Geisterzug Gose

I have a huge school girl crush on Freigeist Beirkultur.  I would leave my woman like a country song for it.

When Abraxxxas and Otterkolong hit shelves over the winter, I went nuts for this beer of "free spirit (freigeist)."  Bucking the old tradition of the Reinheitsgebot and Biergesetz, they are letting loose East German styles, some long forgotten, with a refreshing twist that is not new to Americans.  The trend of letting brewmasters be artists and not just craftsmen is finally hitting Europe and to see regions with THOUSANDS OF YEARS of brewing history come awake in this new wave of brewing is divine.

Geisterzug Gose is a spruced Gose style beer.  In case that reads as greek to you, lets break it down:

Gose: A style that was invented in Goslar and popularized in Leipzig.  It's story is epic.  After WWII only one man was left that knew the recipe, so after it was thought extinct in '49, he brought it back.  On his deathbed, he gave the recipe to his stepson.  When he died in '66, so did the beer.  Until 1980 when some dude bought a farm and pub in Gosal and thought that they should produce Gose again.  He tirelessly interviewed people who remembered drinking Gose until he brewed an authentic Gose.  Holy shit, right?  Oh yeah, and the style typically has a herbal, lemon peel taste and is brewed with salt and coriander.

Spruce Beer: Hops are wonderful plants, but if you live in a cold climate, you cannot take advantage of their delightful bitterness and alchemical magic.  I don't know who figured out that Spruce had appropriate fermentables and chemistry to make it quaffable, but I want to shake the hand of the man that decided to say, "Fuck it, make tree into beer."  It was popularized in Paris and other Northern European cultural centers by none other than the cultural legacy of the Vikings.  Spruce is very high in Vitamin C, so as awesome as being drunk is, not getting scurvy and bleeding out of your eyeballs is way better.

 And now to the Geisterzug:

It pours a very hazy yellow and has a salty sweetbread nose.  The herbal lemon peel is quite evident on first taste.  It fades into the light malts and sweet yeasts and finishes with a nice spruce flavor.  I don't want to cheapen this beer by saying it tastes like Sprite, but the spruce in the Geisterzug really amps up the tonic element.  It's almost literal when I say this beer tastes like magic.  Magic potion.  If this is what the Gummy Bears drunks, I can see why they were so playful and happy.

Although this beer is well balanced, I feel like it's missing a little something to propel it into a 5, so I'll settle for a 4.5 and drink this all summer

Bloomington Craft Beer Festival

The 3rd annual Bloomington Craft Beer Festival was held on April 13th, and this year, they had a week of lead-up events (which, unfortunately, none of the Barons were able to attend).  The festival was held at the Woolery Mill in Bloomington, and over 50 breweries were in attendance.  There was an abundance of great beer at the festival, but one that stood out to me was Cutters Brewing Company's General Brown.  ZwanzigZ's Ghost Pepper Stout and Upland's Teddy Bear Kisses are also excellent, though this was not my first time trying them.  The very first booth we stopped at was Samuel Adams, where I tried their Cherry Chocolate Bock.  I wasn't expecting much, but it was surprisingly good.

I would say that the Bloomington Craft Beer Festival was an excellent day of craft beer drinking an fun.  I think my only complaint would be the small amount of restroom facilities; at certain times, the lines were ridiculously long.  This event is definitely on my radar for next year.

The mill seen from the parking lot

The crowd waiting to be let in

One side of the festival

The Big Guy: You couldn't have asked for a nicer spring day to enjoy some craft beer in southern IN. The venue was awesome, and there were a ton of breweries that showed up. My favorite for the day was the Stalin's Darkside by Evil Czech. The beer was boozy, sweet big and bold. Other great showings were done by ZwanzigZ (Ghost Pepper Imperial Stout and their The Ticket Chocolate beer). Flat 12 put out some cool stuff with experimental hops involved, but since I am not the biggest hop head it didn't really get me going. Sun King had some fun seasonals that they released every hour, which made them totally worth checking back with throughout the event. It was a great showing by Indiana's craft brewing community.

The only thing I was disappointed with was, the VIP gift. We got a frisbee, or at least I think that's what the gift was. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome to be allowed in an hour early. This would have been worth the added ticket cost alone, but they said you would get a VIP gift. They really shouldn't have bothered with a gift if it wasn't going to be memorable. Beer good, Swag bad.

