Last Call for New Albanian Brewing Company/KOTBR 100 Bus Trip Ticket Sales

Ticket Sales for KOTBR #100 are now closed. Thank you.

Hoosier Beer Geek's Knights of the Beer Roundtable have put together an all-day bus trip to New Albany, Indiana to visit New Albanian Brewing Company on March 6th to celebrate our 100th roundtable. We've invited anyone who's paying attention to join us on the bus. We are now at the 19-tickets-remaining point, and we're hoping to sell this thing out sooner than later.

The folks at New Albanian's Bank Street Brewhouse will be serving us lunch and giving us a tour before we head over to the Rich O's Public House for the Gravity Head festivities. They've asked us to try to put together our food orders two weeks in advance so that they can be adequately prepared. The bus trip is on Saturday, March 6th, which means we'd like to have a sellout food list by Saturday, February 20th - 6 days from now.

This post is a heads up for any of you who may have been waiting to buy tickets - we'd love to have a bus full of regular Hoosier Beer Geek readers, but at this point we're going to have to start to advertise around town to the general public. If you want to join us on the bus, the time to act is now.

More details are below - if you don't need them, you can click here for tickets. Or you can read up, and hopefully I've presented a convincing enough argument that you'll click the link at the bottom of the page. We hope to see you on the 6th of March for what's sure to be a good time.

Mike

What Gravity Head is, and Why You'd Want to Take a Bus There
We at Hoosier Beer Geek may be guilty of assuming too much from time to time, and it recently occurred to me that perhaps a deeper explanation of what this whole Gravity Head Bus Trip is all about.

About NABC Pizzeria & Public House:

Currently #10 on RateBeer.com's Best Beer Bars list, Rich O's/NABC Pizzeria & Public House is undoubtedly Indiana's finest beer bar. It's not just the regular list that makes the Public House such a special place - it's the list of regular events that aim to explore all areas of better beer. Like sour and funky? The public house has an event for you. Like smoke beer? They've got that covered. Are you a hop head? Try on Lupulin Land Harvest Hopcoming. Want to celebrate the Hoosier Beer Geek 100 Knights of the Roundtable session? Join us on the bus and help us enjoy Gravity Head.

About New Albanian Brewing Company:

It started with a pizzeria, then they added a bbq joint, and in 1994 they officially became New Albanian Brewing Company. Actual on-site brewing didn't start until 2002, and in 2009 we finally started seeing NABC's kegged beer in Indianapolis bars. We'll see more of NABC in 2010, when they move into bottling or canning.

We should mention what, exactly, they'll be putting in those bottles. New Albanian's Beak's Best, Old 15-B, Elector and Hoptimus have endeared themselves to Indiana drinkers over the past few months. In addition to those standard offerings, we'll be able to sample from New Albanian's seasonal rotation as a Gravity Head apéritif while stopping in for lunch at the Bank Street Brewhouse.

About The Bank Street Brewhouse

It would have been easy enough to put together a bus trip that headed directly to the Public House for Gravity Head, but previous experience with the Bank Street Brewhouse lead us to believe that it shouldn't be missed.

Of course Bank Street has an extensive lineup of New Albanian beer, but the food is equally deserving of the spotlight. NABC says:

Bank Street Brewhouse takes its inspiration from Europe’s brasseries and gastropubs. Chef Joshua Lehman’s kitchen offers fresh, creative, locally sourced dishes ideally suited for pairing with NABC’s legendary lineup of house-brewed ales and lagers.

Your ticket gets you not only the bus trip, but also your choice of meal from a specially created menu just for our guests.

About Gravity Head

They don't refer to Gravity Head as "The Liver Olympics" for nothing. Here's that beer list - keep in mind that these aren't all on at once - they rotate through during the month. So what will be on when we attend? It's kind of a surprise. In any case, with this many options, there will be plenty of good choices available.

