Hey, NYC: It’s Time to Drink Schlafly, Pyramid and Wild Onion

Posted on May 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Schlafly-beer-truckPhoto: SixPackTech.com

So far, this has been a very good year for New York craft beer. New breweries such as SingleCut, Radiant Pig and Bridge and Tunnel are pumping out lip-smacking local beer, while taverns such as Tørst, Skinny Dennis and Dead Rabbit  are raising the bar on, well, bars.

While I’ve been so focused on the city’s homegrown talent, I’ve barely noticed the slow, steady wave of beers flowing into town. It’s time to take pause and recognize the newcomers to our fair metropolis. Here are three of the newest breweries to know and, more importantly, drink.

Wild Onion Brewery
Head northwest of Chicago and you’ll hit Lake Barrington, Illinois, which since 1996 has been home to Wild Onion. The brewery and brewpub may lack the Midwest cachet of, say, Goose Island, but Wild Onion cranks out dependable, session-focused beers sold by the can. With the weather starting to heat up, you’ll want to start with the orange peel–driven Summer Wit or the well-hopped Paddy Pale Ale. Don’t worry, double IPA junkies: the Hop Slayer will soothe your bitter heart.

Pyramid Breweries
Pyramid is one of the sage old brands of the craft beer revolution, having been born way back in 1984 as Kalama, Washington‘s Hart Brewing. After the early ’90s success of its Apricot Ale, which helped kick off the burgeoning fruit-beer category, Hart rebranded itself as Pyramid—named after its flagship Pyramid family of beers.  Though the brewery is now owned by Cerveceria Costa Rica, Pyramid still makes dependably delicious beers such as the refreshing Hefeweizen, floral Thunderhead IPA and the Outburst Imperial IPA, which is flavored with of-the-moment Falconer’s Flight hops.

Schlafly
While St. Louis may be synonymous with Budweiser (well, before Anheuser-Busch was bought by a sprawling international company), the city’s most beloved brewery might just be Schlafly. Since 1991, the independent craft brewery has won over the local citizenry with its stellar lineup that ranges from a delicately fruity Kölsch to a silky, coffee-influenced Oatmeal Stout, aromatic Dry Hopped APA. Add to that an imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels and one of my favorite barrley wines in the county and you’ll understand why Midwest expats celebrated the brand’s May arrival. Schlafly is one of America’s most versatile, vastly underappreciated breweries.

This story was originally published on my Craft Beer New York app. Click here to check it out.

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Amateur Hour Is Over: NYC Homebrewers Go Pro—Sort of

Posted on May 6, 2013 | Leave a comment

Chris Cuzme508 brewer Chris Cuzme rocking his trademark T-shirt. (Credit: 508)

Most brewers get start cooking batches on their stoves, turning out ales and lagers that, once recipes are perfected, can be just as good as anything on tap at a local bar. Not that you’ll ever find a homebrewer’s creations on draft—legally, at least.

The legalities surrounding selling homebrewed beer are as clear as Bud Light. When President Jimmy Carter legalized homebrewing in the late seventies, he allowed folks to brew up to 100 gallons of beer a year. Many brewers slosh over the threshold, but it’s unlikely that cops will come knocking. That’d only happen if homebrewers sold their tipples. There’s a defined line separating amateurs and professionals: Are they selling beer and paying their taxes?

Vending beer is a tangled web of regulations wrapped around the three-tier system, in which breweries sell to distributors, which then peddle to stores and bars. Taxes are collected at every step. Plus, there’s the cost of acquiring a federal permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. It’s a pain in the butt to sell a pal a growler.

However, no law prohibits a brewery from producing a semi-pro’s recipe. “I want people to realize that homebrewers can make high-quality beer,” says Chris Cuzme, the former president of the New York City Homebrewers Guild, co-host of Fuhmentaboudit! and, most importantly, the head brewer at SoHo’s 508 GastroBrewery. “The homebrew scene still has a big place in my heart,” Cuzme says. “We have so many more homebrew clubs now, but even then, people don’t know that many of them exist.”

