bloomington (IN) craft beer week

Yep - BA Winter Cycle. One of my beer making friends went to The Tap on Tues and he also liked the Ripcord and he's way more snobby than I am.

 

I was referring to the Tap; good to know on Yogi's, thanks!

 

What did everyone think?

Sun King's Pappy Muckle was the highlight of the day for me. Followed closely by my pitstop at The Tap. That place was great. I was very upset that I was too...tired to return afterwards for the Sun King/Flat 12 takeover (they showed me the menu at lunch)

 

I must have been the only one who thought BA Empire Stout was a bust. Bummed I missed Permanent Funeral, Space Station Middle Finger was a disappointment and I never made it back.

 

I really liked several from Bare Hands, especially the belgian black rye double IPA. There was a lot going on in that beer. Also really dug the cherry blackberry wheat from Three Pints. I don't normally go for fruit beers but couldnt resist the novely of having a fruit rocket - I'm glad I did.

 

I didn't have time to stop by the fest on Saturday, but I did get to The Tap that night to try Zombie Dust, Hopslam, and Sun King 666. I've been "into" craft beer for about a year and ZD/Hopslam were still on the top of my "to try" list so I was really happy they were on draft. I'm sure I'll be at next year's fest!

 

Great event on Saturday. I tried to take notes on everything I tasted. The most memorable (in no particular order) were:
Flat 12 - Pinko Pappy, BB Big Black Dog, EXP 5256 (this was really fantastic IMO)
Bare Hands - Pretty much everything but in particular the belgian black rye and double thai
FFF - Off color saison
Country Boy - Papaw's Red (aged in 20yr PVW barrels), Shotgun Wedding
Bier Brewery - Rye Pale
Home Brews - Had a brown on sour cherries and a cable car copy that were probably my two favorite pours at the event.

 

I'm looking for some feedback on what you guys think were positives/negatives about the craft beer week and especially about the festival itself. Either in this thread or PM me. I'll do my best to pass on to the Brewer's Guild to hopefully make next year's event even better.

 

I went to KBS and I'm going to Dark Lord Day. Because of that I wasn't interested in going to another beer fest with, so I thought, local brewers with local beers. Judging by some of the beers that were available a beer lineup may have made the difference for me attending. As far as advertising the event was concerned it was pretty pathetic.

 

I thought it was very well done. I especially appreciated the events that involved something beyond (or in addition to) the tap takeovers, like the brewer's workshop and the beer archaeology lecture. Some other ideas might be tours of local breweries and/or screenings of beer-themed movies at the Buzz-Chum. My only complaint about the fest itself was the bathroom situation - there should probably be about three times the number of port-a-johns in the future. Many thanks for a fun week!

 

I was pretty disappointed in that one, too...

I didn't have it there but had it at the Tap on Wednesday (also from a cask). Talked to the Cutters guy there, it was just Vanilla Bean, not aged in Bourbon Barrels (i asked as i found no bourbon it it, just a ton of Vanilla). He said they never had a Bourbon Vanilla (have one working now, though), just a bourbon that they bottled and sold and this new vanilla only deal, so i'm assuming that's what was served on sat.

It wasn't terrible, but my 12 oz was too much. i think some booziness would have helped cut the vanilla flavor a bit, so i hope they do put it in barrels next time...

on a positive note, Flat 12 Pinko was stellar, FFF Space Station was pretty solid too. Sun King had a few gems (names escaping me, the BA Mack was good though). Lots of good beers.

One suggestion: more porta-johns. i think i burnt 30 of my 240 minutes waiting in line to pee once. Or have beer close to the porta johns so i can drink some in line, that would be fine too haha

 

I am fairly certain that Cutter's had a "Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout" at the firkin rack. Maybe they had Vanilla Empire Stout at The Tap earlier in the week, but on Sunday it definitely said Bourbon Barrel Aged.

 

KGBaylor, maybe?

 

We were told the cask at the event was Bourbon Barrel Vanilla Empire. At the very least it was vanilla because there was a ton more vanilla than the regular. The regular bourbon barrel aged one wasn't bourbon heavy either, so it wouldn't surprise me if it were labeled right.

 

I thought the event was great. I didn't hit any of the beer week happenings but the fest was fun. I have to criticisms. First, the website updates of the event were awful. I'm sure it's a difficult task to get all the breweries on board with providing details and to then get them posted on the website but it would be great to have a heads-up on all the breweries and what beers they're bringing ahead of the event. I'd love to be able to plan my tastings and get a notes sheet setup ahead of time. Second, there were a serious lack of port-o-johns. I think the wait was somewhere around 20 minutes, which is ridiculous. Outside of that, I think the location is awesome and the price is right. I love the mix of breweries and this being the third year I've gone, it's awesome seeing the new breweries attend every year.