20 Jan Flat12’s 5th Anniversary Bash Proves The Brewery Only Gets Better With Age
When you are celebrating an anniversary milestone, whether it’s year 1, 5, or even 25, you have to go all out like it may be your last. This past Saturday,
Flat12 Bierwerks threw a party to celebrate their fifth year of brewing, and it was one for the books.By the time I strolled in around noon, the party was hopping. The taproom was packed wall-to-wall, beer was flowing, and snowflakes were beginning to fall.
The event itself was free, but patrons had the opportunity to purchase a $20 package that included a commemorative 16 ounce beer glass and unlimited samples. Only 250 beer glasses were available, and they sold out before the event. Without the package, you had to buy pints or half-pints of each beer just to try it, which would have been expensive. A pint was running $5-$6 and half-pints were $4. In just a few trips to the beer stations you would have already drank back the money you had spent on the packages, making it well worth the price.
Flat12 setup four beer stations throughout the property, with each station having a theme. In the taproom, they served a wide selection of house and seasonal beers. I tried Naptown Ninja and Sadistic Beach, two that I had never had before. Naptown Ninja is an American Wheat, and Sadistic Beach is a 6.66 percent ABV IPA. Both beers lived up to the standards we’ve come to find with Flat12 beers, but neither blew me away. There were a few others I could have tried, but the barrel aged beauties awaited me outside.
I made my way to the back corner of the lot where they had some beers of the sour, barrel-aged, and cask variety. There was seven or eight beers, and I ended up trying three of them: Party Mode, Pickled Barrel, and Deflator.
Party Mode is a Kiwi Double IPA that was aged in a smoked American whiskey barrel. This was my second favorite beer of the day, mostly because it contained my favorite beer style, IPA, and it was barrel aged in my favorite liquor, whiskey. Deflator is the German Dopplebock that Flat12 brewed back in October for the Colts-Patriots football game and it had a great malty taste to it.
Then there was the Pickled Barrel; one of the strangest brews I’ve ever had. Pickled Barrel comes from Flat12 barrel-aging their Cucumber Kolsch (another great beer they make) in Four Rose barrels, and the end result tasting like sour pickle juice. I hate pickles, but I’m thankful Flat12 Marketing Director Valerie Green had me try this.
Next, I made my way to the Flat12 beer truck which held the prestigious barrel aged varieties of Pinko! Russian Imperial Stout. This was a dangerous stop, as all of the beers contained high ABV levels and it was harder to only try a few. So, I only tried four before walking away.
They had tapped whatever remained of Pinko! 23, which they had brewed and barreled three to four years ago. This Pinko! was barreled in a 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle whiskey barrel, and just like 23-year-old whiskey, it was smooth and full-bodied. Ship to Shore, a Pinko! barreled in a Port Wine barrel, had a sweet, fruity taste to go along the chocolate and coffee taste from the Pinko!. Dark Corner, a Pinko! barreled in a New Day Meadery Imperial Breakfast Magpie barrel, had a similar taste to Ship to Shore, but with a sweet, raspberry addition. The last one I tried was Cherrywood Pinko!. I have no idea what gives the Pinko! its strong cherry smell and taste, (my notes started getting iffy from this point on), but it was an amazing Pinko! variation and one of my favorite beers of the day.
Inside the brewery sat a table full of truly unique beers. I believe they told me these beers came from Flat12’s Gallon Series, but as I said earlier my notes were not a great source of information after the Pinko! stop. At this stop I tried four more beers: Perpetual Slumber, a Belgian Dark Strong brewed with Turbinado Sugar; Very Owd Gordo, an Old Ale aged in 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle barrels; Grandpa’s Glazed Ham, a spiced American Porter aged in rum barrels; and BerMOOda Triangle, a Lacto-Matic aged in Caribbean rum barrels. Not a bad beer in the bunch.
Flat12 took a chance on a very unique barrel aged version of Pinko!, and it paid off immensely. First, they sent a Corsair Artisan Triple Smoke Whiskey barrel up to Newmun Homestead in Fort Wayne, IN. Once there, the 15-gallon barrel was filled with Indiana maple syrup and returned to Flat12 after the maple syrup was bottled. After receiving the barrel back, Flat12 filled it with Pinko! and let it sit.
They were able to yield 12 gallons on клен from the 15-gallon barrel. Some of it was kegged for the party, and the rest was bottled in 38 bottles. Those bottles were sold, ($25 each), at the party, but only 38 people were given the opportunity. Throughout the day, Flat12 employees would post on Twitter their location, and the first people to find them would be able to buy their very own клен bomber.
I’m not sure exactly how many patrons got a chance to taste клен, but I feel sorry for those who didn’t. The maple flavor added another complexity to the barrel aged Pinko! that took it to another level and above the other Pinko! barrel aged varieties.
My only complaint of the entire event: not enough restrooms. Four restrooms (two inside and two port-o-potties outside) just wasn’t enough for the size of crowd that showed up. Otherwise, this was one of the best, if not the best, events I’ve had the opportunity to attend. The beer was delicious and plentiful, the beer and food prices were not ridiculous, and there was adequate room for the massive crowd. If these first five years have taught us anything about Flat12, it’s that we are only going to see more interesting, unique, and crazy beer concoctions to come.
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