Pumpkin Ale

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

My family and I love pumpkin. We love pumpkin pie, pumpkin coffee, and even pumpkin beer. Bier Brewery has released their Pumpkin Ale. The pumpkin ale is 5.3% abv and 14.1 IBUs. They are limiting customers to one growler per person, per visit. Get in and try it while you can.

The beer pours out a golden color with head that goes away fast. It smells like pumpkin with a nice breadiness (almost like an unbaked pumpkin pie). It has a nice light mouth feel with just a bit of sticky sweetness.

The beer itself tasted like an Oktoberfest that had been poured through a pumpkin. The pumpkin was the dominant flavor, taking over most of the beer taste. There was basically no hops. I understand that its beer, it has hops, but no real bitterness. Although that may sound right up my alley, it allowed the pumpkin flavor and the sweetness to run wild. Normally with a pumpkin you get a bit more spiciness and that comes predominately from the hops. 

I wish there would have been a little bit more complexity. It tasted a bit like a mouthful of pie filling.

I didn't hate it, but it is not my favorite pumpkin beer. 

As you can see there are three beers poured in the picture above, and my wife loved it. 

I give it a 2.

Professor Beer:

I really enjoyed Bier's Pumpkin Ale.  It was more of a pumpkin pie beer than a pumpkin beer.  It had a strong cinnamon/spice flavor, but it was well balanced with the pumpkin and not overpowering.  Also, it didn't make the mistake of being too sweet, like many pumpkin beers do.  I found it to be an excellent pumpkin beer, and I will definitely be having a few more this month.

Autumn Marzen

I like Oktobefest beers. I would drink them throughout the year if it were allowed or easily done, but maybe then they wouldn't be as special.

Bier has put together their Autumn Marzen, which is a mostly traditional Bavarian Oktoberfest. It has 6.6% abv and 19.4 IBUs.

The beer pours an amber color with a fine line of white head that stays around the edge of the glass throughout your drinking experience. It has a fruity smell with just a little bit of hops and breadiness. It reminds me of my mothers home made raisin nut bread. Damn, I like her raisin nut bread, now I'm hungry. There is a light mouth feel, which surprised me because of how red the beer was.

The beer starts off with a fruity sweetness. There is a hint of caramel and cinnamon flavor to the malts. It has a crisp hoppy flavor at the end that tingles the tongue just enough that you know it is there. Sweetness and spice are expertly balanced, leaving enough of the beer flavor to keep me super happy.

This is one of my favorite Oktoberfests I have had this year. I give it a 4.

The Scene: Bier Brewery

Bier Brewery and Taproom is one of my favorite places to stop on a Friday. They open at 3, so by the time I am off there are always a couple people bellied up to the bar sampling the beer.

5133 East 65th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46220

The best part about Bier, is that they are releasing new beers every week. When you get to the tasting room  you can belly up to a standard bar or sit at one of their tables, and ask them to line you up. (this is the best part, see the picture below) Then they line up one of everything for you to try all of their great new creations. The staff is incredibly knowledgeable and always happy to talk shop. For people new to the beer scene, I would recommend they stop here first and try and get a little bit of an education. You get a warm personal touch from the guys and gals at Bier.

Their flagship beer is PDG (pretty damn good) IPA. They change the styles that they produce with the season, so you can expect a constantly changing menu with a ton of variety.

Everyweek the board is new and they have cards describing each of their unique beers for the week. This gives you abv, ibu and some descriptions. They really do a lot to help educate their customers.

   

Bier also hosts a variety of events. They have a great parking lot area and always have a food truck or two outside. Grab a bit and a beer.

View Larger Map

Two Pull

Granite City's Two Pull is a blend of their Northern Light Lager (4.50% ABV) and their Brother Benedict's Bock (5.10% ABV).

It is a light amber color, with a thin, off-white head.  The head settles quickly, with no significant lacing.  The Two Pull is well balanced, with a sweet malty taste and a slight hoppy flavor.  It was very crisp, with nice carbonation and a light body.

I found the Two Pull to be a very drinkable beer.  The combination of the Northern Light Lager and the Brother Benedict's Bock is, surprisingly, better than the sum of its parts.  While not the flashiest or most flavorful beer I've had, this is a nice, easily drinkable that I'll be happy to sit down and have a pint (or, more likely, a 25oz mug since I'm a Mug Club member) of anytime.

Oktoberfest - Thr3e Wisemen

Thr3e Wisemen made one hell of a Oktoberfest. Sadly, I take a shitty picture when I have been drinking. My bad.

