Tom Baker and Peggy Zwerver, owners of Earth Bread + Brewery, brought six of their beers to Spuyten Duyvil Monday evening. I’ve been able to visit the brewpub in Mt Airy twice since it opened last October and have enjoyed Tom’s beers both times. I began with two half pours – the Terre Fume and the brand new Oyster Pale Ale. I’ve had the Terre Fume before and it didn’t disappoint this time – satisfyingly smoky yet light enough to be refreshing. Tom used a 50% wheat/50% smoked malt grain bill for this 4.5% ABV ale. This beer was inspired by a Grätzer, an old northern German/Polish top-fermented wheat ale which you can read more about here. This is the third smoked wheat beer I’ve had and a style I’d like to see more often, especially for the summer months. I was very glad to have ordered the Oyster Pale Ale early as the keg kicked less than two hours into the evening. 40 pounds of oyster shells from Blind Tiger’s Pacific NW fest were cleaned, bagged and boiled for two hours to produce this nicely drinkable IPA. English hops and American ale yeast give this beer a clear refreshing hoppiness. My last Earth beer was the Alehoof Gruit, a more subtle gruit than others I’ve had with the herbs melding nicely to create a delicious beer. Tom used a Belgian yeast along with six herbs – ground ivy, juniper, Queen Anne’s lace, sweet myrtle, yarrow and mugwort. This is another style I’d like to see more often. Tom mentioned that Earth is going to be making their own soda, dedicating one of their taps to carbonated water then mixing in house-made syrups the old-school way. Sounds like a fine excuse for another visit to Earth in the near future. I tasted the Non-Profit Porter and the Barely Wine, but the Terra Fume and Alehoof were the standouts of the evening for me. It was a privilege to chat with Tom and drink his fine beers in my borough.
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My first beer festival video! It’s not perfect, but I hope it captures the feel of the fest and the fun everyone was having.
This was my first time attending the cask fest and I was quite impressed. There were over forty casks pouring, with representation from every Long Island brewery as well as several regional brewers and two local homebrew clubs. The Fest is held annually at Blue Point Brewery in Patchogue, easily accessible from NYC via the Long Island Rail Road. We arrived just after the opening and although there was a line, it moved quickly. The Fest is held in a series of heated tents attached to the brewery. Although it was quite cold on Saturday, I was quite comfortable in a coat. The main tent was crowded, but not uncomfortably – there were always gaps to stand in around the periphery. Fest admission included a half-pint glass and six tasting tickets. The pours were generous and I usually saw full glasses handed back – and there were virtually no lines to get your beer. Live music was performed, port-a-potties were clean and accessible (again, no lines), and food was available for purchase in the back tent.
I had a terrible head cold and was able to try only a few beers, but the ones I did try were quality. Some of the stand-outs were Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Ops (the first cask to kick), Black Forest Brew Haus Chocolate Doppelbock and Captain Lawrence Brewing Company’s Captain’s Reserve Imperial IPA dry-hopped with Simcoe. I wish I had been able to taste more beer but there are more cask fests in my future.
This was a well-run festival that I would recommend to anyone in the NYC/Long Island area. It’s a great chance to try a large variety of locally-produced real ale.
If you missed the Blue Point Cask Festival, there are several upcoming cask fests in the area:
- This Wednesday, Rattle N Hum will have four casks of the Harviestoun ‘Ola Dubh’ beginning at noon. This is a rare opportunity to try 12, 18, 30 and 40-year firkins of this renowned beer. Downloadable tasting notes can be found here.
- The 17th Brooklyn “Cask Head” Cask Festival takes place at Brazen Head on February 6-8.
- March 20-22 sees the return of the 3rd Manhattan Cask Festival at Chelsea Brewing Company
More information about cask ale can be found on Alex Hall’s site.
I attended a fantastic beer event at The Diamond yesterday! Chew N’ Brew, dreamed up by owner Dave Pollack, pitted six teams against each other in a homebrew and food pairing competition. Each team brought a homebrew and a “snack” to go with it. A donation of $20 to East Village Farms bought you a ticket worth one each of the six pairings plus two repeats of your choice. Everyone put a lot of thought and work into their pairings and it showed.
