THE BEER BEAT: A lovely parting glass: "I will never forget the BBC and feel like I am losing an old friend."

As previously noted, Sunday will be the final day of business for Bluegrass Brewing Company in St. Matthews.

THE BEER BEAT: It took a week to get the details straight, but BBC is leaving its current St. Matthews location after 23 years and hopes to reopen elsewhere in Louisville.

I'm going to turn over this post to Timmy Ingram, whose words (posted at Facebook) are well chosen and very much appreciated, but first, how do I know Timmy Ingram?

From BBC St. Matthews, of course, and just like him, I'm grateful for all the good people I met and drank beers with at the bar over the years.

Also like Timmy, I've been thinking about the departed, particularly since the closure was announced -- Kevin, Matt, Patrick, Jim and too damned many others. They aren't forgotten.

I was there for the soft opening in 1993, so I suppose a Sunday trip to St. Matthews is appropriate. "End of an era" is overused, though not this time.

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An open letter to BBC St. Matthews and Worthogs Members.

I walked through the doors of the BBC St. Matthews during its grand opening over 20 years ago, to find the place energized with excitement. I was so impressed with the scene there, I became a Worthog member soon after, and proudly hoisted mug #151. Although it was broken many times over the years, it was always replaced, each server laughingly blaming the other for the broken or disappearing mug.

In the early years, I marveled at the diversity of these beer drinking patrons. A mechanic, a lawyer, an airline pilot, old dudes, hippies, a cook, musicians and college professors, sitting shoulder to shoulder, engaged in conversation and seemingly unaware of the differences that may separate them. I was also amazed at the unlikely friendships that began over good food and beer from out of towners, from Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburg and Philly, as well as New England. Many of them choosing to stay in Louisville. There were Worthogs from Germany and even Russia. We delighted strangers who happened into the BBC with our kindness and generosity. We teased each other merciIessly, about sports, and politics, and most of the time (ha ha) no one got mad.

I will borrow the word “Craic” from the Irish, describing the atmosphere and the mood of the pub. The BBC definitely had an atmosphere of fun, laughter, music and sometimes mischief. We smoked cigars and pipes, told stories, played pranks, and shared beer paired dinners. I remember the Blessing of the Bock and the Barbecue Cooking contests. I laugh out loud thinking of the unlikely winners with their $20 Hibachi. I remember the Superbowl pots, and some of the more memorable Worthog meetings.

On rare occasion, I had to come in and apologize for my behavior. Two times come to mind, involving Professor Gesser's Mind Numbing Ale and Heine Brothers Stout. Let’s leave it at that.

Over the years, Worthog members and servers came and went. The atmosphere changed. Some of the changes good, and some maybe not so good. The beer changed, the menu changed. Sometimes my fellow Worthogs, as well as myself, did our share of grumbling about it. However, most came back sooner or later, because they simply missed the old crowd.

I think back on the closeness I felt with some of those Worthogs just before Thanksgiving and Christmas as we shared our last Pumpkin Spice or Ebenezer before the Holiday.

I almost forgot about the smoking ban and how we feared that it would “kill off” the bar business. So it goes …

And who can forget the ones we lost. Tony, Don, and Jimmy to name a few. Rest in Peace guys.

I will never forget the BBC and feel like I am losing an old friend. In closing, I will say, I felt the need to put in writing my feelings, and the sadness I am experiencing, is real. I hope that someone can find a way to keep together this special group of people. That’s all I got. Farewell.

Original Worthog member 151

Timmy “Ingy” Ingram, Prospect Kentucky

THE BEER BEAT: It took a week to get the details straight, but BBC is leaving its current St. Matthews location after 23 years and hopes to reopen elsewhere in Louisville.

There are lessons somewhere in all this, but at the moment I am bereft of glibness. If Jim, Debbie and Blake are reading, thanks; you had it right the first time. 

To revisit the roller coaster of the past week, first the rumorama insisted that January 29 would be the last business day for Bluegrass Brewing Company St. Matthews, but the rest of it was unclear. Next, the Green Mouse received a more nuanced and expansive report, much of which has now come to light (below), to the effect that the January 29 date was incorrect.

Then literally, this report proved to be true; not January 29, but February 5 as the last day for BBC at its longtime Shelbyville Road digs.

Yesterday morning, Insider Louisville's Caitlin Bowling reported about the fast and furious BBC rumors, and subsequently her instincts were proven correct.

Rumors fly about fate of Bluegrass Brewing Company’s St. Matthews restaurant

During the past week, Insider Louisville has received tip after tip from people who say they’ve heard that the Bluegrass Brewing Company plans to close its St. Matthews bar and restaurant.

A few hours later, the floodgates opened. I believe the C-J's Bailey Loosemore was first past the post.

Bluegrass Brewing Co. to leave St. Matthews

Bluegrass Brewing Company is moving from its St. Matthews location after 23 years on Shelbyville Road.

On Friday, co-owner Pat Hagan told the Courier-Journal that the company has agreed to forgo its lease on the brewery's building so that another restaurant can move in. Partners in the new venture were previously involved in Sully's Saloon, a Fourth Street Live! bar and restaurant that closed in 2013 after an 11-year run ...

