The Scene: People's Brewing Company

I am an IU guy and because of that I haven't really had much People's beer. I didn't really give them a fair shake until I had Captain Black Strap and Notorious BIP, which are amazing brews. Once I had these I knew I had to go check them out. It doesn't hurt that my wife is a PU grad and she still has friends that are up in the area.

People's brewery is a little spot tucked away in Lafayette. You pull up to a big garage door with their logo painted on it in a fairly industrial area. Their brewery is like the Cheers of Indiana craft beer. It has an awesomely friendly vibe right when you walk in. The tapping room is intimate without being claustrophobic with a bar for about six people and a handful of tables.

The style inside was industrial with a rustic bent and plenty of local photography and more Purdue propaganda than an IU guy can normally handle. Everything was cozy enough to make me want to sit and drink all night. The bartender was friendly and helpful. He made a great recommendation with the Parishioner's Porter on Nitro for my first pint. It was robust and dark with a nice mix of sweetness and coffee bitterness. I give it a solid four out of five. Some of our fellow patrons at the bar even struck up a conversation with us People's newbies. That kind of stuff always reminds me how much I love craft beer people.

What really impressed me though was the number of open taps. So often you go to a brewery and only find a few brews on tap. We ordered two flights on top of my pint. When we got the two flights, the bartender was good enough to mix it up since the flight only held six glasses and they had ten beers on tap. Also, the glasses were a pretty generous size, probably four ounces. The three of us passed the tasting glasses around to try everything they had to offer and their beers were excellent.

I was starting to regret not going up sooner to check them out. Overall it was an outstanding drinking experience. I ended up picking up a shirt so I could represent properly. After our stop at People's we went over to 9 Irish Brothers, a local Irish restaurant (by the way the food was excellent). When I got there, I found out they also had a People's brew on tap that was only available in the restaurant. It was their Irish Red and it was fantastic. I had been impressed with some of their brews, and I really liked the nitro porter, but Nine Irish Red was a stand-out. It was probably one of the best Irish reds that I've had. I totally see why People's is taking over the scene up in Lafayette.

Thanks for doing it right guys!

The Drunk Dog Days of Summer

Beer has always been brewed and consumed on a seasonal basis.  It's natural.  Birds fly, cats hate dogs, and a grown ass bearded man doesn't drink an imperial milk stout after mowing the lawn in 95 degree weather.

As natural as seasonal brewing schedules are, I thought I had a good handle of what constitutes a good summer beer, but after haunting a summer of BBQs and get togethers, I found that what I thought would be the usual warm weather culprits were as varied as styles of ale.

In my curiosity, I've been asking everyone I know, from cicerones to bros what there favorite hot day summer beer are.  Below, I will break down the groups they fall into:

A Hick on Vacation: This moniker belongs to the wonderful beverage of a PBR with a lime wedge.  Shitty beers with limes in them have always been a favorite of mine.  It's light, it's quaffable, and the lme cuts through whatever shitty beer you put it into and gives it a bright citrus lift.  This is my, as well as the majority of hard workin 'Mericans favorite grill out bevie.

The Pale Wheat: Of the craft beers, I overwhelmingly saw American Pale Wheat Ales dominate this summer.  Beers like Three Floyd's Gumballhead, Lagunitas Lil Sumpin, Sumpin, and Bells Oberon.  In America, it seems like this is becoming the big summer brew.  It's pushing out what used to be staples like Wit and Helles beers.  Mass produced lagers may dominate the world, but American Pale Wheat Ales are taking over firework filled, smoked meat summers.

IPA is a Year Round Brew: Even after an afternoon of sweaty yard work, or a few hours of slogging snow off of the driveway, a good IPA always sounds good, especially if it's session-able like Schalfly Can Sessions IPA, or Founders All Day IPA.

An American on Vacation: Kolsch has seen a huge revival this summer with national and local breweries churning out their attempt at a German staple.  This unique lager has captured the American tastebud, and it's technical brewing process has peaked the craft brewers' curiosity.  The New York Times even had an article about its popularity.  There is also the usual cadre of Witbeirs from Blue Moon to Omegang Wit to sate that sweet tangy palate.