- Team Vices & Virtues paired pan-fried butternut squash and goat cheese ravioli with a Belgian saison.
- Esoteric Order of H.P.D. assembled sopes with pork, Anasazi bean puree, pickled radish, crema and cilantro with their spicy Black Saison.
- Dirty Hands, Clean Conscience cooked up a lamb shepherd’s stew with Asiago croutons, paired with a classic porter
- The Missings Smiths featured cheese ravioli with pumpkin-sage cream sauce and a French oak-aged European Bock.
- Drunken Butchers brought shrimp and crab end-of-summer rolls with an IPA
- Bockstars served up home-smoked ribs with their Bock Fiddy
Everyone who attended voted for a favorite. Esoteric Order came in first, winning a trip to Stoudt’s Oktoberfest Festival. Second place went to Bockstars and third was Vices & Virtues. I was blown away by the quality and variety of both the food and the beer, kudos to all of the teams!
This was one of my favorite beer events this year and I truly hope Dave repeats it in the future.
14 taps of Captain Lawrence beer were available last night at the Blind Tiger event. Yeah, that’s right, 14, the largest selection of Captain Lawrence beers on tap ever assembled, according to Captain Lawrence owner and head brewer Scott Vaccaro, who was enjoying the fruits of his labor last night. I arrived around 7 and the Tiger was hopping, as usual. A nice mix of beer geeks, Tiger regulars, and casual sippers crowded the place enjoying fantastic craft beer. The line-up included:
- Wine barrel Smoked from the Oak in cask
- Bourbon barrel Smoked from the Oak
- Un-oaked with elder flowers Nor’easter in gravity keg
- Oaked Nor’easter
- St. Vincent Double 2006
- the only keg produced of Golden Delicious
- Xtra Gold
- Sunblock Witte
- Liquid Gold
- Imperial IPA, Pale Ale
- Brown Ale
- Smoked Porter in cask and keg
It was a tough choice, but I started the night with what turned out to be my favorite, the un-oaked with elder flowers Nor’easter, a beautifully complex beer.
Scott’s favorite beer was the newly released Xtra Gold, an American Trippel that Scott dry hops with Amarillo. He increased the amount of hops this year and it shows as this is one intense brew. The Golden Delicious kicked early in the evening, followed closely by the wine barrel Smoked from the Oak, the latter a beer I was really looking forward to. Guess I’ll have to pick up a bottle or two instead. The Tiger always throws great events and this was no exception – a fun night!
Last Thursday night I had the privilege of attending the Ultimate Belgian Tasting III, held by Ale Street News at the Heartland Brewery Empire State Building location. It was a pricey event at $98 a ticket, but well worth it in my opinion. Tons of tasty brews, delicious food, and great company made the night one to remember. I noshed on roasted, smoked buffalo 
sandwiches from Heartland, beer marinated filet mignon from Rod’s Steak & Seafood Grill, creamy mussels from The Oyster House, Indian spiced pork loin with peach Belgian ale au jus from Waterfront Ale House, Augustin’s Waffles, ice cream bars hand dipped in Belgian chocolate from Brothers Desserts, and Belgian chocolates from Leonidas. And that was only part of the goodies; I skipped out on all the cheeses and several other things, as I had to save room for all of the great beer. I started the evening off with a glass of Malheur Brut, the perfect aperitif, and ended with Cuvee Renee, always a favorite of mine. I didn’t have a bad beer the whole night, but especially enjo
yed, in no particular order, Defiant Farmhouse, an extra tart and funky Saison, Stone ’06 Vertical Epic, Dogfish Head aged Raisin d’Extra, Southampton Cuvee de
Fleurs, and Smuttynose Abbey Single (an easy drinking Belgian that will replace their Portsmouth Lager). I met quite a few new people and loved hanging out with old friends. I ended the night with a meal at the Spotted Pig with David Yarrington and Tom Briggs of Smuttynose. More pictures from the event are here.
