Indiana Beer love

No I've never had anything from Fountain Square that I'd say was much good. The only reason we went there was because my friend who I was with had some friends going there. I didn't have any expectations for the beer being any good, but the reason I was so surprised is that it was so far off the style I'm not even sure why they called it an NE IPA, maybe to get people to buy it I guess.

 

Hey guys, headed to South Bend next weekend. Just wondering what the best beer warehouses or bottle shops are in the area. What kind of selection do they have? From the forum, it seems like Ewe and Bare Hands are the spots to try. Thanks!

 

Best bottle shops are Belmont Beverage (multiple locations) and City Wide Liquors downtown. City Wide was my favorite. Bare Hands and Crooked Ewe are good, BH probably has better beers, but the food at Ewe is excellent (if you like BBQ). I've heard good things about Heavenly Goat as well, but haven't been. It is very close to BH if you wanted to knock both out in the same trip.

 

So has anyone heard that Firestone Walker is going to start distributing here? The Pint Room in Carmel added an event for March 5 that says "Firestone Walker is coming to Indiana" and is apparently tapping parabola among other things. I can't find anything about it though from a distributor or Firestone themselves. It would be a great addition to Indy distro but I don't want to get my hopes up.

 

Eeeeeeeeeeeee! (girlish scream)

 

Heavenly Goat is super meh, in my opinion. I’ve tried them twice, had 2 different IPAs, a Stout and a Saison and I can’t think of one beer at Bare Hands is the Ewe that I liked less than all 4 of those. City wide gets good distribution, the one on Grape road is the best imo, Indy breweries like 450 North and Dare Devil, random great stuff like Mikkeler and even Crooked Stave. Fiddlers Hearth on Main has probably the best taplist in town, they just had a Brew Dog tap takeover so there are still a few of those on tap and they just put up two Stillwater taps too. Always can get a proper stout there too and great food. Have fun!

 

From what I saw, distribution will start the week of March 5th. Two events have been set up so far and David Walker himself will be at both:

March 5th - The Pint Room: Union Jack, Luponic Distortion, Pivo Pils, Nitro Merlin Stout, 2017 Parabola, 2015 Parabajava, Sour Opal, and one more keg.

March 6th - 20 Tap: Union Jack, Luponic Distortion, Pivo Pils, Nitro Merlin Stout, 2017 Parabola, 2017 Stickee Monkee, 2017 Agrestic, and 2016 Pacific Gravity Weizenbock

 

Son of a bitch. A Monday and a Tuesday? Couldn't have made it, like, at the end of a week?

On the plus, we are getting distro, so that's awesome!

 

If their other big tappings are of any indicator, most (if not all) of the beers will probably still be available by the weekend. But, you never know.

 

I talked to their rep at the canvitational, and he told me that it would be around Feb they were coming to Indiana. So we should be seeing more of their stuff soon.

 

My dream of having Privo being my fridge Pils is finally going to come true

 

That's been my impression although I haven't been in a while. Loved their hefeweizen and felt meh about most of the rest. Cool place though.

 

Anyone seen Head Hunter six-packs around NWI?

 

I find it 9 or 10 months old all over shelves in NWI. Same thing with the Sculpins. Lotsa stale beer collecting dust in these parts.

And this should probably be in the Ohio Beer Love thread.

 

All I find is old 4-packs too. And lots of other stale hoppy beer. Since moving back to Indiana I’ve been buying local freah beer instead...but I love fresh HH!

And I waffled on where to post - post in the Ohio forum and less chance of NWI folks reading it...post here and be told to post in Ohio...

 

Aside from buying carryout from the source, I've found my best bet for fresh hoppy beer is from boutique craft beer places that get it about fresh and hoppy. The Open Bottle in Tinley Park IL, and now Crafted in Mokena IL will always have something fresh locals like Half Acre, Pipeworks, etc. Both are pretty convenient to NWI.

Off topic but thought I'd throw it out there.

 

Looks like retail alcohol sales on Sundays is finally here. Starting this weekend.

 

Bare Hands announced today that they're brewing a Pils. First time as far as I know. Exciting. Pils and Lagers are the next NEIPA. Easy all day drinkers

 

I've randomly spent some time tonight listening to music and perusing some bar/brewery draft lists online and something really jumped out at me. Hopcat in Broad Ripple (a place with a huge selection and typically steep prices) has Bare Hands "Drain the Swamp" on tap right now. The listed price is $10.25 for a snifter! Elsewhere on their site they list a snifter as being 10 oz.