Here's that list:

AMERICAN AMBER / RED LAGER
Coney Island Human Blockhead … 10% abv

AMERICAN BARLEYWINE
Avery Hog Heaven Barley Wine … 9.2%
Boulder Killer Penguin Barleywine … 10%
Dogfish Head Olde School Barley Wine … 15.04%
Left Hand Oaked Aged Widdershins … 8.8%
Rogue Old Crustacean 2004 … 11.5%
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale 2004 … 9.6%
Stone Old Guardian … 11.3%

AMERICAN BROWN ALE
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron … 12%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA
Bell’s HopSlam … 10%
Boulder Mojo Risin’ … 10.5%
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA … 18%
Founders Double Trouble … 9.4%
Founders Hand of Doom … 10.4%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL STOUT
Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes (BFM) Jurassian Imperial Stout (Cuvée Alex Le Rouge) … 10.28%
Founders Breakfast Stout 2008 … 8.3%
Founders Canadian Breakfast … 9.4%

AMERICAN PORTER
Two Brothers Red Eye Coffee Porter … 9.2%

AMERICAN STRONG ALE
NABC V – 5th Anniversary Ale 2007 … 10%
New Holland Dragon’s Milk … 10%
Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale … 9%
Shmaltz He’Brew Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah (13) … 13%
Sierra Nevada Life & Limb … 10.2%
Sun King Cream Dream (Imperial Cream) … circa 8.5%

BALTIC PORTER
BBC (St. Matthews) Kick in the Baltic Porter … 8.9%
Rogue Imperial Porter 2008 … 8.2%

BELGIAN IPA
Brugge Brasserie Artemis 2IPA … 9.5%
NABC Oaked Le Douche Mentale (firkin) … 8.5%
Regenboog t’Smisje + (Plus) … 10%

BELGIAN STRONG DARK ALE
Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes (BFM)
La Mandragore …8%
De Dolle Stille Nacht … 12% abv
Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale … 8.6%
Unibroue La Terrible … 10.5%
Van Steenberge Klokke Roeland … 11%

BELGIAN STRONG PALE ALE
Baladin Elixir (Al-Iksir) … 10%

BIERE DE GARDE
Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes (BFM) Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien 2007 and 2008 … 11%

DOPPELBOCK
Ettaler Curator Doppelbock (enhanced export version) … circa 11%
Samichlaus Bier Helles … 14%

DUBBEL
Regenboog t’Smisje Dubbel … 9%

EISBOCK
Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock (CO2 and special Anstich wooden cask) … 12%

ENGLISH BARLEYWINE
JW Lees Vintage Harvest Ale 2008 … 11.5%
JW Lees Vintage Harvest Ale (Sherry Cask) 2008 … 11.5%
Pausa Cafè Tosta … 12.5%

FOREIGN / EXPORT STOUT
Regenboog t'Smisje Catherine the Great ... 10%

MYSTERY STYLE
Three Floyds Brewing Company … what will Nick send?

OLD ALE
BBC Brandy Barrel Queen’s Knickers … 12%
Founders Curmudgeon … 9.3%
Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special 18 Reserve 2008 (firkin) … 8%
NABC Malcolm’s Old Setters’ Ale 2007 … 12%

RAUCHBIER
Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche ... 8%

QUADRUPEL
Avery “The Reverend” … 10%
Schlafly Quadrupel … 12%

RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
Founders Imperial Stout 2008 … 10.5%
Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout … 9.5%
NABC ThunderFoot … 11%
Schlafly Reserve – (Barrel Aged) Imperial Stout ... 10.5%
Stone Imperial Russian Stout 2008 … 10.5%

SCOTCH ALE / WEE HEAVY
Founders Backwoods Bastard … 10.2%

TRIPEL
Maredsous 10 … 10%

So we hope you'll join us on March 6th for about 12 hours of tasty food, hearty beer, and worry-free transportation. Tickets are on sale now at Brown Paper tickets - your $40 gets you the bus trip and lunch. Drinks are not included in your ticket price - we'll leave that end up to you.

Ticket Sales for KOTBR #100 are now closed. Thank you.

