Headlines from April 2018 on THE BEER BEAT.

This blog has gone on hiatus, probably permanently, and primarily because these days my thoughts about beer are being posted alongside my utterances about everything else, over yonder at NA Confidential. You'll find them there in reverse chronological order via the helpful all-purpose tag, The Beer Beat.

However, at the end of each month I'll collect the links right here. Following are April's (2018) ruminations, with the oldest listed first. Some of these posts are more topical than others. On occasion, there'll be references to beer in posts using "The Beer Beat" as a label, though not a title. I hope this isn't overly confusing.

Thanks for reading, if belatedly.

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THE BEER BEAT: "Bock brings the Germans rushing to the beer garden."

Doppelbock is the perfect example of a seasonal beer style redolent of history and faraway places, and yet deemed insufficiently sexy for narcissistic, hop-laden, shoe-gazing geeks.

No bitterness in this soul, mind you.

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THE BEER BEAT: Mad Paddle Brewery is coming to Madison, and there's a New Albany connection.

Having tickled the taste buds, let's have a glance to the northeast. If you ask me, Madison has always deserved a good brewery.

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THE BEER BEAT: Fest of Ale returns on June 2, so please allow me to revive an idea for pre-fest fun next year.

(New Albany Craft Beer Week) didn't come together in 2017 and probably won't in 2018, but if Andrew Nicholson and Kelly Winslow (especially these two) are reading ... there's always 2019. I'd be happy to give you both the rundown.

Meanwhile, 2018 will be the third year for Fest of Ale at the Riverfront Amphitheater. Gear up and get ready.

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THE BEER BEAT: This just might be the Pour Fool's greatest rant: "Open Letter to The Bud Sell-Outs: Cowboy Up, Whiners."

"There is one old saw that the 'owners' of these former craft breweries should take to heart and if any of you have never heard it, allow me ... 'You Made Your Bed, Now Lie In It.' "

Ladies and gentleman, give it up for Steve Foolbody (The Pour Fool).

It's the best summary yet offered, as truthfully attesting to the phenomenon of Trojan Zombie Afterlife Breweries and their former owners. Here's a relevant non-brewing history lesson.

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THE BEER BEAT: Pints for Parkinson's returns with Maibock, so let's have a look at Gordon Biersch, day drinking and TARC.

Spurred by the groundbreaking commuter research conducted by my friend Jeff, who works in downtown Louisville KY -- and with a wife who does, too -- I have belatedly grasped that the #71 bus eastbound from State and Elm in New Albany (a short walk from my house) travels all the way to Jeffersonville on roughly an hourly basis during the day, stopping a mere bloc

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THE BEER BEAT: Everybody wants to rule the world -- maybe "craft" beer will, too.

This is exactly what the world of beer commentary is sorely lacking: Beer with a Socialist. I'm grateful to Jonathan for the idea, and will owe him a beer of three is this goes anyplace.

Now, give it up for Lew Bryson and another thought-provoking (and fun) column at The Daily Beast.

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THE BEER BEAT: Photographing traditional Irish storefronts for posterity, like the Railway Bar.

The loss of storefronts in Ireland is a lamentable cultural atrocity. It isn't restricted to pubs, but of course I'm enraptured by one of the pubs pictured in the article.

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THE BEER BEAT: This humble plinth could be the spot where we memorialize the myriad victims of Prohibition.

It is imperative for the future health and well-being of the municipality that we embrace historical consciousness, hence my contention that the victims of the savage and deranged social experiment known as Prohibition -- surely America's second-worst idea ever, albeit well behind human slavery in terms of ramifications -- be memorialized, preferably adjacent to a watering hole that reminds us of what the heinous teetotalers tried to take away.

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THE BEER BEAT: Speakeasies here, speakeasies there, and not an original thought to be found anywhere.

It's far easier to be "magical" when your family has profited immensely from LEGAL liquor sales, the budget is unlimited, and you're not scraping for crumbs to implement good ideas -- but money can buy neither love nor an exemption from imminent prosecution for inexcusably pretentious word abuse.

The CJ's writer somehow keeps a straight face, this being a skill I never learned.

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THE BEER BEAT: "Putting the taproom first and building the rest of your business around an own-premise model gives a brewery unprecedented control, insight, and flexibility."

