KOTBR Review #7 & #8: Unibroue's Trois Pistoles & Maudite

In the spirit of overindulgence at Thanksgiving, the KOTBR decided to review not one, but two - count them TWO - beers at the latest Roundtable. These beers were not chosen at random, however. We did stick with reviewing beers from the one good thing in Canada - Unibroue. Now the question of the week is, just how do we pronouce this brewery? I hear the proper pronounciation is "oo-nee-brew". We, however, prefer the more sophomoric "unibrow", as demonstrated by one half of our favorite childhood gay couple, Bert.

Jim, Jason and I met up, sans BrainGirl, who couldn't get out of work committments for her first Roundtable, and Kelly, who overslept by 12 hours or so, at our new favorite hangout - Deano's Vino Restaurant & Wine Bar, in historic Fountain Square. Again, we were awed and impressed with the beer choice, the staff, the atmosphere, and the hospitality. Again, we closed the bar down. Again, we will go back. I simply love this place. If you haven't been, you have to go. And tell them you read about them here, and wanted to check them out (it lends credibility to our position with Deano that he should sponsor us, or at least sponsor the beer!!). If you have been there, go back and tell them you're coming back is because we recommend it so highly.

Not only does all that good stuff we've already said about them make them a great place, but they also have Humphrey, the Humping Dog on tap, and within reach of my barstool of choice, which is endless entertainment for me (if you want to know what I'm talking about, you're just going to have to go in and see for yourself).

So enough of the commercial for Deano's - let's get down to the brew review!

JASON: There is an ongoing discussion amongst the Hoosier Beer Geeks about how to properly pronounce the name of the Canadian brewer Unibroue. I argue that since we are HOOSIER Beer Geeks, we should butcher the pronunciation like we Hoosiers do with all French words (i.e. Versailles) and refer to is as “Unibrow” (as in one eye brow that stretches over both eyes). And so the discussion of pronunciation led to the discussion of body hair maintenance. But I’ll come back to that later.

Unibroue is one of Chris’s favorite brewers and it was his suggestion that we try one of their beers. There were three varieties available at Deano’s Vino: Fin du Monde, Maudite, and Trois Pistoles. It was the latter that we selected as our primary beer to review.

Last week, I was introduced to Unibroue while at the Hop Shop. I consumed some “10” and “11”, which were very champagne-like in taste and appearance. Very good, very high quality. Beers that should be enjoyed slowly, not chugged. And that seems to be the consensus when speaking about all their brews. Unibroue is a high-quality crafter brewer that produces unique and impressive beers.

The Trois Pistoles is a strong dark ale with 9 percent alcohol by volume. It is an incredibly dark and dense beer that can easily block the sunshine in your mind as well as any light in the room. I mean light does not travel through this beer. It’s like a black hole, it just sucks in the light. TP pours with a nice foamy head that settles down until there is a little foam around the edge of the surface. Initially, it creates some great, dense Belgian lace that, much like the head, thins out as the beer sits.

It started with a strong fruit aroma. Jim says that it smelled like plums that have sat around for too long. Not rotten fruit, but just aged. I’m not for certain if I know exactly what a plum smells or tastes like, so I won’t argue with Jim about it. Unfortunately, Deano’s didn’t have any plums for me to smell or taste. Or any plum wine. So I couldn’t do a comparison. But I think I’ll trust Jim’s analysis on this.

I should point out that I don’t like fruity smelling and tasting beers. Just not my thing. I can appreciate the beers for what they are and can understand why others enjoy it. But it’s not my bag, baby. Thankfully, the fruitiness of the beer subsides as you continue to drink it, so for me, the beer became better as I continued to consume it.

The taste also had plenty of fruit to it, but like the aroma, the fruit subsided as time went on. Drinking the beer left a bit of a nice aftertaste or bite on the back of the tongue. I also found the beer to tingle the mouth while drinking. As far as fruity beers go, this was one of the more drinkable beers that I have had. And as Chris pointed out, it seems to be better when you sit back and just consume it versus contemplating all the different elements for a review. It’s a beer that’s better when you just enjoy it instead of analyzing it.

I initially was going to give this beer three mugs. It’s a fine, well crafted beer, but it’s not one that I would go out to buy for myself. It’s just not for me. But I’m going to give it a bonus half mug for the intangibles: being more enjoyable as you go along, being a good beer to just sip and enjoy, and being one of the better fruity beers that I have consumed. So that’s a grand total of 3.5 beer mugs for the Unibroue Trois Pistoles.

We followed up the Trois Pistoles with Unibroue’s Maudite. The intention was to rate this beer as well, but I am going to withhold judgment. TP is a stronger beer than Maudite, therefore numbing my judgment. If I really wanted to judge both of them, I should have reversed the order they were consumed in. But I will briefly describe my initial thoughts on this beer.

Maudite is a strong dark ale with an eight percent ABV. It’s amber in color and has some clarity. There is a pleasant sweet aroma and flavor, though the aroma seemed to not be very strong during this tasting. The beer left a bit of dryness in the back of the throat and I think I sensed a slight clove flavor in the aftertaste. I did enjoy this beer, as well as the He’brewed Messiah Bold. And I look forward to reviewing both beers in the future.

Now, I know that many were disappointed that my beer review was not in haiku this time. And I’m disappointed that I didn’t do it either. But writing in a 5-7-5 manner consumes a large number of brain cells and, frankly, after last night, I have none to spare.

However, since we attract an intelligent class of drunks to this blog, I will offer this bit of literary genius written by yours truly. As I mentioned earlier, we had a body hair discussion during the review. We not only discussed the plucking and shaving of potential unibrows, but also the manicuring of hair in, um, other regions. So this bit of poetry is inspired by Nick at Deano’s Vino and is presented in the style of Shakespearian prose:

There was a bartender in Fountain Square
Who liked to shave all his hair “down there”.
It made “him” look large
And totally in charge
Though the new hair growth itching he could not bear.

My apologies to the kids at home, clergy members, anyone who can’t handle references to “naughty bits”, and those who feel downright dirty for having read that.

JIM: Before I begin, I’d like to extend a big thanks to Deano and Nick for being so hospitable to us. Deano’s place is a first rate establishment. You should head there tout de suite if you haven’t checked it out yet. It is truly one of the crown jewels of Fountain Square.

I’ve decided to up the gimmick ante with my review this week of Unibroue’s Trois Pistoles and Maudite. At the last meeting of the KOTBR, Chris and I kidded Jason for writing his review in haiku form. Someone (maybe me – I can’t remember due to the ale-induced haze) jokingly posited the possibility of writing a review in iambic pentameter. Who am I to refuse such a challenge? The gauntlet has been thrown down! So, here goes. And perhaps you Shakespearean prose experts can tell me if I’m doing this correctly…

The first of ales reviewed by us was dark
Its name was Trois Pistoles, a pungent brew
It held a nose of ripened plums so strong
And tasted much the same but pleased me not
A beer for others, those from northern lands
Three tankards worth of ale this drink does rate

The second beer to pass my lips was called
The name Maudite, a finer brew it was
A whiff of caramel and molasses strong
A flavor same as nose, a lovely taste
I’d order yet another if I could
But that would leave me sprawled upon the floor
Four tankards worth of ale this drink does rate

CHRIS: I'm going to recuse myself from an actual review. I have one written for these beers, but in all fairness, I was suffering from a cold complimented by a stuffy nose and mind-blowing sneezes, and therefore can't give a full review of the nose or taste. I do like both of these beers, however, like everything else from Unibroue I have tried. But in the end, I just can't compete with these cool cats who scribe in limericks and iambic pentameter.

KOTBR #47 | Yay Belgium

For our latest roundtable, four knights met two friends (Matt and Chris) at the home of Matt (of Matt's Beer Blog fame) for a Belgian Beer Style Blowout. So without further ado, on to the reviews.

Jason

So the intent of the latest roundtable with Matt and Chris was to try a variety of Belgian-style beers. By complete accident, all the Belgians we sampled were brewed in America. Unlike the previous roundtable, when we reviewed a selection of Danish brewed beers that were American in style. Going from Europeans-pretending-to-be-Americans to Americans-pretending-to-be-Europeans. Completely accidental, but very poetic nevertheless.

In the spirit of Belgians in America , I will review these beers in the most fabulous of Belgian styles: Smurf



Perdition by Russian River Brewing Co. - This Biere de Garde poured with a light brown color and a light smurfy, sweet smurf. There were hints of toffee and coffee, but a very underwhelming beer, leaving me with not much of anything there but aftertaste. A Peewit of a beer. 2.25 smurfs

Lost Abbey’s Judgment Day - This dark brown beer had smurfed of dark fruit covered in brown sugar. Despite the nice smurf taste, the mouth was left dry after. My final written judgment: smurfy, smurfy smurf time! Dubbel my smurf, so to smurf... 4.0 smurfs

Lost Abbey’s Lost and Found - If you had put this smurf in front of me and I didn’t know it was a quadsmurf, I would have smurfed that it was fresh apple cider from looks alone. It had an extra smurfy fruit fragrance with more fruit smurfiness than Judgement Day. Makes me think of Smurfette. It leaves my mouth very smurfy. 3.75 smurfs

Brewer’s Art Green Peppercorn Tripel - I didn’t know what to expect from the label, but I must say, I was happily surprised by this smurf. The nose was all over the smurfin’ place. But not peppery. It looked like a wheat beer with a big pilsner head. The smurfiest smurfin’ beer I’ve ever seen! It looked like a Snork party in a glass! The flavor matched up with the nose, but in addition, it left a peppery bite on the back of the smurf. La la la la la la, la la la la la! 3.65 smurfs

Southampton Grand Cru - Holy smurf! Super sour smurf! It smells like a Gargamel’s taint; or like after Azrael sprays all over the smurfin’ place. It pours cloudy and dark gold. The taste is a bit tart but also has some carmely, buttersmurffy hits, creating a smurfy flavor that doesn’t match up with the nose at all. No smurfing way! 1.5 smurfs

Unibroue Terrible - I don’t know if any other smurfs will get this, but it smells like a Unibroue beer. Lots of dark fruit and plum. Alcoholly and smurfy. But of the Unibroue beers, I find this Belgian Hefty Smurf Dark Ale to be the smurf. 3.55 smurfs

Three Floyd’s Alpha Kong - This beer is the Papa Smurf of Belgian Hefty Smurf Pale Ales. The nose is smurffy and alcoholly, giving thoughts of Laffy Taffy or Big League Chew. The flavor is also smurffy and chewy. Lots of smurf. It is smurfy and thick. A take your smurf away kind of beer. 4.25 smurfs

Barley Island Sinister Minister - Smurfed down version of Unibroue beer. It may be as sinister as Gargamel, but it is about as successful as his attempt to snack on Smurfs. 2.00 smurfs


Mike

In honor of Belgium's World Champion and all around bad-ass bicyclist, Tom Boonen, and his 16 year old girlfriend, Sophie Van Vliet, I present 16 word reviews.



