Thursday, September 22, 2011

Thanks to LEO Readers' Choice voters for thinking of NABC.

I’ve never personally encouraged voting in various reader polls, and NABC does not ask its fans to cast dozens of ballots for the sake of the cause. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t … and sometimes, as a New Albany underdog, it just feels damned good to be vindicated as a restaurant and brewery by readers of a Louisville-oriented publication.

That’s why I’m thanking the academy and happily contradicting my usual shtick by posting the following results in LEO’s annual Readers’ Choice poll. After all, a quarter-million votes is a large sampling, and far less prone to tipping by tampering. Allow me to offer kudos to all of our employees, and also to the many folks who picked NABC. We didn’t do badly for a brewery that technically is not a Louisville brewery.

Best Beer List
1) New Albanian Brewing Co.
2) Holy Grale
3) Sergio’s World Beers
We're inferring the Pizzeria & Public House's revamped BJCP-centric bottle list and Hoosier-heavy draft roster. Eric Gray and Ben Minton get the credit for these.

Best Restaurant (Southern Indiana)
1) New Albanian Brewing Co.
2) Rocky’s Italian Grill
3) La Rosita
We're inferring Bank Street Brewhouse, while not ignoring our Pizzeria's longtime success.

Best Local Beer
1) New Albanian Brewing Co. Hoptimus
2) Bluegrass Brewing Co. APA
3) Bluegrass Brewing Co. Bourbon Barrel Stout
Note that NABC's David Pierce originally formulated both BBC winners, and has been Hoptimus' personal fitness coach.

Best Local Brewery
1) Bluegrass Brewing Co.
2) New Albanian Brewing Co.
3) Cumberland Brews
It would be fascinating to see how many breweries in locales like Chicago, St. Louis and Leuven, Belgium, received votes as "local."

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