Indiana Beer love

The DDH Maui Wowie he did ~6 months back at the northside location was epic.

 

I don’t know that the comparison is entirely fair. Some places based on their location will have a following. Good examples are St. John malt Bros and figure 8. They have great locations and a somewhat devoted base. Most people on BA don’t notice either unless they are on fire. Route 2 was in a scary industrial area off of the actual Route 2. All three have bad beer I would argue that location is the difference

 

Depending on the quality of the equipment, I wonder if another local brewery will buy the equipment.

 

Had it this evening along with the barrel aged Niko Liko, so good. Jason is making some great brews in the heart of downtown.

 

Seems like this may be a More situation where someone smart will give this guy a bunch of $$ to do his own thing...

 

I stand corrected. It is the yeast, just not necessarily Brett. Got it.

 

I definitely think he'd be getting a lot more attention if he worked for a locally-owned brewery that did any kind of marketing/promotion (Rock Bottom does none). I don't know his personal situation, but I do know that's he's very well-respected among his peers in the local brewing community.

 

Question....do you guys ever travel and find that limited release beers are more available in other states than in IN? I do. I'm not sure if that's because they get more allocation or if that's because there's not as much a demand.

For instance, when I was in CA a couple weeks ago I stopped by a liquor store and they still had a few west coast beers I expected to be gone but most notably Black Note. But what was most surprising was in FL last week where I found CBS, BCBS, Doom, 3 Beans, BBA Victory at Sea, BBA Ten Fidy, etc.

I have been perplexed recently by the fact that I sometimes struggle to find some of these limited releases in Indy whereas they're just sitting on the shelves in other states months after the release.

 

Combination of:

1) Demand in most of Indiana I suspect is low PER CAPITA compared to states like Florida and California.
2) Demand is lower in Indiana in aggregate terms - we have far fewer people. Indy is a pretty small city all things considered, and that's the largest city in Indiana.
3) We have essentially no local options for anything comparable to limited release - or that we might want to consume instead of limited releases. In Florida, aside from any small breweries, there's obviously copious quantities of CCB, Cycle, and FB.
4) I'm sure in both those locations - especially as a result of so many people vacationing there - that any beer like BcBS, CBS, Black Note, etc. that is produced by a MAJOR brewery - that copious quantities are shipped there on account of the accounts selling gigantic quantities of hops or other mainstays of those brands. -And, ultimately, Demand does not meet supply in that case because supply was artificially increased as a result of the way bottles are allocated to accounts.
5) Finally, if you KNOW you don't need to hoard a beer to get it, you won't. Why spend $100-120 on a case of BCBS (and everyone you know doing it too) on any particular day when you know yothe can go and buy a bottle whenever you want for $12? People know that, and so they don't.

Any one of these things is not particularly important in isolation, but combined they make a nice perfect storm for consumers.

 

I can say that when I lived in CA, I regularly noticed this. There is so much GREAT local/CA beer compared to Indy, for instance, things like BCBS or KBS are still popular, but don't generate anywhere near the same amount of hype they do in the midwest.

The last two years when I was in OC for the Bruery anniversary party, saw BCBS on shelves in May each time.

 

What's up, Indiana people

New to the Forums so I am just going to make a blanket controversial statement and then leave for awhile to test the temperature of the board.

Bare Hands (Granger, Indiana) is the best brewery Indiana has going. Killer pilot series in "A Ton Load" and their barrel aging stuff has really found its stride this year all while incorporating local coffee bean roasters and chocolate makers. Also, 450 North is insanely overrated

 

The 450 North I had wasn't good; one of their New England IPA's.

Can't beat them up over 1 beer, but I'm not going out of my way for more...

 

It's crazy to me, on Instagram whenever they post about a can release (which they have weekly) there are always dozens of people trading amazing East Coast stuff for it, Trill, TH, etc etc.

I've had 6-7 of their NEIPAs and their latest stout. Big fat meh.

 

How could you know without trying?

 

Haha that's true. I'll keep an eye on the ISO's in 6 months

 

If I can be a bit pedantic without sounding too paternal or patronizing, it's important to remember perspective. That is, it's a continuum with a shifting reference point for each individual.

What I consider to be a "middle of the road" stout in terms of bitterness, is not the same as for someone with no bitter sensitivity. I cannot tell you how many stouts I have had that I said "pretty bitter," and others told me "that was so sweet!"

In this same way, someone that lives in Indiana with relatively few options is likely going to rate these beers higher than someone that has had the world. Perspective is just different.

I have a great example with politics - the best I have found for illustrating a continuum of types - , but I won't use it here.

Also, what you will find if you look at reviews constantly is that natives seem to *always* rate local beer higher than a non-local.

These are the primary reasons why I do not buy into "early reports" of how good a beer is. It's all locals and flippers hyping how good it is. Not going to lose my ass on a trade because the 100 people with a bottle who get their beers constantly all say "fire!"

 

I think both responses above about local options in others states vs local options in IN is a very good point. Indiana breweries are very weak. I very seldom buy Indiana beer other than 3F. The quality and pricing just doesn’t make sense (which has already been debated in detail in this forum so I won’t rehash the topic).

 

Bare Hands makes some quality beers. However, my gripe with them is their pricing on their beers. I appreciate that they've been lowering the price on most 4pks, but it's still a bit too expensive. A regular IPA shouldn't cost $15/4pk (still love Westy, though).

I'd say the two favs of Indiana for me are Central State and Daredevil. Both make top notch beers in their respective areas and are usually inexpensive (some Central State beers are a little higher than I'd like, but that's mainly with their hazy IPAs).

Agreed.

 

I really like Thia PA when I can find it, but I am not paying 18.99 per 4 pack.

 

I've been doing some IPAs shopping for a locals trade, and the worst thing about the already high prices is that Big Red likes to charge extra for singles, AND, most all these hops are super old. It's been tough finding anything that isn't more than 1 month old. Christ.

There's cases and cases and cases of lots of local IPAs just sitting around at 3-4+ months old.

It like that for you guys in other parts of Indiana?