One of the area’s most well-informed and indefatigable proselytizers for real beer (and F&D Hip Hops columnist) Roger Baylor will sell his remaining interests in the New Albanian Brewing Co. to his partners, his ex-wife Amy and her sister Kate Lewison, to concentrate on his campaign for mayor of New Albany.
Whether or not he wins his political race, Baylor said that it was time for him to step away from the beer business, according to Insider Louisville. Baylor told Insider, “It seems to be what I’ve been interested in for a while now and seems to be what I spend a lot of time on. That might actually tell me something about where my head is.”
Twenty-five years ago, when he first started his long effort to introduce beer drinkers in the area to the joys of imported beers, and sparked interest in the beginnings of what has become the American craft beer industry, Baylor was eager to educate others. Rich O’s, his New Albany pizza joint, became a regional beer destination, one of the few places that served a wide menu of imported beer.
While Baylor still enjoys beer and brewing, he has become a bit jaded about the “craft beer industry,” which seems to him to have become too interested in making money. (His full interview with Insider can be found here.)
NABC, however, will continue under the ownership of Lewison and Amy Baylor. The pizzas will continue at Rich O’s, and the kitchen at the former New Albanian Brewhouse at 415 Bank St. in New Albany is being run by their friend Stacie Bale , who has moved her Earth Friends Café there, offering a menu of beer-infused appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches and flatbread pizzas.
