Headlines from February 2018 on THE BEER BEAT.

This blog has gone on hiatus, 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, each month I'll collect the links right here. Following are February'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.

---

THE BEER BEAT: There's one small problem with the Growler USA franchise coming to Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Meanwhile, the News and Tribune informs us there'll be a new beer business down the road in Jeffersonville. The header says it's a brewpub, but I think not.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Just so you know, Devil's Backbone is a Trojan Zombie Afterlife Brewery, Beer Necessities has perished, and AB InBev remains a pack o'vermin.

Repeat after me: "Pack o’ vermin." Like a plague virus, nothing AB InBev touches can be considered healthy or good.

I reiterate: Follow the money. There's enough excellent beer out in this and any other market to preclude supporting vermin with your money.

---

THE BEER BEAT: "Pints & Union to open in New Albany, will be inspired by classic European pubs."

But first and foremost, Pints & Union marks a return to the ethos that originally compelled me to go into the beer business. For this opportunity, all thanks to Joe Phillips -- and serendipitously, Taco Steve (Powell).

---

ON THE AVENUES: Golden oldie classic comfort beers at an old school pub? Sounds like Pints & Union to me.

Food and drink lend themselves to constant reinvention, and yet it cannot be denied that there are eternal, renewable “classics” amid the bedlam. Clichés become such precisely because they contain an element of truth, and certain aspects of the human experience stand the test of time, whether an umbrella, mouse trap or a lovely, satisfying De Koninck.

In summary, for several years my troublesome contrarian instincts have been telling me that the beer climate is ripe for a principled, thoughtful return to founding values, emblemized by a relatively small, mostly fixed list of classic beers on draft, and in bottles and cans, to be accompanied by some hearty old-fashioned beer education, which seems to have been tossed aside in the era of cyber “craft” fandom.

---

THE BEER BEAT: "Busting Up the Brotherhood of Beer: Time to confront sexism & harassment in the industry."

Here comes the learnin'. I'd suggest diverting your gaze from Untappd, if only for a few seconds, and partaking in something real.

---

THE BEER BEAT: On crowlers, Southern beer terroir and Sunday sales changes in Indiana.

Crowlers aren't new as such, but they're new to New Albany, so stop by FCBC, watch the show, and buy a can of beer to go.

---

THE BEER BEAT: The twentieth Gravity Head begets a Pints & Union update.

Mark Lasbury does an excellent job of describing what Gravity Head looks like to the uninitiated (bizarre insanity), so take it to the bank: what makes me mildly churlish isn't the absence of personal recognition, but the fact that beer history is routinely neglected these days -- and there's a lot of history to Gravity Head.

---

THE BEER BEAT: "Akasha Brewing Company: Karma and craftsmanship, cruising under the radar" -- from Food & Dining Magazine.

While Indian cosmology might make a fine category on Jeopardy!, the story of Akasha Brewing Company (909 East Market Street) in Louisville KY’s ever-evolving NuLu neighborhood is decidedly more prosaic.

---

THE BEER BEAT: At long last, my NABC business divorce is about to be finalized.

Now it's 2018, and tomorrow morning -- three years after I followed Dr. Freedman's advice to pull down my pants and slide on the ice -- my ass is FROZEN SOLID, and a bit chapped, but the exit transaction finally will be complete.

___

Headlines from January 2018 on THE BEER BEAT.

This blog has gone on hiatus, 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, each month I'll collect the links right here. Following are January'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.

---

THE BEER BEAT: "The Drinking Bout in the Cathedral Porch," or why it's time to make the Feast of Fools great again on New Year's Day.

Make no mistake: "Lux Optata Claruit," from the section called "Mass Of The Asses, Drunkards And Gamblers," is drinking music equal to "Gimme a Pigfoot" or "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight."

One need only observe an expanded context.

---

THE BEER BEAT: On inauthenticity, disinformation, RateBeer and those disembodied breweries of the Trojan Zombie Afterlife.

If Trump were to consider deporting counter-revolutionary swine like these, I might consider voting for him.

ZX Ventures is a global incubator, operator, and venture capital team backed by Anheuser-Busch InBev. We are a small army of futurists, dreamers, doers, designerers, engineers, scientists, marketers, brewers, builders, and data geeks.

---

THE BEER BEAT: We always cook with beer. Sometimes, we even add it to the food.

Which brings me back to your meal and beers tonight.

What you’ll be experiencing tonight is something exceedingly rare in the current time, so oddly offbeat as to be a counter-revolutionary act. Your meal tonight and those drinks accompanying it are not being crowd-sourced. Ratings have not been consulted, polls have not been taken, and not a single selfie was harmed in the preparation of this feast.

Rather, the bill of fare was selected because in the experience and intuition of Chef Fill-in-the-Blank and Anonymous Brewing, it was felt these dishes and beers belong alongside each other.

---

THE BEER BEAT: How "Ambitious Brew" prefaced "I Know What Boyz Like" -- and "The Misogynist Within."

The (pre-Prohibition) brewers didn't know what hit them, primarily because they refused to pay attention until it was too late.

Ever since Leg Spreader first oozed to the surface three years ago (really -- it was January, 2015), much has been accomplished with respect to sexism in "craft" beer.

Quite a bit is left to be done, judging by another excellent piece by Bryan Roth, who is one of the most thoughtful beer writers around -- perhaps the Dave Zirin of good beer?

---

THE BEER BEAT meets "comfort beer." It's undervalued, but real -- for instance, like Fuller's London Pride. Did I mention undervalued?

