Nøgne Ø at Spuyten Duyvil

When:  Saturday, 5 April, 12pm onwards
Where:  Spuyten Duyvil, 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn

Also making their way to the Craft Brewers Conference next week are Tore and Tom from Norway's Nøgne Ø brewery. Let's hope for a sunny spring day when they drop by Spuyten Duyvil on Saturday afternoon so we can do some outdoor drinking. The taps start flowing at noon and Tore and Tom will get there around 2pm. Just to play it safe we've got some big beers in case it ends up cold and snowy and some lighter ones to hopefully usher in the warmer weather.

The list:

• Citrus Hystrix - IPA with kaffir lime and tangerine
• Premiant - imperial pils brewed with the new Premiant hop
• Porter - with flavors of coffee and dried fruit
• Imperial Stout - just the way the Tsar would have liked it - a dark, rich ale with generous sweetness and roasted malt bitterness
• Two Captains - double IPA with fruity and resiny hops
• India Saison - brewed with Australian hops, giving the beer tropical fruit notes.

and in bottles:

• Horizon Tokyo Black - 16% imperial stout
• Tindved - sour ale with sea buckthorn

Meet the Brewer - Trois Dames

When:  Wednesday, 2 April, 6 pm onwards

Where:  Tørst, 615 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn

Brewer Raphäel from Switzerland's Brasserie Trois Dames will be in town this week before heading to the Craft Brewers Conference in Denver. He's been making some unique twists on sour beers in his Swiss chalet paradise in the Jura for a while but has recently expanded the range. Come by Tørst to meet him and have a few of his fantastic sour beers.

• Grande Dame - oud bruin with apricots
• La Tentation - a saison fermented first with Dupont saison yeast, then refermented for one year in oak barrels with a witbier yeast. Final maturation with wild yeasts from local Reinette Blanche apples
• Saison Framboise - saison brewed with raspberries and aged in red wine barrels
• Fôret Noire (bottles) - saison aged on Morello cherries then blended with imperial stout and aged further in Kirsch barrels  

Curiouser and Curiouser. Unusual German Beers

We have nothing against the German Reinheitsgebot. Some of our favorite German beers are brewed in accordance with the Purity Law. But there are some traditional beers that have always used ingredients far outside the narrow confines of the Reinheitsgebot and brewers are reviving these lost and archaic styles.

Join us Thursday evening, 13 March, at The Sampler in Bushwick for a few of these unique biers. Traditional beers from Döllnitzer/Ritterguts (from Leipzig) and revivalist brewery The Monarchy (from Cologne).

• Ritterguts Gose - over 1000 years ago, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto praised Gose, the beer from the town of Goslar. Nearby Leipzig became the center of Gose production until its virtual disappearance in the 1960s. In the early 80s, this unique style was revived. The Ritterguts version, brewed with the traditional additions of salt and coriander, is a balanced and complex sour beer with solid lactic notes. Winner of World's Best Gose at the 2013 World Beer Awards.
• The Monarchy Grodziskie - based on a style from the Polish town of Grodzisk Wielkopolski. This authentic version is made with 100% oak-smoked wheat, local Polish hops, and the beer's original yeast. When it was discovered that the original brewery occasionally used willow bark in the recipe, the Monarchy decided to throw that in, too.
• The Monarchy Preussen Weisse - "Prussian White", brewed from an 1831 recipe, is a tart wheat beer that includes sugar beet syrup, ginger, and juniper.

The Sampler is located at 234 Starr Street in Brooklyn.

New York Beer Week Opening Bash

When:  Friday, 21 February, 7-10 pm 

Where:  Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal

We love a party as much as the next person so we're happy to be participating in the New York City Brewers Guild Opening Night Bash at Grand Central.  For once, we'll be drinking beer in style there, instead of brown-bagging it.  Over 30 breweries will be pouring samples of rare and/or new releases and there will be light food from local restaurants and purveyors.  And you can still jump on the 10:20 to Scarsdale if need be.

Drop by the Shelton Brothers table, say hello, and try samples of Ritterguts Gose and the NYC premiere of the new Mikkeller/Prairie American-Style collaboration - a dry-hopped IPA fermented exclusively with Brettanomyces.


A limited amount of tickets are still available and can be purchased at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/nyc-beer-week-opening-night-bash-tickets-10156126247.  Use the code "Bash 10" for 10% off your ticket.

Kulmbacher Brauerei Events

Come meet Thomas Wölfel of Kulmbacher this Thursday, 20 February and Sunday, 23 February.

