It’s Thursday and that can mean only one thing!  Ok so it can mean a bunch of things, but for some of us on the south side it’s our chance to pick up some $5 growlers of the fine brews at Oaken Barrel.  The Superfly is one of my favorites from Oaken Barrel and a beer that no hop lover should ever pass up.

• ABV: 7.5%
• IBU: 100+
• SRM 8.0

Appearance: Nice light amber color, quite  orange-like.  Actually, they describe it as “Scarlet orange.”  You can just tell this one is sticky as you’re pouring it.  This starts out with a thick white frothy head; one that I probably caused to be too large as I let it out of the growler too fast.  It died down over time but persevered enough to leave a nice lacing on my glass.

Smell: Strong floral hops in the nose.  The smell of the Super Fly let’s you know you’re in for a sweet, sticky treat.  Many people tell me they get a grainy malty smell out of this more than hops but I disagree.  I can pick out the floral, citrusy hop as being the predominant aroma rising out of this.

Taste: Very bitter up front with a nice mellow sweetness following.  The finish is even more bitterness.  You can tell they packed the tank with hops on this one.  If you’re a hop head with an urge for some extreme bitterness you will not be disappointed.  If you don’t like hops then you should steer clear!  The sweetness that comes through is the malt that they have in there although it almost seems like there should be a little more to balance the massive amounts of hops.  But then again it wouldn’t be a hop head’s dream if they did that!  To be transparent with you I’ve had this beer before… many times.  It’s my typical Thursday $5 growler refill choice at the Oaken Barrel and one I enjoy several times a month.  When I share this with friends who have before claimed themselves as hop heads they thought this beer was way too hoppy and way too offensive to their palate.  Don’t let that steer you away though!  Stop in for a pint today!

Mouth feel: Thick and sticky.  A sticky lingering actually hangs out around your mouth as if you just ate some hop pancakes with hop syrup on them.  Cold hop syrup at that   This is the exact kind of mouthfeel a hop head would enjoy.

Drinkability: It’s pretty easy to sit back and knock down a half gallon of this.  The 7.5% ABV however may have you second guessing that choice.  “May”   Just know that after one or two of these you probably shouldn’t drive.  Other than that drink up, not your typical session beer but one that you can have several pints of before going to bed being ready to move on to the next beer.

Oaken Barrel - Superfly

New Belgium is a brewery that is fairly new to Indy’s neck of the woods coming to us in April of 2009. Since then everyone in Indy has been raving about their brews and they are keeping us interested with new ones periodically. They are known all over as one of the most earth friendly breweries deriving most of their energy from the wind among other things.

The Ranger IPA is part of their ‘Explore Series’ along with their Mothership Wit, Abbey, and Trippel brews. While it may not be a traditional fit for their style of beers I am very thankful to them for finally releasing an American style IPA. This Ranger clocks in at a very healthy 6.5% ABV. Plenty of punch if you ask me. The 70 IBU’s are made up of Simcoe, Cascade, and Chinook hops.

Appearance: Decent amber color. A little bit of haze that is probably attributed to the dry hopping. Very little head poured out on this one but there is a small film on the top of it.

Smell: Hops up front. Very grassy and perhaps even floral smelling hops. Earthy as I’d expect to come out of New Belgium.

Taste: Much more of the floral from the hops hits you as you begin to sip this. The malt is absolutely evident in this one as well as there is a definite sweetness underneath. Perhaps it’s just in my head, but many of the New Belgium beers have the same malt characteristics because this reminds me a bit of their 2 degrees below. The finish is bitter and spicy. It leaves a feeling that I would describe as peppery. Not that it tastes like pepper but that’s how I’m reminded.

Mouthfeel: I’m always looking for a good balance of bitter spicy feel and creaminess in my IPA’s and this brew isn’t too far off. I’d be interested in trying this on draft. Still, as far as IPA’s go this one is about normal when it comes to this category.

Drinkability: The malt throws me off on this one as I’m not a fan but the blend of hops makes up for it. I could, and will, drink several of these. If you’re a hop head you can count on this one to satisfy you.

This may not come as a shock to you if you follow Indiana beer news, but Indiana has it’s own group of honest to goodness neo-Prohibitionists.

