An Elector aside, and Bank Street Brewhouse changes its name to NABC Cafe & Brewhouse.

Scroll down and learn how Elector Ale came to be 14 years ago, but first, as you can see above, Bank Street Brewhouse has a new name.

Since the guy who helped found the business and wrote something like 96.7% of the press releases no longer is affiliated with the operation, we might be waiting a bit for an official explanation, though I'm sure it falls under the all-purpose heading of "rebranding."

And, before anyone asks, what I wrote in May remains the case: Here's the latest in the Great NABC Non-Buyout Saga of 2016. The next phase is about to commence' we'll see how that plays out.

On a more sensible note, at least they didn't abandon the august (November?) institution of Elector Day. As before, popularly-priced pints of the elixir were available Tuesday at both locations, BSB (oops, the Cafe) and the original Pizzeria & Public House location on the north side.

While I may no longer be involved in the business, it is a matter of pride that Elector has survived three and a half White House terms, and (hopefully) will persist into a fifth residency.

In fact, I ran into a friend and stopped by the downtown location on election afternoon. Josh Hill seems to have tipped the balance back toward the original maltiness, and it's tasty.

As such, here's a freebie -- written in 2014, updated for now. It's okay; you can pay me later at the usual piece rate.

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Elector was born 14 years ago on Election Day, 2002.

Now it is the year 2016, and on November 8, Elector’s birthday will be celebrated at both NABC locations with big cuts in the “poll” tax: $2 Imperial pints of Elector, all day long, and $6.66 growler refills of Elector, all day long.

No longer must we labor under the delusion of an election day prohibition on alcohol sales, so drink early and vote often.

Here is the Elector Story.

Elector’s conceptual roots extend to the beginnings of NABC’s original garage brewery off Grant Line Road — now the Research & Development Brewery.

Elector was the third recipe brewed by NABC’s founding brewer, Michael Borchers, and his assistant, Joey Burns, and was made for the very first time on Election Day, 2002.

Brew day happened to be the mid-term congressional election following the disputed presidential race of 2000, in which Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide, but lost the White House owing to Florida’s uncounted hanging chads and the state’s subsequent votes for George W. Bush in the Electoral College.

Needless to say, as subversive leftists (and craft brewers, who always should be subversive leftists), this political outcome was still somewhat fresh in our minds in 2002 as Michael concocted an initially modest plan to follow Community Dark and Beak’s Best with a traditional English-style seasonal winter warmer.

Brew day was uneventful, but as the fermentation proceeded and time rolled past, it became obvious that the new batch of winter warmer was going to have a deeper burgundy color than planned, and also was considerably hoppier than the intended style should ever be.

Well, there’s nothing wrong with that, as it turned out.

The resulting hybrid was delicious, full-bodied and aggressively hopped, and we concluded that while the intent had been tamer winter warmer, the result was something else – Imperial Red, in our reckoning – and we went forward with the results.

These days, I prefer to call it Elector-Style Ale, such is the beer’s uniqueness. It is a one-off, and stylistically, there is no classification except fine flavor.

Before the finished character of our newly hybridized ale had become apparent, we’d already started the process of hybridizing its name, something that arose out of drunken mischief (imagine that) when after much discussion, Joey suggested Elector in reference to the Electoral College and the way it made the popular vote pointless, and by extension, democracy itself somewhat redundant.

I replied that the “-tor” suffix would suggest Doppelbock in the minds of knowledgeable drinkers, and of course we had no intention of producing a beer remotely close to Doppelbock.

Joey: “Right.”

Roger: “Right.”

Good, then we’re agreed … Elector it would be.

Now it’s fourteen years later, and I feel just as strongly as I did then: An Elector in hand is well worth two Bushes in retirement, any election day, and in fact, any time of the year. Elector’s back story would be sufficient to render it an iconic brand, and Tony Beard’s graphics greatly add to the mystique — but of course, it’s the liquid in the glass that really matters.

All 9 of Tony Beard's posters for Fringe Fest at Bank Street Brewhouse, 2008 – 2016.

It may no longer be any of my business (except I still own a third of it, pending a monetary settlement), but I want NABC to do well, and I'm still a tremendous fan of all the folks on the shop floor, like Tony Beard. As Ralph Steadman is to Flying Dog ...

Information about Fringe Fest 2016

Taco Steve, appearing at Bank Street Brewhouse on Monday evenings.

Turns out I was mistaken. You really can go home again. Well, at least Stephen can. Otherwise, Steve's still cooking at his home base. Check out the hours and menu at Taco Steve's Facebook page.

NABC Bank St + Taco Steve Mondays 4p-8p

NABC Bank Street Brewhouse is now open from 4p-8p Monday evenings for pint drinking and growler refills. Come hang out with Heather Morris serving up pints as well as food served by Taco Steve. Is there a better way to spend your Monday?

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THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON: A Mile Wide sidewalk superintendent.

THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON: A Mile Wide sidewalk superintendent. 

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

To be perfectly honest – but then again, why let the accumulated truth spill out, all at once? – demonstrable elements of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can be spotted amid otherwise encouraging signs of the Curmudgeon's ongoing recovery from the vicissitudes of small business ownership.

For instance, there is a recurring nightmare. I’m stuck in a roofless maze, trying to find my way out. Every time I spot a seemingly safe exit corridor, out pops a familiar impediment – some times a do-nothing gasbag from Heidelberg Distributing, at others a phalanx of Floyd County Health Department bureaucrats carrying clipboards.

Worst of all is the RateBeer luminary, waving his hop garland like a priest with bobbing censer, and screaming about my Doppelbock’s failure to taste like an IPA. When I glance up to the sky, the sun is blocked by the doughy faces of bankers, looking down at me and laughing.

