Moontown Brewing Company’s newest Pints for Parks series is “Brown County India Brown Ale.” The recent post informs us: “Our continued journey through the Pints for Parks series has us traveling south to Nashville, arriving at our 7th park, Brown County. We created a delightful beer for the time of year, and extremely fitting for our parks series. An India Brown Ale, described by Dogfish Head as the prototypical dark IPA and an original hybrid. Our IBA truly is the thoughtful melding of wonderful aspects from different beer types to create a one-of-a-kind sensory drinking experience. Close your eyes and take a good inhale from your fresh pour; it smells like a juicy IPA. Take a sip and experience a citrusy tropical ride into a luxurious brown ale. This big brown ale is brewed with a big base of our local Sugar Creek Malt Company’s Ye Olde, chocolate rye, and a couple of other specialty malts, and a unique addition of Belgian Candi brown sugar lending dark fruit and molasses characteristics. We balanced it with classic west coast hops Nugget and Chinook, then dry hopped heftily with Simcoe, Amarillo, and Cascade. It is complex from the first smell and sip; allow this to warm and open up into an even more intricate brown ale. Journey on. Thank you for supporting the parks!
ABV: 7.5% / IBU: 55”
See Brown County India Brown Ale here: https://www.facebook.com/moontownbeer/.
“Glaciers from the most recent ice ages stopped short of the “hills o’ Brown,” but their meltwaters helped create the narrow ridges, steep slopes, and deep gullies of Brown County State Park. Indiana’s largest park is a traditional fall color hot spot, with nearly 20 miles of tree-lined roads and many scenic vistas overlooking miles of uninterrupted forestland,” informs the site description. “The park’s rustic Abe Martin Lodge offers accommodations that include motel rooms, cabins, dining and conference facilities, and an indoor water park. Large campgrounds, hiking and mountain biking trails, interpretive services, a saddle barn for guided horse rides, and a separate horseman campground with 70 miles of horse trails are some of the things that make Brown County State Park popular year-round. The surrounding county and nearby Indiana town of Nashville are famous for their unique shopping, dining, arts and crafts, history, entertainment, and outdoor adventure opportunities.”
Brown County State Park is a stop on the Indiana Birding Trail.
[Learn more at www.indianabirdingtrail.com
A recent post on https://www.facebook.com/moontownbeer/ cites the follow-through based on the money earned through the beer sales on site:
“We had the pleasure of going to Turkey Run State Park [second in the series] to check out a new stairway project and sugar creek viewing area that was funded by our Pints for Parks Series! A special thanks go out to Jody Kress, the executive director of IN-NRF, who saw our vision and helped guide us to make it a reality! Another thank you goes out to our customers who continue to support our Pints for Parks Series! Without you, it wouldn’t be possible!”
See background data and images here: https://www.moontownbeer.com/pints-for-parks.
Moontown’s State Parks brews series to date honor: McCormick’s Creek, Turkey Run, Clifty Falls, Indiana Dunes, Pokagon, and Spring Mill.
The Indiana State Parks system manages 24 state parks, seven small satellite locations, eight reservoir properties, two state forest recreation areas, and two off-road riding areas. Collectively, Indiana State Park properties manage more than 2,000 buildings, 700 miles of trails, 636 hotel/lodge rooms, 17 marinas, 75 launching ramps, 17 swimming pools, 15 beaches, 7,701 campsites, more than 200 shelters, 160 or so playgrounds, and 150 cabins. There are also seven Indiana State Park Inns. Learn more here about locations and upcoming events: https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/parks-lakes/
See a prior nuvo.net column here:
Also note this message: “We’re very excited to announce our very first euchre league! Euchre night will be on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in the 1915 Room starting January 11, 2023, at 345 South Bowers Street in Whitestown.
Caleb Michalke emailed that Sugar Creek Malt Company’s “Edelweiss Pilsner 2022 crop batch number 1 is on the germination floor and chitting very nicely! It is looking great so far!
“This is our near-100-year-old winter 2-row Barley. It was bred in Austria between WW1 and WW2. It was bred from two of the Moravian Hana landrace varieties.
“In 2016, my wife and I traveled to Europe and met with a seed bank. We decided on this variety and, in 2016, planted 200grams of this seed. We hand-harvested threshed and winnowed it for years, building up seed stock until last year when nine breweries brewed lager with this variety for the first time in many decades. @dovetailbrewery @cohesionbeer @goldfingerbeer @niteglowbeer @seedzbrewery @moontownbeer @blackacrebrewer @seedstockbrewery @hillfarmstead all made beautiful lagers with our 2021 crop.
Our 2022 harvest gave us a little over a semi-load of barley to malt, giving us about 40k-50k lbs of malt. So there will be a lot of beer and whiskey made this year. This year we will be making both Pilsner and Vienna malts. It is truly under-modified and requires special mashing techniques during the brewing process because of this that modern malt does not require. We will start taking orders starting in December.
Awards come home
Sun King brought home five awards from the 20th Chicago-based BAB awards; four individual category awards and Best in Show runner-up.
Elizabeth Belange-Hood, Sun King promotions director, verified, “2022 marked Sun King as winning the most awards ever, at the same time, in the 20-year history of the festival of wood+barrel-aged beer.”
Sun KIng Fishers earned First in Fruit Beer and Best of Show Runner Up with “Caramel Apple Tripel” and Second for “Wicker Swordfish” in Specialty and Experimental beers. The Indianapolis brewery tagged Third in this same category with “Soul Shakedown Party.”
Soul Shakedown also earned medals at last year’s FoBAB ’21, this year’s GABF ’22, and this year’s FoBAB ’22.
