When Smaller is Better

I'm back (I'm back!- Slim Shady!) I'm back. 

Another Upland sour lottery has come and gone, and as usual the normal complaining follows in its wake (this last round coincided with the 2015 Secret Barrel Society membership announcement- talk about a sourstorm of epic proportions). The lottery system is flawed; lots of locals don't win (and they should get preference), and lots of non-locals win and never see their beers. Don't like the lottery? Then join the Secret Barrel Society, Upland says. (No matter all the fancy math and club perks you throw at me the SBS is not a good deal.)... or wait for the bottle clean-up. Bitching aside Upland's sours are in high demand whether they're getting traded, consumed locally, or being used as a cleaning solution. 

I don't bother with the Upland sours anymore for 2 reasons: Price and drinkability (looking at you lambics). $25-30 is an expensive beer to take on alone, especially when it's going to rot your teeth and stomach lining. Take it to a share you say? Sure and I'm privileged to be apart of an awesome share group, but we have stretches where we don't meet and occasionally it's nice to drink something special on your own (stop waiting for that special moment). Also, not everyone has "those people" they share beer with. I started to wonder what would get me to enter the Upland lotteries again, and not surprisingly it's a lower price and higher drinkability. I don't expect either of those things to happen, so the next best thing I could come up with is format size. 

Upland put your sours in smaller bottles. The 375ml or 500ml format is calling your name Upland... and for that matter anyone doing big alcoholic beers in large formats. 

This solves a lot of issues in my opinion; price drops and there's less beer to deal with in a serving. In theory, breweries are going to brew the same amount of beer regardless of package format, so that means more bottles (or cans) to go around... Maybe twice as much. More lottery winners, more bottles at clean-up. Price per oz would likely go up a bit, because of the increased material and labor costs, but I doubt enough to cause people to even blink. 

Several breweries have done just fine offering special beers in smaller formats: Sun King, Russian River, Crooked Stave, Prairie, and countless Belgian breweries to name a few. Prairie and Jolly Pumpkin have recently gone from large format bottles to more palatable 375ml and 500ml bottles, and Upland, yes Upland, has put Teddy Bear Kisses in 12oz 4-packs. So Upland has already made the switch a bit, why not keep following that trend?

Seasonal Creeps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

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.

Barons Craft Beer Dream Jobs: Beer Educator

Chances are if you're a beer geek, you've thought of working in the industry as a brewer, bottle shop owner, rare beer taster, etc. Being that I'm in the market for a new job and am waiting anxiously to hear back about a couple of opportunities, I've spent a lot of time contemplating my future and what my options are. This has led my mind to wander to the "what if" of what my craft beer dream job would be. Over the next few weeks some of the Beer Barons will talk about what they would want to do, if given the opportunity.

Since my dream job doesn't necessarily exist (at least locally), I want to demonstrate its need by providing an analogy.

Imagine that you're a kid again and you've never been to the library (maybe the latter isn't too hard to imagine). Up until now you've only "read" picture books, but one of your friends says there's all these books filled with awesome stories, characters, places, and knowledge; the catch is that you have to go to this library to check them out (literally). So you go to this place and you're immediately overwhelmed by all the books. Being new to this you have no clue what authors or genres you like, so you start picking things off the shelf randomly because the covers and blurb on the back look and sound interesting. You take them home, read them a bit, and discover you don't like them, so you go back. Again you sift through all the books blindly. Luckily this time another patron walks by and notices your perplexed look and offers some reading recommendations. While this is helpful, they can't tell you why they liked those books, they "just do." With no other options you take them home, but again the books aren't doing it for you and you're tempted to go back to picture books. You start to think "wouldn't it be great if the librarian, book publishers, or even the authors were around to help educate me on the different genres, writing styles, and authors I might like?"

To the uninitiated, this is what entering the craft beer world can be like. There's a lot to take in and without guidance it can be too much. If you haven't figured it out yet the library is the bar, bottle shop, etc.; the books are beers; the librarian is your server or clerk; the publisher are your local distributors; and finally the authors are the breweries.

