Midwest Breweries - Bitter Life Review - Black Acre Brewery

One of the great things about Black Acre Brewery is they constantly have new beers to drink and try.  One of these beers is Bitter Life, a great alternative to their Saucy Intruder IPA.  When going to their brewery you need to try their sweet potato fries with the garlic aioli.    Giving it a rating 4/5 I would purchase this beer again in a heart beat.  On a side note a friend told me there was for a short time a coffee infused Bitter Life.  Unfortunately I was unable to try it but he said it was very good.

Don't forget to find me on Twitter @mwbreweries and Facebook at Midwest Breweries.

Midwest Breweries - Why Sun King pulling back distribution can be a good thing.

This week it was reported, by may different blog sites and news outlets, that Sun King was pulling distribution from many areas throughout the state.  I propose this can be great news for the whole Indiana craft beer scene.

Outside of being extremely disappointed by those of you that live outside of either Bloomington or Indianapolis areas; we can infer that Sun King can really only meet the demand for their product within these locations.  Taking that piece of information we can make two assumptions.  People who drink Sun King are drinking a shit ton of their beer or Sun King is a great way to introduce people to craft beer thus more people are drinking their beer than ever before.

Personally I like the idea of the second option.  With breweries popping up all the time throughout Indiana we can only assume that there is a growing number of craft beer drinkers willing to take chances on discovering new, inventive, and great beers.

Why I say that Sun King pulling back distribution is a good thing for the craft beer scene can be summed up in three points.

1.  There is only so many taps.  Dominated by the major brands, due to a lack of faith and/or knowledge of the craft beer scene, leaves many breweries scrambling to jockey for these coveted positions.  With Sun King leaving some of these taps open allows for other breweries to sneak their way into your local taverns, bars, and restaurants.

2.  For those who become accustom to Sun King, but now cannot find it in their area will be looking for new beer.  If other breweries realize this they will be sending sales reps to every corner of the state with similar beers to the Sun King's "Big Three".  Using this opportunity to expand their brands awareness.

3.  There are so many wonderful beers in the state of Indiana.  Many breweries doing special releases, seasonal, and small batches that are fantastic.  As people are introduced to these new breweries it offers a great way to highlight these special beers.  When a person tries a beer they like from a particular brewery they will be more incline to try their other products.  

Although Indiana laws have not kept up on the growing craft beer community and Sun King is one of the breweries most effective by these laws I think that it has the opportunity to help grow our community.

Beer, a Colts Alumni, and Prizes for Neuroblastoma Foundation at TwoDEEP Brewing Co. 12/18/14

TwoDEEP Brewing Co. has easily made its way into my regular rotation of breweries. With a engaging staff, a unique selection of beers, and a wide open floor plan, it allows for a great experience anytime you join them for a pint.

Next Thursday at 7 pm TwoDEEP and the NFL Alumni Association Indy Chapter are doing something very special by hosting a fundraising event for the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation (CNCF), a 21 and over event.  According to Mayo Clinic, neuroblastoma is a potentially deadly form of cancer whose majority of victims are children under the age of five. 

Ryan Diem, a former Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman and your celebrity bartender for the night, is a family friend to the Founder and President of TwoDEEP Brewing.  Ryan has been involved with CNCF for over 10 years.  Hosting an annual golf outing that has raised more than one million dollars to help battle this horrible form of cancer. It was from his creative mind to partner the NFL Alumni Association Indy Chapter and TwoDEEP Brewing for this fundraiser. 

Besides having a Ryan Diem as your celebrity bartender, this event will host a number of NFL alumni, a silent auction, door prizes, pizzas from Pi Indy Food Truck, and for every pint purchased during the event one dollar will be donated to the CNCF! Three items to look forward to at the silent auction include an autographed basketball by Bobby Knight, an autographed football from Reggie Wayne, and a T.Y. Hilton autographed jersey, just to name a few.

