... in downtown NA next Saturday

Next Saturday (February 27) is the occasion of the long-awaited, frigid sequel to last summer's NA 1 Night Stand downtown pub crawl: Polar Walk.

As before, participants will be wandering downtown New Albany and dropping by those establishments that have signed onto the program, including *Bank Street Brewhouse, Studio's, Pastimes, Hitching Post, *Steinert's, *Wick's and *Connor's Place.

*That's four out of seven for the home brewing team. Not bad.

Wait, there's more: In conjunction with the Polar Walk, and serving as the walk's registration and starting point, will be The Coolest Art Show, held within the friendly confines of Dave Thrasher's Art Store on Market Street.

... and C1 Release Party!

Tuesday, March 16, 6:00-11:00 p.m.
850 Main Street, Charlestown, IN 47111

Yes, Charlestown Pizza Co. is 3 years old!

And they've decided to celebrate with beer, but not just any beer - the last keg of C1, the Collaboration Ale from New Albanian, O' Fallon, & Schafly. They tucked away a small keg (1/6 bbl., 5.5 gallons) for the occasion and just when we thought we'd seen the last of it... voila!

Here are their plans so far:

3 beers from the New Albanian Brewing Co. on tap (all specialty beers, continuing the theme of No Repeats on Draft from the New Albanians) and bottles of Schlafly beer.

Desserts galore....expect cakes, cupcakes, cream cheese pies, brownies, rice krispie treats...all made in Charlestown Pizza Co.'s own decadent fashion.

Pizza pairings to celebrate the last keg of C1 and their connection to the New Albanian Brewing Co.

Give-aways all night...shirts, beers, and other fun stuff. Scott Shreffler from Schlafly and the Gang from New Albanian Brewing Co. will be there to shake hands and kiss babies.

Shawn and Tajana might even may dip into the cellar and pull out a few rare beers to help celebrate.

They welcome any and all pizza and beer pairing suggestions on their Facebook page.

Help us help them have a fantastic Birthday Party!

... evokes the best of Belgian brewing.

Back during the 1980’s, very few Belgian-brewed ales made it into the Louisville metropolitan area. Early on, there was Merchant du Vin’s portfolio, including Lindemans, Orval, what was then labeled St. Sixtus (now St. Bernardus), and from other importers … maybe Duvel?

Maybe. Memory doesn’t entirely serve me, but I know that compared with German and Anglo-Irish imports, Belgium wasn’t as well represented on our store shelves. However, Michael Jackson’s pioneering books certainly whetted my appetite for greater tasting opportunities. Eventually, they came to pass.

It had become the 1990’s, and my trips abroad grew more frequent although less lengthy. Diving foursquare into both beer appreciation and pub ownership, I found my attentions diverted toward the classic beer-making areas in Northern Europe. A decade earlier would have been better, but various factors came together to make it a good time to delve into Belgium, albeit a transitional one.

The old local school Belgian brewers referenced by Jackson (and later, Tim Webb) were slowly dying out and yielding to the predictable disturbances of modernity. From one trip to the next, there’d be serious doubt as to whether a glorious artisanal ale sampled previously still would be available.

Fortunately, as became increasingly evident, Belgium was experiencing its own craft brewing revolution. Youth and innovation were stepping into the breach, and the results were (and are) exciting.

It’s now 2009, and the transition continues. Brewers like De Dolle, Achouffe and Fantome were young when my European travels began, and now they’re venerable. Still older family brewing companies like Huyghe, Anker and Van Honsebrouck have entirely reinvented their approaches. A fresh generation of ambitious operators like Alvinne, La Rulles and Struise are keeping the heritage alive. It remains an inspiration to watch, but it’s more inspiring to drink.

Last night I drank a 2007 vintage of Struis Pannepot (Old Fisherman’s Ale). It’s grist for another essay on crumbling international boundaries that Struise credits Pannepot’s name as a tribute to the brewery’s Danish supporters.

More than any single Belgian ale I’ve had lately, Pannepot transports me back to those heady early days of roaming Belgium in search of any label I’d not seen before. While referred to as “spiced,” I find the spice presence very subtle and complimentary to rich malts and dark-colored fruits like dates and raisins. It’s expressive yet balanced, warming and contemplative, and a real treat that reflects the Belgian brewing ethos.

