German Christmas Beers at Spuyten Duyvil

Frohe Weihnachten, New York!

The Monarchy is the experimental-revivalist offshoot of Freigeist which itself is the experimental offshoot of Cologne's small brewery, Braustelle. Brewer Sebastian Sauer and his colleagues are rediscovering and updating Europe's lost beer styles as well as creating new ones along the way. Where will the offshoots end??

This Thursday, December 19th, at Spuyten Duyvil, come try some truly unique beers that The Monarchy has brewed for the Christmas season. Taking inspiration from Christmas cookies and cakes from around German, the brewery has brewed rich beers with traditional spices. Santa doesn't need milk AND cookies; all he needs is a glass of The Monarchy! We'll be providing samples of the inspirational cookies as well. In addition, there will be other German Christmas beers. 

• The Monarchy Happy Christmas from Aachen - In the 15th century, copper workers from Dinant, Belgium emigrated to the German city of Aachen, bringing with them the centuries-old tradition of engraved pastries and cakes. Today, the term Aachener Printen is a Protected Designation of Origin and all manufacturers of the special Christmas delicacies are found in or near the town. Brewed in collaboration with local traditional bakeries and based on the traditional Printen cakes of Aachen, this beer is made with “Gingerbread Man” spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, cardamom, and coriander seed.
• The Monarchy Happy Christmas from Dresden - Stollen, a moist, heavy German cake filled with fruit, was first mentioned in an official document in 1474, and the most famous Stollen is still the Dresdner Stollen. The official stollen is produced exclusively in Dresden, and usually contains a mix of nuts and spices in addition to the dried fruit. This beer replicates Stollen flavors with with candied peels of orange & lemon, and raisins. 
• The Monarchy Happy Christmas from Nürnberg - Lebkuchen were invented by medieval monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century, and the earliest recorded mention of local Nürnberg Lebkuchen dates to at least 1395. Historically known as honey cake (Honigkuchen ) or pepper cake (Pfefferkuchen), Lebkuchen comes in many configurations, the most famous being the heart-shaped souvenier version found in German Christmas markets. Happy Christmas from Nürnberg is made with a plethora of spices and fruits, including cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, cardamom, coriander seed, and candied peels of orange and lemon.  
• Mahr's Christmas Bock - A rich yet unusually hoppy & drinkable winter bock from a classic Bamberg family brewery.
• Kulmbacher Eisbock - The original. The story goes that a wooden barrel of bockbier was inadvertently left in the brewery yard in the middle of winter. By the time it was found, the contents were mostly frozen so the ice was chipped away, leaving behind a much richer, more concentrated, but exceptionally clean tasting brew with a deceptive 9.2% abv. 
• Weissenohe Monk's Christkindl - A classic dark Franconian winter lager, dry-hopped and double-decoction brewed at Germany’s second-oldest Klosterbrauerei (gravity keg)  
• The Monarchy Year of the Dragon - Happy New Year! A strong ale brewed with rice. Each year, a new version will be brewed.

Spuyten Duyvil is located at 359 Metropolitan Avenue in Brooklyn. The beers will be on at 5pm and the cookies will arrive shortly thereafter.

Belgium2Brooklyn and Christmas Beers

There are plenty of opportunities to drink an amazing array of beers this weekend.

Saturday and Sunday, 7-8 December, starting at noon on both days is the 8th Annual Belgium2Brooklyn at Mugs Ale House in Williamsburg. This festival, featuring Belgian-brewed and Belgian-style brews will be featuring some exclusive beers from our portfolio, some of which are having their New York debut.

Each day will feature a different list of beers and here are some of the highlights:

Saturday

courtesy of Bill Coleman

• Dieu du Ciel! Isseki Nicho - imperial dark saison from Québec
• Het Nest Oak-Aged Klevertien - quadrupel with anise (only keg in NYC!)

