Headlines from February 2017 on THE BEER BEAT.

Previously, I explained several reasons why this blog has gone on hiatus, and explained that my thoughts about beer will be posted alongside my utterances about everything else, at NA Confidential.

You'll find them there via the all-purpose tag, The Beer Beat. However, whenever the urge strikes, I'll collect a few of these links right here.

Here are another month's worth of them, with the most recent listed first. One of my columns sneaked in there, too.

Apologies if topicality has gone out the window. I'm still groping for a working routine.

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THE BEER BEAT: Some great ink for Floyd County Brewing Company.

Crucially for Floyd County Brewing Company, the business is a classic brewpub model. The beer is brewed and consumed in-house. It's the right model for the here and now. The object is to dial in the beer at FCBC's home base, and then become a can't miss destination for local beer lovers.

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ON THE AVENUES: A stern side view of Gravity Head, nineteen times over.

Gravity Head might be staged differently, but as they pertain to what unexpectedly has become a bona fide tradition, an array of minor and often weirdly eccentric points adds up to a greater sum.

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THE BEER BEAT: A compendium of local and regional craft beer headlines.

Once upon a time the pace of change in regional brewing circles was fast, but not so rapid as to defy the efforts of an intrepid observer or two to consistently document the phenomenon.

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THE BEER BEAT: Why not a Session Beer Day pub crawl in downtown New Albany?

With Session Beer Day 2017 less than two months away, it's time for me to decide how I'll be honoring the occasion this year, and here's what I've come up with. This year, I'd like to make my Session Beer Day stroll in downtown New Albany. You're welcome to join me.

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THE BEER BEAT: You may need pickle brine after the Stupor Bowl, or throughout Trump's term.

Welcome to the pickleback: A whiskey shot with pickle brine as a chaser. Thanks to K for the link.

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THE BEER BEAT: "There is not ONE FREAKING IOTA of truth about how AB got started in this beautifully-crafted, button-pushing, faux-sensy-poo, piece o’ trash ad."

For those readers who may be coming late to my beer-related scribblings, know that Stevefoolbody is my hero. He is so awesome that typically I have nothing whatever to add, and merely attach a link and brief teaser to encourage you to go to his page and read.

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THE BEER BEAT: It took a week to get the details straight, but BBC is leaving its current St. Matthews location after 23 years and hopes to reopen elsewhere in Louisville KY.

So, to recap: Owner Pat Hagan bowed (intelligently, in my view) to leasing and area development realities and now hopes to move BBC to a new location, one that will allow the expansion of brewing into bottling and/or canning. The 3rd Street brewery and restaurant remain open, and the 4th Street branch will reopen when the Kindred building is finished. The coming week will be a victory lap for BBC in St. Matthews, and I hope to make it over and learn the future of my Wort Mug, number 66.

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THE BEER BEAT: No selfies necessary, because localism is why I believe the impending Falls City expansion is good news.

But localism as an economic doctrine provides another way of looking at the world – capitalism with a more human face, complementary to a good beer ethos, and also a different collection of information that permits tying a singular love of mine (beer) to another (the community in which I live, and how to make it better). It offers sense and sensibility out of relative scale, and suggests differing standards of value and achievement.

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THE BEER BEAT: Tailspin Ale Fest returns to Bowman Field on Saturday, February 18.

In my view, Tailspin Ale Fest has become Louisville KY's premier beer festival, and it's the brainchild of New Albany's own Tisha Gainey.

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THE BEER BEAT: Green Mouse sez the rumors are unsubstantiated and it's business as usual at BBC St. Matthews.

If and when further information becomes available, I'll let readers know. Until then ... can someone bring daddy a nice growler of David Pierce's signature BBC APA? I've been known to pay cash for such favors.

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The past month on THE BEER BEAT.

The past month on THE BEER BEAT.

Previously, I explained several reasons why this blog has gone on hiatus, and explained that my thoughts about beer will be posted alongside my utterances about everything else, at NA Confidential. You'll find them there via the all-purpose tag, The Beer Beat. However, whenever the urge strikes, I'll collect a few of these links right here.

Here are a month's worth of them, with the blockbuster first.