1. What one word, or phrase, do you think should be used to describe beer that you’d like to drink?

Comfort.

As I was laying out this post, another paean to comfort beer popped up in my Twitter feed, leading to immediate pangs of hunger for an authentically rendered Cornish pasty (pastie, British pasty, oggie, oggy, teddy oggie, tiddy oggin or oggy oggin) washed down with one or more adeptly pulled PINTS OF BITTER, damn it.

---

THE BEER BEAT: V-Grits, False Idol Independent Brewers, their bricks 'n' mortar vegan brewery in development -- and the BSB Hangover Hoedown in 2015.

As has been widely reported recently, V-Grits is partnering with a brewery start-up to be known as False Idol Independent Brewers in a bricks 'n' mortar shared vegan brewery space at the former (and revered) Monkey Wrench at 1025 Barret Avenue ...

... I strongly suspect V-Grits and False Idol will do quite well with this concept, and perhaps a yearly commemorative Monkey Wrench Ale would be appropriate.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Chili cook-off at Donum Dei Brewery on the 28th, to benefit APRON.

Just when you thought "Bowl Season" was finished, we present the first chili cook-off to benefit Apron, Inc.

---

THE BEER BEAT: This smoked beer story is fine, thank you. Also: Eiderdown and Sunday sales.

Today's linked posting at Atlas Obscura strikes me as a perfectly reasonable introduction to the genre of smoky flavored beers, so naturally, I saw the article subsequently mentioned somewhere on Facebook, and found a heated debate among purists as to whether Garrett Oliver's description of a firebox was technically accurate, how such glaring errors as this fatally compromised his stewardship as editor of the Oxford Companion to Beer, and whether every "t" was crossed and "i" dotted -- and I was muttering obscenities to myself.

Give me a freaking break.

I thought: Have any of you ever stood behind a bar and tried to help a real person understand what smoked beer was all about, with the goal of encouraging the customer to try one, and maybe even enjoy it?

---

THE BEER BEAT: Have a look at this Pints&Union pub buildout progress report.

Later the building housed two bars, first Love's Cafe and then more recently, Good Times. It is in the process of being almost completely rebuilt from the ground up, with much of the original wood slated to be repurposed in the interior. When the work is finished, it will become Pints & Union, the forthcoming pub being sketched by Joe Phillips and yours truly.

Our shared vision takes the traditional Anglo-Irish pub as a starting point. It might be described as "progressively old school," although this phrase lamentably is being used by someone else.

---

THE BEER BEAT: "Dives and hives" in Nawbany, a new brewery coming to Floyds Knobs, and other tales of the drinking life.

Sara's pub crawl also took her to Jack's, Brooklyn and The Butcher and Hugh E. Bir Cafe. Taken as a whole, her wanderings testify to a rich diversity of drinking options in New Albany, and in spite of my own personal trials and travails, I have to admit I'm proud to have played my role in it -- and look forward to doing so again.

Speaking of start-ups, I too was surprised to see a brewery coming soon to Floyds Knobs (Our Lady of Perpetual Hops).

___

Headlines from May 2017 on THE BEER BEAT.

Okay, okay -- I'm two weeks late.

Previously, I explained several reasons why this blog has gone on hiatus, and explained that my thoughts about beer will be posted alongside my utterances about everything else, over yonder at NA Confidential. You'll find them there via the all-purpose tag, The Beer Beat.

However, whenever the urge strikes -- probably monthly -- I'll collect a few of these links right here. Following are May's ruminations, with the oldest listed first. Some are more topical than others, and I'm past the point of caring about it.

Thanks for reading, if belatedly.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Schaller’s Pump has closed, but why was Chicago's oldest bar called a "Pump," anyway?

The demise of any 136-year-old bar is both newsworthy and regrettable. What strikes me about Schaller's Pump is the name itself. Nowadays, you simply don't see too many bars referring to themselves as "pumps," although there are a few newer establishments around the country that have borrowed the rare old-school usage.

---

THE BEER BEAT: The Pour Fool nails it yet again, as "Budweiser Finds Another Sell-Out" -- this time, Wicked Weed.

Like others before it, Wicked Weed Brewing has died. That's unfortunate, indeed, but from the moment the ownership of Wicked Weed passed to AB InBev, this previously independent brewery was transformed into something else. Now it's Wicked Trojan Zombie Afterlife Weed. We'll always have our memories.

Speaking only for myself, I wouldn't drink a WTZAW beer with Donald Trump's lips.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Wicked, Weed -- Whatever: "Tastes of paradise can shatter mirrors" (2014).

Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants and Intoxicants (is) by the wonderfully named Wolfgang Schivelbusch. He is not a Groucho Marx character from Duck Soup, but a German-born cultural historian operating from a decidedly (Karl) Marxist perspective.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Wicked, Weed -- Whatever: "This week in solipsistic beer narcissism" (2014).

Given the perpetual linkages between education and personal advancement, why is it that people choose to devalue the notion of education, eschewing the why, how and wherefore, and substituting in their place a solipsistic, narcissism-driven, knee-jerk, me-first hedonism?

---

THE BEER BEAT: Wicked, Weed -- Whatever: "Let's explore anti-local craft beer unconsciousness" (2013).

We don't need Bourbon County Stout when other versions of wood-aged stouts (and other styles) produced by genuine indies are in the same league.

We don't need whatever sour specialty used to be brewed by Wicked Weed before its untimely demise.

