Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Publicanista! ... November 30, 2006.


In this edition of Publicanista!:

I. PUBLICAN'S CHOICE: DOUBLE HEADER THURSDAY TONIGHT, WITH THE SCHLAFLY BREW CREW COMING TO VISIT THE PUB, AND A SPECIAL HOLIDAY BEER TASTING AT KEG LIQUORS IN CLARSKVILLE.

II. THURSDAY IS ST. ANDREWS DAY.

III. FROM THE HAND PULL: SLOW AGED NABC ST. RADEGUND POURS TOMORROW (FRIDAY, DEC. 1).

IV. NABC BREWING NEWS: BONFIRE OF THE VALKYRIES RECIPE PROVIDED, AND NAUGHTY CLAUS WINTER WARMER KEGGED FOR SATURNALIA.

V. RECENT NEWS AND ARTICLES AT THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON’S BEER BLOG.

VI. DRAFT BEERS: OUR LIQUID, DAILY BREAD, ON TAP AT RICH O’S AND SPORTSTIME.

VII. BOTTLED BEER NEWS: N'ICE CHOUFFE RETURNS AND FARSONS LACTO MILK STOUT DEBUTS.

VIII. EVENTS, HOURS AND RELATED FACTS.

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I. PUBLICAN'S CHOICE: DOUBLE HEADER THURSDAY TONIGHT, WITH THE SCHLAFLY BREW CREW COMING TO VISIT THE PUB, AND A SPECIAL HOLIDAY BEER TASTING AT KEG LIQUORS IN CLARSKVILLE.

We're putting together a Schlafly beer tasting for this Thursday, November 30, and everyone's invited. Arrangements are still being made, but my guess would be a starting time circa 6:00 p.m. We'll be in the Prost special events room, the door to which is to the right as you enter the Public House.

Schlafly is a microbrewery of long standing located in St. Louis, and recently it has broadened distribution to Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. A friend, John Campbell, is now my Schlafly sales rep, and Mitch Turner, who many will remember from his days at Pipkin Brewing in Louisville, is John's boss.

They'll be bringing brewers and other company employees to sample the brewery's everyday beers and a few special releases. I'm told to expect a cask-conditioned offering, and there just may be a door prize or two.

Also on Thursday is a holiday beer tasting from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Keg Liquors in Clarksville.

Next spring, in conjunction with Gravity Head 2007, we hope to host a book signing by Tom Schlafly, the microbrewery's founder and namesake, and the author of "A New Religion in Mecca: Memoir of a Renegade Brewer in St. Louis." This event will take place later in March, 2007, so stay tuned for more information.

II. THURSDAY IS ST. ANDREWS DAY.

If two good friends of Scottish descent hadn’t told me this fact, I wouldn’t have known, and so for the remainder of the uninformed, be aware that St. Andrew is the Patron Saint of Scotland.

Read more here: It's all about Scotland, at least for today.

III. FROM THE HAND PULL: SLOW AGED NABC ST. RADEGUND POURS TOMORROW (FRIDAY, DEC. 1).

An aged and fully cask-conditioned firkin of NABC St. Radegund Bitter begins pouring tomorrow. Jesse and Jared also have filled a pin (5 gallons) with the forthcoming black smoked beer, Bonfire of the Valkyries ... and later in the month, there'll be some squirreled-away Strathpeffer Heather on the hand pull. ETA's for both have yet to be determined.

For more information on cask-conditioned ale:

Horse Brass Pub (where our friend Biscuit used to work ... more on that later)
Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)
Warm, Flat and Boring -- the Truth About Cask Ale, from Rate Beer.

IV. NABC BREWING NEWS: BONFIRE OF THE VALKYRIES RECIPE PROVIDED, AND NAUGHTY CLAUS WINTER WARMER KEGGED FOR SATURNALIA.

Here's the recipe notes for Jesse's and Jared's Bonfire of the Valkyries, a unique black smoked lager:

OG: 1070
Malts: Weyermann smoked 2-row, black, special B, aromatic
Hops: Saaz
Yeast: San Francisco/”California Common” (fermented cool, as a lager)

Taste tests are being regularly conducted, and when it's just right, BotV will be tapped.

Meanwhile, Naughty Claus Winter Warmer has been kegged and will debut at Saturnalia MMXI.

V. RECENT NEWS AND ARTICLES AT THE POTABLE CURMUDGEON’S BEER BLOG.

Here are recently posted articles:

"A bung-starter is a beer-mallet" ... Mencken.

Pants Down Port Drinkers to convene on Thursday, December 28 at the Public House.

Sunday ponderings.

What's the story behind the Hugh E. Bir's Cafe closure?

UPDATED: We've broken 600.

A reader question, and a generational "barley pop" perspective.

Rich O's medals in Rate Beer's "Best Beer Bars in the United States."

Rich O's Public House cracks the Top 20 in Beer Advocate rankings.

