Winterfest 2013 Recap

Another edition of the Brewers of Indiana Guild's Winterfest has come and gone. If I'm not mistaken, this year's festival saw the most Indiana breweries (44) and festival-goers in attendance at Winterfest since the first Winterfest was held in 2009.

With the large number of breweries at the festival, it was impossible to get a full sampling of what each brewery had to offer. So while I and my co-attendees visited some old favorites and made sure that we hit the ReplicAle and cask tents in the outdoor biergarten, we focused on sampling offerings from the new Indiana breweries. And what was our lasting impression? That some of the new kids have really hit the ground running, producing some outstanding beers. We had excellent beers from the likes of Union Brewing Company, ZwanzigZ, Daredevil Brewing Company, and Iechyd Da Brewing Company just to name a few newer breweries. And what does this mean for new brewers seeking entry into the Indiana market? That the bar is being set high for new breweries, so you'd better bring your "A" game right out of the gate if you want to be competitive in the market.

We hope everyone who attended Winterfest enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to future Brewers of Indiana Guild festivals. In the meantime, here's some of what we saw at Winterfest.

VIP hour gets rolling

Proper festival wear

The neon green giant

Carmel's Union Brewing, specializing in cask ales

Mr. Steak of the band Cocaine Wolves and Josh of Flat12

BIG's El Presidente, Ted Miller of Brugge Brasserie

Volunteers at the ReplicAle tent

Brugge Brasserie's Peony, an American sour ale

The cask/firkin area in the outdoor biergarten

Lafayette Brewing's cask offerings

Sun King breaking out their famous Velvet Fog

Irvington's pride & joy, Black Acre Brewing Co.

Bare Hands, purveyors of a unique Peanut Butter Stout

Columbus' ZwanzigZ, whose Ghost Pepper Imperial Stout had the festival crowd buzzing (literally and figuratively)

If you didn't try New Day Meadery's Breakfast Magpie Mead, then you'll need to visit their tasting room soon

Bill and Michael of Shelbyville's Daredevil Brewing

Brittany and Andrew of RAM

Festival-goers clamoring for 3 Floyds Blot Out the Sun Imperial Stout

Flat12 toward the end of a long day

Sun King Pink Taco Sour Ale

Closing time

HBG: Now on the ubiquitous Instagram

Today we'll be posting photos from Winterfest on Instagram. Follow us at instagram.com/hoosierbeergeek.

Winterfest Tap List

We published a list of breweries attending Winterfest last week.  This week, we've discovered the tap list for the 2013 Winterfest on the Brewers of Indiana Guild website.  Enjoy!

http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/whos-serving/breweries/winterfest-2013

Winterfest 2013 Breweries

Here's this year's list of confirmed breweries for Winterfest.  With nearly 70 breweries in attendance, we're sure you won't go away unsatisfied.  Hopefully you've already picked up your ticket, because they've been sold out for at least a week.  Be sure to buy your tickets early next year, as I'm sure it will sell out well in advance once again.

Updated 1/22/13

Indiana

450 North Brewing - Columbus

Back Road Brewery - LaPorte

Bare Hands Brewery - Granger

Barley Island - Noblesville

Bier Brewery - Indianapolis

Big Dawg Brewhaus - Richmond

Big Woods - Nashville

Black Acre Brewing Company - Indianapolis

Bloomington Brewing Company - Bloomington

Broad Ripple Brewpub - Indianapolis

Brugge Brasserie - Indianapolis

Bulldog Brewing - Whiting

Crown Brewing - Crown Point

Cutters Brewing Company - Bloomington

Daredevil - Shelbyville

Evil Czech Brewery - Culver

Figure Eight - Valparaiso

Flat 12 Bierwerks - Indianapolis

Fountain Square Brewing - Indianapolis

Four Horsemen - South Bend

Great Crescent - Aurora

Half Moon Brewing - Kokomo

Hawcreek Brewing Co. - Hope

Iechyd Da Brewing Company - Elkhart

Lafayette Brewing Company - Lafayette

Mad Anthony Brewing - Fort Wayne, Warsaw, Auburn

New Albanian Brewing - New Albany

New Day Meadery - Indianapolis

Oaken Barrel Brewing Co. - Greenwood

Peoples Brewing Company - Lafayette

Power House Brewing Company - Columbus

Ram Brewery - Indianapolis, Fishers

Rock Bottom College Park - Indianapolis

Rock Bottom Downtown - Indianapolis

Sun King - Indianapolis

Thr3e Wise Men - Indianapolis

Three Floyds - Munster

Three Pints - Plainfield

Tin Man Brewing Company - Evansville

Triton Brewing - Indianapolis

Turoni's Main Street - Evansville

Twisted Crew - Seymour

Union Brewing - Carmel

Upland - Bloomington, Indianapolis

ZwanzigZ - Columbus

Out of State

Ace Hard Ciders - California

Against the Grain - Kentucky

Bell's Brewery - Michigan

Bluegrass Brewing - Kentucky

Bluegrass Brewpub - Kentucky

Boston Beer - Massachusetts

Boulder Beer - Colorado

Country Boy Brewing - Kentucky

DESTIHL - Illinois

Falls City - Kentucky

Finch's - Illinois

Founders - Michigan

Lexington - Kentucky

Mendocino - California

New Belgium - Colorado

New Holland - Michigan

North Coast - California

Rivertown - Ohio

Schlafly - Missouri

Sierra Nevada - California

Sixpoint - New York

Tyranena - Wisconsin

Victory - Pennsylvania