by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap We’ve entered the craziest time of year for beer events. The sheer number of festivals and release parties is astounding, and they have themes that run the gamut from Oktoberfests to spirits to Halloween. September and October are...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Implementing changes at a successful business is never easy, but they are often necessary and can be chances for even greater success. Personnel changes are an important subset of this subject, and can occur for hundreds of different...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Most craft breweries in Indiana are recognizing that marketing opportunities are available in many forms, but the key is to market where it does the most good and is most affordable. A brewery needs to market itself in...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap The strength of a country is founded on growing things and making things. Just about everything else springs from those two basic acts – they both involve producing something from nothing, even if what you produce is an...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Ball State University has begun a football partnership with The Guardian Brewing Company in Muncie. Beer and football go together better than Scooby and Shaggy, so we heartily approve of this partnership. Beer at college football games is...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Walter and I did our rounds this holiday weekend. We hit two festivals, an opening, and tried a pub crawl on the new Red Line in Indianapolis. There was a festival that targeted niched beer, but they added...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Drinking, socializing around beer, and even making craft beer don’t rate much in the hierarchy of life’s issues. As much as we celebrate it as an art form, as a way for people to be employed and to...
Bloomington, Ind. — Cardinal Spirits, the craft distillery in Bloomington, Ind., has been nominated for two of USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards: Best Craft Vodka Distillery and Best Craft Rum Distillery. [caption id="attachment_38845" align="alignright" width="300"] image credit: Cardinal Spirits[/caption] The distillery’s award-winning, highly-rated spirits were nominated by...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap People like to say that organic growth for a brewery is the best. I don’t really know what that means, but I interpret it to be like a molting arthropod; you grow within your skin, and then you...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Types of Festivals. Craft beer festivals take several forms. There are festivals put on by breweries for a specific purpose, perhaps for a release (Death & Taxes Day at Taxman Brewing), an anniversary (Windmill Brewing’s 4 year party...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Let’s get this out of the way first thing – don’t let your beer go stale. Beer is meant to be drunk fresh, and with few exceptions, it’s almost always better when new. Yes, there are exceptions like...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Beer is a social activity, but writing about beer is solitary. I meet a lot of people, but I email probably 10x as many breweries as those I get to visit each week. However, even in speaking to...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap In most instances, I ignore trends on social media. In recent months it's been the Naturdays is Life craze, and now a new one has picked steam – the White Claw Hard Seltzer phenomenon. Apparently everyone is craving...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Preface: Saturday, August 24th is a special day in Indiana craft beer. Two great events take place that day, and took place on the same day last ear as well. Walter and I try to hit new events...
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap Drinking beer is great training for running - it's a good source of carbs and lots of B vitamins for muscle healing and development. Then again, running is good for drinking beer because first you burn the calories...