Sunday

• Ægir Julebrygg - winter warmer from Norway, judiciously spiced with juniper and ginger
• Het Nest Dead Man's Hand - bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout (only keg in NYC!)
• Jandrain-Jandrenouille VI Wheat - saison (only keg in NYC!)
• Sainte-Hélène Gypsy Rose - Belgian strong ale (only keg in NYC!)
• To Øl Snowball Saison - refreshing saison from Denmark

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Also on Saturday, Brouwerij Lane in Greenpoint will be featuring some of our Christmas beers and Jim "Bocky" Barnes will be spinning the festive tunes from 12-5pm.

• The Monarchy Happy Christmas from Aachen - Germany's The Monarchy brewed up a series of holiday beers that are like German Christmas cakes in a keg. Each one features the Christmas flavors of a different city. This version is made with gingerbread spices like the Aachen Printen cookies
• The Monarchy Happy Christmas from Dresden - the second in the holiday series. This version is brewed with candied orange and lemon peels and raisins liek the world-famous Dresdener Christstollen
• Ægir Julebrygg - winter warmer from Norway, judiciously spiced with juniper and ginger

Tonight, Wednesday, at Double Windsor, it's another installment of the Soirée Francophone with DJ Jim "Bocque Monsieur" Barnes.

Enjoy French and Quebecois tunes while sipping on the following:

Santé! Mathieu from Pays Flamand & Jim

• Pays Flamand/Nøgne Ø Protøtype - a Franco-Nordic collaborative porter brewed with juniper berries that Nøgne Ø brewer Kjetil brought with him from Norway
• Castelain Ch'ti Blonde - classic malty bière de garde
• Page 24 Réserve Hildegarde Blonde - modern, hoppier interpretation of a bière de garde
• Le Trou du Diable La Buteuse - Belgian-style triple from Canada, perfect for these Canadian-like temperature

Double Windsor is located at 210 Prospect Park West in Brooklyn.

Freigeist at Radegast - Elect to Drink Beer!

Tuesday is Election Day so go vote and then go drink some beer. Starting at 7pm on 5 November, the Bier Haus at Radegast will be featuring 4 drafts from Freigeist. Freigeist is the experimental off-shoot of Cologne's Braustelle brewery focusing primarily on Germany's unique, historical beer styles.

• Abraxxxas - Lichtenhainer, a smoked sour wheat beer
• Geisterzug Gose - based on a recipe dating back at least 600 years and brewed with spruce branches. 
• Salzspeicher Sauer Porter - sour porter brewed with salt
• Hibiskuss - mildly sour ale brewed with hibiscus flowers

Radegast is located at 113 N. 3rd Street (at Berry) in Brooklyn and 8pm you can shimmy to the sounds of Glen Crytzer and his Syncopators.

Brewery Launch & Meet the Brewer - Pays Flamand

Please join us in welcoming French brewery Brasserie du Pays Flamand to New York this Thursday at Brouwerij Lane. We'll have 2 of their beers on tap plus brewer Mathieu Lesenne will be there to talk about the brewery, the beers, and the seemingly oxymoronic name of the brewery which means "Flemish Land" in French. In addition, DJ Jim "Bocky" Barnes will be spinning the tunes for this Soirée Francophone.

When:  Thursday, 24 October, 5pm onwards

Where:  Brouwerij Lane, 78 Greenpoint Avenue, Brooklyn

What:  pay-as-you-go

Les bières:

• Pays Flamand Anosteké - a hoppy blonde bière de garde brewed with local hops. The name is a phonetic spelling of a phrase in the local dialect meaning "see you next time".
• Pays Flamand/Nøgne Ø Protøtype - Norwegian brewer Kjetil Jukiun of Nøgne Ø swung through the north of France recently and brewed a few collaboration beers. This one is a porter brewed with juniper berries that Kjetil brought with him from Norway.
• Page 24/Nøgne Ø Rhub'IPA- another collaboration, this time with French neighbors Brasserie St. Germain who are fellow hop lovers. An IPA brewed with local rhubarb. Hoppy and tart.
• Trou du Diable Dubaï Pillée - not French but French-Canadian. A double IPA from Shawinigan, Quebec.

