Beering in Indianapolis: The Ram

Had a surprisingly good time in Indianapolis. I didn't really know what to expect, or even if I would have the chance to hit some of their brewpubs. I made it out there for a weekend business trip, and was not disappointed.

Beer Log: November 20, 2010
State: Tired from working and talking all day, ready for the RAM.

Made it to Ram Restaurant and Brewery in Downtown Indy. I had already had some Sun King Osiris in the hotel room as a pregamer. Then it was on to the sampler tray at Ram.

The place looked like a great spot to watch a football game. Lot's of space, lot's of TVs, though not overly done. Their specialty is burgers and I of course ordered my burger with cheese and a fried egg (the cholesterol burger).

Ram Blonde
Very good bread and malt, sugar sweet with light hops. Smooth with high carbonation, a little veggie as well. If this is a blonde, it's probably one of the best blondes I've had right up there with the NOLA Blonde Ale. High 3 Stars.

Ram Hefeweizen
High banana and ester nose. Light estery banana bread flavor. Very soft, a little clovey and fruity. 3 Stars.

Hold up...

Beer Log: Right now
State: Kinda thirsty somehow after slamming two pitchers of Crystal Light today, then again, I have just run 4 miles.

Founders Dirty Bastard
The beer must be good as the wife just poured more of my beer. Smells great, has an actual scotch nose with malt. Kind of a hazy brown with a cinnamon peppered head. Beer has a nice malt, cinnamon, and roasted/smoke notes. Plenty of hot alcohol in the beer, as it's burning while going down. Not bad, just a little rough on the bitterness. Let me check my BJCP Droid app to verify this is in style. Oh yeah, this is smackdab in the style, not as I like it. 3 Stars.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging...

Ram 71 Pale
Citrus hop on the nose. Cloudy amber color with low head. Light noticeable hops. Nice and soft malt/bread thing going on. I've been tasting a lot of funky bread in Pale Ales these days. I even tried to calibrate it with Sierra Nevada PA, and got the same. Oh well. Low 3 Stars.

I basically stopped reviewing then to pay attention to my colleagues, but I did have the Buttface and the Total Disorder. My favorite beer was the Blonde ale, which I ordered a full glass. This is a very nice brewpub with some pretty good beer. My burger was closer to Medium-well than medium-rare. Not bad though. And it doesn't hurt they've got a ton of french fries.

No other travels planned save for a trip to Alabama. Maybe one quick trip to offshore and copping some NOLA. We may stop off coming back from Bama to hit up Zea, but who knows. Have a great Thanksgiving, I know you'll be seeing me doing some serious catch up on my beer blog. I'll be happy just to have the time to relax. Holla.

Beering on Frenchmen St.

I like to think of myself as a Texas/Louisiana beer blogger, that travels a bit. And finally I'm getting some beering going in New Orleans.

The other day, I had some downtime and was able to hit 13 and dba for lunch/drinks and post lunch drinks. A very nice gentleman from NOLA turned me on to a few good spots for drinks and food back when they were just starting up. I think it was late 2008. Glad to see they've added another brand. Then we do a nice little tour of Old New Orleans' Rum distillery. ALL ON FRENCHMEN Street. I know folk like to say Bourbon St. or even Canal St. is where it's at. But unless you want watered down hurricanes or purchase a black college throwback jersey, I say give that one a rest and hit up Frenchmen. Hell, I may even buy me a "Who Dat" shirt, NOT!

State: Starving for beer and food, hanging out at 13

So they have this dive on Frenchmen called 13. Their website bills itself as a great place for vegetarians and health conscious folk, who I guess like their liquor hard and their women harder. Turns out at 1PM there weren't many people there, just some bohemian looking folk, complete with white people with long dreadlocks. Right on. Some old timey music playing and about 5 taps.

NOLA Blonde http://www.nolabrewing.com/

Finally I can get some damn NOLA beer. The beer pours a nice amber color with a decent amount of poofy white head. The nose is a touch malty, but not much there. The first few sips I'm kinda taken aback by how toasty and chewy this beer is. With the compliment of caramel malt and grassy hops, there aint nothing blonde about this beer. I had half a mind to ask the bartender if they want to check the taps, as they may have this switched up with somebody's amber beer. It's better than Abita Amber, which is saying something, but not what I would say is a blonde. High 3 Star.

I order another NOLA to eat with my Philly roast beef and tator tots, and chat up the locals about the NFL screwing over the New Orleans small businesses over the use of "Who Dat". I figured that you can't trademark bad grammar, but shows what I know. I also learn that the NFL is officially a non-profit organization. Damn shame.

