Hops and Flip Flops, Speedway's first beer festival

There have been so many festivals popping up this year that trying to get to them all can be tough, even for a true beer geek. We've missed a few, but I'm excited that we made sure to go to this one.

Hops & Flip Flops, or Hopsfest as it appeared in a few places, was a hoppy beer festival in Speedway. For those of you who don't know, Daredevil took the lead on setting this one up and Daredevil is a brewery that knows how to make a hoppy beer.

The festival was on Main Street in Speedway right next to the spot where Daredevil will be opening up next year. The breweries were set up in the Dallara Indycar Factory and there were food trucks and bands all along the street.

 

It had a neighborhood block party meets beer festival sort of a vibe, which I really liked and thought went over well with the crowd. Brie and I got VIP tickets, and I will say the VIP glassware was probably the coolest festival taster I've ever gotten. It really had a high end appearance. VIP entrance also got you a couple food and beer pairings where we discussed what flavors match with what beers. It was all reasonably priced, so I'd say do VIP at this one if you can. The overall fest was well put together and would've been really informative to someone just getting into beer.

  

So, I'm not sure why it was called Hops and Flip Flops, no one even mentioned the flip flops. I understood the hops part. There were plenty of people not wearing flip flops. Footwear aside, it was a pretty good new festival. There were about twenty breweries there including some appearances from Flat 12, Triton, Against the Grain and of course Daredevil. There were some great IPA's but not a lot of people brought things outside of the norm.

My favorite beers were:
Triton O' Rye N  Galaxy - rye malt and galaxy hops, soooo tasty!
Bell's Hopsolution - just a well built IPA all around
Sierra Nevada Harvest Equinox Hop #366 - cool single hop IPA with a unique hop flavor

It was obvious this was the first year of the festival. They did a lot of things right, but for next time I think it would be great if they encouraged more local breweries to attend. There were about five Indiana breweries and the rest were national breweries that brought in their basic lineup. There were a lot of people bringing basic lineups to this festival, and that's not necessarily a problem, but a lot of what was there could be picked up at the store down the street. Lastly, I would love to see something done with flip flops. Maybe some flip flops handed out at the door. Maybe door prizes for people in flip flops. Just something to tie the flip flop idea into the festival other than hosting it in the summer. I think a second go around will give Daredevil a chance to iron out some of the bugs.

Even  though there were issues, a hop festival seems like such a great idea. Speedway and Daredevil were both so welcoming to the beer community. I personally can't wait until they open the doors of their Main Street facility.

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.

Indy Beer News- July 2

I've got lots of events this week including a bunch for Beer Week. Find details from Scarlet Lane, Triton Brewing, Flat 12 Bierwerks, Indiana City, Four Father's, Burn 'Em Brewing and many more!

Date Night: Triton's 2yr Anniversary & Hop Your Face Fest

Date night.  I know what you're asking yourself: how did I convince my wife to go to not one, but TWO beer festivals back to back this past Saturday, October 8th, 2013.  I think she was in a good mood due to just starting her vacation, or it may have been the promise of New Day Meadery drinking treats that finally did it.  I like to think she loves me that much!  First stop, Triton's 2nd Year Anniversary!

Yes, Joe was there too.  He is everywhere when there is beer involved.  Thanks again Dain & Mikey! 

Triton Brewery turned 2 years old this past Saturday.  What better way to do it than to have The Weirdy Cats over to play some live music, and have events for all ages throughout the day!  Slap Shot challenge with BIG E FOOT w/ the Indianapolis Ice, face panting, and live Irish Step Dancing.  Triton even had the brewery open to hang out in and take impromptu tours.  No cover charge, just great limited release beers on tap every hour.

Speaking of limited release beers.  They had a little bit of everything for anyone's taste.
Highlights being:

Sour Bin Oak Aged Sin Bin:  I loved it, my wife who isn't even a beer drinker loved it.  Need I say more?! 

Gingerbread Brown:  A great brown that has been demanded by the #TritonArmy to be bottled ever since it reared it's experimental head last year.  Guess what? Now it has!  Go grab a 4-pack!

