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.

Survey of coming breweries includes the latest news on New Albany's Donum Dei.

Donum Dei's new logo.

It's gratifying to have Kevin Gibson on the job as a free lancer, being remunerated (we hope) for the time and shoe leather required to assemble news and information about the local brewing scene. Notice how he manages to describe new businesses without resorting to boilerplate chamber of commerce-speak?

With the exception of Bannerman, I've been keeping up with these projects on a fairly consistent basis, especially Rick Stidham's Akasha. Because I'm based in Hoosierland, the extended excerpt from Kevin's piece details progress toward fruition at Donum Dei, which is located a few hundred yards (as the crow flies) from NABC's original location off Grant Line Road on the North Side of the West Bank.

Five new Louisville breweries to watch out for in 2015, by Kevin Gibson (Insider Louisville)

We’ll take a quick look at five new breweries that are either on track for or are working toward opening in 2015.

Akasha Brewing Company
Beer Engine

Donum Dei Brewery: Over in New Albany, at 3211 Grant Line Road, just a stone’s throw from the original New Albanian Brewing Company location, is another brewery in waiting. Richard Otey is brewing in his new space, which is nearly complete. However, he still is yet to offer a target opening date.

Originally, he told us he had planned to open sometime around Derby 2014; that prognostication later changed to summer, and then to Thanksgiving. Now, early 2015 looks most likely. But Donum Dei already has a batch of its pale ale brewed and ready to drink, as well as an enkle. Up next is wee heavy.

Kegs have been purchased, and the buildout seems mostly complete. Otey is doing most of the buildout himself, using reclaimed materials whenever possible, from rescued wood to 1940s-era mirrors to chairs from an old Wendy’s restaurant.

I stopped by recently, and the place looks within reach of opening. Still, Otey hesitates to throw out a deadline.

“Every time I try to make a deadline,” he told me, “it’s just that — it’s dead.”

He did tell me how he acquired his reclaimed brew kettle, which was purchased from a brewery in Vancouver Wash. — he found it on Craigslist.com on a Friday, left in his truck to pick it up on Saturday, and had it back at the brewery by Wednesday. He called it a five-day “turn and burn.”

Otey gave me a sample of the Donum Dei pale ale, his first test batch, that sure tasted better than a test batch — moderately hopped, it was well balanced and right on the money. He also gave me a sample of a roast beef panini that will be representative of the future food menu — another thumbs up. Expect sandwiches, soups, hummus and other such small eats once Donum Dei opens.

When will that be? Hard to say, although he admits February should be doable. Of course, as noted, last February he began construction hoping to open by Derby.

“I didn’t say which year,” he clarified with a smile.

Bannerman Brewing
Old Louisville Brewing Company

Temporary beer activation of the space once intended to lead to Museum Plaza.

As usual, a wee bit of local history is in order.

In Louisville, there was to have been a game-changing, 62-story skyscraper. It was to be called the Museum Plaza.

It was not built, and the plan has been officially "dead" for three years.

In the run-up to Museum Plaza, several infrastructure improvement projects were completed by the city. One of them was on the 600 block of West Main Street, where four buildings were demolished, but their historic facades buttressed and kept intact. This was slated to be developed as the entrance to Museum Plaza from the Main Street corridor.

The space has remained vacant since 2007. The hollow cavity is shown here:

Now the city of Louisville is interested in using the space as a pop-up beer/food/fun garden during four autumn weekends -- and the beer would be entirely locally brewed. The plan was discussed during recent meetings of a committee to advise Mayor Greg Fisher on what the city might do with respect to supporting local breweries.

This could be interesting, so stay tuned.

Experimental ‘space activation’ to bring a pop-up lounge to former Museum Plaza site, by Melissa Chipman (Insider Louisville)

Remember Museum Plaza? Hard to forget the doomed 62-story project, isn’t it. What was supposed to be one of the most innovative spaces in the city is now a vacant lot across from 21c.

But for four weeks this fall it will once again be a space for innovation, culture and fun.

Nate Silver puzzled as "Social Index: The Hottest Beers in Louisville" heats down.

No disrespect intended to either Red Yeti Brewing Company or Falls City Brewing Company, but if one of them doesn't yet brew its own beer, and the other's flagship brand is not brewed in Louisville ... and the belated "doh" update aside ... what REALLY is the point of the article, apart from Insider Louisville's gooey tabloid imperative to display the word "hottest" on a banner?

Flip side: It's nice that NABC is thought of as a "Louisville beer" in this context; sometimes we are, and other times not, which is understandable given the river, a state border and decades of confusion. I'd venture a guess that given the far greater geographical reach in distribution of both BBC and Against the Grain, NABC's social media showing here might be punching even higher in a strictly localized, metro-centric sense.

And: Great Flood deserves kudos. They came out of the gate doing things right, and it shows. Red Yeti's turn comes soon, and I'm pulling for them when it does.

Social Index: The Hottest Beers in Louisville, by Chris Hall

(Update: This post has been updated to reflect the fact that Falls City Beer, though a Louisville brand, is currently brewed in Nashville, and Red Yeti is not yet making its own beer, instead serving guest brews at its Jeffersonville brewery.)

The Louisville local beer scene got a shot in the arm this year with the opening of Red Yeti Brewing and Great Flood Brewing — two breweries that are being talked about a lot on Facebook. But there are some strong incumbents, so I wanted to find the Louisville beer you should be drinking — and where you should be drinking it — based on social data.

Offensive to the senses, but too legit to quit.

