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: 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.”