Great Lakes Brewing News Archive

Indiana Beer News

Originally Published: 10/97

By Tom Schmidt

After just seven months in business, Brick Road Brewing Company in LaPorte, Indiana may be getting a new name. It seems that James Brickman, owner of Brick Brewing in Ontario, Canada, felt he'd better protect his brewery's name which is registered with the U.S. Office of Trademarks & Patents. Chuck Krcilek, owner of Brick Road Brewing received a letter from Brick Brewing's attorneys explaining the trademark and asking that Brick Road Brewing cease using the name "Brick" in their brewery name. All has been on a friendly basis and Brick Brewing is allowing Chuck time to use up his existing stock of labels. Brick Layer Ale will also have to be renamed, although Millennium Lager obviously can keep its name. After only a year Brick Layer Ale labels are a collector's item. By the end of the year Brick Road Brewing may be called Backroad Brewery depending on the results of a trademark search.

Brick Road "Backroad" Brewing is currently bottling a fall seasonal, Autumn Ale in 22 and 12 ounce bottles. It is a nut brown ale with a nutty, roasty taste and 5.5% alcohol v/v. Autumn Ale will be available through October. Christmas Ale will be the next seasonal beer available in late November and December.

The staff at Mishawaka Brewing Company is still trying to recover from their annual Bavarian Oktoberfest weekend, which was sandwiched in between two Notre Dame home football weekends. This year's festival‹under massive tents in the parking lot‹was a two day affair, with an American version on Friday that showcased three Blues Bands, BBQ Chicken and MBC beers. Saturday was the German version with a large German Show Band, German Brats (veal & pork) and MBC's beers including a specially brewed Oktoberfest Bier, Seven Heisman Weizen, Munich Gold and Four Horsemen Ale.

The specialty beer to follow Oktoberfest will be kNUTe Brown Ale which will be followed in mid-October by Anniversary Porter to celebrate the brewpub's fifth anniversary. Mishawaka Brewing became the third brewery in the country and the only one east of the Rockies to package their beers in the new non-returnable Party PigTM in a Box package.

The current specialty beer on tap at Duneland Brew House is an India Pale Ale.

Three Floyds Brewing Company will be featuring their Alpha King at the Midwest Brewer's Octoberfest at Navy Pier in Chicago October 9-12. They will also attend the Real Ale Festival at Riverwest Brewing, on November 7-9, exhibiting three of their beers - Alpha King, Pride 'N Joy Mild Ale and Chubby Brown. Chubby Brown Ale is a new addition to the Three Floyds line and is heavily dry-hopped with Styrian Goldings. Chubby Brown got its name from the fact that it is a "big" beer with lots of flavor and hops. Behemoth Blond Barleywine will be the next seasonal beer for Three Floyd's and will be available Thanksgiving through January. Black Sun Stout, a dry stout, will soon be available with nitrogen.