And now for something completely different: St. Benedict’s Brew Works beer and brewing retreat at the Sisters of St. Benedict in Ferdinand, Indiana.

Not only is this one of Indiana's most unique breweries. Surely it ranks high on the national list.

Located at 860 E. 10th St. in the Benedictine Sisters’ former art studio, St. Benedict’s Brew Works is believed to be the only U.S. craft brewery on the grounds of a women’s religious community.

St. Benedict's Brew Works (Facebook)

St. Benedict's Brew Works (web site)

But there's even more.

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Beer-brewing retreat Nov. 11-13

Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand will offer a retreat, “Brewing with the Spirit: A Monastic Craft Beer Experience,” from November 11-13 at St. Benedict’s Brew Works, a craft brewery on the grounds of Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, Indiana.

Brewery owners Vince Luecke and Andy Hedinger will share the history of beer and spiritual reflections on Gospel parables about grain, earth, yeast, and water. Participants will sample beers, learn beer terminology, and make craft beer.

The retreat begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, November 11, and ends at 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 13. The first evening will be a social and a discussion of beer styles for the second day, which will be the actual brewing of the beer. The first night is optional.

The cost of the retreat is $320, including meals, abundant beer sampling, and two nights’ lodging at Kordes Retreat Center. The cost for one night is $270. Commuter cost is $200. The size of the retreat is limited to 12 people. Two other retreats are scheduled, from February 24-26, and March 3-5.

Register by calling 812-367-1411, ext. 2915, by visiting www.thedome.org/programs, or by sending an email to kordes@thedome.org. For more information on the retreat, contact Vince Luecke at 812-719-2301 or email brewing@stbenedictsbrewworks.com.

Luecke has a master’s degree in Catholic Thought and Life from Saint Meinrad School of Theology. He is the editor of two newspapers. Hedinger holds a law degree from Indiana University Mauer School of Law. He practices law full time and also owns and operates Monkey Hollow Winery and Distillery near St. Meinrad.

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Floyd County Brewing Company is an indie alternative during Harvest Homecoming.

Floyd County Brewing Company‎ is promoting TASTE-IN in the Biergarten, an event running on Friday and Saturday, October 7 and 8.

It coincides with Harvest Homecoming booth days in downtown, which close streets and alter normal indie business routines from October 6 through 9.

Very excited to announce the first annual TASTE-IN festival. Come hang out in the Biergarten and enjoy 16 Indiana Craft Beers from 11 Indiana Breweries. There will be delicious food available and fantastic live music both Fri (Robert Rolfe Fedderson) and Sat (The Pirtles).

FCBC also has an alternative (and constructive) take on New Albany's purely unofficial "beer (swill) walk" during Harvest Homecoming.

Sounds like good advice any day of the week.

Harvest Homecoming festival has finally arrived, and the harvest craft beer crawl is what kicks it off. Join the community by walking through downtown New Albany, seeing the Renaissance that's happening while imbibing on the delicious craft beer we offer.

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Dropping in on New Albany's Donum Dei Brewery.

This was the beer board at Donum Dei Brewery on Thursday, December 10.

This is the view of Donum Dei's front-of-house on Friday the 11th, with Christmas tree and 70-degree temps.

For the uninitiated, Donum Dei opened on St. Patrick's Day (2015), and is Rick and Kim Otey's labor of love. It is located a few hundred yards away from NABC's original location. If you can find the Lee's Fried Chicken by the railroad track on Grant Line Road, you're almost there; it's in the strip mall off Rolling Creek Drive, behind the El Nopal.

I've had all the beers listed above, most recently the Enkel and Populo. Rick's Enkel is a "single" in the Abbey style, pale, sessionable and delicious. His Populo is what people say they brew but usually don't: A genuine Brown Porter, not to be confused with Robust, and similar to Mild in being dark, light and refreshing all at once.

In case you're wondering, the 812 Nouveau refers to the wet hops of origin from the Eight One Two Farms near Columbus, Indiana.

