CANvitational

This past weekend we went to the CANvitational hosted by sun King on Georgia Street in downtown Indianapolis. Last week I got to sit down and talk with Clay from Sun King and learn a little bit about the event, so we had a pretty good idea of what was going to be going on. The weather was absolutely perfect, and the crowd was awesome.

In addition to the breweries represented, there were awesome food trucks (shout out to Taco Lassi and Mac Genie). Even the DJ spinning tunes was pretty solid.

There were a lot of breweries that don't distribute to Indiana, so it was great to see them. I'm sure if you follow someone who was there on Untappd, you saw just how much there was to try. It was kind of crazy seeing all the check-ins. You've already seen Owen's shout out to Tallgrass, and I would definitely echo that sentiment. Velvet Rooster was amazing, and I may have scored a can or two to take home. Revolution from Chicago was there, and the Oktoberfest was outstanding. I went back to their spot to try something else and they'd run out of samples. A little disappointing, but kind of awesome for them. Plus I know we'll go back next time we're in Chicago.

The highlight of the show for me was definitely the Coconut Porter aged in bourbon barrels from Great Crescent. They're an Indiana brewery, though not totally local, so I'm sensing a Pilgrimage sometime soon. We've added several other breweries to that list as well: Half Acre, Morgan Street, and West Sixth are just a few.

We couldn't have had a better day for the event. It was sunny, it was warm, and everyone was in a great mood. I'm sure the beer helped with that last part a little bit. All in, this was a great event and I'm definitely interested in going again next year!

The Big Guy: Damn that was fun! I've had to do a ton of trading just to get a few beers from some of the awesome breweries that came to CANvitational. This was a much easier way to get the brews with a ton less freight. It was also cool to see how many different operations are rocking the can. The beers were outstanding, and everything was served from a can. If you ever had someone who said no good beer comes from a can, you have to send them to this!

My favorite beers were:

1. Automnal Mole Stout by Ska out of Colorado
2. Coconut Porter by Great Crescent out of Indiana
3. Jai Alai IPA by Cigar City out of Florida
4. Ten Fiddy by Oskar Blues out of Colorado
5. Zombie Monkie by Tallgrass out of Kansas

All of the breweries really seemed excited to show Indy what they had to offer. They were all friendly and totally interested in getting people excited about what they brought. Each one of them took some time and talked about the different beers that they brought as well as what they do in their local markets. The coolest part for me was how genuinely interested all the brewers were about getting to know us in addition to getting us to try some of their beers. We made some friends with the guys working the show, and even got a couple full cans to take home.