is craft beer and food pairings. Chris Cuzme and I formed the New York City Degustation Advisory Team about a year ago. The NYCDAT is dedicated to the promotion and appreciation of craft beer through delectable food pairings. We’ve been hosting monthly beer and food pairings at Jimmy’s No. 43 in the East Village of Manhattan for over a year. We recently doubled the number of pairings in response to high demand (we had sold out the previous 5 months weeks ahead of each event) and have branched out into private and corporate pairing events. We generally do 5-6 pairings per session, most commonly consisting of beer, cheese and chocolate. Tonight are our first April sessions and we are featuring Rick’s Picks, cheese from Saxelby Cheesemongers, sausage and beer. Chris and I always hold at least one pre-tasting to conceive of and plan the pairings, here are two pictures from last night’s session:
My mouth is watering already. More pictures coming soon, for further information about our events, please visit our website. I’m off to Jimmy’s…
Ah… November in New York City: weather cold enough for a scarf, insane numbers of tourists shop-shop-shopping and stop-stop-stopping up the sidewalks, hot apple cider at the greenmarkets, and the return of the cask ale festivals to Brazen Head. Three times a year, caskrepeneur Alex Hall (shown at left) and Brazen Head co-owner Lou Sones throw a three-day beer event featuring all cask ales. This weekend’s fest features 31 casks, the largest number yet, with 11 tapped at a time. Many of the casks are one-of-a-kinds, almost all are from regional breweries, and there’s a wide range of styles represented. I headed over last night around 5 pm to sample some of the wares. 
It was warm enough to sit in Brazen’s backyard, where I enjoyed my first half pint of Brookyn’s own SixPoint Craft Ales Gran’Dad’s Nerve Tonic, jointly brewed with local band Junk Science. Hoppy and malty with a tinge of chocolate, at 8% ABV this was a nice kick-off for tonight’s cask experience. Next was a Cascade Dry-hopped IPA from Smuttynose Brewery – a clean citrus delight, my second favorite beer of the night. I also tried the Colonial Farmhouse Cider, which was very tasty and similar to the ciders I’ve had in England – sharp, medium-dry, and not too sweet. The Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin was also good, not too spicy and not too sweet. I thought the Ommegang Abbey Ale was a little weird in cask, as this is a beer that works best with high carbonation in my opinion, but many were enjoying it. The Mohawk Trail Pale Ale, the first ever cask ale produced by the new Nomad Brewery was tapped just before 8 pm, with all proceeds being donated to charity. 
I ended the evening with the SixPoint Belgian Rye-PA, the only cask produced of this beer and my favorite of the evening. I love the Righteous Rye, and the Belgian styling only added to the complexity of this beer – truly delicious! Brazen Head got pretty packed as the evening wore on, with a diverse bunch of craft beer lovers, brewers, the suited after-work crowd, and local Brooklynites all enjoying cask ale – a nice site to see! I had a such a great time drinking real ale and hanging out with friends that I’m headed back as soon as I finish this post. The fests at Brazen Head are a great chance to drink American craft cask ales, I highly recommend checking one out. They’re usually held in November, February, and May and it’s best to go several times over the weekend to be able to sample as many as possible, the earlier in the day the better as the narrow bar gets quite crowded. Hope to see you there!
More pics on Flickr.
228 Atlantic Ave, b/w Court St & Boerum Place
718-488-0147
closest subway: F train to Bergen St, walk N on Smith, then W on Atlantic
Chris Post e-mailed me an update on his new endeavor yesterday. I know Chris through the New York City Homebrew Guild, where I have drank many of his excellent beers. Chris has also brewed at Chelsea Brewing Company and Greenpoint Beer Works. He is starting his own brewery, Nomad Brewing, in North Adams, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts business license, as well as the necessary approvals from the city and local water treatment plant, have been received.
Chris is hoping to negotiate a deal with the local spring so that he can brew with their water. Plans are to move in early September, although trial batches are being brewed now. He brewed Gyle #1, a bock, in the brewery building a few days ago. A saison, American pale ale, and Belgian witte have also been brewed. A corney keg of the Saison will be on tap at 4th Avenue Pub in Brooklyn this Sunday evening. 4th Avenue Pub is located on 4th Ave between Bergen Street and St Marks Place, phone number 718-643-2235.