Before I proceed, as this term is likely to pop up often, I want to explain what I mean by it. I am an alcohol fan. I like beer enough to make road trips to breweries so I can try their beer at its freshest; I make my own beer; and spend my free time reading about beer culture and history.

I like whiskey. If I could legally make my own and if I could afford my own still (or had the technical skill to make one) I would do that too. As it is, I have spent my hard earned money to buy and sample a variety of different types and brands of whiskey. I often go to bookstores so I can read reviews of whiskeys I can’t afford or haven’t heard of before.

I know the histories and major varieties of nearly all spirits and many bitters.

I like wine. I know the basics and I wouldn’t embarrass myself at a fancy dinner if the waiter shoved a cork in my face.

This isn’t bragging. This is me explaining where I’m coming from when I start to use a term that many might think of as derogatory.

With that said, I know there are some problems associated with immoderate drinking, problems of the mind, problems of the body, problems in our families, problems with our friends and problems with which our expanded communities wrestle. I have friends that are or have been alcoholics and I have seen them arrested for DUIs, lose their jobs, break their marriages. I have even seen friends use alcohol as a replacement for much harder drugs and eventually return to them when alcohol stopped filling that void for them. More of my family members are alcoholics than I would like to admit.

With all that said, alcohol is not the problem. Alcoholism comes from a dark place born in pain, loss, anxiety, or despair.

But more importantly I am also aware of some facts. Binge drinkers, when that term is defined fairly and usefully, make up the margins of all drinkers, the vast majority of which partake moderately in what is one of Earth’s great luxuries. And alcoholics make up the margins of all binge drinkers. Alcoholics are the margin of the margins. They are extreme and rare.

So when I talk about neo-Prohibitionists I want to make very clear that I am not talking about every individual or group that recognizes that alcohol should be regulated by a healthy society because there are known harms associated with its immoderate and unsafe use.

Who I am talking about when I am talking about neo-Prohibitionist are groups and individuals whose ultimate goal is to ban entirely all alcohol sales and use. Some of these groups are very clear that they see no good in alcohol and want it banned completely or regulated slowly away. Many of these groups are not so upfront. Their stated purpose  is to “regulate” alcohol. Or to “limit” its availability. They only want to curb the use of “excessive” drinking. They may say they merely want to “postpone” the introduction of alcohol to young people. These are goals, that, if they truly worked toward them would be goals I could support. They hide their extremism behind a mask of reasonableness.

Hardly any American with a basic elementary school-level education doesn’t know that we tried Prohibition once and rather than cure the nation of the scourge of liquor, it actually exacerbated the problem and elevated the wealth and power of organized criminal associations. That means the arguments of neo-Prohibitionists of the first type above are easy to dismiss.

Those of the second type, however are more insidious. Alcohol has been effectively demonized which makes it hard for politicians to set their emotions aside and pass helpful legislation. These craftier neo-Prohibitionists prey on this fear and confusion, routinely using rhetorical techniques, fallacious arguments, and statistical tricks to undermine even modest drinking by legal, responsible adults to slowly work toward their goals under the guise of “responsible regulation.” They have to use these underhanded tactics because they know their ultimate goal flies in the face of judicious restraint, logic, and, frankly, reality.

Let me introduce you to one such group that I plan on spending a lot of time on in the next few weeks. Save My Sunday.

Save My Sunday describes themselves this way:

Save My Sunday is a blog devoted to the joys of reserving one day a week for rest, rejuvenation and family.

This sounds limited enough. I don’t agree with their premise, I see very little joy in depriving others of their freedoms, but here we could just agree to disagree, and besides, maybe they have some good evidence of why I might think twice about legalizing Sunday sales.

They continue:

We decided to start it when we heard about a push in Indiana to legalize the sale of alcohol on Sundays.

As a marketer and a writer who has helped several organizations create strong mission statements I have nothing but good things to say about Save My Sunday providing their audience the impetus of the group. In debate we would call this “the threat.” As Save My Sunday is in the role of the affirmative here, that is making the argument in the affirmative, “Yes, Indiana should continue to keep Sunday sales of liquor illegal,” the burden is on them to prove that Sunday sales constitutes a threat. We will see how they attempt to do this through analysis of the site.

