Diary: Thinking about philosophizing, good beer and chances to combine them.

Back in April, I told you about my excellent day in Lexington, Kentucky.

Visits to West Sixth and Blue Stallion while philosophizing in Lexington, Kentucky.

Multiple kudos to Peter Fosl, Professor of Philosophy at Transylvania University, who came up with a first-rate idea for me to come to Lexington on a brilliant spring Thursday and speak with philosophy majors over lunch at the school cafeteria. That's because I'm a Bachelor of Arts degree holder with a major in philosophy (IU Southeast, 1982).

It was a valuable opportunity for me to reconnect with my academic background, which always has played more of a role in my day-to-day existence than I cared to acknowledge. In many ways, my chosen method of doing "business" has been compensation for an unrequited desire to be a teacher.

I wrote about it here, at my other blog:

ON THE AVENUES: Until philosophers become kings.

... In 1982, I became the first IU Southeast philosophy graduate to amass all the necessary course credits while attending the New Albany campus, compiling a cumulative GPA in the vicinity of 3.0, thus handily proving the Professor McCarthy axiom’s innate wisdom. I promptly set about answering the question, “What does a philosophy degree get you?”

For me, it was the opportunity to be a bartender, work in a package store, substitute teach and work numerous other less enriching part-time jobs in route to my eventual way station in the restaurant and brewing business.

What does it all mean?

Beats me, but as I embark upon a quest for elected office -- one that many will view as quixotic at best -- I suspect there'll be more efforts to connect these dots. It's never too late to start all over again.

Visits to West Sixth and Blue Stallion while philosophizing in Lexington, Kentucky.

Multiple kudos to Peter Fosl, Professor of Philosophy at Transylvania University, who came up with a first-rate idea for me to come to Lexington on a brilliant spring Thursday and speak with philosophy majors over lunch at the school cafeteria. That's because I'm a Bachelor of Arts degree holder with a major in philosophy (IU Southeast, 1982).

The missus joined me for the road trip, and a great time was had by all.

When the cafeteria shut down, Diana and I had two hours to ourselves, and so we took a 15-minute walk to West Sixth Brewing, where we enjoyed a plethora of beers (Berliner Weisse, Smoked Porter, Hefeweizen and Dunkel, all deadly accurate) and snacks from Smithtown Seafood, located in the same building.

Then it was off to a humanities faculty reception (thanks, Mr. and Mrs Furlong) where I conducted an impromptu beer sampling for those in attendance, with NABC bombers and local Lexington brews from West Sixth, Alltech and Country Boy.

Peter dropped us off at Blue Stallion, where first a Rauchbier and then a Marzen completed the day, in the company of numerous students playing trivia, and a superlative food truck: Rolling Oven, making wood-fired pizza and Italian sandwiches.

Blue Stallion inspired reflections of a modern oddity: Having locally-brewed lagers at a brewpub filled with kids half my age, who are listening to the same music we were hearing at Knobs field keg parties back in 1976. Strange. Do we really need the James Gang any longer?

Stuffed to the point of tick-like, we walked back to our room at the classy Gratz Park Inn and collapsed. Earlier in the day, we'd chatted about the late Christopher Hitchens, who visited Transylvania University in 2004, and stayed at the same hotel. Now, finally, I have something in common with Hitchens, who is one of my favorite writers.

Obviously, we missed a few worthy beer places, but after all, it was a "working" trip, and there'll be other times. Thanks to everyone at Transylvania for a fine day and a nice break from the routine.

The PC: Not so simple a symposium.

(Published at LouisvilleBeer.com on February 17, 2014)

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Not so simple a symposium.

It isn’t often that two A-list highlights from one’s entire life occur in a single weekend, but it can happen. In fact, it just happened to me. Both memorable moments came about because of the craft writing symposium held in Lexington, Kentucky, on February 15.

The lesser of the two came on Saturday afternoon when keynote speaker Garrett Oliver called me out by name (“Mr. Baylor”), to contest a previous bullet point I made about two eighteen-wheelers filled with craft beer, passing each other on a lonesome prairie interstate highway, headed for opposite coasts.

Would the drivers even know to wave amid the widening carbon footprint of their payloads?

Craft Writing symposium: It's fine by me if craft beer gets all introspective.

This is going to be fun. I've lost 15 lbs since January 1, and quite possibly will gain all of it back this weekend alone. I'm also looking forward to the possibility of pre-symposium time with Stan Hieronymus; the last time was in 2006 in Albuquerque, right?

Business: Craft beer gets introspective with UK symposium, by Janet Patton (Lexington Herald-Leader)

The craft beer movement isn't built on hops alone: Writing and social media have played a major role in promoting craft beer, according to a University of Kentucky professor.

"Craft Writing: Beer, the Digital, and Craft Culture" is the brainchild of UK writing, rhetoric and digital studies professor Jeff Rice, who will host a one-day symposium Feb. 15.

On the event's website, Rice lays out the case for craft beer as an academic topic ...

For those contemplating attendance, here are the plain facts.

If you go

Craft Writing: Beer, the Digital, and Craft Culture

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Feb. 15

Where: Center Theater, University of Kentucky Student Center

Cost: Free. Register online at http://craftwriting.as.uky.edu/

Get-together 9-10 p.m., Feb. 14, Country Boy Brewing, 436 Chair Ave.

Beer crawl after symposium to visit The Beer Trappe, 811 Euclid Ave.; Lexington Beerworks, 213 N. Limestone; West Sixth Brewing, 501 W. Sixth; and Blue Stallion Brewing, 610 W. Third St

King: "Thats right, I said free BEER conference."

