Indianapolis Colts and Indiana beers

What better way to enjoy the Indianapolis, Indiana Colts take on the New Orleans Saints in this weekend's Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, than with a true-blue Indiana Craft Beer.

Rob Goebel / Star photo illustrations


According to an article in the Indianaplis Star (By Jolene Ketzenberger) Indiana is home to more than 30 craft breweries that produce a wide range of beers.

"The first thing people need to know is that Indiana's craft breweries are as good as they'll find anywhere in the world," said Mike Atwood, who, along with several other craft beer fans, writes the Hoosier Beer Geek blog (hoosierbeergeek.blogspot.com).

As they've grown in popularity, Indiana beers have also become easier to find. While customers can stop in at a number of local breweries for "growlers," refillable half-gallon jugs, bottled craft beers are often available at liquor stores and some supermarkets as well.

At Kahn's Fine Wines & Spirits, for example, 5341 N. Keystone Ave., you'll find beer from seven Indiana breweries, including Greenwood's Oaken Barrel Brewing Co.; Bloomington's Upland Brewing Co., which has an Indianapolis tasting room at 4842 N. College Ave.; and Noblesville's Barley Island Brewing Co., which also has a location at 701 Broad Ripple Ave. Prices for six-packs are often around $10.

"We really love to support local craft breweries," said Brennan Corder, assistant store manager at Kahn's. "We carry every Indiana brewery that bottles."

The complex flavors of craft beers lend themselves especially well to food pairings -- adding another dimension to Super Bowl menus, which typically feature big, bold flavors. With something like hot wings, for example, Crowe suggests a pale ale, which would balance the spicy flavors with maltiness.

"I'm a big fan of anything slightly sweet with spicy foods," said Corder. "Brugge's Tripel with hot wings would be really nice."

For pizza, said Atwood, "any beer really works, but the amber is probably a better choice because the more complex flavors work better with everything that's going on in pizza, those malty/biscuity flavors with the cheese and crust, and the hoppy flavors with the spicier flavors in tomato sauce and meats like pepperoni and sausage."

And how about those football-shaped brownies on the dessert table?

For beers that pair with chocolate, say experts, you really have to turn to darker beers.

"For a chocolate dessert, I would go with a porter," said Crowe. "It would go with dark fruits too, like cherry pie."

But for a perfect example of a porter that works with desserts, said Atwood, "I'd recommend stopping in at the Broad Ripple Brew Pub and asking for a growler of their Monon Porter. It's basically a dessert by itself."

Now, the real question: Who will win the game?

I'm 100% certain that it will be #@%%!@*&%!))&^^%><>: [HP has reported a computer error. Please reboot and contact tech support]

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar

I've been spending a lot of time lately converting 23 years of family VHS tapes to DVD: 23 years of family Christmas, Easter, birthdays, and dance recitals (our daughters, not mine).

So, it was with great amusement I opened and read an email this morning from Sir Norman of William Nottingham Court titled "You Think Your Family is Weird?"

Sure, it's a forward, of a forward, of a forward, but what the heck. In honor or weird families everywhere:


Is that a Christmas bush?


OMG



who brings props to a get portraits????... more importantly, who brings a parrot?... or a weapon????


I want to see this framed and mounted on their living room wall. ha!



Holy $h!t! .. And there is a suspicious looking foot in the bottom left corner, did he eat that kid earlier???!!


nice shirt dad .


WTF-more props gone wrong!


WOW. Next time I hear someone preaching about the benefits of Breast feeding, I'm going to show them this and tell them it's their mom.


NOTE: Sir Norman did not identify which of these are his family; I'm sure not telling with one might be mine!

A toast to weirdness.

Going Bananas : Liverpool pt 2

One of the hits of the insane few days we had in Liverpool...was to come across the Lambanana, or to give it its full name the Super Lambanana.

Superlambanana is a bright yellow sculpture located in Liverpool, England. Weighing almost eight tons and standing at 17 feet tall, it is intended to be a cross between a banana and a lamb and was created by Manhattan-based Japanese artist Taro Chiezo. It currently stands in Tithebarn Street, outside the Liverpool John Moores University Avril Robarts Library/Learning Resource Centre, having previously been located on Wapping near the Albert Dock.

Chiezo himself only created a four inch model and it was local artist Andy Small who created the full size replica. Developed for the 1998 ArtTransPennine Exhibition, the sculpture is both a comment on the dangers of genetic engineering and also heavily influenced by the history of Liverpool: historically both sheep and bananas were common cargos in the city's docks.

Since then, a bemused City has taken the incongruous beastie to their hearts and become very proud of it and in 2008, as part of Liverpool's year long position as European Capital of Culture, 125 individually designed miniature replicas were created. Sponsored by local community organisations and businesses in the city, the mini Superlambananas were located throughout the Liverpool and Merseyside region. One sculpture, The Highest SuperLambBanana, was located on top of Moel Famau, North Wales, recognising the very close links the city has with that region.


These mini Sculptures, are painted, individually by local artists, much in the manner that you often see Cow sculptures dotted and painted around Mid-west US cities, and we had great fun seeking these critters out, turning the whole thing into a delightfully random pub crawl.


There is of course talk of going back on the trail of all 125 of the Lambanana, but for me that can only be when i have fully recovered from the last trip, and for now I am content to muse on today's Knight lesson;

........... that if someone asks you to sum up a place, in image, or they want some new idea from you regarding work or life... don't just do the obvious thing; Go Bananas..... Think Lambanana!

Sir Dayvd ( who will probably never recover from Liverpool ) of O