[THC] [Fwd: B.I.G. Newsletter - April]

[L.A. Swihart]

*Bob Ostrander's newest email

*

*Brewers of Indiana Guild <http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/> 
Newsletter* - April, 2007

A version of this newsletter, complete with pictures, can be found on 
the web site.
http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/

 *B.I.G. News*

Calendar marking: Another beer festival is being cooked up by Upland and 
the French Lick Casino. Great Licks Craft Beer, Wine & Music Festival 
<http://www.uplandbeer.com/greatlicks_2007.html> - French Lick Resort. 
Noon - 11pm. $25 for both days, $15 for one. May 11-12. For you 
old-timers, Johnny Rivers is playing on Friday.

The Brewers of Indiana Guild web site 
<http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/> has a new, large Beer Dictionary 
<http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/education_dictionary.html> that 
might be the most extensive on the web. It also includes some short 
biographies of important beer people through the ages. Enjoy. Send 
errata to Bob <mailto:bob at indianabeer.com>.

Bills that should pass this year:

Senate Bill 339 
<http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2007&session=1&request=getBill&docno=339> 
is the beer catchall bill that will define what kind of grocery store 
can sell alcohol and will prohibit more licenses for convenience stores. 
It also

"Allows the governor to issue an executive order waiving the hours of 
service restrictions regarding sales of alcoholic beverages on Sunday by 
retailers if the state or a municipality hosts an event that has the 
potential to benefit the state and local economy, and other criteria is 
satisfied. "

Hmmm. Looks like Indy is going to make a bid for a Super Bowl.

Senate Bill 394 
<http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2007/SCRP/RS039401.001.html> makes 
it a class A misdemeanor to not return a keg within 120 days. It also 
allows in-store sampling of cider and malternatives in addition to beer, 
wine, and liquor. It also lets breweries deliver to the customer 
(although this should rarely happen).

House bill 1324 
<http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2007/EH/EH1324.1.html> forbids 
scrap metal dealers from taking brewer's kegs.

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*Indiana** Beer News*

The Half Moon Restaurant & Brewery <http://www.halfmoonbrewery.com/> in 
Kokomo will open in early May but they have beer already. Brewer John 
Template (please let that spelling be right) from Boscos, Little Rock 
has been busy with their 3.5bbl system and the serving tanks are already 
filled with IPA, Wheat, Irish Red, Brown,. Pilsner, and Porter.

They'll be mostly a "meat and potatoes" place that adds a full range of 
BBQ from their kitchen smoker. Inside, there's a family dining room 
separated from the larger back side (where there are 29 TVs and 1 pool 
table). The bar area is grand with a big curved bar facing 5 big-screens.

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RateBeer <http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/BestBrewers_012007.asp> 
calls Three Floyds the best brewer in the world! Dark Lord Russian 
Imperial Stout ranks as the 3rd best beer 
<http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/table.asp?title=THE+BEST+BEERS+IN+THE+WORLD+OVERALL&file=overall_beer_2007.csv>. 
They also have a list by style 
<http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/ByStyle_012007.asp>. Dreadnaught 
is the best IPA/IIPA, Alpha King is the best American Pale Ale, Behemoth 
Barleywine ranks 5th in Strong Ales. CONGRATULATIONS! bonus article 
<http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=community&id=5164503>

There's a new homebrew shop in Indiana. Riley Ridge Supplies in 
Lanesville is just off I-64 west of New Albany. They have wine, beer, 
and canning stuff. We'll get down there soon for a full report. 
Meanwhile, contact Becky Riley at 812-952-2121.

In Indianapolis, a couple of businessmen are trying to start a company 
to buy up defunct but nostalgic alcohol brands "that your parents or 
grandparents once enjoyed, but that now languish." article 
<http://cms.ibj.com/ASPXPages/6iframes/FrontEndArticlesDetailPage.aspx?ArticleID=01154&NoFrame=1>

Upland has 5 nice new wood casks sitting in the brewery. Four are filled 
with their lambic brewed a year ago and have been infused with 
strawberrys, blackberrys, blueberrys, and raspberrys. No set date for 
the 1200 750s they plan to bottle - they'll let it mature as long as 
necessary. The 5th cask is only a quarter full and has the left-over 
lambic to mature and possibly be added to with the next lambic. Yumm.