NYC Beer Week is coming up? Tell that to Kulmbacher, our venerable Franconian brewer. Just as Gotham prepares to confront the latest batch of super-amped Yank quadruple mint IPAs and Moccaccino Espresso Lemon Peanut Pale Porters, those lederhosen-loving Teutons are sending over worldwide export manager Thomas Wölfel to America to talk up pilsners, weizens, schwarzes, kellers, and eisbocks! Who says the Shelton Brothers are contrarian?

This Thursday, fresh off the plane, the globe-trotting Thomas will be whisked away to Jimmy’s No. 43 for a rare Kulmbacher Industry Tap Night, highlighting the extremeties of the brewery’s impressive range - including the  deliciously sessionable EKU Pils and Mönchshof Kellerbier, the classic “Kulmbacher-Style” Mönchshof Schwarz, and the wintery, warming Kulmbacher Eisbock - the original ice beer.  As an added bonus (and one to be more appreciated perhaps after an eisbock or two) various Shelton staff will/may appear in traditional Franconian garb!

If you absolutely can’t get to Jimmy’s on Thursday (or even if you can), Thomas and Brother Joel will also host an informal tasting session Sunday, 5:30-8, at UES bottle-shop/café City Swiggers.  Eisbock will be featured on the draft board and your hosts will pour free samples from the wide selection of Kulmbacher bottles on offer in the shop. Don’t miss this event if you want to see how a real live Franconian wears his lederhosen....Prost!

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

City Swiggers is at 320 E. 86th Street.

Scandinavian Beers at Breukelen Bier Merchants

Some people might be tired of the snow but we're not because it gives us the perfect excuse to drink hearty beers from Scandinavia, a place that knows a bit about cold and dark and snow.

Join us on Saturday, 8 February, at Breukelen Bier Merchants from 1pm-midnight for the following beers:

Denmark

• Mikkeller Beer Hop Breakfast - black IPA brewed with coffee 
• To Øl Sleep Over - imperial IPA brewed with espresso and fermented with wild yeast
• To Øl Mine is Bigger than Yours - barleywine

Norway

• Lervig Konrad's Stout - Russian imperial oatmeal stout
• Nøgne Ø Winter Ale - 8.5% dark winter warmer

Breuekelen Bier Merchants is located at 182 Grand Street, Williamsburg.

French Beer and Cassoulet

On Saturday, 11 January, from 1-4pm, why don't you drop on by Jimmy's No. 43 for 3 different varieties of cassoulet paired with different French and Quebecois beers and Norman ciders. Jim Barnes will be providing an informal guide to the beers.

Les bières:

• Thiriez Extra - Daniel Thiriez brews farmhouse ales in the small town of Esquelbecq, near the border with Belgium. Extra is an earthy, dry-hopped, 4.5% saison
• Au Baron Cuvée des Jonquilles - hybrid saison/bière de garde from a tiny farmhouse brewery in the north of France. Refreshing and effervescent
• Trou du Diable Grivoise de Noël - from our Francophone neighbors to the north, an award-winning subtly spiced strong Belgian dubbel with honey
• Trou du Diable Cholie Fraulein (draft) - malty dunkel from Shawinigan, Quebec
• Brasserie St. Germain Page 24 Brune - unique roasty, dark brown bière de garde from the North of France
• Bourganel Bière au Nougat - lager brewed with nougat from the Ardèche. Nutty, sweet aroma with dry finish
• Mont Blanc La Rousse - amber ale brewed with hibiscus and elderberry and water from the Mont Blanc glacier
• Pays Flamand/Nøgne Ø Prototype (draft) - Juniper porter. Kjetil from Nøgne Ø brought juniper berries with him from Norway to France to brew this collaboration.
• Cidrerie du Perche L'Hermetière Cidre Brut - Cidrerie du Perche makes traditional cider Normady from their own organically grown apples. Their ciders are unpasteurized, unfiltered, and naturally carbonated through bottle-conditioning.  The Brut is lively and complex with the delicate aroma of ripe apples, leather, and freshly mown hay.
• Cidrerie du Perche L'Hermetière Poiré - Perry made with pure pear juice. It has a fruity aroma with light lemon notes and a tart mouthfeel, like a dry white wine

Les cassoulets:

• Classic
• Kid - goat with merguez
• American - with kielbasa, chicken, pork, and bacon

Tickets are $45 and include the 3 different cassoulets and samples of the beers. They can be purchased here at Brown Paper Tickets or at the door.