Batch #1:  Best beer they had on tap hands down.  It has only graced the Indianapolis market two times before: once at the Microbrewers Festival earlier this year (Brewer Jon wants his keg back if you know where it went...) and the other being last years anniversary party.  It has been aging in barrels for 25 months.  I got to talk with Brewer Jon for a hot minute about it and he said it just keeps getting better and better the more it sits...  in Evil dark corners at the brewery and all!

Dain's Special:  I am not one to blend beers on my own.  This concoction was birthed late in the evening when I asked what Dain (one of the assistant brewers) had for me.  Mad Scientist thoughts ensued.  Oh you know... Let me take both the Sour Sin Bin and Batch #1 50/50.  It was just great!   

 Next Stop, Hop Your Face Fest at Fountain Square Brewing!

Hop Your Face Fest came about to celebrate the release of the same self titled DIPA by Fountain Square Brewing (FSB).  Just like Triton, this is the second year that FSB has done this fest.  The fun twist of the fest is to try a glass of some of their experimental hops and tell them what you thought.  Nothing like paying to be a guinea pig!  $7 cover charge for the great line up of bands and access to local craft vendors.  Did I mention that New Day Meadery was on site as well?!  Whoever thought of that needs a raise...  Seriously... My wife loves them!

FSB had the foresight to put up some (not a lot) of tents to help stave off the rain that was scheduled throughout the day.  Honestly the rain was a fun bit of chaos that spiced up the event for me!  Nothing like sitting through a rain storm drinking great and experimental IPA's listening to some awesome music!  Brought me back to my college days.

The Hybrid Hop Experiment was just great for a hop head like me!  The serial numbers at the top of the list are the crazy classified hops they used.  The bottom two are know hop brands in the industry.  My favorites were the Apollo and 06300.  

As I stated earlier, having New Day Meadery at the event was great!  My lovely wife got snookered on that while I got all the Hop Your Face and experimental IPA's I could want!  I wish every weekend had this many beer fests.

Best. Date Night. Period

#Volunteering #DigIN

This past Sunday was the Annual Dig-IN: A Taste of Indiana Indiana's Farm to Fork Celebration at White River State Park.  Continuing my #volunteer streak I hooked up with the Hoosier Beer Geek (HBG) #volunteer group and helped out at the main gate.  It was a little bit of a cluster at first, but everyone pulled through.  So many volunteers were needed to keep this event running. The HBG crew was one of many groups helping out.  Great job everyone!

For those that don't know about #DigIN, it is a celebration of all that Indiana has to offer.  Everything from farmers, chefs, breweries and wineries from around the state all coming together for a great eating/drinking festival!  Oh wait!  Did I mention music to?!

I want to say that I was only there for the beer, but some chefs/restaurants of note were:

-Tent 4: Anthony Handslits with The Chefs Academy, Indianapolis
Dish: Lamb Ruben, Napa cabbage slaw & Minted Mustard
Just blew me away, great paired with the Tin Man: BIPA I was drinking at the time!

-Tent 1: Chef BJ Davis with Bee Coffee Roasters, Indianapolis
Drink: Plum Buzz Iced Coffee Soda


Not only was this little concoction made with coffee and plum juice, but it was also made with a special vinegar.  What was so special about it?  It was made from a few barrels of Upland Sours that had started to turn to vinegar.  ZOINKS!  It has a great sweet vinegar and coffee nose, light body, that cascades into a pleasant tart sour mellow coffee dry finish that was wonderful on a hot festival day!  I spent more than one of my bonuses on second/thirds of this fantastic brew!  Chef BJ Davis and crew ran out towards the end of the festival.  I hope they make this a staple in their coffee shop!  I wonder if they will make a cherry version in the future...  really accentuate the sour/wild character!

On to the Brews!

Most of what was being served off the Sun King Draft Vans were a lot of the usuals that are currently on draft or bottled around town:
Brugge - Harvey
3Floyds - Pride and Joy, Gumball Head
Daredevil - Lift Off
Triton - Railsplitter
to name a few...

Of Note:
Sun King - Cream Dream VI: Hops Live (VIP)
Flat 12 - Saison du Flat (VIP)
Tin Man - Black IPA
Three Pints - Black IPA
3Floyds - Moloko Milk Stout
Black Swan - Cherrywood Smoked Porter
New Day - South Cider

I know you are asking yourself "Why in all creation was he drinking porters/stouts on a 93 degree day?!"  Honestly, it was a much more pleasant experience then you think!  Everyone had IPAs and Saisons, only two had porters/stouts.  It really broke up the tastings for me!  Also a great nod to Brugge bringing their sour Harvey.  It was the only sour at the festival.  Many a heart was broken when that tap went dry!