SKB’s Indianapolis ‘Barrel-Aged Churrolicious’ nabbed Third in Other Dark Beer judging.
FoBAB ’22 300+ entries in 12 categories came from160 breweries from ten states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
[Find Sun King wins here: https://www.sunkingbrewing.com/awards/
Two Indiana breweries won three medals each at the 2022 Denver Beer Competition.
Pax Verum in Lapel earned Silver for “Tidal Rift Nw England Pilsner” and for “Reptilia IPA” along with a Bronze for “Expand Your View American Porter.”
Terre Haute Brewing Company earned Silvers for “La Riviere Saison” and for their Wood-aged Bourbon Stout.” A Bronze came to “Hansel & Gretl” in the Historical Beer category.
Founded in 2010, the Denver International Beer Competition has become one of the largest beer competitions in the nation, with over 800 beers from more than 300 breweries entering each year. The DIBC is one of just a handful of internationally focused, commercial beer & cider competitions worldwide. Our competition is open to all commercial/ craft brewers, importers, and distributors of beer.
The Denver International Beer Competition is judged double-blind by a panel of highly regarded beverage professionals. Our judging panel consists of seasoned and BJCP Certified Beer Judges. The award process is based on scores. Therefore it is possible to see multiple awards in some categories and fewer awards in categories that contestants underscored.
All winners receive a handsome die-cast medal within 6 weeks of the actual competition date. To aid in helping with post-marketing efforts, we provide free access to award graphics immediately after announcing winners. All winners are also publicized in post-competition press releases and on this website. http://denverbeercomp.com/about/
Beer Advocate’s list of the Top 25 brews of 2022 cites Three Floyds in the third slot for “Marshmallow Handjee” and in the 19th spot for “Chemtrailmix, Rye Barrel.”
Also newsworthy:
IU Athletics is teaming up with Upland Brewery to launch a special brew in 2023. What should the beer ‘look like, taste like, and what should it be named?” Add your input here: https://survey.typeform.com/to/b11yPMt0
Drink Indiana Beer’s 14th Annual Winterfest returns February 10 and 11, 2023
Tickets will be on sale Black Friday, November 25, at 8:00 a.m. here: https://drinkin.beer/winterfest/
Great Fermentations’ fifth special homebrew kit in their Local Series features a collaboration with Black Circle Brewing. The notice reads: “This smoked ale made of local Indiana malts and hops is a smooth and smoky take on a traditional Norwegian ale.” Learn more at 5127 East 65th Street, 46220.
Scarlet Lane emailed: “Pizza is coming soon to the 1702 Bellefontaine Street location. Learn more: #scarletlanebrewing #pizza @ Scarlet Lane Brewing
Bier Brewery is featuring Dog Daze Raspberry Kolsch at their 5133 65th Street Brewery in Indy. Find their special Christkindlmarkt Orange Chocolate Dunkel at their Carmel location.
Metazoa’s newest brew, “Razzmanian Devil,” is a Belgian Blonde with a tart raspberry twist. Raspberry flavor combined with the special Belgian yeast results in a beautiful red hue and keeps this 5% ABV beer extremely refreshing and drinkable.” Stop in at 140 South College Avenue, 46202.
Westwind Brewery at 911 Plum Street in Elkhart [46514] posted they are “extending Sundays from noon until 6:00 p.m.; Our passion in life is to serve, love what we do, give where can, and positively influence those around us,” offered Aaron J. West, Kurt Drufke, Jordan West and Rocco Scicchitano.
They opened quietly just prior to COVID-19 and noted that they prefer to work in humble, low-key ways so people can gather, enjoy each other, and feel cared for.
On my computer screen right now is a post of a watercolor of their building. It’s a special story unto itself.
Catch their story here: https://www.facebook.com/westwindbrewery/
and see: http://westwindbrewery.com/our-brews
More posts to engage with:
Women of the Vine & Spirits (WOTVS), a global organization dedicated to diversity in the wine, beer and spirits industries, announced that its 2023 Women Raising the Bar Study, in collaboration with Deloitte is now open for survey respondents. Women of the Vine & Spirits and Deloitte invite employees that work within the wine, beer, and spirits supply chain to take the survey with a goal of identifying leading practices and areas for impact.
Nearly half of Americans (and 66% of those aged 25-34) think experiential gifts are better than tangible items (Consumer Reports, 2021). For your beer-loving friend or family member, give them the experiential gift that keeps on giving: an American Homebrewers Association (AHA) membership.
This year, the AHA launched a Give Back program where the organization is donating $5 to one of three selected nonprofits for every AHA membership purchased between Nov. 8—Dec. 15, 2022.
The AHA offers an abundance of resources for beer lovers and brewers of all levels, including:
- Homebrewing Video Tutorial, five easy-to-follow videos cover brewing basics with Julia Herz. Your friends and family will be pros in no time!
- Trusted Recipes, browse tried-and-true mead, cider, clone, and homebrew recipe.
- Homebrew Club Locator, connect with homebrewers and find events and discounts in your area.
- AHA Forum, ask questions and engage with brewing peers on various topics.
- Brew Guru®, a free mobile app that delivers money-saving deals on beer, food, homebrew supplies, and more.
Hooray for Craft Beer! An Illustrated Guide to Beer ($19.95): Told through wit, humor, and 100% illustrations, Hooray for Craft Beer! by Em Sauter is an entertaining and informative journey through the world of craft beer. Readers will discover styles of beers and learn about their origins, all while enjoying Sauter’s whimsical cartoons. This easy-to-read guide event creatively illustrates the best food pairings based on styles (even down to the preferred serving glass) — perfect for both the foodie and anyone starting their beer journey.
Cover image courtesy of Moontown Brewing Company
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