BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: Our Lady of Perpetual Hops foresees a mid-summer debut.

It isn't unusual for a year or more to elapse before a brewery comes to fruition. It's a great deal of work.

THE BEER BEAT: "Dives and hives" in Nawbany, a new brewery coming to Floyds Knobs, and other tales of the drinking life.

The idea for Our Lady of Perpetual Hops first came to light in early 2018, and I suppose the only change is the brewing equipment finding a home in the industrial park prior to the establishment of the Paoli Pike location in Floyds Knobs.

OLPH is hoping to be open in July, so we'll return to the topic then. Best of luck to them in the interim. Reporter Boyle does a solid job with this newspaper overview, although somehow the name of Rob Pappas is omitted. I'm told he's still involved, though.

New brewery to bring unique beer experience to New Albany, by John Boyle

Our Lady of Perpetual Hops to open this summer in Grant Line Industrial Park

This summer, a new hangout spot for beer lovers is coming to town.

Unlike other local breweries, however, Our Lady of Perpetual Hops is a bit off the beaten path, located in the Grant Line Industrial Park just past Indiana University Southeast.

Proprietors Tanner Wortham and Kyle Richmer said the idea to start the brewery and taphouse, which they hope to open in July, started as somewhat of a joke before blossoming into a full-blown business ...

NABC's Bank Street Brewhouse turned 10 this week.

The past week slipped away from me, and I fumbled the opportunity to wish a happy birthday to Bank Street Brewhouse, my former business "where the day old bread store used to be."

You hear that reference less and less these days. After all, it's been ten whole years since BSB opened; the date was March 12 (or maybe the 13th) of 2009. It's a decade later, and a while since I've been gone from it, but beer still is being brewed and food served (Taco Steve).

Disappointingly, there remain three big holes (surface parking lots) in the urban fabric on the small block of Bank between Spring and Elm. I'd always hoped that we'd see them filled, damn it.

Infill! Density!

But as usual, I digress. The forthcoming ten-year downtown anniversaries I could find on short notice:

River City Winery: Circa May, 2009
Toast on Market: September 29, 2009
Wicks's October 7, 2009

Of course, acknowledging that RCW currently is on hiatus, and I'm probably forgetting someone else, too. When did Exchange open, very late 2012 or early 2013?

Here's something I wrote about the Bank Street Brewhouse building almost 11 years ago.

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The history of NABC’s Bank Street Brewhouse building revealed. (June 5, 2008)

My first foray into the history of the future NABC Bank Street Brewhouse building at 415 Bank Street in New Albany yields the following information. In short, the current building on Bank Street came about as an annex/extension of a bakery business located just behind it on Pearl. All years below are approximate. The bakery company that absorbed Grocers in 1959 is variously referred to as "Rainbo" and "Rainbow."

1919
Model Baking Co. is incorporated and baking begins shortly thereafter at 414 Pearl Street, directly across the alley from 415 Bank Street.

1938
Model's "Super Bakery" is slated for 414 Pearl Street. Source materials aren't clear whether this involved renovation or new construction.

1940
Model Baking Co. becomes Grocers Baking Co., "The Home of Honey Crust Bread."

1949-1950
Grocers Baking Co. acquires house at 413/415 Bank Street, tears it down and builds current building soon to be used by NABC to brew beer. The building becomes the bakery's service area and garage for route trucks.

1955-1956
Remaining houses on each side of the bakery's Bank Street garage disappear and become parking lots. The south parking lot originally was used by Cora Jacobs Realty and Union Bank, and now is owned by attorney Rick Fox. The north parking lot was for the bakery/garage. Interestingly, the building brought down to provide the future NABC parking lot housed the New Albany chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union for more than thirty years, and perhaps longer (hardbound street directories went back to 1922, and I ran out of time to go to microfiche).

During the same time span (20's - 40's), the house that now belongs to Ricke & Associates boarded students from a local Bible college.

1959-1960
Grocers Baking ceases to exist and becomes Rainbo. How this was transacted isn't clear.