A great perk for #Volunteering this time around was the amount of time volunteers had to enjoy the festival.  Also being able to go straight to the taps and get a fresh pint without waiting in the lines didn't hurt!  There were three beverage stations that were made apparent by Sun King's Draft Vans.  Most breweries brought kegs of one kind of brew, while others like 3Floyds brought several different kegs.  If their keg went dry, they tapped something new!  It was fun playing "who has something new on tap now" as a side game while Joe and I walked the food tents.  Speaking of Joe...

A big thanks to Joe Walsh with Flat 12 for taking me around and introducing me to several head brewers and higher ups in the brewing arena!  I finally got to meet Clay Robinson with Sun King, Barnaby Struv with 3Floyds, Brett Canaday with New Day, Fred Hillenbrand with Tin Man & Michael Pearson with Daredevil.  I also had a great conversation with Master BJCP Beer Judge Sandy Cockerham on Berliner Weisse style beers.  I was pleasantly surprised that she enjoyed the Berliner Weisse style as much as The Barons and I did.  I hope I hear from her soon so I know where to send that Deesko! I offered her.

All in all a great laid back festival atmosphere. Even with the slight dehydration and sun burn, Great times!  If you couldn't join us this year, we hope to see you next year!

Get Ready to Dig IN

If you haven't heard of Dig IN, it might be because it isn't a brew festival, its a food festival. There are tons of chefs from great restaurants out in force, bringing some of their best bites to us. The festivities take place Sunday, August 25th from noon-five. Tickets are still on sale at the above link.

On top of everything else there are sixteen breweries from around the Indianapolis area. Expect to see Barley Island, Bier, Black Swan, Bloomington Brewing Co, Broadripple Brewpub, Brugge, Cutters, Daredevil, Flat 12, Fountain Square, Sun King, Three Pints, Three Wisemen, Tin Man, Triton and Upland.

For those of you who are foodies, expect to see Chef JJ, who I just visited earlier this summer. We have also checked out the Local Eatery and Pub.

O-Dawg is volenteering and the Little Lady and I will be checking out their VIP experience. Look for write ups next week, or better yet, just plan on coming out to check out the fun with us on Sunday.

Indiana Microbrewers Festival 2013: The VIP Experience?

I bet a ton of you saw the ticket price for the VIP experience at the Indiana Microbrewers Festival, and said there is no way it's worth it. This was their first year doing it, and although there were some bumps in the road, it was pretty solid and I would do it again in a heartbeat. As VIPs we got ten limited release beers at two different tappings at 3 and 5, appetizers, early admittance and private bathrooms. I dropped off the Little Lady and Prof Beer to get in line at 1:45, an hour before the event was supposed to start, but only fifteen minutes before VIP and early admission started. Of course I forgot my phone so I had to haul ass back to the car and get it, because it isn't easy to blog, drink and check in to Untappd without your phone. When I got back we realized there was not just the early admittance line, but also a very short VIP line. The experience had begun!

As I was whisked through security and given a glass, I couldn't help but think "damn that worked out great!" but for the next hour that's where the experience stopped. The guys at the gate told me that the first VIP tapping would be at 3 o'clock and we should make our way to the VIP tent to partake, but for the first hour we were free to get as much brew as we could hold!

The beers were outstanding. We were having such a good time at the festival we almost didn't make it to the VIP tent at three. There was no signage to indicate that it was the VIP tent, but it had been marked on our map. Unfortunately for us, everyone else wanted to be there on time for the first tapping. The line went about a hundred feet outside the tent. We waited through it only to find out it was actually the line for food, but no one in the back of the line knew that. It's funny, when a line forms everyone just seems to get in the back and wait. Luckily the appetizer-style food was really tasty and that helped me get over the fact that I had waited in line for ten minutes for food not beer. Lucky for us the beer line was short. The first VIP tapping was a great line up, but most of us were hearing rumors about what the second one would be, and that got everyone excited for 5 o'clock. Three Floyds was really the only big dissapiontment. Their limited special bla..bla...bla release for VIPs, was dreadnaught.

