Taco Steve has beer now. Tacos and beer. America.

It's the best six-can beer list in New Albany. Taco Steve is located in the rear of Destinations Booksellers at 604 East Spring Street, opposite the very nearly completed Breakwater apartment development.

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Learn where Donum Dei Brewery will be staging a pop-up beer garden during Harvest Homecoming.

Harvest Homecoming's annual run in downtown New Albany is almost here, and in 2016, "booth days" take place from October 6 - 9 (Thursday through Sunday). Over at NA Confidential, I've been surveying the scene "behind the booths," where our independent local businesses operate throughout the year.

Donum Dei Brewery is situated near the original NABC location, just off Grant Line Road, approximately four miles from the historic business district. Unlike year-round businesses in downtown, which must adapt to a festival occupying their usual bricks 'n' mortar milieu, Donum Dei's owner Rick Otey must be creative in finding a pop-up spot to set up shop, and with luck, benefit from the crowds.

Just such a setting is the rear of a building on Main Street, which only recently was purchased and is being remodeled.

Preview: 410 Bakery coming to 140 East Main Street in downtown New Albany.

RENOVATION UPDATE: You know, that building where Abe's Rental used to be (140 E Main St).

Locals know it as "where Abe's Rental used to be," and it was a service station before that.

In the completed patio setting shown above, Rick found the ideal niche for serving beer during booth days.

We will be having a Harvest Homecoming Beer Garden! Come and relax and have a couple of pints.

The locations is 140 E. Main. The garden will be on the patio behind the building.

Hours will be:

Thursday October 6, 11-10
Friday October 7, 11-11
Saturday October 8, 11-11
Sunday October 9, 11-6

We will have live original music Friday and Saturday night 7-9.

Friday Bob and Erin Youell
Saturday South Upand

If you're downtown during the madness, don't forget about Donum Dei's pop-up, and for officially sanctioned activities, go here: 2016 Harvest Homecoming Festival Guide.

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Floyd County Brewing Company is an indie alternative during Harvest Homecoming.

Floyd County Brewing Company‎ is promoting TASTE-IN in the Biergarten, an event running on Friday and Saturday, October 7 and 8.

It coincides with Harvest Homecoming booth days in downtown, which close streets and alter normal indie business routines from October 6 through 9.

Very excited to announce the first annual TASTE-IN festival. Come hang out in the Biergarten and enjoy 16 Indiana Craft Beers from 11 Indiana Breweries. There will be delicious food available and fantastic live music both Fri (Robert Rolfe Fedderson) and Sat (The Pirtles).

FCBC also has an alternative (and constructive) take on New Albany's purely unofficial "beer (swill) walk" during Harvest Homecoming.

Sounds like good advice any day of the week.

Harvest Homecoming festival has finally arrived, and the harvest craft beer crawl is what kicks it off. Join the community by walking through downtown New Albany, seeing the Renaissance that's happening while imbibing on the delicious craft beer we offer.

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New Albany Indie Fest 2016 will be held on September 24 at the 400 block of Bank Street, and at NABC Bank Street Brewhouse.

IMPORTANT INDIE FEST UPDATE

A change in location for New Albany Indie Fest 2016.

New Albany Indie Fest announces a change in location for 2016. The previously announced date and overall program are not affected by the site change.

Saturday, September 24, starting at 12 noon.

However, Indie Fest will be held on the 400 block of Bank Street between Spring and Elm.

Music will be staged at NABC’s Bank Street Brewhouse (415 Bank Street), whom we thank for stepping in at short notice.

Sativa Gumbo remains the Indie Fest headliner, and the remainder of the musical lineup is the same as previously announced.

Thanks for your consideration, and we’ll see you on Saturday.

New Albany Indie Fest on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NAIndiefest/

New Albany Indie Fest Contact:
Marcey Wisman-Bennett 812.207.7415
marcey.wisman@gmail.com

New Albany Indie Fest is a 501c3 non-profit organization.

For the updated press release including the performance schedule, go here:

IMPORTANT: New Albany Indie Fest 2016 will be held on September 24 at the 400 block of Bank Street, and at NABC Bank Street Brewhouse. 

America's restaurant workers and Saru Jayaraman's book, Forked.

It's only a matter of time until New Albanians are overheard saying, "Hey, did you know there's a bookstore at Taco Steve's?"

Ten years ago in downtown New Albany, there were three, maybe four, independent eateries, and another couple of bars serving simple meals. Today, the number is in the vicinity of 17 or 18 -- even I can't keep track, and more are in the planning stages. Perhaps a dozen among these have at least a few good beers on tap.

It's unlike anything this town has ever seen. One might delve into numerous topics of discussion pertaining to New Albany's food and drink boom, but there is one truly fundamental consideration. Who is doing the work and filling these jobs?

Following are two links about one book. First, from Destinations Booksellers.

