TIDAL CREEK BREWHOUSE – MYRTLE BEACH, SC

On a recent visit to South Carolina Hoppy visited the Tidal Creek Brewhouse in the Market Common area of Myrtle Beach. Unlike most breweries that serve food, they serve breakfast and brunch as well as lunch and dinner. They are a coffee roastery, as well. They are a woman/veteran owned business that was established in 2018.

While there Hoppy enjoyed a Grand Strand West Coast IPA clocking in at 6.5% ABV, 60 IBU.

Pictures follow:

UPLAND BREWING – E 82ND ST, INDIANAPOLIS

Hoppy made his first visit to the Upland Brewing Tap House on E 82nd Street in Indianapolis yesterday evening. It opened last December, becoming the ninth location for Upland, and their third in Indianapolis (4th in the Indy area including one in Carmel). They opened their first brewpub in Bloomington in 1998 and they are currently celebrating their 25th anniversary!

Hoppy attended a Taproom Takeover there as part of the Indy Beer Meetup Group. While there he enjoyed sampling a couple of sours and imbibed an imperial IPA. They were as follows:

Raspberry Barrel-Aged Fruited Sour Ale – Described as having a fresh berry aroma with a touch of floral and wine-like notes, followed by a rich raspberry flavor. Reddish in hue with a pink foam appear upon pouring, with zesty amounts of carbonation. Finish is dry, with mouth-watering tanginess and raspberry flavor. It is 5.7% ABV; 9 IBU.

Boysenberry Barrel-Aged Fruited Sour Ale – Boysenberry is a barrel-aged sour ale that combines Upland’s take on a traditional Lambic-style base beer, with a fruit not typically found in traditional Lambics. They ferment their base beer, Basis, for six to eight months in oak tanks to produce tart flavors, fruity notes and funky character. Then, they blend individual batches before aging on boysenberry fruit for an additional month to extract the perfect balance of fruit flavor. 6% ABV; 10 IBU.

Coastbuster Imperial IPA – Inspired by the gloriously effervescent qualities of hop varieties common to West Coast style Imperial IPAs, Coastbuster displays the best of what these hops have to offer: their tropical, fruity, and floral aromas and flavors. With a light malt character and a dry finish, this is a beer designed to let the most succulent aspects of Simcoe, Amarillo, Columbus, and Cascade shine through while keeping the bitterness in balance. 8.5% ABV; 65IBU.

Pictures of the taproom and event follow:

CROWN BREWING – CROWN POINT

Hoppy arrived, back home again in Indiana, with a considerable thirst needing to be quenched. He arrived at Crown Brewing ready to alleviate that thirst. (Crown Brewing was founded in 2008, bringing back the Crown Brewing name to Crown Point, which had been used by a large regional brewery that closed in 1916.)

Hoppy happily arrived on a Thursday, which coincidentally happens to be half-priced pint day. While there, he appreciated two pints of their Special Forces IPA and a taste of their Marble Mouth Belgian Sextuple.

The Special Forces IPA is described as a deep gold colored brew with a strong citrusy, flowery hop aroma. The intense hop bitterness and flavor is backed by medium maltiness and body. It is hopped seven times during the boil with Summit, CTZ, Centennial, lots of Cascade, and dry-hopped for additional character. It is 7.2% ABV, 70 IBU.

The Marble Mouth Belgian Sextuple is a behemoth of a brew clocking in at 17.2% ABV. Flavor profiles listed on Untappd include the words Belgiany, Sweet, Dry, Bread and Alcoholic.

Pictures from the visit follow: