World Beer Cup - Indiana Winners

Congratulations to the Indiana breweries taking home WBC awards yesterday.

Category 41: German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock, 44 Entries - Bronze: Dominator Dopplebock, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN

Category 61: Belgian-Style Dubbel, 39 Entries - Silver: Belgian Dubbel, Bier Brewery, Indianapolis, IN

Category 64: Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale, 41 Entries - Gold: Batch 333: The Velvet Fog, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN

Category 71: Scottish-Style Ale, 26 Entries - Bronze: Beltaine Scottish Ale, Shoreline Brewery, Michigan City, IN

Category 72: English-Style Mild Ale, 27 Entries - Gold: Crown Brown, Crown Brewing, Crown Point, IN

Category 77: Oatmeal Stout, 49 Entries - Gold: Naked Oat Stout, Rock Bottom College Park, Indianapolis, IN

Category 83: Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout, 30 Entries - Silver: Ring of Dingle, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN

The second year of the Beer and Cheese Club starts off with a bang.  In the beer department, Shoreline's 2008 Curse the Goat barrel-aged doppelbock.  Shoreline's barrel series can typically fetch $20 or more at a liquor store, so for Curse the Goat to show up in an edition of the Beer and Cheese Club is really something special.  But it doesn't stop with an impressive beer, oh no.  Our cheese selection is crafted by an Italian cheese maker that decided to set up shop in Kentucky.  Giovanni Capezzuto's Kentucky Grana gets an even more local twist this month.  The Smoking Goose has smoked a wheel of this cheese and it is this month's cheese selection with the Beer and Cheese Club!

The beer is from the north, the cheese is from the south and Goose the Market brings it all together with the Smoking Goose and the Beer and Cheese Club.  If you're a member of the Beer and Cheese Club at Goose the Market, your January installment is ready for you to pick up right now. If you're not a member, the club is $99 for 4 months.  We normally get this out ahead of time, but Winterfest slowed us down this month.  Despite our lethargy, I think you'll enjoy the pairing just the same.

This month brings an extra special treat to members.

The beer is from Indiana’s own Shoreline Brewery and part of their Big Bourbon Series. Curse the Dopplebock is interesting right now. It imparts a bit of sour flavor, mixed with aromas of bourbon and dark fruit. It is light on the tongue and a little warming in the belly.

This goat’s milk cheese from Lexington, KY is made by Napoli native, and now Lexington resident, Giovanni Capezzuto. His Old World approach makes for a deliciously subtle and buttery textured cheese. But this particular batch gets a little “Goose” from Chris Eley. This cheese has been smoked at the Smoking Goose, which gives it a little extra something special. If you’ve ever been fortunate to have some bacon or other smoky treat from the Meatery, you know how delicious it is. This cheese takes on that flavor like a champ.

Thanks Goose!

I was quite excited about this beer, because everything I've had from the Barrel Series has been great.  Curse the Goat took me a little by surprise, perhaps because the barrel aging is beginning to influence the beer in the sour direction.  Sour red grapes were the first thing I noticed in the aroma, followed with faint notes of raisin, chocolate, malt and bourbon.  The flavor was similar.  A bit of tartness mixed with plums, figs and raisins and a hint of bourbon in the background.  Certainly no longer your typical doppelbock, this is now something entirely unique.  I wouldn't let this beer sit another year or it may lose its body to sourness, but right now the balance is intriguing.

The cheese is another story, as it is quite fresh and bursts with a beautiful smoky flavor.  The fresh Smoking Goose treatment is immediately noticeable both in the aroma and flavor.  The cheese has a distinct dry, salty, nuttiness that lends itself to smoking and creates an incredible end product.  When tasting the cheese and the beer together, the doppelbock notes are incredibly complimentary with the dark fruit and rich malt flavors pairing well with the smoked character of the cheese.  The sourness creates an interesting reaction with the salty flavor of the cheese, which seems to run parallel to the other flavor interactions without disturbing them.  Certainly a unique pairing!

Sorry, you don't get the whole wheel

To join the Beer and Cheese Club at Goose the Market (in conjunction with Hoosier Beer Geek), check out this PDF and then either call Goose the Market at 317-924-4944 or stop in the shop at 2503 N. Delaware St.

Beer Diary #14 - Jim | No Pictures, Please

Date: 31 July 2009
Location: Ye Olde Family Homestead
Valparaiso, Indiana

Compared to my fellow Knights of the Beer Roundtable, I lag behind when it comes to beer consumption. My routine essentially goes like this--I go to the store. I see lots of beer that I like. I buy it. Then, it languishes in the closet and/or the fridge. I'm lucky if I drink one beer per week at home. If I wrote my own beer blog, it would probably be called Hoosier Beer Miser and would have one post per month.