To raise awareness, Cuzme will partners with a different homebrew club or shop each month and craft a 50-gallon batch of beer, which will then be poured through one of the brewpub’s six tap lines. The first six collaborators are the New York City Homebrewers Guild, Pour Standards—Richmond County Brew Society, Brooklyn Brewsers Homebrew Club, Bitter & Esters, The Brooklyn Kitchen and Brooklyn Homebrew, which will brew the first beer in the series next week. (The exact style is still undecided, but the odds-on favorite is that it will be an ESB.)

There are no limitations on the beers that will be brewed, except that Cuzme would like them to be brewed and ready to drink within a month. That means no barrel-aged imperial stouts. But with the weather breaking warm, I doubt you’ll want to drink such a bruiser. After each beer is brewed, Cuzme plans on holding a five-gallon keg in reserve for a “homebrew heavyweight tap takeover,” which will take place at the end of the six-month project. And if supporting your favorite local homebrew is not enough to get you to pop by 508 for a pint, here’s another reason: one dollar of every beer will be earmarked to the collaborators’ charity of choice.

We’ll drink to that.

The first beer in the series should be on tap at 508 by June 1. 

 More NYC Homebrewing News of Note
* This spring, Brooklyn Brew Shop plans to go pro with its EST line of beers. (The name is short for Established Brewing Company.) First up is a spicy Jalapeño Saison, a homebrew-kit favorite.

* On May 18, the Comedy Bar NYC will tap a new monthly series dubbed the Homebrewed Mic. Produced and hosted by comedian Ben Asher and The Brahery, the free show will partner plenty of homebrewed beer with comedy and brew-centric tunes from Final Gravity. I’ve hosted the Brahery on my homebrew tour and heard the band bash out tunes. At best, it’ll be a blast. At worst, you’ll get drunk. It’s a win-win.

This story was originally published on my Craft Beer New York app. Buy it here.

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A New Homebrew Festival Grows in Brooklyn

Posted on April 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

156340_582641035082597_1455230532_nOver the last four years of running my homebrew tours, I’ve watched Brooklyn’s DIY beer scene boom. Where once aspring apartment brewers were forced to order grains and hops online or drive into Long Island, now there’s a bounty of brew shops such as Bitters & Esters, Brooklyn Homebrew and Brooklyn Kitchen, all of which stocks ingredients and offer classes.

This has led to a swell of brewers in Brooklyn and across the city, with kegerators crammed into every nook and cranny. Now, the best thing about homebrewing is sharing it with your friends. But if you’re brewing two or three times a month, that’s a fair amount of five-gallon batches of beer taking up space in too-tiny apartments. And even if your friends are lushes, there’s a limit to everyone’s beer intake. The solution, then, is a homebrew festival.

The latest one to arrive is Pride of Brooklyn, which will debut this Saturday, April 27, at Gowanus’ Littlefield. The festival will feature 25 New York–based homebrewers, as well as pro offerings from Lagunitas, SingleCut and the brand-new Yonkers Brewing Company.

The mastermind behind the homebrew madness is Casey Soloff, an advertising copywriter who has been brewing beer for about a year. “I know a lot of good people in the homebrewing community,” says Soloff, a Brooklyn resident. “I put out a call a call for entries and people responded almost immediately.”

The homebrewers will pour a variety of ales and lagers, including the likes of a pilsner, rye black IPA, spiced milk stout and cherrywood-smoked porter—in other words, you won’t go home thirsty or bored. Additionally, there will be food for purchase from Fletcher’s and Mexicue, and attendees get $2 off drafts at Mission Dolores until 8 p.m.

Come get a taste of the next generation of New York City brewers.

Pride of Brooklyn Homebrew Festival
Saturday, April 27, 1 to 5 p.m.
Littlefield (622 Degraw Street, Gowanus, 718-855-3388)
Tickets: $25 (buy them here)

This post originally appeared on my app, Craft Beer New York.

