A shout-out to the employees at NABC's Pizzeria & Public House.

The following is a reprint of a short piece I posted to the NABC company website. For obvious reasons, it seems worth repeating here.

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And here is WHY you should cross the Ohio for the NABC Pizzeria & Public House.

As longtime NABC fans know, we seldom become engaged in the more ephemeral manifestations of social media — voting, click bait and seemingly endless lists.

However, I’m making an exception for this list, not so much because NABC’s Pizzeria & Public House comes in at number one, but because being number one illustrates the pride, hard work and professionalism of our employees, who quite simply rock, and have been rocking full-tilt for almost 28 years.

They’re the best, and so are our customers. Thanks to all of you for helping to create and perpetuate the NABC community. Here’s the link.

11 Reasons Louisvillians Should Cross the Ohio for Indiana, by Colleen O’Leary (Impulcity)

Pizza and beer – what more could you want in life? Not just any beer, either. New Albanian Brewing Company has become a legend in the region, and for good reason.

The Diary of Our Own Jimmy Bracken: As the complaint department, I specialize in satisfied customers.

It was an exhausting day; more so than usual lately. In addition to the expected daily sapping of my inner core, there were a couple of surprises.

These thoughts may seem disjointed at first, but bear with me. My day, today, has me thinking about harmony. It's so elusive.

But why?

Of course, I cannot guarantee inner harmony, either for myself or those nearest to me, whether family or in the workplace. There's a lot more to it than my own selfish wish that the world make sense every now and then.

Dynamics are funny. The way I feel about it is that my own team can be fractious and dysfunctional (after all, I was an A's fan way back when, in the 1970s), but when it comes down to it, there needs to be unity when it matters. On occasion, things happen that merit a response, and any team manager who does not have his players'/employees' backs probably will not be successful in the end.

This is why in a benign and grandfatherly way, dear reader, I'd like your as indulgence to mark some turf. I own a business, and I have employees. As hard as they try, I know there'll come a time when they make mistakes. Experience also has indicated to me that at times, they'll have not made mistakes, and require a vigorous defense when improperly accused.

Hell, the same might even apply to me on widely scattered occasions. Fortunately, I'm not wrong very often.

Either way -- and this is the point -- I genuinely expect and respectfully request that (a) comments and thoughts about these employee issues will come to me, first, before being aired publicly elsewhere, and (b) that comments and thoughts ostensibly about my employees that actually are about ME and not about them will be handled in like fashion ... by coming to me. Not unlike Shaq, I'm the Big Aristotle. We can reason together.

Thank you very much.

The Diary of Our Own Jimmy Bracken: Not unlike the Oakland A's.

NABC has sent two brewers to Schlafly Brewery, a brewer to Huber Winery & Distillery, a salesperson to New Holland Brewing, one chef to Holy Grale, and a second to The Place Downstairs.

We may be on the verge of conclusive evidence attesting to the proposition that in big league sports terms, NABC is a small market team.

Since 1987, when the pizzeria was founded, several hundred people have worked for NABC in one capacity or another -- some for a little while, and others for a very long time. Many, and perhaps most, have gone on to bigger and better things. One's a chef in Louisville. One's a successful real estate professional in Texas. One's doing nicely on the Left Coast. Lots of them own their own businesses. It's impossible to keep track of them all, but it's always a pleasure to bump into successful alumni.

A business is not a person, but the life of a business resembles that of the individual. There are fast and slow times, fat and lean years, and good and bad periods. It's fun for a while, and then profoundly non-fun actions become necessary. People come and go, in life and business. It's all a jumble, and a blur.

Through it all, when it seems the hardest, it's useful to remember that we've been useful. A perfect record is impossible, and yet I'm satisfied that over the years, it's been a good relationship between management and team.

The challenge never changes: Keep it rolling. Some day, even I might decide what I'd like to do when I grow up.

The NABC crew before Winterfest 2014.

From left to right: Tony Beard, Ben Minton, Blake Montgomery and Josh Hill. They're holding court at Twenty Tap, one of our Indy faves. I especially like the many examples of Tony's art hanging on the rear wall.

Spotlight on NABC's amazing Reva at the restaurants forum.