“Forked” Examines Plight of Restaurant Workers

Downtown New Albany may have one of the highest concentrations of dining establishments anywhere and there’s no sign of the growth tapering off. Yet, if local news reports can be believed, it’s becoming harder and harder to find workers willing to take jobs in this corner of the hospitality industry.

Forked: A New Standard for American Dining critiques less-examined aspects of restaurant worker exploitation, considering such topics as food preparers who must work while sick because of benefit limits and sexual harassment endured by tip-dependent servers.

The workers and the entrepreneurs powering New Albany’s restaurant explosion may well want to add this book to their shelves.

To conclude, NPR's take.

'Forked' Rates Restaurants On How They Treat Their Workers, by Tracie McMillan (NPR)

Saru Jayaraman may be restaurant obsessed, but don't call her a foodie. She's the founding director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a national organization that advocates for better wages and working conditions for restaurant workers. She's also published several studies in legal and policy journals as director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California-Berkeley.

The combination of grassroots and ivory tower makes Jayaraman arguably one of the country's leading experts on what it's like to live as a restaurant worker in America.

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Vic's Cafe is profiled in the Courier-Journal.

It's easy to forget Vic's Cafe is there at 1839 E. Market, between Spring Street and the river. These days, the vast majority of New Albany eateries and bars are located on or near major thoroughfares. Not Vic's, because it's a throwback.

It's a tavern located where the workers once congregated in large numbers during a more labor-intensive era, on a back street where neighborhood meets industrial zone. The pre-Prohibition brewery owned by Jacob Hornung operated no more than two hundred yards away.

Vic's Cafe is opposite a vacant lot where the box & basket factory once stood. One of the two Schwartzel brothers who founded the factory lived 40 years in the house we currently occupy, and we're within easy walking distance of the tavern.

Straight up: I haven't been inside Vic's since I was a minor looking to get served, but in recent years, the food keeps being mentioned by friends and acquaintances -- especially the burgers. Several times there has been talk among friends of stopping by Vic's for lunch, but it didn't happen.

Last fall during the campaign, I stopped into Donum Dei Brewery and struck up a conversation with Matthew, who told me he tended bar weekends at Vic's. I squirmed a bit, and then he mercifully set the hook: Thanks to his efforts, Vic's has $2.75 bottles of Bell's Oberon and Bell's Two Hearted Ale.

Welcome to the "no excuses" zone.

Soon, Matthew.

Very soon.

Vic's Cafe a decades-old New Albany staple, by Matt Stone (Courier-Journal)

 ... Harry Middleton, 83, has been coming to the same place nearly every day since he was 18. “You can’t put a new bark on an old tree,” he said as he tucked into a fried pork steak with a side of beans and cornbread. Another regular, Eddie Hancock, says he remembers coming to the same address as a 10-year-old boy when it was Burnett’s. “It’s had good food all those years,” he said. “And they do today.”

Scoreboard daze of old.

Joe mans the counter during the Reagan Administration.

These reflections originally were published six years ago as one of my newspaper columns. The essay has been updated a couple of times, and this reprint is prompted primarily by archaeology ... or, the constant excavations of my muddled cranium as I struggle to recall the details of my 1985 travels in Europe, which occurred during the same period of liquor store employment described here.

There is another reason: Belatedly remembering Ralph.

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The Potable Curmudgeon: Scoreboard daze of old.

There used to be a package liquor store called Scoreboard Liquors on West Spring Street in downtown New Albany. I worked there part-time from 1982 through 1988, when the store moved to a different location, a couple of miles uptown. In fact, I continued to work at Scoreboard after the move, but to tell the truth, it was never the same as at the downtown location.

Scoreboard’s downtown building directly faced the federal courthouse, and it was within spitting distance of numerous bankers, lawyers, title abstractors and others performing their hoary time-honored roles amid the daily antics of a county seat in seemingly terminal decline. For a lad from Georgetown, working the package liquor trade in the core of the historic business district was both a kick and an education.

Surely the 1940’s-era structure was the ugliest in all of downtown. Frumpily tacked onto its backside was the infamous (trust me) Cadillac Lanes bowling alley, run by a fractious family of immigrants from Pittsburgh eligible for reality television long before the genre was invented. In olden times, the cobbled together retail space out front had hosted an upscale automobile dealership.

Needless to say, those days were long gone, even then.

The barren north side of Cadillac Lanes faced a gravel parking lot separating it from Elm Street, and it became known among liquor store employees, in purely figurative terms, that to be taken “out behind the bowling alley” meant to be stood against the otherwise useless concrete block wall and shot for crimes against humanity. In retrospect, this reference seems tactless, but it was used quite often, especially in conjunction with obnoxious, drunken customers – particularly those employed by the Coyle auto dealership down the street.

I worked two or three nights a week, Saturday afternoons and the occasional day shift. The job was good, my pay was hard cash, and included as part of the deal were discounts on merchandise (where most of my paycheck naturally landed). My early travels were plotted from behind the store’s worn Formica counter, using paper, pens and actual books.