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Shiner Bock Arrives in New York City

Posted on April 18, 2013 | 2 Comments

ShinerBock_Dog
Over the last couple years, New York has grown into a rather respectable BBQ town. From Fette Sau to Mighty Quinn’s, BrisketTown and John Brown Smokehouse, there’s a serious commitment to ‘cue. Despite the surplus of carnivorous pleasures, there’s been a notable absence from New York’s BBQ scene: Shiner Bock.

The beer’s origins date back to the 19th century, when German and Czech immigrants came to the Hill Country of central Texas and settled in tiny towns such Shiner. They brought the knowledge to crank sausages and smoke meat—the backbone of the state’s BBQ culture—as well as a love of lagers. To quench that thirst, a group of amateur brewers formed the Shiner Brewing Association in 1909, later tapping a former German solider named Kosmos Spoetzl as their first brewmaster.

In time, the flagship was the rich, smooth and eminently drinkable Shiner Bock. At just 4.4% ABV, it was the sort of beer that could slake your thirst on a sweltering summer afternoon, then continue to drink until last call. Shiner Bock and Texas became forever linked, the longneck you’d reach for while gnawing on brisket, watching football or catching a concert. 

Sure, Shiner Bock endured some rocky stretches (Prohibition, the 197os when tastes started shifting to light lagers), but the beer survived to become Texas’ liquid emissary. Today you’ll find Shiner Bock in more than 40 states including, at long last, New York.

“There’s a lot of pent-up demand for Shiner beer,” says Charlie Paulette, the chief sales and marketing officer for Gambrinus Company, which also owns Trumer Pils and BridgePort. (There are no imminent plans to bring those brands to NYC, but it’s a possibility in the future.) “In New York, we have a nice built-in audience of people from Texas or who have been through Texas.”

Of course, that’s always been the case. New York is a town of transplants and transients, all of whom long for a nostalgic taste of their respective hometowns. A key reason that Shiner has taken so long to reach NYC is simple: capacity. If you’re going to enter the Big Apple market, you better have enough beer.

“New York is a very intimidating place for any brand,” Paulette says. “For us, it was a matter of getting ready.” A few years back, Spoetzl embarked on a big expansion, building a brewery dedicated to producing ales. This has enabled Spoetzl to expand the Shiner brand, including Hefeweizen, Wild Hare Pale Ale, Bohemian Black Lager and Ruby Redbird, which is made with grapefruit and ginger. 

“We’re about more than just Shiner Bock,” Paulette says. “Our portfolio is so much more diverse than it was 10 years ago.” Of course, you can find Shiner at BBQ halls such as Hill Country, but it’s also pouring at Manchester Pub, 7B, Sunswick 35/35, Good Beer and Minetta Tavern. In time, I’m sure you’ll take a shine to these Texan beers.

This story was originally published on Craft Beer New York.

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The Bronx Brewery Breaks Out With New Cans

Posted on April 10, 2013 | 2 Comments

Bronx PaleDoug Schneider Photography 

I used to have an alcoholic roommate who loved nothing more than sipping 16-ounce cans of crappy American beer by the six-pack. “Come on, put a pint in your palm,” he’d say, passing me Bud or Coors or whatever was cheapest at the corner bodega.

Who was I to turn down free beer? I’d join him in drinking one 16-ounce can after another. He’d continue to six, sometimes 12, multiplying his hangover with each emptying can. I would tap out at four pints. Four was a respectable number of pints, the perfect amount to sip and not spend the next morning crunching Tylenol as if it were candy.

Methinks New York’s craft beer industry also understands the power of four. The last few years have seen local darlings Sixpoint strike it big with their striking, cube-shape four-packs of pint cans. Most every bar and bodega worth its salt stocks them in their coolers. Now, this week marks the arrival of the city’s next cube of craft beer: Bronx Pale Ale.

