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