Bloomington's Craft Beer Festival brings out the lager lovers

Sippers and guzzlers, the daring and the confident. Categorize beer drinkers however you want — the characters drank at  Bloomington’s first Craft Beer Festival Saturday afternoon. 

On the grounds of the Woolery Mill, a closed limestone mill seen in “Breaking Away,” beer lovers sampled more than 120 beers from about 40 breweries across
the state.

Brent Molnar is a beer sipper and a strategist.

The WTIU program manager’s tactic was to ask each brewpub its fan favorite and sample that one. At Cutters Brewing Co., a server said her favorite was the stout, so that’s what Molnar tried. Although he’s more of a pale ale guy, he liked the new brew.

Cutters is Bloomington’s youngest brewery and made its public launch at the festival. Even its labels make reference to Hoosier spirit, with India Pale Ales named Half Court and Full Court.

Across a limestone barrier at the Upland Brewing Co. tent stood two former IU students sipping at a lighter beer, the Infinite Wisdom Tripel.

Kaitlin Myers is a beer drinker who knows what she likes.

“This is fruity,” she said. “It has a twang but not a hop.”

One of the reasons Bloomington is such a great beer town is because there are so many atmospheres — for undergrads and for those wanting to get away from the undergrads, she said.

Townies also enjoy the local brews. At the Bloomington Brewing Co. tent stood two Bloomington residents using their festival programs to fan away the bugs and waft away the heat.

Betsy Braun is a beer drinker who dared to try something new at the festival.
She said she’s a Coors Light girl, but she went for the Java Porter and loved the coffee taste.

Beer drinkers like Braun checked out the festival to learn something new about porters, lagers and ales.

Indiana has about 40 breweries, and craft brewing is making a comeback. A total of 1,753 breweries operated for some or all of 2010, the highest total of breweries since the late 1800s, according to The Brewers Association, a national organization of beer brewers focusing on craft breweries.

In 2008, the Brewers Association ranked Indiana as the 28th state for number of breweries per-capita.

Cari Crowe, who was on the festival’s planning committee, said while two or three breweries open every year, one or two also close in Indiana. She said craft brewing is still making a comeback, and numbers are back to pre-prohibition levels.

Hoosier Beer Geek helped organize the festival with the Brewers of Indiana Guild. Jessica Harbison of Hoosier Beer Geek applied sunscreen while looking down the line of tents where people milled in and out, beers in hand.

“The gates opened, people got here, and now people are drinking beer,” she said. “In my mind, that’s a success.”