Russian River Perdition - Sweat tea color. Sharp nose. Tight front, light, sour on sides of the tongue. All mouthfeel. 2.74 Mugs

Lost Abbey Judgement Day - Nail polish nose, heavy almost syrupy mouthfeel, full of caramel and grape. Grape plus cough syrup. 3.11 Mugs

Lost Abbey Lost and Found - Lighter nose. Sweet candi sugar and grape notes. Nice bubbly front, light but not lingering mouthfeel. 3.24 Mugs

Brewer's Art Green Peppercorn Tripel - Banana / pepper nose, super-lively mouthfeel, top of mouth taste. Banana plus vanilla custard? Tart or bitter? 4.41 Mugs

Southampton Grand Cru - Funky "off" nose, nose carries into front but dissipates quickly, back creamy, tasty, and yet funky. 3.10 Mugs

Unibroue Terrible - Dark milky-ish color, fruity Unibroue nose, balanced, sweet, about what you'd expect from the Unibroue crew. 3.27 Mugs

Three Floyds Alpha Kong - Apple, banana, nail polish nose. Silky mouthfeel. A really great beer from Indiana's Kings of Brewing. 4.78 Mugs

Barley Island Sinister Minister - Malty, inky nose (yes, nose). Watery, malty. Not particularly "Belgian". Subdued. Hard to follow Alpha King. 2.22 Mugs



Matt

Russian River's Perdition – Underwhelming. The flavor and nose were just not there in sufficient abundance to make much of an impression. Kind of like the proportion of German speakers in Belgium, less than one percent of the population, yet is still an official language of the country along with Dutch and French, spoken by 60 and 40 percent of Belgians, respectively. 2.2 mugs



Lost Abbey Judgment Day – This one was reddish brown in color. The nose was full of yeast, but the flavors included plum and black bread, which along with salt is a traditional offering to guests in Russia. The Belgian contingent accompanying Napoleon's Grand Armee into Russia (as Belgium had been conquered and annexed by France as part of the First French Republic) in 1812 found no such hospitality, less that 100,000 of the 700,000 strong invasion force made it out of Russia. 3.2 mugs

Lost Abbey Lost & Found – This was much spicier than its Lost Abbey brother. The mouthfeel was incredibly smooth and the peppery aftertaste lingered for a while. The persistence of this flavor is reminds me of the persistence of plastics in the environment. A Belgian-American named Leo Baekland invented the first commercially viable plastic in 1907, Bakelite. 3.6 mugs



Green Peppercorn Trippel – The nose was a bit footy, which I found somewhat disconcerting. After I got past that though, I detected some banana and I found that it was really a pretty tasty beer. Again, it had a peppery flavor to it and an effervescent mouthfeel. I was pleasantly surprised by this one, not unlike Timecop, which starred Belgian martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme and Ron Silver who is not Belgian. 4.1 mugs

Southampton Grand Cru – I said to my self, "I can't wait to drink this one" when I caught a whiff of the dirty laundry coming off the rim of the glass. The mouthfeel and taste can best be described as sticky and sickly respectively. The stomach lurch brought to my mind images from Belgian anatomist Andreas Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica. Vesalius was among the first anatomists to contradict the models of Galen and Aristotle. His method of suspending cadavers from a rope to allow him to move them around to see their anatomical structures, and his willingness to examine human remains meant that physicians and surgeon barbers had a more accurate understanding of how things work. 2.0 mugs

Unibroue Terrible – The banana nose and flavor of sweet roasted grain made this a very agreeable beverage. Also agreeable to the small "d" democrat in me is the regrettably brief historical period of the United States of Belgium, which only lasted from January to December of 1790. This effort to modernize the legal and political system came to an end when King Leopold II succeeded his brother Joseph II whose epitaph reads, "Here lies Joseph II, who failed in all he undertook". 3.81 mugs

Three Floyds Alpha Kong – This beer is a full on assault against sobriety and sanity, a dangerous juggernaut of a beer. It's really sweet and I simultaneously tasted Creme-Savers, caramel, marshmallows, and probably a dozen other flavors that I missed in the hubbub. The flavor and alcohol are huge on this one. Almost as big as the planet itself. A Belgian cartographer named Gerardus Mercator revolutionized the method of showing large portions of the planet while balancing the distortion you get when you flatten out a curved surface. Mercator's model maintains direction and shape over the size of continents, which increase with the distance from the equator. He also devised a method for creating hollow papier-mâché globes, which brought the price down considerably from the wood or gilded brass spheres that had been available until that time. 4.2 mugs

Sinister Minster – I got a whiff and taste of wheat toast from this one. It also had a nice quick finish. Julius Caesar called the land currently known as Belgium, Gallia Belgica, as it was a northern province of Gaul inhabited by a tribe known as the Belges. He called the Belges the bravest of the Gauls as they lived the closest to Germania and were far away from the rest of the region. 3.88 mugs

* * * * *

KOTBR final averages:

Perdition by Russian River Brewing Co. - 2.40 Mugs
Lost Abbey’s Judgment Day - 3.43 Mugs
Lost Abbey’s Lost and Found - 3.53 Mugs
Brewer’s Art Green Peppercorn Tripel - 4.05 Mugs
Southampton Grand Cru - 2.20 Mugs
Unibroue Terrible - 3.54 Mugs
Three Floyds Alpha Kong - 4.41 Mugs
Barley Island Sinister Minister - 2.70 Mugs

Beer and Cheese Club - November Edition

For our November selection, we visit beer from Canada and cheese from Italy. The beer, Unibroue's Blanche de Chambly, is a Belgian-style witbier, which Unibroue claims was the first bottle-fermented white ale crafted in North America (in 1992, if you're wondering). The cheese, Caseificio dell'Alta Langa La Tur, is a cheese made of cow, sheep, and goat's milk that the cheesemaker describes as "delicate and harmonious, fine and tasty". The cheese is produced northwestern Italy - Bosia - in a modern facility, using antibiotic-free milks, and using old world recipes.

If you're a member of the Beer and Cheese Club at Goose the Market, your November installment is likely ready for you to pick up right now. If you're not a member, the club is $99 for 4 months. This month's selection includes four bottles of Blanche de Chambly in addition to a small wheel of cheese that the three of us managed to accidentally eat all at once. Either of these items would be great experiences on their own, but we feel they are even better when consumed together.


Blanche de Chambly from Unibroue is a witbier with the kind of effervescence that shoots right up into your brain. Strong and spicy nose with a lighter body and finish.

La Tur - This comes from a wine region in Italy and is often paired with a bit of bubbly, or a bubbly witbier in this case. This cheese was butter soft and arrived in a paper cup inside a plastic tub. The outside was pretty near a liquid consistency, but the middle was a bit more firm. One website said the cheese was like "ice cream served from a warm scoop," and that description is perfect. The cheese had a funky, musty aroma that carried through to taste. It had a huge farmy, grassy-like flavor that I couldn't decide if I liked or didn't.

The pairing was a harmony of both, neither overpowering the other. The bright flavor of the beer cut through the earthiness of the cheese. It subdued both of the more intense flavors and let through more subtle counterparts.

Thanks again to Goose for another great offering in the club.


Blanche de Chambly - nose is light fruit, apple, lightly tart, light body, finishes chewy/tart

La Tur - Creamy up front, funky in the back, savory in the middle. Very farmy, grassy. The cheese starts off sweet, almost like an icing, and then after a couple seconds.. wait for it... an explosion of grassy yet not overwhelming funk.

The combination of the two functions as the fizziness of the beer wipes the palate clean - not really a meld in the middle, though the flavors don't clash; rather they sit together nicely, in an apple tart sort of way.

In any case, the cheese was ridiculously delicious.


This is my first time reviewing a Goose the Market beer and cheese club offering, but I’m not stranger to pairing beer and cheese. I love washing down my nachos with a lager. And the beer and cheese crocks found at pubs are fantastic too. But the Goose beer and cheese pairing is not your standard stadium or sports bar fare. Of course, the Goose’s basement bar Enoteca is not your standard bar. I can tell you that the “Red Beer Salumi Cheese” is a fun beer concoction (beer and Hoosier Mama’s Bloody Mary Mix served on ice with meat and cheese; chorizo and provolone were the offerings this time) and the steak tartare was lovely.

But the main reason for my attendance was to try the La Tur formaggio affinato with Unibroue’s Blanche de Chambly. Velveeta and Budweiser this is not. The soft white cheese is at times creamy and gooey and other times slightly dry. I could taste the grass that the cows, goat, and sheep consumed. It has a nice earthy aroma. And if finished with a dry, buttery mouth feel. It was really nicely spread on a baguette.