They continue.

Convenience is great in the 24-7 world we live in, but we believe Sunday is the one day we should spend quality time with family and friends, worship when and where we can, and generally focus on what is good and healthy. In this fast-paced world, our lives are complicated enough. Let’s leave Sunday alone.

This is where their argument flies off the rails and will leave them no choice but to resort to the worst of kind argument from emotion, specious analogies, ad hominem attacks, false equivalencies and more. You see, legalizing Sunday sales would not prevent them from “spend[ing] quality time with family friends, worship[ing] when and were [they] can, and generally focus[ing] on what is good and healthy” and yet they act like they couldn’t enjoy last Sunday because I had a beer. As H.L. Mencken might have said, a neo-Prohibitionist “is a person who lives in the fear that someone, somewhere, may be having a good time.”

Buried in their claim is that time spent drinking, even responsibly with friends and family, is not quality time. That, drinking itself, even in moderate doses, is not healthy. That somehow, drinking, speeds up our fast-paced world.

So many false claims. So many opinions based on deliberately ignoring the way most of the world, who are often found relaxing with delicious, healthy alcoholic beverages with friends enjoy their Sundays or even their Mondays through their Saturdays.

But most importantly, because they do not relax with alcohol, because they do not think it is healthy (besides a mountain of evidence to the contrary), they think it is their right to keep others from living differently, as if the fact that I bought a six pack on Sunday would somehow affect them.

This is just the beginning. I had planned on criticizing just one of their blog posts but as I scanned their site for the name of the author of the posts, I became more and more incensed at the manipulation and dishonesty I found there. Save my Sunday and I are going to spend a lot of time together. I hope you stay tuned.

Founders is known for many awesome brews.  The Backwoods Bastard does not disappoint!  This Scotch Ale aged in Bourbon Barrels is in your face and makes no apologies.

• Ale Aged in Oak Bourbon Barrels.
• 10.5% ABV
• 50 IBU’s

Appearance: This pours a light black color, caramel like.  A little bit of head but not really.  Also a little muddy.

Smell: Bourbon.  That’s all I can pick up.  There is a nice sweetness to it but that may be attributed to the bourbon.  There is also some vanilla in there if you look for it. And that’s probably from that bourbon barrel too!

Taste: Very complex.  Many flavors want to jump out at you to begin with and it’s impossible to pick just one.  Obviously that bourbon barrel is there but it’s not the first thing that you taste.  It’s kind of crazy how much alcohol you taste in this one.  Many beers try hard to hide the fact that you’re drinking alcohol but this one kind of flaunts it.  Of course it is bourbon barrel aged so what do you expect?  I’d be remiss not saying there is no oak in there but you can sense it.  The sweetness of this beer is also deceiving.  It reminds me (someone who doesn’t like whiskey and coke) of the best whiskey and coke I’ve ever had.  And perhaps that’s my epiphany.  This is the whiskey and coke of beer for the people that think all they need is to shoot some shots all night and don’t need beer.  Tell them to settle down with this.  Sip on it.  And feel all right without opening up that second bottle of Jack.

You’ll probably also notice some hints of nut flavors in there.

Mouth feel: Warm. Toasty. Delicious.  It’s everything you like about whiskey mixed with brown sugar.  Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Try it.  And the creaminess puts it over the top!

Drinkability: Slow down there partner.  This one definitely has some alcohol and some heat to it.  One is probably enough, but if you like it go ahead for two.  This is a sipping beer though and if you try to down it you’ll be pullin a granger before the nights over.  Don’t know what that is?  Me either! But that’s what you type after having a few…

^{This article x-posted from Central State Asylum}

Anat Baron crammed two movies into her excellent documentary Beer Wars. One is the advertised David vs. Goliath story of the craft brew industry battling for survival against the Big Three brewers, Budweiser, Miller and Coors. The other, more interesting story is the one that Baron herself seems nearly unaware of: The David vs. David story, craft brewers against craft brewers.