Instead, we need to log off Untappd, hide the phone, find a local brewery and enjoy a fresh beer with living, breathing humans.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Wicked, Weed -- Whatever: "Localism + Beer" (2012).

It makes no sense to labor over writing a fresh new essay when we've all been here before, and whether or not the "keep politics out of my narcissism" caste
realizes it, we've been here ever since Goose Island died.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Wicked, Weed -- Whatever. Localism is the salve for your cognitive dissonance.

There are plenty of laws that might be enacted to put AB InBev in its place, but these are unlikely to be written, because who benefits the most from robber baron multinationals if not the politicians accepting their campaign contributions?

Accordingly, if vile politicians give money to AB InBev with the aim of preserving monopolies and suppressing choice, why would you even consider doing the same -- even if it's your precious Bourbon County Stout?

---

THE BEER BEAT: It has been three years since BSB's original kitchen closed, so let's return to "Ice Cold WCTU (A Modest Proposal)."

By January of 2015, I'd decided to run for mayor and take a leave of absence, which turned permanent shortly thereafter -- and no, they haven't paid me a dime yet. Perhaps it's time to make an attorney rich.

All in all, it's been a charmed life, and I have few regrets. One of them is that it wasn't possible to follow through on what undoubtedly was my greatest idea: Ice Cold WCTU, a museum and conceptual memorial to the victims of Prohibition, doubling as the unique shtick to draw customers to the brewery.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Moss the Boss and his L’ Eblouissant (The Dazzling), one of my favorite pubs in the world.

Even then, we almost missed The Dazzling. There was no sign apart from a back-lit Murphy’s Stout oval, adorning an accurate facsimile of an Irish pub front. We stepped inside, only to find the pub officially closed to make room for at least two dozen Namur locals gathered there to celebrate their recent return from a tour of Sri Lanka.

At this juncture, our first acquaintance was made with the Belgo-Irish force of nature known as Alain Mossiat, to be forever known as “Moss the Boss.” Moss welcomed us, albeit a bit warily at first. His resistance began to crumble when it became evident that our beer pilgrim credentials were exemplary, and so an impromptu compromise was reached.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Starlight Distribution's entire inventory was destroyed by Friday's flooding.

Condolences to Starlight Distribution and solidarity with the recovery. The same goes for all the folks north of us who suffered damage from yesterday's flooding.

---

THE BEER BEAT: It should be in a museum, but the original Public House keg box has a new, loving home.

It was dubbed the Jouett Meekin Memorial Keg Box. For a while, I kept beer tapped to drink at home, and used the keg box for Harvest Homecoming Parade parties and occasional social gatherings. I’m quite attached to this hunk of metal and draft lines, but the time has come to find her a better home.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Odds and ends from the month of May. I can't remember anything before that.

It's good by me. Any effective strategy for dealing with sexism in "craft" beer is likely to be incremental. We're talking attitudes, and these take time. Speaking of time, I'm a history nut, and "extinct" styles fascinate me.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Fest of Ale is almost here, though New Albany Craft Beer Week wasn't.

In 2016, I took a stab at organizing a New Albany Craft Beer Week to precede Fest of Ale, and to culminate with it. It's a common promotional device, and one exercised widely. It didn't happen in New Albany this year.

Headlines from March 2017 on THE BEER BEAT.

Previously, I explained several reasons why this blog has gone on hiatus, and explained that my thoughts about beer will be posted alongside my utterances about everything else, over yonder at NA Confidential.

You'll find them there via the all-purpose tag, The Beer Beat. However, whenever the urge strikes -- probably monthly -- I'll collect a few of these links right here. Here is another month, with the most recent listed first. Apologies if topicality has gone out the window. I'm still groping for a working routine.

---

THE BEER BEAT: An assortment of headlines for beer and dissection.

Every year is the same, and I repeat once again: SUNDAY SALES ALREADY EXIST. Each year without fail, someone writes a column like this one lamenting Indiana's undisputed legal weirdness, and it always ends with the broad claim that there is a prohibition on Sunday sales. But beer, wine and spirits are available for carry-out on Sunday from small Indiana's brewers, vintners and distillers -- and there are virtually no restrictions pertaining to on-premise consumption.

---

THE BEER BEAT: I've decided to skip this year's Session Beer Day observance. See you in 2018.

As most readers know by now, (my mother) died two weeks ago, and I'm happy to have kept my vow of sobriety (if not outright abstinence). We're never to old to learn, or to feel. Session Beer Day was to be the resumption of normality, and yet to be honest, I'm not feeling it. I can see myself having a couple of beers somewhere, just not in the previously suggested format.

---

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS meets THE BEER BEAT: Boontling, a local dialect made famous by Anderson Valley Brewing Company.

Hop Ottin' was a precursor to our IPA-crazed contemporary era, and it also serves to introduce today's lingo.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Bryan Roth on sexism, anonymity and speaking openly about diversity.

If the guild is supported by the majority Indiana breweries, and it is, and if these breweries agree that it's a good thing for the guild to lobby on their behalf, then the corollary is for them to accept an obligation to be socially responsible -- precisely because the Indiana legal regime stipulates that irresponsibility (serving minors, etc) is grounds for the revocation of the brewing privilege.

---

THE BEER BEAT: "'Pinup versus pin her down': Indiana beers stoke controversy."

Last December, I was revisited by ghosts. It's a recurring phenomenon with me.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Airline pricing for movie theater drinks, although we've little idea which ones.