The VIPs surge towards the beer, knowing they only have one hour to drink before everyone else

Hop infuser was better than I expected, nice sweet and citrusy

The Little Lady: This was a really nice event. The location was totally unique, and added a lot to the feel of the event. There were several breweries there that were new to me, and that's really what I tried to taste while we were there. I wanted to have that new experience and really check out things that I can't get everyday at home. Zwanzigz, Evil Czech, and Country Boy Brewing did not disappoint! We've actually talked a little bit about taking some road trips to their locations to really try out all they have to offer. If you didn't have the chance to try Zwanzig's blueberry and chocolate mixed together you owe it to yourself to try. Amazing- and not just because I'm a girl. The Big Guy and Professor Beer were impressed too.

I was so glad we opted to do the VIP. It got us in an hour before general admission, which meant we could walk around and sample a bit easier. If you're like me and you don't love huge crowds, it's well worth the extra cost. I've already started looking for the 2014 date so we can mark this one on the calendar! 

POURsuasion: The Thrill of the Hunt

We've had some serious back and forth conversations here within the Beer Barons on the topic of limited release beers. Recently between Bourbon Barrel Johan by Sun King and KBS by Founders and the Game of Thrones beer by Ommegang, we have really started going at it. You've probably read O-Dawg's thoughts on the topic, but I have a little different take.

I love limited release beers. I love the creativity that goes into them, the incredible flavor, and of course the feeling you get when you finally get your hands on the goods you have been hunting. I have been in love with the Darklord beers by Three Floyds since I first found out about rare beers. I was super happy with the Velvet Fog by Sun King, and I even waited in line for Bier's release of Sanitarium twice this year!

There's something about the hunt itself that I think brings craft beer lovers together. When the KBS ship date was first released, it lead to a flurry of internet searches and calls to local liquor stores and other beer lovers. O-Dawg hit his network of liquor store workers / owners and found out when it was going to get to Indy. I got that date and went to friends and family and asked them to keep their eyes out when they were doing their own shopping and maybe even hook me up with a special stop. I got everyone I could on the case, because I found out I was going to be out of town. I have excellent friends, and some of them were able to hit the streets big time.

I always try to get at least two when something comes out. This way I can try it right away and save one for later.

 

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I didn't get tickets to Darklord Day from Three Floyds. I was pissed!!! I have three other Darklord bottles, so I may decide to find another way of getting the brew. If you are not able to get your hands on the brew around town the next best thing is to pay the piper. Check out My Beer Cellar, but know you are going to be paying a premium for a beer that you couldn't find in town. You could also go to Ratebeer and look at their trade sections. It may cost you one of your other treasured limited releases, but people love to trade for things they can't find in their market (EBay no longer offers beer selling as an option).

If you don't like the idea of the limited release beers, I get it. I respect your decision, but you have to think about it from the place of the brewer. These beers take more ingredients which cost more money and more time than anything else that their breweries do all year. They have to give up space that they would usually use for regular beers that are probably also more profitable in the long run.

I worry that if we did not have these limited release ultra rare beers, we would never have the super creative and delicious beers. There is something cool about what Three Floyds does, and they do it almost every month in small batches. If they have to make enough for everyone, its going to cost way more than it does now, and they aren't going to be making Zombie Dust... for me that is just unacceptable.

Not everyone likes it when they can't try one of these limited release beers and I do understand that. It's frustrating when someone gets to try something that you have never had, but that is the way the game works. 

POURsuasion: Limited Release vs. Seasonal Beer

Did you know that Dark Lord Day [DLD] tickets vanished less than ten seconds after coming online? They later sold a limited amount of tickets during the week at the brewery.  Unless you have the time to make the pilgrimage, are well connected, have "Fuck You" money, or are just faster on the refresh than everyone else you will not be attending this event anytime soon.

Frustrated that the only way to get this beer is either to shell out some ungodly amount of money to even try it or beg borrow steal or in Joe's case be rewarded through Karma with a VIP ticket...  Yes Joe I am still shaking my fist at you with one hand and yet grudgingly giving you a high five with the other.  Karma is Karma- keep Beering it forward.

