Well, that was certainly intense: Gravity Head 2010 lineupdate for Monday, March 1.

Thanks to everyone for another dynamite Gravity Head opening weekend. Eleven kegs fell during business hours Friday and Saturday. To see what's in line to replace the current lineup, go to the NABC web site and scroll down.

Download the 2010 Gravity Form.

AMERICAN BARLEYWINE
Rogue Old Crustacean 2004 … 11.5%
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale 2004 … 9.6%

AMERICAN BROWN ALE
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron … 12%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA
Founders Double Trouble … 9.4%

AMERICAN STRONG ALE
NABC V – 5th Anniversary Ale 2007 … 10%
New Holland Dragon’s Milk

BALTIC PORTER
Rogue Imperial Porter 2008 … 8.2%

BELGIAN IPA
t’Smisje + (Plus) … 10%

BELGIAN STRONG DARK ALE
Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale … 8.6%

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

DOPPELBOCK
Samichlaus Bier Helles … 14%

DUBBEL
t’Smisje Dubbel … 9%

ENGLISH BARLEYWINE
Pausa Cafè Tosta … 12.5%

OLD ALE
Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special 18 Reserve 2008 … 8%
Firkin

RAUCHBIER
Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche ... 8%

RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
NABC ThunderFoot … 11%

TRIPEL
Maredsous 10 - Tripel … 10%

---

RANKS OF THE FALLEN

AMERICAN BARLEYWINE
Boulder Killer Penguin Barleywine … 10%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA
Bell’s HopSlam … 10%
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
Sierra Nevada Life & Limb … 10.2%

BELGIAN STRONG DARK ALE
Unibroue La Terrible … 10.5%

EISBOCK
Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock … 12%

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

SCOTCH ALE / WEE HEAVY
Founders Backwoods Bastard … 10.2%

WITBIER
Dogfish Head Red & White … 10%

Gravity Head 2010: They're on, off, up and (some already) down.

The opening day Gravity Head crowd knew exactly what to look for, what was rare, and what needed to be tackled first. Two hard-to-find Founders beers (Canadian Breakfast and Hand of Doom) went first, followed in short order by Dogfish Head Red & White and Two Brothers Red Eye Coffee Porter. Reinforcements were summoned, and today we begin anew. Here's the lineup as of 11:00 a.m. opening today, February 27.

AMERICAN BARLEYWINE
Boulder Killer Penguin … 10%
Rogue Old Crustacean 2004 … 11.5%
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2004 … 9.6%

AMERICAN BROWN ALE
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron … 12%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA
Bell’s HopSlam … 10%

AMERICAN STRONG ALE
NABC V – 5th Anniversary Ale 2007 … 10%
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%

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

DOPPELBOCK
Samichlaus Bier Helles … 14%

DUBBEL
t’Smisje Dubbel … 9%

EISBOCK
Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock … 12%
Anstich/gravity pour keg

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

OLD ALE
Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special 18 Reserve 2008 … 8%
Hand-pulled firkin

RAUCHBIER
Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche ... 8%

RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
NABC ThunderFoot … 11%

SCOTCH ALE / WEE HEAVY
Founders Backwoods Bastard … 10.2%

---

RANKS OF THE FALLEN

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA
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%

WITBIER
Dogfish Head Red & White … 10%

Quick noontime Gravity Head update.

It's been an outstanding start to Gravity Head 2010. There were plenty of early morning breakfast attendees, and the Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout was hit hard. Now, during lunch, I'm guessing we have 30-40 people in the Public House. Good times.

We managed to squeeze in an 18th starter: Sierra's 2004 Bigfoot, which lost yesterday's coin flip for the fan choice slot.

Of special note is the Anstich keg of Aventinus Eisbock. Tasting great, looking great. We need to float that one soon because it's gravity pour, and will lose the carbonation fairly soon. Right now, it's glorious.

The Gravity Head fan vote is over. We have a winner for the 17th slot.

Fan voting for the 17th Gravity Head selection has concluded.

At one point, we had reached a bizarre vote tally of one each for 13 different beers, and then multiples finally were deposited into the ballot box. In the end, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (2004) and Founders Hand of Doom were tied. I flipped a coin, and Hand of Doom won the toss.

Hand of Doom will start, and then the 2004 vintage Bigfoot will be the first keg tapped when a starter is depleted. You should see it on Saturday at the latest.

Thanks for voting. Next year, I am contemplating an altered vote that would take place earlier in the game. But first, we must persevere through the 12th edition of Gravity Head, which starts in less than 24 hours with Gravity Tailgate Breakfast at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.

The New Albany Bicentennial Public Art Project needs your empty beer bottles at Bank Street Brewhouse on Saturday, March 20.

Press release

New Albany Bicentennial Public Art Project

February 20, 2010---- The New Albany Bicentennial Public Art Project is a multi-year outdoor exhibition of twenty temporary sculptures that interpret the rich history and heritage of New Albany, IN. In the spring of 2010, five temporary sculptures will be installed in highly visible locations in the downtown historic district. Each subsequent year, five new sculptures will be unveiled, culminating in 2013 with New Albany’s Bicentennial Commemoration.

This project is a partnership between the Carnegie Center for Art and History and the New Albany Urban Enterprise Association. It is directed by Julie Schweitzer Studios, with major funding provided by the Horseshoe Foundation of Southern Indiana. For more information or to get involved, e-mail Julie Schweitzer, Project Director, or call 812-944-4986.

As part of the New Albany Bicentennial Public Art Project artist Leticia Bajuyo is creating an interactive sculpture for display at the New Albanian Brewing Company's Bank Street Brewhouse.

On March 20, 2010, at noon, Leticia Bajuyo will be on site at the Bank Street Brewhouse to give a presentation about her work and the project.

The piece she will create is informed by the history of taverns and breweries in New Albany and dates back to 1830 with stories of homespun attitudes and community support, as explained on the project's FaceBook page, and web site.

In recognition of this, the primary materials of the sculpture are locally collected, used beer bottles. The collected bottles are used to create a work influenced by the Lite-Brite™ toy; these bottles serve as pegs on the front wall of the sculpture, but unlike a Lite-Brite™, these pegs do not create a stationary pattern. Here, images of New Albany’s brewery logos, projected from the inside the sculpture, change through viewer participation. Furthermore, the sides of the sculpture are constructed of bottles between plexi-glass walls. Sitting on shelves, these rows of bottles reference both the song “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” and Tom Marioni’s social sculpture from 1970, entitled “The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art."