Consequently, when I read previews like Kevin Gibson’s recent piece on Mile Wide Beer Co., it's like being at the harbor, watching as the Titanic sets sail, all the while expecting dreadful things to happen sooner rather than later ... then I fall asleep again.

Mile Wide Beer Co. announces it will open in late summer, by Kevin Gibson (Insider Louisville)

The mysterious Mile Wide Beer Co. announced this week it will open in late summer, also detailing what types of beers customers should expect.

Located at 636 Barret Ave., behind Diamond Pub & Billiards in a former live music space, Mile Wide is owned by four partners: Scott Shreffler, Kyle Tavares, Matt Landon and Patrick Smith, the latter of which also owns River City Drafthouse. Shreffler and Tavares are former representatives for Schlafly Beer, which is based in St. Louis, while Landon has worked in construction …

… The brewhouse will consist of a 15-barrel, three-vessel system with an initial annual capacity of about 1,700 barrels, thanks to two 15-barrel fermenters, three 30-barrel fermenters, and a pair of bright tanks.

Other amenities will include a circa-early 1990s jukebox, plus a retail space that will include a crowler station; at Mile Wide, 32-ounce crowlers, which are cans sealed on site, will be a specialty for taking beer off site and maintaining its freshness longer than growlers. In fact, Mile Wide will be the first brewery in Louisville to offer crowlers ...

... Shreffler says the space has room for growth if the need arises. Future plans, pending success of the brewery, include a canning line. In the meantime, there is plenty of build-out work left to do, and recipes to perfect.

Of course, my anxiety is just a mirror, reflecting a scalded publican shunning the fire, even if he continues to adore Rauchbier.

This feeling of impending terror has nothing whatever to do with the merits of the start-up brewery in question. Mile Wide’s principals have certifiable pedigrees, and assuming the brewery is sufficiently capitalized, there is no reason to believe they won’t do fine, although it won’t stop me from offering astute analysis in just a moment.

Meanwhile, professional therapy may eventually be necessary.

When the whistle blew for opening day at Bank Street Brewhouse in 2009, I thought we had a great business plan. By the time Day Two rolled around, this plan had all the value of Confederate banknotes, crisp and baled.

In the months and years to follow, things seldom worked as intended, and even when they did, critical mass stubbornly refused to occur. It was an amazing and educational ride, and so help me Jeeebus, never EVER again.

For six years at BSB, we performed too well to fail, and yet not well enough to succeed, and as the experience of World War I amply illustrates, there isn't much to be said for the daily stalemate of trench warfare.

On those rare occasions when the shelling stopped, I found myself questioning my worthiness to exist in an atmosphere of peace and quiet, fully expecting the blows to keep raining down.

For the past year, I’ve been convalescing, in part by immersing myself in local politics. Compared to today’s “craft” beer business, the snarling, backstabbing, soul-crushing viciousness of a small town mayoral campaign comes off as serene and hushed, like libraries used to be.

---

Because you’re entitled to my opinion, here’s what I think about Mile Wide’s prospects, using Kevin's Insider Louisville survey as the sole basis for my armchair quarterbacking.

This means I’ll probably be wrong, but so are most weather forecasters.

There is no mention of a kitchen at Mile Wide, and that’s good. At Bank Street Brewhouse, we had enough money to either open a restaurant or a brewery, so naturally we tried to do both. Apart from the maddening fickleness of the food service business, there’s a reason for the wise old brewer’s adage.

“Wanna make a million in the brewing business? It’s easy – start with $5 million.”

Better to spend the additional $4 million supporting the beer your brew, which after all is a brewery’s primary reason for being, and conversely, if one is intent on being a restaurant owner, don’t bother brewing at all – or find another $5 million.

(As an alternative, one might serve the basic Belgian beer café menu of spaghetti with meat sauce, meat plate, cheese plate and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich (Croque) capable of being prepared by one employee with a kitchen stove, crockpot and panini press.)

It seems that the four partners in Mile Wide each possess an important primary skill set: Physical plant, front-of-house, brewing and sales. That's a good mix, and it echoes Against the Grain’s four-pronged ownership structure, which has proved viable.

Crowlers and retail swag? By all means. Big cans sealed on site is a novelty, albeit one with genuine utility for the consumer.

As for shirts, caps, jackets, thongs and signature condoms, it remains a matter of much regret to me that NABC wasn’t ever able to maximize sales for items like these, in spite of my wonderment at the well-stocked, high-volume souvenir shops at breweries like North Coast and Schlafly, among other travel destinations visited prior to the advent of BSB.

Those visions again. I kept snapping my fingers, and the damned genie never appeared.

---

Obviously, the biggest question of all concerns Mile Wide’s inevitable move into off-premise distribution.

Granted, Kevin's preview doesn’t explicitly mention distribution, apart from a reference to the possibility of canning. However, because of the Schlafly connection – Kyle as trained production brewer and Scott as a brand rep and salesman – it seems likely that Mile Wide will eventually mount its bid to appear wherever finer beers are sold.

You know, right alongside 4,500 other brewing contestants, with new brewery openings coming at an exponential rate, while shelf space and taps remain static.

Hence, the conundrum. New breweries planning to operate as brewpubs, with business plans predicated to maximize on-premise sales, are probably better placed for stability amid the bizarre market madness facing production brewers. However, brewpubs must entice customers to come spend money on-premise, and often this implies food (see "millions" above).

Perhaps Louisvillians finally are coming around to the free-standing taproom with food trucks, delivery and brown-bagging. Apocalypse Brew Works does quite well with this most sustainable of approaches.

---

Naturally there are variables too numerous to explore, but what I’m most eager to see unfold at Mile Wide is Scott’s strategy for selling his own company’s local beer in the Louisville market, because when he sets about selling his own company’s local beer, he’ll no longer be the local guy selling some other city's non-local beer – read “Schlafly.”

