In this edition of Publicanista!:
Cask-conditioned NABC Beak's Best on Friday, September 30.
Love and hoppiness: Lupulin Land Harvest Hop celebration begins on Oct. 7.
NABC and House of Bread combine to make locally brewed beer available during the annual Harvest Homecoming festival in New Albany.
More recent readings from the Potable Curmudgeon’s beer blog.
Current draft beer lineup.
Bottle board news: BBC Hell for Certain, Shipyard Pumpkinhead, Saison d'Erpe Mere and Oaken Barrel Saison.
Events and miscellany - note Gravity Head date change for 2006.
I. CASK-CONDITIONED ALE THIS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30: NABC BEAK'S BEST.
English hops, malt and yeast, and genuinely hard New Albany water are used to brew Beak's Best, an ESB named for renowned world traveler and occasional imbiber Don "Beak" Barry, a.k.a. Uncle Don. We'll tap a firkin of Beak's on Friday, September 30 at 1:00 p.m.
If you're on the radical wing of beer purism, don't read this, but if you stop in for Friday night cask ales, check it out:
On cask ale and how to enjoy more of it, more often.
For more information on cask-conditioned ale:
Horse Brass Pub (where our friend Biscuit works)
Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)
Warm, Flat and Boring -- the Truth About Cask Ale, from www.RateBeer.com.
II. LUPULIN LAND HARVEST HOP FEST IS NEXT WEEK!
Our fourth celebration of bitterness in all its wonderous glory begins on Friday, October 7. For lineup details and other tidbits, read the whole updated article:
UPDATED: 4th Lupulin Land Harvest Hop Fest begins Friday, October 7.
III. NABC BREWERY NEWS: CRASHING HOMECOMING BOOTH DAYS WITH NABC AND THE HOUSE OF BREAD.
NABC is pleased to announce that in conjunction with the House of Bread restaurant (corner of Bank and Market in downtown New Albany), locally brewed craft beer will be available throughout the Harvest Homecoming festival's "booth days" (Thursday, October 6 through Saturday, October 8).
Unless, of course, we run out of beer during the event. Who can predict?
An alternative to swill during Harvest Homecoming is hard to fathom, given the eternal inertia of ostructionism, but we’re working to achieve it.
NOTE: Exact plans have yet to be confirmed, so be sure and stay tuned for further details next week.
Meanwhile, although you’ve heard it before, this time it’s actually happening. We're expanding the brewery and increasing capacity. Currently we're in the mode of scheduling shipping, working on the logistics of tank placement and procuring the draft serving equipment that will be needed to connect the serving tanks to the bar areas.NABC to expand brewing capacity to 1,000 barrels per year.
IV. RECENT NEWS AND ARTICLES AT THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON’S BEER BLOG.
Here are five recent articles posted at http://potablecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/:
Highlights of the 2005 journey to Belgium and the Netherlands.
Proof that Westvleteren 12 exists.
Haarlem's Cafe Briljant.
On cask ale and how to enjoy more of it, more often.
UPDATED: 4th Lupulin Land Harvest Hop Fest begins Friday, October 7.
V. DRAFT BEERS: OUR LIQUID, DAILY BREAD, ON TAP AT RICH O’S AND SPORTSTIME.
Our NABC beers.
Brewed in New Albany by NABC’s Jesse Williams, with assistance from Jared Williamson.
Beak’s Best … English ESB named for world-famous traveler, scholar and drinks aficionado “Beak” Barry. Standard strength.
Bob's Old 15 B ... Award-winning homebrew recipe by Bob Capshew, now a medium-bodied Brown Porter on tap at NABC. Mid-5s abv.
Community Dark … A dark-colored, light-bodied English Mild, and the ideal place to begin overcoming unfounded fears of the dark. 4.5% abv.
Croupier IPA … Brewed with French 2-row malt, Nugget, Fuggles and Cascades hops, and Jesse’s most crowd-pleasing formula thus far.
Kaiser 2nd Reising ... Based on an old New Albany formula, with 6-row malt and corn (decoction mash); Fuggles, East Kent Golding and Hallertau hops. 5.9% abv.
Non-Gravity guests from near and far.
Market pricing.