It has been much fun touting the title of my presumed contribution to the symposium, "Everything You Know Is Wrong," but this isn't to imply an absence of serious intent. The point to remember is that my topic applies not only to the world outside, but also (perhaps especially) to NABC and me.

Meanwhile, John King offers this symposium preview at the place where my column appears tomorrow. Here's a teaser for The PC on Monday: "Even today, while at work, you’re generally free to consume as much coffee as you please, though not ale … and that’s a shame."

Craft Beer Writing: Beer, the Digital, and the Craft Culture, by John King (LouisvilleBeer.com)

... One non-asshole faculty member (Gohmann is included in this group as well, maybe Horine. Maybe.) works just down the road at the University of Kentucky and loves craft beer just as much as I do. Jeff Rice, or Dr. Fabulous if you are his wife, is a professor of Writing Rhetoric and Digital Media at UK. Jeff also masterminds two blogs: Some nerdy one and then one about beer. The reason I am bringing Jeff up is because he is hosting Craft Beer Writing: Beer, the Digital, and the Craft Culture on February 15th in Lexington. Oh, and it’s FREE! You just have to pre-register. Thats right, I said free BEER conference!

Kentucky Ale, without the big blue basketball.

On Monday, I spent much of the day in LEXINGTON, K-Y, as former basketball announcer (and New Albany native) Joe Dean used to enunciate it, except in my case there was no “string music” to accompany the beers sampled there.

Before Monday, I reckon to have been in or near Lexington three times since 1979. In that year there was a Who concert at co-Rupp-t Arena, and Who remembers anything about being 19 years old? My buddy drove, and I drank.

The other two times came as a result of missing the turn coming back to Louisville from Cincinnati and driving past, though not through, Lexington on the wrong interstate, still headed to Louisville. Once I remember exiting the interstate, pulling over at the entrance to a huge horse farm, and fetching more beer from the cooler in the trunk.

This time, Kentucky Ale’s Jeremy Markle invited me to help judge the brewery’s annual homebrewing competition, the winner of which has his or her recipe brewed at Kentucky Ale and entered into the pro-am category at the Great American Beer Festival. We were accompanied to Wildcat country by Ashley Isaacs of Flanagan’s Ale House, who also agreed to judge the homebrews.

A little after lunchtime, Jeremy pulled into the parking lot and an enjoyable afternoon commenced with an informative brewery tour. They make beer, and now they make whisky, too. Two huge distillery coppers dwarf the 30-barrel brewing system – impressive testimony to the links between beer and whisky.

Kentucky Ale’s official name is Lexington Brewing Company, a version of which can be traced back to the 18th century with a considerable post-Prohibition hiatus. In the 1990’s, a new LBC re-emerged during the first microbrewery boom, and some readers may remember the Limestone line of ales that disappeared around 1999. At this juncture, the brewery was purchased by a Kentucky-based biotechnology company with global reach called Alltech, which “researches, develops and manufactures natural ingredients for use in animal, alcohol and food production.”

It is an unusual story, indeed, but perhaps not as strange as it first appears. Much of Alltech’s work has to do with yeast, and yeast management obviously lies at the heart of brewing and distillation. Most importantly, and for all its heft in the biotech field, Alltech remains a family-owned business, helping to explain this quirky but sensible notion of having a house brewery on-site.

As a brewery owner, it might even make sense to have a small family biotech firm on site.

Alltech dabbles in brewing because company founder Dr. Pearse Lyons wants it to, simple as that. His Irish ancestors brewed and distilled (poteen, anyone), and Kentucky Ale’s on-premise tasting room and special occasions banquet hall bear an unmistakable Anglo-Irish stamp.

Imagine how having your own brewery and hospitality rooms help convince jaded biotech sales representatives to consider Alltech’s product line … and how Alltech’s fiscal immensity helps market Kentucky Ale, as in the case of Alltech’s multi-million dollar investment in sponsoring the World Equestrian games at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2010.

For once, the official beer of something isn’t Budweiser.

Alltech/Lexington Brewing/Kentucky Ale’s product line is comprised of three everyday beers, not counting the annual one-offs brewed for the pro-am entry: Kentucky Light, Kentucky Ale and Kentucky Bourbon-Barrel Ale. The latter is Kentucky Ale aged in bourbon barrels, which are fairly abundant in Central Kentucky. Kentucky Ale itself is a clean, crisp amber, and the Light, which the brewery people assert is brewed to the recipe of a German-style Kolsch, does in fact bear a solid resemblance to the ales in Cologne.

The ales are smooth and competent, with no extreme beers on the horizon, and sales in Lexington are steadily growing, with total output around 5,000 barrels per annum. Most of it consumed locally, as there is no distribution outside Kentucky. Did you know that Lexington’s metropolitan area is pushing toward 500,000 people, and that the area’s biggest challenge is preserving the rural character of its signature horse farms while maintaining growth? I didn’t, or else I’d not mention it here. Lexington and environs deserve further scrutiny, indeed.

The winning homebrew was a surprisingly assertive cream ale, with a couple of good foreign-style stouts deserving recognition. The homebrewers were not bound to style, but had to use Kentucky Ale’s yeast (since a German-style Hefeweizen won a few years ago, wheat ales are now prohibited).

When all was said and done, the three of us proceeded to Pazzo’s, a pizzeria with at least three layers of different barrooms, good pie and around 30 draft beers, most of them craft or imported. It was fun, and I thank my traveling companions for an informative all-around day on the road.