And, in doing so, he’ll come face to face with the 800-lb “craft” beer gorilla in Louisville, which is the local beer snob’s raging antipathy to localism, which is predicated on the sheer impossibility of local beer bearing quality, apart from Against the Grain whenever Beer Advocate’s arbiters graciously allow it, because just as in the Middle Ages and spice shipments from the exotic east, style and status points absolutely must come from elsewhere, not here.

Except for bourbon, but that's not beer, apart from the rule that all beers, from Hefeweizen through Wee Heavy, must be aged in bourbon barrels.

I’m not saying Scott can’t or won’t do it. He knows his stuff, works hard and is much loved by a segment of the demographic. If anyone can succeed, he can. I respect him and his abilities. I'll be transfixed, having traversed the same learning curve when NABC went from beer bar to brewery.

Now it’s going to be different for Scott – beer sales without a net, minus the institutional support of a regional-sized brewery. Now it’s truly understanding what those principles of economic localization mean, because there’s nothing like becoming the owner of a local business to open one’s eyes to the economic reality of big boxes, chains and multi-nationals (yes, AB-InBev counts), and sadly, to the way that so many beer snobs throw locals under the bus with palpable glee if it means getting their hands on the one special beer that will make those masturbatory selfies sing with narcissistic delight.

A flagship Belgian Wit? Good idea. It worked for Upland. Now all Mile Wide must do is break through the shadiness of Blue Moon and Shock Top placement, find a bar manager in town capable of explaining the algorithm behind his or her constant tap rotation, and get a start-up’s flagship pouring at establishments dedicated to the chaos principle of specialty drafts.

Good luck, Scott. This isn’t at all facetious. I root for local indies, not against them, and I hope Mile Wide rocks it. If you ever need advice on how NOT to do it, I happily consult for beer and pretzels, and the occasional tin of kippers -- crackers, thanks, not bread.

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May 30: THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON: “The Drinker” (A Book Review).

May 23: THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON: A few beers on Estonian time (Part Two).

May 16: THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON: A few beers on Estonian time (Part One).

May 9: THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON: Hip Hops ... A look at two new New Albany breweries.

_

Cross-country city bicyclist stops at BSB, has beer.

Literally. That's what he did. Meet this utterly insane fellow who is crossing America by Bike Share (a NYC shared bicycle).

Website

Twitter

Instagram

He dropped by Bank Street Brewhouse and lived to ride some more. Cheers to that ...

countribikeSpontaneous detour to@newalbanian. This cool logo wall lured me in. Great brews, food and outstanding staff. Feels right to be back in southern #Indiana, home of awesome people. 

#craftbeer#brewery #indianabeer #newalbany#iloveindiana #bikeadventures#crosscountry

Bank Street Brewhouse today: Josh, Tony, football, beer and musical analogies.

I caught up with NABC's production brewer Josh Hill the other day. He's on duty at Bank Street Brewhouse -- excited, dialed-in, and ready to go forward now that David Pierce is back at BBC St. Matthews, where interesting things also will be happening, including the installation of a new brewhouse after 22 years.

It so happens that I'm a fan of the rock group Dee Purple. The band has been functioning since the late 1960s, and has continued to make new music and tour constantly through many personnel changes. These different lineups of musicians are referred to by Deep Purple fans as Mark I, II, and so on, up to the current Mark VIII, of which drummer Ian Paice is the only remaining member from Mark I.

The point is that Deep Purple has remained demonstrably Deep Purple. Having singer Ian Gillan (originally in Mark II) on hand certainly helps, but whatever musical quality defines Deep Purpleness, it's still there. The most recent album in 2013 was my favorite of the entire year.

Consequently, for better, worse, or anywhere in between, there's a aspect of "NABCness" that always remains, even when vital cogs come and go. Part of this has to do with me, another part with David (and so many other folks who've helped shape the company), but still only a part from each player.

Aristotle wrote, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." India Pale Ale didn't even exist then, and I think he was absolutely right.

Today at Bank Street Brewhouse, Josh and Tony "NABC Graphics Wizard" Beard will be on hand to watch their football teams play. As Tony put it on Facebook:

(Today) the world will be shattered as two titans of the industry duke it out as they sit on bar stools and yell at a television screen. It will be a glorifying 4 hours of witness, I hope you'll join us. If you're lucky I might be whiskey bent for the first kickoff!

There'll be dollar-off pints all day, and the usual Sunday growler fills, which as you know are exclusive to Indiana breweries, and the only Sunday carry-out beer anywhere in the state.

Stop in, chat with these guys and get to know the next generation. I've found beer to be the most effective way to smooth transitions.

Ancient Rage returns to the Bank Street Brewhouse draft lineup.

The way it ought to be: A Friday in August cool enough to open the garage doors at BSB, and for me to wear a black t-shirt with no fear of sweating straight through it ... the Panama hat that Larry Schad gave me, now the official campaign hat ... Ancient Rage (barrel-aged IPA) back on tap, and me perfectly willing to have one with lunch in spite of my session proclivities because Josh Hill is back, and willing to serve me one.

Bloody well right: Four photos "Of Place," rescued from BSB and now placed in my house.

During the winter of 2013-14, there was a top-notch exhibit at the Carnegie Center for Art and History, which is located across the street from Bank Street Brewhouse.

Of Place at the Carnegie: An "antidote" to the tyranny of our white bread Bicentennial.

Reminder: "Of Place" at the Carnegie, through January 11, 2014.

Subsequently, I purchased four of the black and white photos being shown in the exhibit by David Modica, a photographer I first got to know 35 years ago playing pickup-basketball.

In August of 2014, I got around to mounting these classy silver gelatin photographs at BSB, where they looked just fine in the spaces between the garage doors. Alas, with the remodeling and conversion into a new FOH schemata, they were judged superfluous.

So I said you know what and brought them home.

We hung them earlier tonight in the stairway.