Looking back at the first decade of the 21st Century from the vantage point of 2040 or 2050, we may decide that this was the real watershed moment for craft beer. America’s three dominant brewers suffer slow, flat or declining sales as the country limps through the worst economic downturn of the last 30 years. Beer drinkers split their purchases between sub-premium brands like Pabst and artisanal products from small time craft breweries and local brewpubs. In 2009 Pabst increased sales 30 per cent. The entire beer industry was up only 1 per cent while craft brews increased their sales over 12 per cent. All three of America’s largest breweries are down with SABMiller down nearly 11 per cent and AB InBev down almost 7 per cent.

No doubt when Baron was running Mike’s Hard Lemonade and suddenly had to compete with dozens of Zima clones put out by big brewers and distillers she had a much harder time than small brewers do today.

Indeed, brewers today practically have success heaped upon them with legal victories and commercial expansions piling on top of each other faster than the press can report them.

Not that business isn’t hard. It is. It always is. Running a business, especially a small business, requires dedication, hard work, and not a little bit of luck. And the big brewers, as Baron documents, really seem to go out of their way to shut down small-time, craftsman upstarts.

Baron shows through the course of her film the daily frustrations put upon small time brewers including roadblocks to entry like the Category Captain system used by most supermarket chains and the frustrations of the three-tier system as well as the potentially more problematic challenges of lawsuits and Cease-and-Desist orders initiated by well-moneyed and well-lawyered big brewers. While these are certainly real concerns of small brewers, even in today’s craft-focused market, most of them will not be surprising revelations for the craft beer fan that watches Beer Wars.

The film’s 89 minutes is divided between four major themes

1. Scenes of the craft beer world at large: shots of the Great American Beer Festival, interviews with Jim Koch (Boston Beer Co), Greg Koch (Stone), Charlie Papazian (HBA), and Maureen Ogle (author of Ambitious Brew).
2. Obstacles craft brewers have to deal with: competition from the Big Three, the three-tier System, and special interest groups.
3. The story of Rhonda Kallman (founder of New Century Brewing).
4. And the story of Sam Calagione (founder of Dogfish Head).

It is in the last two where Baron’s documentary really works. Baron effectively weaves between Rhonda and Sam’s challenges, failures and successes and uses them as jumping off points to detail how the Big Three and the industry lobbyist conspire to maintain the status quo to the detriment of craft brewers. But most importantly she shows how, in the trenches of the beer wars, business is business even between similarly minded craft brewers and even between the big three. Beneath the bouncy music and Baron’s upbeat narration is a true Hobbesian world of all against all.

Baron’s feelings of the Big Three will shock no one. She makes it clear that AB InBev et. al. are unashamed of their flat, flavorless, barely beers, that they are profit-focused, that they are mortally aggressive against their competitors. In several archive clips Baron shows Big Three executives addressing the camera like George C. Scott’s Patton inspiring his troops to wade into the killing fields with a cold code of no remorse, all’s fair in the beer biz.

In juxtaposition, the craft brewers are small, flexible, consumer-focused lovers of a historic and important art. Craft brewers are down to earth, smiling family men and women. They are passionate artists. They are interesting and colorful. Each craft brewer it seems is just a lover of craft beer whether it’s their’s or another’s.

Indeed, following many craft brewers, pub owners, and distributors on Twitter^*, I can attest that there is a great deal of camaraderie in the craft beer world. Just last night I was at Barley Island-Broad Ripple, a Noblesville, Indiana-based brewpub in the state’s capitol city. I was there to taste beers from (Lafayette, Indiana-based) Lafayette Brewing Company. The brewer/owner of LBC was there and he was wearing a shirt from Greenwood, Indiana-based Oaken Barrel Brewing Co. Astounding. really.

Baron shows Rhonda Kallman fighting for shelf space at a small package liquor store and through edits and narration implies that the real difficulty is grabbing shelf space from the big brewers who maximize their visibility from offering multiple package sizes. But it becomes increasingly clear that if Rhonda succeeds in getting Moon Shot on the shelf, the person who loses out will be a smaller brewer. We actually hear her say, “I don’t know what’s going on with Tiger Beer, but maybe we can squeeze right in there.” It’s not a microbrew she’s trying to displace, but it isn’t Budweiser either.

Later in the film, while looking for investors, she approaches her ex-partner Jim Koch with whom she co-founded Samuel Adams. Koch denies her, saying that he considers her a competitor and his investment a potential ethical dilemma.

