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Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/53439
Ribenboim (in jester hat) and customers. GO TO AGAINST THE GRAIN (401 E. Main St.) Drink: Against the Grain brewmaster Jerry Gnagy (above) is inventing a new beer flavor as you read this, and it will eventually stream from one of the brewery's six tap styles: hop, malt, dark, session, smoke or "whim," which is our recommendation. "We don't really want to serve the same beer twice," Gnagy says. "And the whim can be any style I want it to be." So far it has served Kentucky Rye Chicken (an amber ale aged in rye-whiskey barrels), Naughty Squirrel (a Belgian IPA) and Shart Pants (a "souped-up" version of the Belgian IPA known as a double IPA). This spring expect a blood-orange pilsner. Sit: The pew against the wall opposite the bar offers the best view of the multiple levels of stainless-steel, copper- jacketed tanks and fermenters. That's where what you're drinking was made. Did you know? Up near the soaring ceiling hang four black- and-white portraits of a wild-eyed Gnagy and his partners. In Gnagy's picture he's wearing a Kansas State hoodie on the first day he brewed here, when the temperature reached "probably 130 degrees" as he used the equipment. Check out: On the wall near the front doors, don't miss the cartoon roughnecks that local artist Robby Davis (some of his illustrations are in this package, too) created to repre- sent each Against the Grain brewing style. In the future, Gnagy says, the characters — Malt is our favorite — will be on T-shirts and bottles. We think they need their own animated TV show. Why not make the same six beers again and again? "There's safety in doing the same thing all the time," Gnagy says. "I don't know of another place doing what we're doing in America." Why is the beer trend here now? "Over the last 10 years or so, the quality of craft beer has increased to the point that it's sought after like good wine. This town has always been willing to try new things, and that's exactly what brew- ers are doing," Gnagy says. "Bluegrass Brewing Co. was all we had until the early 2000s; there's still a lot of room in this town for microbreweries to grow." What's in Gnagy's fridge? "I have a month-old half-growler of Morning Wood, an amber ale we brewed with coffee and aged in oak barrels. We just ran out today. I recently used it while cooking chili," he says. "I also have Miller High Life. That's what brewers drink." GO TO SERGIO'S WORLD BEERS (1605 Story Ave.) Drink: Verhaeghe Duchesse de Bourgogne. It may sound strange to Joe Sixpack, but this sour ale could convert even Natty Ice drinkers on first sip. The "sour" is surprisingly crisp, not syrupy, and leaves just a hint of a vinegar aftertaste, which may sound bitter but, somehow, is just perfect. Sit: At the bar in the front room, bellying up to a counter crowded three- and four-deep with giant bottles of ales, unfamiliar international brews and nostalgic brands. There's even a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon that dates from well before PBR was hipster catnip. This one still has an old-fashioned pull-tab top. Check out: The dozens, hundreds, thousands of different bottled beers for sale on shelves, in refrig- erators and stacked against the walls as you snake your way from the front bar through a hallway, past a second dining room and to the back wall. If the Mayans are right, when the end draws nigh later this year, you'll find us in the back room at Sergio's, not giving a damn. After you leave: Try to find the "sign" for Sergio's outside. There's sort of one. Why is the beer trend here now? "People's palates are being introduced to great beers," owner Sergio Ribenboim says. "Once they try something good, it may cost a little more, but they don't have to drink volumes of it. And once you have a really good beer, you don't want to go back to the more commercial beers." What's in Ribenboim's fridge? "Everything on that top shelf," he says, pointing to a row of empty cartons that runs the gamut from Westmalle Trap- pist Tripel to Orval Trappist to Chimay and Cantil- lon. Hey, the man's serious about his beers. MY FIRST BEER Dawne Gee, WAVE TV anchor "When I was a little girl, I sipped from my daddy's glass once, probably something like Pabst Blue Ribbon. I think that's when I realized I would not be having a beer of my own. Everybody always says you have to acquire a taste for it, but I don't want to work that hard to like something." 2.12 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE [45]