The yeasty Blanche de Chambly ale on lees played well with the cheese. The bubbly, golden beer pops with flavors, and it is the citrus flavor in the beer that really worked well with the grassy notes of the cheese. A nice pairing to have as we head into winter, together they remind one of a bright spring day. I’ll have to remember that in February, when winter seems never ending.

To join the Beer and Cheese Club at Goose the Market (in conjunction with Hoosier Beer Geek), check out this PDF and then either call Goose the Market at 317-924-4944 or stop in the shop at 2503 N. Delaware St.

Beer and Food Pairing: Rabbit and Turtle

In the past I've done some goofy things with beer - a shandy of Lakefront Cherry Lager, Blatz, and diet soda comes to mind - usually in the vein of not taking any of this too seriously. So when offered up a chance to visit home to sample some interesting rural cuisine, I thought it might be fun (and also kind of stupid) to go ahead and pair those culinary treats with better beer.


That's a lot of rabbit
The event - known to family and friends as "Freezerfest" - features foods collected over the course of year from the the lakes, ponds, streams and woods of the area near my hometown of Trenton, Illinois. On the menu: rabbit, turtle, squirrel, frog legs, and fish.


Fried squirrel looks a lot like fried anything else.
As an avid student of Garrett Oliver's The Brewmaster's Table, I though that the book - which features guides to hundreds of beers and the foods that pair well with them - could serve as a guide into my dining adventure. Surprisingly enough, that wasn't completely the case. While Brewmaster's Table does feature pairings for rabbit, I was on my own as far as turtle goes.


A tiny sample of the selection
Rabbit and beer

In the back (pages 355-361) of my copy of Brewmaster's Table I found a handy reference chart entitled "Beer with Food: A Reference Chart". On page 360, the pairing for rabbit reads "Biere de garde, tripel, Belgian Pale Ale, strong British Bitter (ESB)". I headed to my local "by the bottle" liquor store (Parti-Pak Liquors) and picked up bottles of Two Brothers Domaine DuPage, Brugge Tripel de Ripple, Orval, and Goose Island Honkers Ale to fill this requirement.

Pairing for turtle was not so simple.


A plateful of exotic heart attack
Turtle and beer

Because Brewmaster's Table has no turtle pairing recommendations, I first googled "Turtle Beer Pairings" - if you follow the link you'll quickly realize that there are no examples. My next guess was to find out what exactly turtle tastes like, and go from there.


Pete - the man behind the food with the preferred mode of preperation
My search brought me to an article by Newt Harlan entitled "Tastes like Chicken". In the article he lists quite a few exotic animals and what they taste like - rattlesnake, rabbit, squirrel, armadillo, alligator, coon, and turtle:

A turtle supposedly has something like seven distinctively different kinds of meat. I've eaten it in turtle soup and sauce piquant and my taste buds identified several of them . . . fish, pork, shrimp, kind of like frog legs and yes, even chicken.

In the interest of having as much information as possible, I continued on and found an article from the website of The New Yorker - listed under their New Orleans Journal section, I thought that this was surely a reputable source.

“You got seven kinds of meat on a turtle. Depending on what part you’re eating, it will taste like turkey, or fish, or pork, or veal.”

Veal? I knew that the sort of people I was dealing with weren't the veal type. The list sounded a little too Yankee for my liking.

I continued my search and stumbled across the site of the Missouri Folklore Society and an article entitled "The Turtle in Missouri Folklore" that contained the following information:

Any hillman will tell you that an ordinary mud turtle contains seven kinds of meat -- pork, beef, mutton, chicken, duck, and fish.

You may have noticed that only six kinds of meat are given. Must be hillman math. And a site using that sort of math was exactly the kind of source I was looking for. With my seven (six) meats in mind, I returned to Brewmaster's Table and began pairing. Because I wasn't sure how my turtle would be prepared, I went with the roasted examples for each type of meat.

Pork: Dunkel, dubble, doppelbock, altbier, Oktoberfest Marzen, Biere de Garde
Beef: Brittish bitter and pale ale, German altbier
Mutton: Dubble, Scotch Ales, strong dark trappist and abbey ales, old ales, biere de garde
Chicken: Biere de garde, dunkel, bock, british bitter and pale ale, british brown, Oktoberfest marzen, dubbel, american amber ale, belgian pale
Duck: Dubbel, strong dark trappist or abbey ales, doppelbock, weissbock, biere de garde
Fish (which fish?): ???

So in the spirit of those hillmen that came before me, I put everything into an Excel Spreadsheet and came up with the following list (which I'll admit is a bit messy here):

Dish | Flavor | Beer Style | Beer
Turtle | Beef | British Pale | Bass Pale Ale
Turtle | Beef | Altbier | Bluegrass Brewing Co. Alt
Turtle | Beef | British Bitter | Goose Island Honkers Ale
Turtle | Chicken | Bock | Berghoff Bock
Turtle | Chicken | British Pale | Bass Pale Ale
Turtle | Chicken | Dunkle | Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel
Turtle | Chicken | British Bitter | Goose Island Honkers Ale
Turtle | Chicken | Belgian Pale | Orval
Turtle | Chicken | American Amber | Bell's Amber
Turtle | Chicken | British Brown | Sam Adams Brown
Turtle | Chicken | Oktoberfest Marzen | Sam Adams Octoberfest
Turtle | Chicken | Dubble | Trader Joe's 2007 Vintage Ale by Unibroue
Turtle | Chicken | Biere de Garde | Two Brothers Domaine DuPage
Turtle | Duck | Weizenbock/Weissbock | Aventinus Weizenbock
Turtle | Duck | Strong Dark Trappist or Abbey Ale | North Coast Brewing Brother Thelonious Belgian style abbey ale
Turtle | Duck | Dopplebock | Spaten Optimator
Turtle | Duck | Dubble | Trader Joe's 2007 Vintage Ale by Unibroue
Turtle | Duck | Biere de Garde | Two Brothers Domaine DuPage
Turtle | Mutton | Scotch Ale | Founder's Dirty Bastard
Turtle | Mutton | Strong Dark Trappist or Abbey Ale | North Coast Brewing Brother Thelonious Belgian style abbey ale
Turtle | Mutton | Old Ales | "Bell's Third Coast | "
Turtle | Mutton | Dubble | Trader Joe's 2007 Vintage Ale by Unibroue
Turtle | Mutton | Biere de Garde | Two Brothers Domaine DuPage
Turtle | Pork | Altbier | Bluegrass Brewing Co. Alt
Turtle | Pork | Dunkle | Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel
Turtle | Pork | Oktoberfest Marzen | Sam Adams Octoberfest
Turtle | Pork | Dopplebock | Spaten Optimator
Turtle | Pork | Dubble | Trader Joe's 2007 Vintage Ale by Unibroue
Turtle | Pork | Biere de Garde | Two Brothers Domaine DuPage
Rabbit | Rabbit | Tripel | Brugge Tripel de Ripple
Rabbit | Rabbit | British Bitter | Goose Island Honkers Ale
Rabbit | Rabbit | Belgian Pale | Orval
Rabbit | Rabbit | Biere de Garde | Two Brothers Domaine DuPage

All beer acquired and iced, I headed back to my hometown to join a couple friends and complete the pairing. And that's where it all went wrong.


The selection expands
We started by getting a plate full of the required meats - rabbit and turtle, along with the surprise inclusions of squirrel, frog legs, and catfish. All fried. We laid the plate out, decided to start with the rabbit, and then pulled a couple of the pairing beers (Goose Island Honkers Ale, Two Brothers Domaine DuPage) out to start. But suddenly the idea of eating rabbit started making me a little queasy. I did start to pick out flavors and notes from the pairings, but immediately aborted that plan.


Probably not what Ted had in mind
On to the turtle. The turtle we ate had been prepared by a thorough steaming, then later the meat was breaded and fried. It's really amazingly tasty, though saying that it tasted like seven other kinds of meat would be a stretch. Frying seems to "dumb down" any subtle flavors we might have picked out. I did try to sample as many beers as possible with the small amount of turtle meat I ate, but eventually the whole idea of eating turtle began to overwhelm the enjoyment of the tasty turtle, and we ended up with a table full of beer.


Believe it or not, there was a hearty crowd in attendence
Not such a bad thing. Between the four of us we managed to sample all the fine fried foods provided, and as the night progressed we also made our way through all the beer. Just not paired together.

A lesson learned. My suggestion to you, should you decide that beer pairing is something you're interested in, is to keep it simple. In our case, the flavors and variety in beer immediately revealed that we'd undertaken too large a project. And while we could have simplified, when presented with that much beer, why ruin the fun?


Signature event can coolies were a surprise treat.
In addition, it would have helped had I been able to minimize my queasiness. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed in myself. None of these meats (short of squirrel) were new to me. Perhaps too much city living has made me a weaker-stomached man. I'm definitely not a hillman.

That's ok though. At least I can still count.

KOTBR #117 - Canadian Thanksgiving with Peter Brewster

As has become Hoosier Beer Geek tradition, the Knights of the Beer Roundtable gathered on the Sunday after Thanksgiving to celebrate our collective culinary capabilities and to give thanks for beer. No Thanksgiving feast would be complete without remembering those who came before us, and it is with that in mind that we share two forgotten stories from Thanksgivings past with you now.

Many stories have been told of the traditional first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Colony in 1621. But not many know the story of Peter Brewster, the younger half brother of William Brewster. I’m here to fix that for you.

Peter was an aloof man known for being lazy and always putting things off. It earned him the nickname Procrastinating Pete. It was because of Procrastinating Pete that the launch of the Mayflower to the “New World” was delayed several times. He kept oversleeping and missing the scheduled launch.

