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

Dieu du Ciel! at Blind Tiger and Spuyten Duyvil

Every year, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the brewers from Dieu du Ciel! in Montréal roll into town for a big event at Blind Tiger and a smaller one at Spuyten Duyvil. It's the beer highlight of the holiday season. But they weren't able to make it in 2012 so there was a void in the beer universe. Now, to rectify that, J-F, Stéphane, and company will be here this week with special beers and brewpub exclusives. The list for each night is different so I highly recommend hitting up both nights.

When:  Wednesday, 24 April, 3pm onwards
Where:  Blind Tiger, 281 Bleecker St.

The beers:

• Grande Noirceur - imperial stout, 9% 
• Fortunella - kumquat ipa, 7.2% 
• Pionnière - imperial black ipa, 9.5% 
• Chaman - imperial pale ale, 9% 
• Basse Messe - kölsch, 5% 
• Péché Mortel - imperial coffee stout, 9.5% 
• Péché Mortel Bourbon - aged in bourbon barrels, 9.5% 
• Solstice d'Hiver - barleywine, 10.2% 
• Neuvaine - amber ale brewed with and wormwood and fennel, 8%  
• Pénombre - black ipa, 6.5% 
• Mea Culpa - india cream ale, 6% 
• Purgatoire - old-style porter aged in red wine barrels, a collaboration with Trou du Diable, 10.2% 
• Isseki Nicho - imperial dark saison, 9.5% 
• Cornemuse - scotch ale, 8% 
• Equinoxe du Printemps cask - scotch ale with maple syrup, 8% 
• Grande Noirceur cask

When:  Thursday, 25 April, 5pm onwards
Where:  Spuyten Duyvil, 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn

 

Les bieres:

• Morality - American-style IPA, 7.2%
• Péché Mortel 11th Anniversary - imperial coffee stout brewed with special coffees, 9.5%
• Symbiose 4 - sour beer aged in oak barrels, 6%
• Solstice d'Hiver Bourbon - barleywine aged in bourbon barrels, 10.2%
• Revenante - smoked porter, 6%
• Wallonade - Belgian blonde, 4.2%  

 

Mikkeller Week at Adobe Blues

Adobe Blues loves Mikkeller so they're featuring the brewery all this week, starting on Monday, 8 April. It's lovely weather out there so why not take the ferry over to Staten Island. Adobe Blues is an easy bus ride from the ferry terminal and is located at 63 Lafayette Avenue.

Here's the selection:

On draft 

• Koppi - coffee IPA
• Wheat is the New Hop - collaboration with Grassroots Brewing, brewed with wheat and fermented with brettanomyces
• Monk’s Brew - 10% a Belgian-style brown ale 

Bottles

• Hop Burn Low - imperial pilsner
• 1000 IBU - 9.6% hoppy, hoppy, hoppy IPA 
• Sally's Field - Belgian blonde aged in chardonnay barrels
• Spontankriek - cherry lambic  
• Spontanframboos - raspberry lambic 
• Chipotle Porter
• Barrel-Aged Monk's Brew - aged in red wine barrels with raspberries
• Black Buffalo - 19.3% imperial stout aged in Buffalo Trace bourbon barrels
• Gypsy Tears - collaboration with Stillwater Artisanal Ales and Fanø Bryhus, a hoppy stout fermented with brettanomyces 

Tuesday Tasting with Tom Oliver of Oliver's Ciders

When:  Tuesday, 9 April, 7:30 pm
Where:  Jimmy's No. 43, 43 E. 7th Street
What:  $20 for 6 samples

This week's Tuesday Tasting is a special one because Tom Oliver, of Oliver's Cider and Perry, will be the guest speaker.  He'll be discussing and we'll be sampling 3 of his traditional ciders and 3 of his perrys, including the award-winning Gold Rush, a collaboration with Greg Hall of Virtue Cider.

The old farm in Herefordshire where Oliver's Cider House sits has been producing cider and perry for at least three centuries. Not much has changed there in that time.  Tom uses only fresh (mostly hand-picked) unsprayed fruit, with minimal intervention. Cattle and sheep graze the orchards year-round, providing nitrogen and natural weed prevention.
The pears and apples he uses are picked at full ripeness, sometimes stored to mature further, then washed, milled and, whenever necessary, macerated. Then they are pressed and fermented by wild yeasts and aged in old oak barrels for up to 10 months, before being blended and then bottled.

Seating is limited so to guarantee a spot, it is recommended to arrive early. 

Thursday Tap - German Bocks

This week's Thursday Tap at Jimmy's No. 43 is a double-header featuring 2 gravity kegs from the Weissenohe brewery in Franconia in northern Bavaria. Starting at 5 pm, Jimmy's will tap 2 spring bocks:  the Virtac Bior, a 7% spiced bockbier brewed from a medieval recipe, and Bonator - a malty 8.2% doppelbock named for the missionary St. Bonifatius (or Boniface), the patron saint of Germany.


The Weissenohe monastery was founded in 1050 and brewing on the grounds began shortly thereafter. The monastery buildings and land were sold to the Winkler family in 1803 but the brewery still exists (along with the chapel) and beers are still made using the traditional and time-consuming double-decoction method.


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

Gypsy Brewers at Owl Farm

Tuesday, 12 March, The Owl Farm in Brooklyn will be having a Gypsy Brewer event. The beers will be pouring all day and they'll have special prices from 6-10 pm. Along with beers from Evil Twin, Stillwater, and Omnipollo, they'll also have the following beers:

Draft:

• Beer Here Hopfix Rye IPA
• Mikkeller Yeast Series 2.0 Brettanomyces Lambicus - pale ale fermented with brett lambicus
• Mikkeller From To Via - hoppy spiced porter
• To Øl Sans Frontiere - dry-hopped Belgian ale fermented with Belgian ale yeast an brettanomyces
• Pretty Things St. Botolph's Town - English brown

Bottles:

• Stillwater+Mikkeller+Fanø Gypsy Tears - sour hoppy stout
• Stillwater+Mikkeller Our Side - hoppy saison

Take it away, Owl Farm:

In the beer world gypsy brewers are brewers who don't have a permanent home. They travel the world brewing wherever and whenever they can find space to brew. There are pluses and minuses to this lifestyle of course. It's hard when you don't have a home. But on the plus side: when you don't have a mortgage and car payment and other attachments you can spend more of your money and energy on interesting ingredients and techniques, and you can take risks without worrying as much about the bottom line. So,here at The Owl Farm, on March 12th, we'll be celebrating the gypsy brewing lifestyle with some rare and unique brews."

The Owl Farm is located at 297 9th Street (near 5th Avenue) in Brooklyn).