Random Beer Roundup - I Can't Fight This Feeling Any More Edition

Folks, even as I wander, I'm keeping you in sight. You're a candle in the window on a cold, dark winters night. And here's your beer news.

Just a reminder - If there's not enough news for you here, you can always check out bear news instead.

Liquor Stores/Better Beer Retailers

From John at Big Red Liquors, Bloomington:

New this week

BELLS Oktoberfest

BLUE MOON Harvest Moon (Pumpkin)

BROOKLYN Octoberfest

BUFFALO BILL Pumpkin Ale

CLIPPER CITY Oktoberfest

DOGFISH HEAD Punkin Brown

FOUNDERS Breakfast Stout (Limited quantity available)

UPLAND Sampler 12pk

UPLAND Oktoberfest

From Courtney at the Hop Shop (3855 E. 96th Street, Indianapolis) comes a nice list of seasonals:

Here is a list of the Oktoberfest Beers that we have in now. More to come soon.

Bells Oktoberfest

Leinenkugels Oktoberfest

Upland Oktoberfest

Breckenridge Autumn

Coney Island Freaktoberfest

Spaten Oktoberfest

Clipper City MärzHon

Paulaner Oktoberfest

Brooklyn Oktoberfest

Weihenstephaner Festbier

This just in from Gabe at Goose the Market (2503 N. Delaware St, Indianapolis):

The Goose has a gaggle of new beers in stock including some great Octoberfest selections.

Left Hand Octoberfest

Scmaltz Coney Island Freaktoberfest

Weihenstephaner Festbier

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale

Atwater Brewing Blocktoberfest

Ayinger Oktoberfest

Brooklyn Octoberfest

Dogfish Head Punkin'

Some other great new additions include:

Founder's Breakfast Stout!

Rogue Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale

St. Peter's Cream Stout

Three Floyds Rabbid Rabbit

Wabash Valley Cannonball Porter

Scmaltz Coney Island Sword Swallower

Left Hand Twin Sister Double IPA

DeBlock Satan Belgian Golden Ale

Two Brothers Bitter End Pale

Jever Pilsner

Kirk at Mr. G's Liquor (2209 E. Connor, Noblesville) stops by:

New to our shelves:

Great Divide Titan IPA

Founders Breakfast Stout

Breckenridge Autumn

Shipyard Pumpkin Ale

Restaraunt/Brewery/Brewpub

In not exactly beer news (though they have plenty of great beer), Mike DeWeese at J. Gumbo's drops a line:

Live Crawfish Boil, Saturday Sept. 13th
$15 single serving, $20 all you care to eat
8 PM until they're gone
Price includes Abita Tasting, Cajun Sausage, Corn and Taters
Reservations recommended but not required
Crawfish races at 7:30pm
317-522-2666

Bell's Brewery is on the cutting edge in terms of customer contact and sent out a message on Twitter this morning saying:

Look for our first ever Christmas Ale after Halloween!

Word on the street is that their Christmas Ale will be a Scotch Ale.

Super Random

The latest Mikkeller newsletter (no. 8), Mikkel makes mention of three beers I believe we haven't seen here yet - It's Alight!, Not Just Another Wit, and Simcoe Single Hop IPA. Beernews.org reports that the 2008 releases of Santa’s Little Helper - (our #4 ranked current beer -reviewed KOTBR #46), Not Just Another Wit, and From To (not to be confused with Mikkeller To From - reviewed KOTBR #53) are on there way to the states. If we hear anything about them hitting Indiana shelves, we'll let you know.

Out of St. Louis and the Post-Dispatch comes news that our friends at Schlafly know when to seize an opportunity:

The buyout has rocked St. Louis. Managers of bars around town say they have been peppered with questions from drinkers about which "American" beers are still available.

"We have this unique situation with A-B in St. Louis," Kopman told dozens of bar managers, grocers and restaurateurs at a beer panel at Bottleworks last month. "It probably doesn't go beyond 50 miles. But people are saying, 'I want to drink something else.'"