Italian and Spanish Beer Launch

When:  Saturday, 21 September, 12 pm onwards
Where:  Spuyten Duyvil, 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn

What:  pay-as-you-go

We're launching several breweries new to New York on Saturday at Spuyten Duyvil. Coming from regions not traditionally known for brewing, they're brewing some pretty amazing beers. You like session beers? We've got you covered. Hop monsters? Yup. Roasty, malty beers?  Those, too. From Italy, they'll be pouring beers from Brewfist and Toccalmatto and from Spain there will be a selection from Naparbier and Marina.

On draft:

• Toccalmatto Re Hop - American-style pale ale with Cascade hops 
• Brewfist Spaceman - west coast style IPA with Citra and Simcoe, 7% 
• Brewfist Czech Norris - imperial pilsner with Saaz hops
• Naparbier Naparpils -  malty traditional pils with  just the right amount of hop finish. Drink gallons of it in the back garden! 
• Naparbier Hopdoom -  11.5% imperial IPA. Deceptively easy to drink with tropical fruit notes. Do not drink gallons of it. 
• Marina Costa Brava - citrusy, fruity, aromatic pale ale, 4.5% 

In bottles:

• Toccalmatto Skizoid - American-style IPA hopped with Columbus, Chinook, and  Centennia, 6.2% 
• Toccalmatto Zona Cesarini - amber-colored pale ale hopped with Pacific Gem and Sorachi Ace, giving a huge tropical fruit character, 6.6% 
• Toccalmatto B Space Invader - black IPA with Galaxy hops 
• Brewfist 2Late - aromatic imperial IPA
• Brewfist Caterpillar - rye pale ale brewed in collaboration with Christian Skovdal Andersen of Denmark's Beer Here
• Naparbier Janis Porter - chocolatey and nutty with a hint of coffee, 6.2% 
• Marina Devil's IPA - double IPA with Citra, Galaxy, and Columbus hops, 6.5% 
• Marina Mas Cremat - 4.5% dry stout with coffee, pepper, and earthy notes giving way to a light acidity in the mouth.   

Un-Oktoberfest at Mission Dolores Tuesday

When:  Tuesday, 17 September, 4pm onwards
Where:  Mission Dolores, 249 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

What:  pay-as-you-go, with sehr gut prices from 7-10pm 

Oktoberfest might not start in Munich until Saturday, but the folks over at Mission Dolores are pre-gaming and holding an Un-Oktoberfest to showcase some other German beers. Some of these are traditional German styles and others are not-so-traditional. And to make things even more fun, our own Jim "Bocky" Barnes will be spinning strange tunes from Germany and Eastern Europe. Heino in the haus! 

• Mahr's Ginger Bock - a bock, with ginger 
• Mönchshof Schwarzbier - classic dark lager from northern Bavaria 
• EKU Pils - classic pils from Kulmbach with a refreshing dose of hops  
• Freigeist Hoppeditz - doppel sticke alt brewed with smoked malt 
• Freigeist Geisterzug Gose - traditional gose brewed with spruce branches 
• Freigeist Salzpeicher Sauer Porter - sour porter brewed with salt

Zwanze Day 2013

It's time for the annual Zwanze Day. For the past several years, the Cantillon Brewery releases a special batch of beer, Zwanze, and brewer Jean Van Roy selects bars around the world to receive a keg of the current year's release. This year, the beer is the Abbaye de Cureghem, a 7.2% "abbey" ale. It was brewed in March 2012 and was fermented for 4 weeks in stainless steel tanks with a cultured yeast strain before being blended with 10% lambic and put into barrels. After maturing for 6 months, the barrels were blended and the beer was put into casks to referment and condition until now. Since cultured yeast was used at the beginning, the brewery doesn't consider this beer to be spontaneously fermented. However, there are wild yeast characteristics coming from both the added lambic and the wild yeasts floating about the brewery.

You can learn more about this year's Zwanze release and the history of the mysterious Cureghem Abbey at the Cantillon website, http://cantillon.be

Tapping of the Zwanze keg happens simultaneously around the world at 9pm Brussels time, or 3pm in New York. This year, 2 locations were chosen to host the Zwanze Day festivities and both will be pouring kegs of Zwanze, Cantillon Gueuze, and a special version of Cantillon Iris with no dry-hopping, and various bottles of Cantillon.