Indeed, shelf space, truck space, and the dollars American shoppers are willing to spend on beer are all finite. And while there’s still a lot of room out there for hundreds, even thousands, of breweries to succeed, the immediate success of one brewer will come as an immediate setback to another. The big brewers are collectively losing ground to the craft brew industry but along the way the big three are forcing hundreds of individual craft brewers out of business. And, lurking in the subtext of the film is the story of small brewers putting other small brewers out of business too.

In highlighting Rhonda, who struggles to make a name and find a place for her caffeine-infused brew and Sam, who during the filming was doubling the capacity of his brewery, it becomes tragically clear that the beer wars is not just the asymmetric warfare of the beer hegemon against a rising tide of create insurgents but is all out civil war: Budweiser versus the recently allied MillerCoors, the tree of them versus all the craft brewers and each of the craft brewers, even if unwillingly, against each other.

Baron does a great job profiling Kallman and Calagione. We want to root for them not just because of the overt Manichaean struggle she sets up but because they seem like good people that we think deserve our sympathies. Here’s Kallman consoling her crying child. Here’s Calagione answering phone calls from people dialing the 1-800 number on the bottles! These people aren’t just creating new kinds of beers, they seem to be creating a new way of doing business.

Even if Baron seems to gloss over the David vs David part of her story Beer Wars has more going for it than against it and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know how tough life can be for upstart producers in an established industry and who want to hear that story told with humor, sympathy, and a superb sense of story-telling.

Beer Wars, additional to its purposeful or accident narrative complexity, is highly entertaining and well filmed. The documentary photography and its use of archival material is excellent. A lot of documentaries are good ideas with little in the way of art direction. Beer Wars does not suffer from that particular ailment. Unique graphics, thoughtful cuts, interesting camera angles, all go toward making the film a visually entertaining package and that’s worth keeping in mind. Future beer industry documentaries are going to have to live up to the standard that Baron sets or risk unfavorable comparisons.

My Netflix rating. Did I mention you can stream it right now? You should.

^{Follow me: @csasylum}

I may not be able to get my hands on this elusive brew just yet but many a folk have. I turned to twitter to see what people had to say.  The excitement over this one has been getting people hyped up!

@mattworldclass: Bell‘s Batch 9000 hitting Indy this week!

@craftbrew: Bell‘s batch 9000 made it’s way to Charlottesville today. Great brew! Should age very well: http://twitpic.com/12ngc5

@Crown_Liquors: Bell‘s Batch 9000 has arrived!!!!! Check your local Crown for availability. http://fb.me/5hMMgOP

@nickmanes1: On another note, The Meanwhile now has Bell‘s Batch 9000 on tap. 12.5% “malt beverage”. Its intense, boozy, and delicious. Recommend. #beer

@mattworldclass: Just had first sample of Bell‘s 9000…all I can say….OMG…Unreal…beer just can’t be this good…

Rate Beer has this one at a 97 which is more than exceptional in my book.  It’s being described there as a Cola brown color almost black with a nice brown head.  Nose has chocolates and molasses scents. arminjewell describes the taste as “… huge, thick chocolate, molasses, caramel like sweetness moving into dark fruit and a bit of smoke with some soy sauce and a bit of alcohol burn.”  Really?  Soy Sauce?

I’m looking forward to this one!  Have you had it?  What do you think?  Let us know in the comments!

Several months ago, while traveling through Lafayette on the way to see a play with a friend, I tried to swing by the Lafayette Brewing Company. Unfortunately we were in a hurry and stopped for tacos instead at a place on the highway but promised ourselves to hit LBC on the way back.

The way back was on a Sunday and LBC had the stools and chairs upside down on the table tops, lights off, no luck.

A second trip for a wedding ended up on a more circuitous round and never quite made it into Lafayette. And the way back was  Sunday.

But this past Tuesday night LBC was the guest beer at Barley Island-Broad Ripple and so even though my failed attempts to get there myself placed me firmly in the ranks of the world’s worst and therefore most forgotten explorers I was not totally to be denied. The LBC came to me.