Attendees at the event on the 20th will be "paid" in New Albanian Brewing Company “scrip” for clean 12-ounce empties with labels removed. Attendees can redeem the “scrip” (25 cents per empty) as coupons toward their food and drink purchases. Lite-Brites™ will be available onsite to stimulate your creativity along with your appetite. Please join us with your empties and become a part of New Albany’s brewing history.

"Newton discovered it, we perfected it": Gravity Head 2010 starts Friday, February 26.

Here's a compendium of links that provide sufficient background to the forthcoming weekend's Gravity Head 2010 opening at the Pizzeria & Public House.

In 2010, I've taken the approach that pretty much everyone who cares to know about NABC's annual foray into mind-of-its-own hysteria, otherwise known as Gravity Head, already knows about it. Consequently, I've not been angling for publicity. It is what it is, and our customers know what that means.

Also, this year we've decided to take a slightly different approach as to festival management. The overall number of Gravity Head listed kegs is down 10% from 2009 (that's a first), and when the calendar turns into April, we'll reduce the number of festival taps and officially "end" Gravity Head, although untapped GH kegs will be poured until they're gone -- just from fewer spouts. This will dwindle eventually to one tap, from which a higher-gravity specialty will continue pouring year-round.

In this fashion, we can put more of our own NABC creations back on tap, sooner, and we'll also have room for the guest draft program retrofit that's been in the planning stages for a while. Look for old favorites and a more predictable rotation.

But first ... on Friday, February 26, Gravity Head 2010 jumps into gear with our third annual Gravity Tailgate Breakfast. In 2008, a hardy band of early-rising regulars convened for gravity breakfast with Terry Meiners of WHAS television in Louisville. In 2009, we tweaked the concept, and the template remains in effect in 2010.

Breakfast starts at 7:00 a.m., when it’s actually legal to drink beer in Hoosierland, although you certainly don't have to drink if you don't want to drink. There’ll be doughnuts, Sarah's breakfast frittatas, snacks and Ed Needham's home-roasted coffee. We'll segue into normal 11:00 a.m. opening hours, and go from there.

The links:

Enjoy Gravity Head 2010 and help Matt and Amy jump into the river to benefit the Special Olympics.

Download the 2010 Gravity Form.

Gravity Head starters having been named, vote now for the 17th and final keg (not firkin).

Starting lineup for Gravity Head 2010: "Newton discovered it, we perfected it."

Enjoy Gravity Head 2010 and help Matt and Amy jump into the river to benefit the Special Olympics.

Submitted and fully endorsed by NABC management. If you have questions, send them to me and I will redirect to Matt and Amy.

Don’t drive into the river … help Matt Nash and Amy Weatherford jump into the river.

Support Special Olympics & Polar Plunge 2010.

Matt Nash will be providing rides home from the NABC Pizzeria & Public House on opening night of Gravity Head 2010 between 8:00 p.m. and ?, with donations going to the Special Olympics.

Matt Nash is a native of New Albany, local Tribune guest columnist and a strong supporter of using a designated driver. Amy Weatherford now calls New Albany home and will be setting up rides for patrons of Gravity Head. This will be his fourth year of participating in the polar bear plunge and her first.

The car has room for up to 4 people … (3 fit snug in back) but no one in the trunk, hehehe.

Download the 2010 Gravity Form.

The Gravity Form for 2010 is on-line for your perusal. Print it and bring it, but of course, there'll be copies at Pizzeria & Pub, too.

Download link for Gravity Head 2010 program.

Link to view the Gravity Head program .pdf online.

Gravity Head starters having been named, vote now for the 17th and final keg (not firkin).

Once again, as we prepare for the 12th edition of Gravity Head ("Newton discovered it, we perfected it"), we’re allowing the fans to vote on the beer that will occupy the 17th tap.

Note: The starting lineup can be found here.

When making your choice, please remember that the beers listed below are the only ones eligible for selection. The list here has been edited to remove the beers already selected to start, firkins (we can pour only one at a time on hand pull), ones already designated to appear on specific dates, and those that remain in transit.

Vote for just one, and submit to your choice to me at this e-mail address - istanbul85(at)yahoo.com - before Noon on Thursday, February 25, 2010.

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

AMERICAN BARLEYWINE
Avery Hog Heaven Barley Wine … 9.2%
Dogfish Head Olde School Barley Wine … 15.04%
Left Hand Oaked Aged Widdershins … 8.8%
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale 2004 … 9.6%
Stone Old Guardian 2009 … 11.3%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA
Boulder Mojo Risin’ … 10.5%
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA … 18%
Founders Double Trouble … 9.4%
Founders Hand of Doom … 10.4%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL STOUT
Founders Breakfast Stout 2008 … 8.3%

AMERICAN STRONG ALE
New Holland Dragon’s Milk … 10%
Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale … 9%
Shmaltz He’Brew Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah (13) … 13%
Sierra Nevada Life & Limb … 10.2%

BALTIC PORTER
Rogue Imperial Porter 2008 … 8.2%

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

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

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

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

DUBBEL
t’Smisje Dubbel … 9%

ENGLISH BARLEYWINE
JW Lees Vintage Harvest Ale 2008 … 11.5%
Pausa Cafè Tosta … 12.5%

OLD ALE
BBC Brandy Barrel Queen’s Knickers … 12%
Founders Curmudgeon … 9.3%
NABC Malcolm’s Old Setters’ Ale 2007 … 12%

QUADRUPEL
Avery “The Reverend” … 10%

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

SCOTCH ALE / WEE HEAVY
Founders Backwoods Bastard … 10.2%

TRIPEL
Maredsous 10 - Tripel … 10%

Starting lineup for Gravity Head 2010: "Newton discovered it, we perfected it."

Following are 16 of the 17 Gravity Head 2010 starters, to be tapped for Friday, February 26. The 17th is to be chosen by fan vote (see next post).