Well, That's Weird: Finally, the surprises of the summer were Sours.  I realize that sours are becoming insanely popular and that they involve fruits, but I didn't really think that people would be so excited about killing these funky sweet tarts.  Berlinerweisse style beers are a solid summer choice.  Bells Oarsman is a six pack easy to pair with any grilled meat, or sun soaked sweat-fest.  The absolute weirdest beer I received in response was Monk's Flemmish Ale, a favorite of mine on a cool fall night, but after hauling fifty pounds of mulch... no thanks.

I realize this recent summer weather has been more conducive to a Porter than a refreshing Kolsch. If you have lived in Indiana long enough you know that this means once August is in full swing, we will be in the 90s til Halloween.

Urine Trouble

There was a lot to live up to since this beer has the GREATEST NAME EVER! I about fell over laughing when I first found out that Three Floyds and Surly had come together to create a beer called Urine Trouble. I made a special trip up to the Three Floyds brewery to get a few of these bad boys.

Urine Trouble is a Double IPA with bret added to the mix. It pours out a beautiful straw golden color with a nice sized white head. The lacing was huge all the way down the glass and lasted the entire beer. Three Floyds said this brew smelled like "Cat peed on the Christmas tree". I'm a dog guy, so I don't know what cat pee smells like, but if this is it, cat pee doesn't smell so bad. Urine Trouble smells like fruity bret with some awesome pine and pineapple notes.

It even tastes better than it smells! It has great pineapple flavors with some awesome funk on the side. The funk is well mixed in with the existing DIPA flavor. The hops compliment the flavor with some serious pine bitterness. It does not forget that it's an IPA. It finishes up with a nice bit of boozy heat at 9% abv to lock everything together.

Between the bret and the high abv this is a perfect candidate for aging. The hops will die down a little bit but all the other flavors should meld well and really transform the beer. I have two more bottles of this that I plan on popping in six months and then sometime after that.

My hat is off to Three Floyds and Surly. This was a bold and innovative brew. Intense flavors dance up and down the glass in a crazy mix you aren't going to find anywhere else. I couldn't ask for more from a limited release beer.

I give it a solid four.

The Little Lady: I'm all for a good road trip, especially one that results in drinking good beer (responsibly of course since there's driving involved) and bringing some home. In these situations, Three Floyds has yet to  disappoint. I admit I was a bit hesitant when it came to trying this beer. The Big Guy and I had opposite reactions to the name and the holiday-cat-pee comments. I'm skeptical in general so this is no big surprise. What was surprising was how much I liked this beer. I tend to prefer Imperial/DIPAs to regular IPAs as I feel like there's a better balance of the hops with the rest of the flavors, especially with the stronger malt characteristics. True to the style, yes I'm looking at official guidelines, there was a beautiful amber color in the glass and a very smooth mouthfeel. It was clean and crisp without being harsh or biting. All in, a great beer!

3Beans

It's been a long time coming since our Resin post...

3Beans by Sixpoint Brewing out of Brooklyn, NY is a Baltic Porter on a rotational release schedule from Sixpoint's canning line.

What does rotational mean exactly?  It's kinda like seasonal but you may see it multiple times in a year for limited periods.

For that matter what is a Baltic Porter?  Baltic Porters are >7% ABV porters.  Baltic porters were brewed strong in the late 1700's to be shipped across the North Sea, hence the name.

After pouring out this dark brown brew the nose assaults you immediately.  Light coffee and hop aromas with a subtle malty sweetness.  There were notes of fresh green wood. Strange I know.

The body is medium to heavy.  Sweet coffee/malty goodness hit the palette with notes of chocolate.
It finishes with coffee acidic dryness that sits on the back and sides of the palette.  I honestly felt like tossing in some coffee grounds for good measure!  The overall beer presentation is delightful!  After the first sip it makes me think of a nice creamy latte with two shots of espresso meets a dry stout.