The folks at Schlafly smell an opportunity: The company's accelerated expansion plans are aimed at capitalizing on the turmoil and angst caused by InBev's ascension.

Fresh Hopping Done Here - The Denver Post with an article about the Great Divide Brewing Co's use of fresh hopping. "It's one of the things we can do in the brewing world that is timely," said Brian Dunn, owner and founder of Great Divide. "It's a unique thing, and our brewers get to stretch their creative muscle."

And when you see this on shelves, let us know - Chicagoist Beer of the Week is Three Floyds Moloko Milk Stout - a beer we should be seeing very limited quantities of in the Indianapolis area. "Moloko isn't your typical Three Floyds hop bomb. Actually, it's the complete opposite. Moloko is far and away the sweetest beer Three Floyds brews." Sounds tasty.

If you're wondering, Moloko is in World Class' Beer Finder,but is showing none available as of Wednesday afternoon. According to World Class' Bob Mack:"The central and lower parts of the state of Indiana do not have it yet, but we are expecting a shipment from Three Floyds late this week. After that, we can start shipping to retailers so you'll probably start seeing it next week (Sept. 12th and beyond)." Hey, that's today!

Lastly, you may remember Chris from our "GABF on the cheap" post a while back. Or maybe you met him at our anniversary party. In any case, he's still got two spots open for the GABF trip - so if you're interested, check out the old post and drop him a line. Further details:

Hey, it's Chris from beer meetup. I learned that you have posting days on Friday, and was wondering if you would post an update for my GABF trip. I have to spots left for the trip. Interested beer geeks could either do the whole package for $395 per person, or just the airfare for $159 RT. The flights are nonstop each way. We leave on Thursday morning Oct 9, and return Sunday night Oct 12.

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Interested in having your events, taps, or new beer inventory listed on Hoosier Beer Geek? It won't cost you anything. Want to complain about the abuse of REO Speedwagon lyrics? Fair enough. Drop us a line at hoosierbeergeek@gmail.com.

Random Beer Roundup - Early Edition

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

Bars/Breweries/Brewpubs/Restaurants:

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

Flagship beers we always try to have on:

White Flag Belgian Wit

See No Evil American IPA

Green Tea Pale Ale

Tenacious Apple Tripel

Silver Back Stout

Double Down Brown

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

Speak No Evil Belgian IPA (on now)

Hear No Evil Imperial IPA (on now)

Ill Intent Imperial Stout

Belligerent Barleywine (Coming late fall)

Upcoming seasonals:

October-Horseman's Reserve Imperial Pumpkin Ale

Nov&Dec-Congregation Holiday Ale

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

Current-Double Hopped Double Down

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

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

Mike at J. Gumbo's checks in:

Here's our latest:

Draft:

Leffe Blonde

Dogfish Head 60 Min. IPA is finally back

Bottles:

Stone Vertical Epic '08

Stone Russian Imperial Stout '08

Stone Double Bastard '07

Stone Old Guardian '04

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot '00 & '03

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

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

Thanks, Mike

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Homebrew/Beer Travel/BJCP/Hammerdancing:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks,

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

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Elsewhere in beer in Indianapolis and beyond:

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

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

Random Beer Roundup - Every Friday Edition

Liquor/Better Beer Stores:

The cellar at Goose the Market is featuring the following new arrivals and seasonal beers:

Brugge Black, White and Tripel de Ripple have arrived in the sexy new 750 mL bottles.
A few bombers of the following are available, but going fast:
Stone Vertical Epic 08.08.08
Stone XII Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Three Floyds XI Anniversary Fantabulous Resplendence
Two Brothers Oh Brother! Tripel
Shmaltz Brewing Coney Island Albino Python White Lager and He'Brew Bittersweet Lenny's RIPA.
Saison DuPont Belgian Farmhouse Ale in 375 mL singles and 4 packs of 330 mL bottles.
Founder's Rubaeus Ale in 4 packs.
These are all available for a limited time in addition to our regularly rotating craft beer selection.