Liz Laughlin and Jon Simmons of the Indy Rock Bottoms helped Iain Wilson 
in a 72-hr brewathon to allow his new Orland Park restaurant have a wet 
opening. They brewed 8 beers, 1 cask-conditioned ale, and 2 sodas in 3 
days. Sounds like Jon got to do all the work though.

The Parti Pak <http://www.indianabeer.com/stores/Store-PartiPak.html> in 
southern Indy is undergoing a major transformation. New beer guru Larry 
LaFoe is sorting and labeling all the beers with prices, etc. plus Rate 
Beer and Beer Advocate ratings. It's a long, long project but we're glad 
they're doing it.

*Indiana** News for Breweries*

As we discussed last fall, barley prices are going up. Futures prices 
have risen 85% in the last year and US production has dropped to it's 
lowest since the Depression. The Depression by gawd. Drought in 
Australia. Everybody panic.

Yike. Kegs now cost about $128 each. They were about $96 a year ago. 
That's for an new, empty aluminum keg, not the beer inside.

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*Upcoming Events*

Please see http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/events.html for Indiana 
(and some surrounding area) events. Also lists bands playing at member 
breweries.

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*On Tap*

Please see http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/ontap.html for the 
current tap lists of Indiana Breweries.

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*Miscellaneous News* (if you didn't read it at IndianaBeer.com 
<http://www.IndianaBeer.com> already)

They're looking for beta testers for the Winerack 
<http://www.thrillist.com/archives/2007/03/winerack.html>. It's the bra 
relative to the Beerbelly <http://www.thebeerbelly.com>. Now you can 
both sneak booze into the movies.

Yuck. Dram Sandals 
<http://www.reef.com/productdetail/guys/footwear/sandals/2597> - shoe 
inserts with "polyurethane encapsulated canteen in heel with screw cap".

There are two beer mapping sites worth looking at, both using the online 
Google map as a base.

   1. The Beer Mapping Project <http://beermapping.com/> - Look up by
      city, name. Select city maps (None in Indiana!)
   2. PubQuest <http://www.pubquest.com/> - Show state, city. Has
      brewpubs only.

Headline: Hong Kong - Duties on beer and other types of liquor have been 
cut in half in order to promote tourism and the alcohol beverage trade.

VinSense <http://www.vinsense.org/> has been formed to promote the 
mail-order sales of wine in Indiana. Also included: a good 
list/directory of Indiana wineries.

MSN Headline: 32 Things You Can Do with Beer 
<http://men.msn.com/articlemh.aspx?cp-documentid=3872767&page=1>. 1) 
Bathe in it . . . 10) Pass a kidney stone . . . 19) Catch mice . . . 26) 
Stop snoring . . . 32) Scale fish. Plus bonus link to hangover helpers.

Eric Watson (of Main Street <http://www.turonis.com>* *fame) is the VP 
and Distiller at the new Green Bay Distilling in, you guessed it, Green 
Bay, WI. Upon prodding he writes:

Actually, we will be the largest artisan distillery in the country that 
produces our spirits from "scratch". We will be initially producing 
vodka, infused vodka, single malt whisky as well as white and dark rums. 
The majority of our competition is making their spirits by buying 
neutral grain spirits from ethanol plants and re-distilling it. We will 
be producing ours from the base ingredients... wheat malt, rye malt and 
malted barley for our vodkas and gins, barley malt for our whisky and 
dark molasses for our rums.

Our vodkas and single malt whisky will be produced using organic 
ingredients.

The single malt whisky will be aged in new charred oak barrels and will 
see releases at 2, 4 and 6 years. Now... I know, only 2 years of aging? 
To explain, we are used to seeing Scotch single malt whiskys from 
Scotland that are aged a minimum of 8 years. This is because Scottish 
law dictates that producers may only use types of stills that are 
archaic in their designs. Therefore, the exiting distillate is very 
rough... sort of tastes like a cross between turpentine and tar! To make 
this spirit drinkable requires a long amount of aging because of this. 
Using the current technology, which we are allowed to do, allows us to 
produce a more refined distillate which drastically shortens the aging 
time. An example of a single produced this way is Stranahan's Colorado 
Whiskey out of Denver, CO. Theirs is actually produced by distilling a 
hopless fermentation supplied by Flying Dog Brewing which is on the 
other side of the wall in the building next door. When I was judging the 
GABF last year I visited the distillery and sampled their 2 year release 
and it was stellar... very comparable to a Cragganmore 12.

