January 2013

January 29, 2013

BIMP Brewery Tour Embarks Tomorrow!

UPDATE ON THE BIMP BREWERY TOUR: I’ll be picking up the van tomorrow around 10am. I’d like to leave from my apartment complex (plenty of parking and you won’t get towed) AT 12PM. I currently have two midsized community coolers for people interested in purchasing beer along the way. If you have a small personal cooler that is welcome, we do ask if you are bringing a large cooler to please allow others to stow their brews as well. Keep in mind if you are planning on buying cases or bombers you may not have to refrigerate them. I would suggest that you pack light so we have more space in the van, but we should have plenty of room. Right now we are at 8 people who have reserved a seat. I’ll bring my FM Transmitter so we can play music off of ipods/phones/etc. Also, tickets are still available for Keller Williams at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe for $20-$25. The venue is super intimate (250 people capacity), and I’m sure will be a great time. Please call me, or shoot me an email at erik@beerismypassion.com if you have any last minute questions about the trip. I’ve sent out an email to everyone who has already reserved a seat with my address. Please be on time as we have a lot of breweries to hit over the next couple of days. Looking forward to an awesome adventure. Cheers!

January 26, 2013

BIMP’s 1 Year Anniversary!

Beer Is My Passion just turned 1 today! Thanks for all of your friendship and support. We’ve really come a long way! Our first two posts were added on January 26th in anticipation of going to the Brewer’s of Indiana Guild Winterfest. Coincidentally, today is January 26th and we are actually pouring at Winterfest 🙂 Please come check out our booth from 4:00pm – 5:00pm at the Homebrew Club section of the event. Our homebrew club has held 12 tastings to date, including two homebrew competitions held in collaboration with Great Fermentations. We’ve created 15 recipes ranging from 5 gallon extract/partial mash batches to 10 gallon all grain brews. Some of our more popular posts over the year were Stout Bout Homebrew Competition Revisited, Why Use a Counterflow Wort Chiller, Carbonation Chart For You Home Keggers, and Three Floyd’s to Release Oyster Stout. Our blog was viewed by people from 83 countries with over 15,000 hits! We are looking forward to 2013 by kicking off the new year with a monstrous Brewery Tour! Thanks again for making BIMP such a fun and exciting part of my life.

Erik Howell
Founder B.I.M.P

January 24, 2013

BIMP’s Choice Picks for Winterfest 2013

The Brewers of Indiana Guild Winterfest 2013 is rapidly approaching, and we’ve selected a few brews to watch out for at the event this year. The full list is available at the Brewers of Indiana Guild page. There will be several high abv beers at this event, so PLEASE be safe and be responsible. Without further ado, here are our picks! See you at Winterfest

Corsair Rasputin Barrel Aged Spackle the Orb, Cask Conditioned Wakatube

Hopslam Ale, Harry Magill’s Spiced Stout

DFGIPA (Damn F*cking Good India Pale Ale), Belgian Dark Strong, or their Belgian Dubbel

Replicale Old Ale, Belgian Wit, Belgian Tripel, Belgian Session Ale

Hipster Bird Double Black IPA, Beard Tax Russian Imperial Stout

Gettin’ Figgy With It (Imperial Belgian Porter with fruit)

Winter Warlock

Lift Off West Coast IPA, Muse Belgian Golden Ale

Black Corridor w/Blueberries cask (Imperial Chocolate Ale), Dogma Dubbel

Secret Stache Stout

Farmageddon (Black Rye Saison)

1221 Imperial Stout, Backyard Porter

Imperial Porter (Aged in Templeton Rye Barrel)

Holly King (non-barrel-aged Replicale), Dirty Squirrel

Procrastinator Helles Bock, Ardelle 2012

Barrel-aged Apocalypto Barleywine 2009 Discombobulation Celebration Ale Batch 333: The Velvet Fog, Batch 666: Sympathy for the Devil

McQueenies Scotch Ale, Old Lang Syne (Replicale) Picadilly Pale Ale, Cannonball Doyle Lil’ Sebastian ESB, Gilgamesh