Roger A. Baylor, NABC
See Roger's review of Bashah from Scotland's Brew Dog and Devine Rebel  from Mikkeller and BrewDog in our Reviews section. While you're there, add your own review of these or other brews.

Indiana legislature reconsiders Sunday carryout sales for microbrewers

Yes, yes ... and yes.

By way of the C-J, the Associated Press surveys the Indiana legislature’s progress toward alcohol law changes. One in particular would impact the New Albanian Brewing Company.

The study committee also voted against allowing microbreweries — smaller establishments that have limits on how much beer they can make each year — to sell their beer for takeout on Sundays.

But Republican Sen. Ron Alting of Lafayette, chairman of the Senate Public Policy Committee, has filed a bill that would allow such sales. He plans to give it a hearing before his panel.

Alting noted that farm wineries in Indiana are allowed to sell their products for takeout on Sundays and said microbreweries should have the same privilege.

“It’s a tourism issue and it’s a specialty item and it’s a true art,” Alting said.

I've never met Sen. Alting, but his quote above eloquently summarizes why there is no logical reason for using different sets of rules for small wineries and small breweries. Furthermore, rules governing artisanal production of beer and wine are not cut from the same cloth as those governing package store and othe retail Sunday sales.

The Indiana legislature has the opportunity in 2010 to balance this particular playing field, and NABC will have a team on the ground in Indianapolis this Wednesday to join the Brewers of Indiana Guild at the statehouse to meet elected officials and make the point in person. If you agree with me -- in fact, even if you don't -- please contact Rep. Ed Clere and Sen. Connie Sipes and let them know.

Roger A. Baylor, NABC

If you missed them during Fringe Fest, yer gettin' a second chance.

Third Street Dive web site
The Involuntary's web site

... all day!

BSB has specials on Bonfire of the Valkyries and Smoked Abzug all day, while the Pizzeria and Pub have Bonfire of the Valkyries, Smoked Abzug and ConeSmoker as well, making it a Garage Brewery Smoked Beers Wednesday at both NABC locations.

I've compiled and culled from Jared's dispatches at the front line.

At the Bank Street Brewhouse in downtown New Albany, NABC’s David Pierce and Jesse Williams are busily brewing brands for distribution, leaving Jared Williamson to man the kit at the original Pizzeria & Public House and create seasonals and specialties for on-premise consumption.

He's done some wonderful things, and continues to think far outside the Bud.

Recently Jared formulated the fourth in NABC’s rotating seasonal series of historical Revive-Ales: Hop-O. The others are Old Lightning Rod (Colonial Ale with molasses), Kaiser 2nd Reising (pre-Prohibition Pilsner) and Phoenix Kentucky Komon (Louisville-style, sour mash Common).

Hop-O was a cereal beverage of less than 1% abv produced by the Southern Indiana Brewing Company during the early years of Prohibition, except that the brewery subsequently was raided, shut down and the owner arrested in 1921 after federal agents determined the alcohol content to be well above 3%.

Deploying NABC’s lager yeast, Jared is brewing Hop-O to be top-heavy in adjuncts (oats, wheat, rye, corn syrup or maize, and a splash of honey malt) and will use whole leaf hops for moderate bitterness and ample aromatics.

Jared’s Hop-O will be ready for serving in mid-April. Also pouring in April will be single-hop Centennial and
Amarillo American Pale Ales, and a new round of Hoosier Daddy.

The next NABC/Schlafly/O'Fallon collaboration, C2, is to be brewed at NABC’s founding brewhouse during the week of March 22nd. The recipe is under discussion, and reputedly will have a Belgian orientation. Stay tuned for more details as the date draws near. Meanwhile, the brewing date for C3 has been set for some time in May at O’Fallon’, and a summertime release.

Roger A. Baylor, NABC

Standing (really?) at dawn on Tuesday, March 9, the 10th day of Gravity Head 2010, we see that 25 kegs have fallen and 16 remain on tap. All but two of the 60 kegs slated for duty when we began are accounted for, with the exception of these:

Schlafly Reserve (Barrel Aged) Imperial Stout ... will not be coming. Instead, the brewery offered a keg of Reserve (Barrel Aged) Barley Wine, and we accepted the substitution.

Three Floyds mystery keg ... who knows? I'm on it.

To see what's in line to replace the current lineup, look at the 'On Draught' board below. And: Download the 2010 Gravity Form if you haven't already.