Final word: Cheap pours all day Tuesday. Shall we refer to it as  the Northside Brewery Corridor?

"Kentuckiana breweries on track to double in 2015."

Some folks don't like "Kentuckiana," although it never has bothered me. The alternative, "Indiyucky", has its own issues.

There's lots of information here, so take a look.

I'm by no means "close" to any of these projects, apart from physical proximity to Floyd County Brewing, and drinking beers with Rick Stidham of Akasha now and then. However, it seems that they're all proceeding along a sustainable course, i.e., not positing sales to Alaska and Luxembourg just yet. I judge this to be a good omen, and wish them the best.

Kentuckiana breweries on track to double in 2015, by Bailey Loosemore (The Courier-Journal)

From the core of downtown Louisville, locally made craft beer is spreading.

No longer is the artisanal beverage restricted to a few select neighborhoods. With one new brewery already opened this year, one rebranded and six more on the way — in some areas traditionally lacking their own craft beer spot — the industry seems to be on a delicious mission to take over Kentuckiana.

For years, Louisville and Southern Indiana's local beer scenes stalled with only a handful of established breweries catering to the craft crowd. But between 2010 and 2014, six breweries opened to pick up the slack, and the total number of breweries is now on track to double in the area by the end of 2015 — mimicking a national trend.

According to the Brewers Association, nearly 3,500 craft breweries were operating nationally in 2014 — an about 125 percent increase over the 1,500 breweries operating in 2008.

"Battle brews over craft beer production caps" in Indiana.

As it pertains to alcoholic beverage initiatives, the current legislative session in Indiana has become fiendishly difficult to explain, and about as hard to handicap. Beer production caps have less to do with how many barrels a "small" Indiana brewer can brew and still remain small.

In my opinion, it has far more to do with the right of small brewers in Indiana to self-distribute, and more succinctly, how the state's traditional wholesaling tier feels about it ... and the extent to which Indiana's traditional wholesalers want to disrupt something they can't get a piece of.

Cher once sang of gypsies, tramps and thieves. She omitted leeches.

That's also my opinion, of course.

Battle brews over craft beer production caps, by Maureen Hayden (CNHI)

 ... Indiana now has more than 100 microbreweries on tap, with more in development. At Three Floyds, head brewer Chris Boggess said production caps, which he calls "stupid" and "arbitrary," are hindering the brewery's growth.

Three Floyds is poised to expand far beyond the 40,000 barrels it produced last year, with a $4 million investment in a new bottling line that could produce 150,000 barrels within five years.

“People keep saying, ‘Send us more beer,’ and that’s what we want to do,” Boggess said.
Standing in the way are alcohol distribution laws that date to the end of Prohibition. Designed to control an uncorked industry and collect millions in alcohol tax revenues, the 1935 liquor control act created a three-tier system that separated alcohol makers from retailers with a middleman - distributors.

Making it easier for Indiana wineries to ship wine?

Count me among those rooting for removal of these restrictions.

GRAPE SENSE: Legislation could remove onsite restriction, by Howard Hewitt (News and Tribune)

Wine enthusiasts have read about the great wines of Huber, Butler, Oliver, and Turtle Run wineries in Southern Indiana. But what if you’re reading Grape Sense in Marion or Peru Indiana? You just can’t pick up the phone and order some wine to try these great bottles. It’s prohibited by state law. And let’s admit, it’s a long drive.

There is seldom good news in Indiana on direct shipping laws but there is hope in the ongoing session of the Indiana legislature. Current law, in place since 2006, requires consumers to visit on site and make a face-to-face purchase before they can order online. It hurt Indiana wineries significantly when enacted and winery owners are excited it could disappear.

Diary: Indiana craft beer, and how drinking it at the State Fair and buying it at a farmers market may lead to civilization's collapse.

(My diary is the place for unexpurgated thoughts. Maybe I'll edit them later. Probably not)

Did you know that Indiana package stores believe Indiana beer and wine at the State Fair to be a bad idea?