Random Beer Roundup - The I Heart Beer Edition

Love is in the air! But more importantly is the sweet smell of beer. I hope my Valentine is bringing me something delicious like Founders Nemesis or Batch 9000 for Valentines Day.

And speaking of good Valentine's Day gifts...have you bought your bus tickets for the trip to New Albany yet? If you're thinking about it, don't delay! We've still got some spaces open, but tickets have been steadily been going.

On a side note...you may want to dust off that twitter account if you haven't been using it or start one up because we hear that is where @3floyds will be sending info about Golden Tickets for Dark Lord Day. (I suspect that we'll try to keep you posted as well.)

If there is something coming up that is not listed, we would love to hear about it. News, reviews, info, etc., to share for our next Random Beer Roundup can be submitted to hoosierbeergeek@gmail.com.)

Hoosier Beer Calendar
Events are subject to change

Thursday, February 18th at Imbibe in Fountain Square: Come drink with us for no reason whatsoever.

Tuesday, February 23rd at Rock Bottom Downtown Indianpolis: Brewer's Dinner - Call for Reservations.

Thursday, February 25th at R Bistro on Mass Ave in Indianapolis • Brewer's Dinner • 6:30 p.m. • 6 Course Dinner prepared with / paired with Sun King Beer

Friday, February 26th at New Albanian Public House in New Albany: Gravity Head begins! The most recent list is here.

Saturday, March 6th: KOTBR100 Bus Trip to New Albany - Tickets are available NOW!

March, Dates TBA - Craft Beer Breakfast

April 24th at Three Floyds Brewery in Munster - Dark Lord Release

What's Brewing

From Charles at Upland in Bloomington:

Upland Sours Release: We're releasing a very small quantity of lambics, along with a limited-release sour specialty, Dantalion Dark Wild Ale, through our Bloomington Tap Room in March. Reservations will begin in mid February. Visit http://www.uplandbeer.com to sign up for Upland's online newsletter to be the first to know when reservations open. A description of Dantalion can be found here.

Upland is teaming up with Capriole Farmstead, FARM Bloomington, and Wonderlab (Bloomington) to host Cheers! The Science of Beer and Cheese Saturday Feb. 13. We'll be pouring Wheat Ale, Dragonfly IPA, Bad Elmer's Porter, and Komodo Dragonfly Black IPA, and there will be several great cheese pairings to complement them. All proceeds benefit Wonderlab. visit Wonderlab's website for details.

At the Bar

From Nick at Naptown Restaurant and Wine Bar in Fountain Square:

We have Sunlight Cream Ale, Crab Apple Wit, and the Java Stout on draft from Sun King at Naptown Restaurant and Wine Bar this week.

From Lauren at Scotty's Brewhouse in various locations:

New Belgium Ranger IPA on tap at Scotty's Brewhouse North Side Indianapolis and Downtown Indianapolis this week.

From Patrick at Patrick's Kitchen and Drinks in Zionsville:

On tap we have Gaffel Kolsch, Elector Red IPA, Victory Hop Wallop, Bell's HopSlam, and Sun King Pale Ale. Our Thursdays with Tom has been a big hit and this week we are doing Three Floyds Beers.

Carry Out

From Todd at Keg Liquors in Clarksville:

Here is the latest from Keg Liquors in Clarksville:

Hair of the Dog - Adam(Oregon)
Hair of the Dog - Fred (Oregon)
Hair of the Dog - Ruth (Oregon)
Founders - Nemesis 2009 (Michigan)
Eel River - Acai Berry Wheat (California)
BrewDog - Rip Tide Stout (Scotland)
Southern Star - Bombshell Blonde (Texas)

From Big Red Liquors in Bloomington:

Founders Nemesis
North Coast Brother Thelonious 4pk
North Coast Le Merle Saison
Schlafly Pilsner
Schlafly Grand Cru
Schlafly Quad
Schlafly Tripel
Stegmaier Porter
Stegmaier Amber Lager
Stegmaier Gold
Two Brothers Northwind Imperial Stout
Schneider Aventinus Eisbock
JK Scrumpy Organic Cider

From Corrie at Goose the Market in Indianapolis:

News from the cellar at Goose the Market...

