The Brewers of Indiana Guild wants you for their IN Beer Brigade. And they’re bringing together nearly two dozen Northern Indiana breweries to help recruit you.
Photo credit: Brewers of Indiana Guild
The guild is looking to enlist members in their “IN Beer Brigade” – a membership program similar to those in other states that allows craft beer enthusiasts to support guild efforts, while enjoying a few perks.
But the Indiana perks stand out as both unique and impressive – starting with a beer brewed last week at Three Floyds Brewing in Munster and a private event planned for October.
The perks are impressive enough to offer a tweak to our “Craft Beer To Cross The Border For” series, with a “Beer Enthusiast Club To Cross The Border For.”
A $40 membership in the IN Beer Brigade gets you what you might expect – a sticker for the beer fridge, a t-shirt, glassware and advance notice of on-sale times for ticketed festivals. (The shirt and glassware, it’s worth noting, will change every year.)
The guild starts taking it up a notch with a digital membership card for use in Apple Pay and Google Wallet, as well as a soon-to-come “loyalty program” where members can earn points for certain purchases and then use those points for… well, that’s set to be announced next month.
Membership only gets better from there, as it also includes a ticket to a members-only IN Beer Brigade event in October. There, a specialty beer, brewed just for that event, will be pouring and available to purchase in pints.
Kick your membership up to $75 and you get two bombers of that special-event beer.
Corn is king
The beer, called the “Corn King IPA”, is a malted-corn based IPA. (Go ahead, we know you’re going to hum the jingle, “there’s more than corn in Indiana…”)
(Ed. note: Also, if you’re wondering more about using corn in craft beer, we talked about corn and flaked maize as adjuncts here.)
Guild spokesman Tristan Schmid said they reached out to all of the guild’s members in the northwest corner of the state – more than 20 in all – to get input on everything from the beer’s style to its name, its branding to its ingredients.
Last week, Indiana-based Sugar Creek Malt Company trucked up the corn and representatives from 18th Street, Crown, Figure Eight, Pokro, New Oberpfalz, Shoreline, Three Floyds, Route 2, Ironwood, Windmill and Devil’s Trumpet breweries all gathered at the gleaming new Three Floyds production facility for the mashing process.
The collaboration doesn’t stop there, though.
Business affiliate members of the guild, including bottling, branding and packaging companies, will do their part to pitch in and help make the beer a reality.
Checking in at 7.3% and 75 IBUs, it’s being touted as a beer with a light body and smooth finish, with “intense citrus flavor with grapefruit, orange and lemon at the forefront. Citrus notes are balanced by pine, stone fruit and berry flavors.”
Even more for members
As if all of that isn’t enough, the guild then takes membership up two additional notches – ensuring no corner of the state or any of its 125+ breweries feel left out.
A 2-year membership to the IN Beer Brigade will cost you $140, which gets you all of the above and a ticket to a private beer event in 2017 at Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis, where central Indiana brewers will collaborate on a limited edition beer.
Want more? A 3-year membership costs $200, gets you all of the above and a ticket to a private beer event in 2018 at Upland Brewing in Indianapolis, where southern Indiana brewers will collaborate on a sour beer.
It’s an innovative program and one the guild is touting as the only one of its kind in the nation. A quick review of neighboring state programs, at least, shows they may be right. The private events and limited-edition beers are unique perks that make membership an easy decision, even just at $40 – especially knowing that money is going to help the guild’s legislative causes and charitable efforts.
As a consumer, I can attest that the Brewers of Indiana Guild has been nothing short of impressive – the three-employee operation has a regular presence at weekend beer festivals, they’re active (and responsive) on social media, boast a solid lineup of t-shirts and other gear online and they recently produced a sleek magazine, profiling breweries from all around the state. They also led a strong legislative fight last year to increase barrel limits for craft breweries. On top of all of that, the guild co-owns Tomlinson Tap Room in Indianapolis, where only Indiana beers are on tap and it’s the only non-brewery in the state where you can do growler fills.
Indeed, there is more than corn in Indiana.