From 2019: Here are all of Tony Beard's event posters for Fringe Fest at NABC Bank Street Brewhouse, 2008 – 2018.

This one's from last year, but it bears repeating. Monnik has soldiered through the pandemic period, gradually transforming my former workplace into the sort of joint where I'll be spending time at some point down the road. 

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2019 marks the first Harvest Homecoming since 2007 without a concurrent Fringe Fest at NABC's Bank Street Brewhouse, which closed in May and awaits a new owner.

The first Fringe Fest in 2008 actually took place in the gutted former day-old bread store building and adjacent, vacant parking lot, a full five months before the first day of business.

Those were the days, my friends. Take it away, Tony.

My business divorce became final in February, 2018, and losing Bank Street Brewhouse this spring was rough, but it was the right thing for the sisters to do. NABC's original Pizzeria & Public House is a genuine regional icon, and now they'll be able to upgrade it for what I hope is decades to come.

Monnik Beer Company will open a second location in downtown New Albany at the former Bank Street Brewhouse.

Win, lose or draw -- and there was plenty of each from 2009 through 2019 -- NABC's Bank Street Brewhouse was my baby, and now that one of my jobs is to report on such matters as its revitalization into Monnik in Hoosierland, I was absolutely determined to get the scoop.

EXCLUSIVE: Monnik Beer Co. plans brewery, kitchen in New Albany at the former NABC facility, by Roger Baylor (Food & Dining Magazine)

Monnik Beer Co. opened in Germantown in 2015 and enjoys a reputation as one of Louisville’s finest breweries. Meanwhile the New Albanian Brewing Company’s Bank Street Brewhouse production brewery in downtown New Albany was shuttered in May, 2019 after ten years of making beer and memories.

Now it’s 2020, and construction continues as Monnik works toward a location in Indiana at the former Bank Street Brewery building (415 Bank Street, New Albany).

The original NABC Pizzeria & Public House (founded in 1987) continues to bake pizzas and brew beer at 3312 Plaza Drive on New Albany’s north side ...

Following are photos I took on December 15, only two of which were needed in the article. Like me, you might be mourning the disappearance of BSB's unique concrete bar top, which evidently has given way to the imperative of kitchen expansion.

But this is small beer. The most important part of this story is the fact it's happening -- along with the February advent of Recbar 812 a block away, The Exchange's "Tavern Hall" expansion into the adjacent former Feast BBQ space, Board and You's future location on Pearl, and whatever else I'm missing.

And a tale of two artistic renderings.

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: NABC's Naughty Claus makes a pre-Christmas visit.

Tony's Saturnalia
artwork, 2011 edition.

Many regular readers know that my 15 minutes of fame (and about as many loose farthings of "fortune") derive from a quarter-century's tenure as co-owner of the New Albanian Brewing Company's original Pizzeria & Public House -- originally Sportstime Pizza and Rich O's, as they're still referenced colloquially.

NABC's Bank Street Brewhouse project came 17 years into this gig, and it proved to be somewhat less enduring, at least from a financial standpoint. Creatively and artistically, I'll still put BSB up against anyone and anything, rather like a rock band that made critically acclaimed albums but never found enough of an audience to fill stadiums.

But in capitalism, one always is obliged to follow the money, and after ten years at BSB the trail went cold. As Kurt Vonnegut wrote, "so it goes."

Back in the salad days, having brewer extraordinaire David Pierce working in the Bank Street Brewhouse meant a succession of excellent beers, both everyday and seasonal, and of course David had ample assistance from Jared Williamson, Jesse Williams, Josh Hill, Pete Fingerson, Ben Minton and numerous others along the way.

However it was Jesse and Jared who produced the the first Naughty Claus (spiced) Winter Warmer all the way back in November of 2006, working at the original pub brewery on Grant Line Road. Naughty Claus Mach I debuted at the holiday season draft beer fest known as Saturnalia.

NABC’s Saturnalia is our time to emphasize festive draft beers for the holidaze ...

In pre-Christian Rome, Saturnalia was the annual winter solstice celebration coinciding with the feast days for Saturn (the god of sowing and the harvest), Consus (god of the storage bin) and Opa (goddess of plenty).

