I like craft beer, and one of the things about living in the Midwest is just how much of it I have access to. There are approximately 180 breweries here in Indiana, and if I add the breweries in the four states surrounding Indiana(Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio), I have almost 1500 Breweries that I could get to in just a few hours. That’s a lot of beer, and I made it to every brewery in Indiana last year. I’m looking at working on one of the states nearby, but it’s gonna take a while!

When people find out that I have traveled to so many breweries, they often asked me which is my favorite. They also want to know who the best is. I sometimes struggle with these questions because I found some thing I liked at most of the breweries I visited last year. I found only a handful of breweries that I thought were making poor beer. I choose to keep that information to myself most of the time. Everyone’s palates are different, and that’s one of the reasons we can have such a vast array of beer being produced.

The rating of beer is a very subjective thing. One only has to look at Untappd to see this. The range that some good craft beer is rated is astounding. I’m generally very fair with my ratings, and probably don’t use it properly. For this reason one of my friends told me that you should never rate any of the beer when you’re in the profession. You have that option when you keep track of the beers on Untappd, I am seriously considering not putting a numerical number behind any of the other beers I try from now on.

Why I find this information to be interesting is I do a podcast with a bunch of other craft beer aficionados who often differ in their opinion of the beers we try. Some of them I find to be amazing, and then see the looks of my fellow drinkers around the table, and get that we all view these beers differently. I have been blessed with a palate that allows me to enjoy most styles of beer, and I’ve learned among my hard-core drinking friends that this is an anomaly. It’s why I can walk into a brewery and never worry about finding something I like. I was in a relationship with a woman who only drank sours. It was frustrating for me when I would research a brewery whose website would say they currently had a sour on tap, and then get there to find out it wasn’t true. There was usually a good reason for it, but my partner had to sit there with nothing to drink!

When I started drinking craft beer, most breweries were very similar. 20 years ago you could walk into any craft beer brewery, and see options like blond, red, and brown ales along with a wheat ale, and a Porter and/or Stout. I recently read an article in Brew & Brewing that discussed these styles, and how they have never lost popularity. I still think they are amazing beers, but they are rarely what I try when I go places. They were the beers that introduced me to craft beer, and the styles that I encourage people to explore if they want to become acquainted with craft beer. But our current craft beer population loves IPAs, Imperial Stout‘s, and sours. It seems like most of the other styles are rarely being discussed anymore.

People drink what they like, and they choose to drink those beers because they like them. It doesn’t matter if you agree with other peoples tastes, and that’s why I like a brewery to have multiple choices when I go there. Breweries should have something for everyone, unless they are very specialized. But just because a brewery doesn’t make a beer style that you like, it doesn’t mean they are a bad brewery. If you don’t like IPAs, there there are many breweries you may not be interested in because that’s their larger focus. I already said that you have tons of breweries to choose from, so just pick one that makes the styles you like.

While I enjoy every style of beer, I have developed recently a passion for traditional German style beers, as well as cream ales. This causes me to like a lot of breweries that other people look over when they are trying to find the next crazy beer. It’s another reason that some of these breweries don’t make it far in beer tournaments because a lot of people are beyond these very simple beers. But they are very hard to make consistently, and that is a beauty in and of it’s self. I’ve already written about some of the breweries that make good German style beer, and I’m happy that at least one in Indianapolis is doing amazingly well!(Guggman)

I have gotten a little bit off subject but I am trying to demonstrate how diverse the offerings is of beer is. For this reason, it’s hard to compare breweries who do very different things. But if every brewery was the same, I would not have had so much fun visiting every one of them in Indiana. There is a lot of amazing beer out there, and as a craft beer drinker, it’s your job to find it. And what I’ve noticed about good beer is we want what we can’t have. I was given a Yellow Rose Smash IPA from Lone Pint in Texas last year, and fell in love with the beer. Now I am trading beer with a friend in Texas so that I can have some. He can’t get some of the great beers I have up here, so it’s a relationship that works very well. I see lots of this going on frequently, and I encourage this over the black market that puts beer from other states on the shelves in places where it doesn’t belong with crazy price points!

So everyone has opinions about beer, and that’s a good thing. But we need to remember that we voice our opinions very loudly, we affect breweries in many ways. We don’t have to like all the beer being made, and I find some beer to be barely palatable. But somebody might like it a lot, and I am willing to respect that. The diversity in beer that’s available is a beautiful thing. I like being able to try so many different styles of beer. But I realize when we are too subjective, we lose sight of the bigger picture. I do not want to go back to the time when there was only a handful of breweries. In order for this to not happen, we just need to keep doing what we’re doing. More people than ever like craft beer, and with so many people experiencing it on a new level, I am glad there are good introductory craft beers out there. They may not be exciting to the trained tongue, but let them come to where we are on their own time!

I have found my experience with craft beer to be an exciting journey. I hope other people experience at the same way. You can write about what you like and you can post positive ratings on Untappd all you like. And you have a right to tell people when you don’t like something. We just need to be respectful, and I don’t think a brewery is bad if they have one or two beers I don’t like. This happens a lot, and it’s OK. You don’t have to like everything, but it does not it mean it’s bad. All I ask is that you remember that when you’re rating a beer.

I’m not trying to take the fun out of craft beer. We all have a voice, and we get to tell people what we like. We also are going to dislike some beer, and we have a right to voice that as well. I enjoy craft beer very much, and I’m sure you do as too. The good thing is there’s so much out there, so you’re never going to get to try every beer that you probably would like. We don’t need to waste time drinking beer we don’t, so it’s OK to be disappointed with some beer. I just hope that you like more that you try than not!

We have around 9000 breweries in this country. A lot of good craft beer being made! There really is so much beer, and there is so little time! Enjoy what you like, and remember your palate is different from everyone else’s. A lot of people are going to like that beer as well, but some people may not. My travels have sat me next to some people who seem to be critical of every beer I was able to present to them. That’s fine, but if you are finding more beer that you dislike then what you like, there might might be a reason for this. I just ask that you don’t be too critical of beer. I am reminded of the meme online quoting the Big Lebowski: “Well, that’s just your opinion, man!” And we know what they say about opinions!

So drink beer and enjoy it. Please do not be too critical of what you don’t like. I’m going to focus more on what I really love, because I want to stay a positive voice in craft beer. You do you and try to enjoy as much good beer as you can. If we have a chance to drink a beer together, then I hope we both like it!

The idea of beer cocktails was thrown around on a recent podcast I was a part of. I had a root beer stout from Garfield Brewery which we added a scoop of ice cream to to make a beer root beer float. I had gotten the idea from my friend Brandon Fry at Cedar Creek who adds a scoop of ice cream to his Darkest Achievement every December 21st. This is merely a variation of an island drink known as stout punch which we also re-create it on the podcast. It generally included Stout, cream rum, and egg. We re-created it using Coronado vanilla liqueur from Mexico which basically had everything but the Stout already in it.

Beer cocktails have long been seen in the form of Shandy’s in England where lemonade or lime soda is added to light beer. I’ve also written recently about the syrups they use in Berlin to add to their Weisse in order to sweeten it up. I made the argument that the beer slushy‘s are merely following suit americana. I’ve seen a lot of debate online recently about whether or not the slushy‘s are beer. I have already written extensively about it and I think they can be beer cocktails if you want them to be. Whatever they are, they are extremely popular!

Nothing seems sacred in this day and age where seltzers are rapidly becoming popular with beer drinkers, so it’s no surprise when the breweries come up with soda pop IPAs. I had come across them at Devils Trumpet back in January, and was really impressed with them until I tried one that was sickeningly sweet on last Thursday at the Tomlinson Taproom! But then I came across one called Rainbow Pop from Guardian that I found very satisfying. We were doing a podcast on fruited IPA’s, and I thought it would fit the subject!

What I wasn’t prepared for, was the arrival of Fruit Loops which would be added to the beers. I was questioning at first the introduction of Founder’s Moon Rambler when it was not a fruited IPA, but was enlightened when I was told that since it had milk sugar in it, it would pair up well with Fruit Loops added to it! I wasn’t sure what it was going to taste like, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised! This was actually quite delicious, but you wouldn’t have convinced me if I hadn’t tried it!

If I’ve lost anybody at this point, I understand. I wasn’t prepared to go to Funkytown myself. And then when the rest of the fruited IPAs were introduced, the second pour of each of them was done with Fruit Loops! And it’s probably no surprise that these beers which were already fruit forward had no problem pairing with the cereal. I never would’ve guessed this was going to be an experience worth writing about, but it was amazing. I really enjoyed the way the fruit felt on my palate laced with beer. It’s just like grown-up cereal. When I told a few of my friends about our experience on the podcast, some of them were not surprised at all. Maybe it’s because they know us and our antics, But today’s craft beer drinking population seems to be willing to try a lot of new things, no matter how weird they may seem at first!

Some of the other beers we put the Fruit Loops in on the podcast!

So I think I already told you about the soda pop IPA I was bringing to the adventure. Yes, we added the cereal to it as well. And I thought it was an even better pairing. But some of us were crazy enough to have put cereal in soda back in our younger days, so it’s kind of like craft beers is here to let us relive our stupidity. Only now it doesn’t seem so stupid! Don’t tell the kids about this, and I can’t stress that enough! This is delicious, and I’m not going to lie and say I won’t try it again!

So what’s next? I decided I wanted to put pineapple chunks in an IPA, and it worked as well! Now you can make IPA sangria and I’m here to tell you that it is never a bad idea! I don’t suppose there is a single fruit you can’t add to an IPA for an extended experience. If you’re going to fruit IPA’s in the brewing process, there should never be a rule about doing it afterwards. But don’t take my word for it. I am telling you you got to try this!

So while we’re on the subject, I also feel that the heavily Fruited Sours from the multitude of breweries that make them are screaming to be used for sangria. The options are endless, and while I didn’t have time to try it right here for this article, I encourage my readers to experiment. I will be at a brewery tomorrow that makes this style, and I will mention it to them. The forward fruit flavors in everything from the Pie-Face, Spin to Win, and slushy’s would create a great experience if you tossed a bunch of fresh fruit into the glass. This is uncharted waters were speaking of, but I kind of imagine it’s already in the works!

So I found the beer cocktails that I explored in this episode to be actually much better than I expected. I had an open mind in the interest of learning about the way beer can be enjoyed, and was really surprised how well all of this worked. When my nephew and I were enjoying the Lucky Charms, I had no idea how my weekend would end. I encourage you to check out A Gateway to Lesser Things in a few weeks when the episode about fruit IPAs is released. Then again check out everything we’ve done so far!

If you only want to drink your beer straight up, I am perfectly happy to toast you. Nobody needs to mess with beer for it to be good. But sometimes people want to have a little fun, and I hope this article can steer people at crazy parties in the right direction. Most people have cereal in their pantry, as well as fruit. The options are endless, and beers is here for you to play with, but only if you want to!

Unless you live in Chicago, some parts of northern Indiana, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and a few other small cities in the US, you may be scratching your head when you see the title of this blog. But the author has been aware of this holiday about as long as he’s been able to drink beer. And since I fondly look back at the days I spent living in South Bend, a town with a rich Polish heritage, I thought it would be fun to write a piece about it. I have been fortunate enough to spend time in Poland, and will draw from that trip a little bit in this article as well. While craft beer drinkers don’t need many reasons to drink good beer, I thought this post Easter holiday might be of interest to my readers.

The name Dyngus means “worthy,” or “proper” in Polish, and commemorates the baptism of a Polish prince in 966 on Easter Monday which brought Christianity into Poland. The holiday as we know it originated in Buffalo in 1961 when the aptly named Chopin Singing Society brought this tradition to America. The holiday includes parades, some neat traditions of flirting which involve boys sprinkling young ladies with water, pussy willows, and of course a lot of really good food, and excellent Polish beer!

When I became aware of the Holiday, I saw just the food, and parade. I always thought it was neat that the polish did Mardi Gras backwards, and someone once said they just wanted an extra day to hide Easter eggs! I remember going out with friends on this holiday and just enjoying the whole Polish American experience just being in the South Bend area. I even had a roommate who was actually from Poland, and Pawel, wherever you are, I dedicate this article to you. I miss the honey flavored potato vodka, and all the different Polish snacks you brought back from your trips to Chicago.

If you live in or visit many of the larger cities I mentioned at the start of this article, you can find historic Polish neighborhoods, and places to get good Polish food. I grew up around Pittsburgh, and learned about pierogis at a very early age. The Polish neighborhood on the Chicago northside is vibrant, and a good place to get important Polish beer. And because this is a beer blog, you probably guess that’s where I’m going with everything.

My appreciation for Polish beer began in 2007 when I was able to spend some time in the eastern European country. I became a big fan of beers made by Zywiec, Okocim, and Lech. I had friends living in Warsaw, and had a few chances to sit in the New Town Square having a few excellent beers. While most of them were just full bodied lagers, they were flavorful, and satisfying. So I was very excited when I got back to Indiana and found Polish beer was available in some liquor stores. I had Zywiec’s hoppy lager, but it was the Okocim Palone which solidified my lifelong appreciation for Polish beer.

For a while, the Palone was available in 22 ounce bombers at the Kahn’s on Keystone in Indianapolis. I was getting into stouts and porters very heavily at this time, and this dark malty lager was excellent. I would often pair it with whatever I was eating at night, and for a time, it was my go to beer. In researching this article, I tried to find some, but I discovered that it’s no longer in production!

So while I’ve had quite a few beers made in Poland, they are more being made as brewing is taking off in that country as it is everywhere. Baltic porters are popular, as well as hoppy Beers, and traditional lagers. Browar Wagabunda was new to me, and I’m intrigued by their Polish Rhubarb Wheat Ale. In addition, a lot of U.S. craft breweries are making Polish style beers, and I’ve had Leinenkugel’s Polish Fest Beer which I remember being excellent. The Polish Town Pilsner from the Long Island Beer Company also sounds like something I need to try!