Every once in a while, a customer will make a comment to the effect that "this place smells awful." It boggles my mind; after all, I've relied on my nose to lead me to breweries on more than one occasion, pre-iPhone. I'm guessing that the law in question originally derived more from Indiana's fabled prohibitionistic instinct than actual odor, and reflected a pattern of harassment not unlike that practiced by the Floyd County Health Department of today.

Sobering discovery: Most Indy microbreweries in violation, by John Tuohy, The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS – They’re a “nuisance,” on par with slaughterhouses, tanneries, glue factories, bone factories or tallow chandleries.

They’re as “offensive to the senses” as a starch factory, foundry or fertilizer plant.

They need to be a safe distance from populated areas, hospitals, children and parks.

What is this public health scourge?

Microbreweries.

Wow, really? A philosophy of locally brewed craft beer? At a pub? Why would you do such a thing?

“Nothing strengthens your resolve more than people telling you that it’s not going to work.”

Boy, don't I know it.

This timely essay tells the story of how Standard Tap and Johnny Brenda's, two Philadelphia pubs, embraced the notion of locally brewed craft beer not as a gimmick, but as a philosophy.

And yes, there were haters, including "distributors, non-local breweries, and extreme beer enthusiasts." Read it and weep ... for the misguided among us.

Slinging the Local Suds, by Jared Littman (Philly Beer Scene)

Philly imports the best beers from around the world. Some are found in the country of production . . . and Philly. Beer geeks travel from afar to get their hands on West Coast brands that make Philly their only East Coast stop. Why would anyone open a bar in Philly that closes their taps to these treasures?

Why would you do such a thing?

NABC Hoptimus to be featured at Buckhead Mountain Grill (Bardstown Road) this week and next.

Tisha Gainey explains Craft Beer Thursdays at Buckhead Mountain Grill (Bardstown Road, Louisville), and where Hoptimus fits into the plan this week and next.

In 2013, Thursdays will be Craft Beer Thursdays. The first Thursday will be a Pint night, then the following Thursdays will be anything from a food/beer pairing, set flight night or brewery appreciation, etc. At Buckhead on Bardstown Road:

Jan. 10 - NABC Hoptimus with Carne Asada.

Jan. 17 - Locals Flight night - NABC Hoptimus will be another feature for the second week, but on Jan. 10 it has the spotlight to itself.

Also note that Wednesdays are local at all Buckhead locations.

Weekly Beer Features:

Every Wednesday is LOCAL Wednesdays for only $3 a pint at ALL Buckhead Mountain Grill locations.

We feature 16oz pints of Local draft Craft brewed Beers from the surrounding area. In the Louisville area we consider local brews to be any Kentucky or Indiana brewed beer, such as Bluegrass Brewing Company, Falls City, Cumberland, Against the Grain, Alltech Lexington Brewing (Kentucky Ale), New Albanian, Upland, Three Floyds, Oaken Barrel, Barley Island, Flat 12 Bierwerks, etc. In the Bellevue/Northern Kentucky area, we consider local brews to be any Kentucky or Ohio brewed beer to be local; which includes the breweries Mt. Carmel, Rivertown, Christian Morelin, Great Lakes, Bluegrass Brewing, Alltech Lexington Brewing (Kentucky Ale), etc. We showcase and support our local breweries with this $3 Pint special EVERY Wednesday at ALL locations. Come in and support your local breweries too! (Local Wednesdays excludes any beers that are in limited pouring sizes of 10oz and 12oz beers due to the availability or ABV. Special price feature applies only to draft beers offered in a 16oz serving size.)

Brewers: Can you "justify calling beer local"? Are you being hypocritical when you do so?

On Friday, I presented a manifesto of sorts in this space, as recently published at Food and Dining magazine:

My column at Food and Dining: "Localism + Beer."

A reply I received (below) surely raises a few good points. Of course, the world is seldom black or white; it's mostly gray. And, the "localism" of which we speak in this context implies a large element of shift (in patronage, in spending, in procurement), and this is a concept that explicitly acknowledges an absence of perfection in choice.

In fact, I believe the reply is lucid, and merits further discussion. I'm not "calling out" the writer. Mostly, I'm curious. For those brewers and brewery owners reading ...

During the course of your daily routine, do you feel "hypocritical" when linking your work with emerging principles of localism? 

Is the localism in your lives something genuine, or are you merely "riding a tremendous propaganda marketing machine wave"? 

Do you agree, as the writer suggests, that truly local beer is impossible apart from a few scattered instances, i.e., Chatoe Rogue, or breweries operating in areas where both barley and hops are grown?

Let me know what you think, either here or privately. The full comment follows.

---

Roger,

Let's say I owned a local restaurant based in New Albany. I pitch myself as being a "local" restaurant, and I want the patronage of local residents.

I make a big pot of vegetable beef stew each and every day.

My beef comes from New Zealand, my tomatoes come from Mexico, my beans come from California, the barley comes from North Dakota, and my black eyed peas come from a massive company with ties to Monsanto.

I have fooled the public into thinking they should support local just because I happen to own the restaurant, and they should "support local," but clearly I actually do not based on my ingredient list. Breweries are exactly the same way. They are riding a tremendous propaganda marketing machine wave.

How on earth do you justify calling beer local? It isn't feasible to make beer from only local sources. Ingredients come from all over the country and the world for that matter. It is hypocritical of all of these breweries asking us to support local. That money isn't staying locally. It is going to massive companies like Wayerman, Briess, Hopunion, Wyeast, and White Labs. Who is one of Briess's major suppliers? Monsanto!