Nowadays, whenever I spot a package store clerk with eyes glued to an iPhone or laptop, I think back to my entertainment options on slow business nights: A miniscule black and white television set with rabbit ears, from which many a McNeil-Lehrer News Hour was observed. I probably should have been sweeping or stocking, anyway.

Package stores of Scoreboard’s socioeconomic ilk still are a trip, and an ongoing psychological experiment. During my long-ago tenure, insights into the human condition were plentiful, and sometimes fairly hard to stomach.

At least the owners indulged my interest in imported beers (craft beer had not yet come into existence), and they allowed me to purchase and stock options beyond the norm. I was given one walk-in door and a shelf outside it for warm bottles. We did a fairly good trade in imports, given their obscurity and the fact that whenever I wasn’t on site to explain what they were, consumer requests generally were greeted with a sneer by Duck, the manager.

“Huh? I don’t drink that shit.”

My favorite Duck story (his real name was Lloyd) was the time when he was standing behind the counter, peacefully smoking a cigarette, when a complete stranger walked in. The man gestured toward the door to the rear office, and asked, “Do you mind if I go back there and change my pants?”

YouTube obviously didn’t exist back then, but Candid Camera did, and Duck's immediate, unprintable reply to the unknown man’s request would have played well in syndication, with Allen Funt joyfully suffering the brunt of bleeped-out epithets as the would-be wardrobe shifter was physically chased from the premises.

After a few years, business downtown began declining, and the owners had few good options when the lease expired in 1988. Scoreboard’s relocation took place the same summer. I took a week off from my “real” job in Louisville to help move the store to affordable digs at the traffic-challenged corner of East Spring & Beharell.

Few tears were shed by New Albany’s historic preservationists when the downtown building was hastily demolished to make way for a vacant lot, and a few years later, the construction of Chase Bank, which still stands there today. The store itself changed ownership, and eventually was shuttered.

Three decades later, I think back to the downtown liquor store stalwarts, and sadly, quite a few of them have died, including Jim, the principal owner. More recently, Mamie and the School Marm both passed away. There was Norman and James Not Jim, the Canadian Club lady with all the books, the Upholsterer, and certainly numerous others. Their faces pass through my dreams on occasion, as though it had come time for a final round before closing.

Among the departed was Gin Lady, originally known to us as Mother Gargle, who usually walked to the liquor store from the East Bloc-designered senior citizen housing tower one hundred yards away. As the day progressed and she stopped for the second or often third time, her red-dyed hair would become more and more unmanageable and frizzy. By late afternoon, her mop would be standing straight up, antenna-like, as though she’d jammed a finger into the power grid.

You see, the Seagram’s was never for her. It was for her gentleman friend, who perpetually called on her, but was never seen then or any other time. Neither was Gin Lady after the store moved across town.

Chemical Man was so dubbed for the spectacular lack of nutrients in his bloodstream, and my rigid certainty that the only thing keeping him alive was infusions of formaldehyde, Kessler whiskey and Sterling beer.

Early on, when I hadn’t come to understand the nuances of alcoholism, I asked Chemical Man why he bought three half-pints of Kessler at points throughout the day rather than a liter of whiskey first thing in the morning, which would be cheaper.

He sputtered indignantly that my college education had taught me absolutely nothing, because any fool knows that if you start the day with a big bottle, you’ll just go and drink it before lunch – and then what?

Later, Chemical Man grew too weak to carry the daily case of Sterling to his house, which fronted the side street fifty yards from the store’s front door. I’d carry it over and put it on the porch for him. A year or so later, his obituary was in the newspaper. I’d have bet money that he was in his 70s, but he was only 59 at the time of his death.

Of all the people I met at Scoreboard, Snake was tops. For decades he kept a series of decrepit pick-up trucks alive just long enough to run a regular route through New Albany, collecting cardboard and taking it to Riverside Recycling for a few bucks, which went into the jar and paid for season tickets to Louisville Redbirds games.

Snake’s life wasn’t easy, but it could have been worse, and he generally kept a cheerful demeanor in the face of the curve balls thrown at him by fate. For example, the nickname came from a tattoo on his right arm, the one that ended just below the elbow, the rest having been removed after an accident decades earlier.

He had a recurring, acrimonious relationship with the New Albany Tribune, our local newspaper of record, and often vowed that if his wife died before him, he’d call to cancel the newspaper first -- and only then ring the funeral home.

Snake worked hard as a bartender, and drank just as hard as a customer until swearing off the bottle in the early 1960’s. He never drank a drop again, ever. When the bartending jobs at New Albany’s neighborhood taverns dried up, Snake turned to cardboard full time, and occasionally filled a shift at the liquor store.

In 2001, Snake’s truck died for the final time, and since cardboard wasn’t paying squat, anyway, it was time for him to get out of it. He’d already decided that ballgames were too expensive and the club’s management too arrogant. A couple years later he stopped by my pub to chat, and it was the last time I ever saw him, for he died shortly thereafter on the day before my birthday.