So as I finish this article, I am anticipating picking up my six pack of O.K., also made by Okocim. Wes at Plainfield Discount was gracious enough to order some for me. If you happen to be on the west side of Indianapolis, help me make that case disappear. Dyngus Day is the Monday after Easter which is almost here. We drink good beer, so why not drink a Polish one on a Polish holiday? The one thing I will never get into in this blog is the difference between craft and import beer. I like to promote good beer wherever it’s from, nuff said!

So as drinkers of good beer, I hope you appreciate this article. I had fun doing a little research on Dyngus Day, and as it made me think about my time in South Bend, it was a trip down memory lane. If this is all new to you, I hope you found it interesting, and maybe sometime in the near future you’ll try a Polish beer!

As a beer writer, I try to have my hand on the pulse of craft beer, and though I really enjoy the history of it, I am also very interested in what is popular at the given moment. Since I wrote my piece on fruited sours, my travels have taken me all over the state of Indiana, and I’ve seen just how really popular it all is. I’ve made a few fans of sours, including my little brother who is now planning to hit breweries with sours on his vacation. No matter what you think about the style, this beer is exciting and the trend is just blowing up!

If you don’t believe me, just listen to what I experienced over this weekend. Hoosier Brewing released two amazing sours including a peanut butter and jelly one to much fanfare on Thursday. They had sold out their pre-orders, and I watched the rest fly out of the brewery. On Friday I visited 450 North who released 13 different sours that day, including two collaborations with Mortalis from Avon, New York. People were buying these beers by the pallet! Just just yesterday I got to spend time at the Guggman Haus Biergarten in Indianapolis where sours were being consumed left and right. Over the last month it’s the same story wherever I go. Fruited Sours are just that popular!

And though I mostly write about the Indiana breweries that are focusing on the style, there is much fanfare for sour beer across the country. According to Craft Beer & Brewing, sours are the sixth most popular style in the country. With so many breweries now brewing fruited sours, I see the style moving up in popularity even more. And just for researching these articles, I have had a sour from well over three dozen different breweries representing all corners of the country. But it is the town of Waunakee in Wisconsin I feel is the current fruited sour capital of the brewing world.

Located just north of Madison, Wisconsin, Waunakee is home to Humble Forager, Untitled Art, Octopi, Lone Girl, and Canada’s Collective Arts. While all of these breweries make at least one fruited sour, it is Untitled Art, and Humble Forager who are producing some of the best sours on the market. I am sitting on a lot of beer from these breweries, and I’m looking forward to enjoying them. I’ve already raved about the Mixed Berry Sour A La Mode from Untitled Art, but that beer and their Florida Weisse are two of the best sours I have had the pleasure to try.

It doesn’t stop there. I’m very excited about the fruited sours from the East Coast. I mentioned Skygazer in the last article, and I was able to try two more sours from them last weekend. They are excelling at the flavor profiles, and I would love to get my hands on another Watercolors Replay. I have told a lot of people about this brewery from North Haven Connecticut, and if you like sours, be on the lookout for their beer!

Two other breweries that you should watch for include California’s King’s whose Frose Grape Pineapple Upside Down is amazing, as well as RAR, from Cambridge Maryland. I look forward to trying more of their beer, and I cannot say enough about their Out of Order Coconut Cream Pie. It bridges the gap between sours and desert beer, and is just plain amazing. I’ve talked to a few other people who have had beer from them, and they only say good things.

So I am reiterating a lot of things I’ve said already, but as the summer approaches, I think sour beers are only going to get more popular. Cigar City, Urban Artifact, Braxton, and DuClaw also make great sours, and they are pretty easy to find. Along with good liquor stores, you can find a lot of canned sours at Taprooms which is where I’ve got to try many other sours lately. And as I’ve already said, they are even better on tap which is one reason you should always visit these breweries if you can! As I was finishing up this article, I was researching the Kentucky beer scene, and I plan on visiting the Hopkinsville Brewing Company, and Country Boy in the near future to try some of their sours.

And so with lots of breweries making so many releases, I understand that this is one style of beer I am never going to get to try most of the beers that are made. I’m OK with that because a lot of the different beers seem to be very similar. Since I really enjoy sours, I am glad there seems to be a new one coming out every week. My advice is to enjoy what you can get your hands on, and don’t worry about the others. But do try the beer from the breweries I have mentioned because they are doing some of the best jobs in this style. The weather is getting nice and no matter what you drink, be responsible, and enjoy your time!

One aspect of the current craft beer scene is the plethora of new breweries making amazing beer. I have written about how this has jolted older breweries into stepping up their game making better beer be available across-the-board. But what fascinates me even more is that there are breweries that are over 100 years old making craft beer. Two of the oldest breweries in the country are what I consider craft breweries. Many of these breweries got their start making very good lagers, and have changed with the times. This excites me as I appreciate the craftsmanship and history of these breweries. And as a historian, I occasionally want to write a piece about the history of brewing in America.

So I am going to talk here about the breweries still in existence that can trace their history back to before World War I. The big three got their start during this time too, and I will gloss over them, but I’m also going to describe what I consider regional breweries. It may be a stretch to call a couple of them craft breweries, but they are still making full bodied American lagers which largely disappeared from the American market with the introduction of light beer. These breweries such as Wilkes Barre’s Lion Brewing have long been producing family recipes that are a cut above what I consider domestic beer. Some of them are independent, and a lot of them have seen multiple owners across the years. I also feel their history is vital to the story I am telling. So I will start in 1829, and go forward.

If you’ve been drinking beer for any amount of time, then you are aware that D.G. Yuengling is the oldest Brewery in the United States. They were founded in 1829, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and have been making great beer for most of that time. Their Porter, and Chesterfield Ale, are two of my favorite beers made by them, and the Black & Tan is a blending of those two beers. Recently they collaborated with fellow Pennsylvanian company Hershey on a chocolate Porter which has gained quite a bit of notoriety. When most people think of Yuengling, it’s the lager which comes to mind. I personally enjoy that beer and have been drinking it for over two decades. I enjoy its full flavor, and it’s a good session beer.

I currently live near Terre Haute, Indiana, so it excites me greatly to be so near the second oldest brewery in America! While they may not have been operating the entire time, this author feels there’s no reason to overstate this point because prohibition shut most of the breweries I’m covering down for over a decade, at least for the process of making beer. While their story begins in the 19th century, it was the introduction of Champagne Velvet in 1904 which gained them quite a lot of popularity well into the 1960s. With a recipe using flaked corn, it was a variation of the Cream Ale, and a NA version was made during prohibition. Throughout much of the early 20th century, their lineup included pale ales, stouts, and other beers we would consider craft styles.

In the latter part of the 20th century, The Terre Haute Brewing Company would see national distribution, and the ownership by larger breweries until ultimately Mike Rowe got the ownership of Champagne Velvet back from Pabst around 2000. They produced the beer for a while, and now currently that brand name belongs to Upland in Bloomington who gives justice to the beer’s legacy. The Terre Haute Brewing Company was never really gone, and in 2015, they began brewing the excellent craft beer that people across the state of Indiana are now currently enjoying.

