Monthly Archives: February 2012

Here Is Why I Gained Weight in Hanoi

Posted on February 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Mmm…bia hoi in Hanoi! That is, fresh, cheap beer.

Food-loving globetrotters, here’s a bit of sound advice: If you’re headed to Vietnam’s northern city of Hanoi, we’d recommend you pack a pair of elastic-banded pants. The city is a wonderland of cheap eats and drinks, offering an endless variety of soups, noodles, buns, rolls and sandwiches paired with plenty of fresh herbs — and fresh beer, too.

You could spend a week eating your way through the hectic, motorbike-clogged streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter and never eat the same meal twice. I know I didn’t on my recent trip. Here are 20 dishes and drinks from Hanoi that haunt my hungry dreams.

Curious what I ate?  Check out the full story at Food Republic.

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Five Great Barley Wines

Posted on February 21, 2012 | 1 Comment

Photo: Flickr/meisenberg13

In these dark, frigid depths of winter, piney IPAs just don’t cut it. Neither do prickly pilsners or even an inky stout. When the mercury dips low and the heater is cranked high, there’s one style of beer that’s guaranteed to stoke your stomach furnace: barley wine.

Consider this a most delicious oxymoron. The British-born barley wine contains no grapes. In fact, the beer style has nothing in common with Chardonnay or Merlot — save for an alcohol percentage that often tops double digits. Perhaps that explains why the thick, sometimes fruity, sometimes hoppy, always strong ale has become one of wintertime’s signature belly-warming brews, providing the liquid courage to shovel out the driveway yet again.

Broadly speaking, barley wines are broken down into several camps. British barley wines, like J.W. Lees & Co.’s Vintage Harvest Ale, are typically less brawny and more rounded. On the flip side, American brewers have a heavy hand with bitterness and booze. Case in point: Great Divide Brewing’s Old Ruffian packs more than 85 international bittering units (IBUs) and 10 percent ABV, while Rogue Ales’ XS Old Crustacean boasts more than 100 IBUs and an 11.5 percent ABV. Drink two, and it’s good night for you.

Here are five of our favorite barley wines for surviving winter’s chill. Continue reading →

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Tickets on Sale for Next Homebrew Tour: March 10

Posted on February 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

Truth in advertising!

The tour on Saturday, March 10, will take us from Alphabet City, where we’ll meet Zack Kinney, to the Midtown East home of Get Real NY cofounder Patrick Donagher. Lastly, we’ll hit the Upper East Side’s SingleCut Beer—Rich Buceta’s last time on the homebrew tour before going pro! Three stops in all with 10-plus beers to sample.

Tickets: $25. They will go on sale Friday, February 17, at 10 a.m. Buy ‘em here. Sorry, we’re sold out.

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Welcome to the Year of the Craft-Beer Tall Boy

Posted on February 8, 2012 | 2 Comments

Now you can try that with a 16-ounce craft beer! Photo: Flickr/ALittaM

In my early, drunken twenties, not long after I shook my cost-driven affection for forty-ouncers of malt liquor, I fell under the sway of a tall boy. Well, perhaps I should say tall boys, because there’s no way I could glug just one 16-ounce can of beer.

Unlike the standard 12-ounce can, the tall boy has serious heft. It feels substantial, an honest pint for an honest price. But as my tastes morphed over the years, from mass-produced watery lagers to bitter IPAs and roasty stouts, I left the tall boy in my rearview mirror. You see, tall boys were the territory of Bud and Coors. Craft beer held no quarter in tall aluminum cylinders.

In recent years though, craft breweries have begun reclaiming the can, which keeps beer fresher by sealing it off from destructive light and oxygen. First came the 12-ounce vessels, which are now populated by Brooklyn Brewery, New Belgium and Oskar Blues, whose hoppy Dale’s Pale Ale trailblazed the crush-it-against-your-head category. Now comes the next step in the metal revolution: Craft beer in 16-ounces cans.

Be still my beating heart. This year, 16-ouncers stuffed with sublime craft brews are poised to take the mainstream leap. The next big thing in beer is, well, big beers. Here are five of our favorite tall boys to try. Continue reading →

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