THE BEER BEAT: The rumorama insists that Bluegrass Brewing Company (St. Matthews) will soon cease operations, but is a plot twist coming?

As for my sporting habits, times have changed, as have the beers that used to accompany them.

THE BEER BEAT: Football, how it used to be for me, why I seldom watch it at all -- and don't even mention those horrid beers.

My recent podcast was tremendous fun.

THE BEER BEAT: In which we talk beer on the "Flies on the Wall" podcast at Crescent Hill Radio.

For greater insight as to why people would ever stand in line for rare beers, there is this wonderful essay by Bryan Roth, otherwise known as "my kind of beer writing."

THE BEER BEAT: Rarity, beer quality, authenticity, and why it's so difficult to love the beer you're with.

Lew rocks.

THE BEER BEAT: The beer and whiskey that Lew Bryson wants to drink in 2017.

There was a roundup of Southern Indiana beer news.

THE BEER BEAT: News and views from local breweries, and an incredible Uff-da.

And, if you're not aware of the Pearl Street Taphouse, you need to be.

THE BEER BEAT: The Pearl Street Taphouse in downtown Jeffersonville.

Nipping and nibbling at BBC St. Matthews, Akasha and Over the 9.

Last night we hopped around to three neighborhood joints in Louisville, and it started me thinking about how much easier pub crawling would be if we had adequate public transportation hereabouts. As it stood, Diana did the driving, which was good for me, though not so much for her.

I’d have preferred the subway. Shall we savagely tax cars to build one?

On Saturday, Bluegrass Brewing Company was celebrating its 22nd anniversary in St. Matthews, a locale that began as a rural village crossroads, then served as a staging point of sorts for post-war suburbanization. Now the area is closer to downtown in both distance and urban attitude than the vast sprawling cookie-cutter acreage just beyond it to the east.

There always were taverns nearby, probably more like roadhouse in days of yore, but most of the old-school places like Dutch’s have long since yielded to more moderately upscale ventures like Mellow Mushroom, Boombozz and Drake’s. Real beer abounds, though I still prefer the places where it is brewed.

More than two decades after BBC’s creation, I sat in precisely the same barroom quadrant as on “soft opening” night in 1993. In 2015, my own life couldn’t be any more different, Chef Atkins is long gone, and neither the Pilsner nor duck ravioli are available, although a Helles is in the works, the inimitable Mikki Rice was working the kitchen, and an anniversary evening special of fried oysters, shrimp and grits filled the bill nicely.

Founding brewmaster David Pierce has returned to home base, and his SOB’s ESB is a “revive-ale” based on a recipe by “Bossman Pat” (Hagan) – restrained and delicious at 5.5% abv. The brewery has been serviced and scrubbed, and I’m looking forward to classic album cuts and a few new songs as the months go past. It's like a reunion tour all over again.

Next stop was newborn (we’re counting in weeks, folks) Akasha Brewing Company in Louisville’s NuLu, a district that might be described as an ongoing gentrification start-up generator still in its capitalization phase.

This isn’t the same Akasha Brewing located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which is what turned up on Google Maps when plotting a route from BBC, and seemed too far afield for a light evening's drinking.

Akasha lies five miles west of St. Matthews in a downtown Louisville area that remained moribund throughout the period of BBC’s inception and growth. Until ten or so years ago, the stockyards still operated a few hundred yards from Akasha’s front door, and as we know, livestock dung can depress property values.

Akasha is a taproom only, sans kitchen; the wildly popular Feast BBQ is mere steps away, and Grind Burger Kitchen soon will be taking up residence next door. It is striking how taprooms have a purpose and ambiance all their own, existing as multi-purpose gathering spots for transitional beers, carry-out draft and package, or for packing in picnics from nearby eateries and making a night of it.

Taprooms deserve closer study.

There were five house beers on tap at Akasha, along with another six guests. After sampling Oatmeal Stout, Gose and a yummy Smoked Porter, we bought a Belgian-style “house glass” with to-go “howler” (half-growler) of Saison, the character of which took me back to semi-conscious Wallonian bicycle refueling stops during the early Noughties. As if on cue, I began craving mussels.

Our last stop: One block north to Main, two miles west, and a left on 10th Street. It’s a longer story than I have time to tell at present, so the compact version: It’s the Old 502 Winery and new-age version of the century-old Falls City Brewing, sharing bricks and mortar with a brand new eatery and bar called Over the 9.

