Fêtez le Saint-Jean-Baptiste!

Friday is the feast of St. John the Baptist and in Quebec, where he is known as St-Jean-Baptiste, it is also their national holiday. To celebrate with our neighbors to the north - and what would a celebration be without beer? - Third & Long will be pouring beer from Montreal's Dieu du Ciel! brewery and serving mini Montreal-style smoked meat sandwiches with pickles from Mile End.

On tap will be Rosée d'Hibiscus, their wheat beer brewed with hibiscus flowers. Tart and refreshing, with a tropical floral aroma, this beer is perfect for summer. Dieu du Ciel! won a bronze medal for the people's choice award for the Rosée at this year's Mondial de la Bière in Montreal and the Rosée also won a gold medal from the judges in 2007.

When:  Friday, 24 June
Where: Third & Long, 523 Third Avenue (at 35th St.)
What:  pay-as-you-go

We'd also like to congratulate Dieu du Ciel! on winning the highest honor, a platinum medal, at this year's Mondial, for their Helles-style beer, "Helium". Having enjoyed a few pints of it myself while at Mondial, I heartily endorse the judges decision. Félicitations!

J-F Gravel (DDC), Jérôme Denys (Cheval Blanc), and Stéphane Ostiguy (DDC) enjoy a post-Mondial beer at Cheval Blanc

What's This I Keep Hearing About Session Beers?

Triple-hopped, barrel-aged, imperial, sour - there always seems to be a new buzzword around beer. Lately, it appears that "session beers" are all the rage. We've been lauding the virtues of these low abv beers for quite some time but now, finally, some others are catching on. See Brother Dan's article in June's issue of Food & Wine.

There is no hard and fast definition of a session beer but the concept originated in England and the general consensus is that they are beers below 4.5% abv that are light in body yet still flavorful. Beers, in other words, that you'd be able to drink a few pints of in one session and still be coherent and, just as importantly, beers that you'd want to drink a few pints of.

We certainly have no problem with the bigger beers when the occasion warrants but are happy to see that others are realizing that that's not all there is to drink. Bigger is not always better. When you drink as often as we do, it's nice to be able to sit for a spell over these "smaller" beers. And summer is the perfect season for exploring session beers. Why not start tomorrow?

At this Tuesday's weekly $10 Tasting event at Jimmy's No. 43, Union Beer's Mike Lovullo will be pouring samples of 6 different British beers. One of the beers will be Coniston Old Man Ale, a 4.4% bottle-conditioned brown ale.  Remarkably complex for its strength, it is brewed with Marris Otter malt plus a bit of crystal malt and roasted barley and is hopped with Challenger hops. Chocolately up front, it finishes dry and roasty, balanced with hop bitterness. A lovely ale fruitiness is found throughout the beer.  The "Old Man" is not a person but a mountain in the Lake District that can be seen from the brewery.

Jimmy's is located at 43 E. 7th Street and the tastings start at 7:30 pm.

Next Tuesday's tasting will feature ciders, in anticipation of Cider Appreciation Day at Jimmy's on Thursday 23 June.

And while we're on the topic of session-style beers, look out for a new batch of kegs of Taras Boulba from Belgium's Brasserie de la Senne, arriving in town this week. This 4.5% ale is all you could ask for in a summery beer - loaded with complex Belgian yeast flavors and hopped to refreshing perfection.  Ok - now I'm thirsty.

The Week in Beer

If you can't make it to Philly Beer Week in Philadelphia or Mondial de la Biere in Montreal, there are still plenty of good beers to be had in NYC.

On Tuesday the 7th, Rattle n Hum will be putting up over 20 Shelton Brothers drafts and on Wednesday the 8th, Blind Tiger will feature all 19 varieties of this year's Single Hop Series from Mikkeller as part of IPA month.

Shelton Brothers Take Over the Taps

When:  Tuesday, 7 June, 5:30 pm onwards
Where:  Rattle n Hum, 14 E. 33rd Street
What:  pay-as-you-go

The selections will range from rare, limited-edition beers (De Struise, Baird, Oppigårds, De Molen, Haandbryggeriet) to some of our staple breweries (De Ranke, Mikkeller, Nøgne Ø, Christoffel, Kulmbacher, St. Germain/Page 24, Westons Cider).  I'm already feeling the effects of the hangover.

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Mikkeller Single Hop Event

When:  Wednesday, 8 June, 3 pm onwards
Where:  Blind Tiger Ale House, 281 Bleecker Street
What:  pay-as-you-go

If you need a little hair-of-the-dog after Tuesday night's extravaganza, come to Blind Tiger for what will certainly be an educational experience.  Last year, Danish brewer Mikkel Borg Bjergsø brewed his Single Hop Project to showcase the effects of different hops on the flavor and aroma of the same base beer.  This year, he's taken the project a step further - 9 steps to be exact.  There were 10 Mikkeller Single Hop varieties last year and this year he's gone all the way to 19.  There is also a slight change in the brewing procedure:  the same base recipe is used to create the 6.8% IPA but instead of aiming for the same IBU (bitterness) level in each beer as last year, them same amount by weight of each hop variety is used for bittering, flavor, aroma, and dry-hopping.  In addition, the malt comes from the same lot.  This is really a fantastic way to learn about the different flavors and aromas found in different hops.

To the list!