New York City’s F.M. Schaefer was founded in 1842 by German immigrants who produced excellent beer that was served at both Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Mets games. They saw much success in the early 20th century, and were ultimately purchased by Strohs in 1982, who were purchased by Pabst in 1999. Now after 40 years, Pabst is resurrecting this Manhattan breweries legacy in the city.

Speaking of Pabst, they can trace their lineage back to 1844, making them the third oldest brewery in the country. They are best known for their Blue Ribbon which is a very tasty full bodied American Lager. It has a cult following which makes its way even into craft beer drinking groups. But they are venturing into true craft beer with a lot of their recent releases. They make a very good hard coffee ale, as well as an Irish ale called McSorely’s. They also own the rights to other beers like Ballantine which are excellent ales. Whatever else you may think about them, they clearly straddle what I consider to be craft beer.

Minhas Craft Brewing was originally the Joseph Huber Brewing Company who started way back in 1845. They had a rich history of making a wide variety of beers, and even made the Berghoff line for the famous restaurant in Chicago. While they are widely known for their full bodied American lagers like Mountain Crest and Boxer, they produce dozens of craft beers in their Lazy Mutt line. I appreciate all that they have done for American Brewing, and I’m a big fan this this brewery!

Hudepohl-Schoenling became “Cincinnati’s brewery” in 1986 when these two giants merged, and Hudepohl can trace their history back to 1852. They do a lot of contract brewing, and still make some nice beers, including the Hudy Amber. Christian Moerlein Brewing, also from Cincinnati and no youngster to the game starting back in 1855, now owns the rights to these beers. I’ve enjoyed a lot of beers from Christian Moerlein who are continuing the legacy of these ancient Cincinnati Brewers!

FX Matt Brewing in Utica, New York can trace their lineage back to 1853. I have enjoyed beer made by this brewery for a very long time because their Saranac labels were some of the first craft beers I was able to try back in the late 90s. They also contract brew for many breweries, and continue to be active. If you live on the eastern seaboard, the Saranac beers are widely available.

It was about this time that two of the largest breweries in the country also got their start. In 1852, Anheuser-Busch began brewing in St. Louis. Three years later Miller opened the doors in Milwaukee. I would like to think that the beer they were making back in the 1850s was probably quite good by today’s standards. What is really interesting is that both these breweries started small. And just like all the other stories I’ve told, they worked hard to get their start, and it was only people like Adolphus Busch, and Frederick Miller who used their marketing skills to get national distribution. I like the history of brewing in America, and even the story of the big three has exciting twists!

1855 also saw the beginnings of what would become the Genessee Brewing Company in Rochester, New York. They have long been making full body lagers, and even a cream ale. I recently tried a honey brown from them. I looked at Untapped for this article, and I am happy to see them venturing into craft beer.

Stevens Point Brewing is from the town of the same name in Wisconsin. They opened shop in 1857, and have been operating out of their tiny brewery ever since. Their distribution is limited, but I have been able to get it from time to time here in Indiana. I looked at the beer they’re making on Untapped, and I think I need to make a trip there sometime soon!

The last brewery that I will cover that opened shop prior to the Civil War is the August Schell Brewery from New Ulm, Minnesota. Since 1860, they have been making beer that has always been a cut above regular domestic beer. Their distribution is also limited, but on a trip to Wisconsin a few years ago, I got a six pack of their Fort Road Helles. It was a flavorful beer, and just thinking about it makes me want to try another beer by this brewery!

The Frankenmuth Brewery, in Frankenmuth Michigan can trace their ancestry back to 1862. I had a few beers from them a few years back when they were distributing in Indiana. I enjoyed everything I remember trying which included the Dunkel, and an IPA. The breweries that I’ve mentioned in the above paragraphs are all doing well because they are all well-established breweries making craft beer. The current environment is friendly to such breweries, and I’m happy to see breweries with over 150 years still doing well!

In 1867, Jacob Leinenkugel opened his brewery in Chippewa Falls Wisconsin. They eventually became one of the most popular brewers in Wisconsin. I have always been a big fan of Red Ale which I used to enjoy every time I visited Chicago. They are owned by Miller Brewing, but still remain autonomous. While their Shandy’s have gained immense popularity, it is there other beers that I still find very palatable, and exciting. Their Fireside Nut Brown, and Snowdrift Vanilla Porter are two of my favorite.

Straub Brewing in St. Mary’s Pennsylvania has a Brewing heritage that goes back to 1872. Family owned and operated, they have long been making excellent beer. I have been a big fan of the Straub Dark ever since I tried it. They now produce a large variety of craft beers alongside their traditional Pennsylvania lagers. I would’ve liked to have visited the brewery in November, but I drove by well before they opened, and could only get a picture.

In 1873, Coors began brewing in Golden Colorado. For a long time they were highly sought after beer when they were only available west of the Mississippi. There is even a famous movie made about a beer run for it which I don’t have to even mention by name! There is nothing craft related about current Coors products, but I would like to say that the Blue Moon line are excellent beers that I can enjoy because of the style!

The Third Street Brewhouse in Cold Spring, Minnesota can trace it’s ancestry back to 1874 when it was started by George Sargel who named the brewery Cold Spring Brewing. This brewery has always tried to be different from domestic American breweries. In 2012, they became the brewhouse that they are now. I don’t know anything about this brewery, but I am very glad to include them in my article.

I have already mentioned Berghoff, and they began brewing their own beer around 1887 in Fort Wayne, Indiana for the restaurant in Chicago. By 1898, they were brewing in Chicago. Later, they had their beer brewed at Huber and even owned the rights to that brewery. In 2018, They began brewing their own beer on Adam’s Street in Chicago.

Anchor Brewing can trace their ancestry back to 1896 in San Francisco. The brewery was about to go under in 1965 when Fritz Maytag purchased the company, and saw this brewery be revitalized in the early years of what would become the first wave of the craft beer movement. The Anchor Steam Beer is a legacy to the old gold rush beers, and an excellent example of what some people refer to as a California common ale. I have had most of the beers they make, but it is their Christmas Ale that I most enjoy. I have had every variant since about 2004, and I like that they change the recipe slightly each year.

In the ensuing years prior to probation, several more breweries would get their start. Dubuque Star Brewing in Iowa began in 1898, and is still making good Pale Ales. Lion in Wilkes-Barre has been brewing since 1905 and has a solid line up of good beer. In 1909 Spoetzl Brewing got their start in Shiner Texas. Their Shiner Bock has been a very popular beer among craft beer drinkers for a very long time. Last fall I finally got to try their Oktoberfest which was excellent!

I had a lot of fun researching these breweries for this project. Certainly a lot of breweries got their start a long time ago, and I am happy they can be a part of the current craft beer movement. I enjoy beer from around the country, so I’m going to try to get beer in the coming months from the breweries that I mentioned that I have never tried. I used a lot of sources for this article, and I offer the picture below as my bibliography.