This beer came out with a nice golden brown color, darker than a lot of Oktobefests I've had this season, and a snow white head that stuck around throughout the entire pint.

This Oktoberfest was maltier than most Oktoberfests I've had this year. It had a great caramel malty flavor in the body of it with some nice fall spices. The spices were accented by the hops which gave it a robust all around good taste. With all the maltiness, I was impressed that they were able to keep the sweetness more subdued. This helped keep it from just becoming a sweet beer with nothing else. There was a great sweetness upfront with a really crisp dry backbone. I could drink this all night, in fact...

I had a couple of pitchers, and the last pint was going down just as smoothly as the first.

I give this Oktobefest a 4.

Union Suit APA

Brugge is one of my favorite places to eat in Broadripple. I have been going there since well before I could drink, but my appreciation has grown since I started drinking

I went out with the Prof and my wife the other night and tried their Union Suit APA. Normally whenever I go to Brugge, I get one of their Belgian beers. I decided to try something I hadn't had from them before.

It poured out a nice orange color. It was a bit cloudy with a nice bright white head that persisted throughout my pint. It smelled overwhelmingly like citrus and pine. It had a tart flavor that continued from start to finish of this APA. There was a slight malt taste with caramel undertones in the middle, but it was quickly quieted down by another fist full of hops.

It finished with, you guessed it, a strong hoppy flavor. It reminded me of lemon zest. This give it a bitter aftertaste that lingered a little while after your last sip.

I am not always the best guy to go after some of these hoppy beers, but this one was lacking a lot of balance. It was an ok drink, but I probably wouldn't pick it over their some of their awesome Belgian beers.

I give it a 2

The Scene: Brugge Brasserie

The Brugge Brasserie is a Belgian-style brewpub in Broad Ripple.  They are known for their excellent food (especially the frites and mussels, though everything I've tried is very good), and, of course, their beer.

View Larger Map

The Brugge has two stories; the bottom floor is a cozy (or cramped?) restaurant, and the top floor has more of a traditional sports bar feel.  The table tops are copper, with holes at each setting.  It took me a little while to figure out what the holes were for (I wasn't sure until I actually saw them in use), but I finally realized they were used to hold the paper cones which the frites come in.  Their most famous dish is probably the Moules Frites, two pounds of Prince Edward Island mussels and a cone of pomme frites.  The mitraillettes (sandwiches served under a pile of the pomme frites) are all delicious, and I've heard good things about their crêpes, but have yet to bring myself to order anything that doesn't come with the pomme frites.  Also, it would be remiss of me not to mention the sauces that come with the frites; there are 12 different, fresh made sauces to choose from.

The Brugge has a rotating selection of their own beers on tap, though the Tripel de Ripple and the Black are usually available, along with one or two others.  Their beer selection is a little more volatile right now, since they are currently in the process of moving their brewing operations from Terre Haute to downtown Indianapolis, along with a new restaurant (though it will have different food than the current one).  There are also usually between three and five guest taps.  The guest taps are usually quite good, but I'm usually to busy drinking the Brugge's beer to give too many of them a try.

Overall, the Brugge is one of my favorite restaurants in the area.  The service can occasionally be underwhelming, but the great food and beer more than make up for it.  If you're in the mood for a Belgian, the Brugge is the place to go in Indianapolis.

Wee Mac

So this is one of my ABSOLUTE favorite beers. It is the beer that turned me onto fresh local beer. I could drink this every day and become the Even Bigger Guy, if that was not completely irresponsible. It is 5.4% abv with 23 IBUs.

One of my favorite days of the week is Friday. Yes it is the end of the work week. Yes I get to go home and see my family, but I also get to hit up Sun King Brewery for growler fill Friday on the way home. Growler fill Friday, is when you can get any of Sun King's three flagship beers for just $5 a growler. It is hard to find a better deal on craft beer anywhere. Since today is Friday, I recommend that you head down to Sun King and check it out for yourself.

Wee Mac is a Scottish Ale. It is a beautiful red brown color. When poured it has just a slight amount of light colored head. The beer has a malty body that tastes of fresh bread, caramel and a hint of nuts. It reminds me of eating my mom's raisin nut bread when I was a kid. The IBUs are pretty solid, which gives the beer a nice finish and rounds it out so you could have a few of these in a sitting without getting a belly full of sugar. The mouth feel is lighter than you would assume based on its color. 

The flavor is dominated by sweet maltiness, but the complexity keeps me coming back. This beer is a great one for whatever you are doing. 

This is one of my all time favorites. Great job Sun King. Glad you're in my back yard.