When we came back for the 5 o'clock tapping there was no line. We got in quickly and everything looked clean and much better organized. The only problem was the beers weren't ready until about a quarter after. I know you're thinking ohh poor guy, got VIP tickets, but the festival is so much fun it is hard to miss it, especially when you are missing just to stand in line. Five o'clock beers were outstanding! Food was very good as well. The only problem I saw at five was that they were allowing general admission tickets in to use the bathrooms. I actually left the VIP tent area to find a bathroom with a shorter line.

I talked to Rob from Flat 12 for a little while, and he noticed some of the trouble we were having in the VIP tent. He's looking to clean it up for next year, so everyone should be pumped. These are my suggestions to make the VIP experience better:

1. Tap things on time, and quickly (we think we spent over an hour in the VIP tent and half of that was in line)
2. The brewers were hovering around, have them there officially and let them say something about their awesome creations. These were some of the best brews I've had, let them take some credit for it.
3. More bathrooms, and keep the general public out of them. (again general waiting in line)
4. More notoriety for VIPs, people should be jealous of the VIP ticket holders, so they want to do it next year. If no one sees how cool it is, you'll never get more people paying for the experience 
5. keep up the GREAT BREWS!

My favorite beers of the festival were:

1. Pappy Fog (Velvet Fog aged in Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon barrels) by Sun King (vip)

2. Batch 1 by Triton (vip)
3. A four year vertical of Scotch Ale by Shoreline brewer (vip)
4. Cucumber Kolsch, Gin Barrel aged by Flat 12
5. 25th Anniversary Volume I by Lakefront Brewing

Honorable Mentions in no specific order:
BA Double Dog Dare by Fountain Square (vip)
25th Anniversary Volume II by Lakefront Brewing
Funk a Dile by Flat 12 (vip)

Best Selection: Flat 12 you knocked it out of the park! I could have spent an hour in your booth just tasting the awesome creations.

Darkhorse: Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee WI. Huge surprise! I had never heard of these guys, but damn they make some great and unique brews.

It seemed like the VIP experience was just missing one thing, experience. The organizers had never done this before so they were fumbling with it a little bit, and I never really felt like a very important person. That being said, the beer was incredible and made it all worth while. For the hour early admittance and all the amazing beers they handed out I would do it again in a heartbeat! Thanks for putting on such a great show!

I had 47 unique beers throughout the day, but I went back for sixths of Pappy Fog and Batch 1, because when it's that good, it is hard to only have one.

The Scene: Chef JJ's Make it Local

We were invited to Chef JJ's Back Yard by some great friends who are really starting to get into craft beer. It was one of Chef JJ's Make it Local events and for us it was the perfect double-date night! Chef JJ's Back Yard is a fantastic but easy to miss little spot by Brugge in Broadripple. He has an amazing view of the water, and on a beautiful summer day there is no better spot in Indy.

The Make it Local event was a cooking demo on the Green Egg where Cheff JJ used locally sourced meats and cheeses and of course my favorite thing, locally sourced beer.We were welcomed warmly and escorted to his patio. There was room for about 35 or 40 guests in this beautiful and intimate setting. Five breweries participated: Triton, Barley Island, Bier Brewery, Bloomington Brewing Company and Daredevil. The brewer or one of the owners of each of the breweries was there, and they came around and sat with every table of six guests for one course.

The first course was a cheese plate from Goose the Market paired with Triton's Gold Trans Am a light, sessionable golden ale (head brewer John has challenged himself to start making a session beer every season). The beer was crisp and refreshing without any major hop character. Great for a hot summer day. The cheese was amazing and all locally sourced. It was served with some crustinis, an delicious pickled kale, and beer jelly made from the Gold Trans Am. The jelly was awesome. It paired so well with the strong dry flavors of the cheese. It was the right amount of sweetness to balance out every bite. 

The second course was a crab salad. It had roasted greens done on the Egg. The crab was light and bright and the salad had a nice citrus vinaigrette. The salad was paired with Sheet Metal blonde from Barley Island. This light Belgian Wit beer was the winner of the Brew Bracket Wheat event in September of 2012. It was light with just enough sweetness to bring a smile to my face. It went great with the summery salad.