I have watched new styles of craft beer hit the market over the last couple of years. The Hazy IPA became very popular, and is still one of the most widely produced variants of the IPA. Dessert Stouts have become so intense that some breweries are almost focusing on nothing but them. While the styles above create divisions among craft beer drinkers, this is small compared to the stir that heavily fruited sours are currently creating. They are becoming highly sought after, and a lot of people are paying a lot of money to get their hands on them. And some people don’t even consider them beer, saying they are more of a beer cocktail. And some people think there’s just too much hype for these beers which sometimes taste just like a smoothie, or juice. No matter where you stand on this matter, it’s hard to deny the popularity of these styles!

I have been drinking sour beer as long as anyone. I got to go to Germany in 2007, and first tried Berliner Weisse in Nuremberg where the bartender threw a pixie stick into my beer. The contrast of sweet-and-sour in this beer excited me. Then I got to Berlin and found the servers carried the green woodruff syrup called Waldmeister with them, and added it to the Berliner Weisse right at the table. It was sickening sweet to my palate, but that’s how they do it in Berlin! I got back to Philadelphia a week later and sitting at the now defunct Nodding Head Brewery, I sampled a straight Berliner Weisse. It was pure sour heaven!

Across the next couple of years, I tried my hand at Brewing with a friend. While I enjoyed the process, I can honestly say it was a lot of work. John Kinzfogl and I once made a Berliner Weisse in which we added blue raspberry Jolly Ranchers. It was quite interesting, and maybe very forward thinking at the time! Across the next decade I watched sours slowly gain popularity to the point where here in Indiana we began to have sour/funk fests. Every fruit imaginable was added to Gose,Weisse, kettle sours, and the rest of the gamut. But nothing could prepare me for what was to come!

While I feel I am very knowledgeable about beer, I may have discovered heavily fruited sours late in the game. I have chosen to use the term above as a wide umbrella for the style of beer I am discussing. Across-the-board brewers start with a Berliner Weisse base, and then add tons of fruit and spices creating a very thick beer. Heavily fruited sour is an accurate term, but the brewers have many of their own names for the beers they make. The first time I became aware of these beers was about a year and a half ago when I was told about beer slushy’s at 450 North outside Columbus, Indiana. It sounded crazy, putting puréed fruit in beer! Nevertheless, I knew I would have to try them!

The author’s first time trying “beer slushy’s”. The first one he tried was the orange flavored Golden Lion. After trying nearly 100 heavily fruited sours, it’s still probably his favorite!

When I finally got to 450 North, I decided to try a flight . If you’ve only been able to have this style of beer canned, I can honestly tell you it taste far better on draft. They say to drink it fresh because of the fruit, and it certainly taste fresher at the brewery. The first beer I tried that day was called Golden Lion. It tasted like the best orange juice I have ever had with a hint of beer on the finish. I don’t think I could go for this flavor all the time, but at that moment it was amazing. Since then I’ve tried scores of fruited sours, and only Untitled Art’s Florida Weisse(also made with orange juice) came close. I have made several trips back to 450 North, and I’ve tried a lot of great Slushy’s, but the Golden Lion is still my favorite!

A few months later as I was visiting all the breweries in Indiana, I got to Hoosier Brewing in Greenwood. They featured three different lines of fruit sours, but I think their Superfruit line is what turned me onto their beer. The first one I tried was Black Current, and the sour flavor of this beer was immensely delicious. I have been able to have many different fruited sours in their taproom, and stand by my comment that this beer is best drank fresh on draft. Along with the Superfruits, Pie Face, and Spin to Win are the lines the brewery uses to present their sours. Hoosier keeps making great sours in different styles. I think they get pie flavor down right in the Pie Face beers, and the Spin To Win are very interesting beers that taste remarkably like fruit smoothies. Some of them worked well on my palate, and some were just interesting!

I get it. You may not live close to a place producing these beers, and perhaps you like the style, and that’s great too. The flavor does travel well and is still an amazing experienced from a can. It’s the only way I’ve been able to experience Untitled Arts who I feel may do this style of beer as well as anyone. It was their Florida Weisse that turned me on to their excellent work in fruited sours. They also have a Pixie Mix style which makes me think back to the first Berliner Weisse I had back in Nurenberg! The fruit punch Pixie Mix was superb and it’s worth noting that a lot of breweries are making fruit punch sours right now. I was also able to try while researching this article a collaboration between Blackstack and Untitled Arts called Mixed Berry Sour A La Mode. If you like mixed berry crisp with ice cream, that’s what this beer reminds me of!

So with two awesome breweries making heavily fruited sours in the Indianapolis area, I wasn’t surprised when juggernaut Sun King threw their hat into the arena. They stick to straight flavors of fruit much like the Superfruits from Hoosier. Vince Van Mango was amazing and I never realized how much I like mango for its distinct almost peach like flavor! They offer these beers at their brewery as singles. When I was there, there were three different varieties to try. I’m slowly becoming impressed with what this brewery does, and if you live in the Indianapolis area, you need to try these new sours from Sun King. In addition to everything mentioned, Guggman House offers great fruited sours in their German style beer garden.

If you don’t live in Indianapolis, you still probably have access to this style of beer. I tried many different fruited sours from around the country for this story. I’m sure that there are many breweries nationwide dabbling in the style, and you will continue to see a lot more of it. RAR brewing in Cambridge Maryland makes some amazing sours. My friend Mike gave me a coconut cream sour in their Out of Order series that was amazing. In nearby Baltimore, Duclaw is making similar beers. Humble Forager in Waunakee, Wisconsin joins Untitled Art making great fruited sours. Skygazer in North Haven, Connecticut is doing a great job, as is Cincinnati’s Urban Artifact, and Rancho Cucamonga, California’s Kings Brewing. This style of beer is here to stay, and only getting more popular!

When I first heard about this style of beer, I never imagined I would like it so much. There is a great variety in the style from the almost smoothie beers, to the straight sour ones that I feel are true to the Berliner Weisse style. I got to go to Dot & Line last weekend while I was in Fort Wayne and got a beer called Fruit Shooter. This beer featured mango, passion fruit, and guava. It was one of the sourest fruited beers I have yet to try. I really liked it and wish the brewery success as they dabble in this style. I’ve heard a lot of breweries are interested in making these beers, and I wish them all success!

As I collected a lot of beers in the style for the article, I had a few extras to trade and share. I made trips to northern Indiana last weekend and the weekend before visiting people who didn’t have access to many of these beers. I shared a 450 North sour with Jade at Fort Wayne’s Deer Park, which was enjoyable. I also got to have some with my friend Kelly down in Jeffersonville which also was fun. And last Sunday, I was able to stop in to 5’s Tap House in Anderson where we sampled a couple of these fruited sours. Everywhere I go, people are anxious to try these beers, and that’s exciting!