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Bars/Breweries/Brewpubs/Restaurants:

Mike DeWeese of J. Gumbo's let us know that they are currently featuring a "live crawfish boil every Saturday night. It starts at 8pm until the crawfish are gone. Reservations aren't required but recommended. They are $17 for a single portion with all the fixins and $25 to pig out (all you care to eat). There is a 3 five ounce beer flight of Abita drafts included."

Also, "current freaky beers we have on tap other than the usual awesome selection are:"

Two Brothers Domaine Dupage
Brugge Tripel
Victory Hopdevil
Magic Hat No. 9
Founders Red's Rye

Chris notes that Shallos Antique Restaurant has Stone 12th Anniversary on tap. Matt R. also saw St. Bernardus 12 on tap there.

Matt R. took down the beer list at Chumley's in Broad Ripple:

Two Brothers Oh Brother! Tripel---while supplies last
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Magic Hat #9
Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA
Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale
Founders Reds Rye
Bell's Consecrator Dopplebock, Two Hearted, Oberon
Three Floyds Alpha King
Upland Preservation Pilsner & Wheat
Goose Island Matilda
Stone Arrogant Bastard
Victory Prima Pils

The following beers are coming soon to Chumley's:

Ommengang Rare Vos
Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA
Sierra Nevada Double DeBOCKel Beer
Left Hand Oktoberfest
Victory Hop Wallop
Brugge Tripel de Ripple
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

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Random Beer News/Events:

Founders will be hosting their 2008 Breakfast Stout Breakfast on Saturday, Semptember 20th from 10am to 1pm. Tickets are $25 and go on sale August 27th at 11am. Only 200 tickets will be sold. For more information see Founders website.

There's a new brewery in town. Well, actually in The Region. Let's give a hearty welcome to Crown Brewing! Manager Mike Goodfellow and Brewer Jim Cibak have several years of experience working at Three Floyds Brewery in Munster and decided to branch out on their own. Their initial beer lineup includes Special Force Ale, Weizenheimer and Bodacious Brown Ale.

Hoosier Beer Geek and Big Car Gallery will be teaming up for the next B+ART on Friday, September 19th. As always, festivities will kick off at 8pm at Big Car in Fountain Square and the theme for next month will be Oktoberfest Beers.

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

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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

Return of Random Beer Roundup - And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead

Ok - I get stuff like this all the time - basically press releases for new beer and stuff that's just come available around here. Usually I don't do anything with it until we actually get a chance to review the beer - I feel a little weird emailing this stuff out to our subscriber list because it is - basically - advertising. But maybe our readers would like to see more of this kind of thing? If that's the case, let us know with the handy poll located on the right. Thanks - Mike

Firstly, and Urgently - If you like $3.25 pints of Schlafly Export IPA - and I'm guessing you've never had it before, but that shouldn't stop you - J. Gumbo's nee* Badaboomz has a special going on tonight. Free pint glass with purchase.

Inquiring West-Side Minds Want to Know - Because I know there are some of you out there on the west side of Indianapolis looking for someone to throw you a bone, I asked World Class' Bob Mack for a few suggested destinations for the beer seeker.

Mike,

That’s a good question and sometimes a hard one for me to answer, simply because there are somewhere around 10,000 licensed beer retailers in the state, so I don’t always have a good handle on this.

The west side is tough (I live there!) for good drinking spots. I usually end up downtown or at a local brewery. But a thought or two –

Badaboomz at 4930 Lafayette Road has a nice selection. They are franchised by Mike DeWeese, though the selection is not nearly so good as the old Badaboomz downtown.

My Favorite Cigar at 36 East Main in Brownsburg has a small selection, but it is a very nice environment and they do have Delirium Tremens, Belhaven Scottish, Weihenstephaner and a couple other good beers. I think they might add a beer or two in the near future as well. They have a patio out back that we are going to offer them Delirium umbrellas for. The people are very cool there.