I support New Albanian Brewing Company because you make a fantastic product. If you stop making a fantastic product I will stop supporting you. End of story.

At Louisville.com: "Heine Bros offers beer and wine."

Why not? We just visited a wine & coffee bar in Madison, Wisconsin: Barriques in Madison, Wisconsin (Park Street location): "Wine for the Masses, Coffee for the People."

Heine Bros offers beer and wine [Highlands]

by Jennifer Kiefer

To all you late-night Bardstown Road crawlers, there’s a new place to drink up some local and organic brews, and it’s been a landmark to many for years. Heine Brothers Coffee has partnered with Vint Coffee, another local coffeehouse, and now serves beer and wine at two locations: the ever-popular Eastern Parkway/Bardstown Road corner and its newest location at 805 Blankenbaker Parkway across from Southeast Christian Church.

Local beers at selected Heine Brothers locations.

All I can say is thanks for having us on tap, guys. After those hundreds of espressos for the past decade, I'll be able to have a beer at Heine Brothers, and a local beer at that.

Although I'll be in Madison, Indiana to man the taps at RiverRoots, NABC is looking forward to working with Against the Grain (and perhaps Bluegrass Brewing Company?) and Heine Brothers again this year at Louisville Loves Mountains on May 18, an event in support of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. As before, Longest Avenue will be closed at its intersection with Bardstown Road, and a very good cause will be served along with beer and food.

Local Beer and Organic, Biodynamic Wine available at select Heine Bros locations

For years we have had customers request that we add beer and wine to our menu – saying that they love the atmosphere at Heine Brothers, and would love a reason to come in during the evening to meet with friends and unwind (without caffeine). We’ve thought about it over and over again, and due to our lack of experience with alcoholic beverages, never took the first step. Lucky for us, through our merger with the locally-owned VINT Coffee, we now have people with the experience to make it happen!

Coomes: "Beer is booming in the Bluegrass."

And it's another fine essay on locally brewed craft beer by Steve Coomes. Speaking for myself, it isn't just that I have too little time to write about beer the way I once did. It's also that others are writing about beer, and quite well. I can barely keep track of regional developments, and that's a very good thing, indeed.

It doesn’t rival bourbon, but beer is booming in the Bluegrass, by Steve Coomes (Insider Louisville)

 ... Jason Schuster, specialty beer brands manager for River City Distributing, and one of two certified Cicerones (beer experts) in the state, attributed part of the beer boom to the area’s long-established restaurant scene.

“When you have a great restaurant selection like we do, and you have open-minded chefs who try lots of different things, you attract diners who like that kind of food,” he said. “It’s only natural that people who love that kind of food would be open to trying different kinds of beer … and our sales increases prove that people want much more than standard lagers.”

Quick shout-out to BoomBozz Taphouse.

Diligent reader RC sent this view of the beer board at BoomBozz (Highlands location, corner of Bardstown Road & Eastern Parkway). There is excellent local craft beer exposure therein, and loads of support for the cause from the BoomBozz team. All we have to do is get that Stella outta there ... but seriously, thanks to the folks at BoomBozz for all they're doing to further local brewing culture.

Wednesday Weekly: As they say, think globally and drink locally.

My tenure at Rich O’s Public House began in June of 1992, and in considering this simple chronological fact of our company’s development, it is important to remember that at the time, no local breweries were operating in the metropolitan Louisville.

However, the revolution was palpably imminent. It arrived shortly thereafter, and has wildly proliferated ever since. Almost two decades have passed, and with them an array of sensations and experiences.

What has been learned?

Apart from an abortive precursor at Charlie’s, a restaurant on Main Street in Louisville, the modern era of brewing in Kentuckiana began in the autumn of 1992, when the Silo Brewpub opened for business with David Pierce manning the brew house. Apart from the Silo, the closest functional brewery to metropolitan Louisville was Oldenberg, just this side of Cincinnati in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky. Further afield, in Indianapolis, both Indianapolis Brewing Company (the Dusseldorfer brands) and Broad Ripple Brewpub (no distribution, then or now) were brewing beer.

That’s about it.

What’s more, almost no microbrewed beers (“craft” being a term to be coined much later) were available through normal wholesaling channels. The good beer game largely was played in terms of imports, most worthy examples being shipped from Europe.

We spent much time drinking beers like Guinness, Paulaner and Bass, fantasizing about the time to come, in what we could plainly see was a dawning age, when we’d be able to do it – to brew it – ourselves. Of course, the homebrewing contingents in LAGERS and FOSSILS already were brewing themselves, and so I’m restricting my field of vision to commercial brewing.

Even back then, we were not satisfied with Rich O’s being “just” a good beer bar, and we desperately wanted to brew our own. In 1994, the pre-existing Sportstime Pizza Inc. transitioned into the New Albanian Brewing Company, and we formulated a plan to acquire equipment and build a pub brewery at the original location on Grant Line Road.

Alas, neither the time nor the money was yet right, and the plans were shelved. We bided our time until 2002, by which time Tucker Brewing, Silver Creek Brewing, more than one Oldenberg branch, Pipkin, Hops!, Jack Daniels (no kidding), and perhaps other I’m forgetting already had come and gone, or were about to head out the door. We bought the remnants of Tucker via Silver Creek, and Michael Borchers fired up the NABC kettle for the first time.

