First up it is 2018. Happy New Year! We are really excited about the new year and many things we have in the works.

On the brewery news there are three bits of information to share.

*We just placed an order for a new and expanded canning line from the good people at Cask Brewing Systems. The new line is a nice upgrade to our existing one (also a Cask) and will be giving us the ability to produce more world-class quality beers in cans as well as introduce some new offerings later in the year.

*Next, we have added a brewery account manager to work specifically with our on premise accounts. Cari Crowe brings years of industry experience and beer knowledge to our team. Welcome Cari!

* And maybe what many people are most excited about is our updated Taproom Growler Fill Special. Every Friday & Saturday Growler Fills are $6 on Lift Off IPA, Vacation Kölsch, Pils German Pilsner & Race Day Lager. 

Now let’s talk about beer. With the calendar turning to January we have once again tried to sit down and plan out many of our beer releases for the year. The calendar being shared here represents the beers we are planning to distribute this year and for us it’s really exciting.

 

First, we are now going to have 5 year round beers with the addition of our very popular Pils German Pilsner to the year round lineup on draft and in cans. While Lift Off IPA drives most of our volume it’s been great to see people embrace beers like Vacation Kölsch and Pils German Pilsner as go to everyday beers to enjoy in our year round lineup.

Second, we have three larger seasonal releases planned around a few fan favorites. J.W.P. American Stout returns to distribution the week of January 15th on draft and for the first time we are distributing cans outside the taproom. (If you can’t wait on distribution, J.W.P. is available now at the taproom on draft & in cans) Our Race Day Lager of course will be back to celebrate the greatest spectacle in racing in May and once again we will distribute the wet-hop release of our NEX IPA series in the fall.

Third, and something we are really excited about is a big expansion of our lager series for distribution. We make a lot of lagers at our taproom and this year we are expanding these releases so we can also distribute many of these lagers on a regular basis — almost monthly — across our Indiana distribution footprint. Most of our lagers are German-styles but we also have inspiration in other areas that will be in the mix. In keeping with our approach to all these beers we source local malts, hops and yeast to make each lager as true to style as possible.  First up in the lager series is our award-winning German-style Bock, which will first be available at our taproom the week of January 15th and in market across Indiana the week of January 22nd. If you are one of our existing accounts talk to your Monarch/World Class representative or reach out to us about getting subscribed to the lager series.

 

Last, we will also have a few one-off Rare Devil series releases again this year which will include a Berliner Weisse and two of our most popular Saisons, Whimsy and Carnival.

We think there is really something for everyone and lots of fun and exciting beers hitting distribution that otherwise people only normally get to enjoy at our taproom. And of course we also will have other taproom only releases that we will let you know about when they happen.

And remember to visit us at our taproom where we generally have close to 20 beer on draft and many options for carry out too.

Aggressively Fun!

November brings a change in weather and more beer releases at the taproom.

November Taproom Releases

As we are publishing this update we are also getting ready for the first can release of the month, NEX IPA: Experiment #5. Our annual wet-hopped IPA is always fun and we really like how this one came out. NEX IPA #5 features wet-hopped Mosaic hops and then a blend of Citra, Galaxy & Vic Secret hops. It’s tasty. We look forward to seeing many of you for the can release. This can release is about 2 times the size of our more recent releases, some of which sold out in a few hours, so get over here and pick some up.

 

We also will have the following releases with the next installment of our double dry hopped Lift Off IPA and a favorite returns.

Mosaic Double Dry Hopped Lift Off IPA. An amplified version of our flagship Lift Off IPA with an extra round of dry hopping using Mosaic hops. Planning for draft & cans in mid-November.

J.W.P American Stout. Forged from the combination of nine grains and American hops to deliver a huge bouquet of aromas and abundant flavors of rich, silky espresso and chocolate in an expressive American Stout with the spirit of the Wild West! Available around the toward the end of November on draft & 4-pack cans. Taproom only, no distribution on this release.

 

Hold Your Event at our Brewery

We get a lot of requests for events at the brewery and we have figured out a way to offer a semi-private event space in our warehouse space behind the taproom. The space is 1250 sq. ft and can accommodate larger groups looking for a casual atmosphere and a terrific view of our production brewery. Inquire at [email protected] for booking information.

