Back to BREW-a-ville

Louisville, Kentucky, is quickly becoming one of my favorite beer towns in the Southeast. Every time I make the trip 3 hours north to this city on the Ohio River, I come across more and more good quality craft beer. My trip this past weekend was no exception.

I drove up to play in a poker tournament at The Horseshoe Casino across the river in Indiana only to find out that the place was closed for a week due to recent flooding (note to self: check the casino website before heading out next time! doh!). I found another smaller casino up the river about 50 miles called Belterra which was pretty nice and had a decent daily tournament. I didn't fare too well in the tournament, but at least I got my fix.

Afterwards, I headed back down to New Albany, Indiana, a small city across the river from Louisville and stopped for lunch (and beer, of course) at the Bank Street Brewhouse of the New Albanian Brewing Company. I have been here before after discovering it during my last visit (see previous blog) to the area. I started with a half-pint of their Hoptimus IPA which I have had before and really like. They had a couple of interesting seasonals on the chalkboard so I started down the list as I munched on my lunch (pork tacos! yum! and the pork was from a local farm. cheers!). My first, and my favorite, was the Yakima, a hoppy rye ale concoction that was spot on. My luck was turning from the poker since I got the last glass of this sweet nectar before they ran out! The next seasonal I tried was the Jasmine, a sweet-tasting stout that was exceptional as well. They had another that was a Belgium-style brew that I passed on. I instead moved on to a pint of one of their flagship beers, the Elector, an imperial red ale that's pretty darn good.

It was a mild afternoon for early March in southern Indiana and sitting at the pub's bar with the garage-doors up (it's a converted distribution warehouse - photo below) was very relaxing. The bartender was kind enough to turn off the University of Kentucky basketball game (which was a blow-out) and allowed me to watch my beloved Duke Blue Devils battle against Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament Semi-Finals. The game was tight and I couldn't leave without seeing the end so I decided on another beer. They had another of their flagship "Four Core" beers, Beak's Best, in cask-condition on tap and I decided to give it a whirl after a recommendation from a fellow bar patron. It was very good (maybe not the be-all, end-all this guy thought it was), but not bad. While I really admire the cask-condition style of making beer, I can't say it's my favorite. The absence of carbonation and the room temperature-to-cool serving status don't bother me and are supposed to enhance the flavor of the beer, but I just don't taste it. It's decent and drinkable, but I do see what all the fuss is about really. Duke pulled out the win to move on to the finals and I closed out my tab and moved on to my hotel room back across the river in Louisville. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

The next day I drove back up to Belterra and played again in the daily tournament at 11 AM. I lasted longer than I had the day before, but was knocked out by the time it got down to two tables. I decided to stop on the way home for lunch back in Louisville at Cumberland Brews. I had tried to go to this place the day before, but there was a St. Paddy's Day/Irish festival going on in the neighborhood and parking was not to be found anywhere close. I was a little leery of the place because I had read reviews that it was basically a smokey little hole in the wall bar that brewed a few beers. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet (except this blog, of course). The place couldn't have been more pleasant. It's a small but rather roomy multi-level establishment with a nice selection of beers to choose from and ample-enough seating at the bars, tables, couches, etc. upstairs and down. I started with a half-pint of their Amarillo IPA which was decent. I ordered some cheese fries for lunch (they were fantastic by the way!) and moved on to a pint of their pale ale which was my favorite so far of theirs. Kentucky was in the SEC finals and the place only had two TVs upstairs where I was at and I didn't have the nerve to ask them to switch to ACC finals going on at the same time in which Duke was playing their arch rival, North Carolina. I was able to follow the score on the crawl at the bottom of the screen and saw the Blue Devils were pretty much laying the wood to the Tar Heels. Sweet! I finished lunch and my beer and got the check since I had to drive home that was about all I needed to have on this visit. Back downstairs the crowded bar had thinned out a bit and what do I spy in the corner? - A small TV with the Duke game on! I take a seat at the bar to see the last few minutes of the game. I ordered a half-pint of the Slewfoot amber ale and watched my Dukies take down the trophy. The amber ale wasn't too bad either.

Yet another great place for craft beer in Louisville...that makes 5 decent places in the area when you count Bluegrass Brewing (the most well-known in the area), Browning's over by the baseball stadium, BJ's (a very decent chain restaurant/brewery) and New Albanian across the river. It's hard to ask for more than that from a city this size I guess. Thanks, Brewaville, I will see you again soon!