There were others dear to me, like Gene, Tom and Louie, and I miss them all – the people, the store, and the time – but I miss Snake the most. Rest in peace, my friend. If you could see what’s become of the local newspaper these days, you just might reconsider that vow of sobriety.

We often had too much time on our hands.

Lunch at Brownie's The Shed in New Albany.

Last week I had lunch at the New Albany location of Brownie's The Shed and met Jason Brown. It was a fine lunch, venue and chat.

The new location is at the former site of JR's and Fieldhaus, which is on Main Street to the west of State Street, perhaps better known as the route to Horseshoe Casino.

For those of a religious inclination, say a silent prayer for Jason, who's about to experience the surreal chaos of Harvest Homecoming for the first time.

Note: You may not be able to read the linked article. Paywalls -- such a First World problem.

Here’s the plan: First New Albany, then the world, by David A. Mann (Louisville Business First)

The owners of Brownie's The Shed have big plans for growth.

In metro Louisville, "Craft beer to expand with 2 breweries opening."

Crazy times, indeed. A man has only one liver. But damn it, I'll make to them all, and when I do, it's going to be about their neighborhoods as well as their beers. The project of a remaining lifetime sounds like it's just my speed.

Craft beer to expand with 2 breweries opening, by Bailey Loosemore (Courier-Journal)

Call it perfect timing or just dumb luck — either way, two craft breweries are set to open at the end of Louisville Craft Beer Week.

Floyd County Brewing in New Albany, which has run on a limited schedule since Sept. 8, will start its full-time hours Friday, while 3rd Turn Brewing in Jeffersontown will open its doors for the first time Thursday during the city's annual Gaslight Festival.

The breweries are two of six currently in the works, with at least two others — Akasha in Nulu and Monnick Beer Co. in Schnitzelburg — close to completion.

Floyd County Brewing Company has opened for business in downtown New Albany.

Earlier in the week, Floyd County Brewing Company "softly" opened.

FCBC is located at 129 W. Main Street in New Albany. It's on the same side of Main as the YMCA, and across the street from The Exchange and Seeds and Greens.

According to the Facebook page, where you can get more information, FCBC's brewer is Jeff Coe. Beers include a Stout, IPA and Saison; I haven't had the opportunity to sample them yet, so my report will have to wait.

There is a full food menu, although as yet, only evening hours: Tuesday through Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to midnight. FCBC is hiring, and will commence lunchtime hours once staffing is complete.

A reminder: On Saturday, October 3, beers from all three New Albany brewing companies (NABC, Donum Dei and NABC) will be served at the New Albany Restaurant and Bar Association's inaugural Biers on Parade (with food and music) at the Farmers Market, downtown. The event coincides with the Harvest Homecoming Parade.

Read more about it here.

Stephen "Taco Steve" Powell, his taco cart, and downtown New Albany.

Meet Taco Steve of Powell's Pigs & Cows.

You may know him as Stephen Powell, formerly of NABC, and now a taco entrepreneur in downtown New Albany.

This is Stephen's Taco Cart, which he's setting up on the corner by Hugh E. Bir's on Fridays and Saturdays starting at 6 p.m., past midnight -- or until he runs out of food.

Stephen gets his smoked pork and chicken from Shawn Pitts, operator of Shawn's Southern BBQ on State Street.

The tacos look like this ...

 ... and Ed Needham is a satisfied customer.

On Mondays and Tuesdays through the favorable weather season, Stephen will be setting up by Comfy Cow on Market Street between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Credit and debit cards are accepted, and he's been known to produce vegetarian black bean tacos.

Most of you know Stephen from his decades of bar service, so now you can visit him for all your taco needs.

Floyd County Brewing Company (in New Albany) is getting closer to opening.

Floyd County Brewing Company continues to progress toward a summer opening.

The brewer is former NABC brewery bad-ass Josh Hill (pictured), and I'm still experiencing mixed emotions in his absence from NABC. I'm simultaneously delighted for him, and wishing he still was on board at my place.

But they all leave the nest eventually, don't they?

FCBC is located in the heart of downtown New Albany on the southwest corner of Main and W. 1st Streets. It's already a busy intersection, and it can only get more highly populated. The YMCA is adjacent, and across the street there's The Exchange pub + kitchen (which currently is building new patio space) and Seeds & Greens Natural Market & Deli.

Previously I've devoted space at my civic affairs blog to noting just how busy this area will be, and the for pressing need to get the intersection equipped with crosswalks or whatever other traffic slowing mechanisms might make it friendlier for people, as opposed to their cars. Customers are going to walk across the street in all directions, and right now, this isn't always safe.

Must we wait for a traffic study to slow traffic and put crosswalks at the corner of Main and W. 1st?

I've served notice to Josh that there needs to be a good Ordinary Bitter on tap for his former employer.