We arrived before the official tapping and so ordered from the regular menu. I ordered the Two Brothers Cane and Ebel Red Rye. A rich and gorgeous mahogany color, the beer arrived with very moderate off-white head, about one finger with fine lacing all the way down.

Although hoppy with distinct and powerful citrus streak in both the aroma and the mouth, its most striking feature is the creaminess. I had figured the hops for Cascade but according to the Two Brothers website it’s Summit. Apparently I still need some practice with my varietals.

The beer has a medium body with a soft texture that, despite its 7% ABV holds well in the mouth. It leaves with a slight note of alcohol and a prolonged sweetness that dissipates to an tenacious bitterness.

I’ve been ordering rye beers as often as I can lately to teach the palate how to recognize the flavor and I think Cane and Ebel finally did the trick. This accessible beer offered little in the way of mystery which is not intended as a criticism. The hops were distinct and their purpose clear, the moderate ABV was well balanced with a low key malt flavor and that meant that the flavor and bitterness I could not recognize was the rye. A grainy, full mouth, flavor that left a lingering bitterness on the back of the tongue. That is the rye, and I like it.

I was nearly done with the rye when the LBC beers were tapped. On the suggestion of our waiter (wearing a kick ass New Albanian “These Machines Kill Fascists” T-shirt I ordered the Pipers Pride Scottish ale first. It was…magnificent once I had gone through the three LBC selections this was the beer I would order again and again throughout the night (much to the detriment of my Wednesday).

It arrived a rich, red not unlike the dark mahogany of the rye but magically and perfectly clear. Unfortunately there was no head on the beer although later iterations had a perfect tight, off white head. The beer honestly seemed to shine. The first wash in the mouth was a perfect, medium bodied beer with a light malt and a generous amount of smoke. I want to be careful here. The smoke was not overpowering, but it was the main flavor. Mixing well with the malt and hops, the smoke imparted an almost peat-like effect. Not precisely the earthy herbaciousness of real peat, but a close enough approximation that kept this beer perfectly accessible to a novice craft brew drinker but challenging to a veteran looking for something different.

It finished softly with a touch of toffee that faded away to a prominent pleasant woodiness.

This beer had a presence about it that seemed yanked from the fireside of a primitive gathering house. I felt like I was a viking. I felt like was drinking BEER.

Next up was the Tippecanoe Common Ale. This beer poured a luscious orangish copper, again with no head, but I blame the car ride from Lafayette and the early tapping. The nose was mostly citrusy and floral hops (Amarillo according to the LBC website). The body was light medium with a crisp bite of hops and very light malt flavors. A slight alcohol in the nose upon swallowing followed by a quick hint of bitterness on the way out.

Definitely a good session beer at 5.8% ABV. The beer is imminently quaffable. This beer is a natural sobriety predator when served cold on a hot summer day. Reviewers at BeerAdvocate call this an IPA. I disagree. I found it much hoppier than most IPA’s and not nearly as malty or dark bodied. I place this a classic American Pale Ale perfectly comparable to Sierra Nevada Pale.

Last up was the Black Angus Oatmeal Stout. I have to confess here, as I often do at some point in beer reviews that my palate, by this time was shot, not just because the Black Angus was my fourth full pint of the evening (and I’d eaten) but also because the three beers I had were all very intensely flavored and leaned hop heavy. The soft, black, subtlety of the Angus deserved a better taster than I was at this point.

Nevertheless, this matte black beast arrived with a tannish gold ring around the top of the glass almost like the corona of an espresso but less golden and less of it. Very little aroma but what was there was malty, with a slight hint of something sharp, maybe hard water(?) maybe coffee(?). I notice that some reviewers mentioned a lactic note in the nose, maybe that was it.

The body was much lighter and less creamy than expected although it was both creamy and not light, just that it defied expectations. It still left a little to chew on despite its lightness. I noted some coffee notes. The beer finished wet and sweet. Not a challenging beer. At this point in the evening I normally would have probably stuck with the Angus, it was cold outside, the beer was easy to drink. But I had to have another go at Piper’s Pride. And another one. And another.

Drink responsibly, y’all.

