Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/53439
FALLING FOR THE NEW FALLS CITY GO TO CUMBERLAND BREWS (1576 Bardstown Road) Drink: Cumberland's smooth-yet-hoppy pale or red ale. Sit: If there's a better seat in town than a metal Cumberland Brews sidewalk table, please let us know. Bad weather? Ascend the back staircase to the brew- ery's cozy upstairs. Eat: We've written about the daily quesadilla special before, but just listen to what came on ours on a recent Monday: steak, bacon, shrimp, salmon, peppers, onions and (obviously) beer cheese. Before you leave: If it's a Monday, fill up your growler for five bucks. Why is the beer trend here now? "I do know that, economically, beer is an affordable luxury. When the economy is tough, beer sales rise — same thing goes for ramen," Cumberland brewer John Ritter says. Says Cumberland owner Mark Allgeier: "Fifteen years ago, people didn't know that Budweiser was a lager. We have moved out of the introductory period." What's in Ritter's fridge? "I have several homebrews that I've had for eight or 10 months." MY FIRST BEER MY FIRST BEER If I weren't so personally enamored of the English-style pale ale being brewed and sold by Louisvillian David Easterling without a hint of fanfare on his part, I wouldn't be tooting his horn for him. But the new Falls City, sold strictly by draft through most of 2011 (bottled six-packs became available late in the year), has totally changed my appreciation of beer. Now the London-brewed Fuller's I liked most tastes a touch too fruity and alcohol-weighted; Beck's and Pilsner Urquell seem maltless and slight. Falls City Pale Ale, with its smooth yeastiness and nice blend of malt and hops, has me going through 64-ounce growlers faster than I really should. Falls City Brewing Co. began in 1905, according to its web- site, as "a monopoly-busting people's beer," established by a group of local tavern and store owners to do combat with the market-controlling Central Consumers Co., a consortium of formerly independent brewers that included the Fehr, Senn and Ackerman, Phoenix, Schaefer-Meyer and Nadorff breweries. In the end, Falls City won, as only the Fehr rem- nant survived with Falls City and Oertel's through Prohibition. At their 1950s peaks, the three breweries' annual production capacities were 500,000 barrels each for Fehr's and Oertel's and 750,000 barrels for Falls City. Falls City Pale Ale is currently contract-brewed in Black River Falls, Wis., and sold in Kentucky and Indiana. In 2010, 600 barrels were sold; in 2011, sales jumped to 1,500 barrels, and this year, with bottled six-packs included, the figure is expected to climb to 3,000. Easterling, 45, who also owns an IT consulting firm and currently has neither partners nor in- vestors in his beer venture, says that the pale ale will continue to be contract-brewed elsewhere until he can afford to build a full 30-barrel production facility. He says he'll be opening a Louisville tasting room, and possibly a gastropub, on Barret Avenue, where other Falls City varieties he's developing will be brewed on a smaller scale. "I'm looking at a new and a used seven-barrel system," Easterling says, and if the latter choice works out, "we'll definitely have beer by Derby." — Jack Welch GO TO BOOMBOZZ TAPHOUSE (1448 Bardstown Road) Greg Fischer, mayor "I went to college in Nashville, and the drinking age was 18 at that time. There was a pub on the Vanderbilt campus at the Sarratt Student Center that served cold draft beer. Can't remember what kind, but it tasted quite good to a 1976 college freshman sitting out- side on the deck under a warm summer sun. Beer has come a long way since then, and I now enjoy a good Louisville micro- brew from time to time." [44] LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2.12 Dean Corbett, chef- owner Corbett's, Equus and Jack's Lounge "It was with my sister, Cathy, when I was 16. It was a Falls City beer, and we had it at Gerstle's. I even remember the bartender's name — ev- eryone called him Johnny Friendly. He has since passed away, but he was a really great guy. And the beer was delicious! Nice finish of tin!" Drink: BoomBrew, an amber ale that BBC makes for the taphouse. It's an homage to German-style altbiers. Trans- lation: so smooth. Sit: People-watching on the patio, which faces Bard- stown Road and Eastern Parkway, one of the Highlands' (and the city's) busiest intersections. If you prefer being indoors, grab a seat at Kentucky's first "Frost Rail," where part of the bar is made of ice to keep your beer frosty. Observation: It's fun to draw pictures in the frost with your finger. What's in the fridge of bar manager Michael Beck- mann? The Dreadnaught, Arctic Panzer Wolf and Broo Doo from Three Floyds Brewing Co.