Last Saturday Hoppy visited the Half Liter BBQ in Broad Ripple. (It is part of the Sahm’s Hospitality Group, the owners of Big Lug Brewing.) While there, he enjoyed a Big Lug This Is No Dream fruited sour. This is described as adding real orange and strawberry puree to a kettle sour making it a luscious, tang-esque drink. They think of it as a beer that Pootie Tang would drink if Pootie Tang actually drank. It is 4.7% ABV, 20 IBU.
Pictures follow:
ExteriorBeer GardenBeer GardenBar with Big Lug This is No Dream Fruited Sour in ForegroundDraft ListSeatingSeatingHoppy at the BarMuralMural
Hoppy attended the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis yesterday and visited The Taproom on the grounds which serves beverages from Indiana breweries, wineries and distilleries. They have a both a tasting room where drinks can be sampled for free and a taproom where you can purchase whatever you’d like.
While Hoppy was there, the brewery in the tasting room was Upland. He sampled their brews as follows:
Their recently released Hoosier GamedayLager, the first ever IU Athletics branded beer – Described as a crisp, drinkable, but still flavorful lager with a moderate sessionable level of alcohol in a classically smooth and refreshing beer. It strikes the perfect balance of delicious malty goodness and refreshing drinkability. The Vienna malt that creates the bulk of the flavor was malted and toasted to perfection by Indiana’s own Sugar Creek Malt. 4.7% ABV, 25 IBU.
Campside Pale Ale – Described as showcasing the most effervescent American hops it profiles the distinct fragrance of grapefruit, apricot, and pine. With a crisp but subtle bitterness and a refreshingly light malt character, this is the perfect year-round beverage for those who think flavor i just as important as refreshment. 5.4% ABV, 35 IBU.
Two of Tarts (Sour – Fruited Gose) – Described as pouring bright golden orange with a glowing translucent haze, this gose has the unmistakable flavor of mango and passionfruit and is slightly salty with notes of lemon and a crisp, dry finish. It’s a sure bet that it will make a doubly pleasant citrus impression. 4.5% ABV, 5 IBU.
Hoppy also tried a Sun King ale madespecifically for the Indiana State Fair named the State Fair Deep-Fried Sandwich Cookie Pastry Ale – Described as an Oatmeal Milk Porter made with oats, lactose, chocolate malt, and 300lbs of chocolate sandwich cookies. 5% ABV, 20 IBU.
Hoppy attended the Whitestown Brew Fest earlier today. The event included tastings from breweries, homebrewers, distilleries and wineries as well as food trucks and live music. Attendees could sample pours and cast a vote for their favorite homebrew, with the winning homebrewer receiving a prize of $1,000.
As usual, this post will focus primarily on the beer aspect of the festival. Pictures of the attending breweries are included in the pictures that follow. They were Whitestown’s own brewery, Moontown, along with Big Lug, Black Dog, Bier, Deviate, Primeval, Terre Haute, Sun King, Crasian and Grand Junction.
Seating Area with Tables for AttendeesSome Food OptionsHomebrew Tent Homebrew TentHomebrew TentHillbilly Rockstarz Performing On Stage
CONGRATS ARE DUE TO INDIANAPOLIS BREWERIES, ESPECIALLY KISMETIC, GUGGMAN HAUS & SUN KING
USA TODAY recently had a number of Top Ten lists relative to beer in the United States. Indianapolis was ranked third in the Best Beer City competition. (Indy has been close to the top for the last few years.) For the best beer city results click here.
Kismetic Brewing finished 2nd in the country in the ten best new breweries category. Those results can be found here.
Guggman Haus Brewing captured 2nd in the best beer garden results. This ranking can be found here.
Sun King Brewing garnered 5th place for their Indy Pale Ale in the best beer label category. For those results click here.
You can find more information relative to each of these breweries buy doing a search on beerblogIN.com.
Last Saturday Hoppy attended the Brews on the Boulevard Festival in Carmel at Midtown Plaza and the Monon Trail. It is different than some beer festivals in that you could also purchase pints of beer, four packs, six packs and swag from the breweries present, as well as enjoy the unlimited samples included in the admission. 2023 was the second year for the festival.
Self-explanatory pictures from the festival follow.