AMERICAN BARLEYWINE
Boulder Killer Penguin Barleywine … 10%
Rogue Old Crustacean 2004 … 11.5%

AMERICAN BROWN ALE
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron … 12%

AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA
Bell’s HopSlam … 10%

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%

BELGIAN IPA
t’Smisje + (Plus) … 10%

BELGIAN STRONG DARK ALE
Unibroue La Terrible … 10.5%

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

DOPPELBOCK
Samichlaus Bier Helles … 14%

EISBOCK
Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock … 12%
Anstich/gravity pour keg

OLD ALE
Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special 18 Reserve 2008 … 8%
Firkin

RAUCHBIER
Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche ... 8%

RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
NABC ThunderFoot … 11%

WITBIER
Dogfish Head Red & White … 10%

To be tapped on SATURDAY, February 27

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

MOJO catches Amy Baylor at the North America Pizza & Ice Cream Show.

Check out Steve Coomes' Mojo blog about the North America Pizza & Ice Cream Show over the weekend in Ohio, and see the photo of NABC's Amy Baylor. We didn't win anything, but you can't win if you don't play, right?

UPDATED: Meat still reigns at Midwest pizza contest

SB 75 passes 2nd reading in the House, should go up for 3rd today.

Rep. Ed Clere phoned last evening to tell me that SB 75 passed its second reading in the House and is scheduled for the third and final reading today. According to Ed, yesterday's success didn't guarantee final passage, but immeasurably increased the chances of passage.

Just so you can see how the bill has evolved, I'm reprinting the entire text below. The original bill absorbed two other alcohol-related measures, and has been amended several times, again with provisions pertaining to the state's alcoholic beverage statutes. I've separated the clauses for easier reading. For more on the bill's progress, go here: Senate Bill 75 - SUPER-DUPER-SIZED!

Now: Cross your fingers. I'll be waiting to hear from Ed, and I profusely thank him for his diligence both in supporting the bill and keeping information flowing back to us.

--

Senate Bill 0075
2010 2nd Regular Session

DIGEST OF SB 75 (Updated February 22, 2010 5:05 pm - DI 92)

Alcoholic beverages.

Allows a microbrewery to sell the brewery's beer for carryout on Sunday at the address for which the brewer's permit was issued.

Allows alcoholic beverages to be sold on election days. Allows the holder of a retailer's permit to sell alcoholic beverages on Sunday from 7 a.m. until 3 a.m. the following day. (Under current law, the holder of a retailer permit may sell alcoholic beverages on Sunday from 10 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. the following day).

Makes it a Class B misdemeanor for an alcoholic beverage permittee or permittee's employee or agent to recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally sell, barter, exchange, provide, or furnish another person alcoholic beverages for carryout without first requiring the person to produce proof that the person is at least 21 years of age by: (1) a driver's license; (2) a government issued identification card; or (3) a government issued document; that bears the person's photograph and birth date.

Provides that it is a defense in a criminal or administrative proceeding that the individual to whom the alcoholic beverages were sold appeared to be at least 50 years of age.

Provides that, in a criminal prosecution or proceeding before the alcohol and tobacco commission, it is a defense to a charge of unlawfully furnishing alcohol to a minor that the purchaser produced a government issued document bearing the purchaser's photograph and showing the purchaser to be at least 21 years of age.

Eliminates the requirement that a publicly owned airport be served by a scheduled commercial passenger airline in order for a restaurant located in the passenger terminal to be eligible for a permit to sell beer, wine, and liquor.

Allows an indoor theater located in a city having a population of more than 200,000 but less than 300,000 and that has been listed in the National Register of Historic places to: (1) be issued a one-way, two-way, or three-way permit to sell alcoholic beverages; and (2) to have children present.

Requires alcohol servers, retailer permittees, or management representatives of retailer or dealer permittees to complete alcohol server training by May 1, 2011. (Current law requires completion of the training by January 1, 2010.)

Requires an applicant for a permit to sell alcoholic beverages in Marion County to file with the local board verification from a department of the consolidated city designated by ordinance that the applicant is in compliance with zoning requirements for the premises to be licensed.(Current law requires verification from the department of metropolitan development.)

Current Status: Passed 2nd reading - 2nd House

Polar Walk & Coolest Art Show in downtown NA next Saturday ... and Paul's One World Cafe open on Market.

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.

In other news: You may have heard that the street level retail space formerly occupied by the Market Street Fish House (now across the street, folded into Connor's Place) has a new tenant. The Tribune's Daniel Suddeath reports with the complete lowdown: Paul’s One World Café open.

Critical juncture for SB 75 may be coming on Monday.

Last evening I had the chance to chat briefly with Ed Clere, our District 72 State Representative, about SB 75.

It’s the bill we’ve been referring to as the “growler bill,” or the “Sunday carry-out for microbrewers” bill.

On Wednesday, SB 75 was considered by the House Committee on Public Policy and passed its first reading by a vote of 10-0. Two other alcohol-related bills have been added to our bill. Both passed their vettings to date with little dissent. One of them adjusts Sunday hours to match those stipulated for the remainder of the week. The other ends the prohibition of sales while the polls are open on Election Day.

Finally, two minor provisions pertaining to local conditions in Terre Haute and Ft. Wayne also have been attached to SB 75. I’m told that this sort of thing is normal, and should have no deleterious consequences.

So, in large measure, SB 75 remains “clean” in the sense of harboring no egregious amendments. However, according to Ed, this still might happen – especially during the 2nd reading, this time before the full House, and probably on Monday, February 22. He is of the opinion that if the 2nd reading hurdle is cleared, the 3rd reading (full House) and subsequent journey back to the point of origin in the Senate should come off without a hitch.

To repeat: Ed feels that the 2nd reading, probably on Monday, is the critical one. It is then that “bad” amendments and attachments are most likely to occur. If Indiana residents are reading, please take a few minutes to send an e-mail to your State Representative in support of SB 75 as it stands. The mood is optimistic. Parity may be just around the corner ...

Scenes from The Livery's 5th Anniversary Ale brew day (Part Two).

Above: "The Livery cellar -- p.s. it's time to start the barrel program ... "

Below: "Steve Berthel and an open top fermenter at Arcadia Brewing."

Above: From left to right, Thom Phillips, Jared Williamson, Steve Berthel, Josh Davies, Jim Towers. See Jared's preceding Michigan report for further details. Photo credits: Thom and Leslie.