The locations:
Alewife Queens, 5-14 51st Avenue, Long Island City
Spuyten Duyvil, 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn

These events are very popular so we recommend getting there early.  Both bars will be opening at 12pm for pre-Zwanze imbibing.

Introducing Brouwerij Het Nest

We're pleased to announce the launch of Brouwerij Het Nest from Turnhout, Belgium.  The Het Nest brewery started as a group of friends with a beer tasting club.  They then moved on to brewing classes and, eventually, to brewing their own beer. Join Filip Govaerts from the brewery for the debut of 2 of their beers in New York this Thursday, 22 August, at Jimmy's No. 43. 

• Turnhoutse Patriot Saison (draft) is a 6.5% saison brewed with barley malt, spelt, American hops, and fermented with a French saison yeast strain.  Brewed in honor of the city of Turnhout's 800th anniversary.  The city of Turnhout is known for the manufacturing of playing cards which is why their logo is a hand of cards and playing cards are featured on most of the labels.
• Ace of Spades (bottles) is a 6.5% amber ale hopped with Tomahawk and Simoe and fermented with brettanomyces during secondary fermentation (bottles)

The Turnhouste Patriot Saison will be featured as this week's Thursday Tap and will be tapped at 5pm.

Jimmy's No. 43 is located at 43 E. 7th Street.

The Festival Recap

In case you weren't able to make it up to Portland, Maine in June for The Festival, here's a short teaser of what you missed out on. We'll be doing it again next year (location tbd).

Our thanks to all of the brewers, cidermakers, and meadmakers and beer lovers who came to Portland. We hope to see you next year!

For over 10 years, the Blind Tiger has been celebrating Christmas in July with some carefully selected kegs that they've laid down since the past winter. And this Wednesday, July 24, is when they'll be cracking them open. Starting at 3pm, come on by the Tiger for some hearty winter ales. The temperatures have cooled slightly so one can almost (almost!) think of drinking something other than a crsip pilsner or refreshing saison.

Among others, they'll have Nøgne Ø Winter Ale, Dieu du Ciel! Solstice d'Hiver, and Mikkeller From Via To.

Here's what Dave Brodrick of the Blind Tiger has to say about Christmas in July:

"At some point in the last month and a half, just about every Tigerite has felt, and looked, like a well basted holiday turkey, which is why we need Christmas in July more than ever this year. And in the nick of time, here it comes, pulling into Bleecker Street just like that ice cold Silver Bullet train of yore, but different. Let's face it, there's something coolly refreshing about cracking open a bunch of Christmas kegs in the middle of a New York City summer. And maybe it's dumb luck, but the weatherman is calling for cooler temperatures.

We've collected some of our winter favorites, including Sierra Celebration, and Avery Old Jubilation '11, along with 14 others, all originally designed to warm you when it's cold (and numb you when it's hot). Then again, this event wasn't founded on the idea of bringing you some Christmas cheer in the middle of summer. We started it back in '97 because, to us, most winter beers seem a bit young when they first come out, and benefit from an extra six months of aging. Plus we had a large cured ham we didn't know what to do with.

But now that our summers are becoming more furnace-like, it seems like we need some of that winter cheer to help us survive until fall. So next Weds, on July the 24th, at 3pm, please join us as we celebrate the Yule Tide and fire up that Christmas spirit. Which means you've only got three days of holiday shopping left..."

French Beer and the Tour de France

With this heat, does your workout consist of sitting in front of the tv and watching the riders in the Tour de France sweat for you? Then you deserve a cold beer! And why not make it a French beer?

When:  Thursday, 18 July, 6-10 pm
Where:  Brouwerij Lane, 78 Greenpoint Avenue, Brooklyn

Join Jim "Bocky" Barnes for another one of his installments of Soirées Disco. Starting at 6pm, he'll be spinning his selection of cosmic French disco and Brouwerij Lane will be pouring 4 French beers on draft.

