holy shit I'm a slacker and my understanding of Indianapolis is still fucking iron-clad bitches

Well, I've been kind of busy and kind of just really lazy these last couple days. My house is a fucking mess, I need to do laundry and I am broke as a joke. Yet I will go see Foghorn String Band tonight at the Second Story if it kills me. Jenny B is back in town and she says they are good. Jenny B has never steered me wrong musically, so I need to go.

I also went sailing today. I bought the $35 month long membership so I can go sailing on Lake Lemon whenever I want for as long as I want for the next month which is pretty sweet.

SO...Saturday was the big beer thinger in Indy, the Brewer's of Indiana Guild's 10th Annual Microbrewers Fest (what an awkward title huh?). It was in Broad Ripple, which I was led to believe was much cooler than it actually is, but again, I need to remember that this is Indianapolis. I mean, it was pretty cool, but downtown is cooler in my book. The Rathskellar and MacNivans etc., that area is really nice. I need to go back there and hang out some more, maybe with Bobby Mack, the coolest dude at World Class Beverage by far. Well, that's not true, but he is the fucking man and we seem to get along real good like. Anywho, I just drank a large cup of coffee and I'm fucking wired and seem to be just rambling on here. So let's cut to the chase.

But first, this: "This is a damned nice Wheat beer, friends. Bright, refreshing and very quaffable at an abv just shy of 5%. In fact, in the heat of this torrid mid-summer, it seemed about as perfect as any I've ever had. I consumed most of the growler under my big shade tree late yesterday afternoon, saving a pint to have, in lieu of my usual second Cappuccino, with this morning's breakfast of grilled sausages and fresh-cut Basil scrambled eggs with Salsa Verde.

Hey, living well is the best revenge and all that, plus the only way you know it's the weekend sometimes is having a beer with, or before, breakfast. Really."

This is from Jack Curtin's Liquid Diet Online. He is a great writer and apparently the token curmudgeon of the SE PA beer scene.

So oh yeah, about Indy. My understanding of Indy is pretty much this: it's the easiest big city to get around ever. I have never had a major problem getting around Indy nor have I ever gotten lost there. Parking is abundant and most parts are pretty residential and easy to navigate. No crazy one way curvy streets or dead end type things. I drove with Bob Mack to the Rathskellar which is pretty much downtown on Friday at like 4:30pm and there was parking a plenty and like no traffic. It blew my mind. Then getting to Broad Ripple on Saturday for the fest was so easy and there was also abundant parking. It also blew my mind. I'll tell you what, it's good incentive to hang out in Indy more. There seems to be some cool places to check out so I'll need to do that.

Ok, enough with the small talk, let's get down to brass tacks here chumps. I'm going to post a couple pictures from the beer fest on Saturday that won't make it into my story that I'm (eventually) going to write for Indianabeer.com.

So here is a picture of Stan Stephans, the owner of the Heorot in Muncie, one of the best beer bars in the country. He is a wild man and really fucking burly. I wouldn't fuck with him, let's just put it that way. Except now he's all messed up what with the shoulder surgery and all so maybe I could take him, but probably not actually.



This is a picture of four of the folks from the Good Beer Show. They are a bunch of fun but disappeared from Brugge Brasserie (which kind of sucked actually but I can't say that in any official capacity) without a trace after the fest. Apparently they tried to steal Mark Schiess' wallet. Seriously. He came back from giving them some of his C.I.B.A.S. stuff, which is really cool, and was like 'those girls tried to pickpocket me but I'm too smart for them I knew what was up'. He seemed hammered so maybe that had something to do with it.



Here is one of the several lovely ladies that JeffreyT has under lock and key and lets out only to record the Good Beer Show and to make public appearances with him. That dude is a stud.



Here is Mark Schiess, the king of Indiana Homebrew (he won 783 medals this year at the state fair, but more on him in the indianabeer.com piece) shaking Mark Mahon's hand immediately before participating in the keg toss competition. He was pretty drunk.



Here is Matt, the winner of the keg toss competition. He was a really cool guy too which made Grant and I feel better about him being the winner. He won a fucking Kayak. He participates in Scottish games and stuff. He was really cool except for the House of Pain shirt.



And last but not least, Dr. Grant Goodrich quaffing a Best Bitter from the handpull at Broad Ripple Brewpub post fest.



Until next time, don't poke your eye out.

really tweaked out on caffeine,
your's truly,
Matthew Daniel Walter Dunn