Today is the day everyone here in Indianapolis has been waiting on! BrewIndy would like to extend the best of luck to our team, The Indianapolis Colts. You’ve had a super season and an amazing decade of football. We can’t wait to see you cap it off with your second Super Bowl win in 4 years with Peyton Manning, the winningest QB of the decade, and his laser rocket arm throwing some bullets tonight.  Go Blue, Go Horse, and GO COLTS!!!

Speaking of a laser rocket arm

This self-promotion stuff is really my partner’s bag but he’s working for dollar bills and I’ve been twittering all morning so I’m in the mood. Let’s do this

We’re really just ramping this stuff right now here at BrewIndy and I want to do it correctly from the start. If you are interested in beer generally and if you’re specifically interested in beer in Indiana and even more specifically in beer in Indianapolis, you should subscribe to the ol’ RSS feed. You should also follow us on Twitter. See that cute little bird to the right? That’s how you do it. Or, just go to your Twitter account and search for us (@BrewIndy).

Speaking of teh twitterz, if you are out there tweeting about the beers you’re enjoying, don’t be shy, let us know you want us to follow you too. Put your Twitter handle down there in the comment box, @message us, email us, whatever. This is the new internet and it’s a two-way street, yo.

So, are you a homebrewer, own a brewpub, distribute or sell the stuff, maybe you just drink a lot…got your own blog, whatever. Beer world, meet Brew Indy.

For that matter, the BrewIndy Twitter is publicly accessible, scan the list of who we’re following and let us know who we’re missing. Who gives you the beer reporting, beer reviews, and beer commentary you actually use?

And, like I said in my opening post, if you’re in to more than just beer, pop on over to Central State Asylum and read me there as well. Nothing there yet (really)  but there will be soon. And follow @CSAsylum too! Most everything that appears here will also appear there, but things that appear there, will not necessarily appear here, given that CSA has broader mission than BrewIndy both thematically and geographically.

Just like the back of the bottle says “With a name like Hopslam, what did you expect?” Holy cow this is one amazing beer. And since it is limited release I’d stop reading this right now and go get a six pack. Be prepared to spend upwards of $20 though as this one doesn’t come cheap.  But worth it?  Every penny

Hopslam also wins my award for best beer label.  Sure, there are a lot of really awesome ones out there, but considering how much I love hops I love the idea of being knocked out by a huge hop bud!  See the end of the post for some great scans of the artwork.

On an interesting note, The Captain’s Chair: A Twin Cities Craft Beer and Homebrewing Site, reports that this beer clocks in at 280 calories.  For some points on America’s fascination with calories in their beer I’d suggest heading over to his site and checking out his review.

Appearance:  This is one beautiful beer!  Crystal clear, orange coloring.  Almost like the color of the honey this beer is brewed with.  Has a small amount of head on top and leaves some great lacing.  If only all beers could look like this.  A piece of art really.

Smell: Piney, and citrusy hops right up front.  Perhaps it’s because it says it on the bottle but I can also smell the honey leaving a pleasurable sticky feeling in the old nostrils.

Taste: Bam!  This one is definitely hoppy!  At least up front.  The great thing about this though is it is very balanced.  Someone that would say they don’t normally like hoppy beers should at least pick up a single of Hopslam because it is great.  The malt and honeys sweeten this beer up nicely leaving the finish to be more sticky sweet than bitter like you get with most hoppy beers.  Of course with an ABV of 10% you’d expect it to be somewhat sweet.  This beer is pretty complex too.  Throughout the glass I got different tastes and flavors between being super bitter to being super sweet and everything in between.  As an advocate for non-hopheads, the Mrs. says this beer is pretty good.  And deer readers, anytime my wife’s discerning palate says a beer is good then it is good.  The same goes for me of course but I’m a lot less picky

Mouthfeel: Smooth and sticky!  Up front this beer makes your mouth feel refreshed with the bitter hops cleaning (or stripping away) your palate and then it leaves you with the sticky sweet feeling.

Drinkability: Who cares about the 10% ABV?! I say the drinkability on Bell’s Hopslam is way above par, or below I suppose.  In other words, this is one you can sit and sip and enjoy all night long.  At $18 for a six pack it might get a bit expensive but heck, you only get to do it once a year right?  Seriously, if you haven’t had this yet … go out and get some right now!

Bells Hopslam Front Cover Art

Bells Hopslam Back Cover Art