Honey... you spent how much on that??

Let me start off by saying that this is in no way a statement about brewery prices- this is about you, me, and all the beer geeks out there. Why do we spend so much money on beer??

I don't mean over a period of time, I mean on that $35 750ml bottle. At some point last year I decided I'd had enough and would no longer spend money on beer that was north of $1 an ounce; there are some rare exceptions, but in general I didn't see the point anymore. No more upland sours, no more bruery anniversary beers, no more mikkeller or other high-priced imports (at least some). Why did I stop? Well first and foremost I'm pretty sure I'd be dead where I stood courtesy of my girlfriend if I continued, but I realized some things. Maybe you'll completely disagree with what I have to say below,..but please do. 

Taste

Does that $1 plus an ounce beer really taste that much better than that 20¢ an ounce beer? In some cases sure, there's some really crappy $12 6 packs out there and many phenomenal $25 large format beers. Unfortunately, there's also a lot of $25 stinkers; it gets compounded by the fact that some of these stinkers don't get a lot of reviews because of prohibitive price and those that do may get a psychological ratings boost because of the price; a $25 beer better taste good right? And don't tell me you haven't been influenced by that. Let's compare apples to apples though. Take your favorite $12 6 pack up against your favorite $25 beer. Now would you rather have 25oz of one-time enjoyment or 144oz of prolonged enjoyment? 

Friendship and a Sense of Belonging

At some point or another you might just feel "it's necessary" to buy those expensive beers.... to lubricate friendships of course! A lot of times showing up with those big expensive beers to a bottle share is a great way to ingratiate yourself to a tasting group especially if you're new; don't want to be that guy shows up to a tasting with an Upland Infinte Wisdom (sorry Upland, but your non-sours are well priced) right? Bringing an expensive date the first time around or occasionally isn't a bad idea, but shouldn't be a habit or goal in my opinion; bringing 3 $25+ beers to a monthly share can add up. In my experience bringing something hard to get or obscure (doesn't mean expensive) will be appreciated just as much. Plus who knows when that expensive beer will get consumed- after everyone is drunk? After palates have been wrecked?  If you're group cares about how much you spent, you should probably find a new group. 

Or you may feel swept up in the beer geek frenzy to buy expensive beers, because everyone else is doing it and it makes you feel apart of the community in some way. You may feel left out if you didn't pick up that latest expensive beer. Again there's better ways to become a part of the community, like volunteering at festivals (bonus- the festival becomes free for you!).  

Collectibility & Rarity

I think everyone who gets "serious" about the craft beer hobby goes through the phase of wanting to buy anything that's perceived as rare or desirable and a lot of times this means expensive; I went through this big time. Nowadays there's so many of these expensive "rare" beers that you'd have to take a loan out to even attempt to pick up everything you want. I tend to pick my spots nowadays and try to grab only things from proven breweries or favorite styles that might have a unique twist (these are the exceptions I mentioned above). Otherwise the normal budget breakers, barrel aged beers and sours, are becoming a dime a dozen... well $300 a dozen. Luckily the "gotta catch'em all" fever is easier (and cheaper) to satiate now that more and more of these beers find their way to bars, festivals, and probably your friends' bottle shares.

Expensive beers remind me of the SUV fad that swept the US in the 2000's: big, sexy, everyone wanted one, but largely too expensive, impractical, and inefficient for most. I don't think expensive beers will go away by any means. While some craft beer veterans grow out of the expensive beer phase and try to find a happy place with reasonably priced "go-to" 6 packs, the constant (and growing) influx of new beer hobbyists keep that expensive boat afloat. 

Well I should stop telling you what to do with your money and go polish all 300 pieces in my glassware collection. 

May I see your ID?

Over the 4th of July weekend I was in Michigan and visited a few breweries with a friend: Jolly Pumpkin, Blue Tractor, and The Wolverine State. While the middle of the 3 was memorable because it had some of the worst beer I've had in a long time, Jolly Pumpkin (JP) and The Wolverine State (TWS) were memorable because they had good beer and something that many breweries in Indy lack: an identity.

Jolly Pumpkin and it's fans know that JP is about funky beers; TWS is on the other end of the spectrum, as they're all about lagers. They had a dozen plus styles on tap all stemming from a lager base and many of them were quite good.

This got me thinking- do any Indianapolis based breweries have a true identity that is based on their beer? Sure many breweries have established themselves quite well with their branding and marketing, but do we have anything like a JP or TWS? Not really. Brugge with their Belgian style beers and Upland with their sour program (but that's in Bloomington) come closest.

Usually it takes time to establish a beer identity, but some breweries don't waste any time. There are a lot of newer breweries across the country that are hanging their hat on one particular style group: Jester King, Crooked Stave, Almanac, The Rare Barrel, and Jack's Abby to name a few. To be fair this would be a difficult model to do in a craft beer environment such as Indianapolis, especially for newer breweries. Why? Because Indianapolis is still in elementary school when it comes to craft beer education and appreciation. A single-style brewery might be too much of a niche idea for this town at the moment.

