Brugge Beer

Brugge On the Road - April 8 Update

We're thrilled to add the following establishments to our growing list of places you can enjoy Brugge throughout Indiana.

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.

Brugge Beer at the Indy 500

Yes, we're just getting our legs underneath us.

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.

Brewery Plans

You may remember - about 100 years ago - we announced plans to produce and bottle 5 varieties of Brugge Beer as we launch.

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 Beer - On the Road

As we continue to ramp up production at our facility in Terre Haute, we're proud to tell you these fine establishments are now serving Brugge Black and Brugge White.

Brugge Black:

Bada Boomz 
15 E. Maryland
Indianapolis, IN 46204
317 916-9464

www.badaboomz.biz

Spencers Stadium Tavern
802 S West St
Indianapolis, IN 46225
317 916-8888

www.spencerstavern.com

Deanos Vino Rest And Wine   
1112 S Shelby St
Indianapolis, IN 46203
317 423-3154

http://www.deanosvino.com/

Shallos 
8811 S Hardigan Rm#b1 B2
Indianapolis, IN 46227
317 882-7997

http://shallos.net/

Columbus Bar
322 4th St
Columbus, IN 47201
812 375-8800

www.powerhousebrewingco.com

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

http://www.comebackinn.net/

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

http://www.beefobradys.com/

Rich O's Public House
3312 Plaza Dr
New Albany, IN 47150
812 944-2577

www.richos.com

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.

What Happened and What's Happening

In late 2006, we were introduced to Mike Rowe, the owner of the Terre Haute Brewing Co. and a terrific opportunity was born.

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

New Year's Eve with Hoosier Beer Geek

You probably know all about the great New Year's Eve event our friends at Hoosier Beer Geek will be hosting at Deano's Vino.

Not coincidentally,this event will be held on December 31!

http://hoosierbeergeek.blogspot.com/2007/12/new-years-party-info.html

We humbly asked if Brugge Beer could participate in the event as well and we're thrilled to say they accepted our offer.

http://hoosierbeergeek.blogspot.com/2007/12/our-new-years-party-keeps-getting.html

Sounds like Deano's is the place to be to ring - or wring - out the old.

I would suggest, however, your social secretary not make any plans for you on New Year's Day.

Slow, but Steady Progress

With the limited amount of beer available from our first batch, we are proud to say our Brugge Black can now be enjoyed in 2 great places other than Brugge Brasserie.

First, it's available from our good friends at BadaBoomz in downtown Indy.

http://www.badaboomz.net/

And just last week it was added to the great range of beers at the Power House Brewing Co.'s Columbus Bar.

http://www.powerhousebrewingco.com/index.html

More beer is on the way as well.

In fact, we will be releasing a large quantity of Black and White in kegs, both 1/2 barrels and 1/6 barrels very, very soon.

Stay tuned here to find where you can go and enjoy.

Turkey Time

The air cools as the stuffed turkey watches over our humble brewery. Yes, we actually do have a stuffed turkey watching over the brewery. Left from some great hunting expedition before our time, I guess? A freshly brewed batch of Black Ale releases pear and other fruity notes in a veil of CO2 filled air. This year, like so many other years and other people, we are Thanks-Giving for good beer. Have a great and safe Thanksgiving holiday everyone out there in blog world. You'll be hearing alot more from us.

Cheers from the Terre Haute Crew

Micah,Cathy and John

Brugge Beer is Here

Our new brewery in Terre Haute is up and running and we want you to be part of the fun.

This weblog will chronicle all the developments as we introduce 5 great Belgian Beers:

Black

White

Tripel

Sacre Fleur Saison

Dubbel

You'll be hearing from Ted Miller, our master brewer, Brugge visionary, and generally all around nice guy.

You'll be hearing from Micah Weichert, our head brewer in Terre Haute, as he single-handedly revitalizes the famous DownTown Terre Haute Brewing District.

You'll be hearing from Shannon Stone, who runs Brugge Brasserie in Indianapolis, on the latest news from the restaurant side of Brugge.

You'll be hearing from me, Charlie Midgley, with odds and ends about what's happening with our launch, growth, activities, etc., etc.. Yeah, that means I really don't have all that much to say!

You'll be hearing all this, warts and all, as we want to share everything - the good, the not so good, the unusual - everything that happens as we give birth to a new company 

But, mostly, you'll be hearing from......... you.

That's right. You have been the reason behind the great success of Brugge Brasserie, and you have been waiting patiently for the brewery to start making beer. And, as part of our family, your comments and observations are an integral part of the growth of that family.

So let's hear what you have to say. We want to hear what you like, what you don't like, and what you'd like to see.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Charlie