VI. DRAFT BEERS: OUR LIQUID, DAILY BREAD, ON TAP AT RICH O’S AND SPORTSTIME.

Our NABC beers (on tap during Lupulin Land 2006).
Brewed in New Albany by NABC’s Jesse Williams, with assistance from Jared Williamson.

Bob's Old 15-B ... We're calling it a robust, brown Porter precisely because style definitions were meant to be bent.

Community Dark ... Based on English Mild, and our light-bodied dark quaffer. 5% abv.

Croupier IPA ... Jesse's homage to our casino employee clientele is modeled on the English interpretation, with a few American flourishes.

Elector ... Making Democracy pointless since 2002; English malt, American hops. 7.2% abv. Double Red?

Hoptimus ... Brewed with Simpson's Golden Promise malt; Northern Brewer, Fuggles and Cascades hops; and fermented with the house London ale yeast. It is dry-hopped in the kegs with Fuggles and Cascades. The OG is 1.094, and IBU's are somewhere around 100.

St. Radegund Bitter ... Classic British character in the ESB range.

Guests from near and far.
Market pricing.

Staples:

Alpha King

Arrogant Bastard

Bell’s Two Hearted Ale

Guinness Stout

Lindemans Framboise

Pilsner Urquell

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Smithwick’s Irish Ale

Spaten Premium Lager

Sprecher Root Beer (non-alcoholic)

Upland Wheat

Rotating (limited engagement).

BBC Jefferson’s Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout

Bell's Double Cream Stout

Bell’s Hop Slam Imperial IPA (2006 Lupulin Land listed selection)

Delirium Tremens

Gaffel Kolsch

Great Divide Hercules Double IPA (2006 Lupulin Land listed selection)

Great Divide Titan IPA

Kronenbourg 1664

Rogue JLS Release #16 Imperial Porter

Samuel Adams Winter Lager

Schlafly Christmas Ale

Schlafly Hefeweizen

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

Spaten Oktoberfest

In the bullpen.

Well, nothing at the moment.

VII. BOTTLED BEER NEWS: N'ICE CHOUFFE RETURNS AND FARSONS LACTO MILK STOUT DEBUTS.

N'Ice Chouffe (750 ml) ... from those creative "gnomes" in the Ardennes comes a longtime favorite seasonal winter warmer (10% abv). Dark and deep, but deceptively drinkable.

Farsons Lacto Milk Stout (11.2 oz) ... Our first beer from Malta, and an uncommon one. Unpreviewed as of this writing, but should be smooth, mild and sweet (less than 4% abv) in the British ale tradition.

Hambleton Toleration Ale (gluten-free; 16.9 oz) ... an article from The Press (York, UK) sheds light on why a United States government in pursuit of international terorism always has time to quibble over the use of "gluten-free" on a product label, thus delaying the ale's American debut.

Remaining stocks of previously listed bottles (all running low):

Barley Island Black Majic Java Stout

BBC Professor Gesser's Mind Numbing Ale

Bornem Double

Boulder Beer: "The GABF 25th Year Beer"

Founders Bad Habit Belgian Quad

Le Baladin Wayan

North Coast Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale

Podkovan Dark Lager

Rogue Chipotle Ale

Don't forget 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.

VIII. 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.

Smoking.

Rich O's: The front dining rooms at Rich O's are designated as non-smoking areas. The bar area and Red Room are open for smoking (cigarettes, cigars, pipes). We strongly discourage clove cigarettes, which are divisive even among smokers.

Sportstime: Smoking is permitted in the entirety of Sportstime Pizza.

Wi-Fi.

Both dining areas are hotspots. Please observe proper etiquette when using our Wi-Fi service, and do not disturb or offend others with the Anheuser-Busch web site or other examples of web-borne smut.

2006/2007 events:

Weekly on Thursday evening @ 7:00 p.m.

Drinking Liberally (New Albany & Southern Indiana) meets in the Red Room each Thursday. Contact organizer Lacy Davis for details.

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Thursday, November 30

Schlafly Beer Tasting in Prost

See article above for details.

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Friday, December 15

Saturnalia MMVI

NABC, Rich O’s Public House and Sportstime Pizza pay tribute to the ancient pagan origins of Christmas with Saturnalia, a draft beer festival showcasing seasonal specialties and festive ales.

Preliminary keg orders for Saturnalia MMVI.

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Friday, March 9, 2007

Gravity Head 2007

The ninth edition of our annual festival celebrating the brewing world’s biggest and best will kick off from its customary March starting time.

Preliminary keg orders for Gravity Head 2007.

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August, 2007

Sandkerwa NA

Coming in August, 2007: Sandkerwa NA. Here's the scoop.

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Credits:

Thanks to Jim Bell for his photographic prowess, which we share with you from time to time.

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 Association and Brewers of Indiana Guild.

Questions or comments about editorial content should be directed to Roger A. Baylor, who also writes The Potable Curmudgeon and NA Confidential blogs.

THE END.

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