So instead breweries hedge their bets and cater to more people by offering several styles in their initial or house lineup. The problem? It's hard to set yourself apart when there's a lot of overlap between breweries' offerings, especially when they're picked from the same narrow list of IPA, amber, brown, porter, wheat, lager/pilsner, stout, and pale ale. At least some baby breweries are adding saisons, double IPAs, and ryes to their starting mix to shake it up.

I'm not necessarily knocking this model, as many of the most well known and highly rated breweries started this way, but as the craft beer environment gets more crowded (and we're not there yet), it's going to be even more important to set yourself apart.

There has to be a compromise. Why not have a house lineup that spans the gamut to keep the masses happy, but then explore 1-2 or styles in depth and knock out a few of these? Many breweries do this, and do this well, giving them some identity. Unfortunately I'm hard pressed to give a satisfying answer when someone asks "who in town brews good [insert beer style] or a lot of [insert beer style]?" I could certainly suggest a lot of great local examples of a style, but not necessarily a brewery as a whole that's the master of that domain.

Fortunately it does appears that at least a few local brewereries are picking up on this model. Sun King has some IPA choices with the Fistful of Hops Series, and some other nice tap offerings time to time. Bier Brewery has their stable of IPAs as well, but I still wouldn't call either an IPA brewery... for now. The crew at Scarlett Lane are big fans of stouts and plan on churning out some interesting variations. Andrew and co. at Mashcraft have already started down that road with their "Into the Deep" stout series that debuted last week with "The Deep" oatmeal stout; blackberry, coffee, and pepper variants are coming soon.

Ultimately it would be nice to have a "go to" brewery depending on your favorite style. For example it would be nice if I could walk into a brewery and be able to select from 2-3 IPAs and take home the one that suits my mood. Count this more as a wish than a critique, but it would be nice to see some identities emerge from all the foam.

A(dog)fish in a much bigger pond

You may have heard (or not) that back in 2011 Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales (DFH) and Avery pulled out of Indiana, because they weren't able to supply states in their respective home regions with enough beer. Back then I thought, "well that sucks". Flash forward to June 2013 when DFH made the announcement that they would be returning to Indiana and a couple other states they had left "before the end of the year". Back then I thought "oh cool, it'll be nice to have them back". December 2013 they made another announcement that beer would be available in northern Indiana the week of December 30th; okay well I guess they made it back to part of the state, just before the end of the year. In that update and a more recent update in April they've continued the "coming months" mantra. It's now been a year since they announced they would be coming back, and it's still not clear when they're coming back to central Indiana and why it's taking so long. Instead of getting upset about the delay I find myself thinking "who cares?"

This is not so much about the quality of DFH beers, but instead about how the Indy (and surrounding region) craft beer scene has changed in the last 3 years. It's unlikely that DFH beers have gotten worse over that time, but the selection of beers in Indiana has certainly gotten better. There's been a moderate explosion of new breweries around the state, with a dozen or so opening within the city during 2014 alone. While not all of these breweries package their beers for the shelf, most distribute kegs of their beer around town and can be found with relative ease. The amount of growth has even caused outcries of "enough already with the craft beer!!", while that outcry is ridiculous it does illustrate that people are taking notice of the growing options. 

On a larger scale there's been an explosion of breweries nationwide raising concerns that a dip or bursting bubble is looming for the industry. Whether this dip will occur is unknown, but for the time being it's a boon for consumers locally as new beer pours in from breweries outside Indiana. 

The other big factor in change is the slow rise of craft beer beers around town since DFH left: Twenty tap, The Aristocrat, The Pint Room, and Hop Cat (coming soon), Yes, this is a small list, but still a big leap in 3 years. Not to mention all the other places that might not be "beer bars", but host beer events and have high quality offerings. Hopefully we'll see more beer bars and more craft beer taps in the future to relieve some of the congestion that's being caused by all the new beer showing up. 

A lot of people involved in the Indy beer scene would agree that Indy's beer scene has come a long way since DFH left, but still has a ways to go before being a major factor in the national scene. We need more neighborhood beer bars, more educational events, and maybe different laws, With much respect to current breweries, we still need a "destination" brewery, a place that combines quality beer, events, a well thought out and executed space, etc. in to one package. The fact that we can complain about such things shows how we've grown since 2011.

DFH makes fine beers and I've been known to enjoy some of their seasonal offerings now and again, plus they do a great job with glassware. People that got into craft beer since they left will be drawn to a big name "new" to the state. Others may go pick up old favorites, or try new DFH offerings, but DFH's impact here won't be as big as it once was. 

Dogfish Head use to be a big fish in a little pond, now they're a big fish still, but returning to a much bigger pond... whenever that happens. 

Stout Glass

What's in a glass? Hopefully some good beer, but does it matter if you use the proper glass for your chosen beer style? In short, yes, but now there's a been a few beer specific (Rastal teku) and beer style specific glasses (e.g. Sierra Nevada x Dogfish Head Spiegelau IPA glass) popping up recently, the newest being the Left Hand x Rogue Spiegelau stout glass. So do you need this glass for your stouts? Maybe. 