Did you know Indiana package stores also oppose allowing small Indiana breweries to do what wineries have done with their products for thirty years running, and sell local beer at local farmers markets?

Hmm. Did I miss the press release in which Indiana package stores were appointed Official Godlike Overseers of the legislative process in Indiana?

I believe I must have. And it's really lamentable.

So let's just be clear, with a personal thought entirely unconnected with policies determined by my Guild, of which I'm a director: At times like this, heartfelt protestations of undying support and friendship from the package store association (as an entity ... certainly not individuals, whose opinions vary, although Big Red Liquors has openly advanced both these views, and one must express confusion as to why Big Red is doing so) -- well, shall we say, these sonorous proclamations of fidelity ring somewhat hollow?

With "friends" like these, who needs prohibitionist enemies?

Yes, I shall say so. I didn't use the word hypocritical, so give me that much. I might have, and no court in the world would rule against my choice of wording.

My hope is that the House will see past the grandstanding and approve a couple of bills that empower the small brewing business while taking absolutely nothing away from small package stores.

How to properly report the prospect of beer and wine at the Indiana State Fair.

If I had seen Chris Sikich's Indy Star article first, yesterday's post wouldn't have been made. This account is far better, and entirely non-flippant.

Has there ever been a better example of Indiana's fundamental weirdness than a state legislature banning beer and wine from the state fair because of littering?

Ban on alcohol at State Fair may end

Would you like to enjoy a cold beer or glass of wine at the Indiana State Fair?

The prohibition on alcohol sales at the fair, which has lasted more than six decades, may soon be coming to an end, thanks to changing attitudes and growing support for an emerging homegrown beer and wine industry.

Enacted in 1947 as a reaction to fair litterbugs, the ban is now considered by some to be an outdated vestige of blue laws that ought to be discarded.

Increasing support from State Fair officials, craft beer and wine producers, and some key state legislators makes overturning of the ban a stronger possibility this year, despite failed attempts in the past.

Beer and wine normally are not known as "booze", unless you're a yellow journalist.

You really have to wonder about the headline.

"Booze."

The attitude overall is flippant, beginning with the opening sentence. Then again, does journalism really exist any longer? Let's begin at the beginning, where the word "Indianapolis" is misspelled.

Booze could be Indiana state fair's newest attraction, by Hannah Troyer (TheStatehouseFile.com)

INDIANPOLIS — Those craving to wash down their serving of fried butter with a cold beer at the Indiana State Fair may soon have their wish granted.

Senate Bill 168, authored by Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, would allow the sale of alcoholic beverages during the State Fair.

“Because of the current statute in place, during the State Fair no alcohol can be sold. We have microbreweries and wineries that really would like to not only be able to display their products, but to sell their products,” Leising said. “That’s what I’m trying to make happen. It will be interesting to see if I can get support. It’s one of those common sense bills, I think.”

Hmm, that actually is sensible. And why is Indiana's one of only two state fairs nationwide to espouse Prohibition?

Alcohol was prohibited after the state fair of 1947 because, instead of throwing their beer bottles away, patrons littered the fairgrounds.

Of course, the prohibitionists never really die. They just slither back from behind a different rock.

While supporters believe the change will be positive, critics — including Drug Free Marion County — said the possible sale of alcohol is an issue. The group says the beverages may cause problems and threaten the “family-friendly environment” the state fair promotes.

“We feel that it brings along too many problems,” said Nancy Beals, prevention project coordinator for Drug Free Marion County.

It's important to remember, as Sen Leising specifies, that the bill concerns beer and wine made in Indiana. Bud, Miller and Coors cannot play. They'd like to. That's the part of genuine concern.

The lucky number is 74: BIGnews from the Brewers of Indiana Guild.

With a bit of snipping, here's a snapshot of craft beer in Indiana, courtesy of BIG executive director Lee Smith. Pay special attention to the 2014 dates and the 74 active breweries.

