THE BEER BEAT: This iconic (and ironic) photo of Dan Canon and Rosa L. Stumblebus.

In spite of the many reasons that seeing this photo might annoy me, only one of which pertains to the candidate himself, I can't convey my pleasure in seeing it continually pop up during coverage of Dan Canon's congressional campaign.

The photo dates to Canon's campaign kickoff party in July at the downtown NABC location, whatever it's being referred to these days.

Dan Canon, (D) Civil Rights Attorney for IN-09, by Jordan Valerie Allen (Millennial Politics)

Jordan Valerie spoke with Dan Canon on the podcast about his candidacy, America’s racist criminal justice system, and some of his more controversial opinions. Make sure to follow Dan Canon on Twitter @dancanon, like him on Facebook, and check out his website.

It's only been a few months, so please forgive  me for repeating a few paragraphs from July 8 -- and no, not yet. Is Clarence Darrow still practicing?

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THE BEER BEAT: Dan Canon and the welcome return of progressive thinking at NABC.

I was in Chicago on Thursday, doing my little bit for Anglo-American relations, or else I would have walked down Spring Street to my former beer joint to toast Dan Canon and his congressional run on the occasion of his well-attended kickoff party -- although actually the words "former beer joint" won't be 100% accurate until the deal is done and a check is written.

For those readers who've been asking for an update: Two years later, and no, not yet.

Apart from all this, I'm sincerely delighted to see progressive politics return to Bank Street Brewhouse, which since my absence has been renamed the NABC Cafe & Brewhouse. You'll understand it's difficult for me to think of it other than BSB, founded to further to cause of Progressive Pints.

Somewhere along the way, the ghosts of Lord Cornwallis' musicians struck up the tune.

The serving men doe sit and whine, and thinke it long ere dinner time:
The Butler's still out of the way, or else my Lady keeps the key,
The poor old cook, in the larder doth look,
Where is no goodnesse to be found,
Yet let's be content, and the times lament, you see the world turn'd upside down.

So it was that back in 2015, during my indie campaign for mayor, I was expressly forbidden by my business partners from hosting campaign events. I was told that we simply had to keep politics out of the business.

Consequently, I'm terribly envious of Dan for his signage on Rosa, the draft truck (shown above).

In 2015, she was off-limits to my stylish pirate logo, in spite of it being hard to imagine a better place for a skull and crossbones than a vehicle named for a legendary activist -- nay, Marxist, just like the fellow whose triptych is the single most famous feature of the Red Room at the Public House.

Noting that I'm a shop floor kind of guy, know that I've never doubted the political instincts and integrity of NABC's staff and crew. They've always gotten it, even when the owners didn't, and I'll always appreciate their support.

Ironically, my partners weren't ever concerned that a lefty progressive like me would chase away local Republican customers, most of whom converse freely with me whether or not we agree on politics.

Rather, they were terrified of retaliation from the local social and civic favors club known as Let's Pretend We're Democrats, for whom the emerging Canon candidacy might be the most entertaining litmus test in all recorded history.

The floor show begins ... now, as Chairman Dickey gathers together Jeff Gahan, Bob Caesar, Brad Striegel, Warren Nash and ... that newbie Canon guy ... in one forced photo-op of a loving embrace.

They're all Democrats, right?

Well, in name only. It simply cannot be that Canon and the likes of Caesar both are Democrats, at least without them or me or all of us doing heavy drugs, and there's something in so very instructive (not to mention blatantly hypocritical) herein about NA's perennial political dysfunction that I really have no choice left but to continue drinking heavily and waiting for a check in the mail ...

SNIP

 ... Most importantly of all, welcome back to the real participatory local world, NABC. I missed your political consciousness these past two years. It was something I'd taken for granted. Maybe it will survive without me, after all.

THE BEER BEAT: Dan Canon and the welcome return of progressive thinking at NABC.

I was in Chicago on Thursday, doing my little bit for Anglo-American relations, or else I would have walked down Spring Street to my former beer joint to toast Dan Canon and his congressional run on the occasion of his well-attended kickoff party -- although actually the words "former beer joint" won't be 100% accurate until the deal is done and a check is written.

For those readers who've been asking for an update: Two years later, and no, not yet.

Apart from all this, I'm sincerely delighted to see progressive politics return to Bank Street Brewhouse, which since my absence has been renamed the NABC Cafe & Brewhouse. You'll understand it's difficult for me to think of it other than BSB, founded to further to cause of Progressive Pints.

Somewhere along the way, the ghosts of Lord Cornwallis' musicians struck up the tune.

The serving men doe sit and whine, and thinke it long ere dinner time:

The Butler's still out of the way, or else my Lady keeps the key,

The poor old cook, in the larder doth look,

Where is no goodnesse to be found,

Yet let's be content, and the times lament, you see the world turn'd upside down.

So it was that back in 2015, during my indie campaign for mayor, I was expressly forbidden by my business partners from hosting campaign events.

I was told that we simply had to keep politics out of the business.

Consequently, I'm terribly envious of Dan for his signage on Rosa, the draft truck (shown above).

In 2015, she was off-limits to my stylish pirate logo, in spite of it being hard to imagine a better place for a skull and crossbones than a vehicle named for a legendary activist -- nay, Marxist, just like the fellow whose triptych is the single most famous feature of the Red Room at the Public House.

