19 Feb To get a chance at Crushin’ Roulette, you had to play the game…
A year by any standard is a long time. For Indiana City Brewing, a year turned out to be the the perfect amount of time to age their latest creation, Crushin’ Roulette.
The fine folks at Indiana City, purveyors of some of the best Indianapolis beer, had a stroke of pure genius twelve months ago. They took their popular Roulette offering, a sweet, boozy Russian Imperial Stout, and poured it into a newly emptied Four Roses Bourbon barrel and then left the aging treasure undisturbed for an entire year.
On Saturday, Indiana City unearthed their greatest cellar offering to date, Crushin’ Roulette, at a ticketed event for their most loyal fans. The buzz for Crushin’ Roulette had been building ever since a limited amount debuted at this year’s recent Winterfest.
Saturday’s tapping event started at noon but eager fans began lining up outside Indiana City’s downtown brewery three hours before the event began despite the fiercely frigid February temperatures. Inside the brewery, the anticipation for Crushin’ Roulette was palpable. The sizable crowd assembled gave off a Christmas morning vibe as revelers excitedly waited to open their special present of bourbon barrel aged beer.
The thirsty masses anxiously jostled for position at the bar in an effort to get their very own 8 ounce pour of the extremely limited 1/6 barrel tapping. Those lucky enough to have tickets for the bottle lottery, which was stopped a half an hour into the event due to the demand vastly outweighing the supply, nervously checked their ticket numbers hoping to be rewarded with one of the rare 168 Crushin’ Roulette bottles.
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Attendees made fast friends with each other jubilantly bonding over their shared consumption of this rare treat. Strangers compared tasting notes and tried to rank Crushin’ Roulette’s stature among those of the popular annual bourbon barrel aged releases. One patron at the bar gleefully exclaimed, “You could put this on cereal!”
Was Crushin’ Roulette worthy of the hype? Absolutely. This is Indiana City’s finest effort to date. The nose was an unmistakable cloud of Bourbon. On the mouth the aged Russian Imperial Stout was dense, rich and velvety. The taste exhibited strong, sweet bourbon akin to the rabidly popular Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. The luxurious, smooth and decadent taste of Crushin’ Roulette left lingering notes of chocolate and oak. It would pair perfectly with a juicy medium rare filet in the dark wooded ambiance of St. Elmo’s.
Once the announcement was made that the Crushin’ Roulette bottles were gone, a majority of the crowd cleared out and the brewery resembled a more typical Saturday afternoon. The Indiana City staff was quick to point out that Roulette was still available for purchase. They also coyly suggested to play again next year without giving any further details. If the next barrel aged release from Indiana City is anything like Crushin’ Roulette, it will be well worth the wait.
Josh Johnson
Posted at 00:43h, 20 FebruaryGreat write up. Great brewery!
Duane Jasheway
Posted at 08:10h, 20 FebruaryThanks Josh!
Madonna Bouwkamp
Posted at 21:25h, 21 FebruaryWow Duane, I’m impressed. I didn’t know you had such journalistic talent. Congratulations!
Love,, Aunt