Good Beer Seal

Leading up to the Heritage Radio Network celebration at Santos Party House (get your tickets here), Beer Sessions Radio™ was profiled in the February issue of Beverage World. The “Beer Hear” article summed up 100 episodes (two-year’s worth) of the Tuesday afternoon radio program featuring Jimmy Carbone and various guest co-hosts, namely Dave Brodrick (Blind Tiger), Jen Schwertman, Ron Lindenbusch (Lagunitas), Shaun Hill (Hill Farmstead), Rob Todd (Alagash), David Geary, and Garrett Oliver. Of course, Beer Sessions Radio™ wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for early efforts by Sam Merritt and the late Ray Deter.

We hope you’ll join the radio team at next week’s March 21st Heritage Radio Network Awards Party, and in the meantime, you can read the entire Beverage World article here.

It was one year ago today that the earthquake and tsunami devastated much of northeastern Japan. A year later, Beer Sessions Radio™ welcomed Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver to discuss the rise in Japanese brewing and how the country’s brewers are set to take the States by storm. While most of us think of Sake as the traditional drink of Japan, in fact it is beer that is the preferred libation. Garrett predicts that Japanese beer will be the “next cool wave” of beer imports (Brooklyn’s Sorachi Ace is a Japanese-style beer, using sorachi hops).

And since even Japanese beer needs to be paired with something, the latter third of episode 104 Japanese Beer, Aged Beer & Cheese Pairings, brings in some of our favorite cheese to pair with beer, including Saxelby, American Farmstand, and Murray’s.  Be sure to tune in every week or sign up for the Beer Sessions Radio™ podcast on iTunes.

It’s a reason to celebrate and you’re invited! Heritage Radio Network™ will join with HRN founder Patrick Martins to fete the many hosts of radio shows that have hit the century mark at a fundraiser being held Wednesday, March 21, from 7-10 p.m. at Santos Party House (96 Lafayette Street). Join radio personalities you’ve come to love over the past two years, including:

• Beer Sessions Radio (Jimmy Carbone),
• The Main Course (Patrick Martins),
• Snacky Tunes (Finger on the Pulse),
• Hot Grease (Nicole Taylor),
• Let’s Eat In (Cathy Erway),
• The Farm Report (Erin Fairbanks),
• Unfiltered (Erin Fitzpatrick and Brian DiMarco),
• Plus, shows on the cusp of 100 episodes: Cutting the Curd (Anne Saxelby), The Food Seen (Michael Harlan Turkell), A Taste of the Past (Linda Pelaccio), Burning Down The House (Curtis B. Wayne), Greenhorn Radio (Severine von Tscharner Fleming), We Dig Plants (Carmen Devito and Alice Marcus Krieg), The Naturalist (Bernie Wides and Carol A. Butler), Cooking Issues (Dave Arnold), and The Speakeasy (Damon Boelte).

We had a great time talking beer and chocolate with Discovering Chocolate‘s Clay Gordon. Clay, whose blog is the go-to site for everything cacao, has a brilliant summary of the day here. For more on chocolate and beer, check out Beer Sessions Radio™ episode #103.

Brouwerij Lane—the Good Beer Seal bar on Greenpoint Avenue in (where else?) Greenpoint—is having a moment. In addition to being given the nod recently as the “go to” bar to find Kelso of Brooklyn brews in the auspicious annual “Best of New York,” in New York Magazine, the bar was also profiled by USA Today. For the article, click here.

This coming Saturday, March 3, the Beer Sessions Radio™ team will be hosting two seminars during the NYC American Craft Beer Festival being held at the Lexington Armory (tickets still available here). Beer Sessions Radio™ host Jimmy Carbone and esteemed guests from the popular Heritage Radio Network beer show will lead select guests at the fest in:

• A chocolate and beer pairing with Discover Chocolate author Clay Gordon with select brews available for tasting;
• Highlights from the NY International Beer Competition’s award winning beers, presented with Adam Levy, President of All Spirits Events.

To gear up for the weekend, we were talking with Clay Gordon and Garrett Oliver during this week’s show. One of the many points of discussion was the explanation that most “chocolate” beers actually contain no chocolate. The taste comes from roasting the malt to bring out chocolate-ee flavors. If you’re at this weekend’s seminars, you’ll get to taste for yourself. We hope to see you there!

It often seems that the main talk about beer concerns the level of hops, the sourcing of barley, or the ABV of a particular brew. It’s easy to overlook the one thing all beer has in common: water! Last week on Beer Sessions Radio™ we discussed the environmental impact of beer and looked into the water footprint it takes to run a brewery. Regulars Jen Schwertman and Dave Brodrick of The Blind Tiger were there to talk about the world’s best potable with water researcher Kai Olson-Sawyer and sustainability expert Caleb Stratton. You can catch up on last week’s episode to learn how and why water is so important in creating the flavor profile of a good beer.

Last week, we held our annual Good Beer Seal luncheon at Jimmy’s No. 43. It was great to see so many Good Beer Seal bar owners come together to celebrate beer and friendship and talk about our plans for the year. In attendance were:

• Dave Broderick (Blind Tiger)
• Jimmy Carbone (Jimmy’s No. 43)
• Juan Cruz (Sunswick)
• Gary Gillis (Burp Castle/Standings)
• Paul Kermizian(barcade)
• Anthony Malone (Swift)
• Dan McGloughlin (The PNY)
• Caroline Pincus (Stags Head)
• John Rauchenberg (Pac Stand)
• Caitlin Robin (Against the Grain)
• Jon Stan (Pac Stand)
• Dennis Zentek (dba)

Valentine’s Day brought out some serious beer love to Beer Sessions Radio™ last Tuesday, the day before Time Out New York‘s annual beer issue was on newsstands. Jimmy Carbone and Jen Schwertman welcomed guests Chris Schonberger (TONY), Josh Schaffner of NY Craft Beer Week, and Adam Levy (whose dog is named “Garrett Oliver”) of the International Beer Competition. This episode reveals some of the best beer spots for locals and tourists alike, plus a breakdown of the many beer competitions and festivals that will be happening this spring. Be sure to listen to the webcast here and find out why so many Good Beer Seal bars made it into this year’s Beer Issue of TONY.

We are happy to announce that Good Beer Sessions Radio™ broadcasts are now available for download on iTunes. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast and never miss a Good Beer moment!