11 Jul A Big Day at the State Fairgrounds – Big Red Bourbon Expo and Indiana Brewers’ Cup
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
It’s rare that two big events are on the same day; it’s rarer when they occur right next door to one another. On Saturday, the final judging, tasting and awards ceremony for the 2022 Indiana Brewers’ Cup took place in the Grand Pavilion and coliseum at the Indiana State fairgrounds. And just as the best of show judging was underway in the Grand Pavilion, the Big Red Bourbon Expo was finishing up next door in the West Pavilion (yearly home to the Winterfest Beer fest as well).
This was our (Walter’s and mine) time at the Big Red Bourbon Expo, and I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed it. We saw many more people we knew then we expected to, and we met a bunch of new friends and learned so much about spirits. The tasting stared at 1pm and I don’t think we even looked at our watches until 3pm when they started the raffles for a chance to buy some of the more expensive bourbons (Pappy Van Winkle, 10 yr., 12 yr., 20 yr., and a bottle of 23 yr., along with several others).
There were at least 80 different booths (most with two locations to cut the lines in half), serving unlimited samples of bourbons, whiskeys, ready to drink cocktails, gins, vodkas…. Just about any spirit you can think of. We learned more about bottle in bond, triple mash, blends for flavored moonshines, levels of peat – it was a tasty experience that came with a lot of facts and stories.
A great crowd at the Big Red Bourbon Expo. image credit: Walter
We hoped for a good balance of local distilleries and out of state distilleries, and that’s what we got. Nikki from Boone County Jail Distillery was serving up their Kennard & Drake 5 yr. Bourbon and other goodies, and she previewed for us that they will be coming out with a Root Beer Float RTD product in the next month. Ember from Hotel Tango Distillery had their new toasted marshmallow bourbon called Shmallow. One of the newest distilleries in the state, Moon Drops Distillery from Fortville, had a fantastic 5 yr. bourbon, as well as their peppermint and lemon shakeup bonfire blends, a mixture of corn liquor, rye whiskey, and vodka, while Drew Fox was on hand pouring 18th Street Distillery’s fantastic 100 proof rye whiskey.
Other locals included 1205 Distillery, Cardinal Spirits, Spirits of French Lick, Three Floyds Distilling, and Hard Truth Distilling – who had a great Maple Bourbon Cream – no, I’m not a huge hard spirits drinker, but I can enjoy some aspects of artisan distilling. One thing I definitely did enjoy was trying the single barrels bourbons from Rami Lazarus and blending operation, Circle City Whiskey Company. He and his partners are artisan blenders who do both single barrel and finishing barrel whiskies and bourbons – so good.
By far the biggest surprise we had on the local level was Tom Bullock’s Bourbon and the other products from the Henderson Spirits Group – as in Alan Henderson – as in IU basketball and Atlanta Hawks Alan Henderson.
Alan stood a good head or so above most everyone else in the West Pavilion, and someone mentioned the named Henderson, but I didn’t put it together until we got home and I started writing up the event – shame on me. Alan has been very vocal and active in promoting black-owned businesses, and his Henderson Spirits Group grew out of some entrepreneurial work he started while he was in Atlanta. His motto is now, Diversify the Bar,” and he names all his spirits lines and products after African Americans who played a solid, but relatively unknown, role in American spirits history. This would include the Tom Bullock’s line, named for the author of the first African American cocktail recipe book.
Will Moorman and Josh Miller show off Flix Brewhouse Carmel’s hardware at the 2022 IBC. image credit: Indiana Brewers’ Cup
We tried the Burnt Orange Bourbon, and it was one of my three favorite samples of the entire event, and we look for more from this blender and packager. I asked Alan if he had an artisan distiller’s permit, and he said, “Not yet, but it’s something we are seriously looking about adding in the very near future.” As an Indianapolis-based business, Henderson Spirits is a great addition to our distilling culture, and we hope that he does end up distilling spirits and having a tasting room – because then he can come serve at more festivals.
As for our favorites of the day, Walter was enamored with the Dark Rye Whiskey from Basil Hayden, the Cigar Malt Bourbon from Dalmore, the Maple Bourbon Cream from Hard Truth and New Holland Distillery Sweet Heat Whiskey. To go with the Burnt Orange I liked so much, I also really enjoyed the Spiced Pear Liqueur from St. George’s Spirits, the Calumet Farm 16 year Bourbon, and the Spicy Peach Pecan Whiskey from Old Camp Whiskey.