Noting that I'm a shop floor kind of guy, know that I've never doubted the political instincts and integrity of NABC's staff and crew. They've always gotten it, even when the owners didn't, and I'll always appreciate their support.

Ironically, my partners weren't ever concerned that a lefty progressive like me would chase away local Republican customers, most of whom converse freely with me whether or not we agree on politics.

Rather, they were terrified of retaliation from the local social and civic favors club known as Let's Pretend We're Democrats, for whom the emerging Canon candidacy might be the most entertaining litmus test in all recorded history.

The floor show begins ... now, as Chairman Dickey gathers together Jeff Gahan, Bob Caesar, Brad Striegel, Warren Nash and ... that newbie Canon guy ... in one forced photo-op of a loving embrace.

They're all Democrats, right?

Well, in name only. It simply cannot be that Canon and the likes of Caesar both are Democrats, at least without them or me or all of us doing heavy drugs, and there's something in so very instructive (not to mention blatantly hypocritical) herein about NA's perennial political dysfunction that I really have no choice left but to continue drinking heavily and waiting for a check in the mail.

Best wishes to Dan Canon, and if I'm ever bought out, some of the cash is coming to your campaign. It may even happen before your second or third term in Congress.

Meanwhile, I'll do whatever is in my limited power to help Dan get elected, and conversely, also do whatever I must to defeat local poseur Democrats of the strictly theoretical variety who merely masquerade as progressives.

Now that Canon's on the scene, I've a coherent, principled platform to compare to theirs, not to mention his solid record of action in advocating for social justice, not just making vague non-binding gestures about it.

Most importantly of all, welcome back to the real participatory local world, NABC. I missed your political consciousness these past two years. It was something I'd taken for granted. Maybe it will survive without me, after all.

An Elector Day story ... and Bank Street Brewhouse changes its name to NABC Cafe and Brewhouse.

Scroll down and learn how Elector Ale came to be 14 years ago, but first, as you can see, Bank Street Brewhouse has a new name.

Since the guy who founded the business and wrote something like 96.7% of the press releases no longer is affiliated with the business, we might be waiting a bit for an explanation, though I'm sure it falls under the all-purpose heading of "rebranding."

And, before anyone asks, what I wrote in May remains the case: Here's the latest in the Great NABC Non-Buyout Saga of 2016.

On a more sensible note, it appears that the august (November?) institution of Elector Day has not been abandoned, and that popularly-priced pints of the elixir are available Tuesday at both locations, BSB (oops, the Cafe) and the original Pizzeria & Public House location on the north side.

While I may no longer be involved in the business, it is a matter of pride that Elector has survived three and a half White House terms, and (hopefully) will persist into a fifth residency.

As such, here's a freebie -- written in 2014, updated for now. It's okay; you can pay me later at the usual piece rate.

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Elector was born 14 years ago on Election Day, 2002.

Now it is the year 2016, and on November 8, Elector’s birthday will be celebrated at both NABC locations with big cuts in the “poll” tax: $2 Imperial pints of Elector, all day long, and $6.66 growler refills of Elector, all day long.

No longer must we labor under the delusion of an election day prohibition on alcohol sales, so drink early and vote often.

Here is the Elector Story.

Elector’s conceptual roots extend to the beginnings of NABC’s original garage brewery off Grant Line Road — now the Research & Development Brewery.

Elector was the third recipe brewed by NABC’s founding brewer, Michael Borchers, and his assistant, Joey Burns, and was made for the very first time on Election Day, 2002.

Brew day happened to be the mid-term congressional election following the disputed presidential race of 2000, in which Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide, but lost the White House owing to Florida’s uncounted hanging chads and the state’s subsequent votes for George W. Bush in the Electoral College.

Needless to say, as subversive leftists (and craft brewers, who always should be subversive leftists), this political outcome was still somewhat fresh in our minds in 2002 as Michael concocted an initially modest plan to follow Community Dark and Beak’s Best with a traditional English-style seasonal winter warmer.

Brew day was uneventful, but as the fermentation proceeded and time rolled past, it became obvious that the new batch of winter warmer was going to have a deeper burgundy color than planned, and also was considerably hoppier than the intended style should ever be.

Well, there’s nothing wrong with that, as it turned out.

The resulting hybrid was delicious, full-bodied and aggressively hopped, and we concluded that while the intent had been tamer winter warmer, the result was something else – Imperial Red, in our reckoning – and we went forward with the results.

These days, I prefer to call it Elector-Style Ale, such is the beer’s uniqueness. It is a one-off, and stylistically, there is no classification except fine flavor.

Before the finished character of our newly hybridized ale had become apparent, we’d already started the process of hybridizing its name, something that arose out of drunken mischief (imagine that) when after much discussion, Joey suggested Elector in reference to the Electoral College and the way it made the popular vote pointless, and by extension, democracy itself somewhat redundant.

I replied that the “-tor” suffix would suggest Doppelbock in the minds of knowledgeable drinkers, and of course we had no intention of producing a beer remotely close to Doppelbock.

Joey: “Right.”

Roger: “Right.”

Good, then we’re agreed … Elector it would be.

Now it’s fourteen years later, and I feel just as strongly as I did then: An Elector in hand is well worth two Bushes in retirement, any election day, and in fact, any time of the year. Elector’s back story would be sufficient to render it an iconic brand, and Tony Beard’s graphics greatly add to the mystique — but of course, it’s the liquid in the glass that really matters.