By then, the go-to option for beer enthusiasts from the Louisville metropolitan area had long since been Bluegrass Brewing Company, which opened in 1993 in St. Matthews, having hired Dave away from the Silo.

For many of us, BBC was the one, crucial, necessary variable that truly mattered, as Dave pursued a quality program of mainstays and seasonals. BBC primarily was a brewpub with a small but growing degree of local distribution, and it was followed in later years by Cumberland Brews, Browning’s, and BBC’s own production facility at Clay & Main, which lie outside the scope of this essay.

Meanwhile, slowly and inexorably, as the years passed by, microbrews from elsewhere in America crept into the mix at the Public House. Some of them remain familiar today, like Sierra Nevada and Rogue. Others now are largely forgotten, like Baderbrau and Legacy.

To me, the analogy of a spigot gradually being rotated aptly illustrates these passing years. At some forgotten point, the trickle became a gushing torrent, with hundreds of beers from America’s hundreds of brewing companies, hundreds more from abroad, and the challenge of trying to decide which ones were worth stocking.

Verily, the American beer desert bloomed.

After visiting Delirium Tremens in Belgium in 2000, and watching as our beercycling group was toasted by the owner as representative of a burgeoning American market that was “saving” traditional brewing in his country, it began to occur to me how strange it was for drinkers in New Albany to rely on imports from afar, where local markets often were not sufficiently strong to support acknowledged world classic beers.

I didn’t realize it then, but this was the beginning of my grappling with the concept of local buying, local production and local creativity in beer. There would always be a place for the classics brewed throughout the world, but in the final analysis, shouldn’t the length and breadth of a local beer culture be measured by the strength of its local brewing?

By the mid-noughts, virtually every European brewery – big or small, good or bad – seemed to have found an American importer, and this was before the new generation of Mikkellers and Struises and Brew Dogs came on the scene. Concurrently, American craft brewing was growing at a rate far exceeding other beer business segments.

Taken together, the revolution of good beer became an unparalleled phenomenon mixing great taste with great business. If it were not, Anheuser-Busch would not be bragging about its own “craft” beers in a descriptive language utterly foreign to its corporate culture. Indeed, imitation remains the surest form of flattery.

Today, the Louisville metropolitan area boasts five brewing companies, including a total of eight brewhouses: BBC (2), Browning’s, Cumberland and NABC. Perhaps a thousand or more other brands come to the Louisville metropolitan area from macros and micros in America and the entire planet. I wouldn’t change a thing about this situation, because the founding generation fought for choice above all else.

At the same time, the next stage of the revolutionary struggle, at least on the part of those of us who are in the business of craft brewing, is to expand local brewing’s perimeter in its own marketplace. We must win back the hearts and minds of those living locally by making the case for genuinely local beer as distinctly indicative of what makes this region special, as worthy of a defined appellation of origin, as supportive of local brewing as adding inestimable value to a finished product, as recognizing that product as the freshest local daily option, as keeping more money in the local economy, and numerous other good reasons. If you have one, let me know and I’ll add it to a growing list.

My point is three-fold.

1. Some readers are not familiar with the back story, which I believe is crucial in understanding current times. Like any other individual, or any collective grouping such as the “good beer” business, accumulated experience shapes contemporary thinking.

2. There always has been a philosophical comparing-and-contrasting of beer from here, beer from there, and beer from all other places, a discussion that has changed as the times themselves have evolved.

3. Through it all, as reflects my personal experience, it has remained the case that even if one manages to create and maintain the very finest specialty beer bar (for which there’ll always be a need, and which I’ll always support), there is a glass ceiling that can be shattered only when beer is being brewed on site. Only then can artistic visions and expectations truly be attained, with a positive impact on local economies.

When it comes to Kentuckiana, our thriving local brewing industry represents an amazing revolutionary achievement. It exists alongside beer bars, restaurants, package outlets, homebrewing clubs, and every other manifestation of a vibrant beer culture, all of them worthy of equal recognition and celebration, all of them combining to provide a level of choice never before seen hereabouts. The Public House, formerly Rich O's, still offers the finest beers from anywhere and everywhere, even as we emphasize NABC more than before. We'll continue that marketing trajectory.

For me, after almost thirty years of effort, brewing locally is the pursuit that best unites the various stylistic, “create and buy local,” consciousness-expanding, educational-broadening strands of beer endeavor into an expression that is unique to Kentuckiana. No other place can be exactly like we are.

We must sell this fact – not just to the world, but even more importantly, to ourselves.

Wednesday Weekly: Locavore in a Kentuckiana glass.

Two weeks ago, I began musing in the general direction of locally-based marketing action by metropolitan Louisville area breweries.

It is an understatement to note that my thoughts have engendered controversy, and seeing as generating discussion always is my intention, I cannot deny a measure of contentment with this reaction. Unfortunately, a slew of misconceptions have accompanied the ensuing chat.

One is that my interest in positive reinforcement for local brewing constitutes a reaction “against” recent developments. But this is mistaken, and paranoia is not an argument. These thoughts of mine did not spring forth overnight. They have been gestating for a very long time, ever since two developments combined in a dialectical fashion to give me pause.

One of these is my ongoing, personal involvement with downtown New Albany revitalization efforts, during the course of which I have found myself exposed to a world of ideas loosely configured as New Urbanism. Running parallel to such tenets is the “buy local” movement, which as a small businessman strikes me as the perfect antidote to the high cost of low price (Wal-Mart) and the subsequent outsourcing of America. Craft brewers have been saying this for many years: Think globally, drink locally.