Les bières:

• Ch'ti Blonde - a traditional bière de garde from the family-run Castelain brewery
• Ch'ti Triple - not a Belgian-style tripel but rather a stronger, maltier bière de garde
• Mont Blanc La Blonde - brewed with water from the Mont Blanc glacier, this blonde ale is delicately spiced with coriander and liquorice. Sorry, cold glacial water not available by the bucket
• Thiriez Blonde - earthy, hoppy farmhouse ale from the tiny Thiriez brewery in the north of France

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Rather stay in Manhattan? Jump on your bike and make your way to The Cannibal for their Tour de France Soirée. They'll be showing the re-broadcast of the day's stage on their flat screen tv and, after watching the 2 Alpe d'Huez climbs, you'll definitely need a beer. Free bike parking available in their back garden. 

When:  Thursday, 18 July, 7pm onwards

Where:  The Cannibal, 113 E. 29th Street

Les bières:

• Bretagne Celtika - a Belgian-style tripel with notes of fruit and spice and a hint of acidity
• Ch'ti Ambrée - amber bière de garde

French Beer Tasting at City Swiggers

It's July which, for Shelton Brothers, means French Beer. You've got Bastille Day and the Tour de France. French beers are good year-round but we like to highlight them during the month of July. 

Join us on Wednesday, July 10, at City Swiggers, 320 E. 86th Street from 6-9 pm for a free tasting of several French beers:

• Bretagne Celtika - Belgian-style tripel
• Bretagne Gwiniz Du - traditional buckwheat ale from Brittany
• Castelain Ch'ti Triple - not a Belgian tripel but a stronger blonde bière de garde
• Mont Blanc La Blonde - brewed with glacial water from Mont Blanc and subtly spiced with coriander and liquorice
• Page 24 Réserve Hildegarde Ambrée - hoppy amber bière de garde

Freigeist and The Monarchy Part 2

When:  Thursday, 27 June, 7:00 pm
Where:  Bierkraft, 191 5th Avenue, Brooklyn

What:  pay-as-you-go
Shelton Brothers Do-Not-Stop. We'll be continuing the German party with Sebastian over at Bierkraft with different drafts from both Freigeist and The Monarchy. While the drafts will be up all night with tunes provided by Jim "Bocky" Barnes, there will be a free guided tasting at 7pm.

The Beers: 

• Freigeist Abraxxxas - Lichtenhainer-style smoked sour Weisse, 6%
• Freigeist Peated Abraxxxas - Lichtenhainer-style smoked sour Weisse with peat-smoked malt, 6% 
• Freigeist Hoppeditz - lightly smoky and sour doppelsticke Alt, 7.5% 
• Freigeist Sauer Porter - traditional sour, salted porter, 6%
• Freigeist Peated Porter - traditional sour, salted porter with peat-smoked malt, 6% 
• Freigeist/Jester King Sauer Power -  collaboration with Texas' Jester King Brewery. A lightly smoky and sour wild ale, 5,2% 
• Freigeist Bière de Vie - dark roasted sour ale brewed with salt, 8.5% 
• Freigeist Pink Gose - Gose brewed with hibiscus flowers, 5.8% 
• Freigeist Phoebe Caulfield - imperial stout with rye, 8% 
• The Monarchy Grodziskie - recreation of an extinct Polish ale, brewed with 100% oak-smoked wheat malt, Lublin hops, and with the original yeast. Brewed in a medieval style with willow bark, 3.3% 
• The Monarchy Son of a Batch (apple woood) - dark Gose brewed with coriander, black lava salt, and apple wood, 5.2% 
• The Monarchy Munchhausen - Münsterland-style sour Altbier, 4.8% 
• The Monarchy Methusalem - an Adambier, also known as Dortmunder Altbier, similar to a sour-ish Doppelsticke, 10% 
• The Monarchy Preussen Weisse - old-style Weissbier, brewed with ginger and juniper, 5.6% 
• The Monarchy Year of the Dragon - ale brewed with rice and only brewed once a year, 8.6% 

Meet the Brewer - Freigeist and The Monarchy

When:  Wednesday, 26 June, 5pm onwards

Where:  Spuyten Duyvil, 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn

What:  pay-as-you-go

 

The party continues at Spuyten Duyvil on Wednesday with brewer Sebastian Sauer from Freigeist Bierkultur in Cologne, Germany. Sebastian and Peter Esser from the Braustelle brewery started the Freigeist line in 2009 in order to brew more experimental beers as well as recreating obscure and extinct styles.

