Sour Wild Funk Fest

I had a chance to tag along to another event with The Big Guy, O-Dawg, and O-Dawg's wife last Saturday. The four of us went down to the Broadripple area of Indianapolis for the Sour Wild Funk Fest.


As the name implies, the event was all about highlighting sour beers. There were over 50 different varieties of sours to try, and some others that weren't sours but were nice compliments to the other optiosn the breweries brought. To be totally honest, if there had only been sours I'm pretty sure my taste buds would have been fried and I would have missed out on some of the aspects of these beers that make them so unique.


Breweries participating included:

• Avery
• Barley Island
• Bells
• Bier
• Black Acre
• Bloomington Brewing Co.
• Brugge
• Crown Brewing
• Destihl
• Flat 12
• Goose Island
• Mad Anthony
• New Belgium
• Perennial Artisan Ales
• River Town
• Sam Adams
• Sun King
• Triton

Obviously we had a lot of choices. I can't say that I tried them all, but I can say that of the ones I did try, Sun King's Pink Taco was my favorite. Yes the name is ridiculous, but that's kind of why I ordered it. This sour was light and refreshing, not overwhelming like some sours can be. According to the Sun King website (yes, I did research) the ale is aged in oak barrels along with rasberries and hibiscus. Not a combination I would have predicted for a beer, but one that really added some nice depth and intricacies to the overall flavor experience. (That sounds pretentious but I promise the beer is anything but.)

All in, we had a great time. This is definitely an event I'll be looking to do again next year!


Weigh in: O-Dawg

Beer Festivals are awesome, but the hardest part about them is staying away from "The Dark Side."  You all know what I am talking about!  There is a point in an evening of drinking and revelry where one is on the cusp of the perfect balance of booze, buzzed and cognizant/fun.  A smidgen too much booze too fast and you are passed out drunk, face planted in the asphalt with your feet in a cooler.  

I think the group did a fine job of riding that cusp and having a blast!  A big thank you to the folks up front for spotting the Mrs. a full drinking ticket as opposed to a DD.  Everyone had a little bit of fun watching my wife try sours (when she isn't much of a beer drinker to begin with). Another thank you to Joe for keeping the festival up beat and fun, now where's my T-Shirt?!

Stand Outs: 4.5-5's ALL!

Dantalion: Upland Brewing Company - Bloomington, IN <- Thanks JOE!
Bourbon Aged Grand Poobah: Crown Brewing Company - Crown Point, IN
Goudenband: Brouwerij Liefmans - Oudenaarde, België, Belgium
Odio Equum Barrel-Aged Sour Ale: Avery Brewing Company - Boulder, CO
Barrel-Aged Sour Warlock: Crown Brewing Company - Crown Point, IN

The brewery that stole the show was a relative unknown to me until this festival, Crown Brewing Company out of Crown Point, IN.  

They brought with them their: 
Blueberry Berliner (3, brewed just for the Sour Wild Funk Fest)
Bourbon Barrel Aged Cherry Dunkleweizenbock (3.5)
Bourbon Barrel Ages Grand Poobah (5)
Barrel Aged Sour Warlock (4.5) 

I hope to stop by there next time I am in the area!  Cheers!

Weigh in: The Big Guy

This was a great festival. I loved that it was smaller than most of the festivals that I have been to. The lines were smaller, there were fewer breweries and brews, and everyone had a little bit more room to breathe. They announced that there would be food pairings, but it was mostly cheeses and fruits. I wasn't sure how they were going to do it and I really didn't know if there was going to be a good way of doing it, but this was a bit underwealming. The beers were awesome. I have never had that many different sours in one time frame and it totally kicked my taste bud's ass. Worse than doing hoppy beer after hoppy beer. 

Standouts were:

Odio Equum Barrel-Aged Sour Ale: Avery Brewing Company - Boulder, CO (straight 5)
Petrus Aged Pale: Brouwerij Bavik - Belgium (straight 5)
Pink Taco: Sun King Brewery - Indianapolis, IN (straight 5)

Barrel-Aged Sour Warlock: Crown Brewing Company - Crown Point, IN (big 4.5)

  

There wasn't just one brewery that stole the show for me. I was able to find some pretty great stuff from just about everyone that was there. It was a very impressive showing. I know that sours can be harder to brew, but there was some real thought put into these. It was a great show and the only thing I am disappointed about was not getting VIP tickets. Next time it will be a serious internet watch to try and get'em.