“Be Nice To Donkey” – A Day At The Farm With Burn ‘Em Brewing

Burn ‘Em Brewing’s Burn ‘Em At The Farm event on Saturday, October 3, was a testament to resilience, compassion, pre-planning, and quality. I know this seems like a bullshit way to start an article on a beer fest, but when the temperature and weather at the beer fest is 53 degrees (the high) and steady rain (20% chance, sure), there are a lot of unpleasant things that could happen under these circumstances, not the least of which is abject misery. That said, despite cold, rainy weather, Burn ‘Em put on one hell of a beer fest and made the day seem warmer and more pleasant than it was in reality.

The Planning, The Weather, the Location
    
​The pre-planning for this event was spectacular – truly. There were two large tents for attendees, with plenty of tables and chairs. The food, well, swoon, was phenomenal, and the layout of the event, including cornhole boards, a bonfire, and plenty of high-quality beer, was all spot-on. I ended up trying the pulled pork sandwich and garlic/chives/parmesan fries – delicious, all.
Everyone knows that October is fickle, weather-wise, up here in Northern Indiana. While the event’s weather was 53 and rain, the next weekend was 70 and sunny – this is life in the vortex of the almighty Lake Michigan weather machine. All that said, Burn ‘Em gave great thought to comfort and convenience of its guests – even including overnight camping for those who wished to stay. While there was positively nothing Burn ‘Em could do about the weather, the general atmosphere of the event was cheerful, with plenty of food, beer, and activities.
The location was a family member’s farm in rural north-central Indiana, near New Carlisle. There was plenty of parking, a well-laid out site plan, and activities (food, music, bonfire, cornhole, beer-tasting, camping) for a crowd. Congratulations to Burn ‘Em for a well-organized and fun event.

The Beer
    
Burn ‘Em is generally known for ‘bringing it’ to other beer fests with a wide variety and assortment of their latest concoctions. At this, their signature event, this was no exception. Warchata, Duke Silver, Tweak!, LemonRaid, Mo’saic Mo’Problems, and The Hop Parade were all offered. As I am a fan of Burn ‘Em, I do seek them out regularly, so finding two types of beer that I hadn’t tried before the fest was a delight. I tried both Warchata & LemonRaid. Warchata – a cream ale with nutmeg, vanilla bean, cinnamon, and lactose sugar – was a welcome warmer to a cool day. While a cream ale typically doesn’t get me too excited, the blend of spices and its decided fall-like flavor were welcome on a cool day. This would have been a perfect beer for by the fire on a fall evening. LemonRaid would be my go-to for a summer’s afternoon as it is a light green tea ale with lemon peel. At this event, while it was refreshing, it was a little too summery for the day it was served. Like I said, October is fickle – next week LemonRaid will be perfect while the Warchata will be less appealing.