Month: August 2014

This week on Beer Sessions Radio™, host Jimmy Carbone invites a lively group of young brewers (and frequent guest Sam Barbieri – not a young brewer – we love ya, Sam!) to discuss what makes a great beer and how it gets to the market. Two breweries are represented by Mike Mare and Matthew Mellina from Secret Engine, a new gypsy brewer from Brooklyn, and Mike Voigt of Rocky Point Brewing, a new brewery on Long Island. Together they have teamed up to make the former’s first self-distributed beer, Sticke Handwerker, a 6.7% English Mild Ale that is served on cask.

Along with the new brewers is a newly minted Good Beer Seal bar owner Ray Darmstadt of St. Gambrinus Beer Shoppe, who helped bring the beer to NYC with a recent beer launch. The panel discusses the merits of cask beers (great!) and the difficult challenges in presenting them properly, particularly in a very fickle beer environment. A wide variety of styles of beer are tried on this week’s episode (listen in until the tail end when one of our friends from England, Darren Becker, weighs in on his favorites), and listen to the lively discussion on brewing techniques and trends in the industry.

The full episode is available here.

This week on Beer Sessions Radio™ on The Heritage Radio Network, we’re taking a bit of a vacation! No, we didn’t take the week off, but in this pre-taped episode, host Jimmy Carbone heads out to Long Island (at least spiritually) and welcomes three breweries and a co-host in the form of one Niko Krommydas. And since your itinerant blogger is in San Diego this week checking out the west coast scene (let’s just say: hops, hops and more hops!), we’re gonna let Niko do the blogging this week. You can listen to the full episode here.

Take it away, Niko! (Original post.)

 

 

This week on Beer Sessions Radio™ on The Heritage Radio Network, host Jimmy Carbone welcomed Peekskill Brewery brewmaster—and recent champion of Brooklyn Magazine’s blind IPA tasting—Jeff O’Neil to talk about what makes a good IPA a great IPA. Jeff and Jimmy are joined by Brooklyn Magazine Editor in Chief Mike Conklin, who talks about why he decided to host the blind tasting (to get beyond the hype), and fellow brewer Mike Philbrick of Port Jeff Brewery (whose Party Boat IPA ranked third on Brooklyn Mag’s list). The panel agrees that freshness is the most critical factor in an IPA (tasting tip: if you get an onion-y or chlorophyll taste on the back end of the hops, your IPA is pretty darn fresh!), making judging somewhat skewed owing to the fact that beers typically have to be shipped a month out from actual judging.

Also in the studio are Os Cruz and Gene Reda II of TalkBeer, a newly launched forum where beer lovers and makers can—surprise!—talk about beer! The pair have plenty of tips on how to taste and rank beer in a meaningful objective manner. Os agrees in the blind tasting formula: “Blind tasting tells you a lot about yourself, and it tells you a lot about your assumptions about tasting and how your mind is going to play tricks on you.”

The panel talks about up-and-coming farm brewery Plan Bee, along with the merits of beer awards and whether or not they are meaningful outside the beer community. Plus a lot of great IPAs are poured during this week’s show. You can catch the full episode here.

This week Beer Sessions Radio™ on The Heritage Radio Network welcomes Shelton Brothers Imports into the studio. Brother Joel and French beer specialist (and regular BSR guest) B.R. Rolya are pouring some of their favorite European imports, while fellow Good Beer Seal bar owner Joe Carroll (Spuyten Duyvil) reminisces about being one of the very first bars to have Shelton Brothers beers in NYC.

Host Jimmy Carbone admits that Shelton’s portfolio holds the kind of “beers that inspire us to get into craft beer to begin with.” Joe echos Jimmy’s sentiment, noting that 11 years ago, there weren’t a lot of domestic craft beers distributed in NYC and the European beers were “big beers” that didn’t appeal to the north Brooklyn community that frequented Spuyten Duyvil. They were looking for German Lagers, and Mahr’s Bräu was one of the first imports they brought in.

Joel discusses the early days of the company, when he would wander Europe with copied pages of Michael Jackson’s The World Guide To Beer, wandering from pub to brewery in search of finding the best beers (Dan Shelton was friends with Michael Jackson before the latter’s death). Shelton’s philosophy is finding beers that reflect “a sense of place or a new beer tradition.” Shelton Brothers look for beers with an emphasis on balance and depth and simple quality. “It’s always about the beer taste, not the ingredients themselves.”

Joe names his top five brands:

1. Cantillon
2. Fantôme
3. Mahr’s (also a favorite of B.R.’s)
4. de Ranke
5. Jolly Pumpkin

And Jimmy admits to loving Dieu du Ciel! from Quebec. Listen to the entire episode here.

Last night at Edible’s Good Beer—the annual food and beer bash that is effectively a closing party for July Good Beer Month—we announced the sixth annual Good Beer Seal Awards. The Good Beer Seal was established to fill a void in the craft beer industry, whereby there’s a lot of talk about beers and brewers but not so much about the retailers who sell great craft beer. Every year, a group of beer industry insiders and beer writers gathers to nominate a slate of worthy bars and bottle shops that deserve to be included in our elite community. The slate then is routed for voting. This year, eight bars made the cut:

• ABC Beer Co.—This retail bar/shop on Avenue C has been quietly making its mark on the larger East Village beer scene with a dozen draught lines and growlers to go.
• Crescent & Vine—Astoria is becoming a go-to spot for beer lovers! This cool shop was where we read this year’s mayoral proclamation that July is Good Beer Month and is at the heart of Queens’ emergence on the craft beer scene.
• Malt & Mold—There are many bars attempting to do regular beer and food pairings, but Malt & Mold’s beer and cheese tastings place them ahead in a crowded field.
• One Mile House—Situated right off the Bowery J stop, this “gastropub meets street easy” is a drink of fresh water (or beer!) on crazy Delancey Street, offering a more traditional take in an otherwise trendy SoHo neighborhood.
• St. Gambrinus—Another Brooklyn bottle shop (within throwing distance of the Barclay Center) is known for its diverse selection of beers and knowledgeable staff.
• The Good Life—Last year the Good Beer Seal left the borders of the five boroughs and ventured out to NJ and Long Island. The Good Life is this year’s sole non-NYC entry into the Good Beer Seal family.
• The Sampler Bushwick—This Bushwick bottle shop recently hit its one-year anniversary, and offers up tastings, small plates, and 20 draught lines, bringing craft beer to an area of Brooklyn where few options are available.
• Tørst—Not only among the best Brooklyn or NYC bars, this Greenpoint bar (home to Evil Twin) has been consistently ranked as one of the best beer bars in the world.

And there you have it! The Good Beer Seal has grown to 59 establishments, in and around NYC. Craft beer lovers from everywhere can rest assured of a superior drinking experience at these venues, and we congratulate the 2014 inductees!