The three portrait-sized ones were grouped together, and the landscape was placed on the left. at the landing.

Little Chef at Night, For Edward Hopper ... 2009

Hugh Bir, Jr., Market Street ... 2013

Say Cheese! David Thrasher ... 2013

Primal Scream, Bank Street Brewhouse ... 2013

Of course, neither the wall nor my beard exists any longer.

At NABC's Bank Street Brewhouse: Session Head on the 29th, and EFC is running full bore.

Just because I'm on a leave of absence doesn't mean I can't disseminate information. Session Head's almost here ...

NABC’s 4th annual Session Head begins Sunday, March 29 at Bank Street Brewhouse

For the fourth “small” year, NABC is delighted to help raise session beer consciousness with Session Head. While April 7 remains the actual nationwide date for observation of Session Beer Day, NABC will mark the occasion on Sunday, March 29 at Bank Street Brewhouse so that a very special guest can join us for the fun.

It’s close friend and former NABC employee Richard Atnip, who will be in attendance on the 29th along with four session-strength beers brewed by his current employer, New Holland Brewing Company of Holland, Michigan.

 ... and Earth Friends Cafe is rounding into its full program. BSB is open longer hours, meaning more chances to drink good beer with excellent food.

Earth Friends Cafe now open at Bank Street Brewhouse, hours and menu here

Earth Friends Cafe and Houndmouth Ale at Bank Street Brewhouse.

Yes, I said there'd be a leave of absence from NABC, but old habits die hard, and the urge to inform still possesses me. Pictured above is a buffalo tempeh wrap and an NABC Houndmouth Ale ... now available at Earth Friends Cafe, which is up and running at Bank Street Brewhouse. I'm not certain what the operating hours are going to be, and for the moment, EFC is starting small and slowly ramping up the menu to match its previous locations prior to returning to New Albany.

March 12: Earth Friends Cafe coming home to Bank Street Brewhouse.

March 20: Spring equinox: Bank Street Brewhouse opens today at noon for beers, Earth Friends and music.

As for the ale, Houndmouth is an American Wheat. It's also a four-piece band from New Albany, with music that defies brief description. There are bits of country, soul, rock and gospel – instrumentally tight, with gorgeous harmonies. NABC collaborated with Houndmouth to create the band’s namesake ale, hoppier than wheat should be, subtle and complex, and session-strength. Let the good times roll, and the circle be unbroken. It's textbook session strength at 4.5% abv, and 29 IBUs.

I had one on Friday, as the pieces at BSB were being fitted back into place.

The band has a new album. Get it. The ale will be on tap through summer at NABC's two locations.

The PC: My brain cells sent me a nice thank you card.

The PC: My brain cells sent me a nice thank you card.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Lately I’ve tended to swear off end-of-the-year lists, enumerations and reflections, particularly as they pertain to beer. My official, recurring explanation is that during a typical twelve-month time span, the sheer volume of great beers and wonderful beer drinking experiences has tended to overwhelm my narrative and organizational abilities.

In short, I can bask in a warm glow of beers past with a sort of year-long area buzz without trying to remember each one of them.

However, it strikes me that the past year was different, for the simple reason that I didn’t drink nearly as much beer as usual. Granted, there were plenty of good beer times, just fewer of them. Therein lies a story.

Beginning on January 1, 2014, I resolved to “lose some damned weight, already.” It wasn’t the first time I’ve had this good idea (2007 springs readily to mind), but it assuredly has been the most successful such effort in recent memory. One year later, exactly 30 lbs. had disappeared, and I’ve managed to hover around the lighter target range for more than six months, even when allowing for periodic bursts of caloric debauchery.

For most of us, the formula for weight loss is no mystery: Eat and drink less, exercise more. That’s it, in a nutshell, and generally it works quite easily for me. Of course, the trick is continuing to follow the formula consistently without sustained lapses. Binges are my biggest enemy, inevitably leading to lost yardage and an erosion of faculties both physical and mental, and so I tried keeping them to a minimum in 2014.

This brings me to mental health in the form of clarity, a double-edged sword if ever there was. Simply stated, when your head is clear, you can see life’s infinite possibilities and sometimes even act accordingly. Unfortunately, you can also see the squalor, grubbiness and stupidity surrounding you, and these are precisely the observations that can lead to a resumption of bottle feeding.

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To tell the truth, clarity was the primary reason for curbing my bibulous proclivities in 2014. It was the reward for consuming half the usual trencherman’s portions (I said less food, not necessarily “better”), walking roughly 4 - 5 miles a day rain, snow or shine, and stopping after the second pint … well, most of the time.

I came into the year knowing quite well that it was going to be a very difficult twelve months, likely demanding my full attention without the debilitation of binges, and as such, it’d be the time to practice keeping a clear head. It seems my prescription was timely, because the prediction was accurate.

While it may not have seemed obvious to onlookers at the time, the year 2014 began with the cumulative daily continuation of a long-term review of the food operation at Bank Street Brewhouse, undertaken with the specter of humorless bankers looming overhead and numerous bookkeeping tasks up for examination and resolution.

As you know, the review culminated with the Bank Street Brewhouse kitchen being shuttered in May after five aesthetically successful (and financially underwhelming) years. I had to let 15 good employees go in one fell swoop, and never in my life as an independent small business owner have I felt lower.

(It was far too hard to do drunk)

Then there were the long months afterward spent dealing with the various business repercussions of this move, which might be summarized as the frustration occurring when the same bank that kept insisting on the need to boldly cut expenses, responded to those expenses being utterly gutted overnight by expressing newfound and decidedly tender concern for the entity’s cash flow.

(Thanks much. As Jeeebus is my witness, there are times when I really would rather be a Commie)

But to return to the point, while none of this was a certainty amid the torpor of my January 1st hangover, the very possibility of it happening strongly suggested clarity. Once the change of direction for the front of the house at BSB was determined, a fresh breeze would fill the room, the fog would lift … and naturally, a whole new set of challenges would be manifested, each of them screaming for attention, queuing the buck-stops-here process all over again.