Scenes from The Livery's 5th Anniversary Ale brew day (Part One).

Above: "10 lbs of hops in a 6BBL mash."
Below: "Cleaning time."

Below: "Hop decisions."

See Jared's preceding Michigan report for further details. Photo credits: Thom and Leslie.

Jared Williamson on "Michigan: Passion, Pints, and Pride."

I knew he could brew, and I knew he could play music, but Jared's been concealing his skill at writing. Here's the report on his trip to Michigan last weekend, and in my opinion, it wonderfully encapsulates the ethos of craft brewing and the reasons why we all cherish being a part of it. There'll be photos in two posts following.

---

Michigan: Passion, Pints, and Pride

Until this past weekend, I had previously spent a total of 12 hours in Michigan back in 2002, and that was for a gig with my band in my previous life before brewing. We played that gig in Battle Creek, and luckily stumbled upon Arcadia Brewing Company just a few blocks from the venue. Little did I know that evening the future connection that I would have with craft beer in Michigan.

Fast forward to Great Taste of the Midwest 2009; while looking for something interesting to try among thousands of choices, someone told me to check out The Livery from Benton Harbor, MI. They had me at the words “sour” and “barrel” and I was off to explore. After a few minutes and several samples, I was a big fan and then serendipity stepped in. Brewmaster Steve Berthel arrived at his table right when I was about to head back to my station. We proceeded to yell at each other to be heard above the roar of the crowd for the next ten minutes and quickly it was evident that we had a connection, and that Steve would be traveling through New Albanian country the next month. Without hesitation I asked if he wanted to brew some beer while in town, and Steve was enthusiastic about making it happen. We exchanged cards and went on our way.

In mid-September, Steve arrived in New Albany after spending a week biking and living it up in the mountains of western North Carolina. We spent the next 2 days hanging out, enjoying NABC beers, talking about life and music and beer, and yes, we squeezed in a batch that became the legendary Le Douche Mental Imperial Belgian IPA. Steve returned for its release in mid-November with long time Livery friends and supporters Jim and Megan Towers. We spent the weekend exploring all the Louisville area breweries and had a blast, to put it mildly.

Next up was this return trip to Michigan to brew with Steve, and when he told me about his 55th birthday bash weekend, it seemed the perfect time to brew The Livery’s 5th Anniversary Ale as well. Plans were laid out. Brewmaster Josh Davies from Arcadia Brewing Company, and Steve’s good friend, was added to the mix. Thom Phillips, Michigan home brewing savant, and Jim Towers joined the ranks for the brew day.

5th Anniversary, 5 brewers, Steve’s 55th birthday, 5 malts….hops, hops, and more hops. And then some more hops. We used 10 lbs of whole hop flowers in the mash alone, which is divisible by 5. Call it a Triple Dark IPA.

What we brewed this past Friday will go down in brewing lore. It was excessive, ridiculous, and as Steve says “it won’t suck”. While I won’t divulge the calculated IBUs at this time, Steve is planning on sending a sample to be tested for actual numbers. The beer will be racked into barrels and aged until its release at Great Tastes of the Midwest 2010, along side of a 10 month scotch aged pin of Le Douche Mentale.

We followed our brew day with a trip to Arcadia for pints and dinner. Brewmaster Josh Davies is brewing great beer in Battle Creek, and after a couple of samples I was really wishing that Arcadia would return to distribution in Indiana. Thom, Steve and I parted ways with Josh and headed back to Kalamazoo, finishing the evening with a stop at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe.

Saturday was the real party and what a great celebration it was. You see The Livery is a very unique situation in the craft brewing world. Being a successful brewery/restaurant/concert venue/yoga studio is quite an achievement. Doing it in a small, some would say forgotten lakeside town is brilliant. The level of community pride, craft knowledge, and genuine joy from the people and what they have collectively created is truly inspiring. As one who travels and visits many wonderful brewpubs each year, I urge everyone who loves to seek out great craft beer to make the trip to Benton Harbor and to enjoy the unique scene and beers hand forged by Steve. Well over 300 hundred people crammed into the 3 levels of The Livery to enjoy 12 special release beers, a wonderful concert from Robbie Fulks of Chicago, and great eats from the café. The Livery’s staff is top notch, and they rocked out one of their best business days ever.

I have been a fan of Michigan beers from afar for a long time. After the experiences of this weekend, I cannot wait till my next voyage north. To the craft brewing community of southwest Michigan: bravo my friends, bravo.

Jared Williamson, Brewer
New Albanian Brewing Company

Last Louisville keg of Solidarity at Zeppelin Cafe this Wednesday, February 17.

I grudgingly doff my cap to the snow, and offer this excerpt from a column I wrote for Food & Dining magazine in 2005. To the brief list of winter beers, at the end Baltic Porter might have been added.

This is a way of reminding readers that the last keg from NABC's Louisville allocation of Solidarity will be tapped at 7:00 p.m. this Wednesday, February 17, at the Zeppelin Cafe in Germantown: Last Call For Solidarity!

The weather's ideal for it. As for the food, and although I haven't had the chance to eat at the Zeppelin Cafe, reports have been positive. Items that stick to your ribs are good for winter, and ideal for Solidarity.

---

A menacing queue forms before me.

It is comprised of well-intentioned nutritionists, crusading physicians, profiteering diet planners and congenital killjoys. In this nastiest of personal nightmares, they have gathered to demand that I eschew the habits of my expansive past, to convert, to see the light … to eat and drink “right.”

Stubborn and unrepentant, I point defiantly to the thermometer. It’s not a fit night out for man or beast; Louisville is cold. Salade Nicoise, gazpacho, watermelon and corn on the cob all seem inadequate. Waxen imitation veggies need not apply.

No! I want food to warm the bones, to arouse the slumbering genes of my ancestors on the steppes and in the forest, those enduring and resourceful people who during winter reached for the pickled vegetables, delved into cellar for potatoes, beets and onions, and cracked open stocks of salted beef and fish.

I demand the hearty ingredients for soups, stews, goulash, cabbage rolls and casseroles.

Furthermore, I want beer styles to match them! Beer that is cool, not cold; strong, not puny; challenging, not simple.