 

Customer Appreciation Day & Our 5th Anniversary

5 Years. Wow. Save the date for Saturday, December 2nd. Join us at the taproom for our annual Customer Appreciation Day and kick off our 5th Anniversary Celebration.

The end of the summer has come quickly. If you have been in the taproom recently or a lot this summer get ready for a lot of change coming as we will have many beers rotating off to make room for many beers coming this Fall. Before we get to some taproom releases that we are planning here are some things we have been up to. 

 

New whirlpool added to the brewery

We’ve added a new shiny stainless steel tank to our brewhouse. We bought a dedicate whirlpool vessel a few months ago, but we have been so busy we had to wait to fit in the time for some process tests to take advantage of it. Many of you are asking, “What is a whirlpool?”. A whirlpool tank receives wort from the brew kettle after the boil has completed. This allows the next batch of wort to be transferred from the mash/lauter tun to the kettle with less delay then waiting for a transfer through a heat exchanger to a fermenter. It will save us 45 minutes per kettle flip. The first batch we used the new whirlpool on was our NEX IPA #3 and now we are working on integrating it into our processes for all of our hop-centric beers. With a dedicated whirlpool tank we get more temperature control with hop additions post boil before transferring to a fermenter. We really like the initial results and look forward to utilizing it more.

 

Hops & Flip Flops Festival wrap up

We had a great turn out this year at the festival. The 5K race saw over 350 people participate this year and the new free Kids 1 mile race had around 50 participants.

For the Craft Beer Festival this year we had perfect weather and a great turn out of around 1000 people this year. The +20 breweries in attendance all had a great time pouring their beers and many came up to us during and after the festival to tell us how much they enjoyed the intimate setting of the festival. The results were that we raised more than $6K for our charity partners. Save the date for next year August 18, 2018.

 

Video: Kids Fit Hops & Flip Flops 1 Mile Race Start 

 

Photo: Daredevil Brewing Co Hops & Flip Flops 2017 

 

Photo: Daredevil Brewing Co Hops & Flip Flops 2017 Taplist & Tres Tico J.W.P.

 

Photo: Hops & Flip Flops Glass & Coolie 2017

 

Indy Jazz Fest comes to Speedway

We are working with the Speedway Lions Club and Speedway Chamber of Commerce to host the Indy Jazz Fest on Main event at our brewery on Friday, September 22nd. The free show will include a family friendly viewing area in as well as a +21 and over area on our lawn and patio area. Feel free to bring your own lawn chair.

More information on our website (http://daredevilbeer.com/events/indy-jazz-fest-hosted-daredevil-brewing/) and Facebook events page.

 

Save the Date for Daredevil Oktoberfest on September 30th

We are holding a full blown German-style Oktoberfest at the brewery and taproom following the traditional German calendar on the last Saturday of September. All the details are on our website (http://daredevilbeer.com/events/daredevil-brewing-oktoberfest). The event will feature Daredevil German style Ales & Lagers as well as live music by the local band Alpine Express. We will have pretzels, German-style sausages from Claus’ Market. Check out the event page for ways to pre-purchase Daredevil Logo Steins & Boots or even reserve a table and rock Oktoberfest like a pro.

When: 6 to 11 pm, Saturday, September 30th

 

September Tap Room Draft & Can Releases

If you read this far you will be rewarded with some of the new taproom only draft and can releases. First up, we have two German-style lager releases coming and cans for both for the first time. Daredevil Oktoberfest returns in early September and we will have cans for it and our Dunkel in mid-September. Second or next we have our NEX IPA: Experiment #4 coming on draft and cans in the second half of September. The NEX IPA #4 release will include featured hops of Chinook and Amarillo and we are very happy with how it is coming along. And last we are going to kick-off a new series of double dry hopped beers with Galaxy Double Dry Hopped Lift Off IPA coming out on draft and cans in the last part of September. Look for announcements early for the week that a beer or can release is planned as we usually do releases on Friday at the taproom.

 

 

We are excited to share our plans for our 2017 beer releases for distribution.

