Well, guess what?
They’re here!
No, seriously.
They’re here!
Don’t believe me?
Bottled Belgian goodness for you to enjoy anywhere and anytime you’re looking for some serious pleasure.
Black, White, and yes, Tripel de Ripple, all available in .750 litre bottles, a convenient 6 pack, and an even more convenient Variety Pack, with 2 bottles of each for those who can’t decide.
The first bottles arrived at our distributor, World Class Beverage, on Tuesday, so your local retailer, throughout Indiana, should have beer in stock soon. But,in the short term, quantities will be limited as we ramp up production.
In fact, you can help us help you.
We want to know where you shop in Indiana for fine beers so we can make sure Brugge is available where you want it.
Either post a comment here or email me at:
As we begin to roll out our beers, stay in touch with the BeerFinder on World Class Beverage’s thorough website.
http://www.worldclassbeverages.com/search.asp
Thanks for all your patience and support.
Remember, Brugge Beer is “best enjoyed often.”
]]>Brugge Black:
Farm Bloomington
108 & 110 Kirkwood
Bloomington, IN 47401
812-340-3593
http://www.farm-bloomington.com/
Ramada Plaza Hotel
2519 E. Center St.
Warsaw, IN 46580
574-268-1733
http://www.ramada.com/Ramada/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=10010&brandInfo=RA
And last, but certainly not least, our famous Tripel de Ripple makes it’s debut this week at BadaBoomz in downtown Indy.
Enjoy, and we’ll keep you updated with any additions.
]]>It was great to see a bunch of people enjoying the sunshine - and frites and beer - on the patio Saturday and Sunday.
A couple of things…
There’s this guy named Ted Miller and he’s sort of the head PooBah of all that is Brugge. You may have heard of him. He actually posted here once. And I’ve begged him to be more active here.
Well, it seems he’d rather talk to some other guys instead of us. The issue in the blog, linked below, is important, and I’ll address it in another post, but by the end of the thread, they’re all singing the Brugge version of Kumbaya!
http://dig-b.blogspot.com/2008/03/beer-wabash-valley-arrives.html
Last Thursday…
Brugge Brasserie was thrilled to host 2 groups last Thursday, both from a website I’d never heard of 3 days before.
The Indianapolis Beer Meetup Group
The Indianapolis French Meetup Group
Both groups were filled with fun people and they’re both obviously smart as well, since they made the decision to eat and drink at our place.
Thanks to Chris and Jean-Luc for getting everyone together. The place was rocking till way past my bedtime. We hope to see both groups again soon.
The Website…
As hard as it may be to believe, our website should be up within the next 2 weeks. We wish it had been sooner, but we’re big believers in keeping our mouths shut until we actually have something to say. This blog will be moved to become a page of the new site. We’ll keep you posted.
Cardiff and Portsmouth
A new law firm? A British shoemaker?
No, it’s the unlikely matchup for this year’s FA Cup final to be played at Wembley on Saturday, May 17 at 10:00AM.
A special Steak, Egg, and Frites breakfast will be available as Brugge Brasserie will open at 09:30. Reservations recommended.
]]>And, yes, we still don’t have bottles anywhere.
But…
We are honored to be an Official Partner of the Rubicon Race Team for the upcoming 2008 Indy 500.
http://www.rubiconraceteam.com/sponsors.html
Jim Freudenberg and Jason Priestley have put together a terrific group, including driver Max Papis, to chase this year’s Borg-Warner Trophy.
Brugge is thrilled to be providing liquid refreshment for all the on-track activities leading up to this year’s race.
In fact, Ted has created a one - off batch of a special beer to commemorate the event, named appropriately, Rubicon Red.
We’ll keep you posted on how things develop.
]]>We have already made our Black, White, and Tripel de Ripple in the new Terre Haute brewery. And from the comments of many of our customers at both Brugge Brasserie, as well as our new bar and restaurant partners, it’s the best beer we’ve made yet.
So, for the next few months, we’ve decided to only package these 3 beers. This will help us to produce larger quantities of each, which will be even more important when the bottling line is operational.
Bottling 3 varieties also allows to be a bit more “friendly” with our packaging and marketing. We will be putting 6 - .75 litre bottles in an easy to handle 6 pack. And, yes, the 6 pack will be available in a “Sampler” pack, consisting of 2 Black, 2 White, and 2 Tripel.
So where are they?
In Terre Haute, we needed to make several adjustments to the existing bottling line in order to handle our .75 litre bottles. In fact, we ended up making an adjustment to the bottle itself to make it a bit easier to properly package the beer.
This has put us back just a bit further in our schedule. But bottles will be available soon.
Really.
Seriously.
I promise!
Once the bottling line is completely operational, we will be running another bus ride to Terre Haute for anyone who wants to see the operation. We might even drink a beer or 2. I vaguely remember how much fun the last trip was.
All 3 beers will also be on the menu at the restaurant, while Ted continues to play Mr. Science with the brewery at the restaurant. In fact, he has something very interesting cooking right now which should be ready this week.
Stay tuned.