Maybe you don’t like the style of beer. If that’s the case, I give you props for reading this far! Still as someone who wants to see craft beer grow, I like anything that brings more people into the realm of craft beer drinking. I’ve spent enough time at 450 North to enjoy all the people that come to experience craft beer because they have heard so much about slushy‘s! I consider them a great place to start. If you can make it down to Columbus, Indiana, give them a visit. Katie and company are friendly, and they have some really great beer. They’ve recently started making heavily fruited IPA’s which I got to try last weekend. They do these really well, and maybe this is a trend that will catch on as well. Devils Trumpet in Merillville, Indiana is doing soda pop IPAs which are not strictly sour, but in a similar wheelhouse.

So I don’t always drink this style of beer, but as a fan of sours, I can appreciate what these breweries are doing. This style of beer has always been added to. The Germans added very sweet syrup, and in my opinion, American brewers are just currently following in the spirit. As long as you don’t hate juice, this style of beer is interesting. I like to stay relevant in beer trends, and as many more people approach craft beer, heavily fruited sours will draw lots of people in. Sour beer has often been a gateway into craft beer. Some people only like sour beer, so there’s no reason for this style not to remain popular for a very long time. I like craft beer because brewers experiment, and there really is no bigger experiment then this style of beer!

As I finish this article, I am enjoying a pint of the Mixed Berry Sour A La Mode from Untitled Art. While I am partial to Indiana beer, I think I know the brewery that does the style best. So I will drink my local stuff with reverence and enjoyment, as well as keeping tabs on the excellent sours being made in Wisconsin. I like sours, and I never expected to like these heavily fruited ones as much as I do. There is something truly amazing about them, and it may well change the face of craft beer. I truly don’t know how popular this beer will become, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

If you’re reading this article, you have either tried this style, or you haven’t. Maybe you already like the style, and applaud how good it is! Unless you absolutely hate sour beer, I encourage you to try one. I think it captures the essence of summer beer, and perhaps the popularity of this style will only grow in the coming months. I like beer, and while IPAs and Stouts are my favorite beers, I consider sours to be a close third. Heavily fruited sour beers are here to stay, and like it or not, are heavily sought after. The breweries making them come out with new ones every week. So no matter what you think about this style, please understand that this is good for craft beer, and in my mind, that’s all that matters!

As I visit Taprooms, I am just amazed at the selection of beer available to us now. We have over 8000 breweries in this country and a lot of them are making amazing beer. The selection has never been better, and no matter what kind of beer you’re looking for, there is something for everyone in the craft beer world. I love trying new beer and just this weekend my friend Chris and I attended the Frigid Ferkin Festival at 2Tom’s In Fort Wayne where we had a dozen amazing limited release beers to choose from. No matter where you go, there is more beer than ever!

I travel throughout my state, and the country, and the selection of beers available has never been this amazing. I think that as new brewers get on the scene making amazing beer, everyone has stepped up on their game. It seems every week I’m finding something new that impresses me, and this is a good problem to have. I used to walk into a brewery and only have a few beers to choose from. Now places usually have at least a dozen. It’s another reason I think I chose the right name for my blog!

I consider myself a beer traveler as I make it to places all over the country. Many of the places I used to go to had a beer scene long before what we have in Indiana blew up. Now there’s nowhere beer is not amazing. You don’t have to divide 8000 by 50 to see that there is at least a decent sized beer scene in nearly every state. And many of the great beers that make it to me from other places in the country give me another reason to be excited when I get to go to their actual Taprooms. More craft beer than ever is being consumed by more people than ever, and that reason to celebrate. I want to see all these breweries be successful, and the more beer they make, the more beer there is for people to try!

When I go to breweries, I usually have over a dozen beers to choose from. That’s about double of what I used to find when I went to places. And many other places have dozens of beers on tap. That’s a lot of beer, and as I travel, I find it’s a good idea to do a flight. Unlike domestic drinkers who are loyal to a specific lager, craft beer drinker celebrate diversity. And if you order a flight, please take care of your bartenders and servers because this is extra work. At 450 N. in Columbus this Friday I watched my friend Katie scrambling to fill flight orders! It’s a great way to try it lots of beer and I know it can be fun. Not to mention that if you’re on Untapped, it’s more fun to check in four beers instead of one.

And on the subject of Untapped, it’s a great app, but be mindful of some of the pitfalls that come with it. While it’s a great tool to see what beer is available at breweries, I try not to look at the ratings people have given beers because beer drinking is so subjective! I was at a bottle share at a brewery in northern Indiana with someone who was very critical of a lot of beers that I like. It’s nice to use Untapped to check in the beers you try, but make your own decisions on what you like, and get to try. A lot of people use the rating system differently, and this this is important when looking at the site. Many business decisions are being made off of what’s going on on Untapped, and this doesn’t always help Breweries. We make a lot of good beer in this country and abroad, and not everyone is going to like everything. There’s a reason there is so much beer available, and we should celebrate it. Everyone’s palate is different, and that’s a good thing.

The environment of craft beer is very different from when I started drinking over 20 years ago. Good beer seemed few and far between, and visiting a Taproom was a very special occasion. Having so many more available now has not lost its luster. But you know we can’t spend all of our time in Taprooms unless we work there, so the decisions we make are very important. Fortunately a lot more people are making the same decisions and that’s why craft beer is so popular. Find what you like and try to visit as many places as you can. I’ve traveled my entire state and while there are exciting places hours away from my home, I am blessed to have taprooms only a few blocks from where I live. It’s important to drink locally, but I’m sure you already know that!

So drink the beer you like and enjoy it wherever you are. There’s a lot of it out there, and you have a chance to drink the best beer that we’ve had in a long time. Find what you like, and embrace it. I like to write about beer because there are so many good beers being made right now, and this makes me smile. Wherever you live, please make sure to enjoy the beer that’s made near you. We really do have a lot of great beer to choose from, and I’m so happy to be a part of it!

I believe craft beer is in a really good place. I’ve been doing research, and I think I have the statistics to prove it. In 2018, craft and import sales were all growing while overall beer consumption fell. The big three breweries(You know who they are!) are watching their hold on the US beer market slowly dwindle. If they weren’t worried, they wouldn’t have bought so many craft breweries to put under their umbrella! When the numbers come out for 2020, it’s safe to say that four out of every 10 beers consumed in the US are either a craft or an import beer. It’s a far cry from even 15 years ago when the big three probably controlled 95% of the market. As of 2019, they barely have 63% of the market! It seems to me that there is far too much good beer out there for the mass produced tasteless beer to out sell craft beer forever!

I will be writing a future article about craft breweries that can trace their ancestry back to before prohibition. A lot of these breweries adapted with the times and to stay relevant, make a lot of good craft beer. It’s interesting to note that craft beer as we know it developed in the late 60s-early 70s right about the time that light beer was introduced! That can’t be a coincidence. Those first breweries in that initial wave had to work very hard in a very small market. Most people weren’t even aware of craft beer until the 1990s when there were less than 300 breweries in the country. By the end of 2015, there were 4,144. This number surpassed the 4,131 breweries in 1873 which was the pre-prohibition high watermark. In 2019 the numbers doubled and we had 8,275 breweries in the US. The numbers are still growing and we might have as many as 9000 by the end of this year!