Over the last year, Bronx Brewery has carved out a swell little spot for itself with its variations on the pale ale theme. There’s the Black Pale Ale, Rye Pale, Belgian Pale Ale and a host of other barrel-aged one-offs. But everything circles back to the easy-drinking base beer that’s doctored with plenty of citrusy, floral Centennial and Cascade hops. To date, the beer has only been available on draft.

“Growlers are really expanding, but they’re not ubiquitous,” says Bronx Brewery general manager Chris Gallant. “Cans give people the ability to take the beer home with them.”

To make that a reality, the brewery began searching for a canning facility, settling on City Brewing’s La Crosse, Wisconsin, plant. Head brewer Damian Brown headed to Wisconsin to make sure the facility had the recipe nailed down, then the 16-ounce cans started rolling off the line. Continue reading →

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What Is Beachwood Brewing Doing in Brooklyn?

Posted on April 3, 2013 | 3 Comments

beachwood_bbq_02_comp

Beachwood Brewing’s high-tech Flux Capacitor, which might just be the future of draft beer.

At last October’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado, I drank enough beer to swell my liver to the size of a cantaloupe.

This is as pleasurable as it is painful. I do not recover from hangovers quite as quickly as I used to, forcing me to wear sunglasses indoors and swallow Ibuprofen by the fistful. But my desire to overindulge is an important one, dear readers: to inform you about the best new breweries I wish we had in New York.

One of my top discoveries in 2012 was Long Beach, California’s Beachwood Brewing. On a tiny 10-barrel system (a bit more than 300 gallons at a time), the BBQ restaurant (it also has a location in Seal Beach) cranks out a dizzying array of top-of-their class IPAs such as the tropical, resinous Amalgamator; citrusy and melony Citraholic; and the Hop Ninja, which is dry-hopped four times with Simcoe, Amarillo and Columbus hops. The bitter gems are complemented by globe-hopping beers including the toffee-touched Full Malted Jacket Scotch ale, nitrogen-dispensed Bulldog dry Irish stout and Mocha Machine, an imperial-strength coffee and chocolate porter. Sounds tasty, right?

Darn skippy. Too bad most of Beachwood’s beers are reserved for its two BBQ restaurants and a handful of accounts in Southern California. To get another taste of these terrific nectars, I’d need to book a flight to the West Coast. At least was the case until March, when a plane ride was exchanged for a train ride. Continue reading →

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The Best Places to Drink Craft Beer in London

Posted on March 27, 2013 | Leave a comment

southampton arms

The Southampton Arms

The beer scene in London has exploded over the past 18 months: the city now boasts more than 40 breweries and each week, it seems, a pub converts to the gospel of good beer. Here are the five best places to drink beer in London, as chosen by Will Hawkes, author of Craft Beer London:

1. Craft Beer Company, Clerkenwell (82 Leather Lane, Clerkenwell, EC1N 7TR). There are now three Crafts in London, but the best in terms of beer selection remains the original. As many as 16 real ales are on at any time – and there’s plenty of kegged and bottled beer too.

2. Euston Tap (190 Euston Road, NW1 2EF). This handsome building, in the shadow of a rather less handsome station (think Pennsylvania Station), may be small but the beer is excellent and generally a little bit cheaper than at other ale shrines.

3. Well and Bucket (143 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG). At the top of Brick Lane, you’ll find the newest unmissable pub on London’s craft beer map. The old-school tiling, elegant island bar and well-kept beer makes a couple of pints here a very enjoyable experience indeed.

4. The Southampton Arms (139 Highgate Road, NW5 1LE). It only opened a few years ago, but forget that: this is what an old-school boozer should be like. Lots of cask ale, scotch eggs and a piano in the corner. Cash only!

5. The White Horse (1-3 Parson’s Green, SW6 4UL). There’s been good beer here for eons, and it’s a pretty attractive place too. Find yourself a place at the bar and work your way through the impressive Belgian selection.

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