I understand that the intent of DLD is to be exclusive.  I have heard from numerous sources that 3Floyds has no intention of making the event bigger than it already is.  Therefore this beer will be regulated to almost as difficult as getting a select Belgian beer from the monks themselves.  Getting to DLD is like winning the beer lotto... or being struck by lightning.



Segway...

Kentucky Breakfast Stout [KBS] came out.  I think I heard a collective sigh of frustration for all beer distributors when they read this.

Founders Brewery:  "HEY!  WE GOT KBS!"
Distributors:  "F#^% YES!  Liquid money!"
1/2 Store owners:  "What in the hell is this?  I get a case?  No no that cant be right..."
Other half of Store owners: "Uhh seriously?  A 4 pack?  Why give it to us anyeeee... HEY GIVE IT BACK"
Beer guy at the store:  "Oh shit... Donny, get me my list.  No one gets a 4 pack unless I get the secret handshake.  No one gets a bottle unless I know them, they display a satisfactory level of beer knowledge to appreciate the brew, or they are not an asshole.  My discretion and interpretation."

The above is a very abbreviated version of what I think happens every season when KBS or another limited seasonal hits.  Notice I said Seasonal.  Everyone in the territory of the brewery has a shot every year of getting the brew.  It has the potential to reach a much broader audience.  I talked with my Hippy Beer Guy and Bouncer Beer Guy about this.  We came to the same conclusion, we would want more people to get a taste of it rather than horde or be exclusive about it.  When Bouncer finds  scores a case of something limited he finds himself giving it out to friends and acquaintances to help diversify and educate up and coming craft beer geeks.

I am firmly in the "beer it forward" camp.  If by some stroke of luck I score DLD tickets or any other crazy one day a year at the brewery beer release I more than likely will not attempt to go again.  I have friends/acquaintances that beg/borrow/stalk 3Floyds for tickets every year.  I am at odds with myself on if I should congratulate them on their yearly ritual and tenacity in finding/purchasing/going or curse them for not letting other people see the event/beer.  As far as limited seasonal beers...  Let's just say that I had a chance to score more than a 4 pack of KBS and opted not to.  Hopefully my beer karma will reach Joe heights and something serendipitous will happen. If not, I'll just keep hunting for those rare/limited finds.  

KBS 2013

I hope everyone was able to get a sip of one of these brews, because they came, they saw and the rocked. KBS is the limited release Kentucky Breakfast Stout by Founders. It is a big, bold, bourbon aged imperial stout that was only available for a week-ish (if that; many stores sold out in the first three or four hours after KBS was delivered). Most liquor stores were only allotted a case or two. The beer is sold in four packs, but because of its rarity a lot of stores would sell it individually. If you got one enjoy, because this is a rare treat.

I poured this great beer into a tulip glass and began to enjoy. The aroma had a heavy bourbon smell that was almost strong enough to start getting me drunk on the spot. There was some pretty tasty coffee and cocoa scents in there too. It pours dark brownish black and it has a slight brownish tan head. First impressions of this beer were very good. It seemed warm and inviting, and made me just want to dive right in.

There was a bittersweet flavor that had some pretty nice cocoa and coffee flavors that mingled together. Behind these front running flavors there was a sweet vanilla and bourbon barrel flavor. It was sort of like a boozed up coffee that you have after a meal. There was a very nice light hop bitterness that balanced it all out.

This beer was not an easy thing to find. I was out of town and thought that all hope was lost. I have an awesome friend who took it upon herself to go out and find a few of these for me. In the next week or so we will be featuring a post by her giving some beginner's directions for finding the hard to find limited release brews.

I give it a resounding 5. Totally worth whatever effort you have to go through.

El Duque:  KBS started the big love I have for bourbon barrel aged stouts.  There's a lot out there, and I'm not sad for the styles popularity, but KBS stands as King of the Oaken Hill.  I found there to be a little more bite to it this year than in previous brews, but give this a year to cellar, and we're gonna need more heads to do this justice.

It's good to be the king.  I give it a 50, i mean 5.

BREWniversity: The Science Behind Hops

Brian P. over at craftbeeracademy.com has started a very interesting and VERY scientific article series on The Science Behind Hops.  Hit the links and be prepared for some SCIENCE IN YOUR FACE!