Methods

I purposely picked 2 beers that were different in a few aspects to compare the stout specific glass against their normal proper glassware: 

Short's Empress Catherine-  Russian imperial stout, 8.0% ABV, new to me, and proper glassware is a snifter (I used an oversized snifter)


Modern Times Black House- Coffee stout, 5.8% ABV, a proven favorite of mine, and proper glassware is a pint glass (I used a willi becher glass). 

Results

Appearance 

In both cases the stout glass provided a bigger more constant head at the initial pour and throughout the comparison, but only slightly. 

Edge: Stout glass (slightly)

Aroma

The oversized snifter performed just as well as the stout glass, but Black House had stronger coffee aromas in the stout glass versus the willi becher. This really isn't a surprise as both the snifter and stout glass have designs that funnel aromas to the nose. 
Edge: Stout glass (only over the willi becher)

Taste

No difference at all. 

Edge: None

Mouthfeel

With both beers the stout glass helped provide a smoother creamier mouthfeel. The lip between the "stem" and bowl helps agitate the beer, creating this mouthfeel trick. Overall this seemed to benefit the regular stout more. 

Edge: Stout glass

Conclusion

The stout glass clearly provides a better mouthfeel and head, both of which are important aspects of enjoying a stout. The rest is a mixed bag; the beer won't taste better and it might smell better, but whether or not you should buy this glass will depend on a few things:

Black House

• Drink a lot of stouts? Yes? Maybe buy; No? Don't buy
• All you have is pint glasses: Buy
• You have a snifter and mostly drink imperial stouts: Don't buy; your snifter will work well enough. 
• You mostly drink non-imperial stouts: I'd lean towards buy; this is where I think this glass will shine as it should help bump up the mouthfeel of a regular stout. 

It should be noted that this glass comes in 3 flavors: Blank, Rogue Brewing branded, and Left Hand Brewing branded. I opted for the blank version, which much to my great annoyance, does not have etching on the bottom like the branded ones do. This etching provides nucleation spots for bubbles to form on, further enhancing head and mouthfeel. "Don't want to advertise a brewery?!? No extra bubbles for you!!" The lack of nucleation spots on mine does not change my opinion; the versions with nucleation will just be better at what I think this glass already does well, but won't help the other aspects. 

In sum, whether or not you buy this glass will depend on your stout preferences and your existing glassware collection. 

Empress Catherine

Mashcraft IPA Review

Andrew Castner (head brewer) and friends just opened up Indianapolis' newest brewery Mashcraft on the south side in Greenwood IN. A few of us stopped by for the opening this past Friday to check out the space and beer, one of which came home with me for a detailed look. 

The space is nice and roomy with picnic tables spread out amongst the occasional bar top and old stadium seat. I'd say this is already one of the nicer breweries to hang out in around town. Parking is also easy as Mashcraft is in a shopping center off State Road 135. Despite the lack of natural light and acoustic dampening, future brewery owners should stop by and take some notes on the ample hang out space and layout.

Space bla bla bla, acoustic dampening, bla bla bla, beer, yay! That's what we're really here for. Initial offerings from Mashcraft are:

• • Mashcraft Gold
• • Mashcraft IPA
• • Scotts Ale
• • Hopjam Double IPA

Since I was using my ABV credits carefully, I went with my go to beers, the IPA and Double IPA. Both were fantastic, and the general consensus around our table of 6-7 was that these 2 are the best of the bunch. Battles raged over which was the best of the 2, but I sided with the IPA faction and took some home with me. 

IPA Review

At home from the bullet/howler/prowler/32oz fill into a Mashcraft tulip-snifter the 6.4% ABV IPA pours a golden orange with a 1 finger white head. The beer gives off floral notes, but the big note is candied grapefruit. The taste is oranges, grapefruit, light caramel, and bitter citrus rind. The body is light to medium, with soft carbonation to buoy the beer. Some of the best features of the beer is it's slightly juicy mouthfeel and pleasantly dry finish. Off the bat this might be one of my favorite IPAs around town. It has a good citrus focus, the balance and bitterness you want from an IPA, and it won't destroy your palate. If this is any indication, I would love if Mashcraft offered multiple IPAs- Andrew please brew some more IPAs! 4.5/5

The Big Guy: I'm always excited to go check out a new brewery around town. Its great to see the craft beer community really growing up here in the Indy metro area, and guys like Andrew are a big part of our growth. He has such a great pedigree, I expected nothing but excellence when trying out his beers. Mashcraft IPA did not disappoint. I picked up a snifter of it at the brewery. It poured out a beautiful orange color with a nice thick white head. BOOM! Right from the aroma this beer packs a big punch. There are big floral and citrus aromatics that remind me of vacation. The taste follows the aroma nicely with a delicious citrus fruit sweetness with a nice bitter finish. I was also a huge fan of the Hopjam DIPA. It had a lot of the same awesome qualities as the IPA has with a big boozy finish. I give them both a 4/5

Three Floyds War Mullet Review

Obscure name? Check.