CHECK OUT THOSE HOPS: Floyd County Brewing bringing fun, food and craft beer to New Albany, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — The recent revitalization of downtown has often been referred to as New Albany’s renaissance; however, one brewery and restaurant is taking the medieval theme to heart.

From the giant turkey legs on the menu, to the clever “Floyd” character who serves as a sort of mascot for the establishment, Floyd County Brewing Co. seeks to offer a light-hearted alternative to the craft beer invasion that has swept through Indiana and the nation in recent years.

Sure, owners Brian and Julie Hampton, and Master Brewer Josh Hill believe their beer and food will be taken quite seriously, but they want to have some fun along the way.

“I hope it almost feels like you’re walking onto the set of 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail,'” Brian Hampton said.

The PC: Who'll put the beer in Boomtown?

The PC: Who'll put the beer in Boomtown?

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

There was a first-time event last year in New Albany called Boomtown Ball & Festival. It will be repeated this year, but first, let’s take a look back at the inaugural.

Boomtown took place on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, and was centered on the farmers market space at the corner of Bank and Market. In conjunction with Production Simple, the local band Houndmouth “curated” musical acts. The Flea Off Market set up shop. There was a locally operated beer and libation vending station called Boomtown Tavern, selling (among other choices) NABC’s Houndmouth Ale.

In accordance with Indiana state law, the whole festival area was fenced off (see below), while outside the mandated enclosure, many of downtown New Albany's retail shops, eateries and watering holes observed special hours. By 9:00 p.m., the merriment of Boomtown shifted indoors to The Grand, where Houndmouth played a sold-out show.

The whole kit and caboodle was underwritten by city government, and to know exactly how much it cost, you’d have to ask the mayor. He might even give you a straight answer, although it’s unlikely. At the time, City Hall vowed that Boomtown would become a yearly event, and accordingly, just last week, information was released describing Boomtown Ball Version 2.0, to be held on Sunday, May 24.

BAND BUZZ: Houndmouth to present encore Boomtown Ball & Festival in New Albany

NEW ALBANY — A band with New Albany roots making waves on the national music scene is presenting the second annual Boomtown Ball & Festival, and is curating the event’s music lineup.

Houndmouth, along with New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan and WFPK, are staging the Sunday, May 24 event, which serves as the kickoff for New Albany’s Bicentennial Park Summer Concert Series, according to a news release from Production Simple.

The release does not state whether Houndmouth will perform at the event.

Early indications are that Houndmouth will not perform at or near Boomtown in 2015, perhaps because the group will be prominently featured at Louisville’s Forecastle music festival in mid-July.

In addition, given that New Albany’s farmers market currently is undergoing a costly and mostly senseless renovation, it appears that Boomtown’s layout must by necessity change. The press release mentions use of Market Street, suggesting that the city will mimic the time-honored Harvest Homecoming pattern of closing Market from State to Bank, and Pearl between Spring and Main, then placing the flea market’s booths along the sidewalks on both sides of the street, in front of existing businesses.

But it’s all guesswork on my part.

Last year, I started sweating these details in February, as it was NABC’s responsibility to procure the alcohol licensing. In 2015, it’s an election year, and I’m mounting an independent campaign for mayor against the very same incumbent who intends Boomtown as a “platform plank” of his own.

Consequently, as Sgt. Hans Schultz once presciently observed, “I know nothing! I see nothing! I hear nothing!"

---

It’s worth noting that while a supplementary catering permit like NABC’s is useful in such settings, it isn’t the only course. The city itself could obtain a standard temporary permit, and in fact, it just might be doing so as I write this column. There is plenty of time, and yet I’d be remiss (and not at all curmudgeonly) if I missed the opportunity to offer a few helpful pointers.

In Indiana, temporary event planning with adult libations as a component makes perfect sense, at least until the state of Indiana’s laws governing one-off alcoholic beverage serving permits are taken into consideration, and even then, Alcohol & Tobacco Commission guidelines are not overly complicated -- unless one is confronted with the enduring obstinacy of human nature.

Only then does it get weird.

The grounds of a temporary event must be enclosed, typically through the use of portable plastic fencing, and attendees must use delineated points of entry and exit. If the event is intended for all ages, the bar area must also be separated as an over-21-only perimeter.

You can carry your beer from the bar area out into the larger fenced expanse, but not from the festival grounds, so as to wander the streets outside in anarchic fashion. Alcoholic beverages sold within the enclosure are to remain there and not to be carried out. Similarly, alcoholic beverages purchased outside the enclosure are not supposed to be brought inside.

Is this clear? Whomever pulls the temporary alcoholic beverage sales permit is obliged to enforce these rules and risk fines, including the possibility of losing the yearly permit upon which daily business ultimately depends.

It might help to know that the ATC is composed of state police officers with full powers of enforcement. It does not answer to locally elected or appointed officials, who must obey the rules like everyone else. Grains of salt come in handy when they suggest otherwise.

