Thank You!

I just wanted to thank everyone that has supported BIMP from the beginning. Beer Is My Passion has been such an exciting challenge for me. Writing about beer, participating in tastings and beer festivals, and sharing my development as a homebrewer has been a truly rewarding experience. I’ve taken some much needed time to reflect on where I felt the future of Beer Is My Passion would take me/you, and I have some exciting news. Beer Is My Passion will be combining efforts with a fellow homebrew club (Krausen Growers Bureau) to form a brand new homebrew club. The Circle City Zymurgy club has officially filed with the American Homebrewer’s Association, and as of today I will be focusing my attention on making CCZ the best homebrew club it can be. Make sure to visit us at circlecityzymurgy.com for events, tastings, and news on all things fermented. Thanks again for the ride, and I hope you continue to make beer your passion!Circle City Zymurgy - Indianapolis Skyline - Beer Background

Great Fermentations 20th Anniversary Party!

GF20 Poster

Great Fermentations has been a long time friend of homebrewers in Indianapolis. How long you ask? 20 frickin’ years 🙂 Come celebrate their 20th Anniversary bash this Saturday at GF’s Indianapolis location on 65th St. There will be plenty of beer to go around including contributions from Sun King, Dardevil, Broad Ripple Brewpub, Chilly Water, Flix Brewhouse, Grand Junction, and cider from McClure’s Orchard. Expect great food from Moveable Feast, and an acoustic show by The Indiana Boys. As a special thank you, GF will also  partner with Pack Away Hunger Saturday morning to pack 20,000 lunches for the hungry throughout Central Indiana (click here if you’d like to volunteer) The event is free, and starts at 3pm (volunteering will get you early entry). See you there!

BIMP @ BCBF 2015!

BCBF 2015Come visit BIMP at the Bloomington Craft Beer Festival this weekend. Tickets are surprisingly still on sale (I would snag the Early Bird if I were you 😉 ) The weather is supposed to be awesome, and I can’t think of a better way to spend it than at the Woolery Stone Mill in Bloomington. BIMP will be pouring between 2 and 3pm (just after our comrades from the KGB).  Some picks to look out for would be Tin Man’s Damascene, Upland’s Bockness Monster, and 18th St. The Contessa French Saison. Have a great time, and remember to be safe.

Here’s the address to the Woolery Stone Mill. Believe it or not, it’s at the intersection of Tapp and Kegg Rd.

BCBF Map

 

Indianapolis Welcomes Tow Yard Brewing

TowyardBrewingTow Yard Brewing opens it’s doors for the first time this weekend for their soft launch! Located near my favorite Colts tailgating spot, the brewery is housed in the old Chateau Thomas Winery Building at at 501 S. Madison Ave. Here’s a slideshow I created from their image posts on Twitter. Make sure and drop by to try their Emerald Circle IPA, Goldie Hops American Style Golden Ale, Hook Up Shandler, and Horse Power Double Pale Ale.

Indy Beer News – March 19th, 2014

IndyBeerNews_logoTime to catch up on some Indy Beer News podcasts! This week’s episode includes information on a 3 Floyds tap takeover happening at Broad Ripple Tavern at noon today featuring Live a Rich Life (a personal favorite of mine), Sun King releasing two packs of Lonesome Dove (Batch 777 Touched by and Angel), and a Barrel Age Replicale Tapping at Tomlinson Tap! Indy Beer News also had a chance to sit down with Sun King’s Clay Robinson for a 45 minute talk on Indy Beer Legislation, Distilleries, and craft beer’s entry into the State Fair for the first time since 1947.

Indy Beer News – March 19th, 2014

Indy Beer New 2014 Legislation Episode

New Albanian Gravity Head – Bullet Train To Blackout Town

Gravity Head 2014 - Promo

 

I love this brewery! Gravity Head 2014 kicked off this morning with an extra special breakfast. These guys don’t mess around. For the next month, New Albanian Brewing will be showcasing some of the best/unique high gravity beers available. If you haven’t been to this event before it is a blast. They basically horde kegs of delicious high gravity brews and then let the taps flow until every drop is gone. This year they have organized several brewery specific events, including today’s Schlafly “Style Unto Itself” collection of kegs. Click here for the full list of brews and events. Once all the kegs are dry, Session Head begins! As you can imagine, these beers are super strong. Please be responsible and have transportation for the event planned out. That said, these guys are innovators, and I’m really looking forward to visiting their event. Cheers!

 

ACB Films Presents Winterfest 2014

I’m sure many of you remember the 80+ breweries at this year’s Winterfest. You may remember the pretzel necklaces, the firkins, or the random bursts of cheering. What you may have forgotten was that there were video cameras seeded throughout the venue.Here is the epic video created by ACB Films, which documents all of your uninhibited shenanigans. The funny thing is I remember most of these people when we were pouring. Well documented! You can follow their YouTube channel here.

Winterfest Highlights!