The third course was an amazing steak dish on top of some grilled pickled vegetables paired with Bier's Special K Kolsch. Special K is probably one of my favorite Kolsch beers on the market right now. It is easy drinking but flavorful enough to have its own personality. The steak was amazingly tender. I would normally go with a darker beer that has more body when I am eating a steak, but this worked so well. It helped lighten the heavy red meat and gave it a great summer feel. 

The fourth course was my favorite. It was a shreaded pork and lamb that had some great mexican spices. The meat was big and bold, totally in your face. It had an outstanding avocado mouse on top that helped cool off the meat and brighten the plate. It was paired with Lift Off IPA by Daredevil which is a bright clean West Coast style IPA. It has to be one of the best balanced IPAs that I've every had. The hops marry well with the clean sweet malt to give you one strong flavor.

The fifth course was desert. It was a deconstructed S'more with a roasted whipped marshmallow and chocolate panna cotta. This was paired with a possible one-time-only release beer by Bloomington Brewing Company, Vanilla Stout. It was their stout aged on vanilla beans, and it was delicious. The Little Lady waited all night for this one and was not disappointed. This was probably my favorite beer of the night, but I'm a sucker for anything dark and aged. Plus, after five courses you've had enough beer to get a little more generous with your reviews.

For me the coolest thing about this dinner was having the brewers come sit at your table and talk. When John from Triton came over, he talked primarily about the growing craft community. Triton has recently opened their tap house in Broadripple and now they are working on extending their distribution to IL. Jeff from Barley Island talked about some of the challenges that come with being a brewer in a small town, and dealing with the local politics. We got a great perspective from BBC about the craft beer boom in Indiana. The owner of Bier talked about the competitive brewing that his son Darren, the head brewer, was doing. Lastly we talked to Michael from Daredevil (also in the picture to the right) about the importance of water purity and your taste buds when it comes to beer. (Look for a full post on this later). It was realy cool to get the small group time with the brewers, and the food was amazing.

This is the perfect date night for the true beer geek and a very tolerant date. Cheers!

Batch #1

Batch #1 is Triton's anniversary beer. It's a bourbon barrel oatmeal stout. The beer was brewed in August of 2011 for Triton's opening. They brewed it and then put it in used Heaven Hill bourbon barrels to age. Once it's time for an anniversary celebration they pull out the barrels, top them off, and add CO2.

There are at least 8 more years of beer currently aging in other barrels somewhere in the back. As the beer ages the beer begins to evaporate, in distilling this is called the angels' share, more beer is added to replace what has evaporated to reconstitute the beer and keep it close to the intended ABV and flavor. Batch #1 was aged for 13 months. A beer like Kentucky Bourbon Barrel ale is only aged for 6 weeks. You can imagine how different the flavor would be.

The ABV is between 10.5% and 12.5% and it has 20 IBUs. It poured out a dark mahogany color with a tan to khaki head. It smells like caramel and chocolate with just a bit of an alcoholic aroma.

Up front it has rich chocolaty tones with heavy sweetness and a nice boozy flavor that I find intoxicating. There is a pervasive bourbon flavor with hints of oak throughout the entire beer. The woodiness of the oak against the sweetness of the malt makes it a nice complex drink. It finishes up with just enough bitterness to make it taste like semi sweet chocolate. The bear had a heavy mouth feel like any good stout should. It is warm and round with a great body.

This is not available for growler fills. Get in there and get a pint because it is damn good.

I give it a 4.5

500 Monks

So I have had some stuff from Triton Brewery at bars and festivals, but I had never made it out to Fort Benjamin Harrison to check them out. For this post I decided to make the drive.

When I got there it was totally warm and welcoming. I sat up at the bar with about five other drinkers and asked the guy next to me for a recommendation. He told me I had to try 500 Monks, so I did. I had it there, and liked it so much that I brought a bullet back for my wife and I to enjoy that evening.

This is a fresh pour at home

500 Monks is a barely wine produced by Triton. I like everything to be bigger, and this one is. It has jacked up alcohol and jacked up taste. The ABV was 9.5% and the IBUs were 29.