Jimmy’s No. 43 presented a bacon, beer & pickles tasting last night. Bacon and beer, mmmmm, how could I resist? Food writer Josh Ozersky aka Mr. Cutlets hosted, along with Jeff from Sixpoint Craft Ales and the Rick’s Picks folk. Six different bacons and five Sixpoint Ales were available, including the delightful “black market” porter on cask. We started with Oscar Meyer bacon and the Brownstone brown ale. Eh, not bad. Next up was Dines Farm smoked bacon. I found that this bacon completely overpowered the Brownstone, but worked pretty darn well with the Righteous Rye. The match amplified the salty-smokiness of the bacon and brought out the spicy character of the rye beer. High Hope Hogs wood-smoked bacon was paired with the Otis oatmeal stout on nitro. 
The High Hope is a balanced bacon, but lacks smokiness due to the low fat:meat ratio. Josh explained that the fat in meat acts as a flavor amplifier for smoke, etc. The bacon has a nice “porky character”, though. The Otis was pretty stirred up, with quite a bit of yeast cloudiness and I didn’t get much from the pairing. Violet Hill’s bacon was passed around next. This is made from the butt, or shoulder, of the pig. It was very salty, with substantial texture (a bit chewy, really), and had more of a ham-like flavor. I found that this worked very well with the Brownstone, enhancing the porkiness of the bacon and really bringing out the maltiness of the beer. Flying Pigs Farm’s bacon was next, a belly bacon. Flying Pigs is one of the top butchers in America according to Josh. It’s a very balanced bacon. I tried it with the porter, which is made with carob. The bacon brought out the chocolate goodness of the beer, but the beer overpowered the bacon. Last was freshly-smoked bacon from RUB BBQ. Their bacon is thick-cut Berkshire pork bellies, aged for ~7 days, cold-smoked twice, and hot-smoked once (with the traditional hickory, which is the signature flavor of bacon according to Josh). This bacon has lots of fat and lots of flavor. It paired pretty nicely with the Bengali Tiger. A bite of bacon, ohhhh, hickory-smoked goodness; a sip of Bengali washed the smoke away and woke up my tongue with its intense bright citrus. Wait, where’s the bacon? Ah, there it is, back after the swallow. An interesting pairing. I snacked on some Rick’s Picks as well. These deserve beer pairings all on their own – with a bit of creamy cheese (fresh goat, maybe?) I bet some marvelous flavor combos would arise. Another night, maybe. Jimmy’s puts on regular food & beer pairing events. The next is this Wednesday, the 25th, hosted by Chris Cuzme and Anne Saxelby of Saxelby Cheesemongers. Chris and I will be hosting an evening of beer, ice cream/sorbet, and fruit pairings on August 1 (who doesn’t love a good beer float?). Should be fun.
Well, I did get my waffle but not my nap as I wandered the campsites taking photos and chatting with people Saturday evening and into the night. The waffle makers were Waffle Cabin (formerly Waffle Haus) and the waffles were delicious! A few more highlights of the tasting session: 
Brian O’Reilly, head brewer at SlyFox, pouring the new Incubus, a “tripel in the Abbot style, Jeff O’Neill, head brewer at Ithaca Beer Company, pouring the White Gold (the AbbeyIPA had kicked by the time I got around to the booth, bummer), chatting with Chuck Cook (beer writer and all-around-good-guy), 
tasting Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche (which they were running through a Randell packed with fresh peaches) and Iron Hill Brewery’s F. Red (thanks to my friend Ray for sharing the last two). 
The first of my wandering after the tasting took me to the Offshore Ale campsite. I met Matthew Steinberg, the head brewer at Offshore for only 3 weeks longer (Joe Cleinman will be taking over after that). Matthew has brewed at John Harvard’s Cambridge and Concord Rapscallion in the past and will now be brewing at Mayflower Brewing Company in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Matthew is taking delivery of a brand-new 20-barrel brewhouse in mid-September and hopes to release beers by mid-November. He will be brewing “classical brews with historical significance”. The first beer out will probably be a pale ale with hope of an old ale after that. Good luck on your new venture, Matthew! I hope to visit in future travels. I tried the Offshore Hop Goddess Belgian IPA before I left, a nice beer at 6.9% ABV, 69 IBUs, and an OG of 1.069, “cunning and blatant and hopped with a heavy hand” and met the Hop Goddess herself. 