(That’s right – there are times when the thought of working for someone other than myself is appealing, at least until I consider that a quarter-century on my own has rendered me absolutely unemployable)

Of course, it was advisable to hoard excess clarity even after navigating these revolutions in the front of the house, because there was a brewery in the back of the house, and after five years of imagining that the quality of our beer would always be enough to carry the day, it was becoming evident that I understood very little about the selfie-driven, solipsistic narcissist’s “craft” beer-porn-market … apart from the multi-syllable words I so dearly enjoy using to denounce it.

(That’s why I contemplated escaping to go and join the French foreign legion, except that I’m too old for camping and have very little use for guns)

Also in 2014, I lost a few friends way too soon, moved my mother to a new residence, emptied and sold her house, revisited far too many ghosts of youth while doing so, disposed of two vehicles formerly belonging to my parents, had one of our cats die, and struggled mightily on an hourly basis to understand why my chosen city is so unremittingly mistaken about most everything it does despite my frequent reminders to the contrary.

(Which means I’m running for mayor, but more about that later)

Through most of it, I kept to the regimen of clarity with a shrug and a sigh, as ever certain that for me – an opinionated, intellectually pretentious asshole of an individualist – quitting simply isn’t an option. Neither is lapsing into a 275-lb alcoholic stupor amid the detritus of chicken wings and bacon. That’s life. You continue throwing punches, landing a few and absorbing more, and cease only when the bell can no longer be answered.

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It's about being comfortable in your own skin. I’m just a natural born dissenter, perhaps even a full-scale dissident; always have been and always will be. I understand that the 90 percentile never can be mine, because the 90 percentile is made up of the planet’s cookie-cutters – Taco Bell, Budweiser and Wal-Mart – and who wants any part of mass-market insipidity of that magnitude?

But the 90 “majority” percentile also applies to conformity within my own “minority” peer group. This is the hard part, but it is no less vital to question the precepts of one’s own coterie than to dissect the platform of the opposition.

Where this leads next, I’ve no idea. As always, the joy will come in finding out, and all the better if my head is clear, because it’s probably a bit too late for purity of heart – don’t you think?

Indiana does Platonic Sandwich Dialogues: Is a hot dog a sandwich? Is pizza? Are tacos?

Last year in June, six weeks after Bank Street Brewhouse's kitchen was shuttered, we received a citation from the Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission (ATC) for not meeting the minimum food requirement as defined by 905 IAC 1-20-1. Actually, the food was there, in the freezer, but our employee at the time screwed up, and boom: The bottom line got $250 lighter.

This was particularly annoying for two reasons.

First, from the moment the kitchen change at BSB was announced, I was well aware of the food requirement. The law is 13 years older than me, and this isn't my first rodeo. Second, I'd spoken with the ATC about it to be sure we had the necessary materials to comply with the rule: Frozen weenies, buns, cans of soup, instant coffee, powdered milk and soft drinks enough to serve 25 persons.

Here's the law in its Truman era glory, as originally discussed in a post entitled "Law abiding by weenie never was this viral."

Rule 20. Food Requirements
905 IAC 1-20-1 Minimum menu requirements
Authority: IC 7.1-2-3-7; IC 7.1-3-24-1
Affected: IC 7.1-3-20-9

Sec. 1. Under the qualification requiring that a retail permittee to sell alcoholic beverages by the drink for consumption on the premises must be the proprietor of a restaurant located, and being operated, on the premises described in the application of the permittee; and under the definition of a "restaurant" as "any establishment provided with special space and accommodations where, in consideration of payment, food without lodging is habitually furnished to travelers,"–and "wherein at least twenty-five (25) persons may be served at one time;" the Commission will, hereafter, require that the retail permittee be prepared to serve a food menu to consist of not less than the following:

Hot soups.
Hot sandwiches.
Coffee and milk.
Soft drinks.

Hereafter, retail permittees will be equipped and prepared to serve the foregoing foods or more in a sanitary manner as required by law.

(Alcohol and Tobacco Commission; Reg 36; filed Jun 27, 1947, 3:00 pm: Rules and Regs. 1948, p. 58; readopted filed Oct 4, 2001, 3:15 p.m.: 25 IR 941; readopted filed Sep 18, 2007, 3:42 p.m.: 20071010-IR-905070191RFA; readopted filed Oct 29, 2013, 3:39 p.m.: 20131127-IR-905130360RFA)

This story also was revisited recently in "More about frozen weenies and powdered milk."

Throughout this saga, it may have occurred to more than one reader to ask a simple question.

Is a hot dog really a sandwich? 

Note that our district branch of the ATC overtly accepts the use of hot dogs as sandwiches, so long as they're served warm -- remember, "sandwiches" must be heated, so granny's world-class fridge-aged chicken salad is ineligible ... unless, of course it is eligible, because after all, our district ATC has determined that pizza qualifies as an exception to the rule.

Is gazpacho an exception to the "hot soup" provision? I sense little eagerness to find out. Now that NABC has partnered with Taco Punk for tacos on Friday and Saturday nights at Bank Street Brewhouse, need we ask the next logical question?

Are tacos sandwiches?

If so, then we still must cover the "off" hours when Gabe's not in the kitchen, and so the reign of freezer-cured weenies has not come to an end.

As a disclaimer, understand that here, as always, I have no beef with the Indiana ATC, whose police officers are charged with the task of enforcing laws written by variously informed politicians. The ATC is good people, and the ATC itself probably finds the food requirement a distraction, considering the agency's perennial understaffing and many important items of daily business.

However, until now, probably few of us grasped the philosophical dimensions of the sandwich identity crisis within this specific mechanism of Indiana alcoholic beverage laws. Thanks to JR for pointing it out to me.

