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 ...

Yet another fine day in Madison, Indiana.

Meet the BrewMouse.

Foot traffic was steady throughout the day.

Main Street was closed, and the soups, stews and chili were diverse and good.

My helper.

The homebrewing side of the ledger was represented with a Kentucky Common.

Madison's own Mobreki Brewing.

The BrewMouse originator, Rita Kohn.

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It was a beautiful day Saturday for the occasion of the Soup, Stew, Chili and Brew in Madison, Indiana. The missus assisted me in dispensing Steamboat Common and Community Dark samples inside a building adjacent to the food tastings out in the street. We poured the first shift, so to speak, and then upon Great Crescent Brewery's arrival (they were NABC's collaborators in the Steamboat Common project), we yielded the floor and made the usual stop at Thomas Family Winery for scrumpy and Scrabble before returning home via the Charlestown Pizza Company.

It also was my first chance to sample the wares of Mobreki Brewing Company, Madison's first brewer of the contemporary era. They're just beginning, so stay tuned. All in all, it was a long and satisfying road trip, and for those metro Louisvillians reading, take note that Madison's only 40 or so miles away.

Whole lotta steamboats goin' on, this weekend and next.

On Friday evening, I took a respite from Harvest Homecoming to pour beer samples in Jeffersonville at the Howard Steamboat Museum's annual fundraiser.

Next weekend, it will be steamboats yet again, this time upriver in Madison as the town hosts a celebration commemorating the bicentennial of the first steamboat journey up the Ohio River and back by Nicholas Roosevelt in 1811. Hanover College’s River Institute is coordinating a series of steamboat bicentennial events.

At the Soup, Stew, Chili and Brew in Madison next Saturday (October 15), NABC will unveil a "Steamboat Common" beer brewed collaboratively with our fellow Hoosier brewers at Great Crescent (Aurora) and Main Street (Evansville). The eating and drinking runs from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with festivities including tasting and judging soup, stew and chili, and live music. The Steamboat Common formulation likely will be the model for NABC's New Albany bicentennial beer, coming in 2013.

Lastly, keep this book in mind: “Full Steam Ahead: Reflections on the Impact of the First Steamboat on the Ohio River 1811-2011” from the Indiana Historical Society Press. It is a book of essays edited by Rita Kohn, the Hoosier state’s First Lady of craft beer appreciation, who to the surprise of no one was the motive force behind NABC's commemorative brewing of Steamboat Common. As always, we'll drink a toast to Rita with the tapping of the very first keg.

Rita Kohn and "True Brew" at Bank Street Brewhouse this afternoon, 4:00 p.m.

Don't forget: "True Brew" author Rita Kohn is at Bank Street Brewhouse today at 4:00 p.m.: Buy the book, she signs it, and we'll all enjoy a Progressive Pint.

Rita Kohn and "True Brew" in NA on August 7th. Buy it, she signs it, and we'll all enjoy a Progressive Pint.

"True Brew: A Guide to Craft Beer in Indiana" is a wonderful account written by a fascinating lady (and prolific writer). Rita's testimony was central as "Sunday growler" legislation progressed. Not a politician dared contradict her, and it was inspiring. Here's Rita, photographed by me earlier this summer during a brewers guild meeting at the Broad Ripple Brewing Company. The proud author poses with an advance copy of her book.

Rita will be in town on the 7th to autograph, discuss and help sell copies of her book. The appearance is courtesy of Destinations Booksellers, with whom NABC is promoting it. We decided to do it at Bank Street Brewhouse for a very simple reason: What good is a book about beer, without beer? Trust me when I say that even if you don't like beer, you'll want to come and meet Rita.

Rita's book has inspired me to try my hand at an extended volume, perhaps collected essays. How's this for a title: "Everything You Know About Beer Is Wrong."

Or, "Lite Never Makes Right."

True Brew, Rita Kohn's book about craft beer in Indiana, is coming very soon.

The proud author poses with an advance copy of her book, "True Brew: A Guide to Craft Beer in Indiana," as photographed by me a couple weeks back during a meeting at the Broad Ripple Brewing Company.

Rita's book inspires me to try my hand at an extended volume, perhaps collected essays. How's this for a title: "Everything You Know About Beer Is Wrong." Or, "Lite Never makes Right."

Playing odds & ends catch-up.

It’s an odds and ends sort of day. Cognizant of my recent shortcomings of timeliness, I might try to back-post a few things if there’s time tomorrow.

I hated to miss the first Winterfest, which took place on Saturday night in Indianapolis. It was a wintertime beer festival staged by the Brewers of Indiana Guild (BIG), and from all accounts a tremendous success. Some day there’ll be time for involvement with the guild.

Some day. Really.

On Friday, a detachment of the NABC Bank Street Brewhouse project development crew enjoyed a drive to Madison, Indiana on a balmy January day. John, Jared, Gregg and I dropped in on the inimitable Steve Thomas at my favorite Indiana winery to score a keg of delish Scrumpy, and then after a few Gale’s Hard Ciders and cheese appetizers, we adjourned to Shipley’s for cheeseburgers and refreshments.

There was general amazement upon looking at the beer menu at this prototypical Indiana tavern and finding Little Kings Cream Ale on tap … but of course, it was a typo, and only bottles were available. I had two, anyway, resisting the impulse the entire time to throw them at road signs while seated indoors – such was the power of youthful instinct in the body of an older man.

The burgers are fine, indeed, and prepared the old-fashioned way right in front of you on the griddle behind the bar.

After lunch, we investigated the 605 Grill on Main Street, site of the late McQuiston’s, where a new owners are trying to make a go of a short bistro-style food menu and six good draft beers on weekend nights, with hopes to expand operations at some point in future. We’ll be placing an occasional keg of NABC beer there and hoping for the best in their efforts.

Saturday was highlighted by my buddy Jerry’s providential decision to score two fresh, genuine Havana cigars for a two-hour session at the Public House bar. We puffed and sipped on a gently aged (well, several months) bottle of Schlafly Biere de Garde, followed by a dessert beer of Struise Tsjeesus.

On Sunday, I met with Rita Kohn from Indy’s NUVO alternative newspaper, and she recorded me for an oral history project. It’s the second such taping I’ve done in a year, which leads me to conclude (a) I’ve become old, and (b) it’s time to write that damned book locked inside me.