In a lot of craft beer communities the librarians, publishers, and authors are in the "libraries" constantly educating people, but in my opinion this is an area where the Indy craft beer industry needs work. I've felt for awhile that education is one of the keys to growing a healthy craft beer community. Outside of the great events our friends at Girl's Pint Out do and the handful of obscure events that happen locally, I struggle to recall any regularly scheduled "beer education" events. There's a wealth of expertise in this community, but it largely stays locked in those individual's brains or internally with the organization they represent. If you're lucky you'll get to hear some of it during a tour or at a homebrew class. If you look around the country, breweries and bars regularly put on events educating about beer styles, pairing foods with beer, glassware, and a whole host of other topics. People that are educated on something are less likely to be scared of it, more likely to be engaged with the community, and will explore more. My point is that the local industry needs to be more involved with the local community's craft beer education.

I'd love to be that person that helps coordinate, develop, and deliver beer education. Not only is my craft beer dream job something I'd enjoy doing, it's something I'm qualified to do (you listening industry professionals?). I've done science education research and training for the last 8-9 years, so why not switch out the "science" for "beer"? What I would like to do is help find out what the local community knows and doesn't know (research and assessment!), what they want to know (or should know), and figure out the best and most exciting ways to deliver the education. There's a lot that can be done in that space and I think this community really needs it.

So if there's anyone out there that wants to hire me as a "beer education/outreach specialist" I'm your guy!

The Instagram Beer Community

Yesterday, Andrew talked about creating your craft beer network, which is very valuable for a lot of reasons. For example, a good network can you help with:

• Keeping up-to-date with new releases/breweries/events
• Meeting people to hang out with
• Setting up trades
• General knowledge 

One of the "tools" out there for expanding and leveraging your network is social media. Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ all have have significant craft beer communities whether it's breweries disseminating news, individuals discussing topics, or groups setting up events. One that you may not be thinking about or have altogether ignored is Instagram (for those of you that don't know what Instagram is, it's an online social media network that is based off of sharing photos and videos; you can "like" people's photos, make comments, follow people, and so on). I know a lot of people have stayed away from Instagram because you think "it's for hipsters" or full of people taking self-aggrandizing #selfie photos... and well you're right, but there's actually a very vibrant #craftbeer community on there. To be honest I'm not sure how I figured out that there was a huge craft beer community on Instagram... it just kind of happened.

Instagram's visual platform is perfect for a craft beer community since so much about beer is visual: the beer itself, label artwork, glassware, bars, breweries, etc. It let's people share and discuss all these elements easily. Plus you can see what's hitting the market ("oh look 'x' must've been released since my #@$#!! feed is full of 'x' pics) and get informal opinions on beers. 

I think one of the best things about Instagram is that the community is less intimidating than some of the other beer focused ones like beeradvocate.com. In my experiences people are friendlier and fairer when it comes to trades. 

The biggest thing I've gotten from Instagram? My current Indy beer friends. The majority of the people I hang out with I met through Instagram. 

So you want to be an Instagram beer star? Slow down there tiger. With any network it's going to take some time and effort to build; people are not going to just start liking your photos, following you, or conversing with you when you're new. Getting started on Instagram is a lot like getting started on twitter. The best way to get started is by using #hashtags to search the vast cluttered rabbit hole that is Instagram. Doing this will lead you to people you may want to follow. To get you started there are some pretty standard hashtags that the beer community uses:

#craftbeer
#beergeek (and other variations)
#properglassware
#(insert name of brewery/beer)
#craftbeerporn
#alehaul
#beermail

I would recommend looking at the other media on their profile before "committing" to follow someone as you'll find that your feed (the media that the people you follow post) can quickly get cluttered with things you don't care about... you may have seen their one beer picture in a land of poo (literally). I know some people, like Andrew, have a "minimum beer photo percentage" threshold someone must pass before he'll follow, and I generally have some guidelines as well.

Once you follow someone hopefully they'll follow you back (liking and commenting on their pictures usually helps). The other thing you can do is figure out which of your beer buddies are already on Instagram. Chances are they take photos of beer and follow other like-minded folk, so you look at who they follow and do the same; If they're really nice they'll give you a shout out. I picked up over a 100 followers one day because an individual with a ton of followers reposted a picture of mine. Just be patient. It took me a really long time to get people following me.

As with any community there's some bad things. It's pretty common that when posting a rare beer picture you'll get slammed with trade requests. If you're all about trading then it's not an issue, but unsolicited requests can get tiresome. Also, the beer giveaway (aka trying to get followers) meme is driving me nuts at the moment.