I like them all. We’d stopped in once before, and while having come to detest the word “gastropub,” it’s probably appropriate for the casual setting. The food’s great; the menu has lots of burgers, bacon and marrow bones, the nachos feature lamb and a dollop of mustard, and the food is accompanied by solid beers and wines. The flagship beers are brewed elsewhere, but there's a full roster of house brews worth trying.

Much has been made of Over the 9’s positioning as “gateway” to the evolving Portland neighborhood. For non-Louisvillian readers, note only that urban planners from the 1950s forward consciously plotted Ninth Street as the downtown racial divide, tossing in working class Portland as part of the social-economic Machiavellian “bargain” of separation.

This has little to do with Over the 9 itself, but the social engineering gambit prefacing it being viewed as “on the other side” may or may not be unraveling as money finally finds its way into undervalued territory. We’ll have to wait and see how things pan out for the people already living west of 10th Street before rendering a verdict.

Meanwhile, last night I enjoyed Over the 9's Grimanti sandwich, which deploys smoky homemade pastrami on ciabatta with a sweet ‘n’ sour slaw of sorts slathered on it. It is a brilliant notion, and brewer Greenwood’s mildly hoppy Harvest Ale was an appropriate match.

The history and etymology of pastrami are fascinating, too. The word itself originates in Turkey and comes to us via Jewish immigrants from Romania. In essence, pastrami began as a way of brining, smoking and steaming less desirable cuts of meat as a means of preservation. Beef’s the usual target flesh. Louisville largely missed out on deli culture, but there’s always time to learn.

One evening, three establishments and a range of neighborhoods and possibilities. It was a welcome break from my recently concluded foray into New Albany politics, which largely served to underscore the need to take frequent breaks from New Albany.

BBC St.Matthews
Akasha Brewing
Over the 9

November 7 is Bluegrass Brewing Company's 22nd anniversary party.

David Pierce and BBC in the beginning (early Clinton Administration).

I've been busy trying to decide what I'm going to do when I grow up, and consequently, I still haven't found time to go visit David Pierce at Bluegrass Brewing Company's original location in St. Matthews.

No offense to the previous brewer, but I thought it wise to wait a bit until David has things back into his customarily impeccable order. His tenure began with a complete brew house reconditioning and overhaul, and my sights are set on this upcoming event on Saturday, November 7.

22nd Anniversary Fundraiser and Half Way to Derby Party

The election will be over, and I'll know half of my future. It could be a very good day to get away from it all, and reminisce about the early days of BBC. Outside of my own brewing workplace, I've almost certainly spent more time at BBC St. Matthews than any other brewery -- though not recently.

Perhaps a corrective is in order.

Come celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the original Louisville brewpub with a fundraiser for My Dog Eats First in the daytime and 3 bands in the evening. BBC will have retro beers for our 22nd anniversary. Try the beers that launched craft beer in Louisville.

Mark your calendars! It's also our Half Way to Derby City Brewfest. Three bands will be playing for 6pm to closing. Whiskey Bent Valley Boys at 6pm. Uncommon Houseflies plays 8:30-9:30pm.Audio Addiction is playing 10pm to closing.

Games, Comfy Cow ice cream with BBC root beer and bouncy for kids. Dog supplies and adoption booths. There will be silent auction items to benefit My Dog Eats First. Arrow Fund, Tyson's Chance Animal Foundation, Hand in Paw, Derby City Dog Rescue, Derby City Mobile Vet, Louisville Metro Services, Cali Choo Pet Furniture and many others will have booths. They are bringing many dogs ready for adoption. If you are looking for a new furbaby, this will be a great opportunity.

Listen to the Louisville Beer Dot Com podcast with David Pierce.

It's been a very strange vocational year for me.

I went on leave of absence to run for mayor, an ongoing activity that will yield a verdict in one month's time.

Then we began talking about transitions, and I decided to sell my share of NABC to my business partners. Alas, it hasn't been as easy as I'd hoped. I suppose divorces of any sort fall into that category.