I next chatted with the Blind Tiger crew and friends (looking appropriately laid back in the photo, huh?) and moved on to the Troegs/Iron Hill/Southampton/Captain Lawrence area. 
Chris Brugger, brewer at Troegs Brewing Company, poured me a Scratch beer #3, a tripel. Chris has been with Troegs for 8 years. This is the 10th Anniversary of Troegs (Congrats!) and they are brewing a special beer about once a month or so in celebration. These are beers that were originally pilot brews or recipes that never quite made it to liquid form (but written on scratch pads and saved, hence the name). They are brewed in 25 barrel single batches and are only available at the brewery. About 150 cases worth will be bottled and the rest will be on draft at the brewery for events and growler sales. Scratch #1 was a California Common and #2 a hoppy porter. I missed those, unfortunately, but was really glad to try #3 – if you live near the brewery, be sure to check it out! Oh, and possible future scratch beers: a barleywine, bitter, and dunkelweizen. Chris also had Naked Elf on tap. 
Naked Elf is the Mad Elf with no honey or cherries and a slightly lower ABV (7%). The Naked Elf is a one-time beer available on draft only (although future seasonal production might be possible). Nearby, Spencer Niebuhr of Southampton, and Brian of Sly Fox were up to shenanigans. 
No bullying needed to get me to try the new Southampton tripel! Spence’s brother, Ryan, was nearby living it up. I headed back to my own campsite to put on jeans (it was getting a bit chilly) and take a breather. 
My campmates were chowing down on grilled burgers and dogs (thanks to Ed) and taking it easy. I headed up the big hill behind the brewery and fest tents to check out the sunset (it’s true, I have a hard time sitting still). The music was going strong in the big tent – they had some outstanding musicians during the day and into the night. I met some very nice people on the way down, including a fellow Brooklynite. 
The folks next to us were living it up – screen house with strung lantern lights and quite the feast. 
I met a lot of very kind and generous people at the fest – lots of sharing of food and beverages! Back to our area, where I broke out the s’mores and tasted the tasty new imperial porter that Victory is brewing using the Heavyweight recipe (as yet to be named). Tom Baker had very generously given a growler to Steve to bring to up. Hopefully, it will be released for public consumption soon! I ended the night hanging out with friends and enjoying more beer (and a little of the absolutely beautiful single-barrel Four Roses bourbon that Larry shared with me). A fabulous day.
Ah, where to begin? Beautiful weather, great company, way too much really good beer… The festival started at 2, so many good breweries and beer, live music, more good food. I’ll hit some highlights now and get a bit more in-depth when I get home (and sober up, ya know). I started with a Lost Abbey Devotion Ale – a Belgian blonde dry hopped with Northern Brewer hops, niiiice. Around to the 3 Floyds booth – Steve (whom I had met at the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston in February, back when he was brewing for The Tap) was representing with the Gorm Noir – a Brussels Style Black Ale – fermented at 80 degrees, spiced with coriander, cardamom, and an African relative of cumin. Really interesting, in an all too good way. Honestly, I’ve never had a bad 3 Floyds. Oh, a disclaimer… I concentrated on the breweries and beers that I don’t normally see in New York City. Southampton, Ithaca, Sly Fox, Captain Lawrence, and many more of my local favorites are here representing very well. 
Back to my faves… a few months ago I attended the Connecticut Real Ale Fest (also a very nice festival) and met a guy named Shaun who was trying to start a brewery. Well, he’s here and brewing some absolutely outstanding beers. Shaun E Hill is his proper name and he is building a brewery from the ground up at his family farm in Greensboro, Vermont. He’s planted 100 hop vines and is aiming for a “diversified agricultural farmstead brewery”. The name will be Hill Farmstead Brewery and it will hopefully be open in March of 2008. I started with the very nice Terra Madre Spring Saison, brewed with hand-cut dandelions, hand-picked lilac flowers, and honey. Really good, and interesting to boot. Next up, the Seraphin “Saison of the Highest Order”, 6% ABV, a wild saison, also very tasty. Last was the Black Star Stout, a very nice (yeah, I need better descriptives…) Belgian-style stout. I was very impressed with Shauns’ beers and am looking forward to trying more. It’s always exciting to see a new craft brewery! 
