Twelve, Twelve, Twelve: Indianapolis, IN

It's 12/12/12 today, s let us take a moment for the sake of all humanity to sit and marvel that we are living through the LAST TIME IN OUR LIVES that the date will consist of the same three numbers repeated.
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Screw it, I can write three twelve's in a row anytime I jolly will please, let's drink beer.

In honor of the last of the numerically interesting dates, I had a few beers at Thr3e Wise Men breweries at Indianapolis, Indiana.

See it's in honor of 12/12/12 because the brewery is called Thr3e Wise Men and there's three twelve's in a row....clever huh?... Fine, you try and come up with these clever little introductions week after week.

They're brewpub is located in the Broad Ripple neighborhood, which... was clear on the other side of the town from where I was at the time.  It's a cool neighborhood, I highly recommend it.  I always have fun when I'm there, but anyone familiar with the eccentricities of Indianapolis traffic will forgive my laziness.  Seriously, what did they do?  Rip up every damn road at the SAME TIME?!

Sorry.

Thr3e Wise Men is somehow mysteriously affiliated with a chain called, Scotty's Brewhouse.  I suspect that they own it, but I'm not sure.  They have several restaurants around the Indianapolis area, and it seemed like a reasonable compromise.  Along with a complete collection of Thr3e Wise Men offerings, they have a decent assortment of other Midwest microbrews, so it's a decent place to go and try a few different beers.... kinda.    If you order a sampler flight of beer, they will ask you to choose three you would like to taste.  Three.

I counted thirteen interesting beers from Indiana and the surrounding area on tap and you can taste three at a time.

*Puts soap box on the ground*  Dear, brewpub owners:  As much as I would like to have a pint of each and every one of your beers, prudence dictate that I not drink all the beer and wind up passed out in the fountains of the Indianapolis Civil War Memorial.  Why?  Because it's December and it's cold outside.  And also other reasons, but that's the main one right now.

Ideally there should be a sample of each one of the featured beers.  In times when sheer selection make that impossible due to financial reasons or laws against public drunkenness, a decent cross-section will suffice.  Like say 60-80 percent.

But three?  Come on guys, you're better then that.

So this is three of the beers from Thr3e Wise Men, plus and extra pint because I'm a nice freaking guy.

Hubbard and Craven's Porter:  Pretty standard coffee caramel aroma.  Flavor has the sharp flavor of roasted barley along with sweet chocolate and coffee.  It's smooth and creamy with just a little bitterness in the back.  Overall a good, but pretty standard porter.

@Brewhouse Brown  #Awesomsauce: A tribute to tweeters everywhere, or a just a stupid name?  We report, you decide and drink it anyway because... it's actually pretty good.  The aroma has chocolate and caramel with just a slight hint of cherry there as well.  The light fruit aroma carries over to the flavor where it adds a little tartness to the bit malt flavors.  

Golden Zoe IPA: I have to say this is one of the best IPA's that I've had in a long time.  It contains in a dark-copper colored brew everything I like about the style.  The aroma is sweet, floral and citrusy.  It has a lot of hop flavors, but it doesn't smash you in the face with bitterness.  Instead it blends tons of floral and citrus flavors against just enough malt to make a very balanced, drinkable hoppy beer. 

Cenntenial Martyr Double IPA: Zoe's bigger badder brother.  The aroma is similar with a little added caramel.  This beer packs a much bigger body along with a hops profile that will knock you back a bit.  The herbal, citrus hops are still backed up with a large malt bill, but it still hits pretty hard.

And... that's it for 2012.

A short bit of down-time exists for the holidays, and I'm going to take the time to relax a bit.  I might have enough pints floating around for a third bottle beer tour... we'll see.

Thank you everyone who's dropped by to have beers with me over the past year and a half or so.  It's been fun for me to have something to search for while out on that Proud Highway.