The beer was a dark amber color. It had a light head and a fruity malty scent. It had a strong malt start. Heavy caramel taste with a creamy feel and a hint of pear. It had a light hoppy finish that added to the complexity. It was a strong flavor that was totally in your face in all the right ways. It was full bodied but drinkable (again it should have been done in an 8 oz tulip or snifter glass, but I have no class). This is one to sit down and enjoy in front of a fire on a fall day or outside with a cigar.

Probably my favorite part of this was the aftermath. My lips had a sweet fruity taste for at least the next five minutes and that was outstanding. After trying a half pint of this at the tap room, I had to take a growler home for later. It stood up even days later as a great beer.

Great job Triton. I will be back. 

I give it a 4

The Scene: Triton Brewing Co.

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Triton Brewing Company
5764 Wheeler Road Indianapolis, IN 46216
(317) 735-2706
tritonbrewing.com

First Impression:
An informal meeting place for friends, family and pets. Yes, I said pets! No food is prepared on premise so they aren't breaking any rules by letting you have your four legged friends in the tap room. They do have these superb soft pretzels made off site and brought in if you need something to snack on. Fool hearted or ingenious?! I lean on the ingenious.




From seasonals to the usual suspects, a variety of beers are on tap. My preference is the Rail Splitter IPA, Magnificent Amber, Dead Eye Stout, and the Official Beer of the Indiana ICE Sin-Bin Belgian Pale.

They are two blocks southeast from Fort Harrison State Park. My suggestion is take the family out for a leisurely weekend romp through the park and make a pit stop at the end over at the brew pub.

Bit-O-Trivia:
Triton snagged their brewing tanks at auction from one of my most beloved breweries when they closed their doors for good, Warbird. There is a little shrine in the back of Triton's bar for the now closed brewery.

R.I.P
Warbird
Founder: Dave Holmes
Fort Wayne, IN
2004-2009
"We'll always remember your Shanty Irish"

 

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Scotch Ale

I love scotch. Scotchy scotch, scotch. Here it goes down into my belly. -Anchorman

Come on, who doesn't. Today I wanted to get into the scotch and Scottish ales. Both of these are types of malty pale ales that don't have a ton of hops, traditionally made across the pond.

It happens to be one of my favorite types of beers, so today I decided to go big. Triton and Bier both released their versions, and I scored a growler or two.

Triton made McQueenie's (Smoked) Scotch Ale - on the right
Abv 5.3%
30 IBUs

This bad boy poured a dark brown to black with very little transparency. The head lasted for about a minute before it disappeared leaving just whisps floating across the top of my beer. It has a smoky smell, letting you know something out of the ordinary is coming. The initial taste is sweet, malty goodness, but then you get something different, smokiness.

It actually reminded me of the peat flavor of some scotch whiskeys. Although I did think this was a stand up beer, the smoked flavor was a touch overwhelming  as you started on your second or third. It was a neat idea and I give the guys over at Triton props for giving it a try. Go try them out. I give this beer a 3.5

At Triton they also had a cask version of this (picture on the right). It upped the smokey flavor and added a very good oaky note. The carbonation was obviously lower than the standard beer on tap, but totally worth trying if they still have it in when you stop by to visit. I preferred the cask ale over the tap. If you are going to go different you may as well go big with it.






Bier made Scottish 60 Shilling. (I will be reviewing their 80 Schilling when it comes out next week) - on the left

The Schilling scale exists because at one point in jolly old England you could buy beers with different amounts of alcohol. The higher the octane, the higher the cost. Sixty Schilling was pretty much the standard everyday beer.

This pours dark brown. It smells sweet and tastes it too. When I had the first sip, I thought that the beer was a bit lack luster, but as you get into the glass there are a lot of redeeming qualities. The flavor is quite good even if a bit less in your face than a Wee Mac (by Sun King) or the McQueenie (above).

It has a light maltiness that you could drink on for hours. The consistency is more like a standard ale than the heaviness of a porter. The finish is just hoppy enough to cut the sweetness. I will say there was more complexity then I originally gave it credit for. Thank God I got a bullet, so I could sample a few glasses before coming to a conclusion.

Give them a try. I give it a 3 and anxiously await their 80.

All this talk of scotch, and I think I need the real deal, looks like a Glen kind of a night...