10 Breweries in NYC Combine to Form Guild

Well this is an exciting announcement. New York City breweries Bronx Brewery, Brooklyn Brewery, Chelsea Brewing Co., Eataly Birreria, Harlem Brewing Co., Heartland Brewing Co., KelSo Beer Company, Shmaltz Brewing Co., Sixpoint Brewery and 508 GastroBrewery have combined to form the New York City Brewers Guild (NYCBG), with a mission to “advance the local brewing industry and thereby lessen human misery.” There will be a founders bash to celebrate this collaboration on May 22 at the Brooklyn Brewery. It will be an evening of rare and obscure beers from each of the 10 inaugural brewers. The Guild will also be taking…

Pick of the Weekend: April Sours

One of the hottest beer trends right now is sour styles, both traditional and experimental. Many of the best, like Cantillon and Rodenbach, are from Belgium, but American brewers like Allagash and Jolly Pumpkin have been making a name for themselves. From Saturday to Tuesday Jimmy’s No. 43 will host their April Sours festival featuring beers from Germany, Belgium, Canada, the United States, and Italy. There will be afternoon sour beer seminars on Saturday and Sunday to help bring everyone up to speed on one of the most interesting categories of beer. Monday night’s six-course All-Duck Dinner with sour beer…

Brooklyn Beer and Soda’s New Location

The Prospect Heights/Crown Heights beer selection took a bit of a hit in January when our beloved Brooklyn Beer and Soda left for the Prospect Lefferts Garden neighborhood with essentially no announcement (we didn’t realize until we went some several weeks afterward). While we can no longer stroll over to the store it turns out to only be a short ride on the Franklin Avenue shuttle, as it’s almost literally across the street from the Prospect Park stop. The new location is also in a bare bones industrial space like the original. It may not look like much but craft…

Oatmeal Stout Cupcakes

Continuing my experiments making desserts using beer, I baked stout cupcakes using Dave Lieberman’s recipe, from FoodNetwork.com (I’ve included it below). While his recipe calls for Guinness, I decided that I was going to use Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. We had a bottle left from when I made truffles. I mixed up the dry ingredients and set them aside as indicated. I poured the stout in the mixer and added vanilla extract. The recipe calls for melted butter, so I melted a stick on the stove, poured it directly into the beer/vanilla mixture and went to gather eggs from the…

Adventures in Beer Cooking: Oatmeal Stout Cupcakes

Continuing my experiments making desserts using beer, I baked stout cupcakes using Dave Lieberman’s recipe, from FoodNetwork.com (I’ve included it below). While his recipe calls for Guinness, I decided that I was going to use Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. We had a bottle left from when I made truffles. I mixed up the dry ingredients and set them aside as indicated. I poured the stout in the mixer and added vanilla extract. The recipe calls for melted butter, so I melted a stick on the stove, poured it directly into the beer/vanilla mixture and went to gather eggs from the…

Pick of the Weekend: Bierkraft Oyster Shuck and Cask Festival

Bierkraft is celebrating their 2nd annual Oyster Shuck and Cask Festival this Saturday April 14. The event kicks off the Brooklyn Beer Summit and opens the Bierkraft patio for the warm weather months. Last year’s oysters were fresh and shucked by an impressive team from Bierkraft that served them along with some of the best local beers you can find. We loved Kelso’s Oyster Stout last year. This year the local breweries like Brooklyn, Kelso, Barrier, Sixpoint and Greenport among others will have casks available and are sure to bring some great cask beers. Given the great selection last year…

Bronx Brewery Releases Bourbon Barrel Aged Pale Ale

Last night at Cafe D’Alsace the Bronx Brewery released a variant of their Pale Ale, aged in bourbon barrels. As usual, the pale ale was on tap, but they also had it on cask. The bourbon barrel aged pale ale is one of the best barrel aged beers we’ve had. Aged for three months in Woodford American oak barrels, it wasn’t too hot, with just enough vanilla and woody flavors that don’t overwhelm the delicacy of the pale ale. Less carbonated than the traditional pale ale, the beer has a great roundness to it. On cask, the pale ale was…

Pick of the Weekend: Get Real NY Beer n’ Balls

If you haven’t left town for the Easter/Passover weekend, Get Real NY is putting on the biggest meatball extravaganza we have ever heard about. Much like aPORKalypse, there will be ten local chefs cooking all kinds of meatballs. The event will feature many great breweries, including Wandering Star, Founders, Dogfish Head, Captain Lawrence. The event will be a great way to celebrate Session Beer Day (April 7) marking the anniversary that 4% ABV beer became legal again leading up to the full repeal of Prohibition. One of the beers being featured at the event will be Mild at Heart from…

Black Chocolate Stout Truffles

Today I made chocolate truffles with Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout. It was a good day. I came across this recipe while perusing beer photos on Pinterest (follow me! I have a beer board!). I didn’t completely trust the recipe because it called for 3 tablespoons of beer. What kind of beer? That’s not specific enough for me,  so I consulted Giada De Laurentiis’s balsamic chocolate truffle recipe that I’ve made in the past. They were very similar, so I just figured I’d sub in beer for balsamic vinegar. Since the main ingredient of the recipe was chocolate, I thought…

Black Chocolate Stout Truffles

Today I made chocolate truffles with Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout. It was a good day. I came across this recipe while perusing beer photos on Pinterest (follow me! I have a beer board!). I didn’t completely trust the recipe because it called for 3 tablespoons of beer. What kind of beer? That’s not specific enough for me, so I consulted Giada De Laurentiis’s balsamic chocolate truffle recipe that I’ve made in the past. They were very similar, so I just figured I’d sub in beer for balsamic vinegar. Since the main ingredient of the recipe was chocolate, I thought…