Artwork that may invoke nightmares in your children? Check. 

Reference to D&D or a metal band? Ummm maybe not? 

Aggressively hopped double IPA? Check. Yep it's Three Floyd's beer time!!!

This edition features War Mullet, one of FFF newer and perhaps semi-regular bomber offerings (like Permanant Funeral). It's been available at the brewpub a handful of times, but has not made it to Indianapolis yet. 

From the bomber into a Teku glass the beer pours a vivid orange color, with copper highlights and a two finger off-white head. Laces well. Aromas of pine, resin, citrus, and tropical fruit. Very similar in taste: spicy hop resins, orange, mango, citrus rind bitterness. Medium to heavy body, but strong carbonation keeps it from being syrupy. Mouthfeel is oily with a very dry finish. 

Another must try DIPA from FFF. Big citrusy and resinous beer, but shows some restraint while being a solidly bitter beer. Great balance all around. Worth a trip to the brewpub just for this? Probably not, but worth getting if you happen to cross paths with it. 4/5

Scarlet Lane Brewing Launch and Dorian Review

Scarlet Lane Brewing  located in McCordsville is one of many breweries opening this Summer around Indiana. Deticated to brewing high quality, yet humble beer, SLB got a jump on things this past Wednesday and with their official launch party at Fire by the Monon (ahead of their brewery opening sometime soon). The event featured 3 of SLB's beers: Saison de Silas (Saison), Dorian (coconut stout), and making it's debut was Vivian (Red IPA). All 3 beers are solid and indicate a promising future for SLB; my personal favorite was Dorian, which you can read about in detail below.

The event itself was fantastic despite a couple soaking rain showers (ironic considering the event was rescheduled to avoid rain). The SLB crew was making the rounds and it's always exciting to talk to the people behind the beer. There was also free SLB glassware, snifters in fact, which is always an intelligent choice. Despite the rain, Fire by the Monon was packed with people enjoying all things SLB and overall it's a good sign of things to come. 

Dorian Review

As mentioned above, my favorite SLB beer was Dorian, so much so that I made a point to go to Tomlinson Taproom for a 32oz bullet fill of it. 

From the growler into a snifter, the beer pours a deep reddish brown with a very thin khaki colored head. The pour off draft that I got had a more appropriate 1-2 finger head, so this is a growler thing more than a beer thing. 

The beer gives off aromas of cola, roast grain, and light coconut; the latter gets stronger as the beer warms. The taste is similar, but the coconut picks up and a note of semi-sweet chocolate shows up; cola note is still present, but there isn't a real sharp roast grain note. The body is on the lighter side, with some prickly carbonation, but there's a sense of creaminess in the mouthfeel; the finish is really hear nor there. 

The best way to describe this beer is a mounds candy bar in liquid form. Usually "coconut beers" don't have enough coconut, but this does and it still strikes a nice balance with the malt character. A very approachable stout and the strong coconut note makes this an appropriate summer stout. SLB is a fan of stouts as am I and if they keep making them like this I'll be a big fan of SLB. 4.5/5

The Big Guy: Scarlet Lane have been great friends to the blog for most of this year, and my worst nightmare was that I would like them as people but hate their beers. Thank God that this beer is outstanding! I was lucky enough to try a sneak peak before they ramped everything up to production scale. I was nervous that the small scale beer would be better than the full scale version, but the full scale brew was even better than the home brew version. The beer is dark and roasty with a nice chocolate malty sweetness. The coconuts are perfectly balanced to give you great aroma and a really nice light flavor on the back end. I couldn't stop thinking about my favorite Girl Scout cookies, Samoas. The beer is basically a liquid dessert, without all the heaviness that you get form a typical dessert beer. You can have as many as you want without getting the gut rot that some sweeter beers give you if you drink too much. At their Launch Humdinger I tested that theory and had as many as I could drink. I also give it an enthusiastic 4.5. This could easily become a new local favorite.

My first time...

For a lot of you it may have been under the bleachers at a high school, after prom, or maybe you waited until college... For some of you maybe it was in front of your parents... Your first beer. What did you think I was talking about? The discussion of "your first craft beer experience" comes up often in our beer group as I'm sure it does yours, so I wanted to share the experience(s) that got me into craft beer.

My first beer was had on a camping trip with my family while I was in high school. It was a Corona and it was awful. It's an incredibly vivid memory of such an awful beer, but it's a good memory in all, since camping in the mountains of eastern San Diego county was one of my favorite activities growing up. I do blame (credit?) that Corona for keeping me away from beer for awhile. 

I grew up in San Diego (a hotspot for craft beer), went to San Diego State for undergraduate (a notorious party school), and studied to become a geologist (a group known for their affinity to craft beer). You'd think with all those factors in play I bathed in IPAs every night... Nope, I barely even drank anything back then, let alone craft beer. Yeah I was a stick in the mud. I do recall one evening when I went out with some lady friends (one I had a thing for) to Karl Strauss and had a couple pints... So maybe my first craft beer was Karl Strauss Red Trolley? Who knows. I do know I missed out on some greats beers in San Diego. 