ON TAP NOW (16):

AMERICAN AMBER / RED LAGER
Coney Island Human Blockhead … 10% abv

AMERICAN BARLEYWINE
Rogue Old Crustacean 2004 … 11.5%
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale 2004 … 9.6%
Stone Old Guardian 2009 ... 11.3%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA
Boulder Mojo Risin ... 10.5%

BELGIAN STRONG DARK ALE
Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale … 8.6%
Van Steenberge Klokke Roeland ... 11%

BIERE DE GARDE
BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien 2007 … 11%

DOPPELBOCK
Ettaler Curator Doppelbock (enhanced export version) ... 11%

DUBBEL
t’Smisje Dubbel … 9%

EISBOCK
Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock ... 12% (co2 version)

OLD ALE
BBC Brandy Barrel Queen.s Knickers ... 12%
Founders Curmudgeon ... 9.3%
Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special 18 Reserve 2008 … 8% (Firkin)

RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout ... 9.5%
Stone Imperial Russian Stout 2008 … 10.5%


RANKS OF THE FALLEN (25):

AMERICAN BARLEYWINE
Boulder Killer Penguin Barleywine … 10%
Dogfish Head Olde School Barley Wine … 15.04%

AMERICAN BROWN ALE
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron … 12%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA
Bell’s HopSlam … 10%
Founders Double Trouble … 9.4%
Founders Hand of Doom … 10.4%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL STOUT
Founders Canadian Breakfast … 9.4%

AMERICAN PORTER
Two Brothers Red Eye Coffee Porter … 9.2%

AMERICAN STRONG ALE
NABC V – 5th Anniversary Ale 2007 … 10%
New Holland Dragon’s Milk
Sierra Nevada Life & Limb … 10.2%

BALTIC PORTER
Rogue Imperial Porter 2008 … 8.2%

BELGIAN IPA
t’Smisje + (Plus) … 10%

BELGIAN STRONG DARK ALE
Unibroue La Terrible … 10.5%

BELGIAN STRONG PALE ALE
Baladin Elixir (Al-Iksir) … 10%

BIERE DE GARDE
BFM Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien 2008 … 11%

DOPPELBOCK
Samichlaus Bier Helles … 14%

EISBOCK
Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock … 12%

ENGLISH BARLEYWINE
JW Lees Vintage Harvest Ale (Sherry Cask) 2008 … 11.5%

QUADRUPEL
Schlafly Quadrupel ... 12%

RAUCHBIER
Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche ... 8%

RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
NABC ThunderFoot … 11%

SCOTCH ALE / WEE HEAVY
Founders Backwoods Bastard … 10.2%

TRIPEL
Maredsous 10 - Tripel … 10%

WITBIER
Dogfish Head Red & White … 10%

Jared's tapping an oak-aged firkin of Le Douche Mental on the hand pull this afternoon at the NABC Public House off Grant Line.

Le Douche Mental is an Imperial Belgian IPA Jared brewed last Fall in collaboration with Steve Berthel of Benton Harbor, Michigan's Livery Brewery.

Get Some! It won't last long.

In the Gravity Head lineup, BFM La Mandragore has replaced Stone's Vertical Epic 090909.

Our last keg of this year's Old Lightening Rod, our Strong Colonial Ale, has also gone on tap.

Lew Bryson flew into Louisville for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, and visited NABC first thing.

Kentucky Bourbon Festival Day 1

Sorry I missed you, Lew. I haven't known whether I'm coming or going for quite some time.

Roger A. Baylor, NABC

Too much has been made of this already, but in the interest of keeping the rumor mill somewhat subdued as the news media continues to contact me, permit me to echo and clarify what was written earlier at Facebook:

NABC, which has been instrumental in helping to organize the forthcoming Celtic Fest on New Albany’s riverfront (Saturday, June 12, 2010), and which participated in the past two St. Patrick’s Day parades in Louisville without incident, completely accepts that the Ancient Order of Hibernians and its President, Mark Wakefield, can run its annual parade as it sees fit.

Accordingly, we learned on Tuesday morning that we cannot participate this year. Ostensibly, this is because BBC (Main & Clay) is the sole beer sponsor of the parade – even though BBC approved of our presence!

Truthfully, this is a “Que sera, sera” sort of development. To paraphrase former Beatle and the late George Harrison, “We’ll play what they want, or we won't play at all.”