Amarillo

Bravo

Cascade

Centennial

Challenger

Citra

Cluster

Columbus (Tomahawk)

Galena

Magnum

Mt. Hood

Nugget

Palisade

Simcoe

Sorachi Ace

Super Galena

Tettnanger

Warrior

Willamette

De Struise Brouwers at Spuyten Duyvil

De Struise Brouwers, from Oostvleteren, Belgium, is a small brewery run by Urbain and Carlo who can barely keep up with demand for their well-crafted beers.  The name of the brewery has roots in the Flemish word for "ostrich" - the brewers run an ostrich farm in their spare time - and the slang word for "sturdy", hence their nickname, "The Sturdy Brewers".  This Thursday, you have a rare chance to try 6 different drafts from them.

When:  Thursday, 12 May, 6 pm
Where:  Spuyten Duyvil, 359 Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn

The beers!

Svea IPA - brewed with oats and rye and a "carefully selected set of noble hops for you to enjoy on every suitable occasion", 7% abv
Ignis & Flamma - West Coast-style IPA. Menno from the De Molen brewery asked they guys at De Struise to brew their interpretation of his "Vuur & Vlam" and this is the result, 7% abv
Rosse - amber ale with refreshing hop notes in the finish, 6% abv
Pannepøt (Danish version) - in the early 1900s, the town of De Panne was known for its fishing boats (pannepots) and the dark ale that the fishermen drank.  This beer is a tribute to those fishermen and his version was brewed specifically for the brewery's Danish friends and customers, 10% abv
Black Damnation III - Black Mes - one of the versions of Black Albert, their Imperial Stout.  This one is aged for 3 months in a Caol Ila whisky barrel, 13% abv
Black Damnation IV - Coffee Club - Black Albert aged for 6 months in old rum barrels, 13% abv

5th Williamsburg Cask Festival

Our pal Alex Hall will be holding one of his excellent cask ale festivals at dba Brooklyn (113 N. 7th St.) this weekend.  From Friday the 22nd to Sunday the 24th, 1pm onwards, enjoy real cask ale that is unfiltered, unpasteurized, and served at cellar temperature.  In particular, we're looking forward to 2 beers which are, appropriately enough for an Easter weekend, religiously-themed:

- Dieu du Ciel! Corne du Diable - an American-style IPA from Montreal's award-winning brewery whose name, roughly translated, means "God in Heaven!"

- Wadworth Bishop's Tipple - from Wiltshire, England. This 5% full-flavored strong bitter is hopped with Saaz and Styrian Goldings and was originally brewed to commemorate George Reindorp's appointment as Bishop of Salisbury in 1973.  He said of the beer, "this blessed beer will be my undoing" and praised its "divine drinkability.  This is the only place in all of New York City that has firkins of this beer. Unfortunately, they weren't delivered by the brewery's shire horses but we love the fact that their beers are still delivered that way to local pubs.

Mikkeller Drafts at Double Windsor

When: Wednesday, 20 April, 7 pm
Where:  Double Windsor, 210 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn

Hop on over to the Double Windsor when they feature a selection of beers from Danish gypsy-brewer Mikkeller.

The drafts:
Beer Geek Brunch, aka Weasel - imperial oatmeal coffee stout brewed with civet coffee, 10.9% abv
Cream Ale - brewed in collaboration with Italy's Revelation Cat. Fermented at a lower temperature, providing the body of an ale with the cleanness of a lager, 5% abv
The American Dream - a crisp lager with lots of American hops, just the way Mikkel likes it.Known as "Danish Dream" in the US, 4.6% abv
USAlive - new version of "It's Alive!", a tribute to Orval with Brettanomyces yeast. The difference between the two is that USAlive is brewed with American hops, 7.5% abv
East Kent Golding - one of the single-hop IPAs (same base recipe but different hop varietal), hopped with this classic English hop, 6.9% abv
Hoppy Easter - no bunnies were used in the brewing process of this American-style IPA but rather German aroma hops were used, 6.6% abv 

Lambics & Sour Beers

We've heard through the grapevine (hop bine?) that sour beers are the "in" things these days.  Popularity be damned:  some of our brewers have been making these old-style beers for generations.  Others are intrigued and challenged by the intricate and complex flavors derived from wild yeasts, spontaneous fermentation, and barrel-aging and want to brew beers they like, regardless of what the market clamors for. 


This Saturday, 16 April, Jimmy's No. 43, in conjunction with Beer Menus, is putting on a sour beer showcase to welcome the spring and wake up your taste buds.  We've been so busy sourcing a case here and a case there for this event that we're a bit late letting the world know about it but apparently someone else did our footwork because pre-sale tickets sold out.  But if you're feeling flush, we're told that a few tickets will still be available at the door for $80.  The ticket price includes all beer and food pairings from 12-5pm. 


Brother Joel and B.R. will be pouring a selection of our true lambics and other sour beers from Cantillon (including Cuvée des Champions), Drie Fonteinen (Schaerbeekse Kriek, anyone?), De Ranke (did you know they brew a Kriek?), Panil, and Jolly Pumpkin.  Fellow importers 12% and B. United will also be pouring sour beers from their portfolio.


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

 

Hadley says, "My blanket does NOT smell like beer." 

And if you miss the Saturday event, the Tuesday $10 Tasting on 19 April at Jimmy's No. 43 will have a selection of 6 sour beers from the weekend's festivities.  We can't promise that any of our breweries will be represented but it's sure to be a tasty and educational event nonetheless. And you'll learn why the peasants in the Bruegel paintings look so happy.  The tasting starts at 7:30pm; no reservations required.