Part 1: Alpha & Beta Acids

-Cheat Sheet-

• "Alpha acids are generally the bitterness you taste in a beer, and they dissolve into solution immediately. They still take some time to release their bitterness, which is why timing of their addition to the boil is vital. The alpha acids isomerize in the boil to form isomerized alpha acids.
• Beta acids take longer to break down and show up best in lagered or aged beers. Noble hops have the closest 1:1 ratio of alpha to beta hops, where most other hops have about a 2:1 ratio.
• IBUs, or International Bitterness Units, are a direct measure of the iso-alpha acids in a beer. Basically, 1 IBU is equal to 1 milligram of iso-alpha acid per liter of beer."

Part 2: Essential Oils

-Cheat Sheet-

• "Hops main source of flavor and aroma are their oils. More specifically, it is the essential oils that provide the key non-bitter tastes and aromas that hops have. During the boil these volatile compounds evaporate, which is why aroma his are added as close to the end of the boil as possible. 
• Along with the idea of aroma hops being very late additions to the boil comes dry hopping. This is done primarily for aroma, as there is no boil for the essential oils to evaporate. Dry hopping is primarily done to add aroma and is completed by adding hops to the fermentation vessel directly."

Barons gone Wild: Palm Beach, FL

I just got back from Palm Beach Island in Florida. My wife and I went out for a wonderful vacation, but for me it isn't a vacation if I can't find some new beers to check out.

At the resort we were at there was a very limited craft beer selection. I was pretty disappointed because it was a very nice resort with great wine, great bourbon, great cigars, and I would expect them to show us some solid FL beers. It bothers me that these places can do such a good job with all the other forms of booze, food and smokes, but they never really seem to pay attention to beer. Hopefully as brewers keep pushing forward and craft beer continues to grow market share we will see this become less of a problem.

Options were limited. I was able to get some Victory Hopdevil and Golden Monkey, which are both solid brews but not from FL, so that disappointed me. The only Florida beer I was able to get my hands on at the resort was Native Lager by Florida Beer Company. These are the guys that did Key West Ale that I loved... this one.. not so much. This was a pretty poor excuse for a craft beer. Everything about it screamed generic lager with no real inspiration. It would probably be generous to give them a 2.

Luckily we got out of the resort a few times. The first FL beer I got was from Cigar City. I couldn't wait to get something from them, since they have such a solid reputation. I got a Maduro Oatmeal Brown. Some of my excitement may be from craft beer withdrawal, but it was outstanding. I would give this a solid 4.5. It was a dark nutty brown with a great heavy mouthfeel. It was strong and flavorful without being too over the top (only 5.5% abv).

After that we went out to watch the final four games. We found a cool little brewpub called Bruzzi's it was a little bit generic in appearance but they had some great beers as well. I was very impressed with their German Hefeweizen. I also tried their City Fest and Black Duke. Black Duke was solid but the City Fest just didn't hold water.

  

It is like the beer just never stoppepd. Since I really got interested in the craft beer scene travel has taken on a whole new dimension. Not only do I get to enjoy the food and entertainment of an area, but now I can really get into their beer too. Its easy for my wife and I to try and make a check list whenever we fly somewhere of different breweries that we see on Untappd. On the way home I enjoyed a couple of Sam Adam's seasonals. Getting home from vacation is always a bummer. No more day drinking for this Big Guy.

Benji's Chipotle Smoked Imperial Porter

I love when brewers get batshit crazy and make beers that buck style and try to create something fun and delicious.

Notice I didn't say "I love to drink..." because lets be honest, six beers in, drunken brainstorming of ideas of malt and hop combos, or what to throw in the fermenters followed by oohs and ahhs are fun until you actually drink that I'd swill and realize that the Germans may be onto something with their strict beer laws.

For a creative beer to be successful it has to have three things: 1.) A base ale that is actually good on its own 2.) Flavors that make sense to the most sober of Debbie Downers and 3.) Artistry.

Tyranena's Brewers Gone Wild series has been doing a good job of nailing all three of those things and making my liquor store trips way more fun.  Benji's Chipotle Smoked Imperial Porter is exceptionally dynamic and surprising with its exceptionally nuanced flavors.

It poured black and the head was extremely interesting.  It was like a root beer float.  Foamed up, and as fast as it fluffed up, is fell apart into a thin like of lacing.  When I got a good whiff, it was full of chocolates and malt and smoke and.... no pepper?  Most pepper ales I've had have been like snorting Stake'n'Shake pepper juice, so I was worried how the taste would lay itself out.

