Color KeyGreen = Manhattan
Blue = Brooklyn
Red = Queens
Purple = Bronx
Light Blue = Staten Island
Orange = Good Beer Seal Event
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What does molecular archeology have to do with craft beer? Quite a lot, as it turns out, especially if it turns out you’re in Italy, where more than 300 craft breweries have popped up in the past two decades. Guests Katie Parla (Parla Food) and Jon Lundbom join of B. United host Jimmy Carbone to talk about the evolution of the Italian craft beer scene where no history is good history.
Plus, Jimmy welcomes back Dave Brodrick, whose VT farm adventure has led to mini-destination Worthy Burger and, now, Worthy Kitchen. Jan Apanich and Jerry Clum of Sierra Nevada are in the studio talking about their brand’s role in the craft beer movement, and how their East Coast expansion will affect their carbon footprint. They’ve also got the inside scoop on what may turn out to be the first Trappist brewery ever established on U.S. soil.
And filmmaker John R. Richards calls in to talk about Beer Hunter the Movie, talk about what made beer writer Michael Jackson so special. Recently premiered in New York City, Beer Hunter will have repeat screenings next weekend (June 21-22) at Jimmy’s No. 43! Find out how “Michael Jackson invented the role of ‘beer writer.’ There is the career… because of Michael Jackson.”
Listen to the full episode (#167) here.

UPDATED: TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR FOR $12.
Next Tuesday, June 11th, the Good Beer Seal and Beer Sessions Radio™ will be hosting the NYC premiere of Beer Hunter (the movie) at Anthology Film Archives. For those who are unaware, Beer Hunter is a documentary on the life of Michael Jackson (not to be confused with the singer), who is largely credited with being the first true craft beer aficionado. His book, The World Guide to Beer, was the first ever to categorize every beer style, and his travels were well documented prior to his untimely death in 2007. His books on beer and whiskey have sold millions of copies, and his 1993 Discovery Channel television series, “The Beer Hunter,” inspired countless brewers and beer enthusiasts and literally helped shape the course of the craft brewing revolution sweeping the world.
Those clips have now been assembled in this documentary, which we’ll be celebrating alongside Jimmy Carbone, host of Beer Sessions Radio™, Seth Wright of Beer Nation, Director/Producer John Richards, John Holl (editor, All About Beer), Tom Acitelli (author, The Audacity of Hops), Steve Hindy of Brooklyn Brewery, and others, TBA.
Tom Acitelli writes about Jackson in his book:
“As McAuliffe built beer history in Sonoma, California, Michael Jackson was giving it a lexicon seven thousand miles away. Born and raised in a working-class household near Leeds in West Yorkshire in northern England, he had his first beer, a lower-alcohol mild, at fifteen at the Castle Hill Hotel in Huddersfield. He dropped out of high school a year later, in 1958, to support his family, working newspaper and magazine jobs into the late 1960s, when he also worked as a program editor for British TV host David Frost and as a documentary producer. In 1969, he was covering a carnival near the Dutch-Belgian border as part of a long gig in the Netherlands that took him away from his London home. There he tasted an ale brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery in Belgium and found it was nothing like the English beers he had been drinking since his teens. Struck by its complexity and intrigued by its history, the next day he took the bus less than a mile and a half, and, as beer writer Jay Brooks put it, “crossed the border—his Rubicon—and began exploring Belgium’s beers and culture.”
“What Germany and the Czech Republic are to lagers, Belgium is to ales. For a variety of reasons, including a sixteenth-century German dictate that beer be made only with water, hops, and barley (they didn’t know about yeast’s role then), the Maryland-sized kingdom has long boasted a rich, complex tableau of ales, from those dark as the chocolate they taste like to ones as effervescent and fruity as any sparkling wine. Brewers there, unlike in Germany, felt free to experiment boldly, often using the hops indigenous to Belgium, especially its northern region of Flanders. Belgium indisputably made the world’s most interesting ales. So it was no surprise that Jackson was smitten by Belgian beer. That the experience propelled him to become the most famous and influential beer writer ever—perhaps the most influential food writer on any one subject of the twentieth century—was almost as improbable as Jack McAuliffe birthing a brewery by hand in the hinterlands of a small town on the western fringe of the American empire. But that’s what happened.”
We hope you can join us for the premiere of this amazing film. Doors open at 7 p.m. with complimentary beer and snacks. All About Beer Magazine will help moderate a Q&A panel after the screening, as well. Tickets are available in advance; a limited number of tickets will be $12 at the door.
 At Brooklyn Brewery pre-Savor party, Eric Peck pours the beer.
The Good Beer Seal is happy to welcome Savor: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience to NYC, June 14th-15th. Several Good Beer Seal bars will be hosting special events, including a $1 off draughts Savor weekend (6/14-16) with the Craft Beer NY ap designed and curated by Josh Bernstein.
