Indy Beer News, August 20th, 2014

Info on Sun King’s expansion plus a new brewery coming to Indy. Enough festivals for their own show and tons of events, as usual from MashCraft, Girls' Pint Out, Flat 12 Bierwerks, Daredevil Brewing, Upland Brewing, Indy Eleven and more!

130 Indiana Beers! HopCat's grand opening

HopCat Broad Ripple has come a long way since we checked out the building progress in June. This Saturday marked their grand opening, and what better way to join Indy's craft beer scene than by putting 130 different Indiana beers on tap?

 For anyone who may have missed the announcement, HopCat is the newest beer bar in Broad Ripple. Indy is the first location outside of their home state of Michigan and we couldn't be prouder to have them.

HopCat also had a deal where the first 200 people who showed up got free "crack fries" for a year. That's 52 orders of their delicious seasoned french fries over the next year. As a big fan of french fries, and an even bigger fan of Indiana beer, I dragged Brie to get in line at nine in the morning. I've waited in line for beer releases and I've waited in line for events. I have never waited in line for a bar opening.

We arrived two hours early and we were more than one hundred people back in line. When we got there we found out two guys go to the entrance at 3:30 in the morning and literally rolled out sleeping bags and slept in line. The two hours we sat in the rain sharing beers with line goers was nothing. In the end it was all worth while when I got my card for free crack fries for a year! It says a lot about a bar that people get so excited to form a line as long as HopCat had.

 

When we got through the door, it was like when Charlie first got into the chocolate factory. HopCat was bigger than I expected, with two bars, tons of seating and an awesome patio. Sadly, it was raining, so no one was using the patio. Even with the rain they opened the doors and we got a table with a view. The rock star decor and the insane beer geek atmosphere made it kind of like sitting in on a Rolling Stones party. There is custom artwork on the walls and the bar has a great mash up of modern and traditional decor, while still being warm and inviting.

 

Four of us made it through about sixteen beers, passing them around and trying a little bit of everything. Sun King and Upland brought the mother load with thirty beers each. Sun King dominated with its Kings Reserve and barrel aged brews. My favorite from them was the Cuvee de Sun King, a lightly sour dark cuvee and the Isle Barrel Aged Wee Muckle, their Wee Muckle aged in scotch whiskey barrels. Other awesome brews, were Triton's French Toast Saison, and Three Floyd's Big Tiddy Assassin and the Upland Pineapple IPA.

There were so many beers that I feel like I barely scratched the surface. I would have loved to drink the entire list. I'm excited to see how long some of these great Indiana beers last on draft, and I know I will be stopping in this week to get whatever left overs they have. If you weren't able to go to the release, go soon! This is probably more Indiana beer options than we have at most festivals and I would be sad if anyone missed it.

Now, all these great Indiana beers won't be there all the time, but the food will and the food was outstanding. I got a pretzel breaded pork tenderloin. That's not a tenderloin on a pretzel bun, that's a tenderloin breaded with pretzel crumbs. The pretel crumbs gave it a really dark color, that almost looked burnt, but it was not even close. The pork was juicy inside and the pretzel really gave it a unique flavor and a crispy outside. The beer cheese soup was insanely good. It was so rich, that it was probably more like a cheese dip then a soup.

On top of all that, the crack fries were pretty outstanding. Their crack fries are a lightly spicy seasoned french fry. They are awesome standard but can be loaded and topped with some great options. Brie got her go to, mac and cheese, and was happy about the gooey cheese and noodles. Everyone at our table really liked the food and for as busy as they were the service wasn't bad. You'd think with a horde of beer geeks banging down your doors nothing would get done, but we were seated, fed and on our way home in less than three hours.

This is quickly going to be one of my favorite spots to do some drinking and some eating.

Seasonal Creeps

Ahhhh the leaves are changing colors, there's a chill in the air, football is in full-swing, and Halloween plans are afoot... Wait what? None of this is going on, yet here we are in early August and pumpkin beers have been sitting on the shelf for weeks, not to mention Oktoberfest beers... OKTOBERfest (yes I know the traditional German event starts in late September, but at least that's 6ish weeks away).

Look I'm a fan of pumpkin beers and some Oktoberfest beers, but jumping the gun by 3 months is a bit much for me, to the point where I'm blogging about it- BLOGGING!! Is this really hurting anyone? Probably not. Do I want to drink a cloying, heavily spiced beer, while the heat index is still in the 80s and 90s? Certainly not. This is about the sanctity of the seasons and what's appropriate. 