Winter provides the most suitable conditions for sampling and studying the heavyweight classics that have come to us from the various Old World brewing cultures and in turn have been embraced and redefined by America’s innovative microbrewers.

Among these are multi-faceted imperial stouts, deeply affecting barley wines, and big, brawny German “double” bocks. Not only do these beer styles provide ample warming for bodies iced and chilled in the great outdoors, but they also stick to the food that sticks to your bones when it matters most.

Public House second shift only Monday and Tuesday.

Kate found staff for the Public House, so although Office Hours is postponed until next Monday, the Pub is open on Monday night. On Tuesday, the Public House will not open until 5 p.m., although the Pizzeria will operate from 11:00 a.m. Got it?

Jared drives to Michigan to tap a firkin.

There's more to it than just that, but as we await his report, here's a clip: "Steve Berthel - Birthday Bash with Jared from New Albanian Brewing."

Monday NABC scheduling: Pizzeria open, Office Hours postponed.

NABC's Pizzeria & Public House will run today via our "half open" weather schedule, i..e, seating at the Pizzeria and reduced staffing.

The Office Hours with the Publican session scheduled for tonight will be postponed until next week, with the IPA topic remaining the same.

Bank Street Brewhouse is closed always closed on Monday. We'll be back at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

Senate Bill 75 update.

Here's an update on Senate Bill 75, formerly known as the bill to enable Sunday carry-out sales by craft brewers, now (it appears) with Bills 118 & 119 appended to it. Like 75, both of the other bills have passed the Senate. The first removes sales restrictions during polling hours, and the second adjusts Sunday sales hours. Jason from the Hoosier Beer Geek blog has the news: Senate Bill 75 - SUPERSIZED!

Word from our statehouse presence is that the bill gets its 15 minutes of House committee time on Wednesday morning. Exact procedures elude me, but I'll be there. In fact, NABC will attend-and-vend at two legislative receptions on Tuesday night, the first held by the state Chamber of Commerce, and the second for the legislature's African-American caucus. Looks like an overnight stay for the sales gang.

Office Hours for Monday, February 15: IPA from all over the place.

I'll come equipped with style definitions, samples and anecdotes. I hope to have single hop IPA, Double IPA and Belgian IPA at the very least. The aim is to taste, listen and learn from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. RSVPs are not necessary. In case of threatening weather, stay tuned to the blog and NABC's other news outlets on Twitter and Facebook.

Hops. What's not to love?

What winter weather? Class is ON for tonight.

It's Wednesday ... if you are registered for the February section of my IUS "Here's to Beer!" class tonight, consider that there are no snow days for beer drinkers, so I will see you at 6:00 p.m. for Happy Half Hour.

Class begins at 6:30, and there will be sampling. Jeremy will be your server, and I will be your educator.

If you're interested in the April course offering -- and I'm told that five people already have signed on -- the class dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th, all Wednesdays, from 6:30 p.m.* to 8:30 p.m., and at the NABC Pizzeria & Public House, 3312 Plaza Drive (just off Grant Line Road) in New Albany. Contact IU Southeast for registration information.

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* The Happy Half Hour noted above is purely optional. Classes begin at 6:30 p.m.

Recap: Scandinavian craft beer at the first Office Hours.

There were nine of us for last evening's inaugural Office Hours with the Publican. I'll be thinking about next week's topic. Meanwhile, here are the Scandinavian craft beers we tasted:

Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch -- 10.9%

Mikkeller Single Hop Simcoe IPA -- 6.9%

Nøgne Ø Andhrímnir Barley Wine -- 10%

Nøgne Ø Tyttabaer -- 8%
Ølfabrikken Kloster Jul -- 9.0%
Ølfabrikken Winter Porter -- 11.0%

It's hard to pick a "winner" from this stellar group, although Beer Geek Brunch and Kloster Jul probably led the consensus. The Tyttabaer tasted last night was much better since my last bottle in early December, when phenols seemed too high. This time, the brettanomyces sourness seemed just right, with a tasty berry tang absent before. Outstanding.

I compiled the following notes as background.

Craft/specialty beer explosion in Scandinavia

From the aftermath of WWII until the current time, a familiar story in Scandinavia: Big brewery growth, consolidation and the subsequent disappearance of smaller breweries.

Result: Narrowing of product lines, which tended to be organized predictably along the lines of tax brackets (based on strength) and golden lagers. Some exceptions, including a few surviving Porters and low-gravity beers like Hvidtøl.

Some regional breweries survived, especially in Denmark: Thisted (Thys), Hancock, etc.

Also: Considerable governmental interference. There was a version of Prohibition in Finland, and state-run liquor stores in all the countries. Liberalized now to an extent, perhaps more in Denmark than the others. Taxes and prices high.

Periphery of Europe: Denmark joined the European Union in 1973, but Sweden and Finland not until after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Norway still not a member today. Implications for trade, in the sense that trade between European nations becomes more free as the EU grows.

Small domestic markets = common understanding of the importance of the export trade. Might have influenced the later generation of export-minded craft brewers.

Educated and affluent societies and countries already in the “grain belt” with brewing traditions. Craft brewing appreciation almost always is fed by education, travel and income levels, all of which apply to Scandinavia.

Homebrewing a viable tradition (sahti, etc). Also, homebrewing generally thrives anywhere where prices are high, and there is an absence of choice.

Internet and telecommunications savvy Finland spawns a crop of early brewpubs (went to half a dozen during my visit in 1999) and beer appreciation movements, followed closely by the rest. Current success of micro- and craft- brewers owes much to reputations gained on-line: Rate Beer, Beer Advocate.

In America: B United and Shelton Brothers the go-to importers.

Previously, an essay: Scandinavian beer on my mind.

Usual hours at both NABC locations. Who else?

As of now (11:00 a.m.) it's NABC business hours as usual today: 11:00 a.m. at the Pizzeria & Public House, and 2:00 p.m. at Bank Street Brewhouse. We're playing it by ear, and I'll keep you posted if anything changes.

Anyone else like to tag in? Who is open? Who is closed?

FYI: Tomorrow night's a long way off, but at this time, I do not foresee altering the planned "Here's to Beer" class meeting. It will go at 6:30 p.m. unless something unexpected occurs.

More adventures with Jared and Steve.