9000 breweries makes for a lot of great places to drink beer. No matter where you live, the odds are good that something is nearby. When I canvassed the entire state of Indiana last year, I was impressed with the overall quality of beer. And not everybody was making crazy beer either. Some of the best breweries I visited are excelling making traditional styles of beer. And I was talking to a friend the other day who tells me if you really want to know the quality of beer made at a brewery, you should try their Pilsner or Lager. The simplicity of these beers is sometimes an excellent way to appreciate the craftsmanship of the brewery.

Another reason I think that craft beer is in a good place is breweries are not content to rest on their laurels and continue to experiment. Just this weekend I came across something very unique at the Devil’s Trumpet in Merillville. They are making lactose infused IPA’s that are then fruited. They call these Soda Pop IPA’s and they were quite good. Fruited beer is all the rage right now, and craft beer drinkers either love them or hate them. I think it’s funny that five years ago someone shared an article with me that was discussing the end of craft beer. It was on the Daily Beast website and said that fruit beers would cause the end of craft beer as we know it! Sometimes people are really wrong!

I have been writing about craft beer for over five years. Over that time the subject of a looming crisis has often been a subject of interest. I want to look back at my first blog when I discussed that breweries come and go. I have certainly seen all over the state of Indiana where a new brewery opens where one shut down. And I’m talking outside of Covid here. It’s sad that some places just aren’t going to make it. We see this in restaurants as peoples’ tastes change. I know just in my backyard nearly a dozen breweries are set to open this year. There’s still plenty of small towns and entire counties that don’t have a brewery that I think could support one. I have traveled to nearly every corner of the state I live in and there literally is a brewery at every corner. It’s an exciting time to drink craft beer because we just have so many options to choose from!

So the numbers seem to indicate to me that craft beer will continue to grow as long as brewers are making excellent beer. New generations of drinkers now come up in a society that sees craft beer differently then the time when I grew up. I collected beer cans in the 80s for extra money, and while I liked the diversity and colors of the beer cans, they all smelled like piss. And that’s the thing with domestic beer because when it warms up, it is just gross. So it took me a long time to appreciate beer from the traumatic experience. Fortunately for me I turned 21 and was in a town that had a microbrewery. And I had a friend in New York who told me there was really good beer out there and you just had to know where to look for it! I remember my first stout back in 1997. It was like nothing I had had before and I owe my love it’s a craft beer to Horace sharing with me a Murphy’s Irish Stout!

None of us knows what the future will hold, and hopefully we get past Covid soon enough. In the meantime, I feel that breweries have an opportunity to excel in these times. I was in many breweries this weekend and I’m happy that sometimes it was hard to find a seat. People are embracing craft beer at a rate I have not seen before. When I talk to people about what I do as a hobby, even people that don’t drink beer often at least tell me one that they like. The beauty of craft beer is that it is so diverse and there are hundreds of styles to choose from. I tend to like most beer, and of course this is why I named my blog Somuchbeersolittletime!

As I finish up this blog I’m in Lake County Indiana. It’s early on a Sunday afternoon and the place I’m in is starting to fill up. I like being able to visit breweries and the fact that I get a different experience at each one of them is one reason I like craft beer. I was in South Bend yesterday, and on the second floor of the fancy Tippacanoe Place, the Studebaker Brewing Company is making some superb beer. There literally are breweries everywhere, and if you like craft beer, you have no reason to complain. So if you have time and the interest get out and explore the breweries, no matter where you are there’s plenty of them to enjoy. Hopefully then can see for yourself just how great craft beer in our scene at large really is!

The author did a lot of research for this article and most of the statistics were obtained from the Brewers Association. I also mentioned the Daily Beast where is the article I mention can still be found. If you go to their site, search for “Will the Craft Beer Bubble Burst?”

I think this article will resonate with a lot of readers. Most of us collect beer, and while we like to crack open a decent beer from time to time at home by ourselves, the consumption of craft beer is in and of itself very social. One of my favorite bands Rush talks in “Time Stands Still” about having a chance to spend “an evening with a drink and a friend!” I think there’s very few things finer than being able to open up a good beer with a neighbor and I’m blessed to have that right now. I have friends across the country and I always look forward to having a beer with them. On a recent trip through Pittsburgh, I stopped in to see my friend Tony and that Saturday night was an excellent night of discussion with a few great beers. This is what it’s all about. We all collect beer, and we need to take the time to drink the best of it with those we like and care about.

If you are into a craft beer, the odds are good that you have a few friends that are as well. We all like to go drinking in Taprooms, and visiting Breweries, but sometimes it’s nice just to hang out at home with a few other aficionados tasting the best beer out there. As someone who travels around a lot, I am able to get my hands on great beer. I have almost too much of it! I have always tried to put together bottle shares, but in the recent months I now am hosting one that I think will be a great way for all of us in the group to keep our collections at fairly healthy levels. This isn’t the only or best reason to do bottle shares, but there is so much beer out there, and we don’t have to drink all of it by ourselves. Drink with your friends, and remember a bottle share is easy to put together. Invite a few people, have food, and encourage everyone to bring a bottle or two of your favorite brews.

While I have a lot of very good friends that I like to drink beer with, my travels have introduced me to a host of other excellent people. And then I think about all my friends and acquaintances across the craft beer community many of whom I only know online. Then then are the people you connect with a beer festivals, and release parties. Sometimes these are people that you end up becoming drinking buddies with. The ways to get a bottle share together are numerous, and I doubt if you’re reading this that you haven’t at least participated in one on a small level.

The reasons for bottle sharing are endless. Many of us travel, and when we go to fun places, we bring back beer. I recently had a trip to Pennsylvania, and a couple guys I do a podcast with asked me to bring back what I thought with was some of the best beer from Pennsylvania. A Gateway To Lesser Things(the name of our podcast) is a bottle share, and we have a great time discussing the beer that we get to try. There are a lot of beer podcasts, and maybe you already listen to one. I get excited when I hear one tasting good beer that I love, or haven’t tried yet!

My trips have given me many opportunities to have a good bottle shares with friends. Years ago I used to sit down with my friend Noah and we would try beers from our collections, and stuff we brought back from cool places like Michigan. And I don’t need to belabor this point, but so many of the beers we collect come in large bottles. These are well-suited for beer sharing. I rarely crack open anything larger than a pint when I’m by myself, and this is partly because I’m trying to be responsible. But I have lots of bombers, and I try to save as many of those as I can for drinking with good friends.

I know that bottle sharing is very popular. All the Facebook groups I participate in highlight these events quite frequently. I definitely approve of this because bottle sharing has always been an enjoyable part of my craft beer appreciation. When I go to music festivals, my friend Donna and I would share bottles with our fellow attendees highlighting craft beer from our parts of the country. What fascinates me is how diverse our entire beer culture is. I don’t buy every style of beer, so bottle sharing is often a way to expand my horizons. It’s fun and I hope that this is the way we continue to enjoy beer!