Moving on to Boulevard Brewery and their George Brett beer. A bretted saison – yeah! They had the ’06 and the ’07 – both nice, although very different, as you would expect. The ’06 was all farmhouse funk, while the younger ’07 was a nice saison with just a touch of funk. Both good. I’d had several recommendations for Bullfrog at this point – how could I resist? I grabbed a glass of the tasty Sour Black & Blues – aged in a 2nd generation Bourbon barrel (which had previously been inoculated with a wild yeast) – oh yeah, nicely fruity, sour, funky – everything I love in a beer. Bullfrog is a brewpub located in Pennsylvania. Terry, the brewer, and Nate, the assistant brewer, are doing a fine job – they told me they generally keep 9-12 beers on tap and have a barrel cellar downstairs with about 6 beers aging at a time. A Pennsylvania beer trip is definitely in my future. 
Sustenance was badly needed at this point. Red Lion Vending & Catering was selling lunch on one side of the tent. Steve & I had sliced prime rib sandwiches ($8 each) with a side of fries ($3). Wow – I’ve had a lot of fest food and this really was some of the best. 
Another brewery I’d been hearing great things about – Cambridge Brewing Company. I had had several of their outstanding beers at the Extreme Beer Fest and was happy to revisit. The Cerise Cassee (barrel-fermented wild sour ale), the Tripel Threat, and the L’Amour du Jour were all fantastic (really, I’m not exaggerating, I didn’t have a bad beer all day). Will Meyers is the head brewer at Cambridge – I look forward to visiting next time I’m in Boston. 
My last visit of the day was the Shelton Brothers table – Will Shelton was in attendance. I’d had a very nice Tsjeeses earlier and was back to try the Pannepot vs Pannepøt. I’ll be honest, my satiated palate could not detect a difference, but they were both good, a spicy brown sugar – carbonated, dry, and sweet – liquid candy!
I need a crack waffle (really, those crispy sweet Lieges waffles) and a nap. More coverage tomorrow….
Ah, it’s finally here! Belgian Comes to Cooperstown at Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, New York. This is one of the Northeast’s premier beer festivals. We had purchased tickets months ago. Attendance was limited this year – the 200 VIP tickets (at $120 a pop) sold out in a mere 5 days. We were lucky enough to buy early. $120 might sound like a lot, but it includes a VIP brewers dinner, a 750 ml bottle of the new Ommegeddon (being debuted at the festival), 2 Ommegeddon glasses, Friday and Saturday night camping and admission to the Saturday beer tasting (which includes both Belgian beer and American-brewed Belgian style beer). Quite the deal, really.
We arrived a little after 3 yesterday afternoon. It’s cloudy, extremely windy, cool, and now it’s raining – not a great weather start, but we’re kids in a candy store regardless. We headed for the check-in table and received our yellow wristband and Chouffe hats. Up to the campsite, got the tent up and staked (cause it is really windy!), and headed over to a friend’s shelter. The beer was flowing – way too many to list, but highlights include Russian River Temptation batch 2, a mini-keg of Bell’s Oberon, several New Glarus and lots more tasty treats. 
We mosied down to the big tent at 7 for appetizers and drinks. What a spread! Mixed salamis, pate, 2 cheeses – a hop cheese and a beer-washed cheese, and veggies. The bar was directly across: pouring Duvel, the brand new Ommegeddon, and McChouffe. 
We found a seat with friends and started munching. There were eye-catching menus at each place setting listing the courses and the suggested beer pairings. The first course was Big John’s locally-made Ommegang beer brats served with a red cabbage salad. The brats were fantastic! 
Next up was a Belgian endive salad with Ommegang beer dressing. The mussels and frites served next were fantastic – the frites were hot, crisp and fresh. Hellman’s mayonnaise was on the tables to dip in. Oh – all the food was brought out from the cooking tent behind in large bowls or platters to be passed around family style. 