If I were an editor at Business First -- well, that's unlikely, given that business-oriented publications contain far too many numbers for a humanities major like me, and anyway, it's my habit to refrain from fetishizing grubby capitalists -- I'd ask the contributing writer why some of the following beers are tagged by brand name, but the wines are identified by style.

---

THE BEER BEAT: Highlights but no Lites, or a beer news roundup.

Coincidentally, as I ponder the most recent effort (fingers crossed) to bring the NABC buyout saga to a conclusion, All About Beer offers a wonderful tip about the power of realism.

---

THE BEER BEAT: No beer ... but a whole lotta mezcal in the new edition of Food & Dining, including a previously unpublished feature-length essay.

The assignment began as a column-length look at Louisville KY resident Marcos Mendoza and his Mala Idea line of mezcal, then John Carlos White turned me loose to write about mezcal at length -- and at deadline, we'd see where it took me.

---

THE BEER BEAT: "HopCat is the craft beer lover’s meow."

Since Food & Dining is a quarterly, I wait until the current issue is published, then backtrack three months for the reprint, so this profile of HopCat is from Winter 2016; Vol. 54 (Aug/Sept/Oct) -- and yes, HopCat is a chain pub and eatery.

---

THE BEER BEAT: The revenge of analog in terms of drinking beer? I like the idea.

The single most memorable beer article I came across during the past week didn't so much as mention beer, not even once. Instead, the article in question is a brief rumination on the message to be gleaned from a new book by David Sax called The Revenge Of Analog: Real Things And Why They Matter.

__

The advent of THE BEER BEAT, and three links to it.

Previously, I explained several reasons why this blog is going on hiatus, indicating that my thoughts on beer will be posted alongside my thoughts on everything else, at NA Confidential. You'll find them there via the all-purpose tag, The Beer Beat.

However, whenever the urge strikes, I'll collect a few of these links here. First, a flashback.

THE BEER BEAT: Addressing diversity in "craft" beer, with Naughty Girl once again on the wrong side of the debate.

Let’s put an old saw to the test: Is it really true that any publicity is good publicity?

Specifically, if a New Albanian Brewing Company beer and beer label, as conceived on my watch in 2011, appears alongside an article by a national recognized blogger in 2016 and then is linked on Facebook by a brewing superstar, that’s wonderful, right?

Next, when good people succeed.

THE BEER BEAT: Localism in action, from Big Woods to Quaff On, now also Hard Times.

I've always like the people at this company, and it's been instructive to watch as they've expanded the business, geographically and in terms of product lines.

Finally, saying what you mean and meaning what you say.

THE BEER BEAT: Words like "local" and "unique," and beers for cold weather.

According to what I'm hearing, Flat12 as currently constituted has no plans to brew in Jeffersonville. Of course, this could change.

__

AFTER THE FIRE: New Albany’s Harvest Homecoming occupation isn't alleviating my "craft" beer Twitter depression.

AFTER THE FIRE: New Albany’s Harvest Homecoming occupation isn't alleviating my "craft" beer Twitter depression. 

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Idly cruising Twitter one recent evening, I happened upon a jarring retweet dispensed from a regional “craft” brewery’s official account.

It was nasty and misogynistic attack on the plaintiff in a biracial rape case, and judging from the hashtags, it may originally have emanated from supporters of the once and future Klansman, David Duke. Sadly, both Indiana and Kentucky have been traditional bastions of hooded white supremacy.

This dubious retweet was deleted so rapidly that I wasn’t able to snap a screenshot, and for this I’m oddly thankful, although my comforting rationale for its hasty removal – hey, someone probably confused his or her personal account with the brewery handle – isn’t tremendously reassuring upon closer examination.

Since the dawn of the brewing revolution, it has been my operating assumption that most of us are leftists. In the 90s, I simply can’t recall meeting very many fascists in the business.

However, as someone told me back in kindergarten, never assume; you make an ass out of "u" and me. Probably my sampling was always too small, and in terms of demographics, it’s unlikely that "craft" beer would be any different in attitudinal composition than the nation as a whole.

And yet it strikes me that positing a split between Democrats and Republicans (or liberals versus conservatives) in "craft" brewing circles is one thing, and retweeting the likes of David Duke is something else entirely.

Aberrant? Abhorrent? As the shoe or mash paddle fits.

It’s hard imagining me as a cockeyed optimist, but I genuinely believed that what we were doing in elevating better beer was ultimately inclusive – in ideal terms, if not in socio-economic reality. After all, there’s a market for dollar beers utterly removed from our reach.

Sexism, racism, abject macho stupidity -- tell me, how is this strengthening the revolution’s gains?

Or is it that you’re ignorant of the revolution’s tenets … and by extension, certain key elements of the American historical record? Given the comic-opera presidential campaign, perhaps 2016 was destined to be the year when the last bits of innocence went swirling down gold-plated toilets.

There isn’t much one grizzled veteran of the beer wars can do to protest in a case like this, though one response is crystal clear to me: I buy far less beer than before, and giving me a reason not to buy yours makes my choice -- nay, my life -- much easier.

How very disappointing.

---

Closer to home, New Albany’s peculiar institution of Harvest Homecoming approaches.

This year, the Curmudgeons are taking a rational route out of the ensuing discordancy – specifically, I-65, which gets us started on the northward journey to Madison, Wisconsin and four classic days removed from the civic daze.