I really blame Indiana for all this. I left San Diego (still craft-beer-clueless) for Indiana in 2007 to pursue a PhD at Purdue. What is a 20-something supposed to do in a small college town during winter? Drink!! My friends and I spent a lot of nights at Chumley's in Lafayette drinking schooners full of beer. Hacker-Pschorr, Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, and Left Hand Milk Stout are the first craft beers I recall really liking. It progressed from there until early 2011 when this turned into a serious thing for me; there's no specific thing that happened I just know that's when I dove in. 

I've had a lot of experiences (and beers) in the last few years that have strengthened my love of craft beer, and quite honestly some that have made me reevaluate the hobby. Since I've left San Diego I've made up for my craft beer follies and spent a lot of time there discovering what I missed a dozen years ago. I've volunteered at events, gone to events, made a lot of great friends, traded, homebrewed, covered the house in glassware, and so forth. 

To be truthful I don't remember my first craft beer (where were you Untappd??), just a string of great memories. 

Beer Tourism: San Diego

Modern Times

I recently went on a trip to San Diego and the southwest to see my family and go camping. Since I'm from San Diego I usually make this trip 2-3 times a year. If you don't already know San Diego is one of the craft beer meccas of the world, if not the beer mecca: 90-ish breweries up and running in the county (and dozens more in the works), several craft beer juggernauts (Stone, Green Flash, Alesmith, Ballast Point, Port/Lost Abbey, etc), lots of fast rising stars (Societe and Modern Times), entire neighborhoods that are defined by their craft beer culture, and some of the best bars (a seperate IPA bar housed in a shipping container within another craft beer bar? Yes please) and bottle shops around. I mean a small mountain town with one main street, no stoplights, and a population of 1500 people has 2 breweries! 

This is essentially the Disneyland of craft beer. 

Modern Times

While beer is never the sole reason for my trips to San Diego it's always involved. This is a recounting of my last trip to San Diego breweries and one in Arizona thrown in. The rundown in the order I visited them:

Modern Times**

Arizona Wilderness (AZ; ratebeer's 2013 best new brewery in the world)**

Ballast Point (Scripps Ranch location)

Wet'n'reckless**

Green Flash

Alesmith

Intergalactic**

Groundswell Brewing**

Coronado Brewing (Knox St)*

Pizza Port (Solana Beach)

Culture Brewing**

Stone Brewing (Liberty Station)**

Nickel Brewing**

* New to me

**New brewery

Lots of breweries, so I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow (you can look at the pretty pictures), but I'm going to hit the highlights and summarize my thoughts. 

Modern Times and Culture were easily my favorites of the new breweries. MT is about 10 minutes from the airport so this is worthy of a stop when you get into town. Their Fortunate Islands hoppy wheat and Black House coffee stout are 2 new favorites of mine and their space is great. Culture is a few minutes walk from the beach in north SD county and definitely has a surf vibe. Lots of variety in the beers they brew and all of them were tasty. Again the space here is wonderful; small with nicely finished woods everywhere, but there's 2 garage door size openings that make it feel big- one is the entrance and the other leads to an outdoor patio. The bonus to a Culture visit is that pizza port is a block away. Pizza port has multiple locations in San Diego and all of them serve fantastic pizza and house brewed beers (some of which they've started canning). 

The other new places: Wet'n'reckless, Intergalactic, Groundswell, and Nickel all were mostly positive visits. WNR is tiny tiny tiny, but the beers were good. Intergalactic and Groundswell were both fun places, with nice space and good beers. Nickel is intriguing since it's in that 1500 people mountain town. The beers were interesting, but average. I would likely go back as there's something that tells me they will improve. 

The only non-SD brewery I went to was Arizona Wilderness outside of Phoeniz, AZ. They recently were awarded RateBeer's "2013 Best New Brewery in the World" title... and I'm not sure why after my visit. When I went they had 5 beers on tap, none of which I would drink again as they were average at best. Service was slow and the food we ordered was just okay (fries were great though). I'm not saying AZW is a bad brewery/brewpub, and for all I know I could've been there on a bad night, but results from my one point of data inducate I'd rather go to dozens of other places before I go to AZW again. 

Most of the other breweries I visited this time around were places i'd been to before or places that had a new location (Stone and Coronado). One thing that really struck me about a lot of the places was the amount of inviting space they have available for beer drinkers to lounge around in; something that Indy breweries are sorely lacking. There are few places that come to mind around here that I would actually spend time in other than to fill my growler. It's unfair to compare Indy breweries to posh beer landmarks like Stone and Green Flash, but there are breweries in San Diego that do a lot more with a lot less and that's ignoring the weather and geographic advantages they may have. There's a fair amount of breweries in Indy that make better beer, but I'd pick the SD counterparts just because they're a lot more inviting. In other words It's time for places to start thinking outside the (cold concrete) box. Again, it's unfair to compare the scenes in my 2 homes, but there's a lot that can be learned from San Diego's beer community... I mean they've got to be doing something right if they can sustain all those breweries.