I give it a 4.5

Professor Beer:

Sun King's Wee Mac is also a favorite of mine.  It's easy to drink, and is one of my go-to beers wherever it's available.

 

Pooka

The Brugge Brasserie's Pooka is an American Wild Ale with 6.00% ABV.

This beer is light reddish or even pinkish in color, and quite cloudy.  The head settled fairly quickly, leaving some lacing.  There are fruity or berry notes to the aroma, as well as some tartness.

The taste starts with a nice, medium lemon and berry sourness, followed by a maltiness that still has some lemon notes, and finishing with a berry flavor and sour aftertaste.  The Pooka has a medium body, with light carbonation and a somewhat dry finish.

The Pooka is an easily drinkable sour, which I imagine most people won't find overpoweringly tart.  This is definitely one of my favorite Brugge beers, and I don't think I've ever had one of their beers that I didn't like.  In fact, my biggest complaint about the Pooka is that they won't fill a growler with it.

The Big Guy: Pooka is like a sour on training wheels. Its a great place to start if you haven't spent a lot of time with that particular style of beer.

The Scene: Boombozz

Boombozz is a restaurant that replaced the Mongolian BBQ in Carmel off of Greyhound Pass. I was skeptical when if first opened, but when I got in the restaurant was booming and the bar was fantastic. They were everything I had hopped for and more. It was like I had died and gone to pizza heaven.

Food was great. They have a ton of local beer selections on tap; including a few of their own beers. (Their beers were okay, but nothing to write home about. A solid 2.5 for the amber). I have now been there a couple times and the best appetizer by far is the Soft Pretzels ($5.99). They are outstanding. Boombozz actually deep fries the pretzel just enough to give it a slightly crisp outside.

Last night we had the Loaded Potato Nachos ($5.99). They were very good. There was a great portion of cheese and toppings on crispy homemade potato chips. All the pizzas I have had so far were very good. They use some unique fresh topics with a great crust.

One of my favorite parts of Boombozz is getting a flight of their beers. I was able to get four different beers from Flat12, Founders and some other solid Indy beers. It is a great opportunity to try some things you have not been able to get your hands on before.

   

Check them out. Great bar. Great food. Great beer.

I give the food 4 heads

I give the beer list a 4.5 heads. They do a great job supporting local breweries.

View Larger Map

Black Swan 2 Year Anniversary

Congratulations to Black Swan Brewpub, who just celebrated their two year anniversary. Way to help make Central Indiana a great place for beer!

They made three beers to celebrate their anniversary, and they were great.

They had the 2011 Roggenwein, the BackBone Barrel Imperial Brown Rye, and the BackBone Barrel Oatmeal Stout.

They were all outstanding beers, but sadly I couldn't take them home because they had too high an abv.

The Oatmeal Stout had a great barrel aged flavor with a nice oakiness and whiskey flavor. The Imperial Brown Rye was malty and sweet. It had a hyped up flavor that I could not put down. The 2011 Roggenwein was also a malty and delicious barleywine. All three had great flavor. I recomend you go get a sample and try them all. (A sample of each is just $4; while available.)

I give the 2011 Roggenwein a 3.5

I give the Imperial Brown Rye a 4.5

I give the Oatmeal Stout a 4

Way to go Black Swan, and congratulations on two good years.

View Larger Map

Congratulations

Raise a glass. Congratulations to O-Dawg on his wedding tonight. I have been friends with these guys so long that I remember when a relationship was sitting next to a girl on the bus ride home not talking to each other for a week. I am so happy that you have found someone who actually talks with you and is as great as your beautiful bride to be. Best wishes in everything you do as a family.

-TBG

Oarsman Ale

Creation:  Oarsman Ale

Style: Weissbier, sour mash, wheat beer
Masterminds:  Bells Brewery, Inc.
Location:  Kalamazoo, MI
ABV: 4%
Hops:
Drinkability:  Have you ever had a canoe beer that went bad?
Awards:

I like sours, seriously...  Monks Flemish Style Sour Ale? Delicious!

Ok... now the incumbent...

Pours with a watery clouded pale yellow.  Reminds me of a really watered down wheat beer.  Oh wait...  Appears flat with limited head.  Not much carbonation.

Has a sharp tart/sour nose to it with wheat undertones.  

Slight tart forward with really mellow wheat and ever so slight lemon notes.