Properly rendered, community festivals are just the sort of exercise to promote good times, unite the citizenry, help us bond through joy and alcohol (on second thought, that’s a redundancy), and maybe provide another yearly excuse to conduct a spate of deep street cleaning – preferably, both before and after the crowds come through.

Unfortunately, when it comes to celebrations, New Albany prefers ponderous bludgeoning over subtle stilettos. In rhetorical terms, so do I, and yet my feelings about Harvest Homecoming probably are more nuanced than they often appear to be.

I like it, except when I don’t.

Harvest Homecoming is New Albany’s annual 800-lb municipal gorilla, or stated more mildly, it is the granddaddy of all festivals in this slowly recovering, stubbornly hidebound city.

The annual arrival of the itinerant carney corps follows the opening Saturday parade, an increasingly dull “family-oriented” exercise, and then on the following Thursday the heart of the historic downtown business district is handed over lock, stock and sewer pipe to Harvest Homecoming’s mysterious, Kremlinesque governing committee.

Four solid days of throng-crowded booths ensue, increasingly manned not by local indies but roving huckster mercenaries, dispensing foodstuffs, arts, crafts, politics and anti-abortion counseling, and completely disrupting any semblance of downtown commerce as meant to function normally.

Increasingly, this yearly disruption constitutes the flash point. For decades, there was little objection to Harvest Homecoming’s yearly invasion and occupation of downtown, because downtown was a ghost town.

Now it isn’t, and dynamic revitalization has a predictable way of igniting a revolution of rising expectations among a new generation of downtown business owners, investors and clients.

These are plain facts.

However, as yet, there is no obvious solution to dynamism’s clash with conservatism, primarily because the low level of daily communication between various interested parties makes sparse dialogue between North and South Korea look like a beer hall sing-along in Munich.

Yes, there have been painstakingly slow and incremental concessions, and as Harvest Homecoming generationally reloads, the festival slowly is going through a necessary process of reinvention.

May it proceed a bit faster, please.

But from the standpoint of newer downtown businesses, the root equation remains largely unaltered: Harvest Homecoming’s longtime business model is dependent on the existence of a clean, moribund downtown grid that no longer exists, and if anything, will grow even less adaptive to the festival’s needs in the years to come as downtown residency become the norm, not the exception.

My personal nuances are these: I don’t dislike the idea of Harvest Homecoming, only its current implementation. I believe it can be adapted to take full advantage of potential symmetry between it and an evolving downtown business district, without sacrificing its tradition, and to the benefit of all parties involved. I envision a downtown food and drink court on the current booth grid, one maximizing the uniqueness of our burgeoning dining scene, retaining space for booths while not blocking year-long purveyors. I foresee a celebration of what downtown New Albany is, and is becoming.

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I’m just the only one stupid enough to dream aloud. For this, I'm sure to be punished.

Again.

(Go here to learn about a wonderful new initiative on Friday, October 7 called the Harvest Beer Hop)

---

September 26: AFTER THE FIRE: The seasonality of Oktoberfest in time, beer and year.

September 19: AFTER THE FIRE: This week in solipsistic beer narcissism (2014).

September 12: AFTER THE FIRE: England, or one man's heightened cholesterol panic is another man's nostalgic repast (2013).

September 5: AFTER THE FIRE: Beer stories and bedtime for gonzo (2013).

__

Death to chains: "MillerCoors Buys Out Oregon Brewery With History of Sexism Scandal."

It probably comes as no surprise that a multinational brewer accustomed to unprincipled pillage would be utterly titillated at the prospect of such a beer.

From January, 2014:

"Mouth Raper," a Horrible Idea for a Beer Name, by Shannon Finnell (Eugene Weekly)

And you thought "Double D Blond" was eyeroll-worthy. Hop Valley got some bad press when Rebecca Rose of Jezebel wrote about a post from Beervana's Jeff Alworth that claimed the real name of Hop Valley's "Mr. IPA" is "Mouth Raper." Alworth cited an alias page from ratebeer.com as proof, and a commenter added that she'd looked up the brew on Untapped after seeing it on Twitter as "Mouth Raper," and all the reviews there listed that as its name.

This makes Indiana's legendary Leg Spreader sound positively quaint -- but has MillerCoors made an offer for Route 2 Brews?

MillerCoors Buys Out Oregon Brewery With History of Sexism Scandal, by Martin Cizmar (Willamette Week)

They Now Own a Majority Stake In The Maker of "Mouth Raper"

There have been two very hot topics in the world of craft beer over the past few years.

First, there are the buy-outs.

Today, Oregon had another one. The Brewbound blog reports that a majority stake in Hop Valley has been acquired by MillerCoors for an undisclosed sum. The purchase follows on the heels of 10 Barrel, Ballast Point, Elysian and Lagunitas being bought for massive sums of money. In the case of Ballast Point, a billion dollars.

But unlike those other breweries, there will be no mourning period for Hop Valley. They make very, very average beer with shiny packaging. It's the IPA your mom brings over for dinner because she knows you like hoppy beers and it says "hop" right there on the label.

Nikos Ridge, co-owner of Ninkasi, another Eugene Brewery, did throw a little shade, which will likely be the last you hear of it.

"We are always disappointed when a member of the craft industry becomes part of one of the big two macrobreweries," Ridge told the Register-Guard. "The craft industry was built on being the antithesis of big beer, and has been competing successfully with the global conglomerates for the last 30 years."

But there is a second big issue in play over the past few years: the increasing awareness of sexism in craft beer ...