Time Out:

Beer Log: right now

State: Still feeling the Sierra Nevada bock, but ready for another beer

Goliath Tripel Belgian Ale from Brasserie des Geants

Got this beer in the mail today from the Beer of the Month Rare Beer club. Nice Christmas present eh? Nose is sugar and sour, like candy, coming off of a hazy old gold color with sticky white foamy head, no homo. In my snifter I get a healthy amount of carbonation indicative of its bottle conditioning. The beer is kinda sweet, moderate sourness, and a funky hop aftertaste. There used to be a time when a Trippel was my favorite style, but I've been looking more for Belgian blonds, both the women and the beer. Beer is dry, a touch chalky, yet goes down pretty easy. No hint of that 9% ABV. Low 3 Stars. Must be the aging.

Time In:

So 13 reminds of the type of bar that one could consider a great secret of New Orleans. Doubtful you'll see many tourist find this spot at any time, pretty much all of Frenchmen is like that. The place is grimy as hell, looks like someone chewed up Washington Ave (Houston), and spit it back out 20 years later. But I can dig it. Just make sure the door is locked.

I walk on over to DBA as I know they have NOLA's new IPA, but they are closed. Damn shame. I don't think I'll EVER get into this bar. Everytime I go to New Orleans, something gets in the way to keep me from entering this bar.

Afterwards, I hop in the car, go north a mile or two, and make my way into Old New Orleans Rum distillery. The place kinda reminded me of Sister Creek Vineyard in the Texas Hill Country. You walk in and it looks rather warehousey, but had a very cozy tasting room. And tasting we did. They had a great sweet tea spiked with the ONO Cajun Spice. Probably the best Iced Tea I've ever had. They also had some sort of cranberry drink with their crystal rum. The tour was very informative, with a lot of nuances to distilling I never knew. And these dudes are experimenting like crazy. They are putting all kinds of fruit/flavoring rum combos in one of there rooms, that it looked like a high school science lab. Pretty disgusting looking, but it after couple drinks, and a whiff of their 180 proof stuff, it seemed pretty cool. There were some beer enthusiasts there as well and we talked Houston beer. They actually let us sample their coconut rum and their ginger rum. I think they put a little cocaine in there. Very nicely done.

Afterward we grabbed some beers at Rouses up in Covington and spent the night sipping rum with Trinidadians and downing Abita Mardi Bock, and an EXCELLENT Indian Summer Ale from Lazy Magnolia. I can't believe Lazy Mag put out one this awesome, and I didn't get any when I lived in Mississippi. We only live once. Holla.

Almost Caught Up, Go Blonde

I like my beer like I like my women: blond that goes down quick.

July 16, 2008


State; Cooling down, taste of clams in my mouth
Actually I'm an Imperial IPA man, but I love that line. Yes, I made that one up myself.

I'm back at the Sauce, and I am at a loss as to which style to sample. I'm still pretty far from the 200 beers needed to get a plate on the wall, so I'm still drinking the beers on the Fire Sale. This means I'm going for the New Belgium seasonal, Springboard. The lady tells me that this is a blonde ale, so blonde ales it is for the night.

I had some crappy clams and pasta at an Italian place down the street, but whatever. We called a happy hour for a few of the guys, calling it the "Oil and Gas Boys" happy hour. Since our happy hour, the price of oil has gone down by about $23, so check us out man.

New Belgium Springboard
Big fan of the New Belgians. I drank a considerable amount of Fat Tire during football season last year. This one is a little cloudy and orange-yellow straw color. Smells a little estery like a wheat beer. High carbonation (like a wheat beer), but with a sudden pleasant sweetness with a dry finish. A little hard to get down though. The sweetness is fruity, yet slightly malty and bready. Another taste and I say the fruit is like apple. It's seems more a wheat beer than a blond ale. With the bread, I say it's like one of those Apple Muffins you can get out of the vending machine. The head is white with some decent lace. A little bitter on the AT. The more I drink it, the more I can taste the Blonde Ale-ness coming out, as well as a touch of spice. Very nice beer, 3 stars.

Real Ale Fireman #4
Been looking forward to trying this one. She poured it in a tall wheat glass. Strong white head, straw clear color. Head is lacy too. Not much of a smell. Bready taste with med-low carbonation. Low hops with a very quick finish, no real aftertaste. A little buttery the more I get into it with some of that emptiness. I love the quick finish however. I'm noticing some spice as I get more used to it, but not as bready. 3 stars.

Coopers Sparkling Ale
I actually used a Coopers kit for my first homebrew, which I need to formally review some time. The can said "Lager" though the instructions had it ferment at around 70 degrees. This one was slightly cloudy with a straw color. White low head. Good basic yet sudden maltiness, then a vegetal flavor like the homebrew "lager" I brewed. The second draught is a little empty, then vegetal. A little wet and rough on the aftertaste. I wrote down "worst of the night". 2 stars.

For clarification, when I say "empty" I'm talking almost watery or just plain liquid. In other words, I not getting any flavor one way or the other, kinda of like the light beers.

These beers are pretty good, and I do enjoy a good blonde ale in the right condition. I'll say the Springboard was the best, followed by Fireman and then Coopers rounding out the rear. Good experience overall and the happy hour was pretty fun as well.