Whether or not you've been there before, there's always something new to explore in the San Diego craft beer scene. I would highly recommend anyone with a serious interest in craft beer take a trip there and spend at least few days exploring. You will come away with a serious appreciation for the San Diego beer scene... just don't blame me if you don't want to leave.   

Arizona Wilderness

Ballast Point

Wet'N'Reckless

Green Flash

Groundswell

Coronado Brewing- Knox St

Culture Brewing

Stone- Liberty Station

Stone- Liberty Station

Nickel Brewing

Nickel Brewing

Three Floyd's Man-O-Awe Review

It appears another Three Floyd's limited offering has trickled into central Indiana... Man-O-Awe, an American pale ale clocking in at 6.0% ABV.

Like a lot of FFF labels there's not much relevant info to be gleaned from the beer description, but it does tell us that the beer is brewed exclusively with Michigan hops. Other than that I'm supposed to be in awe and go listen to some metal whiled drinking this (okay it doesn't say that, but it's implied with any FFF beer).

Well, time to drink the mystery beer.

It pours a deep copper with gold highlights topped with a two finger, off-white head. The aroma is pleasant with melon, tangerine, and bread. The taste is... well interesting to put it nicely. Heavy (sourdough?) bread malt and a dose of floral, musty, perfumey notes. There's some bitterness in there, but all the weirdness going on makes you forget about it. The body is light, bordering on watery, with middling carbonation and a slightly oily mouthfeel; then finishes somewhat dry.

I am in awe... of how bad this beer is. This is the worst Three Floyd's beer I've had and I actually drain poured what was left in the bottle. I don't care for the notes of tangy bread and heavily perfumed hops at all. I really hope this isn't indicative of Michigan hops, because if so, something ain't right. Three Floyd's has a track record of excellence so they're allowed a mulligan every once in awhile... not everything can be Zombie Dusts and Dark Lords. Resist your "Limited FFF Beer!" urge and leave this on the shelf.  0.5/5 (Yeah I think it's that bad)

The Big Guy: Whoa whoa whoa!!! I love ya buddy but you missed the boat on this one. Maybe I'm just a fan of sourdough bread, I don't know. The malts were light but sweet with a little bit of biscuit and bread crust. The hops come in with an awesome mango and melon flavor. Think really subtle tropical fruit flavors hiding just behind the sweetness of the malts and I thought it blended together nicely.

There is a slight resiny, pine flavor and earthy hop quality to the finish that closes it off nicely. I think this is a unique beer and its even better knowing some of the hops came from right here in the Midwest. There was just a bit of bitterness at the end and that's OK. Remember this is only a pale ale, a regular pale ale- not an IPA or a DIPA- just an everyday pale. A lot of us have come to expect intense hops every time we hear that Three Floyd's is making a beer. I was thrilled to see that this one didn't have that heavy handed hop flavor. I even picked up another bottle because I liked it so much. Thanks for leaving that one on the shelf Russ. I give it a 4.

Rhinegeist Saber Tooth Tiger Tapping and Review

Last September when I was still trading beer, I ran across someone offering up growlers of some imperial IPA named "Saber Tooth Tiger" from Rhinegeist, a brewery I had no idea existed. Loving the name because of its geology connections and reading very positive reviews of it I was determined to get some STT. For some reason that escapes my memory, I couldn't work out a deal with the guy, so I figured why not just drive to Cincinnati and visit Rhinegeist hoping to get some STT. That next weekend I jumped in the car and did some other errands in Cincy before landing at Rhinegeist. Unfortunately they had just blown the last keg of STT- strike 1. I did see that they had awesome STT shirts... But not in my size- strike 2. All was not lost as I grabbed some nice glassware and took home a Mosiac single hop APA that I enjoyed very much. Still feeling I had failed in my mission to get STT, I emailed the brewery to inquire when it (and shirts) would be available again: "next spring" was the response. 

After many emails/tweets/Facebook posts to Rhinegeist (when is it coming back???) and several months later it's almost spring and STT is here. This past weekend Andrew, Steve, and myself traveled down to Cincy to visit Rhinegeist again and finally try this beer... It was worth it. Thankfully everyone liked it, because Andrew claims that I've constantly talked about the pending STT release ever since he's known me, and it would've been a major bummer had the beer disappointed. 

The Big Guy: When we rolled up to the brewery we knew we had to find Jim Matt, but none of us knew what we looked like. We did what any good beer geek would do and went straight to the beer. We found a fit unassuming guy in a Saber Tooth Tiger shirt checking on all the tanks. He was doing a great job ignoring the noise of the budding party around him and focusing on the whats important, the beer. At this point we were pretty sure we had found Jim Matt, the head brewer at Rhinegeist, and the man who was making all this happen. A friend of the blog had set us up with an interview, so we got down to it. Jim took us back "behind the scenes" if anything can be considered behind the scenes at Rhinegeist. All of their brewing tanks are right out in the open, so the whole world can see the quality that they put out. 

