Scarlet Lane's Inaugural Blood, Beer And Burgers Event Jumpstarts the Halloween Season

15 Oct Scarlet Lane’s Inaugural Blood, Beer And Burgers Event Jumpstarts the Halloween Season

Posted at 18:45h in Musings, Scarlet Lane Brewing Co, Uncategorized by Justin Knepp 0 Comments

By Mike Hartung of Indiana On Tap

I was fortunate enough to attend the Blood, Beer and Burgers event at Scarlet Lane Brewery in McCordsville this last Sunday. As a lover of both great beer and Halloween, this event was one I’ve been looking forward to since it was announced. The event was hosted by Scarlet Lane Brewing Co. and Girls Pint Out and they had a great evening planned for all in attendance.

We were greeted with a beer when we came in to truly get in the Halloween spirit. I chose the Dorian Stout and my wife chose the Saison De Silas. The choice was easy as both of these beers are personal favorites of ours. The brewery was decorated for Halloween and some who attended chose to dress for the occasion as well. We saw a few Trekkies and even Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World. My personal favorites, however, were the fully-clothed “nudist on strike” and Scarlet Lanes own Nick, who dressed up as Freddy Krueger. After mingling a bit we grabbed some popcorn and a spot to set up our chairs for the movie.

The movie for the evening was the anthology horror move Trick R Treat. If you haven’t seen it, which I hadn’t ’til last year, do yourself a favor and watch it this Halloween season. The movie was to be paused at certain spots so we could be introduced to each new beer offering. Scarlet Lane beers would start and finish the tasting.

First was a personal favorite, Vivian Red IPA by Scarlet Lane. If you’re a fan of IPAs, you’ll love this beer and its unique malt profile that makes it my favorite “Red IPA”.

Next up was Arcadia Brewing’s Jaw-Jacker, a beer that was described as a pumpkin ale without the pumpkins. It had the familiar tastes and smells of a well crafted pumpkin ale and after trying this I’ll definitely seek out other offerings from this distinct Michigan brewery.

Count Orlok from Urban Chestnut (St. Louis) offered a roasty contrast that was unexpected from what they describe as a ‘black pumpkin ale.’ I’ve been a fan of every Urban Chestnut beer I’ve tried, and this seasonal was no exception.

The always great Punch Burger provided the food and reminded me of why they’re one of the best burger places in the city. The chorizo burger was amazing and I loved every bite of it.

Brewer Eilise Lane gave a great introduction to all the beers but you could tell that the final two were really special to her. Ninkasi’s (Oregon) Total Domination IPA was an outstanding example of a west coast IPA and as a major hop-head, it pains me that this beer isn’t available anywhere near Indiana. It was really cool that Scarlet Lane, with their Oregon ties, went to the effort to bring this beer to Indiana for us to try.

Last, but certainly not least, was Katrina by Scarlet Lane. As one who loves all sorts of Fall beers, this one blew me away. I like cinnamon well enough, but wouldn’t say that I was desperately missing having a cinnamon beer around to drink with other Fall favorites. After about three sips I now realize that I was an idiot and that my Autumnal beer drinking needed this in a major way. This has to be one of the best beers I’ve had all year.

I had a truly great time at the inaugural Blood, Beer and Burgers Event and truly hope that they do this again next year. It really got me in the Halloween spirit, and in the mood to start watching my favorite Halloween movies (while drinking great beer) about a week or two before I’m usually ready. I’m not easily scared, but strange things have been happening since Sunday night. First, I wrote about Sunday nights event on Monday morning and the article disappeared before it could be posted. Second, all pictures I took Sunday night appeared backwards when I added them to this article. So, in conclusion, I either didn’t save the original story and have some weird camera setting on my new iPhone…or I’m slowly decending into madness (see below for where I might be in a week or two). HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!