Bank Street Brewhouse: It's exactly because "different" isn't the "same."

Dinner menu at Bank Street Brewhouse tonight ... and a special Elector.

Now that the Bank Street Brewhouse is operational, at least on the front end, I hope that there’ll be time to return this blog to its original purpose. Primarily, this means me writing about anything I damn well please, with a general connection to beer and brewing, and to my place as a habitué of this wonderful world.

The first days of Bank Street have been incredible, and yet there’s something I need to get off my chest.

I told you it was going to be different!

Some of you should have listened to me. I spoke of shifting paradigms and drmatic reinventions, and you somehow thought I was joking or playing games.

Remember: I don’t play games. Ever. As a voyeur, I might watch them ... but not play them.

Way back in 1992, many of my friends doubted that a true specialty beer establishment could survive in New Albany. I was serious then, too. Hopefully the results over 17 years speak for themselves.

Now that we’ve embarked upon a major company expansion, one that involves a fairy radical new concept of what we as a company can be, especially when it comes to Chef Josh’s incredible cuisine, it’s useful for me to remember that not everyone is going to see it that way, even some of those who should know better. That’s okay. I’ll just have to work a bit harder to prove it to you.

I’m largely untroubled beyond feeling a natural disappointment that everyone might not see the future as clearly as I do, but that’s part of the game. We are going to be compelled to explain ourselves and the mission, and that’s necessary. I welcome it.

After we’ve explained ourselves and offered a completely new, unique experience in downtown New Albany as a damned fine brewery that does some damned fine food – that both “feeds the people” in a sense, but more importantly educates them by challenging preconceived notions of the heights to which beer and food can aspire – there’ll be a percentage that still disagrees.

So be it, and that’s okay, too. All anyone can do is their best, and so far, we are doing just that. Once the brewery is on line, it'll be better.

The original pub and pizzeria off Grant Line remain intact, and the combined weight of the beer program (NABC and guests) and traditional pizza-based menu is the same as it ever was. That’s purely intentional. Downtown, we’re going to make the point that fresh, locally sourced food prepared with consummate skill by an creative, ambitious young chef and his crew, and (once the brewing system is operative) paired with consistently excellent local craft beers, is a viable, complementary option. There may well prove to be an entirely new crowd for such a fusion, and in fact, we’re counting on it.

Yes, it’s true: I suffered a bit of rejection’s sting last night. It’s also true that dounbters always stoke my competitive spirit. That’s the way it worked in 1992, and the way I hope it remains.