Take your time, see what's out there, and figure out what works best for you. As with everything craft beer related, it's about having fun and finding people to share the experience. You can look for us on Instagram while you're there:

Russ- therussb
Andrew- TheEmptyCan
Brie- brie3981
El Duque- lukelofland
Kevin- beerdaddyblog
Owen- theillumin8tor
Steve- profbeer

Glassware Event with Girls Pint Out

We'd like to give a big thank you to Girls Pint Out for letting Russ be a part of this awesome event, and for letting us tag along for the fun. As one of the newer blogs around town we are always excited when one of our own is called out as an expert in his field. There aren't many people out there that know more about glassware than our very own Russ the Brewnibomer Balliet. The awesome pictures that GPO took of the event can be seen here.

You can find him on Twitter and on Instagram.

For more information on cleaning, pouring and general glassware suggestions; check out our previous posts. There's a list of them here, along with a description of the content in each. We have a passion for beer and all the great toys that come along with it.

Clean Your F'ing Glass by Russ - This one is pretty much self explanatory. If you missed Russ's talk about cleaning your glassware or wanted more information check out this post.

The Proper Pour by The Big Guy - Here we're walking you through how to pour a beer the right way to make sure you get all of the wonderful aromas.

Glassware Collecting by Russ - In case you didn't think he really knew what he was talking about, look at how much glassware this man has....seriously.

The IPA Glass by The Big Guy - Take a little closer look at the IPA glass that Russ showed last night at the event. Perfect for letting out all those awesome hop aromas.

The Teku Glass by The Big Guy - no matter how you pronounce it, it is one of the best overall glasses for tasting beers. If you only have one beer geek glass, this is the glass for you.

Craft Beer, Not Just for the Boys by Brie - Since we all got together last night with GPO, I wanted to remind you all that there are more and more women in beer, and more ways to get involved if you're interested.

New Brewery Alert: Function Brewing

I usually spend at least one day a week in Bloomington, IN on IU's campus as part of my research (science, not beer) stuff. When I'm down I try to make the most of it by stopping in to the local breweries and bottle shops. In fact I probably buy the majority of my packaged beer in Bloomington because the selection in my part of Indy is awful. I'm a fan of Bloomington Brewing Co and sometimes Upland, but when I heard that there was a new brewery slated to open I got very excited... based on my visit there, so was everyone else. 

The brewery in question is Function Brewing. 

Husband and wife team Steve (brewer) and Arlyn (chef and front-of-house manager) recently opened their taproom just off the square in Bloomington within the last month. Function has the goal of having a core line-up on draft, while continually offering something new alongside those regulars. The name of the brewery and the idea of constantly having "something new" jive well when put in the context of math and science. Consider your ingredients as input, brewing as the Function, and the beer as output. New variables, same function, new beer... zzzZzzz... Simply put they want to play with a variety of ingredients and recipes with the hopes of making different tasty beers. 

Stay with me here, I'm actually going to talk about my experience there a couple weeks ago on a Friday night... their first Friday night open (keep this in mind). Appearance wise I dug the place; it has this modern and rustic combo: lots of bright greens mixed with black, sleek furniture and fixtures, but lots of wood and brick mixed in too. 

I ordered myself a flight of 5 beers: A single hopped (Falconer's flight; there's that variable!) pale ale, the IPA, a smoked porter, a milk stout, and a coffee milk stout (another variable!). They offer the standard 16oz pour, but also a 10oz pour, which I think is an excellent idea and should be done more often. The beers themselves ranged from excellent (single hopped pale ale), to forgettable (the IPA), to solid (the other 3). 

My biggest issue was service. I sat 10 minutes at the bar before I was even acknowledged, people were lined up out the door waiting to be greeted (a few left), servers were stressed (but still nice), and waiting for my beers and check were lengthy endeavors. Again this was their first Friday night open so I'll give them a mulligan with the hopes that those issues will be ironed out. They've had some other hiccups since opening, but again a lot of these issues are a function of being a brand new taproom. One other thing of note- Function doesn't do carry out (i.e growler fills) yet as they can barely keep up with the on-premise demand.   

The bottom line is that I think they're worth visiting if you're in the area. Their beers are good with the potential to be great... and they have some interesting offerings when compared to the other places in town. I will say that you should keep in mind the variable of time when visiting them until they can get their feet under them. 

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.