Is This a Sandwich? Teaching the Platonic Dialogues through sandwiches, by Dr. M. Ritchey, PhD (Medium)

... I decided to do an exercise in my classroom that would attempt to engage my students more deeply with the socratic method and perhaps help them realize its usefulness in their own lived realities. For some reason, reading about Socrates asking Euthyphro if what is pious is pious because it is loved by the Gods or whether the Gods love that which is pious was not really making much of a dent in my students’ understanding of the world, so instead I had them try to prove that they knew what a sandwich was. I put them in pairs and instructed them to create as clear and literal a definition as they could—one that encompassed all things they knew to be sandwiches, while providing criteria for excluding all those things that were obviously not sandwiches. Furthermore, anything they were going to submit as examples of a “sandwich” also had to pass the thought experiment of imagining ordering “a sandwich” in a restaurant and being brought that thing—because after all, this is an exercise about common knowledge. We all “know” what a sandwich is. Their definition had to somehow account for this shared mental understanding. So “a bowling ball between two pieces of lettuce” would not count, for example.

The PC: NABC joins forces with Taco Punk at Bank Street Brewhouse in downtown New Albany.

The PC: NABC joins forces with Taco Punk at Bank Street Brewhouse in downtown New Albany.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

One morning in late September, having only just returned from an invigorating holiday in Germany and Belgium, I learned that the eatery known as Taco Punk would be closing its bricks ‘n’ mortar shop over in NuLu, the much-hyped, trend-setting neighborhood of Louisville.

The thought of it inspired me to compose an entry with a provocative title at my primary blog, NA Confidential.

Dear Taco Punk: Come on over to the West Bank. I have a kitchen, you know.

From it its inception in January, 2012 as a fast, casual and fun quasi-Mexican joint, Taco Punk displayed an uncanny ability to make diners happy while at the same time dividing local electronic media opinion. It never made sense to me how or why this disparity was the case.

Obviously, owner/operator Gabe Sowder, a Jeffersonville native and Wabash College graduate, was trying to do things the right way, with locally sourced food and living wages for his employees. On periodic visits, I found the tacos and ambience quite enjoyable, but those in disagreement were particularly and sometimes nastily persistent.

Taco Punk was somewhat famously savaged by Rae Hodge of the University of Louisville school newspaper for exemplifying all the real or imagined sins of NuLu’s ongoing gentrification, then came immediately under fire from the now deceased Eater Louisville web site when Gabe announced a Kickstarter project (it fell short) to complete the restaurant’s build-out.

Yes, the local independent Taco Punk was more expensive than Taco Bell, the latter an execrable chain outpost of Louisville’s own mediocre Yum! Brands empire, but really, have comparative reasoning skills been so thoroughly purged from the collective Indyucky mindset that no one could see the considerable differences between the two?

Was Taco Punk just a bad fit for the often pretentious aura of NuLu?

When Taco Punk’s forthcoming demise was revealed, it had been four months since NABC suspended food service at Bank Street Brewhouse. I immediately sensed a commonality of shared experience, even if the parameters of it were not entirely clear to me. After all, BSB’s “gastropub-cum-bistro” kitchen operated for five years; after a rocky start, consumer reaction was mostly favorable -- and balance sheets decidedly less so, eventually dooming the experiment. We were pioneers of sorts, and often there are more advantages to coming next in line, as opposed to being first.

And then there is my own uncanny ability to divide local opinion. As it pertains to me, folks have been choosing between “love him or hate him” for quite some time now – and I adore it.

Eventually Gabe and I began chatting, and the impromptu collaboration we devised on the fly began with two encouraging “pop-up” weekends in November. Now that the trial run has concluded, we’re ready to see if we can make this combination into something more of an expended engagement, so look for Taco Punk at Bank Street Brewhouse on Friday and Saturday evenings from now on (except Saturday, December 6, when a private party is booked), with the strong possibility that Thursdays will be added to the mix in January.

After that, we’ll see which way the wind is blowing. The idea is to remain loose and flexible.

For these recent weekend pop-ups, Gabe offered a slimmed-down Taco Punk menu ideally suited to the limited kitchen and storage space in our building, featuring salsas, guacamole and five different tacos with a selection of garnishes. They proved ideal as paired with NABC’s wide selection of house-brewed beers, of which we’ve been able to maintain 15 or more varieties on tap at BSB of late.

In short, Taco Punk at Bank Street Brewhouse will function not unlike a food truck parked inside. This is precisely what we’ve needed at BSB, and is of proven, popular quality. It accents the taproom concept in the absence of a mobile food truck culture in Floyd County. While I still believe that food trucks and non-traditional vending are coming to New Albany, right now Taco Punk is a far better fit for us both.

Note that during regular weekly Bank Street Brewhouse business hours (see below) when Taco Punk is not operational, customers still are encouraged to bring their own picnic baskets or carry-out food from downtown New Albany’s many fine eateries, some of which will deliver to BSB. We’re localists first and foremost, and continue to support our fellow independent businesses in downtown New Albany, which at present does not have a concept quite like this. Our nationally renowned Indiana Statutory Compliance Restaurant Menu also remains joyfully intact, to be wielded with pride during periodic inspections.

We regard the fit as complementary. Our business is beer, and Gabe's is food. The combination of Taco Punk and NABC is a good one, and it will evolve, so stay tuned for further details.

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NABC web site

NABC at Facebook

Bank Street Brewhouse at Facebook

Taco Punk at Facebook

Bank Street Brewhouse is the official downtown New Albany taproom of the New Albanian Brewing Company. Hours of operation are as follow:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (or later if merited)

Saturday & Sunday
Noon to 9:00 p.m. (or later)

We’re closed on Monday. On-premise pints and carry-out growlers/bombers are available every day, including Sunday.

