Why Bad Baseball References Can’t Take The ‘Festive’ Out Of Festiv-Ale’s Wine & Stein Celebration

There was a great crowd lined up all the way from the first base line to the 3rd base line at Victory Field on Saturday night.  It was loud, entertaining, and there were plenty of great fans. The Indianapolis Indians were out of town playing Rival Columbus that night, though.  No, these fans were craft beer and wine fans celebrating the 2014 Annual Festiv-Ale–a Wine and Stein Celebration benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  With over 100 great wines and micro-brews on tap, there was certainly much to celebrate.

The event offered a casual, yet fun and inspiring evening for the great crowd in attendance. Several of Indy’s top restaurants offered a variety of food to satisfy any appetite. All things considered, this was a ‘craft beer’ event unlike other. When you couple the incredible venue of Victory Field with so many impressive brewery vendors and an incredible silent auction lineup, it’s bound to be a grand slam (pun intended–sorry). 

You know the drill….let me tell what beer a tried (and re-tried in some situations). And again, I couldn’t try a taste of every offering from every vendor–I’m a responsible adult here. Besides, Buffalo Trace was there representing and I tried some of their delicious straight bourbon whiskey–which forced me to take a deep breath and slow down.

In chronological order (why not?)

1. Flat 12’s Pumpkin Ale – I’m not a big pumpkin fan, but this was an incredible start to the evening and has since changed the way I think about pumpkin beer.

2. Indiana City Brewing’s Shadow Boxer Oatmeal Stout – I had forgotten how much I absolutely love this beer.

3. Cutter’s Brewing Co. Hardin Hoppy Wheat – a collaboration beer with Carmel’s Union Brewing Comapny. This American style wheat had a heavy hop bitterness and aroma–great for heavy-hitter drinkers (another baseball reference–get it?)

4.Granite City Bock – my first bock in a very, very long time. Delicious.

5. Shock Top Spiced Banana Wheat – Ok listen people, I’m a sucker for anything with a banana flavor–anything but bananas themselves. This beer was awesome–I don’t care if you don’t consider Shock Top to be ‘craft.’ 

6. Unknown Vendor – a can of screwdriver. Yep, you read that right. No comment.  Look, if anything, this shows you how diverse the offerings of food and drink was–which was beyond impressive. There is literally something for everyone.

7. Quaff ON! Brewing’s Busted Knuckle Ale – quickly becoming one of my new favorite beers in Indiana. It’s the brewery’s signature ale and is classified as a ‘hybrid’ ale..it’s quite similar to a ‘light’ porter.

8. Daredevil Brewing Co.’s Lift Off IPA – I have a love/love relationship with Daredevil Brewing and this IPA. Nothing more to say.

9. Scarlet Lane Brewing’s Vivian Red IPA – “Vivian” means alive, and this beer is so good that it will most certainly make you feel alive and well.

10. Cutter’s Brewing Half Court IPA – my two favorite indulgences in life are basketball and IPA’s..so it’s no surprise that I like this beer so much.

11. Buffalo Trace Distillery straight bourbon whisky – I love it when mixed with just a splash of coke.

11. Bier Brewery’s Special K Kolsch – This Kolsch poured a light golden color with a  good inch of head that stuck to the side of the glass and was sweet all the way through–loved it!

12. Sam Adams Brewing’s ‘Unnamed Beer’ – I’ll be honest, I don’t remember what it was…I was too interested in their ‘beer challenge’ to see who could hold an enormous stein of beer perpendicular to their body the longest.  I’ve got semi-noodle arms, so I didn’t stand a chance. I think I made it to ALMOST 2 minutes–and for the record, I still have little feeling throughout my right arm as of today.

All bets were off after the Sam Adams challenge, so I simply stuffed my face with more of the hot and delicious food before hailing and cab, apologizing to my wife for ignoring her most of the evening (even though she spent most of the time ‘shopping’ at the silent auction, and heading home.

One last baseball reference for you to sum up this event. You ever been to a game watching a team you love where it comes down to the bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, your home team down 3 runs with 2 outs, a full count, and your favorite batter at the plate?  No, me either.  This event wasn’t really anything like that. It was more equivalent to going to a baseball park on a beautiful late-summer evening, drinking great drinks, eating delicious food, having an incredible time, and benefiting an important cause–and in the end, that’s better than a lousy baseball game anyways, right?