Hoosier Beer Geek 4
I had been on the fence about attending HBG4 this past Saturday. I couldn’t find anyone to go with, and I had never been to Sun King Brewery, so I wasn’t sure where I was even going. Thankfully, my friends Jon and Brian, who also play in the Tyler Bender Band with me, stepped up and so we set off Saturday evening to see what we had gotten ourselves into.
First, a little background. Hoosier Beer Geek is a blog formed by some Indiana natives who are passionate about craft beer. They do an excellent job of reporting on local events happening around the area, news from local brewers, and spice it up with some pretty off kilter banter every once in awhile. The group started this endeavor four years ago and so, on each anniversary, they celebrate by gathering some great beer, great food, and good people together to enjoy it.
Sun King Brewery, located at 135 N College Avenue, in downtown Indianapolis, has been blowing up recently, taking Indy by storm. I am certainly a fan of their brew, especially their Sunlight Cream Ale which is available in cans, something unique in the Indy beer market. Their tapping room, host to HBG4, is essentially a space carved out in their brewery with a wall of taps and some tables. Personally, I really enjoyed sampling beers that had come out of fermentors a few yards away from where I was standing.
Instead of Sun King’s usual offerings, they had graciously surrendered most of their taps over to local and regional breweries. Offerings from Brugge, Barley Island, Upland, Schlafly, and Sun King itself, were just some of the beer available on hand. There was also a great selection of hard to find bottles such as the fantastic Dogfish Head Red and White.
With your admission, you received a glass and 6 magical tickets. These tickets allowed us to get a full pour of any beer you would like. On top of that, we were able to get a sample of as many beers as you could muster. As if that wasn’t enough! There were also chips, salsa, fresh guacamole, and tamales that can change your life. To say this was an amazing deal would be an unforgivable understatement.
We arrived fairly early at the event, which meant we could procure samples at a steady rate. I recently had been introduced to Sour Ales when I was at a tasting for New Belgium and they had brought along some of their Lips of Faith collection. Brugge Brasserie, located in the village of Broad Ripple, specializes in Beligan beers and cuisine and brought along two of their Sour Ales. The first, Spider, left all of us thinking we had taken a swig of nail polish remover. It never smoothed out like I thought it might. The second however, Pooka, was incredible. I would say it was the beer of the event for me. It started off with a fantastic, lip smacking, sour punch but became so much more as you kept drinking it. It was enough that I got a full pour and two samples of it, just to make sure my palette wasn’t playing tricks on me.
Another stand out was the recently launched Damien Batch #666, a Belgian Golden Strong Ale, from Barley Island. Barley Island has always been one of my favorite local breweries and I try to make it up to their Noblesville location as often as I can to get my growlers filled. They have a history of producing short run batches that are incredible, and Damien does not disappoint.
Finally, Schlafly’s Pumpkin Ale was a nice reminder that Fall is coming amidst the 90 degree highs we are having in Indiana. I always appreciate a Pumpkin Ale that is not ashamed of what it is. Huge notes of Pumpkin Pie come through, although I wish it was just a little richer.
On top of all the great beer that was flowing, the Tamale Place provided some incredible food. Their chips and salsa were outstanding. Their tamales were incredible. There had to be 10 varieties to choose from, all sounding fantastic. I had a bean and cheese version and it was sublime. Even though I live on the opposite side of town from their West side location, I will be making the trip to enjoy another tamale very soon.
All in all, Hoosier Beer Geek 4 was an incredible night and my hat is off to the people who made it possible. After the great time we had, there is no question that I will be attending next year’s soiree. I will make sure to bring a couple friends as well.