I'd love to try Drain the Swamp sometime but I was stunned by that price. Anyone seen that beer on tap elsewhere and remember the price? Again, I've been to Hopcat a few times and know their prices are on the high end for Indy, but more than a $1 per ounce? I've paid less than that for Founders CBS and Cantillon pours.

 

I have not seen it on draft yet, but I got a 4-pack of Drain the Swamp last week. I don't remember the exact price because I got some other things at the same time, but it did not strike me as particularly expensive. A buck per ounce definitely seems steep for it.

 

Wait, what? Pils and lagers are the next NEIPA?

Mind blown.

 

That's just straight highway robbery. At BH it is 7 for a snifter and at a small bar in Plymouth (20ish miles south of BH) you can get a pint for 6 bucks.

It is 20 for a 4 pack everywhere I've seen it.

 

When I had it at Tomlinson Tap a few weeks ago, it was $6 for a 13oz snifter. It's gone now, but they do have Joe England on now, also BH NEIPA.

 

So who's buying beer on Sunday just because you now can? <hand raised>

 

That Joe England is like a week old. Delicious. I think it's better than DTW too. That's the same price as BH pub

 

Anybody going to the Evil Czech, Stalins Darkside release? Thinking about checking it out and then going by Barehands after on Saturday.

 

Editorial comment: I am aware that this release coincides with Stalin's day of death, and that the beer is a RIS, and that WWII was a long time ago and people tend to not recall history very well, but one would think they could come up with a better name. After all, we never see any German beers named after Hitler, although Hitler's Gose Step would be clever.
Just an observation.

 

Thanks for mentioning Tomlinson Tap had Joe England this week. Had a pour this afternoon, really solid.

 

I get where you are coming from, Stalin was not a virtuous person. But at the same time, Russian perhaps played the largest role in defeating Germany. He was on the side of the allies, though perhaps only because Germany’s violation of the Nonaggression Pact with Poland. ... Hitler was an evil human being.

I will now stop talking history and drink beer.

 

While Russia was on the Allied side, and Germany having an Eastern front and trying to slog through a Russian winter was instrumental in their defeat, Stalin was responsible for millions of deaths of his own people. More than Hitler was responsible for. Stalin is equally evil.

I suppose that's why it's Evil Czech and not just Czech brewery. I hope the beer release goes well, and Chubz77 enjoys that and Bare Hands. Looks like they have a red raspberry milkshake IPA on tap.

 

Ok I’ve been to evil Czech b4, and never cared for them, but I always like to give places more than 2 or 3 chances......once again the evil Czech has disappointed me for the last time

 

Headed to barehands.....hoping for the best

 

Bare Hands makes some good stuff. So, I'd imagine you'll have a good time.

 

Go back today. Triple can release. One of which is from their Single Hop series. This release is Idaho 7. The previous 3 (Citra, Simcoe and Mosaic) were all incredible beers.

Then they're releasing a classic Heffe and a raspberry milkshake (2nd run on this recipe)

I'll be there

Same exact sentiments here. To sound like a hipster douche, I liked their old stuff better. When they opened up their first spot in Culver (like 35 miles south of where they are now) They were doing much smaller batches and everything was much fresher and just better. Bunch of great lagers, actually.

 

Double post, but, here is the Firestone Walker Brewing Indiana release schedule:

Launch Events:
March 5th: The Pint Room in Carmel, 5pm
March 6th: Twenty Tap in Indianapolis, 5pm
March 7th: Fiddler’s Hearth in South Bend, 5pm
March 7th: The Brass Rail in Ft. Wayne, 5pm
March 8th: The Franklin House in Valparaiso, 5pm CST
March 8th: DOC’S BBQ in Dyer, 5pm CST

I'll be at that Fiddler's Hearth one if anyone else from the area is around. They've said they'll have Union Jack, Nitro Merlin, Walker Lager and others on tap.

 

I might be at the Pint Room tonight for that. I hope packaged beer gets out this week. Can’t wait for Pivo Pils.

 

Anyone take advantage of Sunday sales yesterday? Personally, I went to the Koehlschip and picked up some Central State collab cans.

As a side note, Koehlschip had an Idaho 7 hopped beer from Elm Street which was pretty good. I suspect we will see a lot of beers with this hop in the future.

 

I did. Big Red was doing 25% off Indiana made items. Stocked up on mead. The wife and I love New Day Meads. Particularly Breakfast Magpie.

 

From my understanding that deal is available every Sunday until 3/25.