__

(4 of 4) 18th Street's Sex and Candy: "Your Sexism is Predictable and Boring, 18th Street Brewery."

This is where it comes full circle, with three posts at the MetaCookBook blog. These are self-explanatory, and more incisive than I ever could be. Read them.

My aim at present is to offer the background, not a  deep examination of my own viewpoint on this topic, though to read here and here is to understand where I come down.

My hesitance to leap into this fray owes not to timidity, but doubts about my relevance. I've been out of the loop, and I'm still adjusting from being someone in the brewery game to being outside it, now just a regular consumer like everyone else. It can be disorienting.

I'll have something to say, but not yet. First: Read these blog posts.

Your Sexism is Predictable and Boring, 18th Street Brewery.

My friend Lakeline just watched a brewery she liked take a critique of a sexually objectifying label they have very poorly. She had some words on it, and I offered to share those words here. I have my own thoughts on the topic, but I haven’t been able to put them down yet. For now, know I agree with every word she’s written below. — Natasha

Then ...

No, Seriously. 18th Street Brewery’s Response Was Utterly Predictable.

The most recent post on this blog is a guest post regarding 18th Street Brewery’s sexism. As the guest didn’t have a title, I titled it, “Your Sexism is Predictable and Boring, 18th Street Brewery.” And this is my take on the matter: 18th Street Brewery’s sexist response was utterly predictable.

Drew Fox (the founder & head brewer of 18th Street Brewery) has shown us before what he thinks of women. He’ll tell a woman raising concerns about the industry to “back the fuck off” and engage in policing what women and girls wear to try to derail the conversation at hand.

Then ...

Further Reading: Some Links on Sexism and Beer

One of my goals for blogging is to have an interesting link post every Monday morning. I didn’t manage that this past Monday because my day was spent really writing and polishing my post on beer and predictable sexism. It’s one of my best posts, I think, and very important.

1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4

__

(3 of 4) 18th Street's Sex and Candy, and wondering, "What ... the Brewers Association (Is) Doing to Address Gender and Race?"

The heated discussion about 18th Street's Sex and Candy dovetailed with a blogger's account of chats about gender and race in "craft" brewing at the recently concluded Craft Brewers Conference.

What is the Brewers Association's position, and by extension, is this something appropriate for consideration by state guilds?

You probably already know my answer to the latter question. I think it is.

wordpress.com/2016/05/09/what-is-the-brewers-association-doing-to-address-gender-and-race/">What Is the Brewers Association Doing to Address Gender and Race?

(By Bryan Roth, at This Is Why I'm Drunk)

 ... Some context before we get to the #longread.

The last few weeks have been ripe for discussion. Last month, one brewer’s Facebook rant on sexism went viral, and rightfully so. Last week, a Twitter argument erupted over a questionable beer label, and rightfully so. Hell, this year’s James Beard Award for Journalism went to a story about the lack of minorities in the beer industry.

It’s not hard to find labels that could easily be found as offensive.

1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4

__

(2 of 4) 18th Street's Sex and Candy, and how the "Twitter Fight Over Racy Indiana Beer Label Highlights Industry Sexism Concerns."

From the article/18th Street website.

This article explains how the exchange between public and brewery over the Sex and Candy label became, shall we say, heated.

Twitter Fight Over Racy Indiana Beer Label Highlights Industry Sexism Concerns, by Anthony Todd (Chicagoist)

There's a minor firestorm brewing on Twitter in the craft beer community, and it's about an old favorite topic of ours: Sexism in the beer world. We've seen plenty of potentially sex-laden beer labels, and you can add this one to the list: 18th Street Brewery's Sex and Candy. The brewer is also responsible for such beer names as "Bitches' Bank," "Bitter Bitch Pale Ale" and "Bitch Hands," so.

The label for Sex and Candy features a women's panties, emblazoned with the beer's name, and a pair of crossed thighs. Some might object, some might say it's all in good fun. At least one beer lover, however, registered her disappointment with it on Twitter.

OK. Social Media 101 says that if your brand gets attacked on Twitter, you have two choices: Ignore it or use it as an engagement opportunity. Unfortunately, 18th Street took the less-recommended third choice: attack the complainer.

1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4

__

(1 of 4) 18th Street's Sex and Candy, but first, the story of 18th Street Brewery.

My next few posts are going to be about the 18th Street Brewery, which came into existence a few short years ago in Gary, quickly exploded, and now has opened a production facility in Hammond.

Hardcore beer geeks already know about 18th Street and its founder/brewer, Drew Fox. More casual observers may not be familiar with the brewery, and this isn't unexpected considering the 120+ breweries currently operating in Indiana.

I've neither met Drew Fox nor visited his brewery's locations. I can attest to the quality of those 18th Street beers I've tasted.

What recently brought 18th Street Brewery into the spotlight wasn't its beer, but what some have perceived as sexism, as manifested by the label for Sex and Candy.

The backstory is, I saw the cans at Whole Foods, snapped a pic and sent it to Carla. She questioned the brewery. They stood by the label and called her a piece of garbage and a troll while doubling down with their social imaging. I've asked Whole Foods to consider moving the display to an interior shelf where kids might be less prone to asking what it is.

First, the brewery's story.

18th Street Brewery: Our Story

Sometimes things happen for a reason. Starting to feel burnt out from the wear and tear of the hospitality game, Drew Fox took a trip to Belgium. The hostel he was staying at had a phenomanal wheat beer with which he fell in love. Upon returning to Chicago, Drew found it difficult to get beers that sparked that same feeling he had in Europe. It was around this time that Blue Moon started circulating and it- along with Chicago's Half Acre, started to put Drew's wheels in motion ...