Last year at the first Boomtown, my exasperation level was high. Once, I watched as a civilian walked up to a section of fencing we’d just repaired with zip ties, and began tearing it apart to create her own custom-designed exit.

“Excuse me, but that’s not an exit. It’s a fence.”

“But it isn’t clearly marked.”

True, the state of Indiana hasn’t yet required us to post signs on fences stating THIS IS A FENCE,” and as a lifelong malcontent, I’ve often had the same reaction to fencing as the woman’s. But one looks at reality differently when his company's name is on the festival permit.

On the other side of the Boomtown compound, where families were seated at tables adjacent to the mandated fencing, a green, grassy, open area was only yards away on the other side. I learned that in such situations, children cannot be deterred from destroying fencing to go play in the grass, pushing the fence upward on the crawl while adults mashed it down in pursuit of their wayward kids.

It appears as though this year, these will become the worries of another -- and all the best to you.

---

At the first Boomtown, our beer, wine and spirits vending area inside the temporary Boomtown fest grounds utilized NABC’s supplementary catering permit, but it was managed as a cooperative made up of several local establishments, which shifted a percentage of the Boomtown bar's combined business to serve as seed money for the New Albany Restaurant & Bar Association – which now exists as a legal entity.

Another portion of NABC’s proceeds went to worthy causes, with recipients including Open Door Youth Services and Rauch Inc.

During the course of my involvement with Boomtown last year, I preached the gospel of heightened communication, which goes a very long way toward reducing confusion to manageable levels, if not eliminating it outright.

I made decisions and urged solutions on the basis of more communication, not less, and in the simple recognition that downtown stakeholders already had issues with unanswered questions pertaining to pre-existing impositions (read: Harvest Homecoming) without needing any more of them.

Our downtown has changed, and we just can’t persist in top-down planning without seeking some measure of consensus first, primarily from those who stand to be affected by the actions being considered.

A good way to start is this question: “Do you mind if we use your space?”

What does any of this have to do with beer? The Indiana ATC’s temporary event requirements are far easier to implement in symmetrical, open areas, apart from the variables embraced by an urban street grid. Whomever interprets the rules for this year’s Boomtown should bear this in mind, because particularly in this application, common sense isn’t always.

I hope it works out, and trust that it will. After so many years on the planning and vending side of the equation, attending an event like Boomtown as a mere spectator may be strange.

A few beers probably will make it better, starting right about now.

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.

A "resurgence of construction activity" at the future Floyd County Brewing Company.

It's been a few days since I snapped the photo, but no matter; work is progressing at the future site of Floyd County Brewing Company, somewhat incongruously located in the heart of downtown New Albany on the southwest corner of Main and W. 1st Streets. It's going to be a busy corner, and soon, as the YMCA, Exchange restaurant and Seeds & Greens are mere yards away.

With warm weather comes a resurgence of construction activity. Many wheels turning at the Fed, State & Local levels.

Follow the effort at Twitter.

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

Cooking classes and much food, close to us at BSB.

The cooking classes mentioned in the press release for "Class with Chef" will take place at Destinations Booksellers, just a few blocks east of Bank Street Brewhouse.

Class with Chef: The official press release.

Coincidentally, Randy and Ann are rethinking their bookstore space in much the same way as NABC is rethinking its Bank Street Brewhouse layout. They are looking to meld books, learning and instruction into a third space.

We're eliminating the expense of a restaurant, and focusing on brewing and using beer as the accompaniment in common with a diverse range of events and happenings.

By the way, downtown New Albany is a food court, and we have beers of proven merit to accompany nearby cuisine. Bring food with you, as discussed here:

My new favorite downtown New Albany dish is ...

Houndmouth, Boomtown and a crazy day planned for May 25.

On Memorial Day weekend, there'll be a sizeable street party in downtown New Albany on Sunday, May 25. It's being called Boomtown Ball, and it's being viewed as a homecoming of sorts for the band called Houndmouth, to which New Albany has proudly laid claim in an expression of civic pride seldom witnessed hereabouts, apart from when the high school Bulldogs make a basketball tourney run.

Houndmouth will be playing a sold-out show at The Grand on Sunday night. Before that, there'll be a beer garden superimposed on the farmers market at the corner of Market and Bank, running from about 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Production Simple is booking bands to perform on an outdoor stage. The Flea Off market will be spread out within the beer garden, and many downtown shops will be open nearby.

Obviously, my company's direct interest in this event is selling lots of Houndmouth Ale -- inside The Grand on Sunday night, outside during the day, and throughout the week preceding Boomtown, when we'll be trying to have Houndmouth on tap at numerous New Albany establishments.

On the 25th, handling the beer, wine and spirits vending inside the temporary Boomtown area will be a cooperative made up of several local establishments: NABC, Irish Exit, Feast BBQ, JR's/502 Winery, among others. Of course, other downtown hospitality purveyors are located only a short walk away (Mojitos at Habana Blues, anyone?) A percentage of the Boomtown bar's combined business will become seed money for our New Albany Food & Drink Association, a project about to blossom, and one we're all quite excited to see arrive.

