Here I was. Back where it all started. Downtown Indianapolis at the Pan Am Plaza and Georgia St., where just one year ago I went to a festival in its second year on my first assignment for Indiana On Tap. Saturday I returned to that pristine city block for the third annual Sun King CANvitational to drink beers not readily available in Indiana, enjoy the sunshine with some new and old friends, and make note of every excellent beer I drank to come back here to tell you all about the different hops, aged beers, and cool can designs from America’s best breweries.
But then I got there and realized I forgot my notebook.
Whoops. Guess I should just drink with gusto and enjoy the beautiful day put together for us!
The focus of CANvitational is somewhat two-fold. In part, Sun King wants to introduce the people there to some beers they would otherwise not be able to purchase in Indiana, from Cigar City (Tampa, FL), to Rhinegeist (Cincinnati, OH), to Firestone Walker Brewing Co. (Paso Robles, CA), to SanTan Brewing Company (Chandler, AZ) and many more. The second aspect lies in the name: these are all breweries that can their beer, some of which exclusively can their product, and who can tell you of the many reasons they can over bottling.
For one: canning is more environmentally friendly than bottling. People are simply more likely to recycle aluminum than glass, and the can that you recycle can be smelted down and turned back into a can or another aluminum product in as short as a month. Canning also protects the overall quality of your beer, shielding it from sunlight and eliminating the risk of air escaping under the cap. Cans are also just easier to lug around, whether you’re hiking, rafting, or going for a picnic. Not having to worry about broken glass is okay in my book.
Fun little lesson, right? But what about the festival?
It also seems to be a festival that breweries enjoy participating in, and when they’re happy the person drinking their beer is going to be happy too.
Our day began with a quick stop at 18th Street’s booth to say hi to the beautiful people from Gary and grab a taste of their Act of Defiance double IPA, of which Drew Fox gave me a full can of for myself. Hell of a way to start the day. Drew and I then moved down to grab a taste of DC Brau’s On The Wings Of Armageddon imperial IPA (I did not need a full can of this after 18th Street). DC Brau is an excellent brewery that you should have taken every opportunity Saturday to get your fill.
Mixed throughout the rest of the day was an excellent Galaxy-hopped IPA from Cincinnati’s Madtree, an intriguing and delicious extra stout with lemons and lemongrass from Hillsborough, NC’s Mystery Brewing, a flavorful session IPA called Nordskye from Marquette, MI’s Blackrocks Brewing, the Kreamed Corn cream ale from Burn ‘Em up in Michigan City, IN, and an imperial pumpkin ale that tasted like real pumpkin from Cigar City, who rumor has it caught a little flack for pouring this beer out of a bomber. Come on guys, this is a beer festival. There are rules…
CANvitational definitely was blessed with great weather, an amazing lineup of breweries, the beautiful Georgia Street as a setting, and (what I thought at least) was a few less people than last year, making it a breeze getting to the front of any line for a beer and earning a little extra facetime with the people making the beers we love. Always a bonus at any festival.
In the end, I’m kind of glad I forgot my notepad. Instead of taking pages of notes all day and obsessing over minute tasting notes, I just filled my cup, talked to as many folks as I could, and enjoy the day. I can’t paint as good a picture of the day as I’d like to, but maybe that’s okay. After a year of making note of all the little things at every festival I’ve attended, it was nice to just drink it all in for a day. And drink I did. A lot. With gusto.
Here’s to another year with the fine people at Indiana On Tap, and another year of CANvitational, one of the best festivals around.
