Big Brew Day at Great Fermentations Revisted

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Big Brew Day at Great Fermentations turned out to be a winner. Rain was expected in the forecast for the event, but after some slight spitting during the morning hours the sun decided to stick around the rest of the day. There were several notable events throughout the day including a brewing equipment “garage sale”, an introductory cheesemaking class, an off flavor seminar, Ask-A-Judge, and a class on making Sour beer. BBQ’n Fools was churning out some pretty fantastic smoked food including some excellent smoked bratwursts. At 1:00pm over 40 attendees participated in a global toast given by Mayor Greg Ballard. GF staff counted 25 batches brewed right in their parking lot, including a batch of mead. BIMP brewed a Wheat Wine and Dunkelweizen.

Although we were brewing somewhat outside of our comfort zones, GF offered burners, propane, filtered/RO water, and even a mobile wort chilling station (two daisy chained counterflow chillers, a couple of pumps, and a cart for transferring your hot wort to the chillers) to ease the stress of brewing away from your home setup. Another perk was that if you forgot any supplies or ingredients (WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!! ;) ) all you had to do was head into the shop. We had a great time and wanted to thank Great Fermentations for putting on event, and everyone that hung out and celebrated National Homebrew Day with us. We are definitely looking forward to a bigger and better Big Brew next year!

Dude With Knit Hat At Party Calls Beer ‘Libations’

Dude at the party in wool capFrom The Onion

PROVIDENCE, RI—Sources attending a house party on Governor Street confirmed that the dude with the knit hat has been referring to the supply of beer as “libations” throughout the night. “The night is young, my friends—enough libations for everyone,” said the guy whose sideburns poked out from beneath the wool cap and whose name may have been Jordan or Jay—or possibly Kyle—before raising his red plastic cup to eye level, nodding his head slightly, and urging the assembled partygoers to “imbibe.” “We’ve got some fine spirits in the kitchen, too, if anyone’s interested.” The dude, who also wore tight brown corduroy pants, then reportedly circulated among the partygoers, describing his recent “unreal” trip to Colorado.

Big Brew on National Homebrew Day

Big-Brew-13Come celebrate National Homebrew Day with us at Great Fermentations on May 4th. The Big Brew event looks like it is going be a great time. The event will include a Homebrew Garage Sale, Cheesemaking Class, Off Flavor Seminar, Sour Brewing Class, Ask A Judge, and a Worldwide Toast at 1pm. Beer Is My Passion will be there and plan on brewing two all grain batches. You can register for any of the events on GF’s Big Brew Registration Page.

Bloomington Craft Beer Festival Revisited

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We had a blast at this year’s Bloomington Craft Beer Festival. The Woolery Stone Mill could not have been a better venue for this event. So many great beers, beautiful weather, and an awesome crowd. You can bet I’ll be back there next year. Thanks to everyone that dropped by to try our brews. These pictures, as well as updates on other beer festivals can be found at the Brewers of Indiana Guild’s website. Cheers!

Upland Announces the 2013 UpCup Homebrew Competition

It looks like Upland Brewing has slated June 8th, 2013 as the date for this year’s celebrated homebrew competition. Entries are judged in accordance with BJCP Style Guidelines by certified beer judges. Upland has been very inviting to homebrewers that aspire to be something more. Each year the winner of this competition wins a trophy, and gets to brew a batch of their winning beer with Caleb Staton using Upland Brewing’s equipment. The beer is then served at their location in Bloomington, and also their location at the Tasting Room in Indianapolis. The UpCup was my first homebrew competition, and remains as my favorite to date. Don’t miss out on this awesome event. Upland’s website does not currently have any specific details on the event yet, but they will come soon. My advice is to start brewing your batches now. You only get one entry, so make it your best!

Good luck to all participants!

Bloomington Craft Beer Festival Map

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Bloomington Craft Beer Festival MapA map has been released of the Bloomington Craft Beer Festival layout on the BCBF App a couple of days ago. If you tap the picture above on your phone you can zoom in and out. Looks like it’s going to be a fun time. Make sure to drop by the homebrew table located near the Firkins and say hi. We will only be pouring from 4-5pm, so make sure hit us up (You have to give BIMPer’s time to sample delicious brew too :) ). We’ve got 7 brews to choose from while they last. Have a safe BCBF!

Bloomington Craft Beer Week App For IOS and Android

BCBF App

The Brewers of Indiana Guild have created a free app for IOS and Android for the events at this week’s Bloomington’s Craft Beer Week. The app includes a schedule of events, address information, a list participating breweries, links to taxi information, a camera feature, and even an embedded #BCBW Twitter feed. This should be pretty handy for peeps that are participating in more than just the Craft Beer Festival on Saturday. A list of the breweries registered for the Bloomington Craft Beer Festival has not officially been announced, but the app suggests that the following breweries will be there this week:

450 North Brewing Co.

Back Road Brewery

Bare Hands Brewery

Barley Island

Beer Is My Passion – We’ll have a booth from 4:00pm – 5:00pm @ BCBF

Bier Brewery

Big Woods Brewing Company

Black Acre Brewing Co

Black Swan Brewpub

Broad Ripple Brew Pub

Brugge Brasserie

Bulldog Brewing Company

Crown Brewery

Cutters Brewing Company

Danny Boy Beer Works

Daredevil Brewing Co

Das Big Dawg Brew Haus

Evil Czech Brewery

Figure Ei8ht Brewing

Flat 12 Bierworks

Fountain Square Brewery

Four Horseman Brewing Co.

Great Crescent Brewery

Half Moon Restaurant and Brewery

Hawcreek Brewing Company

Iechyd Da Brewing Co.

Lafayette Brewing Company

Lake City Tap House

Lil’ Charlie’s Restaurant and Brewery

Mad Anthony Brewing Company

Main St. Brewery at Turoni’s Pizza

New Albanian Brewing Company

New Boswell Brewing Company

Oaken Barrel Brewing Company

People’s Brewing Company

Power House Brewing Company

Ram Restaurant and Brewery Fishers and Downtown locations

Rock Bottom Restaurant Brewery – College Park and Downtown locations

Salt Creek Brewery

ShoreLine Brewery and Restaurant

Sun King Brewing Company

Thr3e Wise Men Brewery

Three Floyds Brewing

Three Pints Brewpub

Tin Man Brewing Company

Triton Brewing Company

Twisted Crew Brewing Company

Union Brewing Company

Upland Brewing Company

ZwanzigZ Pizza and Brewing