Finally, his older brother Will said, “Screw that wanker” and decided to leave without him. Distraught that he would be left behind without a brother to mooch from, Pete borrowed a dinghy and set sail across the ocean.

It was a surprise to no one that Procrastinating Pete arrived in Plymouth just in time for Thanksgiving supper. He was very hungry and thirsty, having only brought four bags of Doritos, a dozen sticks of beef jerky, and a case of Four Loko with him on the journey.

One of the pilgrims offered him a drink upon his arrival: “Hey Procrastinator! Want a beer?”

“Hells yes, people!” And it was a delicious beer, smooth and malty. And from that day forward, the beer would be known as the People’s Procrastinator Helles.


That winter, Procrastinating Pete found himself in a pickle. He hadn’t made any provisions to feed himself during the cold months and was very hungry. Again. His brother Will was frustrated but took pity on him. “I have a cow in the barn,” Will said. “Take it and trade it for food.”

Pete walked the cow to a trading post run by an old Norseman who was the descendant of explorers that traveled with Leif Erikson. His name was Jofur Herjolfsson, but everybody knew him as Trader Joe.

“I’ll give you some beans for that cow,” Joe said.

“I don’t know,” replied Pete, “that doesn’t sound like much.”

“Tell ya what, someday there will be a chain of stores named in my honor. And they will have beer there. I will give you a bottle of Ale on Lees from 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.”

“That’s like 400 years from now? I won’t be alive then,” Pete replied.

Joe thought about it and came up with a shrewd reply. “Those beans are magic beans. They’ll let you live forever!”

Procrastinating Pete was very gullible. He made the trade and immediately ate the beans. At first, they just gave him gas. But much to Joe’s surprise, the beans did make Pete immortal. Which is why he recently stopped at Trader Joe’s in Castleton and picked up his vertical of beer.

The 2007 vintage was his favorite, as the flavors seemed to be tastefully blended. 2008 and 2009 had sharper tastes and more booze in his mind. The 2010 vintage was completely different, being very mellow and thin in mouthfeel right out of the gate.

And that’s the story of Procrastinating Pete. Don’t you feel more enlightened for having heard it?

People's Procrastinator Helles
Jason: 3.8 Mugs | Mike: 3.33 Mugs | Jess: 3.8 Mugs | Rodney: 3.5 Mugs | Gina: 3.6 Mugs | Chris: 2.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.48 Mugs

While Jason may have just filled you in on American Thanksgiving, we Canadians* know that your Thanksgiving stories and traditions pale in comparison to ours. But before I bring you up to speed on Canadian Thanksgiving, I'll start with a quick lesson in Canadian history.

In 1480, the great Czech King Petr Prcrztnate decided that it was high time for the Czech Republic Navy to claim its rightful place among the worlds greatest navies. He brought his most trusted Admiral, Kanada Kolumbus, to his castle in Ostrava, and gave him a choice of three missions:

1) Win the America's Cup
2) Participate in the Red Bull Flugtag
3) Discover a new country

Admiral Kolumbus was a drunk; he knew that he had no chance of winning the America's Cup. And he knew that the Red Bull Flugtag was for hippies - he was an admiral! He had no time for hippies, even if he had a drug problem and lack of ambition himself. He knew that discovering a new country would be difficult. But given his options, it seemed like the one he would most likely be able to complete. And so he set forth from Ostrava in four vessels - the Nela, the Fanta, the Santa Meringue, and Russel - very hard going considering that Ostrava borders no sea or river. But just as he reached the Czech Republic/Germany border, he received word from King Prcrztnate. "Wait!"

And so he did, for many years - 11 to be perfectly clear. It was then, finally, that the Admiral and his four ships set course for a new country. Any country.

When asked why he made Kolumbus wait so long, the King Prcrztnate said, "Well, I...I just thought...What's the hurry?"

It was while carrying his boats on horseback through Munich that Kolumbus told his story to the locals, and they decided to award his predicament by brewing a beer to mock the Czech king. Thus Prcrztnator Helles was born.


Of course it wasn't until 1491 that Kanada Kolumbus reached what today is known as Canada. When Kolumbus finally reached Canadian shores, he was greeted by four Chiefs of the Loki tribe, each of them presenting him with a bottle of Ale on Lees. Now considered as the founders of modern day Canada, these Four Loko (much like a group of gooses are called geese, a group of Loki are called Loko) helped Kolumbus and his men found the city now known as Leduc (city motto: "This place is Leduculous!") and it is in their honor that we gather each year on Canadian Thanksgiving to drink four bottles of Ale on Lees.

*I'm not Canadian

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2007 (by Unibroue)
Mike: 3.6 Mugs | Jason: 3.75 Mugs | Jess: 3.1 Mugs | Rodney: 3.6 Mugs | Gina: 3.3 Mugs | Chris: 3.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.54 Mugs

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2008 (by Unibroue)
Mike: 3.6 Mugs | Jason: 3.5 Mugs | Jess: 2.8 Mugs | Rodney: 3.5 Mugs | Gina: 3.1 Mugs | Chris: 3.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.4 Mugs

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2009 (by Unibroue)
Mike: 3.9 Mugs | Jason: 3.25 Mugs | Jess: 3.3 Mugs | Rodney: 3.0 Mugs | Gina: 3.2 Mugs | Chris: 3.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.42 Mugs

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2010 (by Unibroue)
Mike: 3.8 Mugs | Jason: 3.33 Mugs | Jess: 3.6 Mugs | Rodney: 3.3 Mugs | Gina: 3.4 Mugs | Chris: 3.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.55 Mugs

Back to School #2 with Fruit Beers

This is the second post in what we hope will become a regular series, in which we're passing on what we learned in our meeting at World Class Beverages to you. We continue our beer schooling with Fruit Beers.

Fruit Beers

According the the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Style Guidelines, fruit beers should above all should be "a harmonius marriage of fruit and beer". Beers in this category should (critically) be balanced with fruit, not overwhelmed. Fruit extracts are commonly used - whole fruit use is rare because whole fruit tends to add different flavor characteristic. These beers are judged "based on the pleasantness and balance of the resulting combination".

What this leads to is high ratings for beer that might not necessarily be considered "good" by a beer geeks' standards. Judges look that the beer meet the qualifications of the category first - perhaps at the expense of the beer's overall taste.

Fruit beer is amongst the oldest beer styles, dating back to at least 3000 BC in Iran. Prior to the middle ages, many beer were brewed with fruit and herbs - a combination known as gruit. Hops later replaced gruit in the brewing process, leading to the beer styles we are more familiar with today.

Another note: Lambics and other Belgian fruit-based specialties are not included in this category - they have their own categories.

Fortunately this section of our lesson included tasting - here are some thoughts:

Pyramid Apricot Weizen:
Jason: apricot smell, clean feel, but why am I getting a cashew flavor?
Jim: Heavy apricot nose; very pleasant, mild, and balanced apricot/beer flavor. Good warm weather beer, but heavy hitters would probably like Dogfish Head Aprihop more.
Mike: Nice nose, dead-on for style. Apricot front, smooth lager back, tight but not tart.

We've been told that Pyramid's beers all have a sort of "house flavor", meaning that they all have a similar agreeable flavor to this example. We were also told that this beer goes very well with Thai Food.

Oaken Barrel Razz-Wheat:
Jason: Raspberry juice smell, very tart, very champagne-ish.
Matt: I could smell this one from a few feet away, as opposed to the others where I had to get my nose in there or at least close to it to smell anything. It was softer on the raspberry flavor, but it was by far the dominating influence. The texture was kind of watery.
Jim: Meh. Balanced raspberry/wheat beer flavor, but too meek for my taste.

Some of our readers may be familiar with Razz-Wheat from its availability at Victory Field, home of the Indianapolis Indians. We all agreed that the Razz-Wheat is a worthy choice when watching baseball under a hot summer sun.

Unibroue Ephemere:
Jim: Vintage beer from Unibroue. Strong apple nose; smells just like apple cider. Flavor is apple-heavy as well, but the beer has a surprisingly mild and dry finish. Could drink lots of this.
Jason: Apple, apple, apple. This variety is 2 and 1/2 years old, but very tasty. One of the better Unibroue's, IMO.
Matt: It smelled like an apple cider, and had a lightly tart flavor. I really enjoyed this one. It was my favorite of the fruit beers we tasted.

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Click here to access all of the beer school series of articles.

KOTBR #27 - Mike makes an offer I can't refuse

Mike is a slavedriver. For real. He don't care that it's football season (he's a soccer fan), and I wasn't in front of the computer at all over the weekend - but only camped out in front of my tv. I had an email from him today that said, and I quote, "Chris, you better post your goddamned review of the beer we drank on Labor Day, or I'm going to come over to your house and kick your fat ass! Hell, I'll even kick your little dog's ass, too!" For real! He's mean.

Don't believe me??? Probably a good thing. I like to make shit up.

Anyway, to save my little dog from Mike's boot, here are my mug ratings from our Labor Day brews:

Bell's Batch 8000 - Wow! This isn't a good beer to drink as your first beer. I think I commented that it would better if it was like my third beer and my taste buds were already a little numb. This just grabs your taste buds and does to you what Humprhey does to Deano's tap. I'll give Larry Bell the benefit of the doubt, because I don't think he makes a bad beer. I'll give him 3.25 mugs, partially for bravado, and partially because it's how many strong beers I would need to drink before I would like this one more.

Unibroue's Seigneuriale - I think this roughly translates as "The Lord's Ale". If that's the case, God has bad taste in beer (is it sacriligious to criticize God's taste in beer?). Typically a very big fan of everything Unibroue, this one falls flat for me. This should be "Johnny Appleseed's Ale" because that was the only thing I could taste - apples. My personal beer mantra is "Don't fruit the beer!", and this just goes against my mantra. Too much. 2 mugs.