Winterfest 2014 - Eric MeyerWhen’s the last time you remember holding your glass in the air and cheering with 5,000 other beer enthusiasts? Believe it or not, this post took me almost a week to create. There were so many people that worked their tail off to make Winterfest 2014 a success. A very special “Thank you” to the breweries that participated, the Brewers of Indiana Guild, Hoosier Beer Geek, and the 100+ volunteers that made this happen. The planning and execution of this beer festival were top notch. We had an awesome time pouring at Winterfest, and we also wanted to thank everyone that dropped by to say hello and sample our offerings.That said, this year’s Winterfest was HUGE. We loved the extra space that Champion Hall provided, however it was soon consumed by the 5,000 beer loving ticket holders. This was by far the largest beer tasting I’ve ever been to. Note to self: VIP tickets at Indiana beer tastings are becoming more and more validated 🙂 Eric Meyer has a fantastic photo album documenting the debauchery.  Either way, I wanted to take some time to share some of my favorite picks from this past weekend. Here it goes:

Upland+Logo_New+Horizontal+copyNL The Upland Sour Barrel Spin Game
Upland used a Twitter password to allow entry into this Wheel of Fortune! The wheel included Raspberry, Cherry, and Kiwi Lambic, and also the much coveted Sour Reserve 4.
Zwanzigz BrewingZwanzigZ Brewing Eisbock
This beer was fantastic! This style of beer is created by freezing bock beer and removing the ice. This method concentrates the flavor and abv. Great work and thanks for sharing!
Country Boy BrewingCountry Boy Brewing Chestnut Brown Ale
We were lucky enough to pour right next door to Country Boy Brewing. This beer really stood out for me. Very easy drinking and flavorful brown!
New Albanian BrewingNew Albanian Phoenix Kentucky Komon Ale
This beer was great! Kentucky Common beer has the unique history of being America’s first sour! Lactobacillus is used to create a twang sourness that complements the malt profile of this beer. New Albanian pulled this one of brilliantly.
Planetary Brewing Logo Planetary Fly Casual Brown Ale
This was my first Planetary beer, and I was pretty impressed. I’m a sucker for Brown Ales. I’m sure I’ll be enjoying more Planetary beers in the not so distant future.
Three-Floyds-Big-LogoThree Floyd’s War Mullet
I’m not sure how long this keg lasted, but my guess is it went quickly. War Mullet is, at the moment, a very rare Imperial IPA created by FFF.
Flat 12 Bierworks LogoReposado Du Flat Saison/Farmhouse Aged 6 months in Extra Anejo tequila barrels.
The evil geniuses at Flat 12 created a saison that they aged in anejo tequila barrels. Everyone was talking about it the first couple of hours at Winterfest. I did not get a chance to try it, but I thought it was worth a mention as it seemed very popular.
Power House BrewingPower House Barrel Aged Diesel Oil Stout
Diesel Oil Stout is a fantastic beer. Seeing a barrel aged version at Winterfest was a great comfort 🙂
Rhinegeist BreweryRhinegeist Uncle English Dark Mild
We’ve been drinking a lot of English Mild beer lately and this one stood out. Smooth, great malt profile, and highly sessionable.
bier breweryBier Brewery 1.21 Gigawatts Belgian Strong and Hator Dopplebock
Both these beers were served at Bier’s 3rd Anniversary Party this past year. I was glad to see they still had some left for Winterfest. Cheers if you had the opportunity to try these rare beers!
MONK_logoMONK Wookie Tears English Brown Ale
These guys were great neighbors to us, and you can bet I made sure to sample each one of their beers. Wookie Tears English Brown was one of those great beers!
Bloomington Hop JockeysBloomington Hop Jockeys Sour Collection
There is no doubt that the Hop Jockeys have skill when it comes to brewing, but sampling their sour beer has become something to look forward to at these events. Thanks for sharing Luke!

Winterfest 2014 Full Brewery List

WF14_logo-color-2y-322-31518th Street Brewery
450 North Brewing Company
Against The Grain Brewery
Alltech’s Lexington Brewing & Distilling Company
Arcadia Ales
Back Road Brewery
Bare Hands Brewery
Barley Island Brewing Company
Bell’s Brewery Inc.
Bier Brewery
Big Dawg Brewhaus
Black Acre Brewing Company
Black Swan Brewpub
Bloomington Brewing Company
Broad Ripple Brew Pub
Brugge Brasserie
Bulldog Brewing Company
Carson’s Brewery
Chapman’s Brewing Company
Country Boy Brewing Co.
Crown Brewing
Cutters Brewing Company
Danny Boy Beer Works
Daredevil Brewing Company
Dark Horse Brewery
DESTIHL Brewery
Evil Czech Brewery
Falls City Brewing Co.
Figure Eight Brewing
Finch’s Beer Company
Flat 12 Bierwerks
Fountain Square Brewery
Goose Island Beer Company
Great Crescent Brewery
Half Moon Restaurant & Brewery
Hawcreek Brewing Company
Iechyd Da Brewing Company
Indiana City Brewing Company
Lafayette Brewing Co
Lakefront Brewery Inc.
Mad Anthony Brewing Company Inc
New Albanian Brewing Company
New Day Craft Mead & Cider
New Holland Brewing Company
Norris English Pub llc
O’Fallon Brewery
Oaken Barrel Brewing Company
Oskar Blues
Outliers Brewing Company
People’s Brewing Company
Planetary Brewing Company
Power House Brewing Company
Quaff ON! Brewing Company
RAM Restaurant & Brewery
Revolution Brewing
Rhinegeist Brewery
Rivertown Brewing Company
Rock Bottom–College Park
Salt Creek Brewery
Schlafly Beer
Shoreline Brewery
Summit Brewing Company
Sun King Brewing Company
The Bluegrass Brewing Company
The Rivertown Brewing Company
Thr3e Wise Men
Three Floyds Brewing Company
Three Pints Brewing
Tin Man Brewing Company
Triton Brewing Company
Turoni’s Main Street Brewery
Tyranena Brewing Company
Union Brewing Company
Upland Brewing Company
Urban Chestnut Brewing Company
Virtue Cider
ZwanzigZ Brewing…

And of course, Beer Is My Passion will be there as well from 3-5. Cheers!