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BIGnews

Brewers of Indiana Guild 

October 29, 2013

2014 Important Dates

Winterfest: February 1
Bloomington Craft Beer Week: April 5-12
Bloomington Craft Beer Festival: April 12
Annual Meeting in Indianapolis: April 19
Circle City Beer Week: July 12-19
Indiana Microbrewers Festival: July 19

BIG on the road
November 13 NORTH Region, Iechyd Da
November 14 NORTH WEST Region, Three Floyds
More on the way!

Here we GROW again…
As of today there are 74 active breweries (including permitted second-location breweries) in Indiana, with 16 "in-planning"

ATC: Big Brother?
Just noticed this on the ATC website. Has it always been there? The Alcohol & Tobacco Commission Mission Statement includes the following:
“To protect the economic welfare, health, peace, and morals of the people of this state.” Good to know — Thank you, ATC, for keeping us moral!

Beer at the State Fair
Executive Director Lee Smith and Guild counsel Mark Webb appeared before the State Fair Commission last week regarding our proposal to have Indiana Craft beer sold during the Fair. Our discussion and PowerPoint were very well received. The Commission voted to endorse the proposal, and urged the General Assembly to pass legislation making it legal to serve/sell beer during the Fair. One commissioner abstained from voting, but all others voted in favor--a great sign! If our bill is adopted in the upcoming session, it could take effect in time for the 2014 Fair. Indiana is in a very small minority of states whose Fairs do not include beer.

BIG in the news...

BIG celebration in Lafayette last month! Lafayette Brewing, Indiana's second-oldest brewery, celebrated its 20th anniversary. Congratulations to Greg and the entire LBC team!

BIG Treasurer Chris Stanek, Crown Brewing, is featured in the "20 Under 40" series in this great article from the NW Times.

 "Aliens" Invade... Does their arrival complement our own great craft beer industry, or eat into your business? Oskar Blues comes to Indiana this month, as does Destihl. 

Two pieces on how the Government Shutdown affected our breweries, featuring People’s and Triton.

Clay Robinson & Barnaby Struve on Inside Indiana Business with Gerry Dick.

Halloween beers--cool concept!

New craft beer bar at Lawrenceburg casino.

Are you reading Beer Buzz every week? You should be! Rita Kohn covers Indiana craft beer from around the state in her weekly blog and in NUVO, Indy's alt-weekly. Make Rita happy by feeding her info about new beers, special events and honors, and she'll do her best to get the word out.

Chris Sikich continues his great series on Indiana's breweries in the Indianapolis Star.

Interesting Inside Indiana Business re: Hamilton County firm developer ready to launch iKeg, a tech product for brewery and distributor inventory management system.

“5 Things We Adore Right Now” features Bier Brewery’s Pumpkin Ale and Thr3e Wise Men’s Farmivore Pizza

And finally… if you enjoy frat-house humor, you may like this short video from Conan O’Brien, who sent “Triumph the Comic Insult Dog” to GABF this month. The aging frat-boy your Executive Director lives with thought this was hilarious. Check it out yourself.

Prepare your eyes to bulge out ...

... when you read Rita Kohn's list of new and planned breweries in Indiana, from Hope to Goshen, and from Granger to Chesterton.

New brew: Indiana awash in beer (at Nuvo)

But that's not all. Rita's also on another new brewery story, The Owner's Wife.

Brew and chew: Hardesty, Miller break new ground

Ted Miller's one of my favorite people in the business, and I wish him the best in this new project. For me, Indianapolis is becoming a more frequent destination, as well as a more fattening one. If only we had rail service ...

Basket Case Brewing Company, a nanobrewery in Jasper IN, starts serving on December 22.

Considering the amount of beer consumed in Jasper, doesn't it make sense to have a brewery there?

Basket Case Brewing Company is a nanobrewery brewing and serving beer 1.5 barrels at a time within The Mill House Restaurant in Jasper, IN. We at Basket Case strive to blend our love of beer and music to create rockin’ craft beers for the people of Southern Indiana.