The second is NABC’s brewery expansion project, primarily as viewed from the context of craft beer’s national explosion. We have invested heavily in the production side of craft beer. At the same time, in spite of this being the “golden age” of craft beer, its percentage of market penetration remains very small, albeit it healthily growing. How do we make the pie appreciably bigger, grow faster, and reach those who haven’t yet experienced craft beer?

The answer for me as a brewery owner in metropolitan Louisville is to apply “locavore” tenets to craft beer and craft brewing, widen efforts to cultivate the grassroots where we all live and work, examine the added value of local craft brewing, and create an appellation of origin that summarizes this value, combining these ideas and ideals into an actionable program for telling our story to people who may not have heard it, while reaffirming what makes us special for those who have.

Contrary to rumor, I have no interest in protectionism or negative campaigning. My aim is to inventory Louisville area craft brewing and cull from it a positive explanation of value.

---

An objection I’ve heard repeated more than once is that because we do not grow cereal grains and hops in metropolitan Louisville area, “locavore” principles cannot possibly apply to craft brewing here. I used to feel the same way, but the fact of the matter is that brewing and agriculture are very different practices.

Agriculture systematizes the growth of foodstuffs, from which value is created. To brew is to add further value to them by fermenting them. Fermentation is a natural process, but significantly, beer does not brew itself. Without man's active intervention to plan and guide the activity, there would not be beer as we know it today.

Nature’s raw materials must be assembled, modified and finished according to the mind, and the hand, of man. As such, the process of brewing adds value to natural ingredients by transforming them into a finished product.

This added value can be measured tangibly, albeit simplistically, in a somewhat open market economy. Simply stated, the finished product sells for a price higher than the combined cost of natural materials and affiliated production costs – utilities, labor and the like.

However, the calculation of this added value also embraces a wide range of intangibles. These intangible values are harder to measure, but unlike purely objective technical standards of quality, they can be altered and enhanced in the mind of the consumer through instruction.

Or, as a consultant might ask: “Given a set of tangible product features, what is the price premium a consumer is willing to pay for my brand compared to a competitor's brand or an unbranded product?”

As an answer: Because the product is brewed in Kentuckiana.

Intangibles are consumer perceptions attached both to individual brands and entire classes of product. Consumers perceive value in craft beer as a whole; in craft beers brewed in Michigan; in craft beers brewed by Founders of Grand Rapids (to name just one); in favored craft beer styles (say, IPA); and in specifically favored craft beers, perhaps Founders Centennial.

Defining the way these circles intersect, and placing emphasis on certain of the intangibles, are two ways of illustrating added value. All of it belongs to the realm of consumer information, telling the story of beer and brewing. Ideally, at an individual brewery, telling this story is the job of sales and marketing, working alongside the brewery team.

Groupings of businesses can achieve an economy of marketing scale, enhance intangibles and add value by telling this story in a collective way, according to pre-determined criteria of membership.

The Brewers Association does it for American craft breweries – not craft breweries in Canada, and only for those that qualify for inclusion by standards of ownership and production.

The Brewers of Indiana Guild does it for those located in the state of Indiana, not Wyoming or Singapore.

In Germany, only those breweries in and around Cologne can sell ale called Kolsch, and one elsewhere, one looks for the Trappist symbol on the label to ensure that the beer is certified as authentic. A monastery can achieve certification, but only by compliance with the rules of the game.

Historically, appellations of origin always have mattered in positive terms of local ownership and local marketing, even if admittedly they’re occasionally misused by protectionists. If the city of Plzen had it to do over, Pilsner would be a term exclusive to the area, and never would have been permitted to describe watery imitators brewed in St. Louis or Nairobi.

If one truly believes that one's locale is special, then obviously "special" can be defined and delineated. These definitions and delineations reflect principles that add further tiers of value to locally brewed craft beer.

Membership is free to those who meet the criteria, which must be sufficiently sensible in terms of eligibility to make the exercise worth pursuing. It does not upset me that NABC cannot belong to the Michigan Brewers Guild, because we cannot meet the criteria for membership (brewing in Michigan), but you can bet that belonging to the guild has benefits for Michigan craft brewers, and we in Kentuckiana are free to emulate the MBG on our own terms … or, naturally, not at all.

I believe it would be a mistake not to explore the advantages of such a grouping and such a common marketing exercise.

---

Yes, it is possible to pick a thousand nits, and as noted, my overall purpose is to incite thought. In the end, I believe it is perfectly acceptable, and in the economic climate highly advisable, for Kentuckiana breweries to be unified, to define the facets that make them special, and to positively brand and market themselves accordingly. We creatively produce the freshest local craft beer, period, because we brew our beer right here.

Period.

Nothing in any of this, anywhere in this, suggests excluding beers from elsewhere. This is not either-or. It is an argument in favor of one grouping, existing alongside other arguments for other groupings. Most, even all, might be valid simultaneously. A Kolsch brewed in Cologne, an ale brewed by Trappists, and Genuine Kentuckiana; choose the one that fits your needs.

The NABC Pizzeria & Public House will continue to sell wonderful beers from America and the world, with draft taps designated as Michigan Brewers Guild, and Brewers of Indiana Guild, and Monsters of Craft. All these beers exist for a certain time and place, as do beers brewed locally, right here in metropolitan Louisville. All fit the good beer mosaic, and I merely suggest that we, ourselves, be pro-active about dictating the terms of the exact fit.

