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This week’s episode of Beer Sessions Radio™ (listen here) brought together several big names in the local brew scene. Representing three different Boroughs were The Bronx Brewery (Damien Brown and Chris Gallant); SingleCut Beersmiths, Queens’ first brewery (represented by Rich Bucheta); and Brooklyn Brewery‘s Maia Raposo. The rise of so many craft brewers in the city has led to many of these brewers forming a non-profit (pending) coalition: The New York City Brewers Guild. As secretary of NYCBG, Maia is trying to build awareness of the group, whose mission statement is “to advocate for and promote awareness of its local brewing members; to increase the visibility of local beers through programming, events, and consumer education; and to foster a healthy, ethical, and growth-focused craft beer industry throughout the city.”

Also on the show were regular contributors Dave Broderick and Jen Schwertman from Blind Tiger, who talked about their recent trip to San Diego’s Craft Brewers Conference. Get the inside scoop from the insiders… all while trying some cool new beers!

On May 12, 2012, Jimmy’s No. 43 will host the first ever NYC Beer Film Festival featuring clips from the finest beer-related films and video podcasts being made today. In addition to webisodes from the Happy Hour Guys, Beer Nation, and The BrewHaHa, you can expect to sample film segments from American Beer, Beerituality, Beer Wars, and a special preview of the much-anticipated Beer Hunter: The Movie. Take advantage of the opportunity to meet the hosts and producers and participate in lively discussion between each visual offering. Come support the filmmakers and vloggers anytime between 4PM and 8PM, there is no cover for this event; beer (wine and food) available for purchase. A schedule of showtimes is below:

4:15 Beer Nation Tours The GABF
4:30 The Happy Hour Guys: The 2012 Trailer
4:45 American Beer – Director’s Cut Clip
5:00 100 Beers in Thirty Days with Laurie Delk
5:15 The Brewhaha – TBA
5:30 Craft Beer Bandit
5:45 Beer Wars Trailer
6:00 The Happy Hour Guys: The Alchemist, Tragedy and Triumph
6:15 American Beer Trailer
6:30 The Brewhaha – TBA
6:45 Beerituality – Character Bios
7:00 Sneak Peak of Beer Hunter the Movie
7:15 Beer Wars – Deleted Scene, The Cloudberries
7:30 Ian Films
7:45 Beer Nation – DC Pub Scene

It sounds a bit like a witch’s brew, but mugwort and horehound are but two of the many flowers that can make your beer bitter, along with more traditional hops. Ben Grainger of Bierkraft and Peter Kennedy of SimplyBeer.com discuss growing their own beer ingredients and the “Bible,” The Homebrewers Garden (authors Joe and Dennis Fisher join in by phone). If you’ve ever wondered how to use dandelion or heather in your mash, this episode is for you!

The Fishers talk about their journey from growing a few ingredients (many of which can be grown on a windowsill for interested apartment dwellers) to becoming farmers up in Maine where their crops include hops and other brewing botanicals.

And it wouldn’t be Beer Sessions Radio™ without some colorful anecdotes, including drinking with wildlife and camping out with makeshift home brew.

The Norwegians are coming, the Norweigans are coming! Norway brewery Nøgne Ø Beer has taken over the taps at a couple different Good Beer Seal Bars in the East Village. On Friday at Jimmy’s No. 43 representatives from beer importers, Norwegian dignitaries, Nøgne Ø’s Tore Nybø, and the famed (some might say “infamous”) co-founder and brewmaster Kjetil Jikiun were all on hand for an intimate Ultimate Nøgne Ø Night and Dinner. Then, yesterday, it was “Clone Wars” at Swift Hibernian Lounge when a small group of Nøgne Ø Beer lovers gathered to compare the original with a couple clone beers, including an amazingly robust porter clone beer brewed by Tim Stendahl and Tom Tate at Bitter & Esters in Brooklyn. In addition to the Nøgne Ø brews, Swift has more than 20 taps and many unique bottles available, in addition to a full pub menu.

