Thursday Tap and Meet the Brewer - Trois Dames

We're pleased to announce a special version of this week's Thursday Tap at Jimmy's No. 43. From 5-7pm on January 31, Jimmy will be hosting the New York debut of Switzerland's Brasserie Trois Dames. In addition, brewer Raphaël Mettler will be there to talk about beer, wine, cheese, fondue, and Freddie Mercury.

The beers:

• L'Amoureuse Rouge (bottles) - brewed with 80% malt and 20% Gamaret grape must and aged in wine barrels for several months. Secondary fermentation is spontaneous due to wild yeast and bacteria on the grape skins.
• L'Amoureuse Blanc (bottles) - brewed with 80% malt and 20% Chasselas grape must and aged in wine barrels for several months.
• Grande Dame Oud Bruin (draft) - a sour brown ale in the Flemish tradition

There is also an "Oyster Shuck and Talk" to benefit Slow Foods in the back room from 6:30-8pm so if you're feeling ambitious, why not do both events. Note that the Oyster talk is a ticketed event and tickets can be purchased here. Oysters will also be available at the bar for purchase and the Thursday Tap is a pay-as-you-go event.

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

Brett Weekend - Brouwerij Lane

This weekend, 25-27 January, Brouwerij Lane is celebrating funky beers fermented with our wild yeast friend, Brettanomyces.  They'll have 6 kegs pouring including the following:



Jolly Pumpkin Oro de Calabaza - an 8% strong golden ale. Spicy and peppery with a gentle hop bouquet. Like all Jolly Pumpkin beers, this one is aged in wood barrels. Rated the #1 Belgian Golden Ale by The New York Times.

To Øl Sans Frontière - from Denmark, the "Two Beers" brewery have created a "tart, picturesque and rural beer". This is a dry-hopped Belgian ale, refermented with brettanomyces.

Freigeist Brettokolong - this is an unfiltered kölsch beer from Cologne, Germany. This version was fermented with ale yeast and refermented with brett which accentuates the lemon and citrus notes.












Brouwerij Lane is located at 78 Greenpoint Avenue in Brooklyn.

Thursday Tap - Mikkeller Santa's Little Helper

Yes, it's true, Virginia, you can drink holiday beers after December 25th! Props to Jimmy's No. 43 for recognizing the fact that winter warmers are appropriate to drink throughout the winter, not just in the days leading up to Christmas. And what's more appropriate on a cold night than an 11% mildly spiced Belgian Strong Dark Ale?

Tonight's Thursday Tap features Mikkeller's Santa's Little Helper. It's brewed with malt; flaked wheat; dark candi sugar; Northern Brewer, Hallertau, and Styrian Goldings hops; and orange peel and coriander. According to the brewery, "it is inspired by the Belgian Christmas beers, known for their thick warming body, light spices, and balance hop profile." The spices, along with the high fermentation temperatures, give a massive mix of fruity notes. Santa's Little Helper is "an orgy of aromas and flavours", says Mikkel.

The keg will be will be tapped at 5pm and will be poured until it kicks. Jimmy's No. 43 is located at 43 E. 7th St.

Thursday Tap - Yeastie Boys Rex Attitude

This Thursday, drop by Jimmy's No. 43 for a blast of peat smoke from Rex Attitude by New Zealand's Yeastie Boys.

According to the brewery:  "They said it couldn't be done, that it would be undrinkable, that we couldn't use more than 5% heavy peated malt in a beer. So we carefully considered their advice and went with 100% instead. Rex Attitude is inspired by French techno and the whisky of Scotland's west coast. Like the 'Auld Alliance' it combines a little Scottish rogue with a dose of French 'je ne sais quoi'. It is, as far as we know, the world's first beer made from 100% heavy peated distilling malt."

Intrigued?  This 7% peat-smoked strong golden ale will be tapped at 5pm, like all Thursday Taps. Jimmy's No. 43 is located at 43 E. 7th St.

Belgian Beer Dinner (Vegetarian!)

When:  Monday, 3 December, 7 pm
Where:  Jimmy's No. 43, 43 E. 7th Street
What:  $45 plus tax and gratuity for 5 courses paired with 5 beers




Join Joel Shelton and myself at a vegetarian beer dinner at Jimmy's No. 43 featuring 5 of our Belgian beers. 

Tickets are available here.

The menu (subject to change):

• Wild mushroom and Jerusalem artichoke soup
• Toast with wild mushrooms and sheep's milk camembert
• Roasted beets and tamari on wild watercress salad
• Roasted squash and farro risotto
• Banana bread pudding with Ronnybrook whipped cream  

The beers:

• Drie Fonteinen Beersel Blond
• Cantillon Lou Pépé Framboise
• Blaugies Saison d'Epeautre
• De Ranke XX Bitter
• Achel Extra 

This dinner is the culmination of the 3rd annual Battle of the Belgians weekend at Jimmy's. All weekend long, they'll be pouring Belgian beers and there will be a special ticketed tasting session on Saturday, December 1 from 12-3pm. For more information, check out the Jimmy's No. 43 website:  http://jimmysno43.com/   

Belgium2Brooklyn

When:  Saturday, 1 December - Sunday, 2 December, 11 am onwards
Where: Mugs Ale House, 125 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn
What:  pay-as-you-go   

courtesy of Bill Coleman

After getting your Zwanze on, saunter on over to Mugs Ale House for the 7th annual Belgium2Brooklyn featuring Belgian and Belgian-inspired beers. The draft list will be different on each day so make sure you return on Sunday. Check out their Facebook page for a full list but here's a small sampling of some of the beers that will be poured:

• De Struise XXX Rye Triple
• De Struise Pannepot Grand Reserva 
• Drie Fonteinen Beersel Blond
• Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga
• Mikkeller Funky E*
• Christoffel Bok
• De la Senne Band of Brothers
• Ellezelloise Hercule Stout
• Kerkom Bink Winterkoninkske (Winter King)   

Zwanze Day 2012

When:  Saturday, 1 December, 12pm onwards. Zwanze tapping at 3pm
Where:  Spuyten Duyvil, 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn
What:  pay-as-you-go

Once a year, Brussel's Cantillon Brewery, makers of traditional lambic and gueuze, brew a special experimental batch of beer, never to be rebrewed (aside from this year's version). This year brewer Jean Van Roy has recreated 2008's inaugural brew, a rhubarb lambic brewed with organically grown rhubarb. Because of adverse winter weather conditions and the unpredictable nature of wild yeasts, this year's batch was not ready for the traditional September release. Find out more about this year's Zwanze here.

The word zwanze comes from the Flemish dialect spoken in Brussels and describes the typical humor of the city's inhabitants, characterized by a finely-balanced mix of self-deprecation and exaggeration. Jean Van Roy enjoyed the idea of calling his experimental blends Zwanze since the name suggest a light-hearted approach to the blends which he feels have a similar jovial and slightly derisive spirit as do the people of Brussels.

Spuyten Duyvil will open at noon and will be pouring 2 other Cantillon drafts:  St. Lamvinus (with French wine grapes) and Mamouche (with elderflower). They will also have a selection of other spontaneously fermented ales in bottles. Note that the Zwanze keg will not be tapped until 3pm to coincide with the Zwanze tapping in Brussels at 9pm WET but you'll want to get there early.