... Soon, construction will start on a new BBC restaurant in the Kindred Healthcare facility at the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street. And Hagan hopes to find a new building in the East End where he can reopen a taproom and resume retail production.

Business First's David Mann closed Friday with an update.

BBC leaving St. Matthews after 23 years

Bluegrass Brewing Co. is leaving the St. Matthews space it's called home for 23 years. The brewpub, located on Shelbyville Road, near Breckenridge Lane is closing up shop Feb. 5, allowing a new concept to move in to the location.

The area has changed in the more than two decades since BBC opened there, owner Pat Hagan told me in an interview today.

"It's more of a night club area now, which we're not," he said.

So, to recap: Owner Pat Hagan bowed (intelligently, in my view) to leasing and area development realities and now hopes to move BBC to a new location, one that will allow the expansion of brewing into bottling and/or canning. The 3rd Street brewery and restaurant remain open, and the 4th Street branch will reopen when the Kindred building is finished. The coming week will be a victory lap for BBC in St. Matthews, and I hope to make it over and learn the future of my Wort Mug, number 66.

That's the way it is, at least until it changes again. APA, here I come.

THE BEER BEAT: Green Mouse sez the rumors are unsubstantiated and it's business as usual at BBC St. Matthews.

The Green Mouse reports that in spite of social media rumors, which were vaguely ruminated in this space last weekend, there is no closing date for Bluegrass Brewing Company in St. Matthews, and that daily operations are normal. Please be aware of this, and inform your friends accordingly.

If and when further information becomes available, I'll let readers know. Until then ... can someone bring daddy a nice growler of David Pierce's signature BBC APA? I've been known to pay cash for such favors.

Hours of operation are ...

Sunday - Thursday: 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m.

THE BEER BEAT: The rumorama insists that Bluegrass Brewing Company (St. Matthews) will soon cease operations, but is a plot twist coming?

January 24 update: Sources tell me that rumors are unfounded, and there WILL BE NO CLOSURE of BBC on January 29. I believe these sources. Nothing to see here. Please move along.  

On Saturday evening, social media began lighting up with reports that the last day of business for Bluegrass Brewing Company's original location in St. Matthews would be Sunday, January 29.

Two old friends were there for dinner last night, and their server let them know. Another friend learned the same way, and still others have stopped by to pick up their Wort Hog Club mugs. A few employees issued social media "wait and sees," and we must do so, although something clearly is afoot.

Sunday passed without official confirmation of these reports, perhaps because the various rumors all came with an asterisk attached: The "other" BBC location at 3rd and Main opposite the KFC Yum! Center, which has its own small brewing system, is to remain open for business.

My prediction: Whatever else comes of this, it probably has far more to do with the price of square footage in St. Matthews and pure, hard business decisions than a decline in popularity. There are no indications that business hasn't been good, but it's an expensive piece of ground, and the entertainment demographic in St. Matthews has changed considerably.

Also, BBC's owner Pat Hagan recently expanded his portfolio to include a Craft House in Crescent Hill and another in Germantown. The latter was euthanized after only a few months in operation, and a new fast casual concept (with the same ownership) is about to reappear there under the banner Goss Ave. Pub.*

There's nothing like bleeding money to suggest reining in costs and recouping cash, especially if Hagan still is planning on rebuilding the 4th Street location in the new Kindred Building.

If so, perhaps St. Matthews is the redundant cog in spite of its ancient tradition and the fact that the older brewery kit there was upgraded within the past couple of years, when brewer David Pierce returned after a stint at NABC.

The market for used equipment remains solid, and the smaller 3rd Street brewery would be capable of supporting the remaining locations. Regrettably, jettisoning the St. Matthews brewhouse has a certain logic.

I'm just like one of those ex-coaches calling ballgames, and only guessing. But the pain is real. BBC St. Matthews pioneered the local craft beer scene way back in 1993, and outside of my own two pubs, I've spent more time atop bar stools there than anywhere else. My mug's #66, and that tells you something.

The last 15 months in the "craft" beer biz have been brutal and tumultuous, quite apart from the many mergers and acquisitions. Mitch Steele left Stone, and Dan Kopman's gone from Schlafly. Phil Dearner works for Pabst, not Goodwood. Hell, I'm gone, myself. Now if they'd only pay me ...

It seemed so right to have Pierce back in St. Matthews, and now it's almost unimaginable that neither he nor BBC will be there any longer.

And you're still wondering why I'm no better than a reluctant capitalist.

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* For those interested in foreshadowing, consider this ominous passage from Steve Coomes' preview of Goss Ave. Pub:

The 50 craft beers on draft will be reduced to about a fifth of that number, while the rest of the lineup will include 20 domestics and 20 imports. Pitchers will be on offer, and beer bucket and cocktail specials will be standards during games.

“There will be a lot of beers people will recognize and be comfortable with,” he said. “Craft beer’s expensive, so it allows us to keep costs down with what we’re going to now.”