I was really excited to talk with him because he was once a member of the Sun King team here in Indy and its always great to see awesome new projects from people that used to be here in the local scene. I've been incredibly impressed with how fast Rhinegeist has gone from not existing to being a full production brewery with a ton of great offerings in about nine months. They were at the point they thought they'd be in three years after about six months. Right now Jim is doing between six and ten brews every week. This means Jim and his team are stuck doing double brew days on a regular basis just to keep up with demand, and demand is high.

One of my favorite beers they do is Truth, IPA. Interestingly enough, Jim started Truth as a homebrew clone of Sculpin, by Ballast Point. Like with any good homebrew clone, it never stays the same. The brewer always puts his own spin on it to make it reflect his tastes even more. Whats better than your favorite beer? Your favorite beer with even more of your favorite stuff in it. Truth is a big West Coast style IPA. Jim says that "Malt is an afterthought with Truth." Its dry, hoppy and delicious. 

Rhinegeist has chosen to go with cans for their packaging. They have an in-house canning line that allows them to maintain outstanding quality. One of Jim's key responsibilities at Sun King was quality control. He's done a great job of making sure everything goes well with the canning process. Jim also started off by homebrewing with the guys from Daredevil brewing here in IN. He was part of their club.

There is a ton of history in Cinci and Rhinegeist has really stayed true to the area's roots. They've done a great job keeping some of the character of their brewery, while still making a super modern space. Community is really important to Jim and the other owners. They host yoga and beer on Sundays and even have a wiffel ball league that plays right in their brewery. 

REVIEWS

A good portion of the group got a crack at this beer and has their opinions so let's get started. 

Russ- STT pours bright copper with golden orange highlights and an off-white 1 finger head. Lacing is sparse. Has a strong perfumey aroma, but citrus and mango are the most distinct. Lots of different notes in the taste: tangerine, mango, grapefruit, sharp citrus peel bitterness and a light malt profile. The medium body is lighter than what I expected, but that's not a bad thing; carbonation is light, but prickly. Mouthfeel is somewhat oily, and it finishes mildly dry. STT is not going to be a tropical cocktail like the DIPAs that have captured the tongues of beer geeks nowadays, but fruit-forward hops still dominate. The balance of fruity hops, bitterness, and drinkability make this a DIPA worth seeking out. 5/5

The Big Guy: Saber Tooth Tiger pours out orange with beautiful copper highlights with short white head. It has a big tropical fruit aroma with tons of mango papaya and citrus fruits with a really light bitterness. The flavor follows the nose nicely. There are huge tropical and citrus fruit flavors, with a nice crisp sweetness. This is followed up by a sharp bitterness that accentuates everything. the malt body is incredibly light, and that leads to a nice light mouth feel. This is a double IPA that really doesn't have the thick syrupy feel that you may have become accustomed to. At 8.5 abv the bitterness does a great job to hide the alcohol. This is probably one of the most balanced DIPAs that I've tasted. Seriously a great beer I give it a 5

El Duque: If beer trees existed, this would be its fruit.  Nice, slick mouthfeel added to the well balanced an tropically flavored DIPA.  It's wonderful to be able to drink a beer by a new brewery of this quality.  I could drink this for days on days.  Great DIPA for those that shy way at the hop filled promise of such a complex brew.

Professor Beer:  Saber Tooth Tiger has strong tropical fruit flavors.  I found it to be extremely well balanced; there is a a hoppy bitterness, but it is not palate-wrecking.  I definitely recommend trying Saber Tooth Tiger if you get the chance.  One of the best DIPAs that I've had, I give it a 5.

Half Acre Heyoka Review

I recently spent the weekend in Chicago for a scientific conference (yep my day job isn't all things glassware believe it or not; click here for more details), which was great because it was a somewhat funded trip to Chicago. It also meant I had limited time to explore the local beer scene in a city I hadn't been to since my passion for craft beer really blossomed, but I was able to carve out some time to walk to Eatily and Binny's to do some shopping.

As a result my next few beer reviews will probably be about offerings from Chicago-based breweries. Yes, this is an Indiana themed site, but let's be real: 1) you probably go to Chicago a fair amount and/or 2) you trade with people there. Plus isn't the whole Midwest just a suburb of Chicago anyways?

First up is Half Acre Heyoka. 

Last time I went to Chicago I only knew Goose Island. This was partially because of my lack of knowledge, Goose Island's size, and because a lot of the breweries that now dot Chicago's landscape didn't exist. Now when I think Chicago beer, one of the first places that comes to mind is Half Acre and I've enjoyed everything I've had from them, so I picked a couple offerings up including Heyoka. 

Heyoka is Half Acre's first canned IPA (7% ABV), believe it or not, and is a winter seasonal. According to Half Acre, Heyoka utilizes Chinook and Amarillo hops and a pale malt bill to create what to me is a west coast style IPA.

Tasting notes: The beer pours a golden orange with a bright white, one-finger head; laces well. The aromas aren't too strong, but I do pick up notes of grass, pine, and citrus. The taste gives off flavors of tangerine, mango, grass, candied grapefruit peel, biscuits, and a good dose of bitterness. The body is light, with soft carbonation, and a pleasantly dry finish.

