Highland’s Pints in the Park Event: Why Region Beer Lovers Were ‘Flooded’ With Options

Highland’s Pints in the Park Event: Why Region Beer Lovers Were ‘Flooded’ With Options

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By Guest Indiana On Tap Contributors Noah Amstadter and Jennifer Stojanovich

Northwest Indiana’s craft beer community wouldn’t let a little rain stop their parade – or flash floods, closed roads, and a submerged parking lot, for that matter. Saturday’s Pints in the Park beer festival at Highland’s Wicker Park proved that, despite tough conditions, the Region’s beer community is thirsty…and growing.

Eleven Indiana breweries highlighted the event, in which tents were situated in a courtyard surrounding a gazebo and fountain. Each of Lake County’s five active breweries were represented. Three Floyds, the brewer that put craft beer on the map in the region, featured Zombie Dust, Moloko, and Pride and Joy and satiated festival-goers’ hunger with samples of the brewery’s homemade beef jerky. Gary’s 18th Street Brewery made a statement, pouring a delicious session pale appropriately named We Don’t Serve Light Beer. And Lake County’s newest entry to the beer business, Hobart’s Devil’s Trumpet, impressed with a variety of brews, including a delicious coffee-infused IPA named 10,000 Years. Whiting’s Bulldog Brewing Company and Crown Point’s Crown Brewing also poured a selection of their mainstay beers.

Other standouts trekked through the rain from outside of Lake County’s borders. One Trick Pony, from nearby Lansing, Illinois, featured Georgia Grande, their one-of-a-kind ginger peach hefeweizen, and a dry-hopped cask of their Kisber Felver black IPA. The quickly growing Evil Czech Brewery, now operating out of facilities in Culver and Mishawaka, featured a tasty Blackbeard’s Delight Rye IPA and a perfect to style GG Patton Pilsener. Never to be outdone, Michigan City’s Burn ’Em balanced the creative – a cask of the Fluffer, a stout brewed with marshmallow fluff, with Abuelita chocolate tablets added –  with straightforward, well-done offerings like their MCA IPA.

Highland craft beer bar Beer Geeks had its own tent, pouring two sought-after brews from Oklahoma’s Prairie Artisan Ales, Funky Gold Mosaic sour and Prairie Ale saison.

Rounding out the festival were several other regional and national breweries. Chicago’s Goose Island and Lagunitas brought down several interesting beers, including Goose Island’s Bourbon County Barleywine. Downstate Indiana standouts Flat 12, Triton, Chapman’s and Upland shared a broad selection of offerings. Other options included Boulevard, Brooklyn, Oskar Blues, Dogfish Head, Sam Adams, and Sierra Nevada.

Though several attendees arrived at the festival after its 4 pm start, the mid-afternoon storms were a distant memory as attendees danced to live music as the sun went down. By last call at 8 pm, the event was toasted as a success.

Noah’s favorite beers:
1.       Burn Em Joey Wheat
2.       Devil’s Trumpet 10,000 Years
3.       18th Street We Don’t Serve Light Beer
4.       Evil Czech Blackbeard’s Delight
5.       Transient Selarium

Jennifer’s favorite beers:

  1. Upland Coastbuster
  2. Burn Em MCA
  3. Prairie Ale Saison
  4. Flat 12 Walkabout
  5. Three Floyds Moloko

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