Many of our contemporary winter holiday traditions derive from Saturnalia’s pagan roots, including the hanging of wreaths and garlands, donations to the needy, prayers for peace, time off work to be enjoyed with family, and of course eating, drinking and merriment.

NABC pays tribute to these ancient pagan origins with Saturnalia. Dozens of special kegs from the USA and around the world – some rare, some seasonal and others just plain festive – will be pouring at our Pizzeria & Public House.

When the doors open at 11:00 a.m. on our new Saturnalia kick-off day, Plaid Friday (November 23), the first wave of sacrificial Saturnalia selections will be tapped in the traditional, ritualistic manner, and the hedonistic pleasures will begin. The remaining kegs will be deployed as the days pass, and the revelry is expected to continue throughout the month of December.

To be perfectly honest, I miss the institution of Saturnalia a great deal. For the general public Gravity Head was the thing, but I persist in thinking that Saturnalia represented my best-ever work as a beer gatherer.

It afforded the opportunity to make a principled point about the pagan traditions we tend to associate with Christmas, as well as providing an excuse to assemble a broader range of seasonal beers than merely "all-hoppy" or "all-heavy." There was a little something in beer for everyone with Saturnalia, and in some as-yet-determined modified format, I'd like to do it again -- maybe with bottles and cans this time next year at Pints&union.

When Bank Street Brewhouse got underway, brewmaster David modified the Naughty Claus recipe, and from 2011 to his departure (circa 2015) it remained the same each year. Josh succeeded David, and now the ale is fashioned by Ben, full-circle, back at the garage brewery from whence it came.

I got a keg from Ben, and it's on tap at Pints&union (starting Friday, December 20 for a very limited engagement).

After a small tasting while engaged in changing the keg, I suspect it has undergone further changes. It tastes good to me, and that's that. These words appeared on a sales sheet I wrote some time around 2012. I'd expect the 2019 version to be in this approximate ballyard.

As Chico Marx once presciently observed, there ain’t no sanity clause, and that’s why restricting one’s choices to either naughty or nice in the sense of holiday largesse is to commit the fallacy of the excluded middle.

In our view, chimneys and voyeurism go together much like Chico’s great uncle Karl and Charles Dickens, author of “A Christmas Carol,” because what is this most materialist of capitalist shopping seasons if not the pretext for a much overdue dialectic?

And then there is the man of the hour himself, Mr. Claus, and he needs his daze off, too, just like the rest of us. NABC’s annual ale in his honor debuted in 2006, and since 2011, the recipe has held fast, as formulated by our director of brewing operations, David Pierce, whose first batch of Christmas ale at the Silo brewpub in 1992 predates the birth of today’s Naughty Claus drinkers of a certain, youthful legal age.

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Naughty Claus

X-mas Spiced Ale

ABV: 8%

IBU: 12

Color: Orange to amber/brown.

Flavor: Medium- to full-bodied. Malty/fruity backdrop, classic Christmas spiced character (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel).

Compare to: Great Lakes Christmas Ale, Old Fezziwig.

Description: Quintessential X-mas. Malts include Rahr pale, Castle aromatic and Crisp medium crystal, with Hosey autumn gold and midsummer day honeys. Hops are German Hallertauer Magnum. Sweet and bitter orange peel, fresh ground ginger, Vietnamese cinnamon and West Indies nutmeg are the spices (with dry-gingering in the Brite tanks). NABC’s house Chouffe yeast completes the scene. 

Recipe suggestion: Seeing as Naughty Claus shadows the Wassail bowl, it isn’t an easy call, but since turkey and ham with all the trimmings are common Christmas meals, why not start there?

In early December the Courier-Journal's Dhalia Ghabour included Naughty Claus in a list of "12 Days of Christmas Beers."

This Belgian spiced ale, Naughty Claus, carries a swirl of flavor from cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, honey and bitter orange peel. Released on Dec. 18, the beer is a dark golden color with a medium mouthfeel, according to brewer Ben Minton. It's available on tap only at New Albanian Brewing Co. — and limited to eight kegs.

"You'll get an up-front spicy characteristic, sort of gingerbread flavor, but also the back taste of the Belgian yeast that Belgians will have," said manager Sarah Howell. "It's a really great one with pizza and sweet desserts."