Taco Punk food service hours on Friday & Saturday (Thursday beginning in January, 2015)
5:00 p.m. – close

Pride bar + lounge adds an Indiana Statutory Compliance Restaurant Menu, and it looks familiar.

Matt, the owner of Pride bar + lounge, messaged me to report that the Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission (ATC) recently busted his bar for not having the requisite food requirement stashed in the freezer. Seems the bartender on duty said the "kitchen" was closed, and out came the citation.

Matt and I chatted about what is sufficient to please the state, and he jokingly observed that it would be easier of he might just use the legendary Bank Street Brewhouse Indiana Statutory Compliance Restaurant Menu.

Be my guest, I replied -- with attribution, all is possible.

So, slightly modified for adaptive reuse, here is Pride's new state-mandated food menu.

Seriously, Bank Street Brewhouse is hosting a pop-up Taco Punk kitchen visit this weekend, and maybe some day soon, we can dispense with the freezer pretense. It wouldn't make the state's laws any more rationale, but our drinkers would enjoy the meals. Stay tuned.

Pop-Up Taco Punk at Bank Street Brewhouse, Nov. 21 & 22 (6 p.m. - close).

Since May, when we suspended kitchen service at Bank Street Brewhouse, we’ve done our level best to provide creative alternatives to a full-time food menu, from the active encouragement of carry-in and delivery from downtown New Albany’s many fine restaurants, to Eh Cumpari’s mobile wood-fired pizza oven and our own Stephen J. Powell’s Pigs and Cows.

(There also was this, which inspired our friends to the north to follow suit)

In addition, there have been two “pop-up” dinner evenings with Chef Dan Thomas, both of which were culinary and critical successes. He’ll be returning soon for more one-off meals.

In the meantime, there’s another pop-up weekend on the way, this time with Chef Gabe Sowder and his gourmet tacos. Metro Louisville knows Gabe, a native of Jeffersonville, for his bricks ‘n’ mortar shop in NuLu, called Taco Punk.

Unfortunately, Taco Punk’s NuLu shop closed early last month, but Gabe’s still got the goods, and he’s agreed to set up the tortilla press at Bank Street Brewhouse on the weekend of November 21 & 22 (Friday and Saturday). Gabe will be serving from 6:00 p.m. to closing.

During these "pop-up" hours on the 21st and 22nd, just “pop in” and buy Taco Punk tacos. NABC's Progressive Points are the ideal accompaniment, but there'll be soft drinks, too, and all ages are welcome.

We think the combination of Taco Punk and NABC is a good one. If the pop-up goes well ... who knows?

THE PC: Law-abiding by weenie was never this viral.

THE PC: Law-abiding by weenie was never this viral

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

This week's column is a reprint of last week's ON THE AVENUES at NA Confidential. Next week I'm taking a vacation day. 

Those of you who are reading locally, or are familiar with the recent history of the New Albanian Brewing Company, already know that in May we suspended the kitchen at Bank Street Brewhouse for purely financial reasons. We couldn't figure out a way to make money from a menu we all loved, and so we stopped to consider other possibilities.

It wasn't easy, but of course good things seldom are. We're trying to reboot BSB as a brewery taproom, freely borrowing ideas from other places near and far, and it will take time for the new concept to take shape. One of the central pillars of this evolving plan is to determine ways to encourage our customers to continue eating -- just not food we're preparing on site (with occasional exception, like the two pop-up dinners to date).

The possibilities are endless, and they reflect the multitude of options within minutes of our building:

Carry-in from nearby eateries
Takeout Taxi (see below)
Delivery from those who do so
Vendors cooking in the beer garden
Picnic baskets
Food trucks, at least as they begin arriving in New Albany

But here's the rub: Even with all of these options, it is impossible for us to continue serving alcoholic beverages by the glass without complying with an Indiana state law dating from the time before color television that defines bars as restaurants serving drinks.

From the moment the kitchen change at BSB was announced, I was well aware of this fact; after all, the law is 13 years older than me. I spoke with the regional Alcohol and Tobacco Commission and made sure we had the materials necessary to comply with the rule (note that this is not uncommon): Frozen weenies, buns, cans of soup, instant coffee, powdered milk and soft drinks enough to serve 25 persons.

To make a long and annoying story shorter, we failed our first test of this new "menu," and so I went back to the drawing board. In order to keep ourselves aware of the responsibility not just to store these foodstuffs, but to serve them, I decided to incorporate them in a real, tactile menu and to price them based on the surreal nature of the law itself, which does not stipulate mark-ups. Moreover, we needed to collate the carry-in and delivery information in one place. Perhaps one well aimed stone would do the trick.

Hence, the menu reprinted below. Much to my surprise, it landed on the front page of Reddit on Tuesday, generating more than 1,700 often amusing comments, and since then it has been picked up by a dozen other internet sites.

Uproxx

Knock me over with the proverbial feather.

There's an undeniable element of Chicken Little (nuggets?) to all this. For once, I've not sought the notoriety, and I have absolutely no beef (teriyaki, perhaps) with the ATC. They're the police, and the police enforce laws; end of story.

However, in perfect sincerity, I feel as though we're doing our level best to honor the obvious intent of the 1947 statute by offering ways for our customers to eat while they drink. Dragon King's Daughter keeps longer hours than BSB, and its kitchen is closer to the BSB front door than many service bars are to their patio seats.

Isn't the law somewhat archaic? It doesn't mention pizza, and both the sandwiches and the soup must be "hot," ruling out chicken salad on rye and gazpacho. Is a taco a sandwich? We now know that coffee plays no sobering role, and perhaps the Dairy Council inserted the milk provision as a sop to Indiana milk cows. Today's service industry realities are light years removed from a shots 'n' beer roadhouse in 1947, and the law does not take these realities into account.