This past Tuesday on Beer Sessions Radio™, Jimmy Carbone welcomed Long Island brewers Mark Burford (Blue Point Brewing Co.), John Liegey and Greg Soroski (Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.), and Paul Dlugokencky from Blind Bat Brewery. Aside from colorful anecdotes, these brewers discuss the long, tortuous (and, occasionally, torturous) path to bringing craft beer to Long Island. In addition, LI beer blogger Niko Krommydos (Super Neat Beer Adventure, Yes!) weighs in on the larger beer scene currently happening in “the sixth borough.”

Also included in this week’s episode is a nod to Earth Day: a discussion about grey water and the green movement among craft breweries. Listen to the whole episode (#111) here.

There’s something very cool about combining Pac-Man and craft beer! At Barcade (in Williamsburg and Jersey City), you can take in arcade favorites, such as Donkey Kong and Tetris, and compete to get your name added to the leader-board that tracks top scores. All this while enjoying craft brews from more than 20 taps. On a recent Friday (okay, yes, it was 4/20), Barcade was tapping Lagunitas’ limited edition Waldo’s Special Ale, among several other exclusive taps.

In even bigger news, the bar’s Jersey City location—which offers a small plate and sandwich menu in addition to an Oyster Bar—will be celebrating its first anniversary on Thursday, April 26th. Sounds like a great excuse to hop on PATH and sample the “other” Barcade! Congrats on the first year!

Episode 110 (listen here) of Beer Sessions Radio™ brought back regular co-host Dave Brodrick (Blind Tiger) to interview Peekskill’s Jeff O’Neill, who gave the surprise announcement that the brewery is “going from Westchester County’s smallest brewpub to Westchester County’s largest brewpub.” The Peekskill Brewery (about an hour away from NYC on the Metro North Hudson Line) is hoping to be a beer tourism draw with the larger facility slated to open early summer, and we’re looking forward to visiting.

The conversation with Jeff segued nicely into a conversation about coffee in beer and coffee and beer, as in coffee shops that sell beer. Ben Sandler and Jen Lim of The Queens Kickshaw have been selling coffee cold-brew coffee through their keg lines (with a nitrogen push). Their bar (coffee and beer) was designed out of love and largely hand-built by the owners.

Finally, it was time for a phone-in with Bradley Latham discussing the upcoming Craft Brewer’s Conference in San Diego from May 2-5 and what beer industry professionals can expect to gain from attending.

 

 

Beer Sessions Radio™ is a proud media sponsor of Brooklyn Wort, a homebrewers’ competition with two tastings on April 28th. The event and its participants were recently featured in The Brooklyn Paper. For details on the who’s among the competition, click here. The event article is below.

War of the worts! Brooklyn’s beer-makers battle at home-brew fest

By Eli Rosenberg

There are drinking games, and there are drinking contests.

Brooklyn’s home brewers are emerging from their closets, basements, and garages armed with their finest suds for an April 28 smackdown that will see two beer-makers crowned kings — no small achievement in a borough known for its brew bars and ever-growing community of swill-makers. click here to continue reading…

It was a beautiful and unseasonably warm Saturday, so the Good Beer Seal decided why not take a free ferry ride across the bay to Staten Island. There, they made their way to Killmeyer’s Old Bavaria Inn for a bit of German Biergarten love. As good luck would have it, owner Ken Tirado was on site and happy to pose for a quick picture.

It’s possibly the least appreciated but most important element of beer: Yeast! While few beer drinkers ponder much on the ingredient that allows for fermentation to occur, beer makers know that the kind and amount of yeast in beer affects everything from flavor to the amount of head retention. This week’s episode (#109 – listen to it here) brought together some of Beer Sessions Radio™’s regular contributors—Garrett Oliver (Brooklyn Brewery), Tony Forder (Ale Street News), Jason Rodriguez (Columbia University), B. R. Rolya (The Shelton Brothers), and Charlie Bamforth (UC Davis)—discuss the difference between wild and lab-cultivated yeasts, along with yeasty European brews. And, since it’s Beer Sessions Radio™, they’ve thrown in some poetry for good measure.