Finish is... unremarkable

O-Dawg:  1.5 heads

Postmortem:
To be fair I brought this over to a friends house to watch Peyton Manning (big Bronco ex-Colt not little Giant) on his opening in this years 2012 NFL season.  Yes I support ex-Colts, even watched Green Bays opening game to watch Jeff Saturday get in a few snaps.  Skip had a few people over and he grilled out per usual during the start of the NFL season.  Note the brats in the foreground.  When popping the top off this treat I was expecting a complex sour, one that played the classic good cop bad cop with your senses.  You know what i am talking about!  Sour pungent nose that reeks of vinegar bitterness that gives way to a complex and robust sour ale that really is in shocking contrast to the smell.  This was none of these things.  I likened it to canoe beer for the shear lack of any taste.  The notes too subtle for my liking.  In the end didn't offer anything up to make this beer a treat that I have come to know and love from Bells.  I split it with Skip and I think I made him cry because he was expecting the same.  Pretty sure he cried himself to sleep, on his huge pillow.  Sorry Julie...

Kook - ee

I am not a small man. I have been known to eat a cookie or two in  my day. When I found out that my friends at Sun King were trying to make a beer that tasted just like a cookie, I got excited.

  

Kook - ee is fantastic. This American Blonde Ale starts off with a nice auburn color. The head is a good looking off white that sits on the top of the beer just briefly before it dissolves into a ring around the glass. It has a sweet aroma, sort of like you would expect. I was a little disappointed it didn't actually smell like my wife backing cookies, but for a beer it was pretty darn close.As you can see, the ABV is 6% and it has 14 IBUs. (that is not many IBUs)



Shameless IU Plug, go Hoosiers!

The flavor was malty and sweet. It was a heavier beer than I expected for such a light colored Blonde. It had a very slight bitter finish at the end, but really nothing serious. It had a great drinkable flavor. I would have liked a little bit more complexity with a bit more hops (shocking) to balance out the sweetness, but all in if you take into consideration that it was named for sweetest tastiest treat I could have as a kid, its pretty good. By the way, not sure if there are any trade mark issues here, but love the poster.

I give it a solid 3, and yes I do want a cookie.

500 Monks

So I have had some stuff from Triton Brewery at bars and festivals, but I had never made it out to Fort Benjamin Harrison to check them out. For this post I decided to make the drive.

When I got there it was totally warm and welcoming. I sat up at the bar with about five other drinkers and asked the guy next to me for a recommendation. He told me I had to try 500 Monks, so I did. I had it there, and liked it so much that I brought a bullet back for my wife and I to enjoy that evening.

This is a fresh pour at home

500 Monks is a barely wine produced by Triton. I like everything to be bigger, and this one is. It has jacked up alcohol and jacked up taste. The ABV was 9.5% and the IBUs were 29.

The beer was a dark amber color. It had a light head and a fruity malty scent. It had a strong malt start. Heavy caramel taste with a creamy feel and a hint of pear. It had a light hoppy finish that added to the complexity. It was a strong flavor that was totally in your face in all the right ways. It was full bodied but drinkable (again it should have been done in an 8 oz tulip or snifter glass, but I have no class). This is one to sit down and enjoy in front of a fire on a fall day or outside with a cigar.

Probably my favorite part of this was the aftermath. My lips had a sweet fruity taste for at least the next five minutes and that was outstanding. After trying a half pint of this at the tap room, I had to take a growler home for later. It stood up even days later as a great beer.

Great job Triton. I will be back. 

I give it a 4

The Scene: Triton Brewing Co.

-->
Triton Brewing Company
5764 Wheeler Road Indianapolis, IN 46216
(317) 735-2706
tritonbrewing.com

First Impression:
An informal meeting place for friends, family and pets. Yes, I said pets! No food is prepared on premise so they aren't breaking any rules by letting you have your four legged friends in the tap room. They do have these superb soft pretzels made off site and brought in if you need something to snack on. Fool hearted or ingenious?! I lean on the ingenious.




From seasonals to the usual suspects, a variety of beers are on tap. My preference is the Rail Splitter IPA, Magnificent Amber, Dead Eye Stout, and the Official Beer of the Indiana ICE Sin-Bin Belgian Pale.

They are two blocks southeast from Fort Harrison State Park. My suggestion is take the family out for a leisurely weekend romp through the park and make a pit stop at the end over at the brew pub.

Bit-O-Trivia:
Triton snagged their brewing tanks at auction from one of my most beloved breweries when they closed their doors for good, Warbird. There is a little shrine in the back of Triton's bar for the now closed brewery.

R.I.P
Warbird
Founder: Dave Holmes
Fort Wayne, IN
2004-2009
"We'll always remember your Shanty Irish"

 

View Larger Map