Nothing here refers to individual personalities, or to attacks on them, or to anything at all beyond a rational consideration of options that pertain to the craft brewing business and the art of craft brewing, both in localized contexts.

It is principle, not personality.

It is the primacy of ideas and ideals as the perhaps the finest marketing strategy yet devised.

That's all it is, and that's enough for me.

Wednesday Weekly: Speaking locally, isn’t “born in” just as important as “born on”?

(backdate to Wed., Sept. 29)

To me, it all goes back to seeing the half-liter bottle of Holsten Pils on the shelf in Budapest, and wondering how it came to be that a capitalist German beer was being exported to communist Hungary and sold to consumers at a price only slightly higher than local Hungarian beers, which were dirt cheap at the time, in 1989.

Doing my best to comprehend the mysterious language on the label, I soon concluded that the West German brewer had entered into some sort of licensing agreement with counterpart in Hungary to use the Holsten name but actually brew the beer in Budapest.

In truth, the only German aspect of that particular beer was the name on the label. All the rest of the ingredients came from Hungary or elsewhere in the East Bloc, and the production costs naturally were at the Eastern European rock-bottom point.

There was the brand’s logoed identity for marketing purposes, but not the brand’s intrinsic value as added to it by virtue of being brewed in Hamburg. Any significant component of terroir was absent. The rationale behind the licensing agreement was that brand imagery alone could be substituted for the actual beer given the expense of importation, and so yes, it was Holsten by legal agreement … and yet, it was not Holsten as an appellation of origin.

Some years later, back home and taking a greater interest in better beer beyond the admittedly joyful act of drinking it, I became aware of the phenomenon known as Samuel Adams. At first, I accepted the conventional wisdom that the Sam Adams line was from Boston, and originally, it may have been. In those pre-internet times, at least for me, it took a while to glean that the Boston brew house was the least of the line’s sources, and that contract brewing was what made Jim Koch’s early fortune possible.

For those just tuning to Craft Beer 101, contract brewing is the act of paying another brewery somewhere else – 10 miles or a thousand; Nevada or Wisconsin – to brew your beer for you. In terms of money, it can be a very savvy deal. A brewer with excess capacity can fill empty fermenters for cash flow, and an entrepreneur with little more than a fully charged laptop can market a schwag-laden product without the expense of bricks and mortar.

Some mid-sized brewers specialize in making beer for others, and at an even higher level of the game, revitalized entities like Pabst have kept costs low and marketing budgets high by eschewing the physical brew cycle for a contract with a megabrewer (in this case, Miller). Aesthetically, the result is all hat, no cattle, with lamentable though undeniable profits for the wizard behind the curtain, peddling imagery sans substance. In this addled age, we venerate such fiscal acuity without asking, “At what aesthetic cost?”

My milieu is the metropolitan Louisville area, and so if you will, I’ll narrow the range of inquiry to these environs.

Assuming that all local brewers doing business in metro Louisville, and brewing their beer right here, are producing a quality product absent technical flaws, there are a number of ways to determine the value of beers brewed at these local breweries. Obviously, the single most important determination of local value comes from whether the beer actually is brewed here, locally, in metro Louisville.

We accept it as axiomatic that the “local” tomatoes at the farmers market come from truly local sources. That’s because when we make the conscious decision to buy local, the decision often stems from considerations of quality, personal belief and philosophy that extend beyond lowest price. If price were the only concern, nasty waxen tomatoes grown in vast factory greenhouses would preclude all others, and there would be no farmers market at which to shop.

Granted, apart from limited amounts of locally grown hops, brewers in metropolitan Louisville must “import” raw materials from elsewhere. In this sense, none of us can be in precisely the same position as the local tomato vendor at the farmers market. However, the value of locally brewed beer as a product is added by people working locally, at the local brewery itself.

Raw materials for making beer do not magically transform themselves into a finished item that commands a higher price than the ingredients. Human expertise is required. The value of human expertise is added here. The very value of “here” derives from here, in this place, in metro Louisville. Beer brewed elsewhere that seeks to derive its value from identity with metro Louisville is at best a contradiction in terms, and at worst, fundamentally dishonest. It is a marketing concept that sucks “value-added” from the efforts of local “value-adders,” and muddies conceptual waters at a time when clarity is necessary.

This isn’t to imply that contract brewing is wrong, or should be illegal, or isn’t of a certain quality. America remains a free market of sorts, except that I personally reserve the right to delineate definitions and appellations to assist in clearer understanding, because the muddier the waters, the worse it is for the craft beer market. If we’re no honest, we’re nothing.

While I have no opinion as to where any brewer, local or contract, sells its beer, whether here, there, or everywhere, it is my position that contract brewing simply be viewed for what it is, and not what it isn’t. I was born in New Albany, not Vladivostok; facts are facts; and that’s why I say: When you see a bottle or a mug of “local” beer purporting to be from metro Louisville beer, shouldn’t it actually have been brewed in metro Louisville? Here is a list of the breweries currently operating in metro Louisville:

BBC (brewpub systems): St. Matthews & 3rd Street
BBC (production): Main & Clay
Browning’s: In Louisville Slugger Field; also brews Jobless Burring ales as a “line extension”
Cumberland: Brewpub on Bardstown Road, production on Poplar Level Road
NABC: Grant Line Road and Bank Street, both in New Albany

Did I leave anyone out? There are other breweries slightly beyond the statistical metropolitan definition; to me, these comprise a second tier of “local” breweries, which includes Alltech’s Kentucky Ale in Lexington KY and Power House in Columbus IN. I’m entirely open to augmenting and discussing these categories, and I’m perfectly aware that there are arguments on more than one side, as well as precedents I’ve probably ignored, intentionally or otherwise.