One of the bigger events of the night will be a live raffle for two tickets to the 2015 Big Game in Arizona. The winner will receive airfare for two, two tickets to the NFL championship game and four nights hotel accommodations. All of these tickets must be purchased prior to the event. Tickets are available in the TwoDEEP TapRoom or you may contact NFL Alumni Association Indy Chapter Marketing and Event Coordinator Krissy Garrett at nflalumni.indychapter@gmail.com.  All proceeds from the raffle will stay in the Indianapolis area to benefit the NFL Alumni Indy Chapter Children’s Charities.

I am very excited about this event. A lot of time and energy went into making sure everyone who attends will have wonderful time and more importantly a successful night for CNCF and NFL Alumni Charities.

One last note, last time I went to a large event at TwoDEEP it was their grand opening. It was incredibly packed but extremely well-run. I never had to wait long to find another pint. It was this event that gives me confidence that next Thursday will be a blast!

Please share and RT to help raise awareness for this event!

Midwest Breweries - Books & Brews Brewery Review

Watching any of my youtube videos you can tell I love books.  I collect first editions, read a lot of non-fiction and love Ayn Rand.  So if there was a place that my family or friends to get anything on my Christmas list they would go to Books and Brews.

The brewery is tucked away in a strip mall type shopping center.  Walking into the front door you find a very nice laid out book store.  Using donations from their customers they are able to keep their prices extremely low!  They have a very impressive adult reading program with rewards too.  Click the link above to find out more about that program.  Mondays they host a book club that seems very exciting.

As for their beers I was pretty impressed.  Their menu is mostly made with small batches that they are continually rotating.  Keeping that in mind every time you go there you can have a completely different experience with their beers.  This will keep me from postulating what your experience will be, but I really enjoyed the beers I drank.  With this wide variety and constant rotation makes for a compelling reason to visit this brewery often (especially if you like to increase your unique check-ins on Untapped).

One of the great programs they offer is called "Mug Club".  $65 dollars gets you a lifetime membership, locally made mug, $3 dollar mug fills on Thursday and $2 off growler fills of the Books and Brew beers just to name a few.  For more information click the menu link above.

While sitting at the bar I noticed the owner walking around to introduce himself and welcome those who came into the brewery.  Knowing the regulars by name is a added bonus when running a small business and attracting repeat business.

Books and Brews does a great job creating a unique environment that caters to a wide variety of interests.  Their weekly list of events are:

- Monday they have the book club mentioned above and retro video game night.
- Tuesday play games and earn rewards
- Wednesday trivia
- Thursday open mic
- Friday new beer and live local music
- Saturday live local music
- Sunday board games

With a friendly staff and friendly open environment it is a great place to stop by or if you live in the area your regular bar.

I recommend at least making the drive to try this brewery out.  Especially if you live in the area.  I am giving it a rating of 4/5 being in the category of a very good brewery.

How I introduced my mom to craft beer.

In a new series I am going to give suggestions on how I am introducing craft beer to people who either just drink the main three or just do not drink beer at all.  With hopes that you will follow my lead and increase the love for these microbreweries that are popping up everywhere.

A couple of weeks ago I had a family party for my birthday.  I brought some growlers of Sun King's Sunlight Cream Ale to help liven up the event.  Now my mother and aunts do not really drink beer but they all have their own particular loves (scotch and margaritas).  Now if you have ever tried to talk someone who does not drink beer to even take a sip you know it is rather difficult task.  Usually their go to response is "I don't like beer!"  Instead of trying to explain to them that, just like wine, there are many different types.  I go straight to bargaining.

After a few minutes attempting to talk my mom into trying Sunlight she caved by promising I would help her around the house if she did not enjoy the beer.  Knowing I was backed into the corner I had to offer her something grand for the taste.  With only giving her two fingers worth in a glass she curled her nose when lifting up the glass to take the sip.  Setting the glass back down she says "wow that is good, really good.  Top that glass off."