I understand why this seasonal creep keeps shifting farther and farther away from calendar appropriate dates- money. First to market  gives you a perceived advantage and the "limited edition seasonal" buzz drives a lot of sales; Sam Adam's Oktoberfest is their best selling beer after all. The earlier you can get it out, the earlier you're raking in that seasonal money. 

My biggest beef is with the holiday seasonals, I'm looking at you Christmas and pumpkin beers, because they have a distinctive profile (spiced and/or fruits/vegetables added) and are directly tied to calendar holidays. Summer, Spring, and to a certain degree Winter beers get a pass, because they don't always meet the criteria mentioned above. There's something that feels cheery about having a Christmas or pumpkin beer in the couple weeks leading up to those holidays... not couple months. Most of you have probably walked into your favorite one-stop-big-box-shop and seen holiday decorations up for sale months in advance and sighed "already??" This is how I feel about the inappropriatly early seasonal beers. 

There has to be a cutoff though, right? When is early too early? I personally will not buy or drink a fall beer until October. I have grown weary of the creep, and I know I'm not alone, but there's still enough people out there that will grab a seasonal at initial release for the creep to continue. Will fatigue set in as creep keeps creeping and more seasonal options show up every year? Breweries bank on that "Oh! [insert favorite seasonal] is out! I have to get me some of that" reaction, but at some point early is going to be too early and that "Already??" reaction is going to become more common. The one thing that will combat that is...

Availability or perceived availability... that phrase "limited edition" has a lot of power. When people (meaning me) do want to drink seasonals in-season, will they be able to find their beer of choice? In some cases the more popular seasonals arrive early and in actual limited supply, so you're left buying into the creep and sitting on the beers until you want to drink them (or drinking them early) or missing them altogether. Personally I'm gambling this year; there's enough options, I don't really care that much (just ask my 2013 imperial pumpkin beers in my cellar), and I have principles dammit. 

I'm never going to demand someone stop drinking pumpkin beers 3 months early, but just think about what feels better. Would you rather be drinking a pumpkin beer poolside with NFL training camp going on or while carving a pumpkin and football in full swing? Right now is the time to enjoy the wheats, IPAs, or whatever reminds you of summer... you know, the "limited edition" beers that hit the shelf in February. 

Indy Beer News, August 6, 2014

Happy birthday to me! This is the 50th episode and 1 year anniversary of Indy Beer News.

Lots from 18th Street Brewing, Burn 'Em Brewing, Scarlet Lane, Mass Ave Pub Flat 12 and that only takes up two days worth of events!

The Dump Buckets have a new video from the Indiana Microbrewers Festival.

Get tickets to GPO at Zink Distributing and Daredevil Brewing Hops and Flip Flops

18th Street is Expanding!

We tried our first beers from 18th Street Brewery at the Bloomington Craft Beer Festival earlier this year. We were impressed. That's really an understatement though. We liked what we tried in Bloomington so much, we made a special side trip the night before Dark Lord Day to go see 18th Street in person at their location in Gary.

We love to see great beer being created in Indiana and are always excited to see the new breweries having success. Below is a copy of a press release we received announcing some new things in the works for 18th Street. Congratulations to everyone there, and we can't wait to come see the new space and see those cans on our shelves!

***

18^THSTREET BREWERY ANNOUNCES MAJOR EXPANSION

Larger tanks, canning line will double production capacity

GARY, IN – Less than one year after opening its doors, 18^thStreet Brewery has announced it will double its production by the end of 2014, while also becoming the first Northwest Indiana brewery to have its own canning facility.

Owner Drew Fox is investing in larger equipment and a canning line, combined moves that will allow the Gary brewery to increase production from roughly 500 barrels a year to more than 1,000. That growth will also mean an increased ability to distribute throughout the State of Indiana, as Fox has also reached an agreement with Starlight Distributors to deliver more of 18^thStreet’s beers in the Indianapolis area. 18^th Street has also reached Europe, after a recent collaboration with Mikkeller, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based brewer. Fox said he is now working to identify a distributor to continue that relationship and keep 18^th Street beers flowing in Europe.

The announcement comes just seven months after Rate Beer named 18^thStreet as the “Best New Brewer In Indiana.”

“Even before we opened our doors, we’ve had nothing but incredible support from so many people,” Fox said. “Since we opened last winter, that support has been overwhelming. We really can’t thank people enough for that. We’re ecstatic.”

18^th Street currently operates with nine 7-barrel fermenters at their production facility at 5725 Miller Ave. Over the next four months, each of those fermenters will be removed and replaced with nine 10-barrel fermenters.

Fox has also purchased a new canning line, currently being assembled by Calgary-based Cask Brewing Systems and set to arrive in late September. That will allow 18^th Street to transition from 22oz bottles to canning nearly all of their beer, with bottles reserved for special releases.