Goose Island Demolition - I don't remember much about this beer, which I think says enough. 2 mugs.

Now, I'm going to preference my next two reviews by saying that I have a very strong bias in favor of the brewery and everything they make. But it's only because their worthy of the praise.

Bear Republic is located in Healdsburg, California, a quaint little town in Wine Country about an hour north of San Francisco. On my trip out there in May, I trekked to Bear Republic upon the strong urging of BadaBoomz' Mike DeWeese. I cannot thank him enough. I think very highly of Nick Floyd's and Larry Bell's overall product offering, but brewmaster Richard Norgrove just might have them both beat, at least in my book. I tried everything they were offering, and some of it twice. I spent a lot of time there, obviously, getting to know the bartender and the staff. The following two beers were my favorite's then, and I've got to say, I still love both of them. It's very unfortunate that their beers are not offered in Indiana (World Class & Cavalier, you listening??), but at least we can get them in Chicago, which is where I picked these up on my recent trip with Jason to the Windy City.

Big Bear Black Stout - This ranks up with one of the best stouts I've ever had. It tastes just the way a stout should - thick, heavy, chocolate, nutty, and caramel. Damn, this will be a wonderful beer to drink this fall! 5 mugs.

Racer 5 IPA - This is their most famous beer, and I know why. It's the best IPA I've ever drank. For someone who isn't a huge hophead, but still likes some bitters to your beers, this is perfect. It's mellow, yet forceful. It's just the right mixture of hops (for me), and leaves a very pleasent aftertaste. Can I say it's sumptuous? 5 mugs.

Now, Mike, please leave my little dog alone. She doesn't even like beer!

Hop Shop Publicity Stop

Last evening, the beer geeks met up at The Hop Shop for a beer conversation with owner Courtney and Jim Walker from INtake. Knowing that this had the possibilities of being my new five minutes of fame (replacing the time I made it onto the field at a St. Louis Steamers indoor soccer game at the age of 10), I made sure to wear a nice shirt.

Jim asked us to behave as we normally do at a meetup, and this proved to be a little difficult; We don't have a very specific formula. We all decided to chose a warm-up beer and go from there.

If you haven't been to the Hop Shop, then you're in for a treat - shelves upon shelves of brews from all over the place, with individual samples available for each beer. Want to try six different beers? Make your own six pack and receive a 7% discount on the price of the six individual bottles.

The very expansive selection made choosing a warm up beer quite a task, but eventually I settled on Spaten's Optimator, a highly regarded beer that I had yet to try. Into the cooler it went, along with the following:

Brooklyn Summer Ale
Dogfish Head Burton Baton
Fraoch Heather Ale
Clipper City Red Sky at Night
Dogfish Head Aprihop
Warbird Thunderbolt Wheat
Unibroue 16
Black Dog Ale

As it turns out, I didn't make it to my warm-up beer until the end of the night; Courtney took the lead and led us on a beer tour de force, with lessons in history and chemistry along the way. It was quite the learning experience.

Normally, we try to at least pretend we're accomplishing something. But last night we were basically just drinking. Once we had reached the end of our samples, we decided to write what stuck with us. HBG Jim (I think...) suggested four word reviews. I'll give that a shot.

Brooklyn Summer Ale: I've certainly had better.
Dogfish Head Burton Baton: See also Conquest Ale.
Fraoch Heather Ale: This one? Mashed Potatoes.
Clipper City Red Sky at Night: So.. was this red?
Dogfish Head Aprihop: I'd try this again.
Warbird Thunderbolt Wheat: Airplanes! Indiana! Sheet-Metal Blonde!
Unibroue 16: Nice work, Uni Dudes.
Black Dog Ale: I now remember nothing.

So there you have it. 4 word reviews (almost). Hopefully you can make out which beers I liked.

Thanks to Courtney at the Hop Shop for the beer lessons, and to Jim at INtake for the exposure.

KOTBR #27 - Labor Day BBQ

It was Labor Day, we had some meat and a grill, so it only made sense to drink. Even though I originally suggested a BBQ, Chris was man enough to step up, host and cook the food for the event, thus saving us all from trichinosis, salmonella, beef tapeworm, hoof and mouth, and possibly myxomatosis.

As an added bonus, we got to watch the Muppet Show. Talk about childhood flashbacks... the opening theme put memories in my head so vivid that I was almost overwhelmed with the bittersweet memories of my lost childhood. Or maybe that was caused by the endless supply of beer Chris kept feeding us.

Bell's Batch 8000 - I suppose a beer that's 9% ABV isn't really the best way to start a night of drinking. Nevertheless we began the evening with Larry Bell's latest and greatest, a beer with a 95 rating on ratebeer - and of course I didn't like it all that much. 8000 is a wheat beer with a cloudy, pumpkin-colored appearance. In fact, pretty much everything we drank Monday had the exact same appearance, which was kind of weird. Anyway. Something about this beer reminded me of Brugge Beer's White, though I'd take the White over this. 8000 has a tight, tart-like mouthfeel and a flavor that sticks with you. The beer hits right on the front of the tongue and then leave you with not much else. I found it hard to get a read on this one, to be honest; but I know I wouldn't want more than one. 3.0 Mugs.

Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA - After starting with the 9.0 ABV 8000, we scaled it back a bit with this 7.2 ABV IPA from Bear Republic. This beer had the same pumpkin color as the Bell's, but with a lot of sediment and floaties. The Racer 5 has a sweet, hoppy nose, which is followed by a mouth-snappin' hoppy taste. I prefer my IPAs a little milder, with a little more malt backing. I know Chris really digs this one, but I'm the guy that hates everything. 3.0 Mugs.

Unibroue Seigneuriale - I'd pronounce that as "Senior Ale" - but if you know Unibroue, then you know that this isn't a beer for your grandpop. Another 7.2% ABV beer, this had the pumpkin color, a tiny bubbly head, and a tart, fruity Belgian-style nose - but there was something slightly off. Gina mentioned fermented apple, Jason agreed - I'd say that's the closest description I could come up with. The beer had an apple taste, but also a hint of caramel - caramel apple is probably a fair description. The other thing I noticed was that the beer had a very "flat" taste. Although I'm a fan of the caramel apple, I'm not so much a fan of Seigneuriale. Interesting, but not necessarily good. 2.5 Mugs.

Goose Island Demolition - Well, I like the bottle for this beer, but other than that I don't have a lot good to say about it. The bottle explained that the original Goose Island brewery was located in some sort of mini-mall that was being torn down, but through the magic of beer, the brewery stayed. This beer was created in tribute to those folks who stuck with the brewery through the demolition.

Look, that's great and all, but why does this beer taste like dirt? Earthly tones - I actually thought of green beans with my first drink. Then a bit of a sulfury taste, similar to what I got from Fat Tire. I guess this was 8% ABV... I dumped it in the sink. You can probably see where this review is going. 1.5 Mugs.

Bear Republic Big Bear Black Stout - Because we're gluttons and I can never pass up a stout - we also had a slight tasting of another Bear Republic offering. This beer had a dark, dark body (think Darth Vader), with heavy lacing. A deep Hershey's syrup nose was followed with a thick, chewy taste that found a fine middle ground between chocolate and smoked meat. 8.1% ABV. Small sample. This was good stuff. 4.0 Mugs.

My Top 20 Answers to the Toughest Question

If you're like me (and if you are, I really feel sorry for you), you tend to freak people out when they ask you what your favorite beer is. They're freaked out because they're expecting you to spout out one beer real quickly. You're freaked out because it's just too damn tough of a question, and as you try to explain to them why choosing between Optimator and Dark Lord is tough, their eyes glaze over. Quite honestly, I hate getting asked this question because I just can't give you that quick answer, and my list always changes with the more beers I try.

So I never have to answer the question again, here is my Top 20 favorites. They're listed in no particular order, because it's so tough to rank them. I did notice that my list is heavily American, with the Good Ole' U S of A making 15 of them, with 7 of those coming from Indiana breweries. The styles are all over the board, too. I've always considered myself to be a dark and malty beer drinker, but there are a whole lot of hoppy beers on here, too. So with no further ado, my Top 20:

Optimator (Spaten)
Trois Pistoles (Unibroue)
La Fin Du Monde (Unibroue)
Winter Warmer (Upland)
Dark Lord (3 Floyds)
Alpha Klaus (3Floyds)
Alpha King (3 Floyds)
Gumballhead (3 Floyds)
Two Hearted Ale (Bell's)
Oberon (Bell's)
Racer 5 IPA (Bear Republic)
Big Bear Black Stout (Bear Republic)
Hoptimus (New Albanian)
90 Minute (Dogfish Head)
The Black (Brugge)
Hop Juice (Two Brothers)
Delirium Nocturnum (Brouwerij Huyghe)
Delirium Noel (Brouwerij Huyghe)
Delirium Tremens (Brouwerij Huyghe)

A Labor Day Libations review, but first a movie preview...

They only met once, but it changed their lives forever.

They were five total strangers, with nothing in common, meeting for the first time. A brain, a beauty, a jock, a rebel and a recluse.

Before the day was over, they broke the rules. Bared their souls. And touched each other in a way they never dreamed possible.

So take the phone off the hook, put on your pajamas, hop onto the couch, grab a box of tissues, not to mention a bottle of Midol, because if you watch this movie often enough, you will ovulate. I, of course, am speaking of...

The Breakfast Club, the Zima of 80's movies.

Don't agree with me? Read the movie poster again.

But I'm not here to talk about chick flicks. Labor Day has come and gone. Summer is over. And there is no better way to mark the occasion than to cook some meats over an open flame and chug down some cold brews. And that's exactly what I did on Monday with some of my fellow HBG Knights.

