Week of Winter Walking: Day Four

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New Albanian Get Off My Lawn Session IPA

A good beer is a thing of beauty to behold

Today’s walk, I must confess, was a little bit less about moving around and a little bit more about eating, drinking and shopping. But I subscribe to the firm belief that all things are good in moderation, so one day of walking plus beer is not so bad.

This afternoon, my husband and I drove down to New Albany for lunch at the New Albanian Bank Street Brewhouse. We had the place pretty much to ourselves, which was nice, as we got to sit at the bar and chat with the bartender. I had the Get Off My Lawn Session IPA.

“What’s a session IPA?” you might ask (I did). Or, “What’s an IPA?” (that I did not have to ask). An India Pale Ale is a generally hoppy beer first brewed by the British in the 19th century and named “India” pale ale because it became popular among traders in the East India Company. A session IPA is an IPA that you can drink in a session. Translation: It’s an IPA with an alcohol content low enough that you don’t fall out of your chair after just one. This is something I greatly appreciate as an avid IPA drinker; they’re tasty enough to want to drink more than one, but you will pay the price in tipsiness. Here ends today’s beer lesson.

public art in new albany

Public art in New Albany

The problem with hitting a really wonderful brewery an hour away from home is, of course, the drive back. Here’s where the walking comes in handy. I can’t say our walk was particularly vigorous, but we did hit some very nice little shops. At Colokial on Spring St,. my husband bought me a beautiful hooded poncho. We also got to check out some of the local art installations which the folks in New Albany have worked hard to attract and fund around their downtown. This is something we in Madison could certainly aspire to imitate; public art is a relatively small thing that makes a big difference to how people experience your city or town.

Among the other cool things we saw walking around New Albany was a building with real gas lamps on the outside and the New Albanian mobile brewery van, complete with taps. We finished up at Quills, a coffee shop for people who are very serious about their coffee. These are the folks who taught our friends at The 605 Grille how to make a cappuccino, we were expecting great things; we were not disappointed.

If you want to see more pictures from our walk in downtown New Albany, go to my Facebook page, here.

That’s Day Four in the books. Where to next? And will there be beer? The suspense is killing me.

P.S.  On the drive down to New Albany from Madison, you will now pass the Amazon Fulfillment Center.  That’s right, folks, not a distribution center, but “fulfillment.”  In fact, the sign doesn’t even say “center.”  It’s just “Amazon Fulfillment.”   I don’t know…do I need to even say anything more about that, or has Amazon perfectly summed up 21st century consumer culture for all time right there?

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