The BSB kitchen remains licensed, and we continue to sift through ideas to restore a cost-effective food service to the limited space we have to utilize. The options are countless, and as they are considered, it is my hope that the following "compliance" menu suffices as proper statutory observance, as we've always prided ourselves on adhering to the rules defining our daily business.

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Yes, There Is Food at Bank Street Brewhouse, and Here Is the Menu.

Updated August 10, 2014

As of May, 2014, Bank Street Brewhouse is a brewery taproom dedicated to providing creative edible options to our patrons, ranging from carry-in to delivery every day, to periodic pop-up dinners, special catering and mobile “food truck” appearances as the latter become available. Menus for local eateries are kept at the bar. Please note: Outside alcoholic beverages cannot be brought into Bank Street Brewhouse.

Our Top Choices of Eateries … Close By for Carry Out or Delivery

WICK’S PIZZA

225 State Street

Pizza, Sandwiches, Pasta

Delivery:  812-945-9425

Wick’s takes 20% off deliveries to Bank Street Brewhouse

MANDARIN CAFÉ

 2602 Charlestown Road

Traditional Chinese

Delivery: 812-945-6789

DRAGON KING’S DAUGHTER

Japanese-Mexican Fusion

Bank Street

Carry-out: 812-725-8600

DKD is 75 yds from BSB

Pair the city's best food with the city's best beer. Multi-Restaurant Meal Delivery & Drop Off Catering Service Serving Southern Indiana

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TAKEOUT TAXI

Food from local restaurants, delivered

http://www.takeouttaxiindiana.com/

Call (502) 895-8808

Takeout Taxi brings restaurant meals directly to you at your office, home or More Variety and Choices than anyone while giving you more time to take care of family, friends or business.

Delivery is $5.99 plus 5% of the order.

ALADDIN'S CAFE

Mediterranean/Greek

111 W. MARKET STREET

BELLA ROMA

ITALIAN RESTAURANT

Italian

134 EAST MARKET STREET

HABANA BLUES

Cuban/Spanish

148 EAST MARKET STREET

LOUIS LE FRANCAIS

French

133 EAST MARKET STREET

MIMO'S

NEW YORK STYLE PIZZERIA

Italian, Pizza, Pasta, Subs

2708 PAOLI PIKE

MUSCLE MONKEY GRILL

Smoothies, Wraps & Coffee

147 EAST MARKET STREET

PRIMO’S DELICATESSEN

Sandwiches, Salads & Soups

155 EAST MAIN STREET

SHAWN'S SOUTHERN BBQ

Barbecue

822 STATE STREET

More local eateries - call them to order carry-out.

CAFÉ 27 (Modern American) … 149 E. Main … 812-948-9999

COMFY COW (Ice Cream Parlor) … 109 E. Market … 812-924-7197

EXCHANGE PUB + KITCHEN (Gastropub)  … 118 W. Main … 812-948-6501

FEAST BBQ (Barbecue) … 116 W. Main … 812-920-0454

JR’S PUB (Pub Grub/Fish Sandwiches) … 826 W. Main … 812-920-0030

RIVER CITY WINERY (Bistro/Pizza) … 321 Pearl Street … 812-945-9463

TUCKER’S (Sports Bar) … 2441 State Street … 812-944-9999

NABC’S Pizzeria & Public House is located 3.5 miles away from Bank Street Brewhouse at 3312 Plaza Drive, phone 812-944-2577

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Bank Street Brewhouse's Indiana Statutory Compliance Restaurant Menu.

Statutory Overview:

Permit premises where alcoholic beverages are consumed by the "drink" are required to have food service available, at all times, for at least 25 persons. Minimum food service required consists of hot soups, hot sandwiches, coffee, milk, and soft drinks (see attached rule). (IC 7.1-3-20-9 & 905 IAC 1-20-1) … see complete and unexpurgated statutory language on page 4 of this menu.

Our Famous Hotdog Sandwich

Microwaved to perfection, including both weenie and bun, sans condiments.

$10.00

Chef Campbell’s Soup of the Day

Served in a bowl. Your choice of whichever can is on top of the stack.

$10.00

Instant Coffee

Caffeinated only. Available black, or black.

$5.00

Powdered Milk

With or without water.

$5.00

Sprecher Craft Soft Drinks

Different flavors … market pricing

This menu is available all of the time.

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The Fine Print: Indiana State Law.

In order to possess an Indiana retail alcoholic beverage sales permit, Bank Street Brewhouse must comply with a 67-year-old state law that compels us to maintain a restaurant located on the premises. 

Rule 20. Food Requirements

905 IAC 1-20-1 Minimum menu requirements

Authority: IC 7.1-2-3-7; IC 7.1-3-24-1

Affected: IC 7.1-3-20-9

Sec. 1. Under the qualification requiring that a retail permittee to sell alcoholic beverages by the drink for consumption on the premises must be the proprietor of a restaurant located, and being operated, on the premises described in the application of the permittee; and under the definition of a "restaurant" as "any establishment provided with special space and accommodations where, in consideration of payment, food without lodging is habitually furnished to travelers,"–and "wherein at least twenty-five (25) persons may be served at one time;" the Commission will, hereafter, require that the retail permittee be prepared to serve a food menu to consist of not less than the following:

Hot soups.

Hot sandwiches.

Coffee and milk.

Soft drinks.

Hereafter, retail permittees will be equipped and prepared to serve the foregoing foods or more in a sanitary manner as required by law.

(Alcohol and Tobacco Commission; Reg 36; filed Jun 27, 1947, 3:00 pm: Rules and Regs. 1948, p. 58; readopted filed Oct 4, 2001, 3:15 p.m.: 25 IR 941; readopted filed Sep 18, 2007, 3:42 p.m.: 20071010-IR-905070191RFA; readopted filed Oct 29, 2013, 3:39 p.m.: 20131127-IR-905130360RFA)