Hey, where can I get that? | Schlafly Beer

I think that Mike and Jason have already done a top drawer job with their take on AleFest Indy, so I won't rehash what they said other than to note that I had a great time as well. I also have to say that I find it encouraging to see so many women showing up at these events. It's great to know that Kelly and Gina have a lot of company in their love of craft beers and that being a beer geek is no longer the sole province of dudes.

There is, however, one loose end that needs to be tied up here regarding AleFest. We received one question many times that we couldn't answer with certainty: "Where can I get Schlafly Beer in Indianapolis?" Here's your answer from Scott Shreffler of Schlafly:

Kahn's is a great answer for where to find our beer. Many United Package Liquors and Crown Liquors stores also carry us. As for non-chain accounts in Indy, Brandywine Liquors, The Hop Shop and Vine and Table also carry us.

For more information on these vendors--

Kahn's Fine Wines
The Hop Shop
Vine & Table
Brandywine Liquors
United Package Liquors
Crown Liquors

AleFest Indianapolis | Mike's Notes

As part of our massive conspiracy and plot against all things good in the world, Jim, Jason and myself headed down (or up) to the Murat Saturday to volunteer for AleFest Indianapolis.

When we arrived we were given direction by AleFest's organizer, Mr. Joe Waizmann. The rules for volunteers were as follows:

1) Make sure you have a server's license
2) Make sure you take tickets
3) Pour to the top of the logo on the glass


He then said thanks, told us there would be free beer afterwards, and left us to our own devices.

We took a look around the room, and decided it best that we serve from the Schlafly table - a beer we're fairly familiar with, and a brewery that has sent the Hoosier Beer Geeks free beer before.

Schafly was a good choice. The nine varieties of beer (Pale Ale, American Pale Ale, No. 15, Unfiltered Wheat Hefeweizen, Extra Irish Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Coffee Stout, Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout, and Oak Aged Barleywine) provided plenty of choice for anyone, and allowed us plenty of options when pouring our own.



A few thoughts:

1) It was really great to hear from our readers - your compliments are greatly appreciated, and it's really good to know that people are reading and enjoying the site. We hope to keep the good work going.

2) While I'm sure the ticket method makes the lawyers happy, it's not very effective. While we were sure to take tickets for every drink we poured, there were more than enough spare tickets to be found on the floor throughout the room. If you were desperate enough, all you had to do is look down.



3) There was more than enough variety in the beers through the room, but (despite the fact that they're not all distributed by World Class Beverages) it would have been nice to see more members of the Brewers of Indiana Guild at the fest. I'm sure that's up to World Class, though.

Of course this was the first time for this event, and it's bound to be better next year. I would seriously doubt that anyone left unhappy. I know I saw plenty of people that were perhaps a little too happy.

My last note: When the six o'clock hour rolled around, I made my way to the restroom, where I overheard the following conversation while waiting for a urinal.

Guy #1: "Is yours yellow?"

Guy #2: "Mine's yellow."

Guy #3: "Yeah, mine too."

Guy #1: "Well, we were drinking that good shit. That wasn't Miller Light."

No, it wasn't.

How it works: AleFest Indy

We've been running an ad for the past couple weeks about this Saturday's AleFest Indy - "A charitable craft beer festival showcasing the finest beer styles in the world." You might be wondering exactly what "charitable craft beer festival" means: Who's running the show? Who's benefiting? How much is going to the charity? And why the limit on samples?

With those questions in mind, I contacted our inside guy - World Class Beverages' Bob Mack - who was happy to provide us with some answers.

Who's running the show?

Ale Fest is organized by a long time home brewer and beer business veteran from Dayton, Ohio, Joe Waizmann. Joe has been an advocate of great beer his entire life and when he says that his mission with Ale Fest is to promote great beer, he’s very sincere about that. He’s worked for years as a representative for Merchant du Vin, perhaps the premier beer importer in the United States and importer of beers like Samuel Smith, Ayinger, Rochefort, Westmalle, Orval and many others. In short, Joe has some serious credentials and is very, very sincere about promoting great beer.

Who's benefiting?

