MicroBrew Fest 2012, Ole'!

  Attended the Microbrew Fest 2012 on Saturday at Optimist Park.  The event goes fast - it starts at 3pm and goes to 7pm.  Highly recommend VIP tickets.  VIP allows you to enter an hour earlier at 2pm with little to no line at the vendor booths.  It's nice to have the extra hour.  At 3pm/3:15pm, the general admission crowds arrived.  But it was still great, the event has so much to offer that the crowds are thinned out by the many options available.  The lines moved - most of the venues still didn't have any lines.  Walk right up and get your requested craft beer. 
  Great Event!!  Really enjoyed!  You make new friends at every turn.  You run into friends from all sorts of origins. 
  The last Microwbrew Fest, I attended was in 2009.  In comparison this event was three times the size.  2009 was  SunKing's first Microbrew Fest.  Now the event is three times the size and is a much better event.  Full offering of food booths.  They had a pavilion with live music.  The event now stretches down to the river - a great place to sit while enjoying the Indiana Microbrews. 
  It was great to see the new up and coming Indiana Breweries - really exciting to see them doing so well  with such great beer!

Those Darn Hops

   My friend Doug loves beers as do I.  Doug's concern is that he does not enjoy a bitter dry beer.  He likes his beer a certain way - smooth with a soft/sweet taste.  One thing I am learning is that a good beer does not have to be bitter or dry.  It can be full of flavor and have a low IBU.  IBU is the industry standard for rating for bitterness.  The Oktoberfest and Pilsner beers I've discovered are just that - full of flavor without the heaviness/complexity.  Really like the Polestar Pilsner from Left Hand and the Oktoberfest Atom Smasher from Two Brothers.

Smoked Beer, Cheese and Bacon

Attended Ron Smith's Beer Class - 2nd session.  Attendance was full - hardly any drop-offs from 1st session a month ago.  Great class - learning and appreciating the nuances of beer styles: how they are structured and identified.  Ron showcases hard to get, hard to find beers.  He brought out an authentic  Oktoberfest brew that he had in beer storage from fall of 2011.  My favorite beer, Aecht Schlenferla Rauchbier Urbock, is brewed in the small remote village of Bamberg, Germany.  It is a smoked beer - you can actually taste the full smoke flavor.  It's an amazing beer.   Ron paired the beer with a smoked provolone and bacon.  An excellent pairing.  Purchased this Urbock - fine addition to any beer collection/offering.

Freedom to Beer

   You have to Love Beer.  It brings about the very essence of life. I have a new mission statement in life, "To learn the craft of brewing and to improve my and the world's finer enjoyment of Craft Beer." In this new direction I plan turn my full vocational
 energies in the pursuit of a better beer world.