Month: March 2016

On this week’s episode of Beer Sessions Radio™, host Jimmy Carbone welcomes back Brian Strumke of Stillwater Artisanal Ales, who is launching a new bar space here in NYC along with Cory Bonfiglio (who also co-owns Beer Street) and wine expert Tanner Walle. Their new space Classique hopefully will be opening later this year in Bushwick.

Brian may be the busiest man in beer right now, shuttling between two home bases of Brooklyn and Baltimore. He’s multitasking on the show and sharing many of his beers, showing a rich history and a lot of creativity in coming up with new beer concepts – including some of the iconic bottle artwork created by Brian’s life-long friend Lee Verzosa – that winter co-host Anne Becera comments on. Stillwater is even launching a collaboration wine (called Sound Wine) with Spain’s Dirk Niepoort.

Classique won’t be Brian’s first bar. He also owns a Baltimore bar, Of Love and Regret. He’s currently working his gypsy brewing at several locations, including Two Roads in Connecticut and in Virginia at Vanish Beer, a new brewery/hop farm that is doing its own malting. Able to experiment with new ingredients.

Also in the studio is Donald Brewer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at PicoBrew. Their flagship device is the Zymatic, a small all-green brewing appliance that is fully automated.

The panel talks about the origins of craft beer found in Europe, upcoming festivals in Copenhagen, and the Craft Brewers Conference coming to Philadelphia in May.

Join in for this week’s “controlled chaos” with your favorite Stillwater beer (friend us on Untappd: Beer_Sessions_Radio to know what we’re drinking every week). Try the Gose Gone Wild (Anne says to pair it with pizza!). Listen to the full episode here.

On this week’s episode of Beer Sessions Radio™, host Jimmy Carbone and winter co-host Anne Becera are welcoming a full house (or studio) of special beer guests, including  Mike Amidei who is Beverage Manager at Tørst / Luksus and his very cool team of bartenders (Graham Saylor, . They are joined by oft-guest B.R. Royla of Shelton Brothers Imports and Erwin Klijn from Jopenbier in the Netherlands.

Mike (along with Graham “Head Beer Boy” Sailor, Anthony Sorice, Fernelly “Morale Manager” Saria and Ryan Mauban) have all been with Tørst since the bar opened in 2013. Mike came by his passion for the world of beverages honestly. Mike’s father (a life long lover of all things food & beverage) bought a bottle of each of the Bordeaux First Growth wines for the year Mike was born and on his 21st birthday the family opened, and shared, a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild. From there, he was hooked. Mike received his BS from Florida International University in Hotel & Restaurant Management and has held nearly every position on offer in that field from busboy to line cook to hotel management.

Although far from here, Jopenbier shares a connection to NYC, as it is located in Harlaam. Jopenbier is a result of the work of Stichting Haarlems Biergenootschap, which was founded in 1992. The mission of the Biergenootschap is to re-create traditional Haarlem beers and bring them to the commercial market. The name Jopen refers to the 112 litre beer barrels that were used in early times to transport the Haarlem beer.

From starting up a Michelin Award-winning bar to debuting unusual beers in the USA, this panel has a unique take on the challenges and rewards of being in the beer business. And they’re drinking some of the best beers we’ve had on the show in awhile. So pull up a chair, pour yourself a pint, and tune in the full episode here.