Yes, the Goose still bleeds blue, but we love a good party as much as the next pony. So we've stocked the cellar with a few Crescent City craft brews to toast Mardi Gras: Abita Turbodog, Jockamo IPA, and Mardi Gras Boch plus Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager. Grab a six pack or mix and match from singles.

Does it send mixed messages to give your Valentine Bell's Two Hearted Ale? Stop by the Goose to get that one for yourself and grab a bottle of Etienne Dupont's Cidre Brouche Brut for your cheri. Nine different types of apples are hand-harvested and fermented with their skins for this sophisticated, delicious cider. With a cork like champagne, it's festive but not fussy and perfect for knights (OTBR?) in shining armour.

From Josh at United Package Liquors at County Line & Meridian in Indianapolis (Southside):

Some new items in stock:

Founders Nemesis (very limited quantity)
Bell's batch 9000 (very limited quantity)
Bell's Consecrator dopplebock
New Belgium Ranger IPA
Sam Adams Noble Pils
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot barleywine 2010
Sierra Nevada Glissade bock
Sierra Nevada Stout
Upland Komodo black IPA
Heavy seas Holy Sheet abbey ale
Boulevard Harvest dance wheatwine

From the Distributors:

From Krystle at World Class Beverages:

Congratulations to our sales team and newly Certified Cicerones, Matt Johnson, Matt Clapesattle, Andrew Maxson, and Jason Dow!

NEW BEER FROM HARPOON
Keep your eyes peeled for a new product coming in from Harpoon soon, details to come soon but this is a 100 barrel series, and we are looking very forward to getting it in come March! Very limited quantities available, so make sure to stay tuned for more.

LOOKING FOR BEER FROM WINTERFEST?
Just received Dark Horse Too Creamed Stout, Blueberry Stout, and Fore Smoked Stout… as always, find them near you on our website at www.worldclassbeverges.com Beer Spy!!!

If you went to Winterfest and had the opportunity to try the Vanilla Java Porter or Voodooator Dopplebock, we have limited quantities now available. If you missed out on getting to try the Buffalo Bill’s Blueberry Stout and don’t want to buy a 6-pack until you’ve tried it, they are in the newest World Class Original Tasters for you.

LOOKING FOR A GREAT VALENTINE’S GIFT?
If you know a craft lover and aren’t sure what to get them… variety packs are always a great way to go. Here are a few of our suppliers that you can easily find on our website’s Beer Spy to find their variety packs nearest to you: Abita, Boulevard, Flying Dog, Harpoon, Chimay, Saranac, Southhampton, Spaten, Unibroue.. and many more!

Cheer to all, and have a safe and Happy Valentine’s Day weekend!

From Greg at Cavalier Distribution:

We have several special / seasonal beers in stock to keep you warm thru the end of winter:

We have a few incredible Double/Imperial IPA's, Boulder Mojo Risin' & Founders Double Trouble. You can find both on draft and in bottles throughout the state and good craft beer establishments. There is limited quantities of each. We also have had an extremely limited run of New Albanian Hoptimus on draft only in select locations that support NABC. Make sure to get your hop fix!!

Breckenridge Pandora's Bock is out in both bottles and on draft as well. Pandora's is a tasty, malty bock beer signifying the impending arrival of spring. We have already sold through most of this year's inventory, so get it while you still can!

Clipper City Holy Sheet Uber Abbey Ale is back, but in a new package!! Holy Sheet is the 9% Belgian style Abbey Ale, that used to be available during the late summer/early spring in 6pks only. It is now part of the "Mutiny Series" of Clipper City beers and comes in 22oz bottles. This is a much better package for a beer of its strength. Same fantastic liquid, just a new package.

