Sriracha Indy Tapping Party!

Sriracha. good! Beer. good! Sriracha + beer. not so much. Sorry, I just couldn’t get into this. I thought it smelled funny and didn’t really have a sriracha taste at all. Maybe I was the only one, but this is my review and not yours. Write your own if you liked it! ;)
While I didn’t care for the beer, that didn’t stop me from having fun. 240 Sweets had their sriracha marshmallows for sampling as well as for sale, and I walked away with a few bags of sweet treats.
Any event that gets people out and about and in front of local businesses is a winner to me, so even though I didn’t care for the beer, it was nice to see so many people out!

I know that this event was planned solely through one man’s love of Sriracha, and his desire to share that interest with the world was definitely noticeable, but the event had a few things that I would change in hindsight. The collaboration with Unilocal and Do317 did a great job at drawing a crowd out to the event and filling up the space. Unfortunately, that means we stood in line for a really long time trying to buy a beer and sample the Sriracha beer since the small bar was crowded with people sitting down or standing in front of it when everyone was in a line out the door trying to order a beer. This seemed to only be the case for the first 30 or so minutes of the evening though. Fortunately, they had a DJ playing music and it was a fun crowd so the wait wasn’t as boring as it could have been. I biked here, and was disappointed that Indiana City has yet to get a bike rack for their location.
Each person that came got a voucher for a small sample of the headlining Sriracha beer, but to be honest I thought it was gross. It tasted like you took a normal beer and just dumped Sriracha in it after the fact. I’m sure there are people who loved it, but everyone I asked shared my opinion. I’ve had some good beers with spice and chilis infused with it that give it a complimentary flavor or a dash of heat. The best are the ones that taste like a normal beer and then give you a hint of the chili in the aftertaste that makes you want to keep taking another sip. This one just tasted like a beer that someone poured hot sauce in which was not good with the wheat ale base. The best ones I have had are either a light pilsner or dark porter when it comes to complimenting a spicy flavor.
The foods that were here were all good, but a few of the places were a little uninspired when it came to incorporating Sriracha. Lick ice cream did a great job of putting it in their carmelized peach ice cream so you got a distinctly sweet ice cream followed by a tiny hint of the Sriracha. Great American Donut Company also did some really unique things to get Sriracha onto a donut, and had 3 options to try. $ 2 for a 3 – 4 bite donut seemed a little high, but it was certainly something unique that I have never seen before. The rest of the options included 240Sweet who had a Sriracha marshmallow, but that probably wasn’t something I would get again. Noodles and Company had a good pad thai, but the use of Sriracha just came from pouring it on over the top if you wanted it. The pizza was also just pizza with Sriracha on it, although that is always a good combination.
I got there when it opened and stayed until about 7:30. At that point I had tried the beer, most of the foods, had a couple pints of the other offerings, and chatted with everyone I knew there. Unfortuantely, I did all of that before they did any raffle drawings, so I missed out on all of that because I didn’t want to stand around waiting. Maybe spread them out through the night so the early crowd can get in on it too, as I saw a lot of people leave even before I did.
The customized bottles of Sriracha that you got if you RSVPd through Do317 were awesome. I didn’t expect to get a bottle that had the event, date, location, and address all printed on the label, and it certainly made for a unique souvenir from the event. I also left with some Do317 and Unilocal swag, and with some additional practice filling out my name and contact info as both of those places had contests to enter to win prizes.
Sure, there were some things that could be done different in hind sight. However, it was a free event, and it was a good idea to bring a bunch of people together on a Wednesday night to share an interest in a particular condiment. The fantastic weather was definitely a plus too. Hopefully the next attempt at brewing a chili/​spicy beer goes better for Indiana City.

I Love Unilocal! events. This one was no disappointment. Good crowd, great beer. Give the beer flight a try while you are here. You won’t be disappointed. Maybe grab some food after at a local place.

As usual Unilocal events doesn’t disappoint! This was a wonderful collaboration between Sriracha and Unilocal to display the different uses of Sriracha pepper sauce. The beer was blonde and suprisingsly good and the Sriracha donuts was devine.