20 Tap Anniversary Celebration

Late in August of last year, my buddies Matt and Tom and I were talking about having a guys night.  Guys night was a fairly common thing for us.  We decided to go to Moe and Johnny’s at 54^th and College Ave.  After all, it was one of our favorite places at the time because they had good beer and free peanuts.  As we were walking from our parking spaces, we noticed what appeared to be a new bar in the area.  We all peered inside and liked what we saw.  I saw a guy in the bar having a pint, but the doors were locked and they were clearly not open yet, so on we went to M & J’s.  After a couple beers and a bunch of peanuts, we headed back to our car.  On the way, the gentleman who was inside enjoying a pint was outside the building.  We asked about the place and he informed us that this would be an all craft beer bar called Twenty Tap and it would be opening next week.  He also informed us that it would be a non-smoking environment and they would also have a nice food menu.  We were quite thrilled about this new development.  Made me wish I still lived in that area.  After talking to him, I remembered my buddy Kevin telling me about the place a few months prior to actually seeing it. 

One year later, Twenty Tap has easily become my favorite Indianapolis spot to enjoy a pint or a flight and scrumptious eats.  In just one year, they have grown from 20 Tap lines to 38 Taps of delicious craft beers.  Mostly regional, but occasionally you will find some of the bigger craft breweries represented….like this week they have had Stone’s 16^th Anniversary IPA on tap.  They also feature some of the best food in the city.  The spicy Cuban Sandwich, The Burn Burger, and Cheese Curds are my go-to items.  They post their tap list daily on their Facebook Page and I’m hoping someday they do the same with their twitter feed.  They have drink specials all week, usually a special beer at a cheaper price, and one day (Tuesday) each week where all pints are at a reduced cost.  Needless to say, Tuesdays are particularly busy.  It’s a fantastic place whether you want to sit at the bar and enjoy a pint or grab a table and have a meal with friends while enjoying and celebrating craft beer.

 

When I have friends come to town it’s one of the first places I recommend and we usually try to go.  I remember sharing a Stone Vertical Epic 11.11.11 with Jason from Cavalier there one evening.  I remember talking smoked turkey and beer around Thanksgiving with a server from Brugge around the holidays last year.  Countless times I have met up with buddies for a quick drink or two just to connect and have a place to enjoy quality beer and company.  I have even talked about social work with one of the employees over the summer while sipping my Stone Imperial Russian Stout at closing time.  When I have been there, I have always really enjoyed not only other patrons, but the employees that work there are some of the most endearing people I’ve met at any establishment I’ve been to.

But Being a busy father of two and working two jobs makes it quite difficult for me to be there on a regular basis.  I think I currently average about 1 trip every 2 months.  So I am certainly not a regular there.  If we still lived in that area of town I mostly likely would stop by every day for a pint after work.  Bottom line, I would be there as much as I could be if given the opportunity.  For me getting there takes planning ahead.  Coordinating with my wife so that she knows I’ll be away for a few hours.  So when they announced their 1 year Anniversary Party slated to happen a week from today I immediately informed my wife of my desire to attend.  Not only will they be having epic beers on tap, including Founders KBS, CBS, and Bells The Oracle, but they will also have some live entertainment, great food, and of course, the people that make that place the best bar in the city.  The party doesn’t start until 6:00pm, but I plan on being there around 4:00 or as soon as I am done working so that I have a shot at a seat at the bar.  Hope to see many of you there as well!!  Cheers to Twenty Tap, awesome beer, and many many more years of being able to enjoy those delicious beers at the best bar in the city!

A Lesson in Beer Aging: Bells The Oracle

I didn't really get into craft beer until the fall of last year.  Meaning, I wasn't always aware of how special some brews are.  Sometime this winter I read more about a beer made by one of my favorite breweries, Bells Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  The beer is called The Oracle.  I am a sucker for a double IPA.  Bells Oracle, according to Rate Beer, is among the best Double IPA's out there.  As I read about it further, I discovered that this is usually an August-ish release, and it's usually quite a small amount.  

August?  Wait.  My anniversary is in August and the first stop on our way to South Haven, Michigan was in Kalamazoo at Bell's......I know I took a photo of the tap list from that day, let me dig that up.  Sure enough, there it was.  Oracle Double IPA on tap when I visited, and I didn't even realize it.  Instead, that day I enjoyed the Rye Stout and Deb's Red.  Needless to say, when I initially discovered what I missed, I was pretty bummed.  Of course I am hoping to catch this beer when it comes out in August again.

Then Monday of this week happened.  Wife sent me to the post office and afterwards I stopped by the local Whole Foods market because sometimes they have beer gems.  Lo and behold, I found a bottle of The Oracle on the shelf.  At first I was shocked, and then the shock quickly turned to sadness as I realized that the beer has a bottle date of 8/2011 and is likely way past its prime.  I decided to grab it and give it a chance anyway.

Choose your vessel:  Bells Tulip, 12oz.

Nice Lacing

The Pour:  This one poured a hazy deep orange color.  A very nice looking beer with a 2 finger foam head that clung to the glass.  Sadly, the most impressive aspect of this tasting would prove to be the incredible lacing that remained on the glass.  Which shows that at some point this beer had some resinous hop action to it.

Aroma:  My first indication that this beer was past its prime.  Smelled sweet.  Sugary sweet.  Malt is the predominant aroma, which is not what you want from an IPA....let alone a double IPA.  I did get some faint hop aromas, slight citrus and floral notes.  Those aromas led me to believe that I would actually taste them.

Taste: Malt, malt, and more malt.  If this one had been stored in a cooler, there may have been a chance the hop flavor would at least have been noticeable.  To make matters worse, the alcohol has now become more noticeable in the beer.  So you have a sweet, malty, alcohol flavored mess of a beer here.  No hops noticeable at all.  Tasted more like a barleywine than a double IPA, and Barleywine's are not my thing.

Overall:  Despite my knowledge that this experiment would not end well, I was still disappointed and just sad.  Sad that this particularly beer wasn't enjoyed the way it should have been.

Conclusion:  When I checked out at the register, I talked with the cashier about how this beer was past its prime.  She asked "beer doesn't really go bad does it?"  I then explained to her how certain beers do well with age, and certain beers do not.  Beers that are supposed to showcase the hops (and other flavors like coffee and/or chilis) do lose those flavors with time.  It's a sad fact of beer.  Bells indicates on their website a shelf life of 6 months for this beer, and I bought it at 10 months.  I knew this wasn't going to go well, but I decided that this poor bottle needed to be put out of its shelf-life waiting misery.  What I did gain from this was a sense of what this beer is supposed to be.  The faint citrus and floral hop aroma I got indicated to me that, when fresh, the beer is likely a hop monster that is balanced with a heavy malt presence in the backbone.  Definitely a beer that under normal circumstances would be right up my ally.  I wish I would have known last August that it was on tap at Bells when I visited.  After I purchased the Oracle, I had a brief twitter conversation with Bells about it.  They reported that the aroma would be noticeably different, but that the beer might still be ok.  Sadly, it was a dead bottle.

The moral of the story:  Drink your IPA's, Double IPA's, and any beers that have flavors like Coffee or chili. These beers are definitely best when consumed as fresh as possible.

Have you had experiences with beers like this?  What's in your fridge that you need to get to now?