History is endlessly fascinating for a variety of reasons, among them the uncanny way that what goes around, comes around. In today, out tomorrow -- and destined to return when conditions change and the dialectic of trendiness (or purely efficient reasoning) ordains.

This whole craft brewing revolution began very locally. You trundled down the street with a metaphorical pitcher, had it filled with beer, and hoped to make it back home without drinking it all -- or, the way it was done back in pre-Prohibition times.

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LIVE TO EAT on THE BEER BEAT: A tribute to the late Rocky's Sub Pub and a question: What's happening at Jeffersonville's "restaurant row"?

It was announced today that Rocky's Sub Pub, on the riverfront in Jeffersonville, suddenly closed. Danielle Grady's newspaper coverage is linked below, but first, a short piece I wrote for LEO back in 2009, when Rocky's debuted its beefed-up tap system. Ironically, now both Rocky's and JeffBoat are gone.

NuLu Bock Fest and my theory for the origin of an idea.

Photo credit.

NuLu's having a Bock Fest.

It might help to know that in the Germanic milieu, Bock often is symbolized by a goat, which explains the notion of blessing goats and beer together.

Billy Goat, what? NuLu Bock Fest will feature goat races, beer and more, by Melissa Chipman (Insider Louisville)

On Saturday, March 26, the neighborhood is reviving that tradition during the new NuLu Bock Fest, a beer festival with music and goat races. Apparently bock beer festivals also were a tradition in Louisville that fell by the wayside during Prohibition. Organizers of the festival were able to trace the bock beer fest tradition back to 1858.

Bock beer is a low-hop style of lager originating in Germany.

NuLu being NuLu, media coverage has tended to be breathless, as though it is a solemn contractual obligation to trace all creativity and innovation back to a geographical construct that's barely existed for a decade.

I really hate being a squeaky wheel -- wait, no I don't, so kindly permit me to suggest that the germ of this Bock Fest idea can be attributed to local freelance writer Kevin Gibson's suggestions during Mayor Greg Fischer's local beer study group in the summer of 2014.

Here is a paragraph from the group's final draft in July, 2014.

Reconnect Louisville with its brewing heritage. Many in the city are unaware of the rich history of brewing in Louisville, and the rich heritage in beer culture in general. Louisville was once not just a thriving brewing hub, but also filled with lush, German beer gardens and beer celebrations that can and should be revisited today to help promote local brewing culture.

I attended the meetings. At the time, Kevin was pushing his book Louisville Beer: Derby City History on Draft, and I distinctly recall him mentioning "heritage," "German" and "Bock" multiple times. Oktoberfest was in the conversation, too.

Make no mistake: I'm a Bock kind of guy, and once a beer list for this fest is released, I'll pass it along in this forum. I'll almost surely attend.

However, in the short history of NuLu Bock Fest, I've not seen Kevin's name listed. Intellectual property rights matter tome, and perhaps this is just an oversight. Maybe at least they'll buy him a beer, or something.

Here's a review I wrote on Louisville Beer: Derby City History on Draft.

ON THE AVENUES: Louisville Beer, then and now ... and cheers to Rotary.

The strength of Kevin Gibson’s narrative lies in his ability to convey the way it felt to drink beer in Louisville at various times in the past. Details valued today mattered less back then. Being a beer drinker in Louisville in the year 1890 was not about checking-in, or chasing, trading and hoarding.

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Office Hours goes Bock tonight.

Heads up: Office Hours tonight will feature Bocks, including Doppelbock, Eisbock and a Helles if we still have any in stock. The weather has turned good for these rich, malty beers from the German lager tradition. We seem to be making progress with a tasting format loosely centered on BJCP style definitions, and aimed at answering the question: Which beers need to be on a solid, representative beer list?

Love that goat.

Life's good in Bamberg, because in Franconia, this is the time for seasonal bocks. Time was short, but excellent selections were sampled at Spezial (above), Schlenkerla (smoked) and Klosterbrau (Helles).

The less I tell you about Bierhaxe at Klosterbrau the better. You'd just get all envious.

Closer to home, I hope to have the updated Saturnalia lineup here on Wednesday morning. Then there'll be other stories to tell in the coming days.