It can be hard to explain the Byzantine state licensing required of such events, and I've tried to do so during the course of publicizing Boomtown. It comes down to this: If you're 21 years of age and can prove it, you can drink alcoholic beverages inside the temporary area or outside it ... but you cannot carry them in and out.

Below are links to further information. It should suffice to say that Boomtown will be a big crowd with plenty of music, libations, food and shopping. It's a holiday weekend, and few people will be working on Monday. My advice: pace yourself, and have a designated driver.

March 3

Houndmouth and the Boomtown Ball in downtown New Albany on Sunday, May 25.

March 25

UPDATE: Boomtown Ball and Houndmouth in downtown New Albany on Sunday, May 25.

April 26

Boomtown Ball & Festival details: Of bands, businesses and beers.

April 28

Here is a rough sketch of the Boomtown Ball site plan for May 25, with explanation.

April 29

All about the bands on the outdoor stage at Boomtown Ball on May 25.

The Diary of Our Own Jimmy Bracken: Boomtown, or bring on the Lilliputians, and pour me a Houndmouth.

In New Albany, where we’re all here because we’re not all there, the cat herding has been more difficult than usual lately. However, the crazed critters just may be getting the hang of some recommended synchronicity. Faust took six months of my life in exchange for the bargain, but who's counting lifespans, anyway?

On Sunday, May 25, there is a big musical event planned for New Albany. A downtown festival called Boomtown Ball will run from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and then at 8:00 p.m., the band Houndmouth will play a sold-out “homecoming” show at The Grand.

The Boomtown Ball/Cats in Single File portion of the day has been occupying much of my time. As usual (read: as envisioned by the organizers), the plan is deceptively simple. The city closes certain streets, Production Simple books musical acts to perform on a temporary stage, the Flea Off market sets up shop, and voila – fest time, with adult libations.

That last part is the kicker, necessitating the parsing of various Indiana state alcoholic beverage laws and the disposition of permits, while consulting with lawyers and insurance agents, with commensurate, delicate calculations of who, where, when, what, why and how. Not everyone understands how the world works, and the process of rectification has been exhausting, but in the end, fervent negotiations are yielding quantifiable results.

Ultimately, I believe the Boomtown day will make perfect sense, and the cause of localism in beverage vending and consumer satisfaction will be advanced; imperfectly, perhaps, but with potentially valuable lessons learned.

Please mark these dates on your calendars:

First: Houndmouth Week (sic) in New Albany, circa May 19-25. Downtown bars and restaurants will be planning their own special promotions and events to whet appetites for the Boomtown Ball on May 25th.

Next: The Boomtown Ball itself, taking place downtown on Bank and Market Streets on the 25th, as described above.

Finally: The Houndmouth show itself. As noted, it is sold out, but I’ll hazard a guess that the party will proceed much later into the evening after the show at those late-night establishments operating nearby, i.e., the Irish Exit, Wick’s and Liquidz.

NABC hopes to run through a few kegs of Houndmouth Ale during the course of these various celebrations.

But you already inferred that, didn’t you?

The PC: I’m not kidding. Downtown New Albany is a craft beer destination.

(Published at LouisvilleBeer.com on September 15, 2013)

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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 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.

That’s why this year’s LEO Weekly Readers’ Choice poll results are pleasing to me. After finishing first in 2012, Bank Street Brewhouse placed second in the Best Restaurant (Southern Indiana) balloting, trailing Feast BBQ, and finishing just ahead of The Exchange. What the three of us have in common is a location in New Albany, where such a trifecta would have been unthinkable a few short years ago.

As Metro Louisville slowly awakens to the notion of downtown New Albany as a varied, quality “food court” worthy of attention, what may not be as obvious is the pervasive extent to which craft beer reigns supreme in these newer dining establishments.

Take it from me; it didn’t happen overnight.

—

The late, lamented Bistro New Albany opened in 2006, and closed roughly a year and a half later. It occupied downstairs space in an otherwise shuttered former hotel on the corner of Bank and Market, where the bar and restaurant used to be.

In rooms once filled with Sunday lunchtime churchgoers, local grandees and hotel patrons, most of them sipping sweet tea and nibbling at Salisbury steak with standard-order mashed potatoes, the BNA’s David Clancy conjured a contemporary bistro menu. Perhaps it wasn’t as daring as similar spots in Louisville, but the concept was revolutionary for a downtown largely moribund, and the effect was electric.

Better yet, Chef Clancy kept ten good beers on tap, all of the time. Some were imports, and others regional. Usually there were a couple of drafts from NABC, at a time when our outside distribution was quite limited. When BNA started, “craft” beer was about as unknown in downtown New Albany as nylons in Leonid Brezhnev’s USSR, but in the bistro’s wake, modernity gradually began creeping into the vacuum. Some of the establishments have since gone (Connor’s Place, The Speakeasy), but the food and drink generation to follow has made my city’s historic business district a place to go for craft drafts.