The main course was roasted stuffed pork, pork bellies stuffed with liverwurst, oven-roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts. The pork was amazing – and served with a scrumptious gravy (like mom used to make, you know?) and a plum sauce. The gravy was so good I was tempted to lick my plate clean! Really. Next out were plates of cheese and fruit followed by dessert – puff pastry served with vanilla ice cream and a berry sauce. The perfect end to a tasty meal. Brewery Ommegang really went above and beyond the with quality and quantity of food – three cheers! Oh, and you might be wondering about the beer pairings, right? Between every 6 or so place settings was a trough of beer. Rodenbach red, Rodenbach Grand Cru, Maredsous 10, Ommegang Witte, Three Philosophers, Hennepin, Rare VOS, and the Abbey. 
Multiple bottles of each – enough for everyone to pair the proper beer with each course. And, of course, McChouffe, Duvel, and the Ommegeddon were available at the front bar – no shortage of beer! The very special Ommegang Kriek (“Don’t ask, it isn’t for sale at any price”, stated the menu) was passed around with the dessert course – the crowning cap to the meal. Back to the campsite for more beer, lively conversation, cigars for some, and eventually to bed. I hydrated well, so I woke up quite cheerful this morning. It’s cleared up and is warm – the perfect weather! A nice hot shower was had (again, props to Ommegang!) a bit of Dogfish Head Festina Lente, and I was good to go. More later….
(and thanks to Eric, Ommegang’s IT guy for hooking me up to the net!)
I went to Zum Schneider tonight for the NYC debut of Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse. Schneider-Brooklyner is a collaboration between Privatbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn & Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery. When I arrived around 6:15, the place was packed! I lined up to get my Schneider-Brooklyner at the bar. The bartender was pouring the beer into large steins, letting it settle a bit, then pouring into glasses. It was a cloudy pour even after that – intriguing. The glasses are beautiful – Weizen glasses with a lovely blue, yellow & gold insignia – very eye-catching. 
I found a seat with a friend and let the beer settle. Garrett grabbed everyone’s attention with the clinking of a glass and a speech was made. He thanked everyone for coming (it was a nice turn-out) and introduced Hans-Peter Drexler, his co-brewer of this special beer. The Schneider-Brooklyner is the first of two versions of the same beer, the first brewed in Germany as a pale weisbock. The remarkable thing about this beer is that it is dry-hopped with Hallertauer Saphir hops – 70 to 75 pounds per 25 barrels, or 3 pounds per barrel! “Outlandish”, Garrett said, for a German beer. 
Quite tasty, though, in my opinion(and that does explain the greenish cloudiness). The bottled beer should be spectacular! This Wednesday, Garrett and Hans will be brewing the second version of this beer at Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg. Hans has brought yeast over from Germany and will be selecting his favorite varieties of American hops to dry hop with. The beer will be available on draft in early August. I’m looking forward to it and a vertical tasting will definitely be in order. Schneider-Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse is available on draft and in 16.9 oz. bottles (yeah, the bottle design is all that, too). It is 8.2% ABV and 40 IBUs. A very special beer and a fun evening!
My friend Mike has more pics of the event at his Flicker site.
I also spoke with the owner of a soon-to-open craft beer bar in South Park Slope. Beer Table will be opening on 7th Avenue between 14th & 15th St. There will be 3 drafts with a limited bottle selection that will change frequently. Housemade pickles and sausage will be available as well as cheeses. This is a very exciting development for this neighborhood (of which I am a resident)! Can’t wait to check it out.
Ithaca Beer Company debuted 
several new Excelsior beers at Barcade on Thursday, June 7. I had the pleasure of meeting brewmaster Jeff O’Neill and seeing sales representative Eric VanZile again.
I had the scrumptious Kaffinator, which was a very smooth, roasty, coffee-like beer. I tasted the Old Habit and the IPAbbey and am looking forward to having more soon. I highly recommend trying some for yourself. Be sure to check out Jeff’s blog for all the latest goings-on at Ithaca. My friend Allan had just returned from Montreal and brought a bottle of Bierre Nouvelle Sure Lie to share. 
I found it to be a crisp, spicy, fruity (pear, predominately), highly carbonated, dry beer. Very refreshing for a warm summer day. A nice evening.