Basket Case's opening weekend, an occurrence appropriately called The Revolution, is coming this Saturday, December 22.

Beer will be flowing at The Mill House Restaurant and live music will be provided by Justin LaGrange! Justin will start playing around 8pm. Will you be a part of The Revolution?!

They may not be nano for very long. You can learn more at Basket Case Brewing Company's page at Facebook, or follow the nanobrewery's Twitter account.

What's a nanobrewery, anyway? Reader RC provides the link to enlightenment: Pint Sized, at Slate.

(Nanobrewing is) commercial beer making in its most compact form. Similar operations are popping up around the country, their emergence boosted by America’s growing thirst for craft beer and evolving regulatory attitudes toward brewing. Nanobrewing provides an opportunity for skilled homebrewers to dip a toe into the commercial market, without having to find investors or take on crushing debt to secure the kind of funding required to start a microbrewery or brew pub.

Big Woods Brewing Company in Nashville, Indiana.

On September 21st, when Graham's truck was the chosen vehicle for a beer-buying road trip through Southern Indiana, our second stop was Big Woods Brewing Company in Nashville, Indiana. From Needmore, there is no direct route to Nashville; rather, looking out from the back porch at Salt Creek Brewery, one sees only the woods and hills comprising the combined acreage of Hoosier National Forest, Lake Monroe and Brown County State Park. We drove north to Bloomington, skirted the city on the southeast, and headed for Nashville, arriving in time for lunch. Above is the tiny original brewhouse. A larger one now operates across the alley from the original building, and the hand-filling of bottles was underway as we examined the layout.

Nashville itself is like a pocket Gatlinburg, and very much the arts, crafts and resort-type community. There was excellent food, beer and hospitality behind this chalet-style entrance to the Big Woods restaurant and taproom. I had a nitro stout ideal for the cool day, and the brewery's signature beer, Busted Knuckle, was my choice for the showcase. It's a 7.2% "light" Porter or Brown (according to the brewery) and reminiscent of certain Scottish-style ales (according to me).

The Salt Creek Brewery in Needmore, Indiana.

On September 21st, I borrowed Graham and his truck for a round of beer buying in Southern Indiana. The kegs we purchased were served at the Southern Indiana Craft Showcase the following day, and now they're appearing one by one at the Pizzeria & Public House. First stop was Salt Creek Brewery in Needmore, a town north of Bedford. As you can see, the brewery is located in a converted filling station.

Specifically, the brewing system occupies the former grease pit, making it among the most unique set-ups I've ever witnessed. The beers are good, too; out choice for the showcase was Colonel Klink, an Altbier.

The bar area fronts Salt Creek's grease pit brewhouse. Note the old gas pump on the left. There is a kitchen and family seating to the right, and evening music is a staple.

The owner/brewer, Brad Hawkins, shows us how oil cans can be adaptively reused as beer pitchers. I met Brad for the first time in September at the Eikosi Festival in Salem, and his plan of operation in Needmore is just what Indiana beer is about. He's making mid-range styles, educating consumers, and slowly ramping up beer strengths and character. The atmosphere is eclectic, but community-oriented and efficient. Both Graham and I are quite eager to make it back to Needmore for pints, meals and an evening's entertainment. I'll tell you when, and maybe you can meet us there.

Indiana Daily Student reports: "Rep. Young pushes for brewery bill to help local beer makers."

It's good to know that Rep. Todd Young patronizes Big Woods. He seems fluent about the local brewing scene. I've relayed word to him that I'm happy to give a Bank Street Brewhouse brewery tour, at his convenience.

Rep. Young pushes for brewery bill to help local beer makers, by Charles Scudder (Indiana Daily Student)

With Little 500 upon us, it’s as good a time as any to take a look at the state of America’s most popular beverage. The craft beer industry is booming nationwide, especially in the Hoosier state.

Rep. Todd Young, R–9th District, is cosponsoring H.R. 1236, the Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act, which would help local brewers. The Indiana Daily Student talked to Young about the bill and beer in southern Indiana.