This coming weekend, NABC's Jared Williamson will make the return trip to Benton Harbor, Michigan, and a date to brew with Steve Berthel at The Livery.

We are brewing the 5th Anniversary Ale, 12% 100+ IBU, that will debut at Great Taste of the Midwest alongside a 10-month-aged pin of Le Douche Mentale. We will brew on Friday, and then Saturday is Steve's birthday bash at The Livery.

There's my reason to return for this year's GTMW, which takes place on Saturday, August 14. That, and a couple hundred others.

For background on Jared's and Steve's collaborative batches, hit the archives: It's simple: Steve and Jared brew a collaborative batch, and then I drink beer with them.

A busload of Gravity Head.

The Hoosier Beer Geeks are chartering a bus and coming to visit both NABC locations on March 6. I looked at the calendar this morning and realized that with 18 days to go until Gravity Head begins, it's time to get my lazy butt in gear and begin generating information -- but, as Augustine said, not just yet. Mike and I will work on the starting lineup this week, and I'll commence the compilation of the programs. This morning, there are other pressing matters awaiting my acumen, such as tonight's Office Hours.

One question was asked: Would there be flights of smaller pours when the HBG bus is parked outside? Customarily, no, but let me see what I can do. Perhaps a buffet of sorts ...

What Gravity Head Is, and Why You'd Want to Take a Bus There

We at Hoosier Beer Geek may be guilty of assuming too much from time to time, and it recently occurred to me that perhaps a deeper explanation of what this whole Gravity Head Bus Trip is all about.

Reduced in print.

On-line said 3 and 1/2. Print said 3. As it turns out, the higher score was a misprint.

3 1/2 stars for NABC Bank Street Brewhouse, says the Courier-Journal.

Busy NABC weekend ahead, highlighted by a firkin of Dry Knob.

It just might be an insane weekend at Bank Street Brewhouse, and I’m not complaining.

Earlier in the week, we started running our first-ever ads at the Louisville Restaurants Forum. Then we learned that we had been reviewed in the Louisville Courier-Journal. The review was on-line yesterday, and is in this morning's print edition. Then Food & Dining magazine came out, featuring a cover story about New Albany's nouveau dining scene and a cover photo by Dan Dry of Chef Josh's pesto lasagna. Finally, there’s the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Previously I told you about the plan for Super Bowl Sunday at Bank Street Brewhouse. We’re giving Chef Josh part of the day off so he can watch his beloved Colts, and he’s so excited about the offer that he’s letting Steve and Amy use his kitchen to prepare Asian Wings, Pork BQ and Scotch Eggs from 3:00 p.m. to game’s end.

NABC’s brew crew didn’t want to be left out, so Jared has delivered a firkin of Dry Knob to BSB, where it will be tapped and served by gravity pour from the bar top on Sunday at the special price of $3.00 … while it lasts.

Dry Knob is an American-style Pale Ale, and a variant of our Wet Knob Hop Harvest Ale. The difference is the use of dried hops from Abstonia Farms in Floyds Knobs, as opposed to the freshly picked “wet” hops used late last summer.

For more information, flash back to this posting: NABC Wet Knob Hop Harvest Ale: Early release date is Tuesday, September 15.

3 1/2 stars for NABC Bank Street Brewhouse, says the Courier-Journal.

We knew the Bank Street Brewhouse restaurant review was coming to the Saturday edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal, but we didn't know it would be posted on-line at Metromix a full day in advance.

The 3 1/2 star review begins with a description of downtown New Albany, then and now, and I wouldn't be human if I didn't say that it smells like vindication to me.

It's more than just a beer joint, by Marty Rosen.

All of a sudden, New Albany seems to have found its future. A sparkling new YMCA facility, long a centerpiece of the city’s development plans, is drawing throngs of people. And a downtown dining scene that was once best known for housing the diminutive burger joint Little Chef and the inexpensive enormity of the salt-laden meals at the old Southside Inn, has become a bona fide dining district, with enough diversity and quality to lure folks from all over the region.

Congratulations to Chef Lehman, GM Powell, staff and brewers. We're still not there yet, but we're getting closer each day. On-premise business has steadily improved, even without the outdoor seating that's so important to the business plan.

Our goal was 100 off-premise draft beer accounts after six months of draft beer distribution, and we're just about on time with it. You can find NABC beer at numerous establishments in Louisville and Southern Indiana, as well as in Munster, Indianapolis, Muncie, Zionsville, Madison and Evansville, among other Hoosier outposts.

We're hoping for a crazy weekend. Here's the link to Kylene Lloyd's BSB photo gallery in Metromix.

Bell's H.E.A.R.T. at Rocky's on Thursday, February 11.

Someone was asking me about Bell's Expedition Stout for Gravity Head. The answer is no, but it will be pouring nearby on the 11th, at Rocky's, with the bonus of having Veronica Sanders present for questions and chitchat. Here's the press release.

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Bell’s Brewery Night Hosted by Rocky’s Sub Pub On The River!

Celebrate Valentine’s Day Early With the Beers You Love!

On Thursday, February 11th, Rocky’s Sub Pub on the river in Jeffersonville, IN, will host Bell’s Brewery and showcase several great selections of their craft beers on draft. Celebrate Valentine’s Day early with the beers you love - H.E.A.R.T: Hopslam, Expedition Stout, Amber Ale, Rye Stout and Two Hearted Cask.

Bell’s Brewery is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Bell’s is the oldest brewery east of Boulder, CO!

“We are very excited to host Bell’s here at Rocky’s! We love showcasing their craft brew and our customers are very loyal to their brand,” Thomas Kapfhammer, General Manager of Rocky’s said.

Veronica Sanders from Bell’s will be available at the event to talk about some of these great craft brews.

Rocky’s Sub Pub is celebrating its 33-year anniversary and has been a staple of the Jeffersonville community since its days near Jeff Boat on Utica Pike. Rocky’s moved to its current river front location on Riverside Drive in 2000.

Visit Rocky’s on the river in Jeffersonville at 715 Riverside Drive.


Check Rocky’s out on Facebook and Twitter!

Gravity Head 2010: The list hits 60 -- and stops there.

Uncle.

