The New Albanian Brewing Company (NABC) has announced that its ten-year-old New Albanian Bank Street Brewhouse at 415 Bank Street in downtown New Albany will close, effective May 25.
The shuttering of the production brewery at Bank Street Brewhouse enables business owners Kate Lewison and Amy Baylor, along with building owner Steve Resch, to seek a prospective buyer to take over the business as a turnkey 15-barrel brewery with bottling and kegging capability, kitchen and outdoor beer garden.
Bank Street Brewhouse’s imminent closure also affects Taco Steve, the current food service provider. Taco Steve’s owner Stephen Powell has indicated that he will not seek to relocate and is examining other career opportunities.
NABC’s Pizzeria & Public House on the city’s north side at 3312 Grant Line Road remains open, as does the original “research and development” brewery located there. Many of NABC house beers like Elector and Hoptimus will continue to be brewed, but without the larger production-geared facility, outside distribution for NABC comes to an end.
NABC dates to 1987, when it began life as Sportstime Pizza on the site of a defunct Noble Roman’s. Rich O’s Public House followed in 1990 in the same building, pioneering the imported and craft beer boom in Southern Indiana. Small-scale brewing began there in 2002, and in spite of being rebranded as NABC Pizzeria & Public House, older New Albany residents still refer to “Sportstime and Rich O’s.”
Bank Street Brewhouse opened in 2009 and originally featured a critically acclaimed gastropub that closed in 2014. The production brewery was well regarded by aficionados, but struggled in recent years as the expansion of craft beer crowded the marketplace.