Overall, I think this is a perfect IPA for a 16oz can. It's well balanced, full of fruity hop notes, and extremely drinkable. This is only around for a few more weeks and only available in Chicago, so I suggest you track some down somehow. 4.5/5

Community: Volunteering at the 2014 Winterfest... Tales From the SoberSide

I've figured out that one of the best ways to get involved in the Indy craft beer scene is to volunteer at events. I volunteered for DigIN last summer and had a great time so I figured I would do a more beer focused event with Winterfest this year. I worked the gates, which largely consisted of letting people into the event and making sure people left (without beer), so this means I got to interact with a lot of people that day... these are their stories (and mine). 

11am- I arrive. I ask parking people where I should park- "eh over there". Over there ends up being a 10 minute walk to the Winterfest location.

11:10am- 12:45pm- Various duties including putting out ice for the brewers, tracking down ReplicAle kegs for the ReplicAle trailer, repairing a flat cart that had lost it's wheel, wandering aimlessly, and trying not to get run over by a golf cart driven by Nick of Scarlet Lane Brewing.

~12:45pm- People are starting to line up?? 

12:45- 1:45pm- Making sure random people don't try and get in, guarding the tasting plastics, and getting trained on the scanning system. 

1:45- 2:30pm-ish- Get early entry people in the door, out of the rain, and drinking beer. 

• People do realize they need to have an ID to get into an event that involves alcohol right?

2:30-ish- 3:30pm-ish- Get general admission people in the door, out of the rain, and drinking beer.

• Did have one older gentlemen come to the gate with cash in hand to buy a ticket. Apparently he didn't know it was sold out and there weren't ticket sales at the door. Sorry man.

3:30-ish- 5:00pm-ish- During this time I was able to get away from the gate occasionally and try some beers, including Three Floyd's War Mullet, Iechyd Da Cookie Milk Stout, Black Acre Coffee Phantom Cat, (all favorites) and a bunch others. 

• Had a guy and girl come to the gate brandishing tickets... tickets to the home show in a different part of the fairgrounds. "Sorry sir you can't come in"; "why not?"; "those are tickets to the home show"; "so?""this is a beer festival";"I bought tickets to the wrong event I guess!"
• A local company was using generic growlers with their name on it as prizes and many fest goers were enamored with the $4 pieces of glass. My favorite was the guy who wanted to steal one and ask one of the breweries to fill it. Had to crush his dreams and inform him that wasn't going to happen. 
• One of the uninformed and shy volunteers was waiting in line with everyone else to get beer. Had to show him how to cut lines to get beer right away... one of the privileges of being a volunteer, which

1. Apparently some fest-goers don't think is fair, especially the Sun King Fanboys. Went to the head of the line to get some Pink Taco and heard several people cussing and freaking out.
2. Some volunteers take full advantage. Dealt with a few drunk volunteers (more on that later).

• Brewery pourer showed up with a ticket, so I gave him a general admission wrist band: "what does this get me?"; "What do you mean? It gets you beer... what do you want?"; blank stare "I thought I get special privileges"; "You need to work that out with your brewery or go to the check-in office"; "where's that?"; "right there past the booth"; I watched him go near the door, stand there for 5 minutes, and then wander off. After seeing the brewery he worked for I realized that he was probably on something. 

5-6pm- Back on official gate duty. Now mostly watching the drunk masses filter out; it's kind of like watching zombie hoards in "The Walking Dead", but some are less coordinated and meaner. Most were great though.

• Random roars go through the crowd- the zombies must be feeding. 
• 1+ hour left- a girl asks if her friends can get in for free since not much time is left: "No, the event is sold out"; discounted tickets?: "No, the event is sold out": full price ticket? "No, the event is sold out"

6- 6:45pm- Freedom! This was my designated time to enjoy the festival. I drank some beers, talked to friends and brewers, etc. 

• I could tell by this time that some breweries were a bit worn out. I was told by a pourer that I couldn't have the beer I wanted unless I drank the one he wanted me to first, because he was in control and didn't care he was being a douche (his words). 

6:45- 7:15pm- Time to get people out. Lots of high fives, handshakes, slurring, and germs. 

7:15pm- Asked to direct brewery vehicle traffic in the pavilion so they could pack up and get the hell out of dodge.

• Lucky me! Doing this with a couple drunk volunteers who were toting some cans of beer around: "Want some beer?"; "No thanks, let's get these cars directed"; "can't you do this alone? We want to go."; truck whizzes by going the wrong way. "Sure, but we can't let cars do that"; at that point Mr. Drunk yells I don't know what I'm doing and that nobody will listen to me. I walk away and soon after they join the paying patrons out the door. 

7:45pm or so- I go home exhausted. 

I got the sense that I took volunteering more seriously than some, but I had a great time, met some great people, and feel like I helped the Indy beer community pull off a great event. I recommend that everyone go volunteer at least once, but if you do, please try to take it seriously and don't treat it as a free ticket to get drunk.