—

These thoughts first occurred to me one day in September, when I decided to have a beer for lunch, which I do quite often, occasionally varying the routine by including an edible morsel or two. Granted, the beer’s (somewhat) free for me at Bank Street Brewhouse, but it’s nice to maintain a schedule of visitations in the neighborhood to greet fellow operators and sample their wares.

On that day, my choice of venues for a purely liquid lunch revealed a masochistic streak, because it is almost impossible to sit for any length of time at Feast BBQ’s bar and resist ordering food.

To walk into this historic, lovingly restored tavern is to be wrestled to the ground by the visceral aroma of smoky meat; to pick oneself up and proceed to the bar provides a pleasing vista of one hundred or more bourbons, as well as a dozen taps devoted exclusively to beers brewed in Indiana and Kentucky. My choice was a Workingman’s Pilsner by Fountain Square Brewing Company in Indianapolis, and it was cool, crisp and tasty.

Before Prohibition, Feast’s space was designed for watering people. Their horses were cared for in the adjoining building, known as Shrader Stables, where The Exchange restaurant quickly has become downtown New Albany’s crown jewel, both architecturally and in terms of delicious gastropub cuisine. The cocktail program is extensive, and the draft beer selection tilted toward nationally distributed American craft brands.

On my first visit to the stables some years back, it was a grim picture of roof cave-ins, mildew and all-purpose decay, but on a more recent occasion, I enjoyed a hoppy Daredevil IPA (Shelbyville, Indiana) and admired workhorse local developer Steve Resch’s stellar building renovation, which is an attraction in itself, and arguably second only to Patrick O’Shea’s on Whiskey Row in downtown Louisville. The sleek modern lines of the YMCA’s building across Main Street reflects the refashioned stables in its windows, and the juxtaposition of urbanism is striking.

A few blocks west of Exchange and Feast is JR’s Pub, housed in a comfy, utilitarian building astride Main Street (i.e., the route to Horseshoe Casino), with outdoor volleyball courts in back, plenty of sports on television, and a half-dozen NABC beers on tap – making it the brewery’s largest draft lineup outside our own two pubs. JR’s fried fish sandwich is second to none, and the blue plate specials provide solid midday value. The vibe is purely egalitarian, and it’s a clean, well-lighted place with Bud Light bottle babies and Beak’s Best pint lovers mingling together.

Perhaps the most pleasing outgrowth of downtown New Albany’s transformation is an expansion of international flair. Dragon King’s Daughter (corner of Bank and Elm) offers sushi and Japanese-Mexican fusion cuisine, and follows in the noble tradition of the late, lamented Maido by pouring a half-dozen American craft beers at all times.

Habana Blues (Cuban), La Bocca (Italian) and Louis le Francais (French) are clustered on one short block of Market, which also boasts Toast on Market for breakfast, house-roasted Quills Coffee, a cigar shop and smoking lounge called Billow, and DP Updogs, a corner hot dog stand. Both Habana Blues and La Bocca have short draft lists with multiple NABC taps and other crafts and imports, although opting for a Mojito at Habana Blues can be forgiven.

On the other hand, while stocking very little beer, Chef Louis’s little slice of France specializes mostly in good wine, pointing to the availability of quality vino in downtown New Albany. River City Winery is located on Pearl Street, makes excellent pizza, and sells only its own house wines, as produced by the owner in the basement when he’s not on duty as a city policeman. JR’s, mentioned earlier, shares common ownership with the Old 502 Winery in Louisville, and of course those wines are featured at JR’s.

But there’s even more good beer downtown: On draft at the New Albany location of Wick’s Pizza (State Street across from Schmitt Furniture), in bottles at Café 27 on Main, and both ways at Irish Exit, a few blocks east in the direction of Mansion Row. Lastly, permit me a tout for my own business: Bank Street Brewhouse obviously features NABC’s beers of proven merit, a dozen on draft at a time, with another (or sometimes two) on hand pull, as well as the full range of 22-ounce bomber bottles. We arrived in 2009, and it’s been one hell of a ride so far.

For many years, downtown New Albany was a food and drink wasteland. Now, surveying the preceding list, I’m guessing that within easy walking distance of each other, there are 75 or more “good beer” taps from breweries ranging from Hoosier stalwarts NABC, Flat12, Sun King and Three Floyds to national brands like Boulevard, Stone, Bell’s and Shipyard – and don’t forget Keg Liquors on Pearl, only a few doors down from perhaps the one business downtown that really has seen it all: Kaiser Tobacco, operating since before the American Civil War.

Since 1832, in fact.

There’s a turn of local phrase: We’re all here because we’re not all there. But there’s much more here than before. Come over and check it out. Catch me on a liquid lunch day, and I may even be offering tours.