“It takes us about eight hours to bottle just one 7-barrel tank,”Fox said. “These moves will make us much more efficient, even as we’re growing.”

Unlike a mobile canner, the canning facility will be the equivalent of a small manufacturing facility emerging in Gary, creating four new jobs with it. It will be built directly across from the brewery.

“We want to be part of a cultural and economic renaissance in Gary, but we also want to help bring small manufacturing back to Gary,” Fox said, “By adding the canning facility, it shows that small manufacturing still has a place in Gary, Indiana."

Cooking Under the Influence: Ginger Bread Brown French Dip

Anyone who has a slow cooker knows how nice it can be to out everything in, set the timer, walk away, and come back at the end if the day to dinner being ready. Normally I use it a lot during fall and football season, but since it's been unseasonably cool lately, I decided to pull it out of the pantry.

I always like a simple recipe. For one thing there's an ease in the kitchen who you keep things simple. Another nice thing is that it allows the food to really shine, as long as it's cooked well. This recipe has very few ingredients, and it's one that The Big Guy has requested become a more regular part of the rotation. That's how I know I got this one right.

I took a recipe that I found on Pinterest and added some delicious local beer to it. I went with some Ginger Bread Brown from Triton. The flavors in the beer were a really nice complement to everything else that was in the slow cooker. I kept everything else very minimal.

Ingredients

• 3 pound beef roast (such as a rump or top round)
• 1 (12 ounce) bottle of dark beer
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• French baguette, French rolls, or other crusty bread for serving
• Slices of provolone

Directions

1. Trim excess fat off of roast and place in a large slow cooker. Add all of the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or longer if you can. More time gives all those flavors a better chance to blend with each other.  
2. Split open your rolls (and spread with butter, if desired). Heat in a toaster oven until toasted or bake in a regular oven set to 350°F until warm and toasty (about 10 minutes).
3. Slice meat across the grain and pile on top of toasted rolls. (Our roast pulled apart once it was done so we didn't need to slice it all.)
4. Place cheese in rolls and add meat to create sandwiches.  
5. Serve hot sandwich with a small bowl of reserved au jus for dipping.

 

I served the finished dish with some Brussels sprouts roasted with garlic and pepper.

Click here to view the original recipe.

Upland's Secret Barrel Society

So you say you're tired of having to enter the lottery to get your lambics from Upland?
So you say, you never get as many delicious sour beers as you want?
So you say you wish there was an easier way???
There is an easier way. I am a big fan of the Upland Lambics, and Malefactor is one of my all-time favorites, so when the Secret Barrel Society (SBS) memberships came out my wonderful wife got one for me for my birthday.

I've really enjoyed everything about it, but as I was going through my last tour of the Upland sour beer program, it occurred to me that not everyone really knows how many additions have been made to the benefits of the Secret Barrel Society.

Upland has had their Secret Barrel Society going on since the end of last year. When it first came out there were a lot of people in the local beer community that were, let's just say unimpressed, but Caleb, their head brewer, has done a ton to make this a worthwhile program. I know they have some possible changes in the works for next year, but let's take a look what what members have gotten so far.

• Each member recieved 2 members only tulip glasses
• So far there have been two private tours of the Upland Brewery sour program with Caleb and samples of the sours coming down the pike. Members were able to bring a guest to those events.
• There has been one sour beer release party, hosted at the Bloomington and Carmel tap houses, complete with samples of new beers, meats cheeses and talks with employees working on the sour program. Members were able to bring a guest to this as well.
• Members got a free VIP pass to the Sour Wild Funk Fest (SWFF).
• After SWFF we were able to go into the catacombs for a special SBS party. Again members were able to bring a guest.
• Most importantly, members have been able to get up to 6 of each beer for the last few releases. That is a TON of delicious Upland sours.

Upland was really upfront when talking about their goals for the SBS. They wanted to grow the sour program enough that they were able to start putting some of their beers back on liquor store shelves around town. They cool thing is, they've actually started doing it. Big Red has gotten a few cases of the last couple releases.

 

There are tons of people who talk about "the good ol'days" when you could just go to the store and buy a lambic. Well, the extra money coming in from the SBS memberships and the additional sales of the beer is making the sour program strong. If this had been a kickstarter it probably would have been supported better, but kickstarter takes money away from the program. 

As a community we can be unforgiving when we feel like we've been slighted or taken advantage of. I know SBS didn't impress everyone when it first came out, but they've done a great job making it a great value for beer geeks around town. If you love their sours and haven't been getting as many in the lottery as you want, you should really check out the Secret Barrel Society.