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Recently, Bruce Williams of Williams Brother’s Brewery stopped by to talk about Scottish beer and why he wants a cask-beer accreditation system in place in the US for bars. While there has been a rise in popularity of English-style cask ale the past five years, many breweries are not up to the task of making real cask ale. Following the Beer Sessions Radio taping, Bruce joined us for a few beers. He had been hoping that some American bar owners would jump on the bandwagon, demand, and serve perfect examples of traditional, authentic English cask ale. After a few pints together, we all realized that the cask campaign would have to start with American craft breweries! This will be an ongoing story, but why not listen to Bruce yourself (hear the episode). Perhaps by fall 2012 we’ll be back with more info about real cask ale to surprise you all!

Tickets are now on sale for next week’s Farm + Beer Expo at Brooklyn Brewery. On Tuesday, January 31st, from 7-10:00 p.m., Farm + Beer Expo will  benefit John Gorzynski (Gorzynski Ornery Farm), whose farm was one devastated by last year’s Hurricane Irene. Nestled in a valley of the Catskills, Gorzynski Ornery Farm is where John and his family have been farming for over 20 years. John is a longtime advocate for organic agriculture and small-scale growers, especially in his local Farm Bureau. In 2002, however, he dropped their organic certification for the farm in protest of the newly enacted federal standards and changed the name of his business from “Gorzynski Organic Farm” to “Gorzynski Ornery Farm,” in ironic protest. He recently dropped his membership in Farm Bureau but continues to be a mainstay at Saturday’s Union Square Greenmarket.

The Farm + Beer Expo builds on hurricane farm relief efforts currently underway in NYC, while offering this all-you-can-eat-and-drink beer event. Unlimited 7-ounce beer samples will be provided by:

• Wandering Star will be tapping their last keg of 2010’s all Massachusetts malt and hop Berkshire Hills 01201 Saison;
• Brooklyn Brewery, offering a wide variety of its brews;
• Sierra Nevada (bringing its Estate Ale);
• Tundra Beer (one of the few beers currently meeting the Greenmarkets’ standard of making beer with at least 50 percent of the ingredients grown by the brewer);
• Kelso, which will be making a special locally-sourced beer for the Expo;
• Along with Empire Brewing, Lagunitas, Peak Organic, Maine Beer Co., Ommegang, White Birch Brewing, and more TBA.

Food will be provided by Jimmy’s No. 43, DNA Info, and East Village Meat Market, among others. Expo participants include From Shoe Town to Brew Town’s “Craft Brewing Meets Green Development,” an architect’s forum to discuss efforts to develop green breweries in the region; Brooklyn Brew Shop with homebrew demonstrations and brewers’ kits available for purchase; beer authors Erica Shea and Stephen Valand will be on hand to sign their book, Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book; NYC Homebrewers Guild; Sam Merritt from Civilization of Beer; Cicerone Program; Sean Lynch from Pipe Dreams (a line cleaning service) will explain how great bars tend great beer; The Village Voice’s Choice Eats; Beer Sessions Radio; and additional craft beer companies (TBA).

Just as many chefs are creating dishes from locally sourced, in-season ingredients, so many brewers in the craft beer industry are developing beers from local ingredients. At last summer’s American Craft Beer Festival in Boston, several brewers discussed the rise of “hyper-local beer,” whether that meant using ingredients grown on or near the brewery to distributing only from kegs (or directly from the brewery) to a limited radius.

Riding this wave is Wandering Star Brewery (Pittsfield, MA), which has an ironic zip code added to its Berkshire Saison in part due to the political wranglings of the State of Massachusetts’ Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. While owner Chris Post was patiently awaiting his license, the state was trying to regulate the amount of local ingredients brewers must use in their beer. Wandering Star arguably uses more of its own grains per capita than virtually any brewery in the north east, growing barley on Chris’ land and hops on the exterior wall of the brewery.

Happily, thanks to great efforts by Wandering Star’s partners, Chris Cuzme and Alex Hall, NYC has had many opportunities to try the amazing beers being offered by this brewery. As for the Saison, Wandering Star describes it as “A classic Belgian Saison brewed using Brasserie Dupont yeast, and fermented at traditionally stratospheric temperatures – reaching 98°F during primary fermentation! As an ironic nod to the Massachusetts ABCC’s recent attempt to force farm brewers to use mainly MA-grown ingredients, the beer uses pilsner and wheat malts from nearby Valley Malts of Hadley, MA, as well as local unmalted wheat and spelt. The result is a quenching, complex, and aromatic light amber beer with a deceptively high 6.3% ABV.”

The Good Beer Seal, Brooklyn Brewery, and Brooklyn Brew Shop are happy to announce Farm + Beer Expo to be held at Brooklyn Brewery on Tuesday, January 31^st, 2012, from 7-10 p.m. The Farm + Beer Expo brings together select craft brewers that have a focus on using local ingredients in their brews. This all-you-can-eat-and-drink beer event will benefit select local farms that were impacted by last fall’s hurricane.

