Has it been a year? Carnegie Center fundraiser tonight, NABC there with beer.

Tonight at 6:30 p.m. is the annual "Taste for Art & History" fundraiser at the Carnegie Center for Art & History, located at 201 E. Spring Street in downtown New Albany. The bill of fare includes wines from all over the place, craft beers from NABC and World Class Beverages, gourmet snacks and a wide-ranging silent auction. Interested? The price is $55 for members and $60 for non-members, and you can call (812) 944-7336 or visit http://www.carnegiecenter.org/ for information.

Last year, the Carnegie Center's annual fete became a flash point for the ongoing guerrilla war fought against modernity by selected local troglodytes, at least one of whom have since been exiled to Birdseye or points beyond, while others remain, hooded, hiding, and with brickbats in hand.

For the sake of fond remembrance, here are the links:

Ritz, Whiz and Ripple: Envious troglodytes point random disinformation generator at the Carnegie Center, demand full investigation of wine and cheese.

Should I have taken issue with the fiscally conservative random rumor generator? Or is doing so merely enabling dysfunction?

Meanwhile, back in the slightly more progressive present (that is, if Dan Coffey doesn't have his way), NABC's Bank Street Brewhouse eventually will be doing business right across the street from the Carnegie Center, and I put together a fact sheet for distribution this evening.

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Craft brewing returns to downtown New Albany for the first time since 1935 when NABC opens its Bank Street Brewhouse later this year. This second NABC location will be located at 415 Bank Street downtown, adjacent to the Carnegie Center for Art and History. Work to renovate the former Bakery Thrift Store is ongoing.

NABC’s goals:

To be leaders in the craft beer segment and the community, not followers.

To be progressive, not regressive.

To challenge and to educate, not to pander.

The New Albanian Brewing Company is:

Sportstime Pizza (founded 1987)
Rich O’s Public House (founded 1992)
NABC (started brewing in 2002)

The new Bank Street Brewhouse at 415 Bank Street will function as NABC’s larger-capacity production brewery, with a 15-barrel mash and kettle and 30-barrel fermentation capacity, with fabrication by industry leader DME. Primary NABC brands like Elector, Community Dark, Hoptimus, Bob’s Old 15-B, Mt. Lee, Beak’s Best, Kaiser and Thunderfoot will be brewed, conditioned, kegged and canned for regional distribution. It will also be possible for consumers to buy kegs and carry-out growlers.

NABC’s existing brewery on the North Side at 3312 Plaza Drive will remain in operation, with small batches, seasonals and specialties being brewed there. NABC’s existing pizzeria and pub, which has garnered nationwide recognition for excellence, will function as it always has.

Why expand to downtown New Albany?

12% craft beer growth rates nationally in each of the past two years

Local and regional potential for distribution of NABC brands in kegs and cans (both environmentally friendly modes of packaging)
Rapid expansion of the “eat and drink locally” movement

The craft beer demographic mirrors that of the “creative class” and “New Urbanism”, all of which combine for downtown transformation

What else besides brewing at the new operation?

NABC’s Bank Street Brewhouse will feature a taproom, with NABC’s beers on tap, and a limited Belgian-style café food menu prepared by a professional chef. NABC wearables, glassware and souvenirs will be sold on site.

What does it all mean?

The Bank Street Brewhouse will be phased into operation, with the taproom opening first in the 4th quarter of 2008 (target: November), and the brewery to be installed during the fall and winter (target: January). Beer will be ready for distribution in the 1st quarter of 2009, and the existing NABC brewery will supply the tap room and selected outside accounts until then.

Significantly, the NABC Bank Street Brewhouse represents an expansion of an established, existing business from a suburb back into a reviving downtown, and as such, NABC firmly believes there is a future both for the brewery’s “progressive pints” and for the cause of progressivism itself in city of New Albany… and Floyd County, metro Louisville and the surrounding region.

Unsurprisingly, the craft brewing revolution has prospered by emphasizing beer’s artisanal, localized roots, and in like fashion New Urbanism urges the progressive reuse of cities. For NABC to return brewing to a downtown, urban setting is to complete the circle initiated by New Albany’s beer-loving founders two centuries ago.

Roger A. Baylor, NABC Beer Director

(For my business partners Amy and Kate, our brew staff and all other employees, and both the New Albanian Brewing Co., Inc., and New Albanian Bank Street Brewery, Inc.)

Questions? Call me at 502-468-9710