My first reaction was that this was a really good imperial porter.  Chocolatey notes, mixed with deep, smooth, and creamy malts.  It was like porter ice cream and the smoke was just enough to help enhance those flavors.  Too many times I shy away from smoked beers because I'm not a big fan of drinking campfires, but this was a great example of how smoke can smooth a beer out and help combine those big beer flavors.  As the beer was on its way out, its friends Booze and Chipotle showed up.

The most surprising thing about this was how there were so many flavors and they were all combined so subtly it create a nuanced beer that is billed as "a series of big, bold, ballsy beers."  All the flavors were soft, but wrapped together, left you with a rich and warm feeling, so yeah, this beer is camping, and I'm okay with that.

Word of advice: Let this sit out of the fridge for 10-15 minutes.  A little warmth and air really bring out those subtle flavors some more.

I give it a 4.5 out of 5.  Sheer artistry in this one.

O-Dawg:  Smoked Coffee nose with a little Mexican heat at the end.  Tasty and balanced overall.  Easy choice to give it a 4.  If you are looking for a similar character only in an IPA I would suggest Hatch Blower by Triton Brewing.

The Big Guy: I'm with El Duque, this beer was really well done. I found the smoke to be perfectly balanced with the porter. I think the amped up imperial side gave it a nice big backbone to round out the smoked malts. I would have liked to see a bit more Chipotle flavor in it, but not a huge deal. Solid beer. I give it a 3.5

We're on FACEBOOK!!!

We are on Facebook! Yeah, so we do seem a little bit slow on this one, but we figured we would wait until we were sure that this whole internet / Facebook thing would take off... Go "like" us at https://www.facebook.com/IndianaBeerBarons or search for the Indiana Beer Barons on Facebook.

Come on out! Seriously we need more than 17 likes or we may have to go on anti depressants, and you aren't supposed to drink on those, it would totally mess up our whole deal.

Cheers,

Captian Black Strap

This is their 9% abv Russian Imperial Stout by People's Brewing Company. Not sure where the hops are, but they provide a solid balance without taking the spotlight.

The beer pours out super dark and oily. It is thick and heavy with a decadent mouth-feel, feels like luxury. There was basically no head, the little bit that is there goes away fast. No lacing. No nothing

The beer smells sweet with a little smokey profile.

Damn! This beer is sweet and delicious. So often I try and analyze ever reason why its good, and forget to say that this is just some really good beer. The malt comes out right up front with some chocolate and heavy caramel. The beer is brewed with molasses and it tastes great. I just did a molasses stout home brew and I was super disappointed. Thank God People's is way better at brewing than I am. The molasses flavor gave it a bit of a sweet and breakfast sort of flavor. It reminded me of a darker version of Founder's Breakfast Stout (which is one of my favorites). There was a hint of smokey malts behind all the sweetness of the beer, but not enough to overwhelm anything.

The hop profile is clean and finishes on the back-end of the beer. It still has a nice clean finish despite the huge malt flavor up front. As it heats up there is a little more booziness and the hops get a bit stronger, but it still holds up as an excellent beer. I was impressed at how little you taste the 9% abv.

This is probably the first seasonal / specialty beer I have had from People's and I am freaking impressed. Get your hands on this while you can. It is a strong contender for my top five beers of the year... but damn I just love a good RIS.

I give it a 4.5

Resin

El Duque: Resin is hop candy.  It fulfills all my hop sweet tooth cravings.  It's a brew that embodies what I love about a good DIPA.  Resin enhances the hop flavor profiles with a surprisingly yeasty body.  It keeps the beer light and refreshing and seems apropos that it comes in an energy drink can.  It is suprisingly quaffable and would totally kill a four pack after mowing the lawn if it didn't put your dick in the dirt faster than two shakes of a lamb's tail.
I give it a 4.5

O-Dawg: Sixpoint Brewery was founded in 2004.  I had not heard of them until recently through word of mouth and Untappd.  Strange I know...  because their beer is kind of awesome!  I had the chance to snag a Resin off of a 4 pack I hunted down at one of the larger beer distributors in the area.  Hoppy, citrus, a head that lingers for more than your average beer.  This had everything and more up my ally. A fantastic, heartfelt plea of a 4!