Unlimited 7-ounce beer samples will be provided by:

• Wandering Star will be tapping their last keg of 2010’s all Massachusetts malt and hop Berkshire Hills 01201 Saison
• Brooklyn Brewery (a co-host of the event);
• Sierra Nevada (bringing its Estate Ale);
• Tundra Beer (one of the few beers currently meeting the Greenmarkets’ standard of making beer with at least 50 percent of the ingredients grown by the brewer);
• Kelso, which will be making a special locally-sourced beer for the Expo;
• Along with Empire Brewing, Lagunitas, Peak Organic, Maine Beer Co., Ommegang, White Birch Brewing, and others TBA.

Food will be provided by Jimmy’s No. 43 and DNA Info, with more TBA. Expo participants include From Shoe Town to Brew Town’s “green architects,” who will discuss efforts to develop green breweries in the region; Brooklyn Brew Shop with homebrew demonstrations and brewers’ kits available for purchase; Erica Shea and Stephen Valand will be on hand to sign their book, Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book; Sean Lynch from Pipe Dreams (a line cleaning service) will explain how great bars tend great beer; additional craft beer companies (TBA); and several farmers will be there to talk about their NY State farms.

Tickets available here soon!

This in from a recent Wall Street Journal posting on their New York section, the state is launching a campaign, “I love NY Brew,” to encourage tourism among the growing number of breweries that have opened in the Empire State (not to mention Empire Brewing). We look forward to buying the t-shirt! (The article can be found here.)

While we’re never shy about tooting our own horns here at Beer Sessions Radio™, we love it when others do the heavy lifting for us. Check out this great blog post (some terrific pictures) that includes a shout out to one of our Good Beer Seal bar’s Mugs Ale House.

A few years ago, Good Beer Seal co-founder Jimmy Carbone had a Wisconsin beer and food pairing at Jimmy’s No. 43, so imagine our delight when a good friend Anna Mumford mentioned this good beer find in Milwaukee: Sugar Maple offers up more than 60 American Craft brews (on tap, no less!), including this delicious-looking flight snapped by Anna. If you find yourself in Milwaukee, Anna recommends Sproose Joose Double IPA, as well as a Big Brown Ale from Black Husky Brewery in Pembine, WI.

This week’s guests on Beer Sessions Radio™ will include a special phone-in with John Bexon, Head Brewer at Greene King Brewing and Brands in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. Possibly best known for their Old Speckled Hen beer, Greene King dates to the 18th Century and is such an important part of the community that when John came on in 2000 he was told, “There are three important people in this town: the Chief of Police, the Undertaker and the Head Brewer.” We look forward to hearing about John’s travels (he frequents many pubs and breweries both in Europe and the US, seeking out and sampling not only his beers but other breweries’ beers, as well, in order to get inspiration in developing ideas for new beers) and the great beers of Greene King.

Coming back stateside, we welcome Tom Peters from Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia. As co-chair of Philly Beer Week, Tom is one of the pioneers of the beer scene in Philadelphia.  He has been on the show (via phone) before  and was a very good friend of Ray’s. We’re happy to finally get him in the studio.

Bringing things home, we’re thankful for beer friends Jen Schwertman, Ed Berestecki from Mugs Ale House in Brooklyn, and Mike Battaglia from Total Beverage Solution, all of whom will be weighing in on the local beer scene going into the holiday weekend. We’re thankful for everyone who comes on the show and for our listening audience. Wishing everyone a beery happy Thanksgiving!

This past week on Beer Sessions Radio™ the studio was packed with Blind Tiger regulars Dave Brodrick and Jen Schwertman. The gang welcomed the British Invasion of Alex Hall and Chris Post, who hail from England but are owners and brewmasters of the Western Massachusetts brewery, Wandering Star Brewing. Chris Cuzme, also of Wandering Star and the head of the New York City Homebrewers Guild, joined the conversation as well. You can listen here about the beginnings of both institutions as well as leveling up your beer geek cred as the gang comes of up with beer words that you’ve probably never heard of (hint: think zymurgy and Pediococcus). Learn about how one moves from home to the world of craft brewing and how sometimes starting your own outfit is as easy as buying it off eBay! This episode is sponsored by GreatBrewers.com.

This week’s Beer Sessions Radio™ features our great friends from Vanberg & Dewulf, Wendy Littlefield and Don Feinberg. As a part of celebrating Belgium’s Kings Day, November 15th’s broadcast will help ring in the largest Belgian beer celebration that will involve 350 beer establishments across the US. For an all-things-Belgian primer, check out Beer News’ craft beer blog. Then on November 16th, be sure to stop by Jimmy’s No. 43 for “Coast to Coast; Toast to Toast,” for V&D’s 30th anniversary party. Normally when Don and Wendy come to town, you have to buy a ticket, so this is your chance to try some amazing Belgian beer a la carte and congratulate Vanberg & Dewulf for 30 years of great beer.