottom
Fifth Place: Ram

Of course, we're not judges. But if anyone's asking, that's how our legend of Indiana Beer Week 2008 ends.

Indiana Beer Week Bar Hop - Day Four - A Very Footy Pub Crawl

We started the night at J Gumbo's where Mike DeWeese had some very nice vintage beers for sampling. The two that the group tried were both Gales Prize Old Ales; one was a 1999 aged in a Brandy Cask and the other was the 97 version. The 99 tasted like raisins and whiskey to me and the 97 tasted like butterscotch.


J. Gumbos (formerly Badaboomz)
Next up was Rock Bottom. The Brickway Brown was on special for $2.00 a pint and they also had a Cask edition of their ESB. The crowd is large, but there was no telling who was there for the pub crawl and who wasn't.


Rock Bottom
The third pub of the evening was Alcatraz, where Omar let us know that the special beers available were a bourbon stout, Half Moon's Pale Ale, and the Microbrew Festival 80 shilling ReplicAle. Omar said the bourbon stout was done in a 50 gallon batch in his friend's garage and stored on Knob Creek whiskey-soaked chips for 5 months. A very tasty brew, indeed. Omar also let us know about an upcoming brew next month made with Kolsch yeast and hop plugs. So look for that mid to late August.


Alcatraz. Prisoners coming.
The last pub on our list, Ram, had many beers on tap. I want to say at least 10, but nothing out of the ordinary as far as I could tell. The Total Disorder Porter I had was a nice finish to the evening.


Ram. Home of the Buttface (not pictured).
Next up: B+ART at Big Car, and the Brewmaster's Dinner at Opti Park