Celts on the River in New Albany this Saturday.

I'd like to post a plug for the Celts on the River musical event on Saturday, June 12. It's from 2:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. at New Albany's Riverfront Amphitheater. There's no cover charge and a slew of Celtic bands, including the BeerMats from Ireland.

NABC has the beer concession and will be unveiling this year's batch of Haggis Laddie Celtic Red. There are food vendors, arts and crafts, and a children's area. The after party's at Bank Street Brewhouse.

While you're in New Albany for the day, check out River City Winery, Wick's, Studio's, Steinert's, Paul's One World Cafe and all the other dining and inbibing establishments downtown. La Rosita's is coming to Pearl Street in July, and La Bocca, an Italian bistro, will open on Market Street quite soon.

Here are a few links:

Official site: http://celtsontheriver.com/

About NABC's Haggis Laddie: http://potablecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2010/06/nabc-haggis-laddie-celtic-red-for-celts.html

My preview piece in LEO: http://leoweekly.com/dining/mug-shots-celts-invade-new-albany

[Robin Garr]

NABC has the beer concession

Exclusively? No industial swill on the premises? Incroyable!

Yep. Industrial swill ist verboten.

[Robin Garr]

Yep. Industrial swill ist verboten.

Excellent! And you haven't had any calls from a guy named Guido?

Not yet.

However, note that it would be Michel, Jean-Roy or perhaps Carlos, not Guido. AB-InBev currently is suing in Illinois to overturn the state's microbrewer self-distribution law on the grounds that it places AB at a competitive disadvantage.

I'm not joking. The King of Megaswill, headquartered in Belgium/Brazil, says that a microbrewer delivering to an account in Peoria hurts their carbonated urine business.

Anyone wondering why I detest AB and everything its bloated hegemony stands for? Look no further, and then stop to consider who (and where) your money's goes to subsidize when you pound that Bud on the bartop and lament the vise grip of the multinational on your economic prospects.

Rant over.

[Robin Garr]

Anyone wondering why I detest AB and everything stands for? Look no further, and then stop to consider who (and where) your money's goes to subsidize when you pound that Bud on the bartop and lament the vise grip of the multinational on your economic prospects.

Rant over.

Well ranted, too. I would respond in more detail, but it's almost time to grab a salad and head over to Slugger Field so I can find my way to a peanut stand where three microbrewery taps (and one "stealth" micro from AB) are well hidden at the back of the stand, handles impossible to see against the backlighting, and friendly but clueless servers having no idea what's in the kegs or how to serve it other than ice-cold and head-free in diminutive plastic cups for $5.50 the serving.

But I'll support my local breweries nonetheless, and keep yapping about it in the faint hope that if enough people take up the chorus, things might get better. After all, it was halfway through last year, the ninth season in Slugger Field, before a single Browning's tap got in. Three taps this year is an improvement, and maybe if we keep yelling, we can eventually get them to move the micros into the light.

I believe that BBC Nut Brown and Cumberland Red are on tap now instead of Beak's and Kentucky Ale. Both should suit the cooler evening well. We guess that they intend to pursue a rotational strategy, and applaud it.

I'd like to post a plug for the Celts on the River musical event on Saturday, June 12. It's from 2:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. at New Albany's Riverfront Amphitheater. There's no cover charge and a slew of Celtic bands, including the BeerMats from Ireland.

Thanks for sharing this info Roger! Until reading about it here, I hadn't heard about this event. Either I need to read better pieces of "what's happening" or I'm just really out of tune with what is going on around the city.

Red headed men in kilts! I am so there!

I believe that BBC Nut Brown and Cumberland Red are on tap now instead of Beak's and Kentucky Ale. Both should suit the cooler evening well. We guess that they intend to pursue a rotational strategy, and applaud it.

I was there Friday night (June 4) and those taps offered Beaks Best, Helles, and Shock Top. I was there at the end of the first inning, and the Beaks Best was already gone (or was it ever really there?).

[Robin Garr]

I was there Friday night (June 4) and those taps offered Beaks Best, Helles, and Shock Top. I was there at the end of the first inning, and the Beaks Best was already gone (or was it ever really there?).

I had Beak's Best a couple of times last month, but I didn't see the tap last night, when they had Browning's Helles, Cumberland Red and Shock Top. They also had a small table card visible from the front showing BBC APA, but I didn't see a tap for it. Odd.

Good idea on BBC's part, though. Perhaps the other micros might consider providing a reasonable size card that can be seen by patrons lining up at the booth.

I did notice a steady stream of patrons - no long lines, but a regular rivulet - lining up for craft beers, and nobody that I saw was buying Shock Top.

Centerplate said that we could erect a mighty tiny table tent ... one sure to be obscured by the very shadow of the Budweiser billboard ... and so Tony did the artwork for it, and then Beak's is gone. If it comes back, we have it ready and waiting.

To view it: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_II62nnF8Vmg/TAMdwMRLP8I/AAAAAAAADtM/MSDNbDiwgRk/s1600/SluggerBeaks.jpg

Here's a link to my (sort of) promo column for the Celts on the River show Saturday.

Celts on the Ohio River, too: http://newsandtribune.com/columns/x1996919721/BAYLOR-Celts-on-the-Ohio-River-too

More Celts on the River details: http://cityofnewalbany.blogspot.com/2010/06/more-celts-on-river-details-show-is.html

A grand overview of all the events occurring in downtown NA today and tomorrow, courtesy of Karen's "big damn guide" to downtown New Albany this weekend: http://cityofnewalbany.blogspot.com/2010/06/karens-big-damn-guide-to-downtown-new.html