The main reason that I have such a huge beer cache at home is that I like to share what I have with others, and that opportunity doesn't come along as often as I'd like (well, aside from the occasional pitch-in roundtable among the KOTBR). An opportunity to share arose when my cousins came back to Indiana for a visit. They're IU grads, but they now live in Maine. They also love good beer and are homebrewers to boot. However, there are a number of beers that they can't get in New England, so I decided to raid the closet/fridge and bring along some of the good stuff to share. Among the beers we consumed were these:

Three Floyds Brian Boru

The KOTBR featured this beer at the St. Patrick's Day party we hosted in 2008 (you know, the one that no one came to). A few weeks ago, I went to Parti Pak and snagged a bomber of Three Floyds' contribution to the Irish Red Ale style (5.9% ABV). This one had been sitting on the shelf at Parti Pak since its release this past winter, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of it. It poured with the reddish brown color you'd expect from the style. The nose evoked brown sugar with a faint metallic hop presence. The flavor was lovely--roasted malt, caramel, and sweet toffee, with a fair amount of hop bite but not as much as you'd expect from a Three Floyds beer. This one met with the cousins' seal of approval.

Southern Star Pine Belt Pale Ale

The world needs more craft beer in cans, especially if they taste as good as Southern Star's Pine Belt Pale Ale (6.3% ABV). This beer, which comes in tallboy four-packs, is relatively new to Indiana. I picked it up at the Whole Foods store on 86th Street in Nora. Pine Belt Pale Ale is an unfiltered American Pale Ale. It poured with an orange-amber color and was a bit cloudy with a few floaties. The nose was not as floral as one might expect from an APA; a piney hop presence was there, but not in spades. The flavor was quite roasty and malty for an APA, backed with a hint of citrus. There was also a nice sweetness with each sip. The cousins loved this one, too. KOTBR, we need to review this beer. Kudos to Mat Gerdenich and Cavalier Distributing for bringing Pine Belt Pale Ale to Indiana.

Date: 13 August 2009
Location: Shoreline Brewery
Michigan City, Indiana

Back in the Region again with a return trip to Shoreline Brewery (208 Wabash St., Michigan City, Indiana, 219.TRY.HOPS), which was featured in my first beer diary. I needed something to drown my sorrows after the USA lost yet again to Mexico at Azteca Stadium. One day we'll win there and cause the Mexican fans to go into a complete meltdown. Alas, not this time. . . .

A quick note about Shoreline--They have a knowledgeable staff, friendly clientele, and a menu that makes a vegetarian like me very happy. Plus, they have the most unique mugs for their mug club that I have ever seen (Bob O. from Indiana Beer took a snapshot of them a while back--scroll down about 3/4 of the way down the page). Check out Shoreline if you ever make a trip to Indiana's Lake Michigan shore.

Since I drove up to Michigan City from Valparaiso, I didn't want to overdo it with the drinking. Therefore, I opted to sample only two of Shoreline's beers--

Singing Sands Oatmeal Stout

This oatmeal stout was on nitro. It poured with a creamy tan head, had a good chewy mouthfeel, and carried the classic oatmeal stout characteristics in the flavor profile, with cream, chocolate and coffee notes dominating. A really solid offering in the style. I could drink a hell of a lot of these on a cool fall day. Don't know what the ABV is, but I'm guessing it's in the 4.5 to 5.5% range.

3 Sum IIPA

Yeah, I know--gimmicky name. I don't much like it either, but it is funny in a sort of juvenile way to say to the bartender, "Hey, I'll have a 3 Sum." This beer is Shoreline's contribution to the Imperial IPA style and clocks in at 10.5% ABV. The "3 Sum" name comes from the fact that it's brewed with Summit hops and two other hop varieties that slip my mind at the moment (I'm pretty sure that one of them was Nugget). It was served in a 10.5 ounce glass and was too cold upon pouring. Consequently, I let it sit for a while before I tried it. The nose was ruled by pineapple notes; there wasn't much pine there. The mouthfeel was almost viscous, as the beer literally slid across my tongue. As for the taste--If I didn't know any better, I could swear this was Bell's Hopslam, because that is precisely what 3 Sum reminded me of. The flavor was heavy with peach, pineapple, and malt characteristics. An excellent IIPA.