Saturnalia in 2020? Somehow, some way.

John Campbell's doing?

Long Live the Fringe: Here are all 11 (12) of Tony Beard's posters for Fringe Fest at NABC Bank Street Brewhouse, 2008 – 2018.

2019 marks the first Harvest Homecoming since 2007 without a concurrent Fringe Fest at NABC's Bank Street Brewhouse, which closed in May and awaits a new owner.

The first Fringe Fest in 2008 actually took place in the gutted former day-old bread store building and adjacent, vacant parking lot, a full five months before the first day of business.

Those were the days, my friends. Take it away, Tony.

My business divorce became final in February, 2018, and losing Bank Street Brewhouse this spring was rough, but it was the right thing for the sisters to do. NABC's original Pizzeria & Public House is a genuine regional icon, and now they'll be able to upgrade it for what I hope is decades to come.

Time erases: Signs, signs, everywhere signs; some coming, some going.

Quite a few of us always will love Chef Israel Landin and his food, and we enjoyed his ill-fated previous restaurant, La Rosita's (now he's rocking here), but isn't it pleasant at long last to see the old sign gone, the building being painted and a business (RecBar 812) coming close to occupying it?

Next up: That annoyingly permanent Preston's signage, always a decaying reminder of the store's demise eight years ago.

Power move: Him Gentleman's Boutique and Mane Alley Color & Extension Bar to transform the moribund Preston Arts Building.

Of course adjacent to the future Him is the currently moribund River City Winery, surely downtown's favorite topic of eatery speculation, and perhaps with new signs of hope ... like this one, although the bank comes off a tad badly.

Last, and appropriately, this one. It may have been my own former business, and it seems a shame to cover the artwork with fresh paint, but it has to happen eventually -- and no, I don't have any updates about the future occupant.

The Green Mouse keeps listening, you know.

LIVE TO EAT: Remembering Bastille Day dinners at Bistro New Albany and Bank Street Brewhouse, 2006-2010.

It's Bastille Day.

The number of New Albany eateries has proliferated in recent years, but few if any of them have been marking the occasion, at least since the Frenchman retired just before Christmas in 2015.

Happy retirement, chef: Louis le Francais has left the building.

There was a time when I was determined to help jump-start a Bastille Day tradition. Bistro New Albany was first, then Bank Street Brewhouse, then finally Louis le Francais, who of course was most authentic of all because he was French.

The most fondly remembered Bastille Day celebration probably was the first, a couple of days late on July 16, 2006.

Recap: Bastille Day Bieres de Garde dinner at Bistro New Albany.

In 2006, Bastille Day came two days late … to New Albany, but a hardy group of 26 revelers beat the heat at the Bistro New Albany yesterday and celebrated French cuisine and fermentation science.

These are legendary photos, and bittersweet.

Bistro New Albany survived to stage a second Bastille Day dinner in 2007, although this time Chef Clancy moved it indoors. The format was much the same, and the evening was well attended.

Photos: Bastille Day Biere de Garde Dinner at Bistro New Albany.

Bank Street Brewhouse picked up the ball on July 14, 2009 with chef Josh Lehman in the kitchen.

Bastille Day recap.

Thanks to those attending last evening's Bastille Day event at the Brewhouse, and to the cast and crew for making it possible. We served more than 30 of the fixed-price, five-course meals, and exhausted the supply of French Bieres de Garde.

BSB did it again in 2010.

On Bastille Day, July 14, a 5-course French Biere de Garde dinner at Bank Street Brewhouse.

On Wednesday, July 14, the Bank Street Brewhouse will honor France’s national holiday, Bastille Day, with an exclusive five-course, fixed-price French menu prepared by Chef Josh Lehman and his intrepid kitchen staff.

As before, this year’s Bastille Day meal comes complete with flavors of French-brewed Bieres de Garde, as well as American craft versions of Northern France’s famous specialty style of malty, food-friendly ale.

I don't mind saying that going back and reliving these events that took place during the years 2006-2010 produces a considerable kick of nostalgia. I'm not sure anyone involved ever really made money from these meals, but it was downtown's "Wild West" period, and anything seemed possible.

We've gained so much in the years since. We've also lost something, and as the French say, "C'est la vie."