As a lead-up to the event, several brewers and bar folk (including Jimmy Carbone, owner of Jimmy’s No. 43 and host of Beer Sessions Radio™, Steve Hindy of Brooklyn Brewery and Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head) gathered together for a pre-Savor party at Brooklyn Brewery.
Tickets remain for the food pairing event, and the following Good Beer Seal bars will be participating in the $1 off promotion:
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Bar Great Harry
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Barcade (Brooklyn)
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Bronx Ale House
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Idle Hands
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Jimmy’s No. 43
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Mission Dolores
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Pacific Standard
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Pine Box Rock Shop
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The Double Windsor
Good Beer Seal bars will also be celebrating with the following events (be sure to check back for updates):
June 10th (ALL WEEK promotions) –
June 11th –
June 12th –
June 13th –
June 14th –
June 15th –
June 16th –
This week on Beer Sessions Radio™ (listen here), host Jimmy Carbone learns to “Savor the Flavor” in a lively discussion with in-studio guests Jen Schwertman and Josh Bernstein, along with call-ins from Chris Wilson of Weyerbacher Brewing and Adam Dulye, Savor’s Beer and Food Pairing Chef Consultant, as they discuss Philly Beer Week (May 31st – June 9th) and Savor: An American Craft Beer and Food Experience (in NYC, June 14-15).
Jen opens the show with details about her upcoming move to the West Coast (where she’ll still proudly be a bartender), while Josh discusses his Craft Beer NY ap (available for iOS and Android), which he has painstakingly created to take the guess work out of where to drink in NYC (and as an added bonus, will feature $1 off drafts for users who drink at specific Good Beer Seal bars during Savor weekend).
Speaking of Savor, tickets remain for general admission to this event featuring 153 beers paired with 46 menu items. If you’re wondering about the cost, where else can you find Dogfish Head 61 paired with Pigeon Crudo with Olive Oil, Juniper Ice Cream and Smoked Grapes (hint: nowhere else). You can see a list of the incredible pairings that will be offered (many of the beers are unavailable outside the breweries) here.
And if you’re heading down to Philly, you’ll have over 1,000 events to choose from. Also hear about Chris’ journey to brewing: where science meets art.
This week on Beer Sessions Radio™ (listen to episode #164 here), host Jimmy Carbone is celebrating NYC Mead Week with the return of Michael Fairbrother (this time with his real life “honey” Berniece Van Der Berg) of Moonlight Meadery to talk about their adventures in making “the ancestor of fermented beverages.” Hear about Michael’s journey from CEO of a software firm to Meadmaker of the Year (taking “Best in Show” for his Desire Mead).
Also in the studio is Raphael Lyon, whose “farm winery,” Enlightenment Wines, is experimenting with a CSA model for wine while incorporating traditional and unique ingredients to make both mead and wine. As the smallest winery in New York State, Raphael is focused on creating unfiltered dry, esoteric wines in small quantities. He’ll even drop a few hints on how to make a good dandelion wine.
Plus, Chris Cuzme of 508 Gastrobrewery weighs in on the NYC Homebrewer’s Guild annual mead night (this year’s “Best of Show” in Homebrew Alley VII was a ghost chili mead).
Hear about the history of mead making, some folklore on early mead creation, and how mead in the past used to have psychotropic qualities. The guests weigh in on the decline of the bee population and local ingredients in both mead and beer. How has the modern food landscape prepared the way for mead? Join us and find out!
This past Sunday, the Good Beer Seal traveled to B. United International in Oxford, CT, for their Nepenthia open house, which offered the opportunity for 400+ industry insiders to meet a dozen of the world’s most interesting artisanal brewers, three of whom join Beer Sessions Radio™ host Jimmy Carbone for this week’s episode (listen here). In the studio are Jon Lundbom from B. United, Paolo Fontana of Birra Baladin, Michael Brogaard of Dansk Mjod in Denmark, and Rob Lovatt of Thornbridge Brewery in the United Kingdom. Hear about the very cool things B. United has planned (a dedicated Viking Blod tanker? yes!) in a myriad of even cooler accents.
Among the many offerings and workshops at Nepenthia was a Beer Spirits workshop and tours around B. United’s bucolic country setting. The world scope of the breweries stretches from Japan to Europe to Kenya (Dansk Mjod is working to harvest honey from Africa). Interest in international artisanal craft brews has propelled B. United, which is more interested in delivering “quality liquid” than carrying as many brands as possible.
Next, Jimmy looks to his back yard and the craft beer scene that is growing in Bed-Stuy when Michael Brooks and Bryan Lindner from Bed-Vyne Brews talk about starting a beer retail outlet in June. Their list includes affordable offerings to the newly gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood, which doesn’t really have a proper retail craft beer shop.
Plus, Greg Engert and Megan Parisi of Bluejacket Brewery in Washington, D.C., which has its own laws and unique challenges of being able to import directly from around the world.
Listen in and learn what these amazing brewers are offering and what they’ll have coming up in the next few months.
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