I also want to talk about beer tasting in general. Tasting societies do bottle shares as well as sample beer from breweries and drink together at Taprooms. I used to attend a tasting at Kahn’s Fine Wine in Indianapolis that happened every Monday. We sampled beer from a brewery whose lineup was offered at that store, and then a group of us would often bottle share at someone’s house, or drink together at a tap room. A lot of the best bottle shares I remember sprang from this group. We all have good memories of sharing craft beer, and maybe you’ll share yours with me over a beer someday!

There are many ways to enjoy craft beer. As I travel through the breweries of Indiana, I enjoyed meeting so many people that love craft beer. I collected a lot of bottles throughout those trips, and am constantly sharing those with my friends here at home. There is so much Great Beer to enjoy, and it’s selfish to not share. So I hope you get to enjoy great beer with your friends and if bottle sharing is your thing, I wish you lots of happy experiences!

So as I finish this article, I’m sitting at 5’s and having a great beer from Bare Hands. I want to mention that most of the tap rooms I hang out and have cans of beer to go. This is a great thing because when you have a great beer in a can at the premise, it’s nice to be able to take one home with you. More often than not, these are the beers I take to bottle shares. So always be aware of places where you can get a can of great beer to go. It’s often a beer I will be willing to share and should we do a bottle share together, rest assured I’ll have one! So keep drinking good beer, and maybe I’ll see you sometime soon!

I love craft beer very much, and it is the special offerings from breweries that I find very exciting. These beers are often very big and there is usually a limited supply. Whether it’s for a breweries anniversary, a special one off, or something bigger, these are often beers we would sell our soul to get. If you have been into craft beer for any amount of time, you are most likely aware of the beers in the picture above. There are too many special limited beers to ever mention in an article, so I’m not going to try! All the same, I think that special beers are the lifeblood of craft beer, and an article is necessary to discuss just how awesome they are!

I have been interested in special releases for about as long as I have liked craft beer. About 12 years ago, Founder’s was making about as exciting beers as we could get our hands on. Whether it was KBS, or CBS, Backwoods Bastard, or their Harvest Ale, I was always eager to try their special beers. I rapidly became a big fan of this brewery because of their special releases which got bigger and bigger every year. I enjoyed aging them, and busting them out on special occasions because that’s what you do with special beer! Founders was considered to be the second best brewery in the world at one point and their special releases certainly give credence to this recognition. They make a lot of good beers, and their special releases are amazing. The Lizard of Koz comes to mind when I think about some of them, and if you want to talk about breweries that make awesome releases, Founder’s will always be in the conversation!

Troeg’s is a brewery that also got me into special releases, and also taught me about the disappointment that comes when you miss out in getting a special beer. While I’ve always been able to be in Pennsylvania at the right time of the year to secure Mad Elf, it was their Scratch Series that I found more elusive. My father and I got to tour their original Brewery back in 2008, and we were told about a special release of a double Dutch chocolate stout in the Scratch Series. I sent my father to the brewery when it released, but he arrived too late! And that’s how it is with a lot of special releases that are very limited. How many times have you heard about a beer that already ran out by the time someone told you about it?

I couldn’t write this article without discussing Goose Island‘s Bourbon County Stout. People lineup every Black Friday because of this beer, and its even more limited variants. Even amid Covid, there were still lines last year for some real exciting beer. While they make enough of it that if you want it, you can probably get your hands on it, it is still a limited run. The variants are now what people are trying to get their hands on, And even I found myself going to lots of different stores in search of them.

And then there is Dark Lord Day. If you aren’t familiar with this craft beer holiday, Dark Lord Day is the day when people line up at 3Floyds in Munster, Indiana to secure this very special Russian Imperial Stout. The line is a celebration of beer sharing, and from what I’ve heard, almost carnival like. The stories I’ve heard about the beer that people have got to try waiting in line has been amazing. For years I was always able to get my hands on Dark Lord because friends would get me a bottle when they went. Last year I got to go to my first Dark Lord release, but it was very subdued amid Covid. You waited in line in your car and they put it in your trunk, and there was no bottle sharing!

The releases of similar beers creates the same atmosphere nationwide. Cigar City’s release of Hunahpa’s is a big deal for the Tampa area and friends have told me the release party is quite the event. Toppling Goliath is creating a similar stir in Iowa for the release of several other really big stouts. I’ve heard stories about those lines as well. No matter where you live, there is probably a very big special release going on sometime. And for me, now that craft beer has exploded exponentially, I’m finding new releases that have the potential to be this big.

Deviate Brewing on Indianapolis’ North side has been creating quite a stir with some of their special releases. I attended their fifth anniversary party and stood in line for the release of Scheming Demons. A few months later they released Waffle Horse which sold out in minutes. Deviate is constantly making big beer, and their special releases sell out quickly. If you haven’t tried their beer, I definitely recommend it!

Just outside of Martinsville Indiana, Cedar Creek is brewing great beer, and does a special release every December 21, the darkest day of the year. The Darkest Achievement is a special beer that clocked in at 20% ABV until last year. I attended the release party for this beer and it has the potential to be a very big event as this brewery gains notoriety. I met up with several other craft beer aficionados and had a great afternoon discussing beer as we sipped on different variants of this Russian Imperial Stout! I had a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to December 21 of this year which I expect will have even more fanfare!

These big releases are hard to get, and I realize not everyone has the time or serious interest to actively pursue some of these limited beers. Most people drink what’s available to them, but the odds are good that you know somebody who can get their hands on such beer. If you’re interested in trying exciting beer, special releases can be a lot of fun if you know where to find them. I’m on a lot of Facebook groups and more often than not, somebody has shared a link about an upcoming release. Do your homework and you might be able to get your hands on the next one!

A lot of smaller Breweries seem to do special releases on a regular basis. Most of them do not distribute, and you have to go to the brewery to get them. These are highly sought after beers, and they usually sell out quickly. I have already mentioned Deviate, and Hoosier Brewing in Greenwood seems to release beers every week. Just this week they released their Pie Face Pineapple Upside Down Cake which sold out immediately. (I was glad I pre-ordered a four pack!) And down in the hinterlands outside of Columbus Indiana, 450 North is constantly turning out fruited Berliner Weise. I have visited them twice, and both times the beer offerings were vastly different. And this is another reason to visit Breweries because often times they still have a little bit of these special beers left on tap to be consumed on premise. And if you’re lucky, sometimes your favorite tap room secured a keg of it as well!

Special releases certainly have excitement associated with them, and I know I’ve only touched the surface of the subject. With so many more breweries today than ever, there are more special releases than anyone could ever attend or be aware of. As I write this article, I am only hours away from a very special release at Hog Molly in Columbus, Indiana. The barrel aged version of their 18355 Rushin’ Record Russian Imperial Stout will go on sale at noon. With only a few hundred bottles, it will go quick. This is what it’s all about, and I hope you found this article informative. No matter where you are, special releases are taking place perhaps even today. So I encourage you as you experience craft beer to seek out limited releases and enjoy them when you can. You’ll experience good beer in the process, and that’s really what it’s all about!