Let us begin with Bell's Batch 8000. This limited edition Witbier is about as good as Witbier's come, though Witbier is one of my least favorite varieties. Something about the combination of flavors like citrus, banana, clove, coriander, etc. just doesn't sit well with me. Kinda like eating potpourri. The Batch 8000 looks like a solid Witbier with a cloudy orange appearance. The smell was pleasant; a nice blend of banana and clove. Almost like banana nut bread. The taste was surprising. Initial hit of spices, including coriander. But the beer left a sugary sweet mouthfeel. Not unpleasant. I enjoyed this beer more than others in the same category. Maybe it is because I'm ready for all things fall. At 9% ABV, it has a bit more strength than most Witbiers. So be careful. 3.5 mugs.

Next up, Bear Republic's Racer 5. Not yet available in Indiana, this IPA came courtesy of Chris and myself. We picked up eight 750 mL bottles in Chicago during a recent road trip. And we felt the need to share with the others. I've been enjoying IPA's a lot over the last 6 or 9 months and this is a good one to share with others who are not hop heads. In smell and in taste, you find hops all over the place, but not with the bitterness that you'd expect. It has a hint of citrus, but I think the hops flavor comes out more. This is an easy drinking beer, and a good place for non-IPA drinkers to start. It is not my favorite IPA. But it is very good. And the best beer of the night. 4.5 mugs.

Unibroue's La Seigneuriale. I have no idea how to even begin pronouncing it. This is another beer from the Chicago road trip. It is another in a long line of Belgian style beers from this Canadian brewer. Let me begin with a story first. My wife's grandfather is a farmer man in northern Indiana. Every fall, he enters the best of his harvest in the fall fair and comes home with many, many blue ribbons. He also has a home made cider press (as in the press is home made) that makes home made cider. Best apple cider in the world. After he is done making cider, he takes the apple remains and piles them around a tree to decompose. Bees always swarm to it. The best way to describe the smell: the beautiful, sweet aroma of decomposition. That is also how I will describe La Seigneuriale. It has been my favorite Unibroue beer to date. It is not a beer that I would regularly drink, but it is one that fascinates me. 3.5 mugs.

The last beer of the night was Goose Island's Demolition Ale. Let me say that after drinking this beer, I figured that my taste buds were shot. Because I found the beer to be lacking in taste and aroma. A quick look at Beer Advocate and I quickly discover that I'm not alone. One reviewer wrote how he is a big fan of GI but was very disappointed by this beer. But others at BA wrote about how much they liked it. So I'm going to be responsible and say that I am withholding my review until I can conduct another review. I will review it on another day.

Guest Post: Rodney Weaver - Rock Bottom Spring Brewer's Dinner 08

Many of you may be familiar with Rodney Weaver and his soon to be wife, Jess, through their regular commenting at Hoosier Beer Geek. Rod and Jess do a bit of beer blogging of their own at the aptly named Rod and Jess' Wedding Blog, from which the following post is syndicated.

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This year's brewer's dinner opened up as a few others have in the past, with an immense number of reservations and a large number of no-shows. That most likely means that the Summer brewer's dinner will likely require a credit card for a reservation. It kind of stinks that people treat reservations for an event like this with such disregard, but such is life. There was still a decent showing with about 30 or so people in attendance.

Spring Brewer's Dinner menu

The menu this year was slightly modified from the menus sent out previously advertising the event. The courses were as follows:

Flank Steak Lettuce Bib Wraps served with Alt Bier
Marinated flank steak grilled to medium rare, topped with almonds, water chestnuts and served with sauteed papaya and coconut cream sauce.

Fresh Fruit Salad served with Belgian Tripel
Grapefruit, mandarin oranges, kiwi and mangos drizzled with tangy honey soy dressing.

Tuna and Salmon Spring Rolls served with Maibock
Fresh Saku tuna and salmon wrapped with sticky rice, pickled ginger, wasabi and sliced carrots. Served with Thai peanut sauce.

Candied Fruit Egg Rolls served with Saison
A succulent fried egg roll stuffed with apples, pineapples, craisins, brown sugar and oats. Served with vanilla ginger ice cream.

A very classy touch compared to the usual brewer's dinners

The decor at brewer's dinners is usually very festival and whimsical, but for whatever reason they decided to make this one a bit nicer. We thought the improved decor was a nice touch. The centerpieces would probably be a nice touch for our mantle.

Flank Steak Lettuce Bib Wraps with Alt Bier

The first course made for a very good appetizer. The medium rare flank steak was marinated in coconut rum and when wrapped with the papaya sauce and carrots inside of the lettuce wrap it paired excellently with the beer. The coconut cream sauce was decadent and very tasty, but it slightly overpowered the beer pairing. The Alt Bier was a great example of the style and was perhaps the best beer of the evening. The flavor profile contained a dominant malt presence with strong chocolate tones, a creamy mouthfeel and accompanying nutty notes. The finish was very light and had a hint of cherry on the back of the tongue. Overall it was a relatively sweet beer and very refreshing. Jerry brewed this style a few months back and both Jess and I agreed this round was noticeably better. When paired with the wraps, the nutty presence was amplified by the grilled beef and the sweet coconut sauce brought out a bitter character.

Fresh Fruit Salad

The second course was somewhat surprising for a brewer's dinner. The salty sweet honey soy dressing did an excellent job contrasting with the fruit while still complementing it greatly. The Belgian Tripel was a 4 month aged version of Jerry's Tripel this past Winter. The beer contained banana, clove and coriander flavors with accents of honey and Granny Smith apple skin. The sweeter fruits in the salad brought out hoppy and wheat characteristics while the more bitter and sour fruits brought out a spicy finish. Jess noted that it tasted a lot like Unibroue's La Fin Du Monde. This dish made me wonder if Unibroue's Ephemere would pair well with kiwi. My initial guess is yes.

Tuna and Salmon Spring Rolls

The main entree of spring rolls really showed off the versatility of the Rock Bottom chefs. We would have never guessed that they could pull of sushi so well. The peanut sauce was real peanut sauce and not the typical peanut butter base you'd normally find at even some Asian-themed restaurants around town. The Maibock was extremely malty and sweet and seemed to have a slightly minty finish, though that could have been brought out by the lingering kiwi flavor on our tongues. The spring rolls brought out spicy notes in the beer and the ginger paired especially well. The peanut was also a nice complement to the sweet, malty character.

Candied Fruit Egg Rolls

Rolls of apple pie! That's exactly what these tasted like. The Saison had an intense banana taste and a very heavy, wheat-like body. There was also a hint of lime that made for a very drinkable beer. After a few bites of the apple pie egg rolls, a matching apple character emerged in the beer and a lactose-like creamy sweetness pulled through.

Overall this was another great beer dinner by the guys at the downtown Rock Bottom. In comparison with other Rock Bottom brewer's dinners, it seemed like the portions were a bit smaller, but the creativity was stepped up a bit. Rock Bottom continues to be one of the best values in town when it comes to beer and food pairings and this dinner did not disappoint. We're going to try to make the north side brewer's dinner in a couple of weeks to see how Liz' pairings compare to Jerry's. We stayed around a bit and talked with Jerry and Iain Wilson of the Orland Park Rock Bottom after the brewer's dinner. Iain pulled our chile beer recipe out of us and said he'd like to try it in a cask up at his location. Watch for his peanut butter beer at this year's Microbrewer's Festival!

"We serve what I like"

These words from David Queisser make a worthy mantra for everyone when talking about your profession and your business. If you don't believe in the product, how can you expect to successfully sell it?

David and his girlfriend/business partner Michele Kofski own and operate Locals Only, a "music and art pub" at 56th Street and Keystone. It is an impressive, off the beaten path establishment that welcomes locals and not-so-locals from all walks of life. There's a stage in one corner of the bar, offering live music of all sorts. The work of local artists hang on the walls. There's a pinball machine and pool table for those that want activity. And a mix of booths, tables and chairs, bar stools, and couches so that you can find a comfortable place to sit, no matter your style. There is also a TV or two for your sports watching pleasure.

They have a nice menu of food items, but being a HBG, I wasn't there for the food. I was there for the beer. And they have one helluva beer menu. I believe I counted around 65 bottled beer varieties along with 11 taps and 13 domestic beers for your pleasure. Enough brew to keep any booze hound trying something different everyday for a couple of months.

What's also great about their beer menu is the number of beers and breweries on the menu that I had never heard of. The standards on many local beer menus (Bell's, Three Floyd's, Unibroue, etc.) were absent here. And that's okay. A good percentage of the 65 beers available seemed unique to Locals Only, at least as far as I've seen.

It was just us guys tonight. The ladies dumped us. I'm having flashbacks to high school. Everybody warmed up differently. I arrived late, so I only had one warm up beer before we headed into the featured presentation. Locals Only had some Mishawaka Brewing Company beers listed on their chalkboard, so I opted for the Seven Mules Kick-Ass Ale.

After pouring through the beer menu, we opted for the Stone Ruination IPA, a 22 ounce American Double IPA that goes for $10. The big, green bottle had a large gargoyle on the front and a very, very long description on the back. It was named Ruination "because of the immediate ruinous effect on your palate." This should be fun!

We poured our beers into snifters and I could immediately smell the abundance of hops. Not quite the punch in the nose that some other hops-centric beers provide, but very pleasant indeed. It poured with a white, foamy head and finished with a golden-red color and a cloudy consistency. It's not surprising that with a 7.7% ABV, the beer leaves a dry feeling in your mouth. There is a tartness to it and some bite, probably from both the large amount of hops and the alcohol. The flavor combination is hard to describe. There is some sweetness to it as well as an earthy component. Somewhere, I saw someone describe a beer as having a pine flavor, and I think you could use that to describe this beer. Having been on a hops and IPA kick recently, I thoroughly enjoyed this beer and would be happy to come back to it. I'm giving it a 4 mug rating.