Seeing how much my mom enjoyed the beer my other aunts grabbed a glass and to their surprise they also enjoyed the taste.  After that I had a very enjoyable conversation with them all about the different varieties of beer out there and I am now in charge of bringing beer to all family events in the future.  Which I am glad to take over since I am pretty sure the cans of Miller Light in the fridge were from my graduation from college.  I am 30 to give you some perspective.

I hope this experience will encourage you to help build the craft beer movement in the Midwest by giving your mothers and aunts who do not like beer, a tasty cream ale at your next family event.

Don't forget to find me on twitter @mwbreweries, Facebook at Midwest Breweries, like, comment and share.

A night with Scarlet Lane Brewery, Indy Girls Pint Out, and Punch Burger.

I have been a Twitter hater for a long time, that is until I started this blog.  Right from the start of my Twitter handle I realized Twitter was created to connect people with common interest and keep you updated on news, contests, and special events.  In the past couple of months I have made connections with some fantastic people over twitter, many of these people are from Scarlet Lane Brewery.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Christmas Vacation.  I remember when I was 5 years old sitting around the tv on Christmas Eve at my Grandmother's house watching it on VHS (to those of you who know what that is).   So when I saw the tweet from @Scarletlanebrew about an event where they were going to show Christmas Vacation working in coordination with Punch Burger and Girls Pint Out.  I knew I just had to go.

On a quick side note I have been following Girls Pint Out for the past couple of months and I am extremely impressed by what they are trying to create.  I highly recommend you check them out at their website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Now onto the event!  For 25 dollars I was able to receive, a koozie, pint glass, 3 pints, a burger, and a place to watch the movie.  It was incredibly well run from the moment you arrived on at the brewery you were greeted in the parking lot by members of Scarlet Lane team to help you find a parking spot. When you walked into the brewery you quickly directed to where you needed to check in.

From there we had plenty of time to grab a pint, find a place to sit, and grab some complimentary tasty popcorn.  When pulling out my lawn chair I noticed that one of the plastic legs were broken.  Not wanting to sit down and fall hard on my ass, I asked one of the Scarlet Lane crew if I could just sit in one of their wooden chairs that were scattered around the brewery.  Simon, who was very helpful, went and grabbed a more comfortable chair for me in the back.

From there the night only got better.  After the movie started I noticed that many of the the Scarlet Lane team and Girls Pint Out team were standing in the back.  Since this brewery is about a hour away from my place I wanted to just quickly introduce myself and thank them for not only hosting the event but for creating such wonderful craft beers.

Now it was during this introduction to them I found that they were incredibly engaging.  Not only did they take the time to talk to me but they were very encouraging and willing to express some very exciting things to come.  Simon, who I had mentioned earlier, is actually a brewer from Oregon who has relocated to Indy and Scarlet Lane.  He has some high hopes for new creations for Scarlet Lane and I have no reason to doubt his aspirations or skill!

Overall I had a fantastic time.  I am looking forward to visiting and seeing what Scarlet Lane does next.  I am also excited to see the growth of Girls Pint Out.  If Saturday was any indication to how well either of these two groups host events you need to take up the chance to check them out.

Don't forget to find me on Twitter @mwbreweries and Facebook at Midwest Breweries.  Also like comment and share.

They even put a squirrel in the Christmas tree!

"Did you hear that?"

"You could not hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant"

Midwest Breweries - Java Mac - Sun King Brewery

Like coffee and beer?  If the answer is yes then Java Mac is for you.  Might be one of the best choices for early morning tailgating.  With a limited release and now being available at Sun King's tap room.  This must be an urgent purchase for a craft beer enthusiast.  Don't forget to like share and comment!

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Midwest Breweries - Review of Red Collar - Indiana City Brewing

What a fantastic brewery and beer!  This Imperial Amber ale hits the spot.  Having a high ABV you do not realize how potent this beer is till you are working on the second glass.  I give this beer a 4.5/5 must have.  Look for a review of this brewery in the coming weeks.  Don't forget to like, comment, share and subscribe.

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