... In 2012 a Kickstarter campaign was begun to get money to open a brewery and taproom for 18th Street Brewery to call their own. The campaign was well recieved and exceeeded its initial goal. In the midst of brewing and bottling six different beers, 18th was able to find a home in the Miller Beach community of Gary, Indiana.

A very detailed brewery profile at Good Beer Hunting: GBH HYPE — 18th Street Brewery Secures an Independent Future in NW Indiana.

18th Street Brewery, lead by entrepreneur and brewer, Drew Fox, has earned local and international standing as a start-up in Gary, Indiana. Initially built through crowd funding on Kickstarter, the brewery has gone on to win “Best New Brewery in Indiana” from Ratebeer.com, collaborated with some of the world’s most creative brewers, and appealed to a local audience that stretches from downstate Indiana, to Chicago and the NW Indiana corridor, and audiences as far away as Denmark. Now, Fox and his team have found themselves on the verge of an incredible new chapter in the future of the business.

The new Hammond brewery opened in February, 2016.

18th Street Brewery opens Hammond brewpub Saturday, by Joseph S. Pete (NWI Times)

On Saturday, 18th Street Brewery will become Northwest Indiana’s first craft brewery to open a second brewpub.

The award-winning craft brewery, which was named the best newcomer in the state by RateBeer when it opened in Gary’s Miller neighborhood in late 2013, is now opening a new brewpub and production facility at 5417 Oakley Ave., in downtown Hammond.

18th Street is moving its brewing operations to the much larger former furniture store warehouse in Hammond, but will keep its Miller brewpub open. In the larger space, 18th Street will now be able to expand its distribution throughout Northwest Indiana and the rest of the state, including in South Bend and Elkhart.

1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4

___

THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON: Can I get a “do-over” on Naughty Girl?

THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON: Can I get a “do-over” on Naughty Girl?

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

In 1971 at the tender age of 11, I was an avid Civil War buff. Perhaps this owed to the conflict’s recently concluded centennial, or to my being a precocious reader. Even the library’s more scholarly “adult” books about the Civil War were within my range of comprehension, and I devoured them.

Whatever the reason, I became hooked. Specifically, and surely baffling for those of you who’ve known me as an adult, I was a hardcore Confederate sympathizer.

All the familiar, romanticized elements of the Lost Cause were appealing to the youthful curmudgeon. Southerners really were heroic underdogs defending their homes, with odds stacked against preserving their way of life. My family visited battlefields in Virginia and Tennessee. I was a born-again Secessionist, and questioned almost none of it.

Obviously, significant parts of the historical narrative eluded me, like the economic and sociological aspects of industrial versus agrarian economies, states’ rights, and the role of federal government.

Oh, yes, and something about the institution of slavery. In retrospect, it’s rather important.

So, why the rebel fixation? For one thing, in terms of geography, it isn’t Southern Indiana for nothing.

We tend to face south, in the direction of Louisville, not north to Indianapolis. Not only that, but in relative terms, I lived in the segregated Hoosier countryside, not far from where John Hunt Morgan made one of his northward raids across the Ohio River.

Around the time I was in the first grade, a friend’s family took me with them to the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville. When I returned home, the rides, food and music were completely forgotten, because all I wanted to talk about a “Negro” boy my age I’d met on the midway.

After all, he was the first African-American I’d ever played with, up to that point.

Fortunately, the purpose of growing up is to learn something – right? It still is, isn’t it?

By the time I was studying philosophy and history at IU Southeast, the Civil War’s grip remained, albeit fully reversed. I morphed into a diehard Unionist. Could any cause, “lost” or otherwise, truly be honorable if it sought the perpetuation of racist slave labor?

Stuck in OYR (Our Year of Reagan) 1982, I pondered whether Americans had learned anything at all through the many decades since Appomattox. The answers weren’t always pretty. Evidently the journey was ongoing.

Happily, there was a certain consolation to the peaks and valleys of the learning curve. At the end of the day, one must desire to be educated, and I did, and I was.

---

The Civil War isn’t the reason for this essay. Rather, it’s seeing this story by Jim Vorel at Paste Magazine.

Walking the Line: Sexuality in Craft Beer

When it comes to sexuality in beer marketing it’s almost a guarantee that the ones being titillated have been men, which simultaneously sends an equally strong message to women—you’re not welcome here, unless you’re a model holding the product and smiling. Or a “willfully disobedient” blonde mermaid on an IPA label, as in the image at the top of this piece.

And that image?

Well, f**k.

Busted.

Dead to rights.

Five years ago, I wrote those words, “willfully disobedient.” They appear on the label for NABC’s Naughty Girl, alongside additional cringe-worthy text that I also composed. The words, the label; all are on-line. They cannot be evaded.

Previous generations of humanity, living and dying prior to the advent of mass communications, missed the sheer thrill of screwing up, watching one’s screw-up instantly become grist for a potentially global audience, and then be reminded of it at regular intervals forever after.

F**k, redux.

There it is. During my 25 years at NABC, I wrote many hundreds of thousands of words. They’re all mine. I own them, and seldom have I been compelled to disown them, but in this case I wish it were possible to do so.

So, please allow me to take my medicine; moreover, permit me to heed my own advice: When you screw up, ‘fess up and make it right.