First, our four year round beers continue to be Lift Off IPA, Vacation Kolsch, Rip Cord DIPA and Muse Belgian Golden Ale. All available on draft and in cans. We just went from one year round beer, Lift Off, to offering these four beers year round in 2016 and we really like having this mix of styles as our core lineup.

Second, we are adding seven small batch special releases in 2017 on draft and cans. You will notice a mix of old favorites, German-style lagers and hop-forward ales make up our Special Releases and Rare Devil Releases for the year. This means fan favorites like Race Day, Pils, Slip Stream & NEX all in 16 oz cans for the first time and distributed for the first time.

All of these beers will be available across our entire Indiana distribution footprint. If you are a current account or a bar, store or restaurant with questions always feel free to email us at [email protected]. Also, our distribution partners Monarch Beverage/World Class Beverage, Indiana Beverage and Five Star Distributing can help you too.

And for people that make it to our brewery and taproom we will also continue to provide a wide lineup of beers on draft that includes many taproom only ales & lagers and look for some special taproom only can releases coming this year.

 

 

It has been awhile since we did an update and a lot has been happening at the taproom and the brewery. This post is mostly about the taproom. If you are looking for our beers at a bar, restaurant or liquor store across Indiana we continue to post recent deliveries on our website. We primarily distribute our Lift Off IPA, Rip Cord DIPA, Muse Belgian Golden Ale & Vacation Kölsch with a few special small batch beers making their way out to nice homes from time to time. 

Taproom Hours have been extended

We recently extended the hours the Taproom is open and are open an hour later on most days

Tuesday to Thursday: 3 to 10 pm

Friday to Saturday: 11 am to 11 pm

Sunday: 11 am to 8 pm

Recently Released and Upcoming Beers

We post our current taplist on our website and we also recently started using Untappd for Business so you can subscribe to our taproom page and get alerts on new beers and events in their app on your phone.  At any given time we try to have on around 15 beers including our core year around beers and a wide selection of other beers. Recently added beers include:

Oktoberfest (on draft now)

English Harvest Ale (on draft now)

Carnival Saison (on draft now)

NEX IPA (on draft now)

Brett Project IPA (on draft now)

Dunkels Bock (coming soon)

Nitro J.W.P. American Stout (coming soon)

Save the Date: 4th Anniversary Celebration Saturday, December 17th

On Saturday, December 17th we will be hosting the kick-off to our 4th Anniversary celebration at our taproom. There will be crazy specials ($1 Lift Off IPA & Vacation Kolsch pints) and some special beers. More on specials as we get closer.

We will also host several events in January with more information on those coming in a few weeks. If you want to also save the date for our annual anniversary beer dinner at Black Market it will be on Monday, January 30th. 

More background on our new NEX IPA 

New & Experimental (aka NEX) IPA is our new American IPA that showcases our love of aggressively hopped beers. For this batch, we used a large amount of fresh Citra hop cones with a blend of Amarillo, Centennial, Citra, Chinook and Simcoe hop pellets throughout the brewing process. ABV: 7.0% IBUs: 80.

We had a lot of fun making this beer and we hope people enjoy it. This IPA will primarily be available from our taproom on draft and for carry out. We hope to make other versions of this beer and are looking into providing cans in the future, so stay tuned. This represents the third IPA in our lineup joining Lift Off & Rip Cord with all three being different examples of hop-forward IPAs.

For this batch we aimed to have this beer be toward the New England Style. We know a lot of people are going to ask the question what exactly is a New England Style IPA. There is no singular answer. However, there are some common qualities in IPAs coming from this region of the country that we enjoy which was part of the inspiration.

Generally these IPAs are hop-forward without being overly bitter and they have a softer mouth feel than many American IPAs. Example of IPAs from the northeast that we enjoy and that provided some inspiration for us when we were creating NEX would be Focal Banger and Heady Topper from The Alchemist as well as Haze & Sap from Tree House. In making NEX we did not set out to clone another beer. The intent was to present a different twist on flavor and aroma profiles we enjoy from the hop forward beers that we already brew. Having access to freshly harvested Citra hop cones from our friends at YCH Hops in Yakima, WA was just the excuse we needed to kick off this experiment. 

The main point with any beer is just to enjoy it for what it is. We hope you can visit us to enjoy the next beer in our Taproom lineup, NEX IPA.