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.

The Beer Geeks Take Madison: New Glarus Brewing Co.

As soon as you drive into the village of New Glarus, WI you will notice two things - they are proud of their Swiss Heritage and they are proud of their hometown brewery.

The history of the town itself is interesting. It was founded in 1845 by two gentlemen, Nicolas Duerst and Fridolin Streiff, who were sent by Swiss magistrates from Glarus, Switzerland. At that time, the town of Glarus was struggling. Poverty and agricultural turmoil was forcing residents to either endure the suffering or take a loan from the Glarus Emigration Society and take their chances on moving to America to start their lives again. With the promise of free/cheap land, many took the offer and headed to the shores of America. Their travels took them to America and through the Midwest (including Indiana) and finally up to Wisconsin where they found the suitable, though not ideal accommodations, set up by Duerst and Streiff.


Today, the Village of New Glarus boasts Swiss culture and benefits from several tourist destinations, including the New Glarus Brewing Company The original brewing facility opened in 1993, making Deborah Carey the first female in the country to own and operate a brewery. She and her husband, Dan, grew the facility until they broke ground on a new hilltop facility in 2004. The $20-some million dollar facility finally opened in June of 2009 and offers a brewing capacity of 90,000 barrels. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about those 90,000 barrels is that it is ONLY distributed in Wisconsin. Just to put that into perspective, Indiana's second largest brewery is Upland and they are on track to do about 8000 barrels this year (with distribution to three states). In addition to all of that, nearly half of those 90,000 barrels are of their flagship beer, Spotted Cow.


If there was anywhere apart from the Great Taste we had to visit while in Wisconsin, it was New Glarus Brewing. While New Glarus isn't all that far from Indy, the beer is just as desired in our house as anything else we can't easily get our hands on. We've been lucky to know a few folks who were willing to bring some back for us here and there, but we were long overdue to see the place for ourselves.


Entering New Glarus from the north, we thought we had immediately stumbled onto the brewery - a collection of old buildings on the side of the road, and a sign labeled "New Glarus Brewing Company". It looked like a little craft brewery along the lines of those we already know. But after looking around we realized that we were at the wrong end of town.



On the south end of New Glarus, up on a hill, sits a beautiful new facility. This wasn't a craft brewery like we knew it - more so a Utopian vision of craft brewing at its best. The brewery is a collection of buildings, with a self-guided tour that revealed that the inside of New Glarus Brewing Co. looks a lot more like Budweiser than Bee Creek. That's not a bad thing, by any means - the proof is in the product, and New Glarus' lineup is hard to beat.


We all settled in for a round of samples, checked out the extensive giftshop, took the brewery tour, and then made our way downstairs to buy a trunk full of beer for ourselves and those who had been so generous with their New Glarus hauls before.

If you find yourself in Madison - don't miss New Glarus.


http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/
http://www.swisstown.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Glarus,_Wisconsin

HBG4 featuring... Bell's and Dark Horse

The lineup of beers at Hoosier Beer Geek's Fourth Anniversary Party continues. And while we are working hard to bring in as many Indiana beers as possible, we couldn't help but have some out of state guests. The next guests come from Michigan...



Bell's Brewery
Kalamazoo, MI

Java Stout
Style: American Stout

From the brewery: Bell's Java Stout lets the satisfying elements of both stout and coffee come together in this full-bodied treat. A marriage of Sumatra's best with rich chocolate and roasted malt provides for a truly enlightening beer.



Dark Horse Brewery
Marshall, MI

Fore Smoked Stout
Style: Oatmeal Stout

From the brewery: Number Fore - Brewed with all malted barley and peat malt (smoked malt). This beer is full bodied with chocolate, roasted barley flavors, and a smokey almost BBQ finish.

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

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.