After we finished the IPA, David treated us to a bottle of Hoogstraten Poorter from Brouwerij Sterkens. I say a bottle because it's easily big enough to be shared, coming in a 750mL ceramic bottle with a flip top. That's the size of a fifth of your favorite liquor. Big bottle. And it costs $21.50 at Locals Only.

Initially, we believed it to be of German decent but were surprised to learn that it was actually Belgian. Flipping open the bottle, we were immediately hit with fruit smells. I mean it's like Carmen Miranda shoved her hat up my nose. Based on the amount of fruit that my nose picked up, I wasn't looking forward to drinking this beer. I figured it would be too much fruit.

We poured the Poorter into tulip glasses. It is a dark beer with a light brown head. We took a drink. Much to our surprise, it was not as overwhelmingly fruity as we initially predicted. There was a nice maltiness to it, with just a hint of fruit, perhaps cherry or berry of sorts. But not annoyingly so. Together, the flavor components formed a simple but pleasing flavor. It reminds me a lot of La Fin du Monde or perhaps Trois Pistoles by Unibroue, though I prefer the Poorter over the Unibroues. A pleasant beer that gets better with time (and intoxication). I'm giving this beer a 3.5 mugs rating.

Random Beer Roundup - We Miss You and We're Sorry Edition

Thursday, 11 AM - The reminder email has been sent, and we anxiously await the updated beer lists from our usual Random Beer Roundup contributors. But, alas, nothing has hit the Hoosier Beer Geek mailbox. Is it because everyone's too busy celebrating the Obama victory to bother working anymore? Is it because our contributors are McCain supporters who've decided it's not worth living anymore? Did you see South Park this week? It was pretty entertaining.

Not to worry, though. I've got a backup plan..

LINK-A-DINK-A-DO!

From the LA Times (of Anaheim?) comes this story of two young and attractive people who loved each other so much they couldn't keep their hands off each other and there was a lot of sex (with pictures!). Actually, none of that's true. But here's a story about Southern California's "Craft Beer Revolution". The craft beer Boston Hop Party (where beer drinkers dressed as Indians poured hops into Boston Harbor) is partially responsible for our current hop shortage.

Straight outta Pittsburgh (via Canada): Did you know that beers can be seasonal? For example, you might not want to drink an Imperial Stout while cutting your grass in August. You might not want to drink a Miller Light ever. Here's The Canadian Press (all of them?) with this story about the increasing market for seasonal brews.

No thanks, I'll stick with my rotten shark's meat fermented in urine: Mikkeller is a pretty fantastic brewing operation. From the folks at Beernews.org comes word that another Mikkeller brew, Beer Geek Brunch, is about to make its way to America liquor stores. What's this on the label?

"This Imperial Oatmeal Stout is brewed with one of the world's most expensive coffees, made from the droppings of weasel-like civet cats."

That should make for an interesting KOTBR.

All my notes say is "Woah Dude I'm Drunk": The folks that judge beer at The Great American Beer Festival have to be a little clearer in their beer judgment than we do. Flossmoor Station is sharing some of that feedback with the notes they received from their GABF reviews.

I know a gal in Chicago named Abbey but she doesn't read this blog: Other Abbeys in Chicago - Lost Abbey. Well soon enough. Chicago is close to Indiana. And that's why this is relevant news. Other places close to Indiana? My heart. Awwww.

At Hoosier Beer Geek, we'd never make a top five list of anything. It's a cheap ploy to draw in readers. Oh wait: Here's Epicurious' list of Top Five Holiday Beers, complete with food pairings.

If it comes down to a financial decision, you can always drop your kids off in Nebraska: A post from the Clipper City blog about the choices we make regarding craft beer in the current economy.

This can only be good news: Oskar Blues has added former Coors Brewer Jeff Nickel, 5 New Tanks, and hopes to increase production 75% in the next year. Let's get some of that beer in Indiana.

Wait! What's this! Real news about beer in Indiana?

Thanks to our dear Chris:

I don't know if you guys get Ram emails, but they're doing an open tapping party next week. That's pretty unusual. Their tappings are usually just for Mug Club members which (unlike Rock Bottom) you have to pay for. They must have made an exception because they're proud of their gold medal beer. Who knows what this will be like, but I'm guessing the beer isn't free like at Rock Bottom tappings.

Subject: GABF Medal Winning Tapping Party

Christopher,
It's time to tap our Great American Beer Festival GOLD Medal winning Imperial Stout featuring Jack Daniels. Join us on Thursday, November 13th at 6:30pm to 9pm. Jack Daniel's will be on hand featuring the "Whiskey Professor" John Barrett. We will also feature recipes from Chef Mark Williams from Jack Daniels.

We will be giving away great door prizes including a Jack Daniels electronic dart board and Jack Daniels poker chips set and more. Please RSVP at 317-955-9900.

John at Big Red Liquors (Bloomington) checks in:

New at Big Red Liquors Today:

Check Out the Big Belgian Beer Sale and see these new items

Flying Dog Kerberos
3 Floyds Broodoo
Moinette Blonde
Moinette Bruin
Kasteel Brown
Kasteel Triple
Kasteel Rouge 750
Maredsous Dubbel ( bruin)
Affligem Noel
Affligem Triple
Gouden Carolus Ambrio
Gouden Carolus Noel
Gouden Carolus Easter
Victory Festbier
Victory Hop Wallup
Victory Fest Bier
Winter's Bourbon Cask
Bells Brown Ale ( seasonal)
Flying Dg Kerberos Triple
O Hanlon's Royal Oak Pale Ale
Isle of Skye Wee beast
Sam Adams Imperial Pilsner
Sam Adams Chocolate Bock ( Made every other year, rotates with Utopias )
Schlenkerla Helles
Mishawaka Founders Stout
Mikkeller it's Alive ( Belgian wild ale)
Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast (oatmeal Stout brewed with Coffee)
Sierra Nevada celebration Ale( First time in 12pks)
Blue Moon Full Moon ( Winter Seasonal)
St Amand French Country Ale
Stone Double Bastard is Back ( In both 3 L and 22oz bottles)

And Last but not least,

World Class beverage has a new Midwest Taster 12pk out and they have crammed it full of some great beers.

I heard it was Jared at WCB that picked these out, at $17.99 this is a heck of a deal.

Delirium Tremens
Sam Smith Nut Brown
Harpoon Oktoberfest
Xingu (Brazil, Schwartz Bier)
Duvel
Affligem Blonde
Spaten Optimator
Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
Unibroue Maudite
Dark Horse Sapient
Bell's Expedition Stout
North Coast Pranqster

Those sampler packs make nice Christmas gifts, folks, and in this case you're not getting a bunch of beer no one's ever heard of before.

What's up at J. Gumbo's? - Today (11/7/08) they're donating $1 from every plate of each order of seafood jambalaya sold to Fish for Fishburn, a fundraiser for IMPD Officer Jason Fishburn, who was shot while pursuing a homicide suspect. Saturday (11/8/08) from 5:30PM - 10:00PM they're having a crawfish boil, $15 single serving, $20 all you can eat, and the price includes a flight of Abita beer.

* * * * *

If you're wondering if I say things like link-a-dink-a-do in real life, the answer is no. At least not on purpose. I do say "rad" a lot.

Random Beer Roundup - The I'm Ready to Tailgate Edition

This time of year always flies by. It seems like the month between Halloween and Thanksgiving goes by so fast. It's going to be Christmas before we know it and I hope Santa brings me beer. Anyway, let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? The Roundup will still go on as usual next Friday.

I am ready for a tailgate. How about you? I can't wait to celebrate nothing! Hope to see you this weekend!

If there is something coming up that is not listed, we would love to hear about it. News, reviews, info, etc., to share for our next Random Beer Roundup can be submitted to hoosierbeergeek@gmail.com.)

Hoosier Beer Calendar
Events are subject to change

Tuesday, November 17th - Sunday, November 22nd at New Albanian's Bank Street Brewhouse: Official Grand Opening celebration

Friday, November 20th at Radio Radio in Fountain Square: Tonic Ball to benefit Second Helpings.

Saturday, November 21st at Lafayette Brewing Co. in Lafayette: Alpha Acid Test (more below)

Saturday, November 21st: Hoosier Beer Geek's Tailgate for Nothing, a publicly advertised yet still somehow secret no freeloaders BYO everything craft beer tailgate for any folks who consider themselves a fan of sharing great beer and good food. There's only one way to get more details - Send an email to knights@hoosierbeergeek.com.

Sunday, November 22nd at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts in Muncie: Indiana Public Radio’s 3^rd annual All Beers Considered beer & cheese tasting (more below)

Thursday, November 26th: Enjoy a brew for Thanksgiving!

December 3rd from 5 to 8 PM at Keg Liquors in Clarksville: 5th Annual Holiday Insanity Beer Tasting


What's Brewing

From John at Half Moon Brewing Co. in Kokomo:

Half Moon Restaurant & Brewery now has a full service bar to compliment the 10 house brews. On the horizon is Oatmeal Stout and the Kokomonster. Look for these new seasonal beers to be released in the next 2-4 weeks.

Join us on Sundays for the NFL. We have all games every Sunday on 16 large screen plasma and lcd tv's.

From Greg at Lafayette Brewing Co in Lafayette:

alpha acid test
Saturday, November 21
2 pm to 5 pm, Tickets $20

Can you pass the Alpha Acid Test? We brewed a 60 IBU ale with one hop addition at 60 minutes in the kettle. After fermentation and maturation, we're going to rack this beer into 10 kegs and firkins and dry hop each individual vessel with a different hop variety (technically, 1 control beer and 9 different hop varieties). In an open tasting format, we'll sample the resulting brews to discern the subtleties of each individual hop variety. Sort of an IPA Extravaganza utilizing some familiar and some not-so-familiar hop varieties. Also included in the price of admission: commemorative tasting glass, raffles of LBC merchandise and munchies from our pizza kitchen. Don't miss this unique tasting experience! A limited number of tickets are on sale now.