This is as close as I can get to a final Gravity Head listing. It may well be the most diverse ever from top to bottom. The style categories are from Beer Advocate. There are 60 beers, even though I was supposed to buy less this year. Oops. One of these years, I'll learn. You'll notice that there have been changes since the last update.

We'll begin on February 26 with the third annual Gravity Head Tailgate Breakfast at 7:00 in the Public House. The starting lineup will be announced fairly soon, and there'll be fan voting for one slot.

AMERICAN AMBER / RED LAGER

Coney Island Human Blockhead … 10% abv

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AMERICAN BARLEYWINE

Avery Hog Heaven Barley Wine … 9.2%

Boulder Killer Penguin Barleywine … 10%

Dogfish Head Olde School Barley Wine … 15.04%

Left Hand Oaked Aged Widdershins … 8.8%

Rogue Old Crustacean 2004 … 11.5%

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale 2004 … 9.6%

Stone Old Guardian … 11.3%

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AMERICAN BROWN ALE

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron … 12%

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AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL IPA

Bell’s HopSlam … 10%

Boulder Mojo Risin’ … 10.5%

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA … 18%

Founders Double Trouble … 9.4%

Founders Hand of Doom … 10.4%

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AMERICAN DOUBLE / IMPERIAL STOUT

Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes (BFM) Jurassian Imperial Stout (Cuvée Alex Le Rouge) … 10.28%

Founders Breakfast Stout 2008 … 8.3%

Founders Canadian Breakfast … 9.4%

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AMERICAN PORTER

Two Brothers Red Eye Coffee Porter … 9.2%

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AMERICAN STRONG ALE

NABC V – 5th Anniversary Ale 2007 … 10%

New Holland Dragon’s Milk … 10%

Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale … 9%

Shmaltz He’Brew Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah (13) … 13%

Sierra Nevada Life & Limb … 10.2%

Sun King Cream Dream (Imperial Cream) … circa 8.5%

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BALTIC PORTER

BBC (St. Matthews) Kick in the Baltic Porter … 8.9%

Rogue Imperial Porter 2008 … 8.2%

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BELGIAN IPA

Brugge Brasserie Artemis 2IPA … 9.5%

NABC Oaked Le Douche Mentale (firkin) … 8.5%

Regenboog t’Smisje + (Plus) … 10%

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BELGIAN STRONG DARK ALE

Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes (BFM)
La Mandragore …8%

De Dolle Stille Nacht … 12% abv

Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale … 8.6%

Unibroue La Terrible … 10.5%

Van Steenberge Klokke Roeland … 11%

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BELGIAN STRONG PALE ALE

Baladin Elixir (Al-Iksir) … 10%

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BIERE DE GARDE

Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes (BFM) Abbaye De Saint Bon-Chien 2007 and 2008 … 11%
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DOPPELBOCK

Ettaler Curator Doppelbock (enhanced export version) … circa 11%

Samichlaus Bier Helles … 14%

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DUBBEL

Regenboog t’Smisje Dubbel … 9%

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EISBOCK

Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock (CO2 and special Anstich wooden cask) … 12%

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ENGLISH BARLEYWINE

JW Lees Vintage Harvest Ale 2008 … 11.5%

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

Pausa Cafè Tosta … 12.5%

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FOREIGN / EXPORT STOUT

Regenboog t'Smisje Catherine the Great ... 10%

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MYSTERY STYLE

Three Floyds Brewing Company … what will Nick send?
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OLD ALE

BBC Brandy Barrel Queen’s Knickers … 12%

Founders Curmudgeon … 9.3%

Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special 18 Reserve 2008 (firkin) … 8%

NABC Malcolm’s Old Setters’ Ale 2007 … 12%

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RAUCHBIER

Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche ... 8%

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QUADRUPEL

Avery “The Reverend” … 10%

Schlafly Quadrupel … 12%

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RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT

Founders Imperial Stout 2008 … 10.5%

Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout … 9.5%

NABC ThunderFoot … 11%

Schlafly Reserve – (Barrel Aged) Imperial Stout ... 10.5%

Stone Imperial Russian Stout 2008 … 10.5%

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SCOTCH ALE / WEE HEAVY

Founders Backwoods Bastard … 10.2%

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TRIPEL

Maredsous 10 … 10%

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WITBIER

Dogfish Head Red & White … 10%

One Super Bowl, two menus at Bank Street Brewhouse.

Everyone knows that Bank Street Brewhouse’s Chef Josh Lehman is a rabid, fanatical fan of the Indianapolis Colts. With the Colts in the Super Bowl, NABC’s managerial cadre badly wanted to find a way of sparing Josh kitchen service during the big game.

It was decided to offer the usual Sunday fare from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m., coinciding with the times of operation for the Build Your Own Bloody Mary bar (Sarah might stay longer this Sunday if the trade’s good), and then to let Josh take off the remainder of the day.

Bank Street GM Steve Powell and NABC co-owner Amy Baylor have devised a special Super Bowl menu that will take over at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. The normal menu resumes at our 2:00 p.m. opening on Tuesday, February 9.

There'll be a beer special, too ... look for the announcement later today.

New Albanian Bank Street Brewhouse
7 February, 2010 - Super Bowl Sunday Menu

Asian Style Chicken Wings
Twelve Wings with Spicy Sauce
$11

Pulled Pork Barbeque
South Carolina, Spicy Red, or Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce
$8

Scotch Egg
Deep-Fried Sausage and Panko Wrapped Hard-Boiled Egg
4

"Mug Shots" today in LEO: "Bear the better beer torch."

Beer class starts tonight. There'll be another section offered in April. Until then, just keep practicing.

Mug Shots: Bear the better beer torch

Last weekend, the Mug Shot family watched Steven Soderbergh’s “Che,” the 2008 cinematic ode to Che Guevara, and while I know this will incite the usual round of anguished finger-pointing about my Communist leanings (how unspeakably droll, yet they persist), Cuba never was much of a beer-drinking country, anyway.

Rather, at one juncture in Part One of “Che,” the revolutionary leader realizes many prospective recruits to the cause can neither read nor write, and he institutes literacy classes as a core component of the 26th of July Movement.

To paraphrase Guevara: Absent literacy, the individual is much more easily misled by the powers that be.

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.