In the end, it is my goal that local be local, and the differences clearly understood. That’s all … but sometimes, it’s a lot to ask.

"Mug Shots" today in LEO.

My column today in LEO considers a craft newcomer and our existing local breweries. The version below is the unedited one.

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In 1991, Coors belatedly added Indiana to the list of states where the Colorado brewer legally distributed, paving the way for Hoosiers to be just as insulted by Coors “Silver Bullet” Light advertising as the rest of the nation had long been accustomed.

Almost two decades later, the fermented wares of another Rocky Mountain brewing company have arrived in the Hoosier state, and the hysteria is tangible, if misplaced. New Belgium Brewing Company, a widely admired exemplar of the green ethos, is rolling out selected beers in 22-ounce “bomber” bottles, with cans and draft soon to follow.

Am I sensing quizzical looks? Permit me to add that New Belgium’s flagship ale is the humble, yet thoroughly cultish Amber ale known as Fat Tire.

Nothing goes quite as far to promote niche products as simple word of mouth, especially when availability is restricted. Before Coors rolled out its barrels nationwide, conniving vacationers returned home from Colorado with forbidden cases of elicit beer stashed under sleeping bags, camp stoves and life-sized souvenir jackalopes.

The bland essence of the beer itself mattered far less than the sheer excitement of its procurement, with the added bonus of lifting a can to lips parched by fetid Ohio Valley humidity and being reminded of pleasant, crisp, mountain holiday memories. While Fat Tire can’t be compared to Coors in terms of style – it is different, and better in all my own ideological respects – certain aspects of consumer behavior never, ever change.

Do you know what makes Fat Tire an Amber ale? Here is an excerpt from the Beer Judge Certification Program’s judging description:

(Amber) can overlap in color with American pale ales. However, American amber ales differ from American pale ales not only by being usually darker in color, but also by having more caramel flavor, more body, and usually being balanced more evenly between malt and bitterness. Should not have a strong chocolate or roast character that might suggest an American brown ale (although small amounts are OK).
Now for the truth: Ambers seldom excite me, and Fat Tire is no exception. Amber has always struck me as an indistinct, catch-all category, lazily infringing on Pale and Brown ale territory, and all too often without a hopping rate sufficient to suit a “hophead” like me, yet also lacking the overall complexity of richer, maltier ales. Perhaps it’s a good choice for introducing drinkers to new taste sensations, and if so, I suppose that’s acceptable.

Of the three New Belgium ales currently available north of the river, the pick of the litter is 1554, a black beer that probably is best described as a Belgian-style Porter even if the brewery uses lager yeast to ferment it.

Verily, New Belgium is universally respected for brewing a full roster of interesting beers. It’s just that none of them are called Fat Tire.

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Visiting Louisville for Derby? Looking for locally brewed beer? Louisville’s five top-quality brewing companies are described below, in alphabetical order.

Bluegrass Brewing Company (BBC) is Louisville’s longest-tenured brewpub (founded in 1993), and remains a neighborhood institution at 3929 Shelbyville Road (502-899-7070). A second, non-brewing BBC pub and eatery is located at 4th Street downtown (660 S. 4th; 502-568-2224)

At the BBC Taproom (636 E. Main St.; 502-584-2739), there is a full-scale production brewery with draft BBC beer that’s as fresh as it gets, but no kitchen, so bring your own food or have it delivered.

Even hardcore temperance fanatics are impressed by the grandeur of the three-story brewhouse at Browning’s Brewery, situated inside Louisville Slugger Field at 401 E. Main Street. Brewing has continued through an ongoing ownership change, and reports suggest the brewpub will reopen just after Derby.

Intimate and eclectic, Cumberland Brews anchors one of Louisville prime restaurant and entertainment corridors at 1576 Bardstown Road (502-458-8728). The tiny brewing kit has been augmented by a larger production facility nearby, with no loss of funky charm.

The New Albanian Brewing Company has two locations in New Albany: The original Pub & Pizzeria at 3312 Plaza Drive (812-949-2804) and the brand new, completely different Bank Street Brewhouse at 415 Bank Street (812-725-9585).

Taken together, they’re components of a truly outstanding craft brewing scene in the Louisville Metro area. Enjoy.

Friday, March 27: LIBA's Louisville Brewfest at the Clifton Center.

Here's the scoop on an upcoming Louisville beer fest. We'll be there.

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Press release

LIBA PRESENTS “LOUISVILLE BREWFEST”
Friday, March 27th from 4:00pm – 10:00pm
The Clifton Center, 2117 Payne Street

Louisville, KY – The Louisville Independent Business Alliance (LIBA) and the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) are pleased to present the first annual “Louisville Brewfest” on Friday, March 27th from 4pm-10pm at the Clifton Center, located at 2117 Payne Street.

The event will feature beer tastings from Bluegrass Brewing Main Street, Cumberland Brews, New Albanian Brewing Company, Bluegrass Brewing Company, and Brownings, as well as favorite hometown foods from the breweries, Boombozz Famous Gourmet Pizzeria and The Bodega at Felice.

There will also be performances by local bands The Instruction at 7pm, Thomas A. Minor at 8pm and Adventure at 9pm. Admission is free, and in order to drink attendees must be 21+ and purchase a $2 souvenir cup. Complimentary rides will be provided by City Scoot after 7:30pm.

