Kolsch vs. Double IPA in LEO poll results.

I place little stock in seemingly ubiquitous on-line reader polls, and I don’t personally encourage anyone to vote.

In like fashion, the New Albanian Brewing Company refrains from asking its customers and fans to cast dozens of ballots for the sake of the cause. Some of the time we are mentioned in such polls, at other times not, but as a perennial underdog from unappreciated New Albany, to so much as win, place or show in the absence of chest thumping and similar varieties of narcissistic campaigning always provides sweet vindication, especially if the voting is being conducted by a Louisville-oriented publication.

So, briefly: In this year’s LEO Weekly Readers’ Choice poll, NABC's Hoptimus finished at number two, trailing Alltech's Kentucky Kolsch and coming ahead of BBC APA.

If anything, these results embrace a range. The Kolsch is 4.7% ABV, and Hoptimus 10.7%. It probably also lends credence to Hoptimus as Louisville's only classic I2PA.

In 2012, thanks again to LEO Readers' Choice voters for thinking of NABC.

I don't personally encourage anyone to vote in various reader polls, and NABC refrains from asking its customers and fans to cast dozens of ballots for the sake of the cause. Some times we are mentioned, some times not … and some times, as an underdog from underrated New Albany, it just feels fine to be vindicated as a business by readers of a Louisville-oriented publication.

That’s why again this year I’m thanking the academy and happily contradicting my usual shtick by posting the following results in the LEO annual Readers’ Choice poll. Allow me to offer kudos to all of our employees, and also to the many folks who took the time to pick NABC. Thank you.

Best Restaurant (Southern Indiana)
1) New Albanian Bank Street Brewhouse
2) Sam's Food and Spirits
3) Buckhead Mountain Grill
Second year running, and we're very appreciative.

Best Beer List
1) Sergio’s World of Beers
2) Tony BoomBozz
3) New Albanian Brewing Company (Pizzeria & Public House)

Best Bloody Mary
1) Outlook Inn
2) New Albanian Bank Street Brewhouse
3) Against the Grain
Listed under the Nightlife heading, although the Bloody Mary bar runs only on Sunday morning. I suppose it's always nighttime somewhere.

Best Local Beer (replacing last year's "Best Local Brewery")
1) Bluegrass Brewing Co.
2) Cumberland Brews
3) New Albanian Brewing Co.

Thanks to LEO Readers' Choice voters for thinking of NABC.

I’ve never personally encouraged voting in various reader polls, and NABC does not ask its fans to cast dozens of ballots for the sake of the cause. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t … and sometimes, as a New Albany underdog, it just feels damned good to be vindicated as a restaurant and brewery by readers of a Louisville-oriented publication.

That’s why I’m thanking the academy and happily contradicting my usual shtick by posting the following results in LEO’s annual Readers’ Choice poll. After all, a quarter-million votes is a large sampling, and far less prone to tipping by tampering. Allow me to offer kudos to all of our employees, and also to the many folks who picked NABC. We didn’t do badly for a brewery that technically is not a Louisville brewery.

Best Beer List
1) New Albanian Brewing Co.
2) Holy Grale
3) Sergio’s World Beers
We're inferring the Pizzeria & Public House's revamped BJCP-centric bottle list and Hoosier-heavy draft roster. Eric Gray and Ben Minton get the credit for these.

Best Restaurant (Southern Indiana)
1) New Albanian Brewing Co.
2) Rocky’s Italian Grill
3) La Rosita
We're inferring Bank Street Brewhouse, while not ignoring our Pizzeria's longtime success.

Best Local Beer
1) New Albanian Brewing Co. Hoptimus
2) Bluegrass Brewing Co. APA
3) Bluegrass Brewing Co. Bourbon Barrel Stout
Note that NABC's David Pierce originally formulated both BBC winners, and has been Hoptimus' personal fitness coach.

Best Local Brewery
1) Bluegrass Brewing Co.
2) New Albanian Brewing Co.
3) Cumberland Brews

It would be fascinating to see how many breweries in locales like Chicago, St. Louis and Leuven, Belgium, received votes as "local."

LEO's "best of" this and that.

In this week's LEO are the results of the newspaper's annual "best of" poll, as voted by readers. As usual, there were many obvious instances of ballot stuffing, which might be disturbing if any of it really matters, which it does not.

Still, for the record: NABC appeared as second best beer list (behind the entirely deserving Sergio's) and second best brewery (BBC). Bank Street Brewhouse was selected as third best Southern Indiana restaurant; La Rosita's was first, and Rocky's second: The issue of the readers, by the readers, for the readers.

I usually put more stock in what the LEO's writers have to say, just because I'm like that: Writers' Choice 2010: LEO weighs in on the best of Louisville.

Thanks to Sara Havens and Phillip Bailey for their mentions on NABC and the city of New Albany.

Best former LEO beer writer? Is it any contest?