We've always known that Reva Hagedorn's a rock star -- now it's common knowledge thanks to a post at the Louisville Restaurants Forum:

Just wanted to rave about Reva at Rich O's. She was the one that had to serve the party for my brother in law on Friday night. She ran her butt off taking care of our unruly party. Especially with so many people there drinking. Roger, I hope you take good care of her at the establishment.

We try, Mike ... we try ... now don't go giving her a big head and all ... but seriously, Reva's been with us for a long time, and she's the best.

More preparations for Sandkerwa.

Following is the memo I sent to the pub & pizzeria servers about Sandkerwa's opening day on Thursday. In other news, Schlenkerla Marzen kegs made it down in time for Sandkerwa (thanks Mat & Jen) and my favorite is back on tap. As a reminder, the Anstich schedule for the weekend is ...

One to be tapped on Thursday, September 24:
Mahr's Brau Ungespundet Lager ... Mahrs Bräu, Bamberg

Two to be tapped on Friday, September 25:
Fischer Rauchbier ... Brauerei Fischer, Greuth
AND
Zum Grunen Baum Landbier ... Brauerei-Gasthof Zum Grunen Baum (Bayer), Rauhenebrach-Theinheim

One to be tapped on Saturday, September 26:
Lindenbräu Vollbier ... Lindenbräu, Gräfenberg

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Memo

Sandkerwa begins today at the Pub and Pizzeria, and it is the usual routine, with points of emphasis in this e-mail. I'm including the Bank Street servers on this message so that they can get a glimpse of some of the things happening at Grant Line.

All pours except for Kulmbacher Eisbock are priced on 1/2 liter (16.9 oz), and we got in extra glassware for the purpose. Eisbock is a stronger beer and is a 10 ounce pour.

The main feature of this Sandkerwa is the use of "Anstich" kegs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. These are kegs propped up on the cask cabinet and poured like the little wooden pins we do from time to time. This is the way many of the small pubs do it in northern Bavaria (Franconia), the region around Bamberg.

Once the seal is breached, we have to sell them all very fast, preferably in one night. We have twelve different ones of these, with the plan being to pour 1 on Thursday, 2 on Friday and 1 on Saturday, on three consececutive weekends. That comes to 12.

The beer from these containers is being priced very reasonably at $5 (basically, 30% off), so it is very important for the servers to inform the customers about this option. It's the first time this large a shipment of beers from the contryside in northern Bavaria has ever come to the USA, and we're one of the few places to get them. There will be 40 pours in each, based on a half-liter.

There is a Sandkerwa brochure at the printer. It will be delivered later this afternoon. Please take time to read the list of German beer definitions. You don't have to pronounce them right, just know what the styles imply, i.e., Ungespundet refers to a method of cellaring that yields a very minimal carbonation level. Pils should be hoppy, and Scharzbier black. And so on.

Thanks

Roger

A pause for perspective.

I'm posting this morning's memo publicly because I want to share recognition of our NABC employees with all the readers of my blog. It's been a difficult and purely fantastic past two weeks, and every one's been going above and beyond the call of duty. No rest for the weary ... but we all knew it going in. Thanks, everyone.

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Good morning,

While acknowledging that there always will be plenty of post-event discussions to have and after-the-fact difficulties to examine, because there always are ways to improve, let’s pause a moment for perspective.

Namely:

SLAP YOURSELF ON THE BACK FOR A JOB WELL DONE.

In the past two weeks, NABC has been exploding in all directions.

You rocked two downtown New Albany events, Celtic Fest and NA 1 Night Stand.

You brewed, packaged and supplied beer to these events, and to Ribberfest in Madison, and to the Falls of the Ohio gathering, and Brew at the Zoo (and were awarded there), and also to the first four Louisville establishments to pour NABC’s beer.

You ran Grant Line and Bank Street and packed them in both places.

You supplied information to the world and our fans through the web site and newsletter.

You drank Bloody Marys on Sunday.

Again: SLAP YOURSELF ON THE BACK FOR A JOB WELL DONE.

This week: First Tuesday at Dzine above the River City Winery (NABC pouring beers), Lambic by the Glass (GL, Friday), and the disc golf CVO gatherings on Friday and Saturday (BSB). Hoptimus back by weekend. More beer about to go to Louisville. Ales for Tails and BBC’s hop fest, both on the 26th. Fringe Fest coming into view, albeit it on the horizon, and it will be here before we know it.

It’s always work, but it can be fun, too. Conquering the world is funny that way.

R