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There was a time, not long ago, when the countries that comprise the geographical entity we call Scandinavia were hardly among one’s first choices when planning a European beer hunting itinerary. To suggest that this situation has been reversed is a massive understatement. Let's see why.

There always were specific local brewing traditions in Scandinavia, and many have survived, like the time-honored practice of homebrewed Sahti in Finland. It can be made from a variety of grains, spiced with juniper berries, and filtered through twigs. Mead, a fermented honey beverage, was a Norse staple, and big wooden “mead halls” were built to facilitate its consumption. Indigenous wheat ale is another example of old-fashioned brewing. It was kept alive in recent times, albeit tenuously, by larger brewers in search of a light specialty brew.

The Industrial Revolution launched the age of large-scale commercial brewing, and Scandinavia’s brewing companies have predictably entertaining and instructive backgrounds. Carlsberg’s founder is said to have personally transported fragile lager yeast to Copenhagen, keeping it cool in his stovepipe hat – or something like that. Tuborg’s “Thirst” advertising poster always will be a classic. Even with larger breweries, there is a strange charm attached to the decades of loyalty they inspired, and the cultural identities that came to be associated with them. Otherwise, we'd have no breweriana collectors.

As in other places, the inexorable logic of industrial brewing displaced smaller competitors and resulted in the standardization of product lines. Yes, when in Helsinki, you knew the "local" beer was Koff, and you surely remembered the Koff you drank in Helsinki, but not because it was a special beer. You remembered it because you were visiting Helsinki.

By the 1980’s, commercially brewed beer in Scandinavia reflected very little stylistic diversity apart from an adaptive necessity to conform to taxation regimes by producing golden lagers of varying strengths (and prices), and occasional Porter or Stout, and stronger seasonally brewed beers, almost all of them lagers.

It is at this point that I entered the scene. I did nothing to change Scandinavia, but Scandinavia contributed toward changing me.

When my European travels began in 1985, I really wasn’t savvy enough to explore the esoteric roots of local brewing in Scandinavia, although I probably was more aware of them than my fellow tourists, because I knew the beer history that the beer writer Michael Jackson had taught me in his books. In Sweden that summer, I knew to look for mead, and found it in Uppsala.

That summer, Mikhail Gorbachev had been Soviet leader for just a few months, Michael Jordan was preparing for his second year in the NBA, and I considered it a major victory to scrape together a few Kroner for a few bottles of different Ringnes formulas from a state-owned retail shop in Oslo.

Yet, in spite of being a novice whose only connection to the beer business was part-time work at a liquor store, I knew about the free tours at Carlsberg and Tuborg and took full advantage of them, eventually learning that when the tours came to an end and the participants were seated at tables where sample beers already were lined up and ready, the best strategy was to find a family with children and sit with them. They tended to drink less, leaving more for me.

I also had enough presence of mind to write the Hansa brewery in Bergen, Norway, requesting a personal tour. Through a long-forgotten importing arrangement, Hansa had become available in New Albany, and I’d been stocking it at Scoreboard Liquors. It was a golden lager beer that struck me as above average in quality. I enclosed a business card, and pretended to be someone important. To my surprise, a man wrote back and asked me to call upon arrival in Bergen.

Unfortunately, I misplaced the confirmation letter and phone number. Battling timidity, and with time expiring, I walked across town and found the brewery, managed to get past the guard shack, then was chagrined to discover that my export department contact had gone on holiday. Without credentials or much else in the way of a clue, I did the only rational thing, which was to look pathetic, and consequently was given a brief tour of the plant conducted by an amused company bigwig who could see quite clearly that I was nobody at all.

He had a sense of humor, though, and I’ve always appreciated that.

The golden lagers he gave me afterwards were crisp, clean and gratis, and about the only other thing I remember was a rural cabin relocated to Hansa’s backyard, and used to make the point to visitors that Norway’s brewing origins were in the kitchens of the countryside, where national law at one time required farm owners to provide beer to their laborers. This impressed me at the time. It may even be true.

While Viking blood does not run through my veins, it remains that two of my fondest memories of Norway – a place I have not been since – have to do with fish.

In the capital, I splurged for a breakfast buffet at the station diner after coming in on the overnight train from Copenhagen, readying my plastic bag to fill with meats and breads for lunch later in the day, and only then seeing a row of ceramic pots. They were filled with pickled herring, which I still adore.

A few days later, acting on the advice of a budget travel guidebook, there was a palpable grimace on my face at the prospect of blowing the equivalent of $15 on a seafood buffet at a famous restaurant in Bergen, and yet I did it, and haven’t forgotten the bounty.

To make this long story somewhat shorter, I’ll skip forward, ignore the many intervening, Carlsberg-laden visits to Copenhagen, and offer that beer appreciation has exploded throughout Europe’s north, especially between visits to Denmark’s capital in 1999 and 2009. After all those years of technologically perfect, otherwise uninspiring lagers, the beer landscape is completely altered. Breweries, beer cafés and consciousness have appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and last May, I found myself seated outside, enjoying a sunny Danish spring day, while drinking an American-style IPA on draft. It would have been unimaginable just a few years before.

Later, my sandbagging friend Kim Andersen took me to a bottle shop with a remarkable selection from Denmark, Belgium and the US, not bothering to tell me until later that the proprietor with whom I was chatting was Mikkel Borg Bjergsø, founder, brewer and guiding intelligence of Mikkeller, arguably one of the top-ranking craft brewing innovators in the world.

My point in all this is that for all the well-deserved plaudits given by beer aficionados to breweries like Mikkeller, Nøgne Ø and Olfabrikken, perhaps the extent of the craft brewing revolution in Scandinavia eludes those who never saw what it was like before, and how it likely remains today the further one travels from the larger metropolitan areas. I'm fortunate to have experienced it, and equally lucky to witness the wonderful changes.

Those mild pilsners in days of yore still tickle taste buds in my memory, most notably when I think of smoked herring, and yet in 2010, it’s a whole new ballgame, and a profoundly welcomed shift of priorities. Is it the remarkably high level of education and economic achievement in Scandinavia? Did the creative energies unlashed by the fall of Communism in 1989 have something to do with it?

And: How amazing is it to walk into a bottle shop in Copenhagen and see bottles of Three Floyds on the shelf?

Pretty damned amazing, if you ask me.