1964
Longtime bakery manager Hobart W. Fox, who worked for both Model and Grocers, dies at his home on Gary Drive ... the same street where founding NABC brewer Michael Borchers now lives.

1970
Rainbo ceases baking in the old Model/Grocers site on Pearl Street.

1975
The Floyd County Museum gets an Indiana Arts Commission grant to paint a "supergraphic" on a downtown New Albany building. The south wall of the former bakery garage is chosen, and Larry Dalhover, a New Albany artist and dance instructor, wins a competition sponsored by the museum. Dalhover's design is painted in one day by a St. Marks UCC youth group.*

1980
For the sake of "modernization," Rainbow installs vinyl siding and a faux façade on the Bank Street side of what they have started referring to as a "thrift" store, otherwise known to many as "the day old bread store."

1985
A Tribune photo shows a newly created vacant lot at 414 Pearl Street and exults: "Downtown keeps improving … The old Rainbow Bakery building on Pearl Street has now been demolished … others will be torn down back to the city parking lot."

2006
Rainbo closes the thrift store, and the building goes up for sale.

2008-2009
NABC brings the brewing revolution to downtown New Albany.

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* Information from the February, 1975 edition of Louisville magazine, (pg. 75; "They Were Wall-Eyed!") The unknown author provides grist for the debate over how to identify a resident of New Albany with this line (italics added): "The next morning New Albanians heading downtown to work and shop did a genuine double take." 

THE BEER BEAT: Bryan Roth on sexism, anonymity and speaking openly about diversity.

As I observed on Friday ...

THE BEER BEAT: "'Pinup versus pin her down': Indiana beers stoke controversy."

 ... Route 2 will have to do better than taking credit for the idea while cowering behind a curtain. It's the same degraded mentality behind on-line anonymity. Come to think of it ... hiding's the whole point, isn't it?

Bryan Roth's blog is called This Is Why I'm Drunk ("Beer culture, history and an academic pursuit of one of our oldest extra-curricular activities"), and Roth has followed up with this.

Silence and Secrets Have No Place Here, by Bryan Roth

 ... Among the many reasons why someone’s name needs to stay secret, the threshold was apparently crossed recently when an employee at Indiana’s Route 2 Brews didn’t feel comfortable talking on the record about overtly sexist branding created by the business.

As silly as that sounds – a marketing and sales director refusing to talk publicly about their employer’s marketing and sales – it was compounded by the willingness of the Indianapolis Star to provide anonymity to a source that created the names and labels for brands like “Leg Spreader ESB.”

My former colleagues at the Guild still find themselves in search of sure footing.

The Brewers of Indiana Guild, which has previously refused to acknowledge questionable behavior by its dues-paying members, barely spoke up when offered an opportunity for the story.

I'm no longer a board member, but my stance hasn't changed since early 2015, when Leg Spreader first reared its ugly word (and world) view.

If the guild is supported by the majority Indiana breweries, and it is, and if these breweries agree that it's a good thing for the guild to lobby on their behalf, then the corollary is for them to accept an obligation to be socially responsible -- precisely because the Indiana legal regime stipulates that irresponsibility (serving minors, etc) is grounds for the revocation of the brewing privilege.

Perhaps it is true that the precise nature of social responsibility in the context of Leg Spreader (or Naughty Girl) has yet to be determined, in which case it is the responsibility of the guild to lead an effort toward definition and consensus.

It may be impossible to eradicate irresponsibility, but this doesn't mean that a guild or similar trade grouping is precluded from being pro-active to protect the collective reputation of its segment in the marketplace. Roth is right, and it's time to speak openly.

THE BEER BEAT: "'Pinup versus pin her down': Indiana beers stoke controversy."

We will not be quiet about this important issue. We want to do our part so that the next generation of beer drinkers can focus on the fun, the flavorful and the future. Beers that demean women or promote rape culture will not be reviewed or promoted in this magazine or on AllAboutBeer.com.
 -- John Holl, editor of All About Beer Magazine

Last December, I was revisited by ghosts. It's a recurring phenomenon with me.

THE BEER BEAT: Addressing diversity in "craft" beer, with Naughty Girl once again on the wrong side of the debate.