We are serene about it, and the very last thing I want to see happen is some ridiculous inference about BBC this, Hibernians that, or whatever makes the rounds. NABC’s last-minute exclusion from this year’s parade obviously owes to internal Hibernian matters that we, as Hoosier outsiders, are in no position to fathom, and so be it.

Surely at times our Southern Indiana politics are indecipherably Byzantine to Louisvillians, as is the case at each bimonthly New Albany city council meeting.

Forget St. Paddy’s, and remember to put June 12 on your calendars. The second annual Celtic Fest promises to be a great musical party day in NA, and we promise that members of the Hibernians are welcome to come drink, eat and play in our sandbox! Our big tent will be open for business.

SB 75 - for us, the 'Sunday Growler Sales by Micro-brewers Bill' - passed the Indiana House this morning by a final tally of 75-20. Senator Alting, the author, has indicated that he concurs with House amendments (all alcohol-related), which means Senate approval is a done deal, and the bill will become law after the governor signs it. Thanks to Rep. Ed Clere for keeping me up to date on the vote. Growlers on Sunday!!

Roger A. Baylor, NABC

... and Scandinavian beer on my mind.

On Monday, February 8, I’m inaugurating Office Hours with the Publican, a weekly Monday evening tasting at NABC’s Pizzeria & Public House (in Prost). It is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m., and run for an hour or so. I intend this and future tastings as self-contained, one-night skull sessions. There will be a nominal fee of $5, and you may order food and drink throughout.

NABC Beer Manager Mike Bauman has set aside bottles from Scandinavian craft brewers Mikkeller, Nøgne Ø and Olfabrikken, and we’ll taste and discuss them. I’m not sure which ones I’ll choose, so you’ll just have to attend and find out. Until then, here is a dab of conceptual back story.

Roger A. Baylor, NABC

Continued

We say 'began falling' because it is falling still. Few of us, if any, will live to see its last vestiges finally, wholly, removed.

Friends are sometimes perplexed by our use of 'Eastern Bloc' imagery, and that's understandable. There's no one, simple explanation for why we are drawn back to it, time and again. The 'boys will be boys' theory probably has more truth in it than we'd be comfortable admitting, or it may also be that when it comes to singing the praises of progressivism, the Devil did have some awfully good tunes, but several of us were privileged to visit the region, either in the years preceding the change of regimes, or in the years since; privileged to be welcomed into the homes, the families, the confidence and the hearts of good, bright, kind, open, capable, loving, giving people who's lives had been blighted not by a flawed political system, not by a misguided ideological movement, but by a criminal conspiracy, by the perpetrators of the obscenity that was Communism, for - well, for as long as many of them had been alive.

Roger coined a phrase long ago, in another context, that serves well to explain this one element in the appeal this imagery has had for us over the years: Celebrating the End of an Error. So no, we are not celebrating Communism, we are not celebrating oppression, torture, deprivation, murder, or any of the myriad evils lyingly perpetrated in feigned pursuit of a cynically promised greater good.

We are celebrating the liberation of friends. We are celebrating people we love, celebrating them for having wrested control over their lives away from those who had enslaved them, celebrating them for having won, if not immediately a better world, then at least the hope, the opportunity, of someday winning the better lives they were promised for so long, if not for themselves today, then perhaps for their children tomorrow   ...   or for their grandchildren   ...   someday.

And we celebrate them for having diminished at least the stain of complicity we bore for as long as an evil great as any ever committed by man against man was allowed to hold sway over the larger part of two continents.

Here endeth the lesson ...

That's enough for now; maybe someday we'll take up the question of how the challenges faced by folks in the hinterlands of Eastern Europe can have a particular resonance for some us who have grown up in the small towns and countryside of Middle America, in places like our own, much loved, New Albania.

Forget about the bad news. Right now, it's all about Gravity Head. In the photo above, Jesse's tapping Aventinus Eisbock from the Anstich keg. We have a motorhome on site, local homebrew clubs tonight and Ohioans coming tomorrow.

And, before I forget, Chef Josh Lehman's green chili (remember Fringe Fest?) captured the people's choice vote at yesterday's Jeffersonville Main Street chili cook-off.

Like I wrote earlier on Facebook: Can your miserable corporate chain pub do this?

I didn't think so.

Roger A. Baylor, NABC