I'll be back in three weeks at most with the first post of 2013, assuming that the Mayans were wrong and we aren't all dead or something.  Although even if some magical calendar actually ushers in an end to civilization, I encourage you all to try and find this blog because I'll still know where the good beer is.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.  Cheers!

Pizza and Beer: Los Angeles, California

Pizza and Beer.

I'll say it again, Pizza and Beer.

If those words don't give you a slight tingly feeling, you might be reading the wrong blog.  It is the essence of food pairing.  Not only does one compliment the other, but they work together to create something that neither can accomplish together.

Oggies Special with a Scottish Ale.  Awesomeness achieved!

This place is a little different, the local chain Oggies is primarily known for their pizza, and rightly so.  It's pretty awesome.  But, with the rise of the microbrew revolution, they hit upon a way to separate themselves from other pizza chains in the area.  Most microbreweries focus on their beer and create a menu to compliment.

Oggies kind of flips that around.  The beer stands on it's own, don't get me wrong.  Although it's a pretty standard set of offerings.  There's an hefenweisen, a stout, an amber and, of course, two different IPAs.  I mean you gots to have IPA's especially on this coast.  Each is kind of what you would expect from the style, with one or two slight exceptions, so you're not going to run into a mind-blowing hops and barley related experience.

But remember food pairing.  It's a team effort here and the combined effort is pretty awesome.

California Gold Blonde  Starts with a light, lemony aroma.  Hint of citrusy hops off the top.  It's not the big floral, grapefruit flavor of cascade hops but something lighter with a stronger bitter flavor.  It finishes smooth and is a pretty good light session beer.

Duck Dive Hef:  See above with a fuller, creamier mouthfeel along with a slightly sweeter, spicy taste mixed in.  It really is eerily similar to the point of being almost interchangeable.

Paradise Pale Ale: As expected, it has a Northwest citrus hop aroma.  Cascade hops dominate the flavor profile, without being overpowering.  There are some malty flavors mixed in, but it's a pretty typical pale.

Oggies Tasters Flight

Torry Pines: The aroma is very light, slightly floral, but the flavor is totally different.  It starts out with some port wine and raisin flavors dancing in front of a massive pine and herbal hop background.  It pushes some serious IBU's and if not for the complexity up front, would be enough to knock you off the barstool. Even with the malty sweetness to balance it out, this is a big beer.  

Double Up IPA: This also presents with a very light hop aroma, but it's hiding something under there.  Did I say the other was a bit heavy?  Yeah, this is an atomic hop bomb.  The flavor hits the palate with the subtly and grace of a ballet-dancing elephant.  The flavor is nothing but an explosion of flowery, medicinal hops that run strait to the back of the throat.  As a fan of balanced IPAs, I'm going to pass on this one as it bears too much resemblance to chewing hops resin out of the brewpot.

Sunset Amber: A quick tip for fledgling beer tasters out there; save those massive IPA's for the end of the tasting.  On of those with a high hop bill will carpet bomb your pallet.  Seriously, I think I was still tasting hops when I left the bar.  That being said, I should follow my own advice sometime.  This amber starts with a light fruit aroma. The flavor is warm, hazelnut and malty.   There's decent hop bill with some significant bitterness in the back, but I'm not 100% sure that it wasn't partly because of the previous beer.

McGarveys Scottish Ale: Starts with a caramel and raisin aroma.  It's appropriately malty for the style with lots of caramel and roasted barley flavors with just a little bit of red wine in the back for added complexity.  

Black Magic Stout: This has a nice roasted aroma.  As a dry stout, it lacks the creamy, chocolate flavors of most stouts.  Instead it has lots of black liquorish, herbs medicinal flavors with a bone dry finish.  I'll give it points for it boldness and unique qualities, but its too bitter face inducing for a stout in my opinion.  Those that expect a creamy, sweet stout should probably avoid this one all together.

I've got one, maybe two more stops before the New Year.  Next week, I find myself in the hub city of Indianapolis once again.  Until then, cheers!