I should clarify for everyone involved that this is 10% ABV.  Do not go off half-cocked and think you should have two of these in a row in a short amount of time.  3Beans ABVs are like cowboy coffee's caffeine.  If you are not anticipating the ABV's it will sneak up and put the beer goggles on you faster than you can say "Hey watch this!"

Great combination from the Mad Scientists over at Sixpoint Brewing!  An enthusiastic 4.5!



The Big Guy: Beans, beans the magical fruit... you know where I'm going here. 3Beans proved that beans may in fact be a  magical fruit. You've probably heard of coffee porters, and coco porters, with 3 beans they added one more bean. Sixpoint added Romano beans, which have historically been substituted for some of the heavier grains by brewers in the Northern parts of Europe when they had poor grain harvests. They were found to also to increase fermentation and add additional body to the beer. It takes balls to add additional body to a beer this big. The beer itself was thick and rich. It poured out like motor oil. The Romano beans really did their part.

It was really cool that Sixpoint was willing to do something a little bit crazy and go old school with their ingredients. If you like a cocoa porter, or a coffee porter, or even just a big rich beer, you should definitively give this one a try. I give it a solid four.

Blackheart: IPA vs APA

Happy national IPA Day! Last night I was hanging out with the Little Lady and decided to pop open one of Three Floyd's Darkheart.

It's been a while since I've had one of these. I remember liking the malty vibe to it but not being a big fan of the hop profile. I picked a few up for a trade that didn't go through, so I figured I may as well give it another chance.

Blackheart is an English Style India Pale Ale that has been aged in toasted oak barrels. According the BJCP style guidelines in an English IPA "The hop flavor should be similar to the aroma (floral, earthy, fruity, and/or slightly grassy)."

English IPAs were made in the 18th century when the British Raj wanted English beer in India. It was created because standard English beers didn't hold up to the sea voyage. The IPA was a functional beer made to stand up to the long trip and the heat on ships from the UK to India.

American's have created our own tasty treat that is technically either an American IPA or an APA depending on what flavors are involved. The BJCP says "Hop flavor is medium to high, and should reflect an American hop character with citrusy, floral, resinous, piney or fruity aspects. Medium-high to very high hop bitterness, although the malt backbone will support the strong hop character and provide the best balance." The American IPA is no longer a functional brew, it's a creative monster of a beer. Brewers that are more like mad scientists have been mixing and matching different strains of hops, while developing new strains, to create some impressively bitter beers.

An APA tends to be more bitter (the focus is on the late hop additions in the brewing process) broader hop varieties to choose from. It also tends to have a bigger malt base with some unique specialty malts. This is a crazy specific distinction, but with so many new brews popping up, it's what we end up with. It seems like more and more brewers aren't making the distinctions. When you go through ratebeer, beer advocate and untapped you can get all sorts of different answers as to what style certain beers are.

The Basics

• English IPA is going to be maltier 
• English IPA is going to be floral and earthy
• American IPA is going to be citrusy and bright
• American IPA is giong to have a light malt base
• APA is going to have different types of hops in weird combinations
• APA is a little less regimented, it is a bit of a brewers choice wildcard 

Although Three Floyds is known for their big citrusy American hop profiles, they knocked Blackheart out of the park. It pours a beautiful orangey yellow with a nice big fluffy cloud of white head. It had a great oak and malty smell with a nice floral hop flavor with a ton of earthiness to round it all out. The beer is sweet, without being too sweet. There's great caramel and oaked flavors upfront.  The hops are citrusy with some great spicy earthiness. There is just a bit of boozy heat on the back end of the brew. Three Floyds proved that the UK style of IPA doesn't have to be only functional. It can be just as big as the American IPAs with their fruity flavor just in a different way. Citrus is replaced by spicy and earthy hops. The malt is ratcheted up in a sweet and delicious way.

All in its an outstanding example of any type of IPA. I give it a solid four and can't wait to drink my last one!

All information came from the 2008 BJCP guidelines