The charitable beneficiary of this event is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), Indianapolis chapter. LLS has been a part of many beer related events and World Class Beverages, Monarch Beverage Company and the Brewers of Indiana Guild all have a working relationship with them. Joe Waizmann will donate a portion of each ticket sold to LLS so the overall amount of the donation is based on attendance at the event. The percentage of the donation will be about 5% of the revenue. It some respects, that seems a small number but it is pretty typical of amounts involved in charitable contributions for this sort of thing and we do not ask anything of LLS in return.

As for the money involved, I have to emphasis that there will be more money spent on this event than is taken in. This is not a profitable event and is being done because World Class Beverages is using this event as a marketing tool for the brands that will be involved. For example, if 500 people attend the event at $30 a piece, that’s $15,000 in revenue. The facility (Murat Centre) will cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of two thirds that amount and advertising/promotion will cost us most of the rest of that amount. Additionally, a huge cost involved in this event will be beer and I would conservatively estimate that it will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,000 just to supply beer for the event. Add those costs together and you’ll get to $20,000 pretty easily for an event that will bring in $15,000 (with 500 people attending) and you’ll see that there isn’t much money left to go around, particularly after you subtract the money that LLS will receive.

Of course, these are estimates based on attendance levels and some of the overall costs have not yet been identified. And this doesn’t include any time, travel or other expenses that are personally incurred by the people directly involved in the event or the 50 or so volunteers who will be pouring beer at the event. With additional attendance, revenue would increase and that wouldn’t be a bad thing, but we are still a long way from breaking even on this event. But that really isn’t the intention of this event, either.

I’d also like to mention that if it was our sole intention to make money, we’d remove the sample limit because we are aware that some people will not attend the event when there is limited sampling. Money is not the goal of this event, education about great beer is.

Why the limit on samples?

I think it’s important to point out that Ale Fest is not intended to be a “drinking competition” and that some people are rubbed the wrong way anytime that a sample limit is present. But the goal of this event is to promote high quality and often high alcohol beers and for a wide variety of reasons unlimited consumption and high end beers don’t usually go hand in hand. There are still events out there that allow for unlimited sampling and I don’t have anything against those, per se, but there are also many very successful high end beer events that do limit sampling. Limiting samples avoid many insurance and legal issues and it tends to separate these events into more elite, somewhat educational and informative tastings versus drinking competitions where the message of better beer is largely lost in favor of larger volumes of beer. We’re aiming for the former.

We’re very openly promoting the “responsible drinking” nature of the event, so I don’t think that anyone is going to be surprised by this at the event itself. Additionally, the mission of World Class Beverages (which is quoted on the Ale Fest website) is to promote beer knowledge and passion in a responsible fashion, so this is the type of event that we feel fits our purpose.

Special glasses are being designed for the event. They are 6 ounce glasses so you can pretty easily get a 4 ounce + pour into them with foam. Additional samples will be available at an additional cost. But at the 20 sample level, you’re paying almost exactly $4.50 for a 12 ounce serving, which is rather low on the price end for these types of beers. For comparison sake, check out the price of a 12 ounce serving of Ayinger, Chimay, Allagash, etc. at a good bar the next time you’re in. Yes, we’ll have Barley Island, Bell’s and many others that might normally be priced at or below $4.50 for a 12 ounce serving, but many of these beers would run much more. With a 4 ounce sample, you’re also getting just short of 7 - 12 ounce beers and again, at higher alcohol levels, that is not a small amount.

I’m not going to knock anyone else’s beer event, but I think we’ll have a very, very strong beer selection. What other event would you go to taste four of the seven Trappist beers, for example? I think the list of breweries stands on its own.

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As for our take - We'd like to think that we're not naive at Hoosier Beer Geek; We understand the World Class is in business to make money. But in dealing with the folks at World Class we've found that they're genuine people who really love beer - they just happen to be lucky enough to make a living dealing with a product they love.

Four of the Knights of the Beer Roundtable (Kelly, Jason, Jim, and Mike) will be in attendance Saturday - in fact, we'll be serving. Stop by and say hi - we'll give you beer.

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Thanks KJ