 ... Leg Spreader gave me pause, as did the reactions of some colleagues on the guild board. In turn, I started seeing Naughty Girl in a different light. My professional life was evolving during the same period of time. These chain reactions in consciousness continue, and I'm constantly taking mental notes.

Have I become some sort of expert on these issues, whether they pertain to sexism, equality, diversity or a hundred other thoughts of cultural worth, worth having?

Of course not. All I can do is try to be better informed, and as a result maybe improve myself as a person. All I can do is try my best to listen, think and act responsibly. To me, the beer revolution always meant something better, far beyond the beer in the glass. I'm disappointed in myself that when presented with an opportunity to reflect this ethos with regard to a Belgo-Indian Blonde Ale being brewed in 2011, I chose a lower common denominator.

But what's done is done. Now, I'll do what I can do.

Bits of my phone conversation with at the time writer Bryan Roth appeared in "Sexist Beer Ads Miss the Mark," his article in All About Beer (March 2017; V. 38, No. 1), which is available at issuu. It's worth your time to read.

Last month I spoke with the Amy Hainline of the Indy Star, and her story appeared yesterday.

‘Pinup versus pin her down’: Indiana beers stoke controversy

Indiana beers straddle sexy and sexist

“Sex sells” is a phrase often used in advertising. But are craft breweries taking the tactic too far?

John Holl, editor of All About Beer Magazine, thinks so. His recent column asking breweries to stop what he calls offensive, sexist branding has been shared widely on social media by brewers and brewery owners. He cites Panty Peeler Belgian-style Trippel from Midnight Sun Brewing Co. in Anchorage, Alaska, and Once You Go ... Black IPA from Lynnwood Brewing in Raleigh, N.C.

As discussion erupted, Indiana examples surfaced, as well.

Lowell’s Route 2 Brewery makes Leg Spreader ESB and Stacked Double IPA. Gary’s 18th Street Brewery brews Sex and Candy IPA. New Albany’s New Albanian Brewing Co. sells Naughty Girl Belgian Blonde Ale.

Critics argue that the highly sexualized branding objectifies women and promotes a culture of rape and sexual harassment. But others in the brewing industry say the edgy, artistic marketing makes beers stand out and people are too sensitive.

My own tipping point came in 2015 with the advent of Route 2 Brewery's Leg Spreader.

Route 2 Brewery has a menu of beers with suggestive names and labels.

The small brewpub's Stacked double IPA label features an illustration of a well-endowed woman wearing only a pair of underwear. The label of its Leg Spreader ESB shows a large-chested woman sitting with the brewery's logo between her spread legs.

The marketing and sales director for Route 2 Brewery, who asked to not be identified for this story, comes up with the names and approves the artwork.

One way to look at Route 2 Brewery's accomplishments is to grudgingly concede that in terms of primal disinformation, they're completely synchronized with our Trumpian times, and ideally placed to begin blaming coastal beer snob elites for looking down on honest red-state-blooded Indiana males who just want 'em stacked, with legs spread -- and above all else, to make sure neither their local pastor nor Planned Parenthood doesn't get involved.

However, Route 2 will have to do better than taking credit for the idea while cowering behind a curtain. It's the same degraded mentality behind on-line anonymity.

Come to think of it ... hiding's the whole point, isn't it?

Meanwhile, here I am, doomed to think and rethink the past. I spoke at length with Hainline about the war between conscience and "be a good business person, already" and she included the most important part in the story.

“What was I thinking? Well, I know what I was thinking,” (Baylor) said, recalling how his business was struggling. “I was thinking whatever it takes to sell something because we’re not doing well. And that’s scary because lapsing into that is one reason I’m not doing it (business) anymore.”

The rejoinder comes from NABC's current management, still hemorrhaging money as I await my truncated share.

“I guess I would say sex sells,” Amy Baylor said. “I never really thought of it as sexist. Probably just growing up in the world we live in.”

Maybe it's time for all of us to delete our accounts until we get this thing right, finally. My ghost visitations are getting tedious, and I'd prefer they cease.