Indiana wine at Bank Street Brewhouse: Let's try it again, from the top.

There are times in every person’s life when he or she has an excellent idea and the opportunity to test it out, and yet for whatever reason, the dots just won’t connect. When this happens, it doesn’t necessarily imply that the idea has been discredited, but perhaps only that it has yet to be properly implemented.

I published the following here at Potable Curmudgeon in September, 2009. Obviously, Josh Lehman has now moved on, but beyond inserting Matt Weirich’s name, and noting an ever higher level of acceptance for BSB’s food during the past six or so months, I stick by everything I wrote two years ago as it pertains to wine at Bank Street Brewhouse.

A renewed commitment to Southern Indiana wineries promised at the Bank Street Brewhouse (Sept, 2009)

I expend very little energy thinking about wine. This isn’t because I don’t like wine. It’s because I prefer beer, and having become renowned for preferring beer – in essence, being paid to drink beer – it’s what I drink and think most of the time.

Not all of the time, though, and drinking wine is an enjoyable busman’s holiday for me. Much of the reason why wine is enjoyable for me in limited doses is because I know comparatively little about it. It may be true that I know a bit more than I let on, and yet, overall, my knowledge base is rudimentary. I aim to keep it that way, not out of malice, but rather out of triage. I’ve neither the time nor the liver to become “expert” at a second drinking discipline.

These considerations matter because of a decision we made about the newest of our two businesses, Bank Street Brewhouse. Our goal with Bank Street Brewhouse is to accompany Chef Josh Lehman’s formidable cuisine with the beers we brew at BSB and the original brewhouse three miles away. It is a measure of how admirably Josh has succeeded in the kitchen that customers ask for a wine list, presumably having been trained to think that such high quality of food could not possibly be consumed without wine, as opposed to beer.

This is an errant assumption, and one that we’ll change with time. In the interim, we have not neglected the output of the vineyard. Rather, we have taken the position that if our locally produced beer stands the test of pairing with Josh’s culinary creations, so do local wines being handcrafted throughout Southern Indiana and wineries like Huber, Turtle Run, Thomas Family, Winzerwald, Butler, Best, Oliver and several others.

I can tally these wineries here without cribbing off the Internet, primarily because in the past year and a half, I’ve visited all of them save for Best and a couple others not listed here. At each there were greater and lesser wines, but the point is that at their best, these wineries make excellent products worthy of featuring as part of our effort to emphasize local beers and foodstuffs that come from small, independent or family-run operations.

We’re trying to stay consistent with these principles as it is possible to do so. Why should Southern Indiana wines be treated any differently? My own taste buds tell me that while there surely are classic wines from time-honored wine making areas of the world that are “better” than these, and I use that term rationally yet guardedly, locally made wines are good and getting better. They fit the bill of fare conceptually, and I believe some of them are better than just “good.”

Besides, a grape like Chambourcin is one grown right here. That’s local. That’s the point, isn’t it?

As with the tendency at one time for beer drinkers to prefer imports over American-made craft beers, I suspect there is an element of snobbery in this prejudice, which provides even more reason for me to reject the notion that for the BSB wine list to be suitable, there must be selections from somewhere else. This is bunk. I’m advising staff that we’re making a renewed effort to build a wine list that features Southern Indiana wines, and I believe we shall make it slightly larger than I first envisioned. Yes, BSB is all about NABC beer, but not to the exclusion of other local products worth enjoying and savoring. Come to think of it, shifting this knowledge back to the original location is a very good idea, too.

If I have to visit these Southern Indiana wineries again, and go through all those samplings a second time, I’m willing to make the sacrifice in the name of science, and local commerce. It's exhausting. Someone must do it.

My notion of constructing a wine program exclusively from Indiana wineries has not faltered because of any notable demerits in the concept. Rather, it never has been implemented properly, embraced by our staff, and sold to John Q. Public with the same passion we sell our beers.