On tap at Lafayette Brewing Co. this weekend:

Ouiatenon Wit Bier; Prophet's Rock Pale Ale; East Side Bitter; Pipers' Pride Scottish Ale; Tippecanoe Common Ale; Eighty-Five and Black Angus Oatmeal Stout.

From the handpull, we'll be dispensing Weeping Hog IPA. We'll also be releasing our Alpha Acid Test control beer, Alpha 60, on Saturday.

Don't miss our Alpha Acid Test set for Saturday, 11/21, from 2 - 5 pm! A limited number of tickets remain. Get yours today!

From Jerry at the Rock Bottom Brewery - Downtown in Indianapolis:

Here’s what I have on my specialty taps, along with Hefeweizen for the seasonal wheat and Hoosier Ma is an Oatmeal Stout.

Pumpkin Smasher Ale - Spicy, earthy and chewy ale. It’s like pumpkin pie in a glass…with booze!
ABV 5.3%
IBU 28

Harvest Mild - A very light yet complex English Brown ale with slight sweet and chocolate flavors and an earthy hop character.
ABV 3.6%
IBU 15

Buffalo Gold - A very refreshing and crisp Blonde Ale with a beautiful golden color.

ABV 5.7%
IBU 35

Blitzen Ale - ‘Tis the season! A Belgian Wit beefed up for the season with honey malt for depth and all the traditional spices.
ABV 6.4%
IBU 20

From Andrew at Oaken Barrel in Greenwood:

OBBC update. Our award-winning Pumpkin Ale supply is dwindling, so come on in for one last pint, and we are releasing our American Nut Brown Ale today 11/20. The nutty character is paired well with a compliment of Simcoe hops for flavor. Very tasty fall beer!

Tickets are now available for Harvest Fest on Monday, December 7th. We will be celebrating a late Thanksgiving with great food and a bonus keg of Apple Buzz. The tickets will be limited to 60. With Apple Buzz involved, the tickets will go fast!

At the Bar

From Nick at Deano's Vino in Fountain Square:

I have Cream Ale, Pale Ale, and the last keg of Black IPA from Sun King on draft this weekend.

From Lauren at Scotty's Brewhouse in Various Locations:

Magic Hat Winter Howl draught is now available at the 96th Street Scotty’s Brewhouse!

Scotty’s Brewhouse Muncie now carries Sun King Saison de Taffy on draught!

Carry Out

From Todd at Keg Liquors in Clarksville:

Here is the latest from Keg Liquors in Clarksville:

Boulder - Never Summer Ale (Colorado)
Boulder - Killer Penguin Barleywine (Colorado)
Breckenridge - Christmas Ale (Colorado)
Bluegrass Brewing Company - Rye 75 (Kentucky)
Bluegrass Brewing Company - Heine Brothers Coffee Stout (Kentucky)
Two Brothers - Heavier Handed IPA (Illinois)
Almar Orchards - JK's Solstice Cider (Michigan)
Thirsty Dog - 12 Dogs of Christmas (Ohio)
Magic Hat - Winter Howl (Vermont)
aChouffe - N'Ice Chouffe (Belgium)
Blaugies - La Moneuse Special Winter (Belgium)
De Ranke - Père Noël (Belgium)
Delirium - Noel (Belgium)
Fantome - De Noel (Belgium)
Kerkom - Winterkoninkske (Belgium)
La Rulles - Cuvée Meilleurs Veoux (Belgium)
Scaldis - Noel (Belgium)
St Feuillien - Cuvée de Noël (Belgium)
Mikkeller - Santa's Little Helper (Denmark)
Mikkeller - To/From (Denmark)
Gales - Christmas Ale (Vintage 2001) (England)
Baladin - Noel du Baladin (Italy)
Olfabrikken - Jule Ale (Denmark)
Weltenburger - Kloster Winter-Traum (Germany)
Innstadt - d´Innstaade Wintersud (Germany)
Ridgeway - Reindeer's Revolt (England)
Jolly Pumpkin - Noel de Calabaza (Michigan)

Event:
5th Annual Holiday Insanity Beer Tasting at Keg Liquors

December 3rd from 5 – 8 PM

Another of our great traditions, we conclude the year’s beer tasting schedule with a bang. Featuring Holiday and Seasonal beers from around the world. Last year's tasting included over 21 different beers to sample. More details will be forthcoming as this one shapes up.

From Josh at United Package Liquors at County Line and Meridian:

New items in stock

Brewdog/Stone Bashah- Black Belgian style DIPA
Stone Double bastard
Clipper City Heavy Seas Yule tide Belgian style Tripel
Great Divide Oak aged Yeti Imperial stout
Bell's Two Hearted 5-liter cans
Bell's Christmas ale Goose Island Christmas ale

From Sam at BW3's (Downtown Indianapolis):

I cannot believe that it is Thanksgiving time already. What better way to kick off the Holidays than with a giant beer from Unibroue. La Terrible will be on draft once DFH Punkin runs out. Should be Friday or early next week. Updates should be found on World Class' Twitter feed. Rest of the tap selection is as follows:

Founders Reds Rye (Will be something new next week)

Stone Arrogant Bastard

Bells Double Cream Stout

Bells Two Hearted

Three Floyds Robert the Bruce

Three Floyds Gumballhead

Dogfish Head 90 Minute

Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

Sierra Nevada Anniversary

Upland Bad Elmers Porter

From Big Red Liquors in Bloomington:

Magic Hat Winter Lager
Sierra Nevada Estate
3 Floyd's Broo Doo
Breckenridge 471 Extra ESB
Breckenridge 471 Mighty Brown
Breckenridge 471 Porter
New Belgium 2 Below
Blue Moon Full Moon
New Holland Ichabod Pumpkin
Bells Christmas Ale

As always, we have a free beer tasting every Thursday from 6-8pm at our downtown Bloomington location.

Distribution News

From Bob Mack at World Class Beverages:

Hopping Frog Fresh Frog Raw Hop IPA will be coming to Indiana, but only 15 cases will be coming. We’re the only distributor outside of northeast Ohio (Hoppin Frog is in Akron) to get any. It just got bottled this week and we happened to be picking up an order this week, so we won the draw on Fresh Frog, which is made with Centennial hops flown in from the west coast just for this beer.

I got so excited about Centennial hops that I completely forgot that Hoppin Frog Barrel Aged BORIS the Crusher is coming on the same shipment that has the Fresh Hop beer! There will be about 60 cases of it (I think), so there should be enough to get around!

Both beers are on Beer Spy now and we’ll update the sales history as we sell them.

From Greg at Cavalier Distribution:

2009 Stone Double Bastard is finally in Indiana!! Yes, 22oz Bottles, 3 Liter Bottles & a very limited amount of draft arrived mid-week and has started making its way out to good Stone accounts across the state! As always, this vintage is extremely limited, so make sure to snag some while it's available.

Two Brother Brewing Company's Heavier Handed Imperial Wet-Hopped IPA is making its debut this week. Heavier Handed is a brand new addition to Two Brother's Artisan Series of beers, and is an imperial version of Heavy Handed IPA. It weighs in at 9+% abv, 85+ IBUs & is aged in French Oak Foudres. We received a very limited amount of cases & kegs for Indiana, so this beer will only be available for a short time.

Clipper City's Yule Tide Ale is the newest addition to the Heavy Seas Mutiny Series of beers by Clipper City. Yule Tide is a belgian-style Tripel weighing in at 10% making it a perfect imperial winter warmer! As with all of the Mutiny Series if beers, the Yule Tide is sure to please and a must try.

Corsendonk Gift Packs are in stock for the year. One gift pack features Corsendonk Abbey Pale & Brown Ale 750 MLs w/a glass and the other is a Christmas Gift Pack featuring Corsendonk Christmas & glassware.

Broughton Brewery Gift Packs are in stock featuring Broughton's wonderful line of Scottish Ales. This is the first time for these Gift Packs and there is a very limited number of them, so make a point to try one if you can find it!

Hey Ohio State fans....Buckeye Beer is in Indiana!! Oh yes, this retro brew from Ohio is finally available in Indiana after much anticipation. It is available in 12pks and will be hitting shelves starting this week....just in time for the stretch run of the college football season.

Several Cavalier tastings featuring the "Wine For Dummies" wine collection and select craft beers are coming up in the next week. Tastings are scheduled at the following locations & times:

Payless LQ 96th & College----Friday 11/20----4:30 - 6:30 pm

Payless LQ 86th & Ditch----Tuesday 11/24----5 - 7 pm
Payless LQ Carmel Dr.----Wednesday 11/25----5 - 7 pm

Other News

Indiana Public Radio’s 3^rd annual All Beers Considered beer & cheese tasting

Here are the basics:
November 22^nd, 2-5pm
Cornerstone Center for the Arts, (Downtown Muncie)
Admission is $17, $15 for IPR members
Reservations are due by Wednesday Nov 18

To rsvp, email iprmembers@bsu.edu or call 800.646.1812
All proceeds benefit Indiana Public Radio

Beers for the tasting:

Nogne O Brewery Barley Wine Batch 100
Brewdog Punk IPA
Unibroue Trois Pistoles
Tilburg Dutch Brown Ale
Castelain Blonde Biere de Garde
Bells Christmas Ale
Founders Old Curmudgean Ale
Upland Winter Warmer
Two Brothers Brewing Moaten Flemish Red Ale

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http://www.jconline.com/article/20091115/BUSINESS/911150335