The Big Guy: It was like this stuff didn't exist, and then it was freaking everywhere. This has become a super tasty treat that is actually pretty easy to find. The cans come in boxed up four packs with some pretty cool side art. The beer was sweet and citrusy with a great hit of hops that didn't overpower the total beer flavor. The beer is 9.1% abv with 103 IBUs (they say you can't taste anything over 100 but because of the aroma it doesn't stop brewers from going for it) Solid Imperial IPA. I give it a 3.5

*No one got a picture of the beer so we sorced it from: http://sixpoint.com/beers/core/resin

Behemoth 2012

Three Floyds recently put out their Behemoth, American Barley Wine. You should be able to find it in liqueur stores around the city. It is 12% abv and 80 IBUs. This has huge flavor and tons of booze. They also released a barrel aged version. I am giving it a year to age before cracking it open (aging hoppy beers is tricky because as it ages the hop flavor gets less strong. You want to allow the booziness to mellow without letting the hops die out so I talked with someone much more experienced than I am and he recommended giving it about a year).

It pours out a hazy dark orange brown color... sort of a burnt sienna, with a nice light cream colored head that turns into slight lacing. It smells like pine and citrusy American hops mixed with alcohol... lots of alcohol. It is medium to heavy bodied with a nice amount of carbonation. So often you don't get much effervescence from thees bigger beers. It was great to get some good head and tasty bubbles.

This beer has a huge caramel flavor right up front. Big sweetness with a hint of roasted malt flavor. It is almost syrupy sweet. There is a great hop character to it all that balances the malt really well. I didn't notice it as much at first but as I drank the beer, the hops started overwhelming the flavor of the rest of the beer. It wasn't necessarily bad, actually I should have expected it from FFF. It was good enough that I picked up two regular bottles to age and the barrel aged version. I will make sure to post about the differences after giving it a bit of time to mellow out.

Go grab two of these. Drink one now and set one aside. This beer has a 100 rating on ratebeer and anything that scores that well is worth waiting on a bit. As it is I give the beer a 4 and I am hoping that with a bit more time it could be a solid 5. Check out my post on aging beers at home to get more details on how to let your beers sit right too.

BREWniversty: Aging Beer and Beer Storage

There are tons of us beer heads getting new fresh craft beer. Many of us don't have the patients to let them age (normally me included). This year I am committed to aging some of my favorite brews, so frist I had to figure out what would age well and what would just go bad. Here are a few things to look for when aging your awesome finds.

Bottle conditioned beer: There doesn't need to be active yeast in the beer for the aging process to work, but it does allow the beer to take on a more complex flavor as the yeast continues to work on the sugars. This means we are looking for key words on our bottle. Things like barrel aged, bottle conditioned etc.

Big alcohol content: Luckily for me, I love big alcohol imperial beers, and triples and quads, ohh my and these are some of the best to age. I have been told to look for at least 8% abv for something to age well. Since then, I did the Vertical Epic by Stone and some of their beers were as low as 7.5% and they tasted great. Some of the styles to look for are:

• Barleywines 
• Barrel aged (just about anything dark)
• Belgian Strong Beers
• Belgian triples and quads
• Imperial anything pretty much
• Sours (sours are a different deal, they can have lower abv and still work)

Dated Beers: The main reason for a brewery to date a beer is to distinguish it against other years of the same beer. Often when you get dates on the beer, they are put there so you can keep track while cellaring.

Ideally you cellar your beer similarly to wine. You should have a perfectly moist cave somewhere deep in the ground that stays around 50 - 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Sadly central Indiana is not home to many caves, in fact not all of us have basements. We have to make do with what we can. There are a few things to consider when you decide where your cellar is going to be.

Temperature: The temperature should be between 50 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and it should stay that way. You do not want much fluctuation. A jump of ten degrees can really mess up your brew. Because of this people often go to a mini-fridge that they can set to 55. This is not a bad idea, but you have to make sure it doesn't get too dry and that you can store the beer standing up (see below)

Humidity: This is a little bit tricky because basically there needs to be some, but not too much. In low humidity situations the seal on a bottle cap or the cork start to wear away. If you are using a fridge but having problems with humidity, cigar stores sell things to regulate humidity. Propolene glycol pellets could help keep you nice and moist.