Josh Hill left NABC to brew at Floyd County Brewing Company, and then he returned to be a sales person. Shortly thereafter, he took over the brewery at Bank Street Brewhouse when David Pierce returned to BBC St. Matthews roughly 13 years after he moved to the BBC production facility, now Goodwood.

As David makes clear in the podcast, little if any of this has been connected. Correlation, not causation. It was time for change, and change happened.

After listening to the podcast, I remarked to my wife that one phrase jumped out me: Recipe fatigue, or the process of brewers slightly modifying recipes until they've drifted from where they began. David plans on restoring the classic BBC formulations, and this is one of the most exciting things I've heard in a while.

Depending on how political overture turns out, I know where many future growlers will be purchased. Pendulums swing, and back I go to BBC St. Matthews for wings and APA.

Episode 108: David Pierce

We finally talked David Pierce into coming on our little podcast thingy. He talks about his legacy in Louisville’s beer scene, and what to expect now that he’s back home at BBC St. Matthews.

David Pierce has returned to BBC St. Matthews, and Josh Hill is now head brewer at Bank Street Brewhouse.

The transitions continue at NABC with David Pierce's departure, completing the circle back to Bluegrass Brewing Company in Louisville (St. Matthews). David opened the BBC brewery in 1993.

Josh Hill becomes the brewer of record at Bank Street Brewhouse, while Ben Minton continues to man the mash paddle at the Pizzeria & Public House. They both know what they're doing, having learned from the best.

Roger (that's me) is running for mayor of New Albany and trying to finish his latest Food & Dining column submission for Mr. White. As for these changes of late, baseball aficionados will understand: I'm an Oakland A's fan, and In Beane We Trust. Personnel moves are part of the business.

As for me, I could write a book. Maybe I will. The past two weeks have been crazily cosmic: Kate's and Amy's family business is going back to being just that. Josh has returned to NABC, and David to BBC. Meanwhile, I'm up on the heath with Lear, studying a soaked road map. An election in November will help determine my destiny. Not to mention our former longtime bartender Stephen Powell, who has reinvented street food in downtown New Albany.

The weird thing about it is this: If you don't know me personally, you probably think I'm a pessimist, solely because I'm better at channeling bile than defining affection. But a cynic is a closet optimist, and I think it's all going to turn out well for everyone involved, and for the company itself.

Renewal fever: Catch it!

Coming this Saturday (November 17): OG APA Brew Day.

This Saturday, NABC's David Pierce joins Jeremy Hunt at Bluegrass Brewing Company's original Shelbyville Road location to brew BBC American Pale Ale (APA), but with a twist.

(We're) brewing a throw-back batch of BBC APA ... dialing back the formula to 1995. Brewery tours and autographs will be available during our brew session. We will mash-in circa 07:00 a.m. and be complete by early afternoon.

Of course, David opened BBC in 1993 and brewed dozens of BBC beers over a period of 16 years. Of course, you needn't be a beer aficionado to spot the obvious question:

If you're dialing back the recipe, does this mean it changed in the interim?

David Pierce
"To the best of my knowledge the production formula is the same/unchanged from my original from the Pub. The Pub formula has changed, but I'm not sure how. Maybe Jeremy can tell us."

Dylan Greenwood (BBC brewery staff)
"From my experience at the brewpub the formula has somehow morphed, multiple times across multiple brewers. ... when Jerry was there the recipe called for a lot of c-120 but he told me that was the recipe that was given to him. I don't know if Cameron changed it or what. To my knowledge the APA from the production side is to the og recipe but they use special b instead of 120, also san diego super yeast."

Jeremy Hunt
"I arrived here in Louisville a year and twelve days ago. The recipe, aside from some aroma hops, has been unchanged in that time here at the St. Matthews pub. That said, I wanted to brew with David and had heard that the current recipe was different from the original APA. So... I asked David, poked around the brewery and found the OG APA Brewsheet. Then, I begged David to bring his 'OG-ness' to help us bring it back. Now.. We're getting it done, son!"

We'll find out the details soon enough. I'm going to try to be there for a while on Saturday morning.

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Way back in 2005, I contributed a column to Food and Dining magazine, in which I described "five great beers," the only other criteria beyond my personal opinion being their consistent availability in the Louisville market

Here, alphabetically presented, are five great beers. All are personal favorites, and while they don’t begin to tell the full story of beer’s stylistic diversity, they can be found locally.

