Flat12’s Flat Tuesday serves up 8 Temptations of Man

Flat12 isn’t typically open on Tuesday, but once a year they open the doors on Shrove (fat) Tuesday to throw their annual Flat Tuesday Mardi Gras Celebration. This year’s enactment took its shape from the success of the Beer Wars Brew-Off Flat12 had for the Star Wars premier. The Flat12 production staff drew one of the 8 Temptations of Man, which they defined as 1) Gluttony, 2) Lust, 3) Greed, 4) Pride, 5) Wrath, 6) Sloth, 7) Vanity and 8) Sorrow. The 8 temptations of man eventually became the 7 deadly sins, but 8 makes more sense for making flights of beer, so I see why they did what they did.

The party was full of Mardi Gras beads, an artwork competition to go with the brews, Hoagies & Hops was slinging New Orleans Muffaletta sandwiches and there was a king cake from Taylor’s Bakery. But I was there for the beer, so I just right in and ordered a flight. Each person that ordered a flight got a ticket to vote for best artwork and best beer. The flights were numbered 1 and 2, and I chose to go with #2 first: Sloth (Sloth Loves Hung), Sorrow (Last Cup of Sorrow), Vanity (Green with Envy), and Greed (Greedy as a Pig). I sampled each beer, while reviewing the artwork, and judged the beer on its flavor, how well it represented the style of beer, and how well it matched the associated theme.  

• This is such a huge category of beer style and leaves a lot open to the brewer. This particular brew was light, slightly sweet, and very mild. Outside of the name, I don’t really see how it ties in to the “Sloth” theme. But, Sloth does represent laziness, so perhaps just giving it the name and doing nothing else was the intention.

Last Cup of Sorrow, Hibiscus Gose, 4.7% 10IBUs

• I’ll be honest; I had to look this one up. I’ve never had a Gose, and didn’t know what to expect. According to BeerAdvocate, a Gose is “An old German beer style from Leipzig…an unfiltered wheat beer made with 50-60% malted wheat, which creates a cloudy yellow color and provides a refreshing crispness and twang. A Gose will have a low hop bitterness and a complementary dryness and spice from the use of ground coriander seeds and a sharpness from the addition of salt. Like Berliner Weisse beers, a Gose will sometimes be laced with various flavored and colored syrups. This is to balance out the addition of lactic acid that is added to the boil.” After reading that, it all clicked: Sorrow…tears…salty…understood. This beer hit the description of style dead on the mark, too. Color, taste, and aroma were all perfect. Funky, but in a good way. Definitely one of the top brews in the competition.

• This beer was pretty true to the Saison style, mild and fairly dry. It was hard to pickup any of the Kiwi or Tomatillo, but the beer was incredibly green, which made sense, as green has long been associated with Envy. Unfortunately, after talking to the brewer, I learned the green came from food coloring, not rom the fruit.

Greedy as a Pig, Milk Stout, 5% 20IBUs

• I have a special spot in my heart, and palate, for milk stouts. After my recent article about Milk Stouts for Indiana On Tap, I’ve found myself drinking one every place I find it on tap. So naturally I was excited for this beer. In fact, it’s the entire reason why I chose this flight first. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed. For some reason my pour was warm, which makes me think I got most of the beer from the tap line. The stout was very earthy and the coffee and cocoa dominated the floral and taste profile far above the cinnamon and coconut (which were shown in the artwork). Still, it wasn’t as sweet as you’d expect for a milk stout. It was good, but I was still sad that mine was warm for some reason.

A full flight down, I quickly found myself without beer, which I overcame by obtaining my second flight, labeled as flight #1: Pride (Proud to be an American), Wrath (Montezuma’s Revenge), Lust (Rose Luxure), and Gluttony (Sword of Gluttony).

• I had really high expectations for this beer. It’s Pride, the reason we fall victim to the other temptations. Sadly, it fell short in my opinion. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it was boring. The artwork was funny though, I always love a good Team America reference.

Montezuma’s Revenge, Mole Brown Ale, 7% 25IBUs

• Quite drinkable, and my personal favorite, Montezuma’s revenge was a dark brown ale with apparent chocolate (mole) tones. The mole tie to Montezuma and his revenge was clever and almost got my vote for best beer (it ended up in second place).   

Rose Luxure, Rose Saison, 6.1% 24IBUs

• In comparison to green with Envy, not as crisp
• Hard to pickup roses florally, and I have no idea what they taste like
• I had a hard time with this one. I didn’t find it overly floral, which I expected from the roses, which was its tie to Lust. If you gave me the beer with no information, I would be able to identify it as a Saison, but I couldn’t tell you anything else. I like the rose/lust association, but it just didn’t play out like I wanted it to.

Sword of Gluttony, Russian Imperial Stout, 11.6% 81IBUs

• Overwhelming, aggressive

• Roast, burn malt character

• Best accomplishment of style
• Best fit for name/assignment –> didn’t finish
• Sword of Gluttony fit perfectly as my final tasting. It was everything you imagine a Russian Imperial Stout to be: Aggressive (almost overwhelming), strong, roasted and burnt malts. Luckily I had this one last, because it would have ruined my palate for any other beer after it. It was so overwhelming that I left a little bit in my flight glass; to finish it would be true gluttony. For that reason, I awarded this beer with my ticket for best beer in the contest.

I arrived early to the party, at 4pm, which was scheduled to run until 8pm. It was about 6pm when I left, and things were definitely picking up. My only suggestion for future Flat Tuesday parties would be to schedule them a little later in the evening to get a full crowd for longer. 

I left promising to myself that I would visit again in the near future. I would bring my dog on that next visit (the brewery is dog-friendly). And, while I voted for the Sword of Glutton in the brew contest, I hoped that I would be able to buy a pint of the Montezuma’s Revenge on that future visit.