In addition, we'll have the debut of Sebastian's new project, The Monarchy, which he started in 2012. With The Monarchy, he continues his focus on historic German styles.

The beers: 

• Freigeist Ottekolong - unfiltered kölsch, 4.8%
• Freigeist Geisterzug Gose - traditional gose brewed with spruce twigs, 5.2%
• Freigeist Black Smoke - dark rauch ale, 6%
• Freigeist Pink Panzer - sour ale brewed with hibiscus flowers, 7.5%
• The Monarchy Grätzer - recreation of an extinct Polish ale, brewed with 100% oak-smoked malt and Lublin hops, 3.3%
• The Monarchy Son of a Batch (hickory wood) - dark gose brewed with coriander, black lava salt, and hickory wood, 5.2%  

Meet the Brewer - Pivovar Kout

We've survived The Festival and thank those of you who made the trip up to Portland, Maine. We hoped you enjoyed meeting our brewers and drinking their beers as much as we did. Now it's time to bring a bit more of Festival love to New York.  Join us this week at several meet-the-brewer events. The first one kicks off at 5pm on Tuesday, June 25 at Spuyten Duyvil.

We'll be launching the beers of Pivovar Kout na Sumave, located the Bohemian Forest in the Czech Republic, and Jan Skala from the brewery will be in attendance. While written records date the brewery to 1736, the Kout Brewery was probably founded in the 16th century. Like many small breweries producing traditional earthy lagers, it got shut down during the Communist era. But Mr. Skala, who worked at the brewery as a young man, brought it back to life and hired a brewer who had lost his job because his own brewery was shut down by Pilsner Urquell during a period of massive consolidation of large breweries. The Czech beer scene has had a rough time. 

The Kout beers are open fermented and they brew only unfiltered and unpasteurized lagers from local barely and noble hops, using either a double or triple decoction method.

The pivo: 

• Koutska 10º - a hoppy golden lager beer, 4%  
• Koutska 12º - the flagship beer, a classic traditional Pilsner, 5%
• Koutska 14º  - a classic dark ("Tmavy") malty but balanced Bohemian-style lager, 6%
• Koutska 18º - the brewery’s rich, dark specialty lager, requiring over six months maturation, 8%

Spuyten Duvyil is located at 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn.

Meet the Brewer - Renaissance Brewing

When:  Wednesday, 19 June, 5pm onwards
Where:  Spuyten Duyvil, 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn

What:  pay-as-you-go

We're pleased to present the New York debut of New Zealand's Renaissance Brewing Company.  Brewer Brian will be at Spuyten Duyvil to answer all of your questions about their beers, hobbits, and sheep. Please come out to give him a warm New York welcome and offer congratulations on the brewery's recent win of Champion Small International Brewery at the 2013 Australian International Beer Awards.

The beers:  

• Elemental Porter (draft) - Brewed in the modern ‘robust’ style, Elemental Porter is a rich, full bodied brew with plenty of dry, dark chocolate and roasty malt flavours which gradually give way to a cleansing hop-driven finish. 6% 
•  Stonecutter Scotch Ale (draft) - 7% wee heavy. Nine malts are blended together to produce layers of caramel, toffee, liquorice, chocolate and roasty flavours. These layers are balanced by a tart, raisiny fruitiness that gradually gives way to give this dark beer a lingering dry finish. Rich, full bodied, warming.
• M.P.A. (draft) - Marlborough Pale Ale, 8.5% double IPA. is a uniquely kiwi take on an American Double India Pale Ale. The style is based on the Americans intention to create a massively hopped full-bodied, higher alcohol Pale Ale to showcase the bitterness flavour and aroma of their locally grown hops. Rather than simply copying the Americans, Renaissance Brewing has taken the concept and turned it into a kiwi brew by utilising not only New Zealand grown hops but also by choosing to use only New Zealand hop varieties.
• Craftsman Oatmeal Chocolate Stout (bottle) - Craftsman is the ‘Big Brother’ to the Elemental porter. Building on the flavours given by the crystal, brown and black malts, we add a portion of organic rolled oats for a silky smooth mouthfeel, then added a small amount of cocoa nibs to the mash and brew kettle, plus a large addition of nibs to the fermentor. The beer that matured on those cocoa nibs has a lovely chocolate nose that melds beautifully with the coffee and hop notes in the beer. The resulting Stout has a full rounded palate with chocolate and roasted notes predominating and the depth of intensity that one expects from a Stout. 4.9%
• Voyager IPA (bottle) - Inspired by the boldly hoppy Ales of old that were exported from Britain to the furthest corners of her vast and glorious empire, Voyager I.P.A. is a rich satisfying Ale with an emphatic hop bite. Brewed with pale ale malt from Canterbury and small additions of European specialty malts to yield a malt base on which to build its hop edifice. Generously hopped with two Kiwi hop varieties for bitterness then finish it with Fuggles (as a nod to I.P.A.’s British origin) and New Zealand bred Riwaka hops for a spicy floral finish. 6% 