]]>Brugge Black:
Bada Boomz
15 E. Maryland
Indianapolis, IN 46204
317 916-9464
Spencers Stadium Tavern
802 S West St
Indianapolis, IN 46225
317 916-8888
Deanos Vino Rest And Wine
1112 S Shelby St
Indianapolis, IN 46203
317 423-3154
Shallos
8811 S Hardigan Rm#b1 B2
Indianapolis, IN 46227
317 882-7997
Columbus Bar
322 4th St
Columbus, IN 47201
812 375-8800
Bone Dry Bar & Grill
3805 W Ridge Rd
Highland, IN 46322
219 838-2442
Come Back Inn
415 Spring Street
Jeffersonville, IN 47130
812 285-1777
The Black Sparrow
223 Main St
Lafayette, IN 47901
765 429-0405
http://www.blacksparrowpub.com/
The Heorot
219 S Walnut Street
Muncie, IN 47305
765 287-0173
The Fickle Peach
117 East Charles Street
Muncie, IN 47305
765 760-4755
Three Floyds Brewing Pub
9750 Indiana Pkwy Ste #2
Munster, IN 46321
219 922-3565
http://www.threefloydspub.com/
Beef O Bradys
1860 45th Street
Munster, IN 46321
219 508-2551
Rich O’s Public House
3312 Plaza Dr
New Albany, IN 47150
812 944-2577
Fiddler’s Hearth Pub
127 N. Main Street
South Bend, IN 46601
574 232-2853
http://www.fiddlershearth.com/
Mogger’s Brewery
908 Poplar St
Terre Haute, IN 47807
812 234-9202
http://www.moggers-restaurant.com/
Stables Steakhouse
939 Poplar St
Terre Haute, IN 47807
812 232-6677
http://www.stablessteakhouse.com/main.html
Sonka Irish Pub
1366 Wabash
Terre Haute, IN 47807
812 234-8802
Brugge White:
The Meridian
5694 N. Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN 46208
317 466-1111
http://www.meridianonmeridian.com
The bars below are serving our White in addition to the Black
BadaBoomz
Columbus Bar
Come Back Inn
Mogger’s Brewery
In addition, you can order a 1/6 or 1/2 barrel keg at:
Kahn’s Fine Wines www.kahnsfinewines.com
5341 N Keystone
Indianapolis, IN 46220
317 251-9463
Thanks to all these fine establishments for serving our products.
Thanks to all our customers for your patience, encouragement, and support.
And thanks to our distribution partner, World Class Beverages, for their confidence in the quality of our beers.
]]>Fortunately, I also returned just in time to be part of Ale Fest 2008, at The Egyptian Room in the Murat Centre.
There has been a bit of controversy -unfounded and unnecessary, if you ask me - about the “motives” of the organizers and sponsors.
I read and heard allegations the event was nothing more than a marketing ploy to promote World Class Beverage’s stable of products.
In the interest of full disclosure, WCB distributes our beer.
These allegations are false if you ask me, but if you were going to have a beer festival, wouldn’t you want to partner with a company that sells more craft beer than anyone else in town?
In addition, WCB “donated” more than half the beer served at the event, with no expectation of any profit, except for the hope of future sales.
The bottom line is attendees had the opportunity to sample and enjoy 4 ounce glasses - real samples - of every style of craft beer available from over 75 different breweries.
Beer enthusiasts turned out in greater numbers than anticipated - the consensus was over 700 people.
As a fledgling brewer, we’re glad we were there.
]]>Why, you ask?
Yes, it’s 90 degrees and sunny every day here, and the Land of Smiles is home to some of the greatest food on the planet.
But…
Ted just sent me an email saying the following are all on tap at Brugge right now.
Black
White
Blonde
Old Dog Cru
Tripel de Ripple.
This is the first batch of Tripel from Terre Haute and Ted, that marketing maven, had this to say in his email:
“Tripel is back and is delicious. Like super delicious.”
With all 5 of those on tap, it’s probably a good thing we will be expanding upstairs soon!
]]>1) A terrific article from the Wall Street Journal, and a primer on how to build a business:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB118330766419354480.html
2) Beer! Who needs champagne?
3) Industry Challenges:
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/APC03/801050520/1888
4) What’s “In” for 2008
http://www.projo.com/food/content/fd-gail09_01-09-08_918FD14_v21.107342d.html
5) World Class Beverage- Our distributor’s great web site:
]]>Mike asked Ted if he was interested in buying the building in order for us to start distributing our beer outside of Brugge Brasserie.
We formed a new company, the Vigo Brewing Group, attracted necessary venture capital, and in April, 2007, an agreement was finalized.
At that time, we fully expected to have beer on liquor store shelves, as well as bar and restaurant taps by September.
We should have known better.
Between April and October, we filed papers, documents, revisions, and revisions of revisions in an effort to secure federal and state approval to begin operations. The approvals came in late October.
In November, we began to make our first test batches of Brugge Black, White, and Tripel de Ripple. Tests because the water in Terre Haute is different than the water in Indianapolis, and because Ted, thankfully, is a perfectionist.
When we turned on the equipment ( without a license, we could not even boil water in the building ) to begin testing, we found the bottling line needed to be modified for the Champagne .75 liter bottles we will use.
The bottling line manufacturer is in Italy, its distributor is in Canada, and we are the smallest of small fries to both of them. No surprise, then, when we were told it would take 90 to 120 days for the parts to arrive.
That means no bottles until April at the earliest.
In the meantime, the Black and White coming from Terre Haute are terrific. Ask anyone who has had a Black at the Brasserie lately.
Black is also available at BadaBoomz in downtown Indy, as well as the Power House Brewing Co. in Columbus.
As of this writing, we now have a good quantity of both Black and White in 1/6 and 1/2 barrels in stock at our distribution partner, World Class Beverage. And Tripel de Ripple will be ready in 2 to 3 weeks.
We will keep you updated on where you can find - and enjoy - our beer.
If you have a favorite restaurant or watering hole we should contact, post a reply here, and we’ll get right on it.
Again, we thank everyone for all the support, especially those who have emailed us begging for beer.
We’re as impatient as you and we’re looking forward to a terrific 2008.
Charlie
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