After the Expo, we met our daughter at Flix Brewhouse for dinner (we are still amazed that people don’t think you can go there just for drinks and dinner – TWO people questioned us there last night), just about the same time that Josh Miller and Will Moorman were cleaning up at the Indiana Brewer’s Cup awards ceremony and dinner in the state fair Coliseum. Flix Brewhouse in Carmel was awarded the Indiana Brewery of the Year and the Grand Champion Brewery of the Year. Josh won Golds for his Amber European Beer called Time On Target (an altbier), his Saison called Saison du Walt, of which I had three Saturday night – this last batch has been spectacular, and for his Piwo Grodziskie in the Smoke-Flavored beer category.
I asked Josh about his feelings on the Indiana Brewers’ Cup and how having a great competition in Indiana reflects the brewers and brewing community in this state. He told me, “IBC is my favorite competition of the year. Our group of brewers (both commercial and home) here in Indiana is unprecedented in its talent, camaraderie, and quality. I certainly know I wouldn’t have won Brewery of the Year this weekend without the assistance, encouragement, or help from a HUGE number of people that were in attendance at the ceremony on Saturday and that doesn’t just include re-opening Flix. I couldn’t even list the number of people who have helped me get to where I am going back to 2015 when I was assistant at Flix, then helped me open Backstep, and now helped me re-open Flix.”
He added, “That is just how it is in the Indiana brewing scene. It is also what makes IBC such a fiercely (but friendly) competitive competition. I am just as happy to see other breweries win this competition as I am to win myself. When Crasian was racking up the medals on Saturday, I couldn’t put in to words how excited we were because Tom and Michele are just simply some of the nicest human beings on the planet – how could you not cheer them on?! On top of that, seeing Rob and Metazoa win Best in Show was just awesome, not just because Metazoa makes great beer and is comprised of even greater people, but during re-opening Rob was a great help to get Flix re-opened and also probably saved my life one day when I was trying to work on getting our auger re-installed by myself. Seeing Jason Cook from Black Dog win was extremely gratifying because I literally have to ask a favor of him almost every week. Indiana beer quality is only surpassed by the quality of the people making it.”
The Flix brand did extremely well over all, with medals for the Albuquerque, De Moines, Madison, & El Paso, a tribute to their individual skills, but also the program put in place a few years ago by Chris Knott (saw him at the Bourbon Expo too), and the great teamwork of all the Flix brewers. The out of state medals show how strong this competition is, Indiana Brewers Cup is recognized as a top tier competition in the country. There were medals from commercial brewers from eight different states, and 15 different states in the home brew competition. Access the entire commercial brewer results here.
MASH Fort Wayne Homebrew Club cleaned up in the homebrew portion of the 2022 IBC. image credit; MASH Fort Wayne Homebrew Club
Before we talk about the homebrew competition, I’d like to recognize the five medals for Michele and Tom Bulington of Craisan Brewing in Brookston, the four medals from Sun King and the three medals for Sun King-Fishers Small Batch, as well as a big congrats to all the medal winners in the commercial category. I was also very happy to see the appreciation and recognition given to Rian Umbach at Field Brewing in Westfield. He won four medals, including golds for his Hot Dill Pickle Sour in the fruit/veggie beer category, and for his Shift Change in the British Pale Category, and a silver for his Saison called Saison Du Champ Quest (I’ve been singing this beer’s praises for months). He also took the silver medal for Best in Show for the Shift Change – way to go Rian!
In the IBC Homebrewers Competition, which is an American Homebrewers Association Master Championship Level contest, the medals were won by many different brewers and clubs, but one club seemed to rise above the rest in 2022. The MASH Fort Wayne Homebrew Club took 15 medals across both the beer and mead categories, and they won both the Homebrew Club of the Year (most total points) and the Bill Friday club award (highest avg. score).
Jed Lengerich of MASH personally won seven medals, amazingly for both his beers and his meads, including a silver for Best of Show in the Mead/Cider groups. A shout out to Jeremy Klausing of Circle City Zymurgy as well for his two medals in the meads and his Best of Show Gold in the Mead/Cider categories. There were lots of new names as medalists, but some names are back from years past, both recent and not so recent – Jereme Grissom, Ron Smith, Andrew Korty, and Jeremy Tyson. Finally, there should be definite recognition for Caleb Meinke of Cambridge, WI, who won two golds in the beer categories and took home the Best Of Show Beer for his International Pale Lager called Seguoin. Access the complete homebrewer results here.
It was a great day for craft beverages, from discovering new spirits to recognizing award winning beers/ciders/meads. We’re privileged to live in a special state when it comes to liquid artistry, and we should appreciate both the products and the producers. Get out and explore what Indiana has to offer.
banner image credit: Indiana Brewers’ Cup
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