Honestly, both our Indiana-only winery program and the accompanying distinctive spirits program have suffered because we haven’t invested enough money and marketing time in them. I take responsibility for this; so many other things kept popping up that required immediate attention that I’ve tended to neglect what always was viewed as a secondary mission. The wines and spirits have been orphaned, so to speak.

I am confident we can set this right. If we are to sell this idea, there must be something to sell (inventory) and a better way of educating about it. There are resources in Indiana winemaking that can help us make good choices. I’m willing to arrange trips to places like Madison to source wine from people like Steve Thomas. We can cross-market with these wineries, and perhaps re-examine the idea of joining the Upland Wine Trail as an associate member. We already have a prime cross-marketing opportunity with River City Winery – we’re a block apart, and we’re the only places nearby where both wine (from them) and beer (from us) can be purchased to go on Sunday.

Sun King rocks the GABF.

As you may know by now, our friends at Sun King in Indianapolis kicked major league medal-amassing ass at this year's Great American Beer Festival in Denver. It reminds me of Reggie "Mr. October" Jackson in the World Series back in '77. A state that already had Three Floyds within its boundaries did not need to be introduced to the craft beer world, and yet Sun King just might have launched the salvo that boosts the Hoosier state to new credibility. Right on, guys.

The full GABF scoop comes from BeerNews.org: Great American Beer Festival 2011 awards wrap up.

Indiana had the most winning rate of medals compared to entries by state, with a 19.2 percent winning rate. Specifically, Indiana won 10 medals out of 52 total entries.

Ogle Center's Bier Prost at Horseshoe Southern Indiana on Friday, August 26.

It was an experiment of sorts, shifting from a previous Bier Prost approach of beers from everywhere in the world, and narrowing it to exclusively Indiana-brewed beers (and Louisville's BBC), most of them transported to the venue in growlers poured from kegs at the Public House.



It seemed to work well. I was given a hard-working staff of four, and once they caught on to the names and placement, I was able to inform and educate the public about the beer, styles and breweries.



Thanks to the organizing committee, my servers and David Hawkins of World Class Beverage for the supplementary bottle donation. There was even a rare Josh Hill spotting!



Earlier: Ogle Center Bier Prost promo on "Fox in the Morning" on Friday, August 26.

People's Brewing Company Day at the Public House, with numerous other Indiana-brewed beers also on tap.

Chris Johnson, owner and brewer at People's Brewing Company, will be at the Public House tonight to help us celebrate the simultaneous tapping of six of his beers. Of course, the beers pictured below will be poured for consumption at the Pizzeria throughout the day, and the Public House opens at 5:00 p.m.

In addition, as the guest draft list shows, seven other Indiana-brewed beers (from Flat 12, Oaken Barrel, Sun King, Three Floyds and Upland) bring the total of Hoosier guest taps to 13.

But that's not counting NABC's own drafts: 15 of them, currently on tap. That's 28 Indiana beers in all, on tap at the Public House, right now.

Governor Mitch Daniels, chief executive beer wanker.

I never thought there would come a time when I’d thank National Review for being anything other than resembling a waste of healthy trees, but just when I was least expecting it, suddenly there’s value in it, as announced by the most misleading headline of the month, and perhaps of the year.

Mitch Daniels: Not a Light Beer Man

The article by a beer-clueless political commentator goes on to note this amazing admission:

His favorite beer, (Daniels) said, is Foster’s — but that’s only when he’s home. When he’s out, he likes to drink Grolsch or St. Pauli Girl.

We learn that the Hoosier state's first-ever Falangist governor is capable of making “it through at least two beers” in a setting, and that Foster's Lager -- Australian for “Totally Fake and Not Even Brewed There, Mate” -- is his favorite when being seen in public.

That's bad enough. Worst yet, while not “light” in name, all the beers mentioned are pisswater lagers.

But there’s still more: In a state with almost 40 craft breweries, St. Daniels still proudly drinks imports, and wretched ones at that.

Note to America: He's going to run for President. Don't believe a word of it, okay? His record in office is as bad as his taste in beer.