The bar at Stone Creek restaurant in the Metropolis complex (Plainfield) has a nice little selection and a comfortable environment. They have a permanent Bell’s line (Oberon at the moment, I think) and last time I was there a couple of weeks ago they had Arrogant Bastard draft plus some good bottles. The food is good and the bar is open to anyone whether you are eating dinner or not. The people are very friendly as well. At one point not so long ago, they had an Ommegang Hennepin draft line also which I would love for them to get back.

The BW3’s across from Metropolis used to have a Two Hearted draft line and I went there for that reason, but they changed it to Oberon (which I can get anywhere!). They have a few good bottles but it is the routine BW 3’s selection, for the most part.

The Union Jack in Speedway on Crawfordsville Road usually has some good beers and seems to be getting better.

Zydeco in Mooresville has all the Abita line (I rather like Jockamo IPA) and they are usually well priced. It’s a restaurant, but a cool place to stop later in the week for a snack and a beer.

Bob Mack
World Class Beverages
2007 GABF "Craft Distributor of the Year"

As for the smoking or non-smoking policies of the previously listed locations, that I can't help with. I'm guessing My Favorite Cigar is a smoking establishment.

If Jew Couldn't Get Enough of Those He'Brew Beers - Call the pun police.

This from Mat Gerdenich at Cavalier:

We just unloaded our first shipment of the two newest Coney Island Lagers. The Albino Python a White Lager brewed with spices and the Sword Swallower a Steel Hop lager. These two new brews are making their way to the shelves of establishments that sell high quality craft beer. The original Coney Island Lager is already out there.

http://www.coneyislandlager.com/

We also got our last load of Rejewvenator. Half Dopple Bock Half Belgian Dubbel brewed with fig juice.! So you better get this while you can.

http://www.shmaltz.com/

Mat Gerdenich
Cavalier Distributing

And this from Jeremy Cowan at He'Brew himself:

yoyo mike-
i'll see you guys in indy july beer fest i hope....here's some new beers in your neck of the woods...yummm!!
take it easy!
jeremy

Doppelbock, Shmoppelbock...REJEWVENATOR is on the loose!
Half doppelbock, half Belgian-inspired dubbel brewed with nearly 500 gallons of the juice of the sacred Fig. Shmaltz Brewing's first ever harvest to harvest offering....a new HE'BREW Beer season to rejoice. L'Chaim!

Here's what those look like:



To Borrow a Line From Schalfly - It's Not Just For Breakfast Anymore - We'll be posting our review of Mikkeller's Beer Geek Breakfast shortly, but in the meantime, if you're looking:

We got some in last week and it is making its way to the usual spots Hop Shop, Party Pack Hots Shotz etc. Nothing else new came in for Mikkeller or Struise but we did jet more Jackie Brown, Black as well as others.

Mat Gerdenich
Cavalier Distributing

I'm a Little Late to This Party - Back in late May, the New York Times - surely your #1 beer review source - did a write-up on bitters - a perfect summer beer. Be careful of people reviewing beers in newspapers. Especially if they're named Jason. Oh yeah. Here's that article.

You May Have Seen the Beer, Now See the Youtube Video: Ladies and Gentlemen, Pizza Beer. Which, by the way, isn't bad at all.


*For a good time, check out the nee entry at wikipedia.

It's not advertising - it's public service.

Just got an email that seems worthy of passing along to the general public:

Sarah to hoosierbeergeek

Hi beer geeks.

I haven't seen this on your blog yet - but maybe it's worth a shout-out? I am pretty much addicted this place, but I'm worried that if more beer lovers don't support it, it won't be around too much longer. Can you help?

-sarah

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael DeWeese
Subject: $2.50 Pints All June At J.Gumbo's

J.GUMBO'S DOWNTOWN
IS AS P***** AS YOU ARE
ABOUT GAS PRICES
$2.50 PINTS ALL MONTH
RELIEF IS ON THE WAY
WWW.JGUMBOS.COM

The word is "pissed" if you're having trouble. I was.

Anyone that's into beer has a friend in Mike DeWeese, so we're more than happy to do anything we can to help. $2.50 pints? How can we resist?