Harvest on the Skids ... that's Fringe Fest 2013, coming to BSB from October 10 - 12.

NABC’s sixth annual Fringe Fest opens on Thursday, October 10 at Bank Street Brewhouse. As in years past, we'll alter our normal working routine to harmonize with the downtown chaos accompanying New Albany's splendiferous civic celebration, sometimes known as Harvest Homecoming.

As in 2012, a percentage of the proceeds from this year's Fringe Fest will be donated to Open Door Youth Services:

"Open Door Youth Services exists to respond to the needs and promote the healthy development of vulnerable children and youth."

Late note: We think our friends at Billow will be stopping by to sell cigars on Friday and Saturday, and the Raqia Belly Dance troupe will perform on Friday night. Also, expect wines from Old 502 Winery to be a part of the festivities … stay tuned for details.

Hope for good weather, and stop by while you're downtown during Harvest Homecoming. Following are capsule previews of what to expect; these will be updated as certain arrangements are finalized.

BEER

Weather permitting, much of Fringe Fest 2013 will take place in and around Bank Street Brewhouse's WCTU Reading Room (the former patio, now an enclosed indoor room with garage doors) and Lloyd's Landing, the outdoor beer garden. For the occasion of Fringe Fest, we'll be emphasizing the following selections:

Hoosier Daddy ... NABC’s Crimson & Cream Ale begins its six-month seasonal run with a Fringe Fest release.

Strassen Bräu ... Genuine Bavarian yeast gives our annual autumnal Märzen/Oktoberfest lager its smooth character.

Wet Knobs Harvest Hop Ale ... American Pale Ale brewed with “wet” (unprocessed) locally grown Floyds Knobs hops. It’s a small batch, and it usually doesn’t survive Fringe Fest.

Tricentennial … A Post-Colonial ale brewed to commemorate New Albany’s 300th birthday in 2113. Our last kegs will be tapped for Fringe Fest, and limited edition, hand-numbered commemorative bottles will be available for purchase.

Of course, other NABC favorites will remain on tap during Fringe Fest.

FOOD

Normal BSB kitchen service is suspended during Fringe Fest. On Sunday, October 13, there’ll be a return to the usual weekly schedule, with Sunday Brewhouse Brunch and the famed Build Your Own Bloody Mary Bar. During Fringe Fest’s 2013 run, a special menu will be served by Chef Matt Weirich, Sous Chef Jake Bibb and their stellar crew. A sneak preview of this Fringe Fest menu, courtesy of Chef Matt, will appear here in due course).

MUSIC

Another stellar musical lineup will perform during Fringe Fest, volume six. There's no cover charge, but we'll be checking IDs at the gate and issuing bracelets for those wishing to imbibe. Here is the list of performers; thanks to Kolton Norton for his booking expertise.

Thursday, October 10
Meadow Ryann 6-7
Jacob Resch 7:30-8:30
Carissa LeCates 9-10

Friday, October 11
Jordan Amos 6-6:45
The Vivideras 7:15-8
The Protagonist 8:30-9:15
Nick Dittmeir 9:45-10:45
The Whiskey Riders 11:15-12

Saturday, October 12
Thunder Wrane 6-6:45
Taylor Nicholson 7:15-8
Youngstown Parade 8:30-9:15
The Thumps 9:45-10:45
Ready Access 11:15-12

I'll see your bicentennial, and raise you a Tricentennial. Whatcha got?

In 2013, New Albany celebrates its 200th birthday, and obviously, a bicentennial is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Consequently, it would have been nice for more of the citizenry to be included at the big kids’ table.

Alas, quite a lot of bright local folks who might have contributed immeasurably to New Albany’s birthday have instead been effectively excluded from planning and implementing it, and sadly, lots of great ideas have gone unheard because the usual civic pillars have hoarded the process to ensure it proceeded according to their own narrow viewpoints, and while that’s a damned shame, the way this bicentennial has gone down to date is a perfect metaphor – a fitting distillation – of two hundred years of social stratification.

It’s disappointing, but here’s the good news: Craft beer can be a wonderful leveler.

For this reason, I decided that NABC will sit out this year’s “official” commemoration, better to honor “next,” or the more hopeful, forthcoming party we’re all guaranteed to miss – not because we were not invited, as was the case in 2013, but because each and every one of us will be dead as door nails in 2113.

Hence, it is my pleasure to announce NABC’s Tricentennial Ale … because in another hundred years, who knows?

NABC Tricentennial Ale is a slightly revamped formula previously released in 2011 as Steamboat Common, which was meant to observe the 200th anniversary of the first steamboat journey on the Ohio River. It's a malty ale on the strong side (circa 7% abv), with sorghum and/or molasses deployed as a fermentable.

Tricentennial’s official draft debut will be at the Culbertson Mansion’s Garden Party on Saturday, June 1. Immediately afterwards, there’ll be a limited amount of draft Tricentennial for sale at NABC’s two locations in New Albany.

On June 3, a limited run of 300 hand-numbered 22oz “bomber” bottles will go on sale at both NABC locations in New Albany, and at Keg Liquors.

Can you say “renegade collector’s edition”?

The label art by NABC’s graphics authority-in-residence Tony Beard depicts the city of New Albany in 2113, when our city’s future generations will have yet another chance to get it right, assuming they can hack a pathway through the inevitable phalanx of wagons circled by the descendants of the usual suspects even in that far-off era to come.

Draft Tricentennial then will make a cameo appearance alongside other NABC brands at the July 4th fireworks party at the Riverfront Amphitheater, which in New Albany is held on July 3, not July 4.

A second Tricentennial wave will occur during the 2013 edition of Harvest Homecoming, when draft Tricentennial will pour at NABC’s 6th annual Fringe Fest at Bank Street Brewhouse. At this time, we’ll also make kegs of Tricentennial available for purchase by six local draft accounts, hopefully affording festival attendees a final chance to drink to New Albany’s future.

Perhaps by then, we’ll have evaded our past. But only time will tell ... and that’s why we drink today.