One week, two great beer events. Are we still in New Albany?

The following appeared earlier in the week at my Potable Curmudgeon blog, which generally is devoted to beer and beer-related topics. PC is permitted to spill over into NAC when the imperatives of shameless self-promotion dictate, and why not? At least I'm not inflicting an ill-disguised candidacy on you.

The beer garden on Bank Street is up and running, and I hope to have photos on Saturday.

Press release: Bistro New Albany, New Albanian Brewing Company, North Vernon Beverage Company and good beer in downtown New Albany during Harvest Homecoming.

Meanwhile, here's the ...

Lupulin Land Harvest Hop Festival starting lineup and schedule.

One thing is for certain: I'll be doing no driving this weekend. Here's the reprint.

It will not have escaped the notice of regular readers that the coming week boasts two signature beer-related events in New Albany, one that directly pertains to the city’s annual Harvest Homecoming celebration, and one that was instituted five years ago as a sort of reaction to it.

When I first concluded that a draft “hop fest” on a harvest theme would be a good idea, it seemed natural to begin it on the same weekend of Harvest Homecoming’s “booth days,” when the streets downtown are filled with food vendors. For many years, it struck me that a good-beer-related (off-site) alternative to the seething mass of humanity gnawing on elephant ears and rolled oysters would be appropriate.

Consequently, this year’s Lupulin Land Harvest Hop festival at NABC’s public house and pizzeria was organized to begin, as always, on the Friday evening (October 13) that coincides with the second day of booths in downtown New Albany.

The variable that proved impossible to take into account was the advent and success of the Bistro New Albany, which will be embracing the notion of good beer somewhat near Harvest Homecoming and transferring it to the parking lot adjacent to the restaurant’s patio. The Bistro’s beer garden will run from the 12th through the 14th, offering food, entertainment and NABC beer (with other micros and imports courtesy of North Vernon Beverage Company).

If the Bistro New Albany project is a success, Lupulin Land 2007 might be moved forward a week so that it begins on the Friday preceding the Harvest Homecoming parade, or back a week to miss Harvest Homecoming entirely.

Either way, it’s pleasing for once to be in the position of having more than enough good beer during Harvest Homecoming rather than having terminal shortage. Is Philistinism in New Albany finally on the run? Will the Bud and Lite drinkers visit the Bistro’s beer garden? Will hops alone be enough to save us from the terrors of Velvet Elvis?

Stay tuned.