Intellectual property: RateBeer recognizes NABC's Pizzeria & Public House.

It has been pointed out to me by the estimable Sergio Ribenboim that yet again in 2015, for the roughly the umpteenth time, NABC's Pizzeria & Public House was declared Indiana's best brewpub by the RateBeer aggregator. Out here in limbo, this revelation prompts a curious chain reaction in my noggin.

I've spent the past few years dismissing this result as an anomaly. It's a simple numerically-based observation, not contrarian modesty, for it seems likely that the weight of ratings awarded on the basis of the Public House’s former reputation as a multi-tap/specialty beer bar probably always has tipped the scales in the "brewpub" rankings.

In other words, they were voting for the guest Jolly Pumpkin, and not the house Jaxon.

At the same time, I'd be lying like a Ted Cruz if I were to deny a sense of vindication each year when the rankings are announced, especially now, during a period of (shall we say) business value determination.

First, permit me remind everyone that being the best at anything, for any reason, as decided in any way, certainly involves far more than just one person’s input, so let the wider credit go to everyone who every worked at NABC, and keeps the business viable as time passes.

At the same time, Yankee Stadium was called the "House That Ruth Built" for a very good reason. In the 1920s, when Babe Ruth was confronted with the fact that he'd earned more money than then-president Herbert Hoover, Ruth was unabashed.

"I had a better year than him."

Precisely. He put the Yanks on the map. Given the nature of ratings aggregators, averages and percentages, The Pizzeria & Public House’s continued presence on such a list during a time when so many places in Indiana “do” beer so much better than ever before testifies to longevity, and in turn longevity is inseparable from the founding concepts.

It isn’t braggadocio for me to observe that a fair amount of that longevity and founding concepts originated with me. It was my doing. It meant something then, and it still does now. From Gravity Head through the Red Room … there is certifiable value to intellectual property, isn’t there?

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designers; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

In 2016, I’m happy to admit that RateBeer’s 2015 inclusion makes me happy. It proves something, whether about value or values -- and whether I like it or not, that's where my head currently is at.

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