Announcing: Homebrew-to-Pro Tour, Brooklyn Edition

Fine drinkers,

Hope everyone is having a splendid fall. I have a few fun events coming up over the next few months, including another beer washed–cheese event in Crown Finish Caves on December 5. More on that next week, including ticket info.

First up, though, I have...

WHAT: Homebrew-to-Pro Tour: Brooklyn Edition WHEN: Saturday, November 21, 1 p.m. TICKETS: $35. They will be available Wednesday, October 14, at 12 p.m. Sorry, we're sold out.

It often begins with a single batch of homebrewed beer. Your friends like drinking the double IPA, or the coffee stout. More beer is brewed. More accolades. “You should start a brewery,” someone suggests, planting a seed inside your hobbyist head: Could this be a career?

Increasingly these days, the answer for New Yorkers is “yes.” We’re witnessing an unparalleled brewing boom, one flooding the city with great beer. Today, we’re going to celebrate the brewing bounty by taking a walking tour of two of Brooklyn’s newest breweries, plus another homebrewer making marvelous medal-winning beer.

By and large, these spaces are rarely open to the public. But today, today we get to peek behind the brew kettles at Folksbier, hearing how Travis Kauffman went from working in restaurants to turning out terrific, German-inspired lagers. Next, we’ll pop by the backyard of homebrewing savant Simon Tepas, who has a healthy fixation with wild yeast, before finishing at Strong Rope—that is, homebrew-tour veteran Jason Sahler’s in-the-works Gowanus brewery. Expect lots of lovely beers, fromBrettanomyces-dosed experiments to approachable cream ales, flavor-charged brown ales, saisons and lagers aplenty.

Naturally, brewers will be on hand to tell their stories. It’s going to be an excellent afternoon.