Sunlight: As I talk about in my post about cans, beer is super sensitive to light. Do not let light touch it! Wherever you put your beer it should have its own door, lid or cover that you are not forced to open on a regular basis. If you can put it away from sources of light as well that helps.

Bottle Position: Your bottles with caps should be stored upright. This preserves the seal longer and allows the sediment to stay at the bottom of the beer. If you have to cellar them on their side make sure you constantly rotate the beer and keep it upright for a couple hours before serving to get the sediment back to the bottom. Corked beers, like wine, should be stored on their side. This keeps the corks from drying out.

Since I don't have a basement, my "cellar" is an old steamer trunk in my bar area. I have lined it with bottle boxes that I got from home brewing. This allows me to comfortably hold about 50 bombers. I am not able to keep it as cold as it should be, but my house maintains a constant temperature throughout the year (and I have changed some of my thermostat settings to make this even more regular). I cover the top of the beers with heavy blankets to give them a little more insulation and help regulate the temperature just a bit more.

This is a new deal for me, so I am experimenting with some pricey beers that I know are supposed to age, and some regular high proof beers from around Indy. I also use a higher quality oxygen sealing cap for a few homebrews out of every batch, so I can age them as well. I can't guarantee that every beer you age is going to taste better, or you are going to pull a beer and drink it at the right time. What I can say is when beer is involved trial and error can be a lot of fun.

Good luck!


Check out the following spots that I used when putting this all together:
http://www.kegworks.com/company/kegworks-community/beer-cellaring-basics-a-guide-to-aging?_s_icmp=blog
http://draftmag.com/beereditor/cellaring-technique/
Brewed Awakening by Joshua M. Bernstein

The Scene: Midwest Sour Wild Funk Fest 2013 Tickets

Guess what...  Tickets hit the digital shelves at 12 midnight yesterday/this morning.

VIP disappeared like a fat kid with a piece of chocolate cake.  It was about as bad at trying to snag ANY ticket for Dark Lord Day (don't even get me started on that...).  All gone within the first few seconds of live ticket sales.

As of writing this General Admission ($45) and Designated Driver ($20) tickets are still available.

/sigh Guess I will have to wait till next year to get VIP.  I was really looking forward to the presentation, discussion, and tasting with Uplands Head Brewer, Caleb Staton.  I am a huge fan of his work.  Getting the history and process of brewing from "The Man" himself would have been AWESOME!  Hope to see you there!

Bitter Druid ESB

I have been pretty interested in the Bitter Druid ESB for a while. There is a sign hanging in Sun King Brewery for Wee Mac, Cream Ale, Osiris and Bitter Druid... but Bitter Druid isn't in cans and has not been on tap since I have been checking them out on a regular basis. It was always like some sort of mythical legend.

I love a nice ESB. (extra special bitter) An ESB is a pale ale somewhere between your average pale ale and an IPA. It is hopped up but not to the same intensity as the IPA. It also tends to have English hops used instead of the more citrus flavored American hops. It is a very popular English style, but often overlooked here in the states. The bitter druid exactly what it sets out to be. It is a solid, very drinkable pub beer. It is 5.3% abv, so not quite session-able  but still not a high alcohol content. It has 50 IBUs. This gives it a solid bitterness without being overpowering.

It pours out a dark orangeish brown, (I posted two pictures because it really did lighten up when you looked at it through the window) It is very clear. The beer is light to medium bodied, which works out well when you are trying to finish a growler. It had a light herbal hop aroma with some pretty heavy bready scents... really it smells like beer. It tastes sweet and caramely with bready malt flavors. There is a nice toffee body to it. After all that, it has a wonderful sweet bitterness. It is most likely an English hops, because it more of a herbal earthy flavor instead of the normal Sun King tropical / citrus fruit flavors.

This is a light and easy drinking beer. I think sometimes I overlook beers when they are too classic or a normal abv. I am trying to expose myself to more well done sessionable beers (or almost sessionable beers). I think it is important not to just look at the crazy big beers. I would love it if SK started canning this and selling it on a regular basis.

Great beer, glad I finally got to try it. I give it a 4

O-Dawg:
Slight molasses, spice nose.  Light body, crisp finish.
Solid 3