Beer tickets can be purchased at the door for $1 each, redeemable for food and beer (i.e. 1 ticket = 1 beer sample, 3 tickets = 1 full beer). If our local basketball teams are playing in the NCAA tournament that night, the games will be available for viewing on site. LIBA individual memberships will be available for $10, and new members will receive a “Buy Local First” or “Keep Louisville Weird” sticker and a special voucher book with discount offers from participating venders.

“Louisville has a thriving micro/craft beer scene, and it goes a long way toward Keeping Louisville Weird,” says Scott Roussell, Bluegrass Brewing Main Street. “Like we always say, ‘Don’t buy beer from strangers.’”

This event is sponsored by the LEO. For more information visit www.keeplouisvilleweird.com/beer.

About the Louisville Independent Business Alliance
The mission of LIBA is to preserve the unique community character of the Metro Louisville area by promoting locally-owned businesses and to educate citizens on the value of shopping locally. For more information and a member list, visit www.keeplouisvilleweird.com.

Christmas Eve recap: A wee bit o' shopping, and multitudinous ale.

Our annual Christmas Eve “shopping” excursion proceeded as always in 2008, although this year there was a request (unusual in recent years) to go somewhere and actually buy something approximating a gift prior to lunch at Bluegrass Brewing Company in St. Matthews.

But first, there was the third yearly pre-shopping toast at my kitchen counter, with the lads and I splitting a 750 ml bottle of De Dolle Stille Nacht Reserva (2000) before debarking. It was brilliant, though starting to show slight signs of deterioration. The final bottle in my stash awaits for 2009.

With nothing to buy and time to kill, I browsed tacky calendars at the Oxmoor Mall before braving the equatorial downpour and locating the front entrance to BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, considered here earlier in the year.

I was thrilled neither by the prospect of reneging on my goal of spending all my money at locally-owned businesses, nor drinking a letter-perfect (and entirely uninteresting) house ale brewed somewhere in Nevada, but was spared the ignominy of weakness by noticing the presence on tap of Browning’s She-Devil. Thanking my lucky stars that Brian Reymiller is still brewing at Browning’s even if the restaurants there are history, I savored the hoppy essence and arrive back at the meeting spot with moments to spare.

Next, BBC … and the expected reunion with numerous old friends, brewpub employees and a plate of chicken wings. Brewer Jerry Gnagy was generous with samples of his most recent specialties, and all were quite good, including a Belgian Quad, Belgian Tripel (with wormwood for bittering), a “caliente” pepper ale, and previews of two excellent, funky lambics.

I enjoyed an informative chat with fellow brewpub owner Pat Hagan. Note that Christmas, 2009, will be Becca’s last behind the bar before she finished her nursing studies. I trust she’ll return on Christmas Eves to come and drink with the gang.

After a fruitful (and expensive) stop at Ear-x-tacy for CDs and DVDs, we ended the Louisville portion of the program with a round of pints at Cumberland Brews. My choice was Yerba Mate Pale Ale, and I continue to enjoy the combination of tea and hop flavors.

Back across the Sherman Minton Bridge, we ended the day at Connor’s Place in downtown New Albany. I drank one of NABC’s own, Flat Tyre. Counting the wee sample of BBC Bourbon Barrel Stout (brewed at BBC on Main & Clay, served at the St. Matthews location) I drank earlier in the day, there was something from all Louisville-area breweries circulating through my system.

Mission accomplished ... and see you next year for that last De Dolle.

Local beer, local food, local wine ...

NABC rated a mention in the Sunday edition of the New Albany Tribune: Go Local week urges residents to support local producers.

And that is exactly what the Purdue University Extension agency is trying to create more of with Go Local Indiana week, which starts today. Its aim is to get residents to support local businesses and producers, and the local economy — in addition to recognizing all the great things Indiana has to offer.

Expand your horizons and ditch the cookie-cutter.

As a prelude to the Kentucky Derby, I wrote the following as my "Mug Shot" entry in the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO):

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Mug Shots: Expand your horizons (April 16, 2008)

According to one of our regular bar customers, he was chatting with a fellow who’d just returned from vacation in Key West, and asked the returnee what he thought of the cuisine in southernmost Florida.

“You mean the food? Look, you don’t have to give up anything down there. They have McDonald’s and Taco Bell just like here in Louisville – probably KFC, too.”

Presumably, you don’t have to “give up” Bud, Miller or Coors, either – neither in Key West, nor in Nome, Alaska – although the anecdote prompts a doleful reflection on the state of cultural appreciation in the world, to wit: Has there ever been a country where so many people proclaim their unique individuality by means of a slavish and overt devotion to numbing conformity in the form of the mass market?

I fully understand that an appreciation for irony has never been an indigenous skill for most Americans, but isn’t it just plainly sad at a very basic human level that people blessed with the means to travel arrive at their ultimate destination and ignore the local flavor in favor of the safety of the cookie-cutter?

Anywhere I go, here or abroad, I look first for the local beer and the local brewpubs, because more often than not, the people at the local brewpubs who drink local beer can make the best suggestions as to what else in their locality differs from the Louisville norm. That’s precisely what travel should do. Travel should open eyes to other ways, cultures and flavors. Food and drink should be different in Mexico and Maine. The joy lies in the differences.

People come to Louisville each year for the Derby and the festivities that precede it. I hope that while here, visitors check out our brewpubs, bourbons and culinary offerings. There’s great stuff waiting to be discovered, and remembered.