North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout is back along with the rest of the North Coast line!! After a bit of a drought, we have your North Coast back in stock, fresh and ready to go!

Shmaltz Coney Island Human Blockhead is out for it's second tour. HB is a dopplebock style of beer, weighing in at 10% abv and tasting wonderful! Make sure to get some of this limited run while it's available!

Two Brothers Northwinds Imperial Stout is back in a very limited quantity. This Imperial Stout is drinking incredible this year, and is one of the best deals in a 6pk that you will find!! Northwinds is a must try every year!!

We also are proud to introduce a brand new 100% Organic brewery to the Indiana market:

Eel River Brewing Co. was the 1st USDA Certified Organic Brewery in the US!! They are among the greenest of breweries and are out of Fortuna, CA. Eel River has a wonderful everyday line of organic 6pk beers including an Acai Berry Wheat Ale, Amber Ale, Cali Gold Ale, IPA & Porter, all of which are very good. They also have 2 high gravity beers in 22oz bottles, the Raven Imperial Stout & Triple Exhultation Old Ale!! All of these beers are very good on their own merits and the fact that they are 100% organic is a plus. Eel River is making its way into good craft beer establishments now, so pick up some and try it soon, enjoy!

Make sure to get out and keep supporting good craft beer during these cold months and keep buying Winter beer too while there's still snow on the ground!!

Misc:
Information about a Three Floyds/Half Acre Collaboration here.

Senate Bill 75 - SUPERSIZED!

Senate Bill 75, which would allow carryout sales on Sundays from Indiana's Microbreweries, passed the Senate with a lot of support. In the House, it has been assigned to the Public Policy Committee, which is chaired by Rep. VanHaaften.

It has not been reflected on the General Assembly website yet, but we have heard that two other alcohol related bills that passed the Senate will be combined with Senate Bill 75, create one alcohol bill for the House to consider. This would throw the bill back to the Senate for consideration.

This is seen as a mostly positive move by the lawyer and lobbyist for the Brewers of Indiana Guild. All three bills were authored or co-authored by Sen. Alting and all three bills are co-sponsored in the House by Reps. VanHaaften and Bell. It is viewed that having the three bills tied together provides strength in numbers.

One of the added Senate Bills is 118, which would allow alcohol sales in Indiana during polling hours. The other bill is 119, which would make Sunday serving hours the same as the other six days of the week. But there is more to it than that:

Allows the holder of a retailer's permit to sell alcoholic beverages on Sunday from 7 a.m. until 3 a.m. the following day. (Under current law, the holder of a retailer permit may sell alcoholic beverages on Sunday from 10 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. the following day). Makes it a Class B misdemeanor for an alcoholic beverage permittee or permittee's employee or agent to recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally sell, barter, exchange, provide, or furnish another person alcoholic beverages for carryout without first requiring the person to produce proof that the person is at least 21 years of age by: (1) a driver's license; (2) a government issued identification card; or (3) a government issued document; that bears the person's photograph and birth date. Provides that it is a defense in a criminal or administrative proceeding that the individual to whom the alcoholic beverages were sold appeared to be at least 50 years of age. Requires a permittee who sells alcoholic beverages for carryout to post a sign that informs consumers that state law requires a purchaser to produce identification to purchase alcoholic beverages for carryout. Provides that, in a criminal prosecution or proceeding before the alcohol and tobacco commission, it is a defense to a charge of unlawfully furnishing alcohol to a minor that the purchaser produced a government issued document bearing the purchaser's photograph and showing the purchaser to be at least 21 years of age.

The latter part of the bill will basically require everybody to produce an ID to purchase carryout alcohol, which could be a pain to some small business owners (i.e. microbreweries), but essentially doesn't seem like a bad idea, in my opinion. If you basically make it law, then nobody should get pissed because they have to produce identification to purchase carryout alcohol. Why this doesn't apply for alcohol purchases consumed on site, I'll never know.

The Public Policy committee will consider the Supersized Senate Bill 75 on Wednesday, February 17th at 8:30am.