Alpha King
Arrogant Bastard
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
Celebrator Doppelbock
De Dolle Oerbier
Flying Dog Dogtoberfest
Founders Dirty Bastard
Guinness Stout
Lindemans Framboise
Pilsner Urquell
Rogue "John's Locker Stock" Saison (brewed with Fantome yeast)
Rogue "John's Locker Stock" Schwartzbier (black lager; pilsner yeast)
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Smithwick’s Irish Ale
Spaten Premium Lager
Spezial Rauchbier
Sprecher Root Beer (non-alcoholic)
Stone IPA
Upland Wheat
Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier Dunkel (last call for our featured summer Hefeweizen)
In the bullpen:
Lupulin Land beers
VI. CHECK THE CHALKBOARD FOR ROTATING BOTTLED SELECTIONS: BBC HELL FOR CERTAIN, SHIPYARD PUMPKINHEAD, SAISON D'ERPE MERE AND OAKEN BARREL SAISON.
Remember to check the chalkboard in the front room at Rich O’s for bottled specials and seasonals. These are the bottled beers not carried on the everyday bottled list, and represent a wide variety of flavors and textures for your tasting enjoyment.
From David Pierce, original BBC brewmaster, and the guys at the Beer Corner of Clay & Main in downtown Louisville comes the latest incarnation of an old favorite, Hell for Certain. As befits its creator, who has a Chouffe gnome tattoo, Hell for Certain in inspired by Wallonian strong ales.
Shipyard Pumpkinhead uses neither pumpkin not gourd, just familiar and wholesome pumpkin pie spices, and is another well-conceived ale from the Shipyard in Portland, Maine, which the Publican had the good fortune to visit last winter (click on the profile at the top of the page and see me smelling Shipyard’s hops).
From Brouwerij Glazen Toren in East Flanders (Belgium) comes Saison d’Erpe Mere, described by the brewery’s founder (a former beer writer) as a “Flemish Saison,” but leaning strongly toward Saison Dupont, which remains out of our grasp in Indiana. Recently I drank Saison d’Erpe Mere with a regular chef's salad (with ham and bacon), and based on this tasty sampling, it might well join the regular bottle menu this winter.
From Ken Price, brewer at Oaken Barrel Brewing Company, comes an excellent bottle-conditioned Saison, which I recently enjoyed on tap at the pub in Greenwood in the company of a smokehouse combo of ribs, pulled pork, baked beans and corn on the cob. Ken’s Belgian-style Saison is clean and subtly fruity and finishes dry, with the requisite peppery notes. It is more complex in the bottle than on draft, with much to tease and tempt the palate, and a better complement to garlic-laced barbecue with a thick, sweet and tangy sauce is difficult for me to imagine … unless, of course, the meal were served in Belgium, not Greenwood. Bottles are $11.00 (carry-out price a few bucks less).
Described previously and still in stock (* = almost gone):
Cassissona – cassis-infused sparkling beer from Italy.
*Panil Barriquee – Flemish-style sour red ale aged in cognac barrels. A classic.
*Rogue Chipotle Ale – mildly peppery, mildly smoky amber ale.
Stone Imperial Stout (2005) - massive is the best word to describe this great personal favorite.
*Stone Vertical Epic 5/5/5 (2005) - cellaring is recommended for the latest in a series of releases designed to be put aside for future reference.
Uerige Doppel Sticke – special strong Alt bier, malty and delicious.
VII. EVENTS, HOURS AND RELATED FACTS.
General business hours:
Sportstime Pizza opens at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday. Rich O’s opens at 3:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and at 1:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. We are not open on Sunday except during special events. The same food and beer is available at all times in both rooms, so you may have lunch and a beer in the Sportstime Pizza dining area during those hours when Rich O’s isn’t open. The brewery is available for a look-see if one of us is around and we’re not busy.
2005/06 events:
Lupulin Land Harvest Hop 2005
Begins Friday, October 7.
Saturnalia! 2005
Begins Friday, December 16.
Gravity Head 2006 (Vol. 8)
Note a date change: Gravity Head 2006 has been moved forward two weeks, and will begin on Friday, February 24. I have every reason to believe this will occur this year only, and in 2007, the festival will revert to the second weekend in March.
Credits:
Readers who aren’t as familiar with our business should go to http://www.newalbanian.com/ and http://www.richos.com/ for more information.
NABC is a member of the Brewers of Indiana Guild: http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/
Questions or comments about editorial content should be directed to Roger A. Baylor: potable@richos.com.
Questions or comments about the web sites or mailing list should be directed to Christopher M. Spellman:
chris@newalbanian.com.
THE END.
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