Tuesday Tasting - Marh's Bräu

When:  Tuesday, 18 June, 7:30 pm
Where:  Jimmy's No. 43, 43 E. 7th Street

What:  $20 for 6 beers

For this week's guided Tuesday Tasting at Jimmy's, we'll be featuring 6 beers from Mahr's Bräu.  Unfortunately, brewer Stephan Michel had to cancel his trip to New York but Joel Shelton will be there, rocking his lederhosen. You don't want to miss that!  Or the beers from Mahr's. Space is limited.

Die Biere: 

• Pils
• Hell
• Ungespundet 
• Saphir Weisse
• Bock
• Ginger Bock  

De Struise at DeCicco's

When:  Friday 24 May, 5-10 pm
Where: DeCicco's, 50 Independent Way, Brewster

What:  pay-as-you-go

I am very glad that there are no DeCicco's supermarkets in my neighborhood or there would be lots of impulse shopping after having a few pints at the in-store bar. But it's always a treat to visit them in Brewster (among other locations) and revel in the ample aisles of a suburban-sized store WITH bar, and maybe get some grocery shopping done. This Friday, they'll be pouring beers from Belgium's De Struise brewery and the list is worth the trip. Some of these kegs from "The Sturdy Brewers" are making their debut appearance in the NYC metro area. 

The beers:

• Pannepot Grand Reserva - barrel-aged Pannepot 
• Black Albert - imperial stout 
• Cuvée Delphine - Black Albert aged in Four Roses bourbon barrels 
• Rio Reserva - barrel-aged quadrupel 
• Pannepøt - originally brewed for a Danish beer festival but it proved so popular that they've made it a regular release

Belgian Beers at Alewife Queens

When:  Monday, 20 May - Friday, 24 May
Where:  Alewife Queens, 5-14 51st Avenue, Long Island City 

What: pay-as-you-go

Alewife will be featuring Belgian beers all week long. They understand that just because a beer is from Belgium doesn't mean that it's good. But their selection is amazing and reflects the small breweries that are putting out some truly unique and interesting beers.

Here is a list of just some of the beers being poured this week:

• Blaugies Saison d'Epeautre - spelt saison  
• Blaugies La Moneuse - earthy saison 
• De Ranke Saison de Dottignies - hoppy saison  
• De Ranke Noir de Dottignies - stout  
• De Ranke XX Bitter - hoppy ale with pleasant brett funkiness  
• De Ranke Guldenberg - strong blonde ale  
• Drie Fonteinen Zwet.be - dark ale fermented with Beersel Blond yeast and brettanomyces
• Kerkom Bink Bloesem - brewed with local pears and honey
• Kerkom Bink Blond - sessionable and dry-hopped 
• De Struise Pannepot -  subtly spiced strong dark ale
• De Struise X - blonde ale  
• De Struise XX - dubbel
• De la Senne Jambe de Bois - tripel 
• De la Senne Band of Brothers - collaboration with Brussels bar Moeder Lambic   
• De la Senne Taras Boulba - hoppy blonde ale 
• De la Senne Zinnebir - refreshing blonde ale with yeasty complexity 
• Geants Saison Voisin - rustic saison