Number one on the list? BBC APA, but with a caveat. It had to be APA as brewed at the production facility. I can't remember whether this reflects a perceived change at the time, but I'm guessing it did.

BBC APA (American Pale Ale), (Louisville, Kentucky)

The best microbrewed beer brewed in Louisville is BBC APA, as crafted by its original brewer, David Pierce, at the BBC Brewing Company downtown on the corner of Main & Clay.

Dave’s signature APA originally was formulated along the lines of an English-style pale ale, but with American hops and yeast. He says, “Eventually Centennial hops became available, and I stayed with them because they give a more crisp bite.”

Fusing elements of different brewing traditions into a delicious and innovative hybrid is the defining glory of contemporary American microbrewing. APA’s medium body is malty and slightly toasty, as with English ales, but the hop kick is all-American, with some citrus notes and a long, satisfying bitterness at the end.

BBC APA holds its own with spicy ethnic food, and is my all-time favorite with chicken wings.

At the same time, I also remember enjoying APA at the BBC in St. Matthews, even during those times when it seemed to me to be different.

The moral of this story: I may well have consumed too many beers over the years.

Louisville Craft Beer Week kicks off tonight with the 2nd Annual Craft Beer Cask Festival at BBC.

Louisville Craft Beer Week kicks off tonight at 6:00 p.m. with the Second Annual Craft Beer Cask Festival at Bluegrass Brewing Company's location at 3929 Shelbyville Road in Louisville, Kentucky.

Here's the event description, followed by more photos from last year's inaugural cask fest:

On September 16 from 6-9pm. we will be having our 2nd annual Cask and Microbrew festival featuring 30+ Micro brewed cask and tap beers. Local Breweries New Albanian, Cumberland Brews, and BBC Taproom will be participating as well as many breweries in the surrounding areas, including but not limited to, Upland, Left Hand, Great Lakes, Bells, Schlafly and many more. This is event is the kick off for Louisville Craft Beer Week. Tickets can be purchased at any of the 3 BBC brewpub locations for $30 and they include unlimited beer during the event, and a LCBW commemorative sampling glass. We will have live music during the festival as well. Starting at 9:00 Dirty Church Revival will be playing in the parking lot with a $5.00 cover. The remaining beers from the fest will be on sale to the general public after 9 as well. Folks who attended the fest will still be able to get sample sized beers at no charge until midnight.

Medical expenses benefit for Jeff "Professor" Gesser, at BBC St. Matthews all weekend.

Even those readers who are only loosely associated with the Louisville beer and brewing community know Jeff "Professor" Gesser, who has tended bar at Bluegrass Brewing Company St. Matthews for many years, and as a sidelight, organizes amazing beer & bus trips to sporting events and festivals through Rick & Jeff Tours.

Jeff's business partner at Rick & Jeff Tours is Rick Southward, who sent this out today; here's the Facebook link, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=205139442865756, and I'll reprint the text, too (below). In short, Jeff's doing fine, but he needs some help.

My thoughts: Jeff's been a stalwart of the local craft beer scene pretty much from the beginning, and I'm sure you'll agree with me that eating some barbecue and drinking a few beers is a great way for those who've enjoyed his companionship over the years to give a little back. I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it over, but I hope to see many of you there at some point this weekend.

A number of you know my friend and business partner, Jeff Gesser. Well, here is a little you may or may not know.

Thirteen months ago Jeff suffered a life threatening pulminary embolism. This event brought with it a number of life style changes, and a few lingering complications, to the tune of three additional surgeries.

The biggest, or smallest depending on perspective, change in my big buddy's life is that he is shrinking... before our eyes. At the last count I heard, he has lost 173 pounds.

BBC's benefit this weekend is a celebration of the changes Jeff has made. The money raised will help offset the hospital bills that have stacked up on him over the last year.

To do so, there will be bands and barbecue outside at the St. Matthews BBC. Friday barbecue will be Memphis style, with Texas style on Saturday and Owensboro style on Sunday. The bands are Dirty Church Revival on Friday, Red Shag Bula on Saturday and Slow Charleston on Sunday.