Our rums will be released in 2 versions. A "blanco", or white rum and 
verticals of dark rum. The blanco rum will be slighly amber tinted, 
unlike other white rums on the market that are un-aged, due to their 
being aged for 6 months in used Bourbon barrels. Our dark rums will be 
released in 1 and 3 year increments, also aged in used Bourbon barrels. 
The first release will be a medium amber and the 3 year release will be 
very deep amber.

The vodkas do not require aging. We are capable of producing 12,000 
bottles per week. Our first infused vodka will be Door County Cherry 
Infused Vodka. This infusion is based upon the wildly popular cherries 
grown in Door County, Wisconsin. These cherries share a heritage with 
the sour cherries in Brabant, Belgium known as Schaerbeek cherries.

In the future I plan to release a couple of gins. The first will be a 
London Dry style. The other may be Genever, a Dutch style of gin that is 
very rarely available in the US. I also plan on researching the 
viability of producing bierschnaaps and possibly aquavit, a clear liquor 
that is very popular in Scandinavia and the Baltic regions as well as in 
Quebec, Canada.

We will be distributing in select regions throughout the US and Canada 
initially. Obviously the most wide area that our products will be 
available in at first will be the Midwest... yes, including Indiana! We 
will be meeting with distributors throughout the fall of 2007 to secure 
these regions. We would welcome any Indiana distributors to call us that 
may have interest in carrying our products. You are welcome to print or 
share the contact information below.

If you would like to visit us, we should be in operation by October and 
would welcome your visit. I will be sending out invitations to our grand 
opening should you or others like to attend. Our equipment is custom 
built in Goppingen, Germany is and is quite dramatic. Our 2,000 liter 
still is 17 feet tall. We have two distillation columns, one that is 25 
feet tall and the other is almost 40 feet tall. Our brewing system is 
also custom made and has a 30 bbl. capacity. We have 4 - 30 bbl. 
fermenters. All is touch screen automated and process controlled. A 
sight to behold!

Keep in touch!
Eric

Huh? "MALAYSIA — Customs officers seized 300 cases of fake beer and more 
than 1,000 cases of empty beer bottles in a raid on a factory outfitted 
with high-end machines to wash and label as well as bottle beer. The 
fake beer was said to be murky and unpleasant smelling and as 
authorities are not sure what ingredients went into the brew, consumers 
were urged not to be attracted by the lower prices if they found the 
stuff in local markets."

Sad: Alabama rejects bill to allow beers of more than 6% ABV. Sadder: 
The quote "The only thing this bill will do is just get our young people 
dead a whole lot faster." article 
<http://www.al.com/ap/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-28/117564358613050.xml&storylist=topstories>

Headline: " A Fresh Future for Flat Old Beer". Quote: "Wine expert Oz 
Clarke called the (1869 vintage) Ratcliff Ale 'astonishing' and waxed 
lyrical about the taste of beef tea, reduced fish bouillon, jams, smoky 
charcoal and old leather wrapped in liquorice." article 
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/04/10/nbeer110.xml> 
- And yes, that's 1869.

A 2007 study by Clemson University found that the average American walks 
about 900 miles per year. Another study by the American Beer Institute 
found that Americans drink an average of 22 gallons of beer a year. That 
means, on average, Americans get approximately 41 miles per gallon - not 
bad! Thanks Neil

Last week a Russian fisherman was arrested for illegally entering Japan. 
He headed for shore in a dinghy to buy a case of beer and got caught.

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News compiled by Bob Ostrander, Marketing Director. It's all considered 
accurate but then Bob has been known to have a drink or two while 
writing this so-called tome. Views expressed are not necessarily those 
of the Brewers of Indiana Guild, in which case Bob will lose his job.
    

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