26 Feb Indiana City’s Winter Home Brewer Battle one for the ages
Every home brewer dreams of producing their beer on a full-scale system and sharing a pint amongst friends at a taproom. Indiana City’s Home Brewer Battle makes it possible for anyone to do just that.
On a less-than-typical, 70 degree February afternoon in Indianapolis, nine home brewers and nearly 50 voters gathered at Indiana City’s taproom, on Indy’s near east side for a brew versus brew competition.The rules were simple: submit a cornelius keg of a heavy, black brew of at least 8.0 percent alcohol by volume, drink delicious beer, and have fun.
The Battle Begins
The competition kicked off with a short speech from founder, Ray Kamstra, with a warm welcome and the structure of the competition. Ray closed his instructions with, “Everybody have a fun time. That’s what this is all about!” The bracket style tournament put two brews head-to-head in each round, the dark goodness poured into small cups placed on sides A and B of the table. Tasters took one sample of each beer to smell, taste, indulge, and discuss. Votes were cast by placing an empty cup on the side of the beer of their choice. Cups were counted and the winner of each round was announced.
Round 1: Josh G. vs Brad B. – Imperial Coffee Porter vs Foreign Extra Stout – Winner: Josh G.
Round 2: Nate G. vs Andrew W. – Imperial Porter vs Russian Imperial Stout – Winner: Nate G.
Round 3: Josh G. vs Dave P. – Imperial Coffee Porter vs Imperial Coconut Milk Stout – Winner: Dave P.
Round 4: Nick B. vs Jake R. – Imperial Stout w/ Molasses vs American Stout – Winner: Nick B.
Round 5: Jeremy R. vs Brice M. – Imperial Milk Stout vs Imperial Robust Porter – Winner: Jeremy R.
Halfway through the competition, Ray addressed the crowd once again. “You’re probably wondering why we’re giving away free beer at a brewery,” he said with a chuckle. “Without home brewing, craft beer never would’ve happened. We want to support you guys.” Cheers and applause rang out. This was a perfect testament to Ray’s attitude and background, a former home brewer himself, sparked by the craft beer culture in Chicago in 2004. ICB is a home brewer’s kind of brewery. Grown out of sweat equity and a kickstarter campaign and brewing only seven-barrel batches at a time, it’s still a relatively small operation. Quality over quantity. After speaking with Ray for only a few minutes, his passion for craft beer is apparent. He is more than happy to open his doors and share what he loves, at no cost, if it means benefiting the industry in any way.
New Battle, New Rules
The 2016 battle was the third seasonal battle for Indiana City Brewing, with another scheduled for this summer. Some of the competitors, such as Andrew Wood, have history with the event. A taster at last year’s bout, Andrew tried his hand at fame as a brewer. “This year is way better!” exclaimed Andrew. “There’s twice the people, twice the competition. The new rules made it a much better competition.” Andrew was referring to the dark, strong beer category. In year’s past, it was home brew versus home brew, with no specific category. An IPA could’ve gone up against a Wheat, skewing the competition toward the style most preferred as opposed to the flavor and content. The crowd consensus on the new format was unanimous.
To avoid a stacked competition, registration and voting rules were changed for this competition as well. To prevent brewers from stockpiling their friends as judges, all taster passes were issued online ahead of the brewer registration. There was no cost to taste or compete and this year’s taster passes sold out in only a few hours.
Other home brewers, such as Brice McPherson, were new to the Home Brew Battles at ICB. Brewing for almost six years, he’s entered a few competitions, mostly backyard bouts with ten to twelve friends. For this competition, he brought his Imperial Robust Porter, named “Princess Porter,” a brew perfected to his wife’s tastes. Both Andrew and Brice were knocked out in their first round, but they took it on the chin like champs. Better luck next year, fellas.
Semi-Finals: Nate G. vs Dave P. – Imperial Porter vs Imperial Coconut Milk Stout – Winner: Dave P.
Semi-Finals: Nick B. vs Jeremy R. – Imperial Stout w/ Molasses vs Imperial Milk Stout – Winner: Jeremy R.
Final Round: Dave P. vs Jeremy R. – Imperial Coconut Milk Stout vs Imperial Milk Stout – Winner: … Just wait.
Eye of the Tiger blasts over the loudspeaker.
In what was the closest finish of any round, the winner was decided by a mere three votes. The air was tense. The two armies of cups were nearly identical. The crowd was divided. “It tastes like dessert!” some shouted about Jeremy’s Milk Stout. “The coconut is amazing!” others defended Dave’s Stout. The battle raged on until Ray took the mic. “And the winner is… Dave!” By a 26-23 vote, Dave Pennington had bested Jeremy Railey to take the title of Champion of the 2016 Winter Edition Home Brewer Battle.
Fate would have it that Dave Pennington, of Indianapolis’ south side, along with friend Tommy McDowell, would win this battle. As Dave tells the story, “I was out in San Diego, celebrating my birthday, when Tommy sends me a link to this event. Indiana City makes a great oatmeal stout which really made me want to enter.” As Tommy relates it, “If it weren’t for Dave, I wouldn’t be brewing and if it weren’t for me, Dave wouldn’t have made this beer.” The reason? Dave has been brewing for almost 14 years and usually prefers a more subtle taste. Tommy started more recently, after being introduced to Dave through their wives (seriously, “fate”), and has a more eccentric palate. Together, they make one heck of a team and one hell of a great beer.
A Brewer’s Inspiration
Initially inspired by a coconut stout from Deviate Brewing, Dave and Tommy aspired to give the tasters a beer reminiscent of a Mounds Bar or an Almond Joy. As their category of choice was Imperial Stout, Dave would normally go heavy on the hops and age it for as long as a year. However, they were limited by a window of less than two months, forcing the decision to dial back the IBU’s. For an idea of just how close they were to the deadline, they cold-crashed this batch two days before the kegs were due at check-in. Instead of excessive hops, the recipe included vanilla beans, toasted coconut, a little lactose, and a lot of chocolate malt. Served cold, this is an exceptional beer. Let it warm up, and you’ll be blown away. The vanilla provides more of a nose than a taste. The chocolate malt is very forward with some nuttiness imparted by the toasted coconut. The flavor of the coconut is surprisingly subtle until the beer warms up. Then it really comes through and nails the chocolate, coconut, candy bar sensation that they were looking for.
To the Victor Go the Spoils
Now, on to the grand prize. Not only do Dave and Tommy go down in the Annals of Winter Edition Home Brewer Battle History, their aptly named Toasted Imperial Tropical Stout will be brewed as a seven barrel batch at Indiana City Brewing. Resident artist, designer, and photographer Aaron Scamihorn will create the artwork, some amazing examples of which can be seen on nearly everything that ICB already offers. After a tapping party, the beer will be available on draft in the taproom until it runs out. It’ll also go around town in kegs to whoever is interested in having it.
When asked about the victory, Dave humbly replied, “It’s an honor to win this competition for my favorite beer style. Any one of those beers today, you’d be happy to get on tap at a bar.” He also added, “I’m a big fan of this brewery, which actually used to be a brewery before Prohibition. As a history nut, that’s pretty cool. As a home brewer, I really wanted to support this place.”
Home brewers supporting breweries and breweries supporting home brewers; It’s a beautiful thing. Those interested in tasting or competing in Indiana City’s 2016 Summer Edition Home Brewer Battle, should keep on the lookout for details. If it’s anything like the Winter Edition, we’re all in for a real treat. See you on the battlefield.
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