January 10, 2013

Wynkoops Bull Testicle Beer To Be Sold In Two-Packs Nationwide, All Year Round

When a beer is made with real bull testicles there is really only one way to sell it: in pairs.Thats just what Denvers very own Wynkoop Brewing Company is planning with the launch of its signature Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout which will soon be available in two-pack cans in Denver and available nationwide via Internet craft beer retailer BeerJobber.com

via Wynkoops Bull Testicle Beer To Be Sold In Two-Packs Nationwide, All Year Round.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1fV3edEdfE]

January 8, 2013

2013 AHA National Homebrew Competition

It’s time to start thinking about what you are going to brew for the American Homebrewer’s Association National Homebrew Competition this year. Which of your favorite beers take the longest to mature? What styles do you currently have conditioning? What beers can you have ready in one month’s time? These are all good questions to ask, but the most important thing you can do now is GET STARTED! Online registration for the AHA National Homebrew Competition begins Tuesday February 26th. All entries are due between March 18th and March 27th. First Round Competitions begin March 29th and come to a close on April 21st. If you haven’t submitted a homebrew to a competition in the past, this is an excellent way to improve your brewing skills! A BJCP certified judge will rate your brew according to style on appearance, aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, and overall impression. This is a valuable tool that I’ve found can break a brewer’s ego, while at the same time help guide brewers toward honing their craft. I’ll post more information as it is available, but you can always stay up to date on this competition at the AHA website.

Online Registration	1 p.m. MST, Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Entries Due	March 18-March 27, 2013
First Round Competitions	March 29-April 21, 2013

January 7, 2013

Stone Brewing to Release Dayman

Stone Brewing, Two Brothers Brewing, and Aleman (Chris Aldrich, Jim Moorehouse, Josh Bearry, Nate Albrecht and Brad Zeller) will be collaborating on a special beer as an ode to “Dayman” from It’s Always Sunny In Philidelphia! Chicago based Two Brothers and Aleman worked together on this recipe for the 2012 Iron Brew Homebrew Competition and ended up winning. The brew grabbed the attention of Greg Koch of Stone Brewing, who was a judge at the competition, and the rest is history. Will we also be seeing a Nightman beer as well? Time will tell. See the original article posted on TheDrinkNation by clicking the link below.

Stone Brewing to Release Always Sunny.

January 6, 2013

Three Weeks Until Our BIMP Beer Tour

BIMP’s first brewery tour kicks off on January 30th. We’ll be renting a 15 passenger van for the trip with plenty of room for multiple coolers in the back for any special brews we buy along the way. We’ll also have a designated driver/chauffeur to take us to each brewery. The event kicks off on Wednesday January 30th at People’s Brewery in Lafayette, IN. From there, our forces will drive North towards Crown Brewery on our way up to Three Floyd’s Brewing Company where we will retire for the evening. I am planning on staying at the Fairfield Inn in Hammond, IN. The next day we’ll move towards Founder’s Brewery on our way to Bell’s Brewery. Keller Williams will be playing that night at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe on January 31st, which should be pretty sweet. I plan on staying at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Kalamazoo that night (It’s 1/2 mile from the brewery). The next day we’ll meander over to Dark Horse Brewery for lunch on our way to Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, as we slowly and surely move our jolly butts to Brugge Brasserie in Broad Ripple Indiana. How can we cap this evening off you say? Another night of Keller over at the Vogue on February 1st. You can reserve a yourself a seat for $60. This price covers all gas for the trip as well as the chauffeur that will take us to each brewery and drop us off at our hotels. I’m really looking forward to this trip and I hope you’ll come along.

January 4, 2013

Don’t Waste That Christmas Tree: Turn It Into Spruce Beer : The Salt : NPR

The holidays may be over, but that does not mean its time to toss your tree. Try turning it into a delicious spruce beer! Follow the link below to learn more.

Dont Waste That Christmas Tree: Turn It Into Spruce Beer : The Salt : NPR.

January 1, 2013

Brewers Almanac – Beer facts by state

BeerInstitute.org maintains some pretty cool data about beer production and distribution, state-by-state, on an annual basis. Check out the Brewers Almanac to see how your state stacks up in number of breweries, beer production, consumption and much more! As you can see from the chart I made above, the number of active brewing permits in Indiana has outnumbered the U.S. national average! Go Indy!