Sorry about Naughty Girl, folks. I was wrong about that one.

I knew better then, and I know better now. It’s my responsibility to learn something from it, and I will. Unfortunately, making it right is harder to accomplish, because I’m no longer in a position at NABC to do much of anything about it.

Sorry about this, too.

I should have been more aggressive when something might have been done. That learning curve can be vicious.

---

In 2015, I raised a great big ruckus over the Indiana-brewed beer called Leg Spreader ESB. Insofar as a seat on the board of the Brewers of Indiana Guild possesses political capital, I spent all of mine protesting this label. My bully pulpit was harnessed to full roar. It is quite possible that I made a few enemies in the process.

Wait, no; of course I made enemies.

During the course of my righteous pontifications about sexism in craft beer, someone finally issued a helpful and timely reminder: “By the way, Roger, you brew a beer called Naughty Girl – what about that?”

My first reaction was predictable: “Bah -- apples and oranges.”

My second reaction was extreme and abiding discomfort, which eventually compelled me to sit down, take a breath and think it through.

The precise irritant eluded me at first. Then as now, Tony Beard’s artwork does not strike me as overtly exploitative. Acknowledging the highly subjective nature of such determinations, it still seems to me that Tony’s graphic honors the female form, and cannot be compared to more egregious examples we’ve all seen.

In fact, we’d had these discussions at work. Bob’s Old 15-B, Elector, Tunnel Vision – all featured females. It always came back to consumer reaction, and there were very few complaints. To the contrary, most of the feedback was positive, and with NABC two-thirds owned by women … well, maybe I used this as an excuse.

The fundamental problem with Naughty Girl gradually dawned on me. It was the name itself, and the words I’d written to frame it. Far more so than the image, these words perpetuated sexism and stereotypes, and there was no escape route for me. I wrote them.

With Leg Spreader still very much on the front burner, it became clear that I’d have to objectively examine the whole issue of sexuality in NABC’s beer marketing, wherever it might lead. Any conclusions reached would be applicable to us all. It needed to happen.

Consequently, on at least two occasions during our weekly staff meetings in early 2015, I mentioned my escalating dissonance. How could I complain about one instance of sexism without examining whether as a company, we were guilty of the same excess?

Straight up: I dropped the ball. My co-workers were skeptical, and with my leave of absence to run for mayor about to begin, there wasn’t time enough for persuasion. I let it slide. Now there is plenty of time, and my leave of absence has become permanent. This stage of my career in beer business ownership has concluded.

It makes the matter all the more frustrating.

Jim Vorel is a stranger to me, but I’m grateful to him for helping concentrate my thoughts. He surely had no intention of serving as therapist. If we ever meet, the beer’s on me.

NABC’s Naughty Girl is a fine ale. However, my words were a mistake. I’m sorry about that. My objective now is to learn something from the experience, and your thoughts as to my ongoing education are appreciated.

---

February 22: The PC: Beef Steak and Porter always made good belly mortar, but did America’s “top” steakhouses get the memo?

February 15: The PC: Swill in youthful times of penury and need.

When the Euro '85 series returns: Leningrad USSR. 

_

It's the "S" word again as Julia Herz weighs in on women in beer.

You might think I've been on a tangent this year.

You would be right. Here's a six-pack of my annoyance with sexism in beer.

• July 15, 2015: Yes, "Craft Brewing Has a Sexism Problem."
• May 17, 2015: Leg Spreader's notoriety spreads all the way to Great Britain.
• May 10, 2015: Sexism and beer and money all around. And more money.
• March 24, 2015: "Does craft beer have a sexism problem?"
• January 27, 2015: Brewers of Indiana Guild: "We obviously don’t condone sexism or racism."
• January 19, 2015: The PC: Ripped straight from the pages of an Onion satire: “13 white males not really so eager to discuss issues like racism and sexism.”

Julia Herz has written a timely piece on the topic, one I suggest all brewing industry peeps read.

Julia Herz is the Craft Beer Program Director for the Brewers Association and co-author of the CraftBeer.com Beer & Food Course. Julia is a life-long homebrewer, BJCP beer judge and Certified Cicerone®. Despite her extensive experience, she will always consider herself a beer beginner on an unending journey to learn more about craft beer.

I especially like her conclusion.

Let’s challenge today’s generation of brewers and those to come: May we all be a part of setting new standards of marketing that broadens beer’s customer base.

As I've tried to mount an independent campaign for mayor of New Albany, it has become obvious that the notion of "challenging" anyone to learn or adapt is becoming increasingly archaic. In broad terms, America is far more about pandering than challenging. Improvement takes thought and hard work. Many breweries are putting in the legwork, but others aren't.

We can be better, people.

Weighing in on Women and Beer, by Julia Herz (Craft Beer Dot Com)

Craft Beer Doesn't Need Sexism--It Needs Women

It’s time to share some personal thoughts on a theme I seem to speak to on a weekly basis: women and beer. In light of the recent Bud Light #UpForWhatever campaign, which included the tagline, “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night,” the topic has surfaced once again—and the conversation is spilling over into the craft beer world.

Beyond the general topic of women and beer, the specific topic of sexism is a subject both in beer and beyond. As Bay Area writer and bartender Jen Muehlbauer told Slate.com recently, “I can cite examples of sexism both extreme and subtle in the beer industry, but so can any woman in any industry. I don’t think beer in particular has a woman problem so much as Planet Earth does.”