There was not much good beer in Indiana in the early 1970s when I was a sports reporter (third-string) at The Hammond Times. I lived on the south side of Chicago and drove The Skyway over to Hammond, passing a Falstaff plant on the way.

But in 1996, when I was long gone, Hoosier beer took a giant leap forward as Three Floyds Brewing Company opened. It started in Hammond and has since moved to Munster. For a time they shipped beer to Maryland. I loved their Gumballhead wheat. Now they don’t ship here.

Since the Ravens are playing the Colts (who claim to be from Indianapolis) this weekend, I was hoping to spin a bottle of Gumballhead to predict the outcome of the game.

Friday I got Nick Floyd -- one of three Floyds, the others being his brother Simon, and their dad, Michael -- on the phone in Munster. He said, sorry, but due to the “out of control popularity” of beer most of their 9,000 barrels of production stays in “the region.” That is Hoosier talk for the piece of geography stretching from Northern Indiana into Chicago. “Chicago,” Nick Floyd said, “sucks up a lot of our beer.”

For my spinning bottle I substituted a Maryland beer, Clipper City Uber Pils. I love the rich malty structure of this beer. The hops are there, but they don’t burn. Moreover, if the Ravens are going to beat the Colts, they will need an “uber” effort. The spinning bottle of Uber Pils , however, predicted a win for the bad guys.

Anybody have a Hoosier beer story or Uber Pils experience to relate?

Is Three Floyds the only good beer in Indiana, or did I miss some significant suds?